Last December

Chapter 10: Hold onto me

December 23rd, 2022, 4:16pm.

Your loving arms.
Your tender smile.
We just forget the world around us
for a little while.
There is only you and me tonight.
I can feel the joy and happiness inside
'Cause you're with me

"The best side of life"
by Sarah Connor.

"Archie?" Jughead whispered, sitting on the couch next to him as they all watched a movie. He hummed "I want to go outside. Do you want to come with me?"

"Uhm... sure?" Jughead smiled and closed his laptop before getting up from the couch.

"Where are you off to?" Betty asked and Jughead shrugged.

"Outside, get my head out"

"And you?" Betty added as Archie got up too.

"I'm going with him. You can't know what's going on out there, right?" Archie suggested, smiling softly as well as he followed Jughead in the hallway. They pulled on boots, coat, scarf, hat and gloves before walking outside. Jughead stuffed his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants as he started to walk down the hill.

"So where exactly are we going?"

"Does there have to be a purpose?"

"Of course not. I was just wondering"

"I was planning to go to the lake" Jughead confessed after a moment. He shrugged again "I don't have ice skating shoes but it's still fun to go on it"

"'Go on it'??"

"Yeah, slide on it a bit. It's frozen enough, don't worry" Archie nodded slowly, following him though. After going down to the first paved road, Jughead took a turn to the right to go enter a forest. The pines were covered in snow, the first few branches completely covered in the snow and thereby invisible. Jughead walked slowly, looking around as he went off the path soon, body moving swiftly between the trees as if he had walked this path countless times, which he had probably done, while Archie had to watch out that the branches wouldn't smack him in the face, again. Sometimes his eyes would meet Archie's and he couldn't help the small smile.

"Did you and Veronica go to the Lodge a lot?"

"Veronica probably. It's only my third Christmas here"

"What? Why?"

"Because our parents were really careful to hide that part of our life. I didn't even know that my 'mom' wasn't my mom until Veronica suddenly stood in front of my door. And she only knew because she was on her way to head off to the world, never to be seen again. Her mother didn't want that and she thought that a lost brother could be a reason to stay, which in the end worked, you know? I mean, Veronica only stayed in California in order for us to get to know each other"

"So... how does Betty come in the picture?"

"My dad married her mother last year"

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah, apparently they were together in High School too but then broke up. I didn't ask too many questions, to be honest. Right after school, all I cared about was getting the hell out of Riverdale, my hometown. I grabbed a backpack and two hours after graduation, I was out of there. I travelled everywhere I wanted to for a year and when I was back, my dad was suddenly living with another family"

"What's with Betty's dad?"

"A serial killer"

"What??" Archie stopped walking abruptly, pulling Jughead closer to him as he grabbed the sleeve of his coat.

"Right. Normal people are concerned about that" Jughead mumbled as if he had to remind himself of that fact "Uh, Betty's dad wasn't exactly nice, so Betty's mom divorced him. Then my dad and her had this thing because of an article on the newspaper that she wrote and then started dating"

"I was surprised about the 'serial killer' thing, not about the second family thing, Jughead. You can't just drop that on someone and move on from it right away" Jughead nodded, pulling down his beanie.

"Sorry, I'm just used to it. You're right, of course"

"What kind of place is Riverdale exactly, so that you're used to serial killers?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" Jughead let out a small laugh and Archie got a warm feeling in his stomach, which travelled up to his chest and turned into a heavy feeling in his throat before eventually traveling to his cheeks.

"Anyways, enough about me. We should get to the lake before our fingers are freezing off" Jughead looked down for a moment before pulling away from Archie to start walking again. Archie cleared his throat before starting to head after him.

"So what about you? How come you got to know Betty? I've never seen you before" Jughead asked once he had caught up to him.

"We used to live together, though I don't remember Riverdale being that messed up. I moved to Chicago, to live with my mom after she divorced dad"

"Oh, sorry to hear that"

"It's fine. They were fighting a lot ever since I can remember, so I was very glad when they finally had their space, actually. Besides, I wasn't even eight then, and I got to spend some time with my new sister since then, so it's fine" Archie shrugged, though fidgeted with his hands. Upon noticing, Jughead just silently grabbed one hand, giving it a soft squeeze. They didn't talk about them holding hands at any point.

Somehow, they just silently accepted that. It was just to stop him from fidgeting anyways, right?

Jughead stopped in front of the lake, smiling softly before he slowly stepped onto the ice. Archie wouldn't follow him though, staring at him with wide eyes.

"I'm not going on there"

"It's fine, I promise. Look" Jughead let go of Archie's gloved hand, though only to walk a few steps back "The ice is thick enough ever since November. It's really fine"

"I-I can't slide actually, so I'll just-"

"Just hold onto me and I'll show you, don't worry" Jughead comforted, walking back over to him. He reached out his hands, smiling softly "Just trust me"

"Uhm... alright... don't drop me" Archie finally said, taking Jughead's hands. He intertwined their fingers, trying to seem more confident than he actually was. Jughead nodded and slowly took him on the ice.

Archie fell before he had taken three steps.

"Alright, so the basics: don't lift your feet if you can't hold your balance. Just try to swipe your feet over the ice and snow, like..." Jughead huffed, thinking about it "Just like you have wheels on your shoes, okay? Like inline skating"

"Alright" Archie nodded, gripping Jughead on the shoulders before starting to slowly move on the ice. He was not really any better though and it wasn't long until he started to loose balance again. Jughead tried to hold him up but weight-like he had no chance and therefore, they landed on the ice — Archie pressed on top of Jughead.

"Sorry" Archie said, trying to pull away. He slipped on his shoes and gloves, now landing completely on Jughead who groaned under the weight, though then just started laughing.

"Sorry" Archie apologized again, trying to support his body on his arms to free Jughead. Jughead didn't move though, swallowing as his laughter died down.

"Can I kiss you?" He whispered and Archie stilled, blinking surprised, though then nodded.

"Of course" Jughead nodded and pecked him on the lips, though then cupped Archie's cold face to pull him in another kiss. Archie rested one hand behind Jughead's head to lift it from the ice and deepen their kiss even more. He completely forgot that they were laying on top of a frozen lake, which could hypothetically break any moment and drown them in ice cold water.

Perhaps the heated kisses were enough to give them a chance of survival.