i wanna say you feel the same
“Let’s, go Betty! It’ll be dark by the time we get down to the swimming hole at this rate!”
“Hold your horses, Jug. Doing things in the dark is so much more exciting.”
His arm aches as he struggles to hold it straight under the pressure of Cheryl’s body weight. Her right leg goes up as her left bends along with Jughead’s arm, launching her into the air. His eyes fixate on her body as she twists, arms out ready to catch her gracefully. Unfortunately, they both miscalculate, and Cheryl ends up falling just out of his reach.
“Fuck,” she groans a minute later, lifting her head up from the soft mat.
He winces. “Sorry, Cher.”
“You always say that,” she grumbles. She takes his offered hand anyways, pinching him tightly on the arm with her red claws.
“Ow!” He shrieks, jumping away. Cheryl laughs happily, waving an arm to signal to their other friend.
“He dropped me, Ronnie. Again.”
“Aw, mi amor.” Veronica pecks her on the lips. “You have to excuse him. He saw his favorite blonde yesterday.”
Blushing, Jughead turns away to rifle through his gym bag.
“Oh yes, I forgot!” Cheryl squeals excitedly, disdain towards Jughead forgotten. “Did you speak to her? An actual conversation?”
Begrudgingly, he shakes his head, pulling out a towel to wipe his forehead. He stands, placing the towel around his shoulders.
“Just longing stares across the bar again?”
Jughead glares at her. “No. I don’t know how this idea formed in your pea sized brains, but I don’t like--”
“Maybe it was the poems we found in your notebook last year?” Veronica smirks. “Or the dried up rose that we found in your locker a week after Valentine’s Day addressed to her?”
“That’s what you say!” Jughead insists. “I’ve never confirmed anything!”
“Whatever, Jones,” Cheryl says. “Maybe you should invite her to our practices?”
“Why?”
“Look at you! No one knows that you have a “hot bod” under your weird t-shirts and misshaped sweaters!”
“Ew,” Jughead cringes. “Please never tell me I have a “hot bod” again.”
“But you do! You have the hottest--”
“Alright, babe.” Veronica places a hand on her girlfriend’s arm. “Let’s cool it with the compliments.”
“Aw,” Cheryl coos. “Are you getting jealous?”
Picking up his bag, Jughead leaves them to their flirting. He loves his best friends, but sometimes they forget that their relationship does not include him.
Making his way to the locker rooms, his phone lights up with a text from Veronica, letting him know they’ll be waiting for him outside. Jughead laughs to himself -- he’s always the first ones out of the locker rooms.
He’s the only male cheerleader on the squad. It used to bother him: the stares and the taunts, but he got through it with Veronica and Cheryl by his side. They’re delightfully scary when they need to be.
Betty had also written an article about it for the Blue and Gold, a couple months ago. He had joined sophomore year, but Betty transferred in their junior year from the Southside. She had started up the Blue and Gold right away, with Toni Topaz as photographer. Interviewing with her was the highlight of his year so far.
(“You said that you don’t like attention,” she had asked him. “Then why did you join the cheerleading team? You must’ve known this would clash with your loner status?”
He smiles at her calling him a loner. “I guess I wanted to do something for myself?”
“And the girls on your team -- are they accepting of you? Or do they not like a male on the team?”
“Oh, they love me.” He smirks. “I’ve won them over.”)
Though he denies his crush on Betty, his fondness for her is very blatantly obvious. They had been childhood friends, next door neighbors, until Betty had moved away to the Southside with her mother.
He had fought for their friendship throughout middle school, but Betty had always been good at pushing people away. Especially him.
His crush isn’t completely hopeless though. She is a bartender at the local Southside bar, The White Wyrm, and he frequents the establishment often. His excuse is that he is there for his father, making sure he got home on time, but he spends the majority of his time sneaking glances at Betty.
She looks good all the time, but bartending Betty might just be his favorite. Her hair is still in a ponytail, but not her usual tight one. It is loose, carefree -- his favorite version of Betty. She wears a tight, form fitting, low neck black t shirt, emblazoned with a white serpent on the back. The top is often accompanied by tight jeans, or (if luck was on his side) black shorts. He makes sure to order extra lemonade on those days.
He sighs, running a hand through his hair. It is Friday, which means that Betty is most likely still at school working on the newspaper. He could take a shower, smell good, and subtly walk past her office until she notices him, or he could take Cheryl's suggestion, and show off his “hot bod”.
Shuddering, he steps under the cold water, quickly rinsing himself off. A little bit of both, he decides.
After a short five minutes, he redresses himself. He pulls on blue, Riverdale embellished shorts. Before he can think himself out of it, he throws on his cheer jacket, leaving it unzipped, and walks out the door.
He does walk in front of Betty’s office, but she notices him quicker than he expected. Only 7 times across the hallway.
“Jughead?”
He turns abruptly towards the door. He was just about to turn the hallway, and he needed a way to make this look normal.
