Give You The Moon

Will You Have Me?

"I don't understand," Betty whispered, looking at Chris. "This was... nothing to you?"

"Simply business," he shrugged, unfazed by the tears in her eyes. "Thank you, though, for everything." She shuddered when he grinned, turning away from him to wipe her cheek. "I'll show myself out." Jughead kept a hard stare on him as he crossed the living room to the front door, calmly leaving the trailer.

"You need to come home," Hal, her father, stated. "Please, Elizabeth. People are worried about you. They miss you."

She swallowed into herself and shook her head, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Please, stop."

"Come with me, Elizabeth. We want you back home," he whispered, standing up to touch her arm. She squeezed her eyes closed and let him pull her into a hug, her body still. "We'll leave first thing tomorrow. I'll let you say goodbye. You know I just want what's best for you and being here, away from your whole family, is no good. We can't help you when you're hurt. I get it, you felt like you needed to escape for a while, but it's time you come back, okay? I have a place for you, your very own apartment. It should be ready soon and you can move there and be on your own, but you'll be at home. You don't know these people and this guy, you don't know him either. If things took a turn for the worst..." Her eyes were telling. She didn't believe a word he was saying. "I'll pick you up at seven." He kissed her temple and she closed her eyes again as he left.

The two of them, Betty and Jughead, stood in the living room on two opposite sides. Jughead watched her closely as she continued to stare blankly out the window, her hands on either of her shoulders as if she was hugging herself tight.

When she eventually turned, he wasn't sure how much time had passed. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet, the look on her face harvesting so much pain it shot straight through his heart. She walked to her bedroom and he followed, watching her drop to the ground while tucking hair behind her ears and begin shoving her clothes into her suitcase.

"Betty, you can't seriously be leaving," he said frantically.

She sniffled, saying, "You heard him. It's what's best for me."

"No, it's not. He's taking you back to a place where you have no one. He's isolating you for a reason, Betty. He knows you're happy and he doesn't like that, so he's taking it away."

"It's fine," she cried softly, wiping her face and shoving more of her things into her bag.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Betty, he just manipulated you. Look what he did with Chris!"

"It's fine," she repeated, whimpering when he grabbed her as she tried to walk past him to the bathroom. "Let me go."

"You can't let him do this. You can't leave."

"I don't really have a choice."

"You do. You're 21, you're an adult, Betty. Stop letting him treat you like a child, stop letting him tell you what to do. Going back to Riverdale is not what is best for you, being here is what's best for you."

"Let me go," she whispered more firmly, holding his gaze as a tear slipped from her eyes. "Please."

He held her for a moment longer before dropping her hand and moving away from her door frame. She stood there for a second, like she was changing her mind before she blinked, suddenly remembering why she wanted him to move in the first place. He let out a sigh in defeat and shook his head, closing his eyes as he dropped it back against the wall.

A knock on his bedroom door startled him and he left the bathroom to open it. "I'm sorry," Betty started, gripping a pillow against her chest. "I-I can't sleep so I was wondering if I could sleep in here... with you?"