Slowly Giving Up ~Bughead~

Chapter 9

          Jughead's POV: I decided to play the movie Betty suggested, "Rebel Without A Cause". I couldn't even tell you how many times we watched the movie as kids, but I estimate right around over 100,000,000 times. Every single night she would want to watch it, but Archie wouldn't let her. I didn't exactly mind...because she's Betty.
          People started arriving at the Drive-In, but each face I saw come in didn't have the face of Betty. The movie was starting soon, and Archie didn't have them here, yet. How wonderful.
          Finally, at the last minute, I saw the blonde headed girl arrive. She looked nice, wearing a pink sun dress, covering it up with a blue cover up. Next to her was the raven haired girl, looking good, but not as good as the girl next to her. And then there was Archie. Standing in the middle of the two girls wearing his football jacket, like he owned both of them. I noticed Veronica's arm locked with Archies, clearly making Betty uncomfortable at the sight.
          I always hated it when he did that. Before Veronica got here, every time Archie would be with Betty he would always trail off in a conversation he found in reach of another girl. He was a nice guy, but he didn't pay attention to Betty's feelings. I would always be sitting of in the distance, watching him wrap his right arm around a girl while Betty thought it was them that were on a date. And every.single.time Betty would run off unnoticed, and I would follow her. She'd lead herself to the loneliest corners, and sat and cried. She poured her heart out to the guy, and he still didn't budge. All I could think while watching her...was how stupid Archie can be sometimes. And then she'd pull out a wipe, and clear her face clean of makeup. She'd gather her jacket, stand up, and leave. But what I regret most, was never helping her on those heartbreaking days of hers.
          Back to reality, Betty saw me and gave Archie and Veronica one last look, and left. She walked over to me, and smiled when she reached her destination. "Jughead! You played my movie!" She said while hugging me. There were no other hugs like Betty Coopers. When her arms flew around you, your heart skipped a beat. You could smell her amazing scent, and want to never let go. But, wanting is not a need. Or is it in this case?
          She pulled back, and so did I. "I did, I thought the last night should have a special movie, and not some modern times fantasy." I said while smiling. She smiled back, and I noticed she had light lip gloss on, making her lips shimmer from the now forming moon, taking over the invisible suns place. It made her lips a pale pink, matching her cheeks.
As the clock ticked eleven o'clock, it was time for the movie to start. "I have to start the movie, but I see Veronica and Archie sitting together in Kevin's truck over there." I said. She turned away, and thanked me again. I made my way to the film room, inserting the film so it would play. I wasn't playing the movie for everyone here, I was playing it for one girl out there, sitting in the back of a truck with Kevin Keller, the gay best friend. A girl that always looked gorgeous, and a girl that I knew every little thing about. I knew things about her that Archie didn't even know, and she's told him a thousand times. And me? She didn't even have to tell me for me to know. She was resting her head on Kevin's chest, while he was eating popcorn like he hadn't eaten in days.
          Betty's POV: I looked over at Jughead watching the film through a small window. The light was shining on his face, and he was sucked into the movie like he was there. The movie was at my favorite part, and I had a feeling Jughead knew it, too. Because right when the scene started playing, the light moved from the front of his face to the side of his face, because he turned to look at me. And I looked back. At that moment time stopped, until I was forced to look away. I felt Veronica and Archie move to get up, and she was holding his hand taking him somewhere. I knew what she was doing, and I hoped he didn't reject her, too.
          "Looks like they're gonna have a good night." Said Kevin while putting three pieces of popcorn into his mouth. "Did she tell you her plan?" I asked. He looked down at me. "Yep. And if it all goes wrong, be prepared to be a shoulder she cries on." Said Kevin. "A shoulder?" I asked. "Yes, because as much as that girl likes him, she's gonna need Jughead's, too. And that's saying something." Kevin joked while we both laughed.
          I was getting hungry, so I got up to go get some food. "Do you want me to get it?" Asked Kevin. "I'm fine. Thanks, Kev." I smiled. As I walked up to the booth, the worker wasn't anywhere to be found. "Hello?" I asked. No reply. I heard a quiet sound off in the distance, so I walked cautiously to the noise.
          It was coming from the woods, so I stepped in and jumped slightly at the sight of Veronica and Archie together. Kissing. It was uncomfortable, but I was happy for him. I don't know if I still had a small feeling for him leftover, but I couldn't help but wonder. "What if he would've liked me back? What would've happened?"
          Jughead's POV: When the movie credits were playing, I looked for the smile that escaped Betty's mouth every single time. But, she wasn't there. The only person I saw was Kevin, surprisingly crying. Tears of happiness or sadness that the movie ended?
          I took the movie out as people were gathering their things and starting to leave. I realized that this was the last night. The final night. And the tears began swelling up, and one by one bursted like a freshly blown bubble. When most of the people were gone, I still saw Kevin. He was looking around, looking for something. Betty, I suppose. I looked for the pink dress, but I couldn't find it. I walked out of my room and went toward the food counter. She wasn't there. But then I saw a footprint, in the mud leading to the trees. I followed them, one by one, until I was looking down and bumped into her. The girl I was looking for. "Juggie! You scared me!" She said. It looked like she had tears in her eyes. "Betts, what's wrong?" I asked. She looked down. And now I knew for sure she was sad. "Hey, hey, it's alright. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." I said. "I thought I was over him. I really, really did. But..it still hurts when I saw them kissing." She pointed to Archie and Veronica laying in the grass, talking. That's why we were whispering. "It's ok. It's his loss, Betty." I said trying to comfort her. "Thanks, Juggie." She said. She hugged me again, but this time it wasn't a good hug. It was the best hug I'd had in a while. Maybe even my whole life.
          As we let go, we heard shuffling of branches, and there was Kevin. He looked scared, and jumped when he saw us. "Jeez! I thought you guys were like, murderers or something. Don't do that!" Said Kevin with a hand over his heart. We all laughed, and then walked out of the forest. We didn't mind getting Veronica and Archie, because we knew they just wanted each other at this moment.
          When Betty got into Kevin's truck, Kevin asked me if I wanted to come. I live here, so it wasn't even an option. "Thanks for everything, Juggie." Said Betty out the truck window. I smiled at her. "And thank you both for giving me a heart attack!" Said Kevin. I looked at him. "You're still here, aren't you?" I joked. "It's called invisibly dying." Whispered Kevin. "Like, paranormal stuff." He added. "Ok, Kevin. No more scary movies for you." Said Betty. She said bye again, and I watched the truck leave with Betty staring out the back window at me.
          I locked up the film room, and picked everything out of the tiny room that was mine. I stuffed it into my book bag, and left. I stared at the room I called home for a few minutes, and then, I officially let it go.
          I walked up to my treehouse area, and turned into the path of trees. But what I wasn't expecting that night, was to find my treehouse. The treehouse I was counting on. Broken to pieces. I ran up to it, and fell onto my knees. "No..." I whispered. And then I yelled. "No!"
          Off on the side of the now broken wood, I saw a baseball bat. Lying there, still in the grass...was the small thing that caused me sorrow that night. And I didn't know what I was going to do next.
And it was just the beginning.