Crouching, he unlaces his shoes, feigning surprise when Betty’s head pops outside the door.
“Betty? I didn’t know you’d still be here.”
“Yeah, I’m working on the paper. Did you have practice?”
He shakes his head, standing up. Suddenly feeling self-conscious under her gaze, he fidgets with the zipper of his jacket. “No, not today. I was just practicing with Veronica and Cher.”
She nods understandingly. “Send them a hello from me, would you?”
“Of course.”
He’ll never admit it, but he’s seriously jealous of his best friends’ friendship with Betty. They hung out often, dragging Betty along shopping. They’ve even had a few sleepovers, and Jughead had to force himself to hang out with Archie in order to not knock the Pembrooke doors down.
He’s standing awkwardly at the end of the hallway, vaguely aware that he’s shirtless.
“So, uh, I should get back in there.” She says, pointing a finger into the office.
He nods. “Sure.”
Veronica has tried to convince him to join the Blue and Gold before, not just because of Betty, but because he does have a passion for writing. He’s been too chickenshit to ask her before, but he’s feeling confident by the way her eyes keep wandering down to his chest.
“Do you need any help?”
She looks startled by the offer. “With the newspaper?”
“Yeah, I mean, I can write. Or edit. Or whatever you need, I can do that.”
She stares at him blankly, and he opens his mouth to backtrack. It is a stupid idea anyways, it’s not like she needs the help, the paper is doing just fine. More than fine, even, it’s blooming-
“I could use some help editing, I guess.”
He nods right away, forgetting about Cheryl and Veronica. He trails after her into the office.
He’d been in here once before. He had snuck in before school, trying to muster up the courage to leave a letter he had written for Betty on her desk. He didn’t end up dropping it off; in fact, it’s probably still in the shoe box where he keeps all things related to Betty.
“Maybe you could put a shirt on? Or zip up your jacket?”
He flushes, closing the hoodie in a hurry. She nods in thanks and slides over some papers that are held together with a pink paperclip.
“This is the headline piece for next week. I was supposed to edit it today, but I got caught up in-” she trails off uncomfortably.
Serpent business, his mind fills in.
He’s never minded that Betty is a Serpent. His father is one too. Sure, the Southside had some bad eggs, but that didn’t excuse the way they are treated by this town.
“I’ll look over it,” he says, filling the silence.
They sit in a nice quiet for a half hour. He’s halfway through the article when Veronica and Cheryl come barreling in.
“You should’ve texted us; we were worried!”
“You asshole, it’s raining outside!”
Jughead flinches, glancing at Betty apologetically. She sends him a smile back, in her natural Betty way.
Their friends watch the interaction closely, biting back their smiles.
“Betty!” Veronica leans over to wrap her in a hug. “We haven’t seen you in a while. Where have you been?”
Betty shrugs. “Oh, you know. Around.”
She’s being purposefully vague, but Veronica doesn’t seem to notice, starting a conversation with the blonde. Cheryl walks over to him, zipping down his jacket without a warning.
“Hey!” He whispers, rushing to pull the zipper back up.
Cheryl smirks at him knowingly. “I see you took my advice.”
“Yeah, until she told me to put a fucking shirt on.”
Cheryl’s eyes brighten. “She did? Oh, Jug, this is good news!”
He tilts his head questioningly. “Are you sure?”
“Yes! It means she noticed, you hobo.”
“Well, obviously she noticed. I’m no Archie - I don’t usually walk around with no shirt on.”
“That’s not what I meant, obviously.”
“Betty’s coming to Pop’s with us.” Veronica announces, pulling Betty up from her seat. Betty sends him an uneasy look as Veronica leads her out of the office.
He falls in step with her while Cheryl moves ahead to chatter with Ronnie, no doubt about him.
“You don’t have to come,” he says quietly. “I know Ronnie can be a bit much, but she’s the worst at catching tells.”
Betty giggles, and Jughead almost trips over his own steps. She giggled.
“I’m alright, Jug. I like hanging out with you guys.”
She likes hanging out with you.
They collectively decide to walk to Pop’s, in disfavor of Jughead.
He’s still complaining as they enter, and Cheryl sighs loudly.
“If you don’t shut up, I’m eating this whole menu, and you’ll have to catch my ample body tomorrow morning.”
He silences himself as Veronica and Betty laugh. They seat themselves in Jughead’s regular booth, Veronica and Cheryl settling in on one side, Betty and Jughead on the other.
A waitress comes to their table, and Jughead, Veronica, and Cheryl rattle off their usual orders. He forgets that Southsiders don’t frequent Pop’s, instead eating regularly at the White Wyrm. Betty takes her time looking through the menu.
“They have the best burgers here,” he recommends.
“I know that. I don’t live under a rock. Just on the Southside.”
She ends up ordering a strawberry milkshake and fries, and Jughead worries that’s too little.
