Jealousy

• 2 •

     "Just tell her how you feel, she obviously is confused on what to do because she's in love with you." Archie reasoned.
     "Maybe you're right."
                            ______
     "Y/N wait up!" Betty called, chasing down her friend in the lot of the diner. "Please talk to me!" Y/N turned around, and Betty could see tears stinging in her y/e/c eyes.
     "What if I don't want to talk?" Y/N said sternly, trying not to let her real emotions come through in her voice. She crossed her arms across her chest, and stood straight.
     "Well you're going to have to talk to me, something is wrong and I want to know." Betty said, crossing her arms as well. "I know I'm not your bestest friend, but I'd like to think we're quite close." Y/N shifted on her feet, and stared down at the ground.
     "I think we're close friends too, even best." she said, barely a whisper. Her voice caught in her throat again, and Betty gave a sweet smile. She walked towards Y/N and put her hand on her shoulder.
     "Well I don't know about that, I think that title is Jugheads, you know when he's not being an ass." Betty teased but Y/N didn't laugh. Instead a choked back cry came out, and Betty wrapped her arms around Y/N.
     "I don't understand." Y/N cried in Betty's shoulder. "I thought he maybe liked me back, I thought if I told him about Reggie he'd-" Y/N shut her mouth, not quite sure if she was ready to tell Betty everything, especially not in a parking lot. Betty pulled back and brushed Y/Ns y/h/c hair out of her face.
     "You like Jughead?" she asked, smiling. Y/N rolled her eyes and gave a breathy laugh, wiping tears from under her eyes.
     "Well, more like I think I've fallen head over heels for him, not that it matters, he obviously doesn't feel the same way." Y/N said, forcing a smile. Betty opened her mouth to argue, but before she could Jughead flew out of the diners front door, and he frantically looked around for Y/N. Archie came through the door next, and immediately spotted Betty and Y/N. Y/N straightened herself out and walked towards Archie.
     "Hey, you alright?" Archie asked, and Jughead turned to them. He ran over to Y/N, but she refused to look at him.
     "Y/N, can we talk?" Jughead asked, but she ignored him.
     "Hey Archie, can you give me a ride? My phone died and I need to text Reggie back before it's too late." she said. Archie and Betty looked at Y/N shocked, and then turned their attention to Jughead. He looked heartbroken, but quickly his face shifted so it looked hard, neutral. Archie gave a small smile.
     "Yeah, sure it will give us some time to talk about a few things." he said. Archie started for his car, and Y/N turned to wave goodbye to Betty, and then she turned her attention to Jughead.
     "Goodnight Juggie." she said. He ignored her and stared at the ground. Y/N decided to pull one last thing, hoping to get some reaction out of Jughead. Something to prove to her that her feelings for him weren't just a waste of time. She stood on her tip toes, and planted a kiss to his cheek. She pulled back and watched him, but he showed no reaction. Y/N felt her heart break, and she slowly made her way to Archie's car. Once she was in Archie's car, Betty walked over to Jughead and punched him on the arm.
"What the hell Jughead!" Betty yelled. Jughead turned to Betty, and she watched as he touched his cheek. "Why didn't you say anything?" Betty asked.
     "What's the point? She doesn't love me back, she's going to go out with Reggie!" he yelled. "And you know what? Good for her! I don't deserve her anyways! She's got the whole football team placing bets on her, I walk through the halls with her and every guy and even girls just stare. How can I compete with all of them? I'm just weird, loner Jughead Jones! I don't even deserve to be her best friend, let alone boyfriend!" Jughead gave a frustrated sigh, and Betty watched as he reached up to touch his cheek again, and a tear rolled down his face.
     "You know your wrong, right?" Betty said, stepping towards Jughead. He quickly wiped tears off his face and looked up at Betty.
     "I'm never wrong." He said, and Betty rolled her eyes.
     "Well you were this time. Right before you came out here, Y/N told me she was in fact in love with you. She is just so convinced that you don't feel the same that I think she's trying to get over it."
     "Maybe she should." Jughead whispered.
     "Jughead, she's trying so hard to find a reason not to. Why do you think she kissed your cheek, it was her giving one last attempt at getting a flirtatious or loving reaction. Something to tell her you care for her like that." Betty said, grabbing his shoulders. Jugheads heart sank at the realization that Betty was right. He really messed up this time, and he didn't know if he could fix it.
