The Theory Of Chaotic Perfection |BUGHEAD|

Chapter VI - What Perfection Looks Like In The Eyes Of Failure

"Only if you let me show you the wild side of life." 

If there was anything Jughead Jones wasn't, it was possessive. He had seen too much of his father guarding his mother away from other men, and not in a good way. Recalling the days he would run home from school only to find his mother upset and not talking for hours as she silently made dinner. She was trapped, caged in her own house, all because her husband loved her, a little too dangerously. 

Although Jughead looked like he didn't care about feelings or emotions, it was quite the opposite. He himself would find a little rush make its way up to his heart from the sensation Betty's finger gave him when they touched his hand. In that same way she snapped him out of his thoughts. 

"You've been silent for a while. Is everything okay?" She smiled. Ah, yes, the never changing Betty. She was so innocent and sweet, something he liked about her ever since he laid his eyes on her. Unlike others, Jughead knew that Betty still had a mystery to her, and she was not the way she made herself appear. That fact pulled him toward her, or maybe it was just his love for mysteries; which she was one. 

Jughead shrugged, "It's nothing, I was just thinking. Why'd you bring me to Pop's?" He asked, finally looking the booth they were sitting in over. 

"It's my favorite place, and I felt like a milkshake and some fries," she took a fry from the packet and ate it. 

He already knew it was her favorite place to be in, her favorite booth. Betty didn't like change, she always sat at the same booth, ordered the same booth. However, this time something was different. Instead of the cheerful red haired boy who would be smiling down at her sitting in front of her was Jughead, the school's misfit. He wasn't cheerful like Archie, he was thoughtful and payed at most attention to everything she did. 

"There you go again!" She laughed out, "you stare into the distance completely out of tune from our conversation." 

Jughead shook his head, this had to stop or she'd soon find out that his mind was somewhere other than her. Although Betty only really knew him for a while, he knew her for a long time, always wondering what it would be like to have conversation with her. "I'm listening to you," Jughead was suddenly serious. 

Betty put her milkshake down, "so who are you? The real you?" 

"What kind of a question is that?" Jughead asked, smirking. 

She wasn't giving up, "It's a simple question. There are a lot of rumors going on about you, I want to know what is true and what's a lie." 

Jughead sighed, "don't listen to rumors Betty Cooper, they are nasty," then he reclined in his seat, "what do you want to know?" 

"Well first things first, why don't you have many friends?" She decided to start with the hardest questions, something the perfect Betty would never do. 

Jug raised his eyebrows and nodded his head in amusement, "starting with the juicy stuff are we? I don't have many friends because no one talks to me, I don't talk to anyone. They're not worth my time." 

"And I am worth your time? You're talking to me." Betty said sarcastically and took a sip out of her milkshake. 

Staring into her eyes with a strange look Jughead mumbled, "you are. You're worth everyone's time." She heard him, but she pretended not to. 

Feeling goosebumps gather on her skin, Betty shivered. No boy has every payed that much attention to her, it was always her giving the attention, and the boy was usually Archie. Perhaps that is why she liked spending time with Jughead, he actually gave her attention. She felt his hand on hers and looked up at him. 

"Don't tell me you're not tired of red-haired star athlete musician dream boy? Come on Betty, I know you better than that!" He knew he crossed the line, and it was written in her expression. 

Betty took her hand away, "you don't know me! And-" 

"And what? I swear if you say you love him-" 

"I don't!" She pushed everything on the table out of her way. This was the first time Betty Cooper admitted that she no longer felt anything for Archie Andrews. Of course, she had stopped feeling something for him for a while, truly feeling something. She was doing most of the flirting, and he wasn't responding. There's a time a girl knows a boy is not interested in her. There's a certain point in which she loses hope and moves on. 

Jug nodded his head again, "good. He doesn't deserve you anyway." 

Betty turned her head to him. Those were bold words to say. "You said you know me, how?" 

Jughead sighed, debating on whether to let her in on his secret, "well, I observe people, I don't talk to them, but I do notice things. For the longest time, you've been falling short of the perfection and standers that are set in front of you. The truth is I was happy for you, finally you get the chance to discover who you really are." 

Her first instinct was to walk away, Jughead was strange after all and he was getting to close to her. Something else inside of her, however, wanted to stay. Everyone knew her as perfect, everyone expected the best, but Jughead didn't. 

"Answer one question and I'll stay," Betty closed her eyes in an attempt to keep the tears from spilling out. The thought of her life crumbling in front of her eyes scared her. She, however, was not about to break out in tears in front of a boy.

Jughead furrowed his eyebrows, "okay." 

"Do you think I'm perfect?" Betty opened them with force and looked at him. 

He thought for a moment. She definitely was not perfect. No one was. But to him, she was so close to that girly perfection every guy wants to fill his heart with. Resisting the urge to tell her that despite her imperfection she was perfect to him, Jughead smiled. He knew what she wanted to hear, but he was not going to give her the satisfaction. 

"You're not perfect. Not in the way you think or in the way they expect you to be. Betty, you're human and you're meant to fail sometimes, but there's also a strange charm around you. Whether that be perfection or beauty. You are perfect in the same way chaos is perfect. You are strange." He was expecting her to get up and walk away. She did. She picked up her fries and milkshake and walked away from the booth. Putting her food on the counter where Pop was working, Betty spun around and practically skipped towards Jughead. 

"A man of little words, but you have a lot to say," she sat back down, "Jughead Jones, how would you like to walk me home again?" 

He could tease her, tell her he didn't want to, but oh how he couldn't resist being a few more minutes by her side. 

"If you let me show you the wild side of life, Elizabeth Cooper," he leaned in closer to her and she did the same. Perhaps he was finally the change she was looking for, the boy she needed to truly feel like she was in control of at least something in her life. Noticing how he started getting under her skin in a good way, Betty felt a rush. Through her 18 years of living under her mother's roof she finally had a secret, a rebellious attitude, Jughead Jones. Although her conscience was battling her, she couldn't just use him, what if he genuinely started liking her? Betty knew that if she did not go through with this she would forever be trapped until her parents marry her off. Just like Juliet she saw her whole life in the eyes of her Romeo who happened to be Jughead Jones. She told herself that if this were anyone else she'd feel the same way. However, the second Betty watched him turn and his sharp jawline shine under the neon sign at Pop's Betty suddenly felt fear, fear that he was using her just as much as she was using him. When he turned around and smiled down at her, something Jughead did rarely, she caught a glimpse of sincerity in his eyes.

A/N: SOOOOO I can't handle all the BUGHEAD sweetness in episode 9! HAVE YOU SEEN THE WAY THAT BOY LOOKS AT HER? I SWEAR HE'S IN LOVE! *gosh calm down* haha anyway! I hope you liked this chapter, don't forget to vote and comment! Until next time!