“She can share one of your burgers,” Veronica says slyly. “Lord knows you don’t need them.”
“I’m a growing boy,” he counters.
“Yeah, with a body you need to maintain.”
“My body is just fine!”
“I can second that,” Betty says quietly.
Jughead feels his face heat up, warmth traveling up to his ears. He’s looking everywhere but Betty, meaning at Cheryl and Veronica, who are grinning at him widely.
He’s saved from their teasing remarks by the arrival of the food. He does end up sharing half his burger with Betty, and it’s like a dream come true watching her take the burger from his hands and daintily take a bite. She moans quietly at the taste, leaning in for another bite.
Veronica and Cheryl watch him expectantly; he never lets anyone take two bites.
He’s surprised they don’t gasp as he reaches for another fry nonchalantly, letting Betty take two, three more bites. Really, as if he’s going to pass up the opportunity to share something with Betty.
“Thank you,” she says through a mouthful of food. He beams at her, taking the burger from her offering hands. He eagerly bites into the place where Betty had. He should feel disgusted with himself, but she’s Betty Cooper. He’s sure any guy would feel the same way in his place.
An hour later, the conversation dwindles down. Fridays usually means boardgames at Veronica’s house, but Cheryl is conveniently feeling tired. She links hands with Veronica, and they head out the door, leaving Betty and Jughead alone.
“I should probably get home.” She stands up from the booth. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Jughead snorts. “As if I’ll let you walk home alone.”
“I’m a big girl, Jughead. I can walk myself home.” Betty frowns.
“I know that, of course. But it's the gentlemanly thing to do.”
She opens her mouth to object, but Jughead raises a hand. “Let me walk you home.”
Admitting defeat, she motions for him to follow her, leading him out the door and to the left instead of his usual right.
The Southside of town is said to be a dangerous part of town, but with Betty, Jughead feels perfectly safe. He isn’t so insecure in his masculinity that he is against Betty protecting him -- this is her court. She knows her way around here.
He could see the difference between the two sides. He knows the mayor doesn’t do much to help the South, funding the North and it’s businesses extensively. If they put half the money, they use to make gazebos in the park into the Southside, it would make all the difference.
He remembers the trailer park Betty lives in from when they were kids. One of the things he likes about Betty is that she’s not ashamed. She’ll tell anyone who will listen that she’s from a trailer park on the Southside.
He walks her up to her trailer, noting the broken mailbox in the front. Betty always said she liked the mailboxes on the Northside: prim and proper.
“Thank you for walking me home,” she says.
For a moment, he thinks she’s about to invite him in. She doesn’t. He’s not sure he would know what to do if she had.
“No biggie.”
“Will you be alright getting home?”
“I’ll be fine, Betts.”
“Okay, well, goodnight then.”
He bids her goodnight before he can do something stupid, like kiss her, and walks quickly to Veronica’s house. If he knows his best friends, they’re in her bedroom, cooking up some sort of scheme, likely involving him.
Hermione lets him up immediately. She’s never worried about Jughead being in Veronica’s room, even before she started dating Cheryl. Hermione was like a second mother to both Jughead and Cheryl, and the Pembrooke like a second home.
He doesn’t bother knocking, opening the door without warning.
Veronica is on top of Cheryl, straddling the redhead. They’re in various stages of undress, Cheryl without a bra.
Veronica shrieks when Jughead comes in, covering herself immediately. Cheryl gives him a lazy thumbs up.
“You have to knock before you come in, Jughead!”
“Oh, don’t get your panties in a twist, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
Cheryl nods in agreement, reaching for her bra.
“I walked Betty home,” he says, plopping down on the bed between them. Cheryl lays down next to him, while Veronica places her head on his chest.
“Did you kiss her?” Veronica asks.
“No.”
“Did you want to?”
“Well, obviously.”
“So, you’ll finally admit you’ve got a crush on her?” Cheryl asks, amused.
He sighs in defeat. “Yeah, whatever.”
Veronica sits up, squealing. “Oh, Jug, this is adorable!”
He props himself up on his elbows, Cheryl moving her head to his lap. “Why?”
“This is the first girl you’ve been attracted to since Ethel Muggs back in grade school!”
“Actually, I was never attracted to Ethel,” he says pointedly. “That was just a cover up.”
“A cover up for what?”
“Betty, of course.”
“So, you’ve been pining since elementary?” Cheryl asks.
He kicks his leg up, causing Cheryl to bounce up and down. She swats him, sitting up.
“I wouldn’t call it pining. It’s more like yearning.”
“They mean the same thing, you nitwit.”
Jughead reaches for one of Veronica’s expensive pillows, hugging it to his chest as he falls back onto the bed.
“She’s wonderful, you know. She’s smart, and she’s funny. She gets my humor, which, let’s face it, is a feat in itself. And she’s gorgeous. Really fucking pretty.”
“Oh, Jonsey.” Veronica strokes a lock of hair from his face. “You’ve got it bad.”