______
"I'm such an idiot." Y/N mumbled, leaning her head in her hands. Archie started the car and looked over to Y/N. Her y/h/c hair hung over to one side, and he could see the pain on her face. It hurt him that she felt like this, and that it was all Jugheads fault. Archie never admitted it to anyone, but he had been crushing on Y/N for awhile. But she was so head over heels for Jughead he never made any moves. It hurt him too that Reggie had gone after her before he did, and he wanted to respect the deal him and his football buddies made, and he didn't want to screw over Jughead because he knew he was in love with her too. But maybe he could help her, make her less heartbroken. He had to at least give it a shot.
"You alright?" he asked tenderly. Y/N turned her head, and looked over to Archie. He could see the tears threatening to spill from her eyes, and he felt his chest tighten. Y/N shook her head slowly, and he watched as a tear fell down her face. He quickly pulled out of the parking lot, trying to distance Y/N from Jughead. She started to full on cry, and he let her, occasionally mumbling things like "I know, it sucks and I'm sorry." And "it's going to be okay, I promise." It only took a few minutes to get to Y/Ns apartment. Y/N lived alone, emancipated from her parents, and somehow made enough money to afford a small one bedroom one bathroom apartment for herself.
"I'll walk you upstairs." he said, jumping out of his car and rushing over to open Y/Ns door. She slowly dragged herself out of the car, and made her way up the stairs to her door. She unlocked the door, and let her and Archie in. Archie closed the door behind him, and Y/N sat herself down on a small couch. "I don't think I've ever been in your apartment." Archie said looking around.
"Well, welcome to my home." she gave a sarcastic laugh, but Archie could hear the sadness in her voice. "I think the only one who has been here is Jughead, he lives with me from time to time." she said, and sighed. Archie nodded his head. It was a pretty nice apartment for being so small.
She had a small couch, facing a tv that was old but not too old. It was functional at least. She had Christmas lights up around the entire small apartment, with small Polaroid pictures she had taken of her, and her friends, and the outdoors. He walked over to the pictures, and looked at them. There were a lot of her and Jughead, and when he looked further he found some of him, Betty, Veronica, and Kevin.
"I didn't know you had these hanging up." Archie said, admiring them. He found one of Y/N and him, his team had just won the first football game she had ever been too, and she begged him to take a picture with her. He had taken her phone out of her hands and opened the camera, but she quickly stole it back and pulled a small Polaroid out of her bag.
     "Nope, we're gonna use this!" she beamed. She took the picture, and another, and soon enough, Betty, Jughead, Veronica and Kevin joined in. Even Cheryl at some point, which was weird, but she was going through her brothers death so no one opposed. He looked around the wall and found all the pictures from that night. Everyone looked happy to be in each other's presence, even Cheryl. It looked as if they had all known eachother for years.
     "These are some of my favourites." Y/N said, and Archie quickly turned to face her. He hadn't even noticed she had gotten off the couch and was by him. Her face was plastered with a smile, and her eyes glowed with joy. She took a picture of her and Archie off the wall and handed it to him.
     "What are you doing?" he asked, turning the photo in his hand.
     "You seemed to like that one, so you can have it." she smiled up at him.
     "I can't take this from you. It's yours, they mean something special to you." he tried handing the photo back, but she refused to take it.
     "You're right, they are very special to me. I try to forget life before Riverdale, I act as if it doesnt exist. I wasn't in the greatest of situations and these remind me how far I've come. They're the memories I want to remember. But as you can see, we took a lot of pictures that night, in fact, I see 4 others that are just of me and you. So you can take that one, I promise it will be alright." Archie smiled at her and looked down at the picture.
     "You sure?" he asked.
     "100%." Archie looked up at Y/N again, and they locked eyes. "Thank you for being there for me Archie. I appreciate you so much. I don't know what I'd do without you." she whispered.
     "Always." he said, grabbing her hand. Archie couldn't stop himself when he started leaning in, and he glanced to Y/Ns lips back to her eyes. Y/N started leaning too, and she closed her eyes. Before their lips met though, Archie's phone went off. The two of them jumped and quickly separated. Archie pulled out his phone, and saw a text from Jughead.
     "Someone text you?" Y/N asked.
     "Yeah, Jughead." he said, and he watched as her face fell. He opened the text, and sighed.
     "What does it say?" she asked quietly.
     "Please tell me Y/N is okay. I really messed up with her and I can't stand the thought that I hurt her. I love her Archie, and I think I'm ready to admit it." Archie read the text out loud, and Y/N backed up to the couch slowly.
     "He...he what?" she whispered. Archie's heart fell, how could he give her up after tonight. She obviously felt something, why else would she almost kiss him. Or was it out of desperation? Only time would tell.