Give You The Moon

Will You Take Me, Or Will You Fall?

A few days came and went, and then it was another week, and now a month. Betty could barely fathom that she hadn't been 'home' in a month. It felt impossible. No one had even attempted to contact her anywhere and part of her let herself question whether they even cared that she had left. Maybe they hadn't.

She shut the thought down before it became too much, setting her phone aside and looking up at the ceiling as she laid in bed. It was raining outside, slowly and then fast, but it always slowed back down without stopping. She couldn't sleep, not with that happening outside and the critical thinking going on in her head.

Her shorts sat on the ground beside her and she pulled them on once she was out of bed, making her way down the hall to the bathroom to see if that's why she couldn't sleep. Though, when nothing happened over almost five minutes, she washed her hands begrudgingly, not wanting to go sit and stare for more hours of the night. When she realized the front door was open she was confused momentarily and tried to think back to much earlier that night, wondering if they had closed it. But she figured out quickly that they in fact did and she carefully walked over to it, ignoring every instinct she had that was telling her not to do such a thing.

She exhaled when she saw Jughead lighting a cigarette, sitting down on the covered porch steps. She knocked on the side of the doorframe and he turned to look at her. "Can I come sit?" she questioned, and he nodded while moving aside.

"You can't sleep?" he asked, looking over at her.

"No, not really. The rain is keeping me up for some reason," she said lightly, looking down at her hands. "You?"

"I tried to fall asleep but I think the bar got me too worked up." She nodded, tucking hair behind her ear. It was cooler now than it was earlier, but not by much. "So, you're not actually twenty-one, are you?"

She furrowed her brows, asking, "You figured that out how?"

"When I asked if you wanted to go to the bar with us you, like, panicked. I'm just guessing."

"Okay, technically I am twenty-one... in five days." He chuckled, shaking his head. "How old are you?"

He scrunched up his face and she laughed, raising her brows expectantly. "Twenty-seven."

"My brothers your age."

"Oh, that's comforting." They both laughed, smiling softly. "Have you talked to your family since you left?"

She bit her lip, shaking her head. "I... want to reach out, but I'm a little worried, honestly. I don't know how they'll react," she mumbled, sighing. "I just left out of nowhere, they're baby is suddenly gone without a trace. I feel like they'll send someone after me and that's not what I want. I like it here and I like the people, and I have no idea how they'll react to you—no offense. There's too much uncertainty."

"I get it," he whispered, shrugging. "I felt the same when I left home, though my circumstances were a lot different. I don't talk to my sister very often. I'm not allowed to."

"Why?"

"My dad and I... growing up, we didn't get along and it carried over into adulthood, too. I eventually told him how I felt and he basically said I was insane and told me not to talk to them again. So I don't. My mom took his side in arguments, so I don't talk to her either. But every year I still send Jellybean—my sister—presents and a card because it's the right thing to do."

"I'm so sorry."

"You learn to live with it," he shrugged, taking a drag from his cigarette. She chewed her lip and swallowed thickly. "Why don't we do something for your birthday? Me, you, Archie, his girlfriend. You would really like her," he finished, holding her gaze when she turned to look at him. "We can have drinks. Make it a true twenty-first."