Miss Atomic Bomb (Jughead Jones)

Part 19

I sat on my bed waiting for Jughead to arrive at my house. Betty, Jughead, and I had decided we would sneak into Jason's room during his funeral.

My father would not be making an appearance due to his work schedule and Max was far too young so he was going over to Lilly's. My dad and I still weren't on speaking terms. I knew he was just looking out for me, but he was just making things worse and alienating me.

"Ready to enter the belly of the beast?"

I whipped my head around to find Jughead smiling at me.

I hadn't noticed there was a tear rolling down my cheek until Jugheadsat next to me and wiped it off.

"What's wrong, Mari?" He asked me.

I blinked the rest that we're brimming at my eyes away and let out a breath.

"My dad is just really bad at dealing with his 'problem'." I sighed gesturing to myself

He wrapped an arm around me and whispered softly.

"You are not a problem, you are just a butterfly in a world full of caterpillars and they don't know how to handle you."

I couldn't help but smile at his silly inspirational quote.

"Yeah sure."

He stood up and smirked.

He looked handsome with a suit and tie, his signature beanie still topping his head.

"Wow Juggie, you clean up nice." I smirked as I stood up and walked over to him.

He smiled back, "It was the best I could do."

-6:00 pm.-

Jughead and I took seats next to Betty and Valerie. Archie and Kevin sat in front of us.

"Is it me or does this feel like some type of soap opera to you?" I whispered loudly to Jughead.

Just as he was about to answer Archie swerved his head around.

"Mari, now isn't the time."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh please lover boy it always seems like the time with you."

Archie said nothing and slid back into his chair.

Jughead jabbed me in the side with his elbow.

"Ow!" I squeked a little too loudly.

"Didn't I tell you about Archie?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"What about Archie?"

"His dad found out and Grundy left."

I put a hand up to my mouth and mentally scolded myself. Now I seem like some type of jerk.

I looked around and found Isabelle sitting in the section across from me with two of Cheryl's followers.

I waved and she looked over and gave her classic smile.

I glanced back over at Archie and found his chair was empty.

"Where did A-" I started to say when I saw him with Mrs. Blossom.

He was handing her what looked like a football jersey, more specifically Jason's jersey.

She reached up and touched his cheek lightly and then brushed his hair with her fingertips.

All five of us stared at the scene in horror.

Suddenly Mrs. Blossom must have realized how inappropriate her actions were and she pulled her hand back and said mumbled an apology.

He walked back over to his seat and shad barely sat down When Kevin asked, "Did she just touch your hair?"

Archie ignored the question and Betty swooped in.

"That was really sweet, what you did."

He sighed, "She deserves it more than I do."

Veronica strutted over and took a seat diagonally in front of Archie.

"Days like to day really put things in perspective. I mean, at least we're here, at least we're alive."

Everyone In the group fell silent and I poked Archie's shoulder.

He turned back to me and I apologized, "I'm sorry Arch. I didn't know about what happened."

He gave a half-hearted smile and turned back around.

It wasn't long after that Cheryl walked in wearing a white dress causing the entire room to hush. Everyone looked stunned, even Veronica who had stayed the night. Her parent looked as though they were going to kill her, which I wouldn't put it past them to do so.

"Welcome to Thornhill." Cheryl said as she took a spot at the podium. "Thank you all for coming. If you'll kindly take your seats. I'd like to start the memorial with a few words about Jason. The last time I saw Jason, I was wearing this dress. I know it's impossible. But I swear, when I put it on, it... It feels like he's in the room with me. Even though we were twins, I used to demand I have my own birthday party. Until one year, out of the blue, Jason convinced me we had to combine them into one. It wasn't until years later, I found out why. It was because no one wanted to come to mine. And Jason didn't want me to know." I could feel that she was close to losing it. "He protected me. Every single day. I wish, that day at the river, I had protected him." And then she lost it. "I'm so sorry, Jay-Jay. We failed you. All of us."

Veronica quickly walked up to her and her into a tight hug.

I looked over at Jughead, bewildered, and he lightly placed his hand over mine.

Mrs. Blossom stood up announced that it was time for a "light supper" whatever the hell that meant.

Jughead stood up and pulled me along with him as he motioned to Betty. It was time to go into Jason's room.

I'm back guys lol. Thank you so much for the support and I'm doing much better now. I'm thinking that I'm going to take a week or two without publishing anything and finish the story. I know I just got back, but it would probably mean less stress for me but I'm not positive about what will happen for sure.

QOTD: What are your thoughts on Veronica and Jughead's relationship.

AOTD: I think they needed more interaction between the two of them tbh. They both had some pretty bad daddy issues (I'm sorry for using that phrase) so like I think they could have had more of a connection idk.