Beloved in the river

Fake breakup

This is Betty telling Jughead about the fake breakup

"What, Betty?" he asks, clearly hurt. But I don't blame him. He looks like he's been upset for a while. Maybe even crying. Bust most likely those dark circles are from anger, not sadness. He doesn't know how much I cried when I had to do it.

"Can I talk to you?" I ask.

He shrugs and steps closer to me in his own doorway so that I am not at all welcome in. Why would I be? I can understand it though. What I did to him must have crushed him.

"I don't know, Bets," he says, killing my heart when he uses that nickname. "Can you? I mean, can you talk to the man you once loved? Or do you need to send Archie to tell me how you feel?"

I feel tears fill my eyes but I don't want to cry right now. I am trying to fix this.

"I am just trying to tell you the truth," I say.

"Spill it."

"Can I come in?"

"I don't know. Are you planning on breaking my heart again?"

The tears fall. I can see his demeanor crack a little. He presses his lips together. He crosses his arms over his chest. But I can see that little quiver. He wants me to tell him the truth. What I did hurt him. But he doesn't like to see me cry. He is scared of it.

"No. Of course not. I didn't plan on doing it the first time," I tell him.

"Alright."

He turns to the side and lets me in. I walk into his living room. He waits at the edge of his kitchen. He doesn't move his arms that are sitting over his chest. He looks angry but also scared. I am the only one that can see that.

"Jughead, the black hood called me," I say.

"What?" he asks, leaning forward. I can see him stepping toward me. I can already see him wanting to get closer. He wants to comfort me. There is a small, terrifying hope that he still loves me.

"The black hood has been calling me and making demands. He told me I couldn't tell anyone. I told Archie because I thought it wouldn't look bad. At first, they weren't that bad. They were scary. He had me publish an article about my mom. I got to ask him a question for it. Then he told me that I had to start getting rid of people."

I pause. I can already see his outer shell cracking. He is looking at me, wishing that I would get to the point. But he has to know the entire thing.

"This was all going on while you were running around with Toni. I thought you were more interested in them than me. I was so scared, Jug. I thought that if I told you, he would kill you. I still think that a little bit. But I'm trying not to," I say.

He steps forward. His voice is lower than it was earlier. It is his own voice now. The personal way that he speaks to me starts to shine through.

"What happened? What did he ask you to do?" he asks, stepping forward.

"He told me to get rid of Veronica first. So, I yelled at her and accused her of being a liar at the party," she says. "I had to. I knew it would ruin things but I didn't know what to do. I thought he was going to kill her if I didn't do it."

He is just a foot away from me. he looks like he might even reach out to touch me. there are tears on my face now. He looks like he might even be upset about this entire thing. He might even cry. He doesn't like to see me upset. And when I am, he always makes me feel better. But he can't right now.

That scares him.

"What Betty?" he asks.

I can't. My chest heaves with sobs. I sit down on the couch because I can't remember how to breathe. I feel him sit next to me. I even feel his arm on my shoulder. He can't stay away. I don't want him to. I want him to stay close to me.