Bughead One-shots | Riverdale

Soulmates; Him (1/3)

The glass felt cold underneath the pad of her finger as she drew a smiley face in the condensation that formed from the cold strawberry milkshake in it's contents. The milkshake was the same shade as the jumper she was wearing and it made her smile slightly. Her mother had said that the jumper she was wearing was pink, so was the milkshake the same colour? Betty glanced around the diner she'd been sat in for almost five minutes and tried to pick out other items that were the same shade. Other people's drinks, the napkins on her table, the shirt that Dilton Doiley was wearing in a booth down the row from hers. Could they all be the same colour? Hopefully, Betty thought to herself, she would find out later that day, as it was her seventeenth birthday.

Seventeen was a big age, probably the biggest birthday anybody could have. From your seventeenth birthday, you could find your soulmate. There was no missing who it was, when you laid eyes on them the usually black and white world would suddenly turn into bright colours - how things were supposed to be seen. Some people were lucky enough to meet their soulmate on their birthday, some spent years searching for theirs, and an unlucky few spent their whole life in black and white.

Betty Cooper was both excited and unhappy on her seventeenth birthday. Of course being able to find her soulmate was exciting, but the person who she thought it would be had already had their birthday, and still hadn't found their soulmate. Which meant it wasn't her. Jughead still saw black and white which meant it was someone else. Maybe it was wrong to have a crush on him as she knew it could never work out, but she was still a little disappointed.

Jughead had been her best friend for years, and they were practically inseparable. When Betty and Jughead were children and had to learn about soulmates for the first time, everything sounded so familiar to her. The way that a connection with a soulmate was described, sounded like what she had with Jughead. Betty could remember bouncing in her seat excitedly as she gently grabbed his arm, a huge grin painted over her lips as she told him "we're soulmates, Juggie!". Looking back on their friendship, now that she was seventeen, it really did seem like Jughead was her soulmate. Maybe it was just what Betty wanted to believe, blinded by her crush on him, but it really felt like they were. Betty felt different when she was with Jughead, different like nobody else could make her. They connected so well and went together as a matching set, like their souls were crafted together. His touch sent butterflies exploding through her body and his words could send chills down her spine, in the best way possible.

But he wasn't her soulmate. He was somebody else's.

Just as she was thinking of her best friend, two larger hands covered her eyes so she couldn't see, and initially she gasped in surprise, though upon realising who it was Betty smiled fondly and gently bit her bottom lip for a moment. She could feel his slightly calloused fingertips pressing into the bridge of her nose and felt the cold metal of one of his rings along her cheekbone which caused her to smile a little more. Bety had always been a fan of Jughead's rings. He would let her sit and gently mess with his fingers sometimes if they sat together, and she always found herself gently twisting his rings around his fingers.

"Guess who?"

"Veronica?" Betty asked jokingly, and giggled quietly when she felt his huff of faux annoyance hit the back of her head, pushing forwards her - for once - loose blonde strands slightly with the breath.

"Happy birthday," He told her and Betty smiled a little more. "I have a surprise for you, but you need to promise me you won't freak out, okay?"

Betty frowned a little, puzzled on what he could have gotten her that would make her freak out. "Jug, if you got me another one of those fake bug tricks to scare me it's not funny-"

"No, no I haven't gotten you one of those." Jughead scoffed, and she could practically hear his eyes rolling as he spoke. "I just need you to promise me you won't freak out."