Misfits (Jughead Jones)

Chapter 19

Blake had avoided Archie for the night and the majority of the next day. Jughead had been doing the same; neither of them wanted the lecture right now. However, Archie did eventually track the pair down as they were handing out flyers about the drive in's last show. 

"How hard it would have been to give me a little heads-up?" Archie almost scolded the pair as they carried on walking.

"Look, I am, by nature, a conscientious objector. Not saying anything to either you or Betty, was the most moral, apathetic choice I could make." Jughead told him.

"But, Jug. She's not going to write about me and Grundy in the paper, is she? Like she did with Chuck?" Archie stopped them walking.

"Seriously?" Blake scoffed. "Okay. Come on." She grabbed Jughead's arm and pulled him into a more secluded spot as Archie followed. "Think about what you're asking. If there was even an iota of a chance that something could hurt you in any way, Betty wouldn't do it." Blake assured her brother.

"Probably." Jughead added.

"Oh, my God." Archie went into meltdown.

"I'm kidding. But maybe she has a point." Jughead calmed him down. "What do you see happening with Grundy, long-term?"

"What do you want?" Blake questioned as Archie paused.

Archie sighed and looked from his best friend to his sister. "I want to be with her. I don't know how, but I wanna hang on to what we have for as long as possible."

"Yup. I feel that." Jughead turned away and started sticking up another flyer. "Trying to hold on to something a lot older than me, too."

"Just If Betty's gonna do anything crazy, can you please let me know so, I can do something to stop it?" Archie begged them.

"Of course, we will." Blake said.

"Thank you." Archie smiled before running off.

"How did he end up being the one with the most problems, out of all of us?" Jughead asked.

Blake just shot him a look. "Says the guy who is literally living in the drive in."

Jughead looked at his feet as he waited for the inevitable question.

Blake pulled his chin up so he was looking at her. "Where are you gonna go?"

"I'll figure it out." He muttered.

"You can move in with us if you don't want to go home. You know my dad would love to have you." Blake suggested.

"I think it's about time I went back." He smiled.

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Blake sat in the waiting room of the mayor's office with Jughead nervously bouncing his knee. She placed her hand on it and he glanced at her. She smiled at him as the mayor walked out.

"Mr Jones." She smiled.

Blake smiled at him on last time as he disappeared into her office.

"I'm sorry, but the Twilight Drive-In? It's a blight that's become a cesspool, and a hangout for criminals and transients, and the deal's done." The mayor told Jughead as he looked over a model of the town. "Andrews Construction is scheduled to demolish the lot on Monday." Jughead tensed slightly at the mention of Fred's company.

"Mayor McCoy," Jughead pulled up a chair and sat down. "when I was a kid, my family and I would go to the drive-in all the time. We couldn't afford tickets for everyone, so, my sister Jellybean and I would hide in the trunk until we parked. We'd sneak out." He chuckled at the memory. "It's like my home."

"That's a very sweet sentiment, Mr. Jones. But the future of Riverdale is at stake." The mayor smiled sadly.

Jughead walked out and straight past Blake. She did a double take as she quickly raced after the beanie clad teen. He stopped outside, around the corner of the building. He bit his lip and squeezed his eyes shut; Blake could tell he was trying not to cry. She walked up and wrapped her arms around him and he buried his head in her shoulder. She ran one of her hands into his hair as he started shaking.

"Everything's going to be alright." She cooed as she pressed a kiss to his temple. "We'll figure it out."

He nodded into her shoulder before standing back up straight and wiping his eyes. "Did you know it's your dad who's doing the construction?"

"No id didn't. We don't really talk about it." Blake said as she grabbed his hand and started pulling him along. "We can go see him, he'll still be in the yard."

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"Mayor McCoy says you won the contract to tear down the drive-in." Jughead started as they stood in the trailer of Andrew's construction. Blake was sat on one of the desks and Jughead was stood by her side as Fred made a cup of coffee.

"I did." Fred turned around to look at the teenagers. "Look, I'm sorry, Jughead. I know how much you love the Twilight, and so do I." Fred went and sat down at his desk. Jughead followed and stood in front of him. Blake watched from the side-lines; this was not something she wanted to be in the middle of.

"Mr. Andrews, just give me one week to track down the person who bought the land, and convince them not to demolish a holy house of cinema." Jughead pleaded.

"It's a big contract for me, Jug, and for my guys." Fred said. "Whatever they build in the place of the drive-in could mean more jobs..."

"Yeah, in what? Some hypothetical future?" Jughead cut in. "You put one Jones out of work, why don't you put out another, huh?" Blake stood up and went to walk forward but Fred shot her a look.

"Jug, your dad was taking materials from one of our job sites. I had to let him go." Fred reasoned.

"Right. You did what you had to do, like you're doing here now." Jughead scoffed. "Later."

"Jug." Fred tried but Jughead walked out.

"I'll talk to him." Blake said as she ran after him. He didn't stop this time just kept on walking; his sniffles were audible. "Jughead." She tried but he kept walking. "Juggie." She caught his arm and he spun to look at her. They both stood and looked at each other. "It's not his fault." Blake spoke up.

"I know." Jughead muttered. "I just..." The boy who was normally so sure of his words trailed off, unsure of what to say next. Nothing needed to be said as the brunette in front of him looked at him with understanding. There was no on better he could be with.