The Festival - A Bughead Story

Part Eight - The Emergency Exit

           

"What the fuck?!" was the first thing they heard as they came bursting through the office, slightly panicked. It was Reggie who had spoken. He was trying to clean up the counter while Dilton and Moose, a little sobered up, were cleaning the sofas. "Hey, you two gigolos, come help us!" he shouted as he spouted Betty and Jughead.

"What's going on?" Betty shouted back, trying to speak on top of the high pitched sound. "Why aren't we going back to the ballroom and the emergency exit?"

"My dad can't find this office trashed, and this is the first place he'll go if there is fire. Hell, even if there isn't a fire, this is the first place he'll go. Hurry up!"

Jughead let go of Betty's hand and ran to the counter to help him. Cursing the incredibly bad timing, Betty ran to help Dilton and Moose.

Only a few minutes later, they were running down the hallway, bumping into Archie and Veronica, both looking surprised, their hair and clothes messed up, coming their way. "There you are!" Betty shouted.

Veronica nodded frantically. "So sorry, we were..." she didn't finish her sentence, but everyone knew what she meant.

They stumbled out of the emergency exit behind the building. Their families were out there in the parking lot: some too drunk to care, others trying to understand what was happening. It was Fred Andrews who saw them first.

"Were are you guys coming from?" he asked loudly, the siren still loud outside. He had a hard face, visibly thinking about all the things they could have been doing.

"Erm..." Archie panicked, looking at the others. They hadn't prepared a story. Truly, they were all too drunk to think about anything good.

"We were just on the roof, looking outside, talking, you know." Jughead lied smoothly, even adding a little scandalized face from Fred's suppositions. Suppositions that were probably true. "We had nothing to do with the alarm, we swear."

Dilton and Moose were nodding furiously. Maybe they used a little too much energy, but Fred just shrugged and turned back to Hermione Lodge, who was talking to one of the caterers.

"Oh, you're good." Betty whispered, while Jughead grabbed her hand.

"Thanks." Jughead smiled. "I'm sorry we didn't get to finish our moment."

Betty chuckled. "I'm sorry too."

"Hey guys, what do you think happ–"

CRACK!

Archie hadn't even finish his sentence when thunder suddenly boomed and rain came pouring down. In a few seconds, the gang was soaking wet.

"What the actual..." Jughead muttered, immediately taking out his jacket to hide Betty's head with it. "Tonight just keeps getting worse and worse!"

But Betty gently pushed his arms. "I'm not so sure about that." She threw her head back and looked over to the clouds. That view made it feel like the sky was coming down to crash them, but she loved it. She smiled as raindrops ran down her neck.

She felt Jughead's hands on her hips and she looked back at him. He was mere inches away, and her heart suddenly started racing. She could hear it pumping blood in her ears, drowning out every other sound.

But his words. "You're something, aren't you?" he teased, pulling her even closer to him.

"I might be." She smiled up at him.

"But you know what?"

"What?" Her eyes fell back to his lips.

"I love it."

And he was kissing her.

He was kissing her, under the pouring rain, behind the old town ballroom, surrounded by their friends and families while the smoke alarm still blared inside, but somehow, it felt perfect. It didn't matter that they were catching a cold and they were so drunk they wouldn't have the courage to have done it otherwise. They were together, and that was all it mattered.

Betty and Jughead were together.

And that alone made it a night to remember.

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Hey, if you're done with this, don't forget to check out Volume Two of A Bughead Story, The Restaurant! Xx