No one ever told me that love would hurt so much

Chapter 31

♾ Jughead ♾

"I'm so glad that you could make it" Archie said, hugging me as Betty and I stepped out of our car. Veronica nodded towards me and I did the same.

"Me too. I was already fearing that they wouldn't let me out in time" I mumbled "Who knows, maybe they feared that I would have another breakdown if they wouldn't. I was already debating on what I could say to make it up to you that I couldn't come"

"Well, I'm glad that you are here now, Jug, nothing else matters for today and tomorrow"

"So... How was the drive?" Veronica asked, bringing me and Archie away from the current conversation. I swallowed, reaching for Betty's wrist to pull her in front of me to hug her, resting my chin on her shoulder.

"Are you okay, because of the drive? It was kind of longer because of the traffic jam..." I whispered, turning my face a bit to see her clearer. She just smiled softly, resting her hand on top of mine to pull it away slightly.

"I'm okay as long as you're behind the wheel, Jug"

"You're putting a lot of trust in me there"

"I am, because I trust you" She smiled softly. Betty turned around to kiss me but then hesitated and pulled back. Archie noticed but didn't say anything, which I was thankful for.

"Seems like you had no troubles. Very well, then let's get inside. Tomorrow will be a big day" Veronica said, grabbing Archie's and Betty's hand, who then grabbed mine to pull me with her. Inside the hotel, they lead us to a room, the tables and walls already decorated in white and purple.

"This here is for the party after the ceremony"

"Is your dad coming?"

"Yeah, why?"

"No reason, just curious" Archie surely was super excited about that. I haven't seen Hiram in a while to be honest, which I'm quite happy about. We all have shared experiences with Hiram Lodge, none of them very good. But I guess, he is her father and therefore has a right to be here, which reminded me about the fact that my dad wasn't at mine...

"Your room is on the third floor. You have two single beds but you can easily push them together to a double bed, if you prefer that. We weren't sure what to do"

"Don't worry, we will figure this out"

We most of the time went to sleep in our own beds in our own rooms but then Betty either came in at some point because she noticed that I had a nightmare or she came in to ask me about something. Betty started remembering — not much yet but steadily more. She had dreams and then asked me if it might have been a memory. She hadn't asked me much though, just when she remembered something new. Most of the time, we just ended up sleeping in the same bed though.

"Yeah, we will" Betty said, smiling softly as she linked her arm with mine. I just nodded. Betty and I haven't... exactly talked about this yet. About us. For the moment we were what we were. Neither friends nor in a committed relationship nor friends with benefits. We were something in between, not wanting to be named. That's what I wanted it to be too, I think. Not being in a relationship meant that there was no hard feelings and therefore no hurt, right?

"So... How do you want to sleep, single or double bed?" I asked, putting my bag on the bed and opening it to get some stuff out.

"I don't care. How would you prefer it?"