Last December

Chapter 14: Goodbyes

December 31st, 2022, 11:38pm.

Two people celebrate New Years.
They're happy about presents.
They sleep with another
or with someone foreign.
They don't want to talk,
rather a lie.
Hearts become broken.
Hearts become tired.

"Zwei Menschen" (two humans)
by Provinz (German Indie pop band).

"Everyone ready for the rockets?" Veronica asked, filling three glasses of champagne and one with apple juice. She carried them over to the others, who stood in the hallway while getting on their winter clothes.

"We need to hurry up, if we want to watch it from the start. We still need to get down the hill and to the park" Jughead reminded her, grabbing two glasses to hand them over to Betty and Archie. He grabbed the juice glass for himself before taking Veronica's, so that she could put on her coat, hat and mittens. When she was done, he reached it back to her while keeping ahold of his own.

The four headed outside and then took the ten minute walk down the hill and towards the park, where the rest of the residents of the Lodges of Shadowlake had already gathered.

The fireworks looked amazing, really, though Archie had quite some other ideas for the night, apparently. His hands kept on sneaking their way around Jughead's waist, pulling him closer every now and then until Jughead pushed him off because it was too obvious.

"Do you not like me anymore?" Archie whispered, warm breath brushing the back of his neck. Jughead hummed, though then took a step back because they were too close for friends that hadn't even met two weeks ago. He did turn around though, looking at Archie with a sad smile.

"Sorry for brushing you off like this yesterday" Jughead whispered.

"It's fine. You can make up for it again, can't you?" Archie asked, hands finding their way on his waist again before pulling him closer.

"I could, yes"

"Mhm, sounds good. Want to leave this?" Jughead nodded softly, grabbing his hand before sneaking them away from the girls. He lead him back to the wood area on the way to the lake until Archie could barely see the hand in front of his eyes.

"Where are we going?" Archie whispered, only not stopping because Jughead still held his hand and lead him somewhere.

"A clearing"

Soon, Jughead stopped, causing Archie to bump into him. He smiled softly, sitting down in the snow. Archie, after a second of hesitation, followed his example and sat down next to him.

"The fireworks are beautiful, don't you think? It's so dark here that you can still see the stars" Archie whispered, reaching for Jughead's hand and intertwining their fingers. Jughead smiled softly, enjoying the minute of silence.

"That was pretty hot yesterday, you taking charge" Archie whispered and Jughead chuckled.

"You keep on talking about that"

"Because I really liked it"

"You like me taking charge?" Archie hummed. Jughead nodded to himself and turned to climb on Archie's lap, arms wrapping around his neck.