Shedding Our Skin {Jughead Jones}{Bughead}

Chapter Eight

In the end, it was Donny who gave me and Betty, who was still asleep, a ride home.

"We're going to have to get you a car, boy!" He said.

"It would appear so." I admitted.

"You're turning out to be a real leader, you know.." He said.

"I never wanted to walk in and take control, it's just that I was so worried about Betty, I guess I-"

"It's okay, son." Donny sighed, "I think it's what we've needed, after F.P. got taken in. Ol' Pug was trying to take charge, but he's, well, a hothead. He and Mustang used to run before he died, and let me tell you, they were a dangerous couple of fools."

He began to laugh.

"Yeah, I'm not sure Pug likes me that much." I said.

"Don't take it personal, he's like that with everyone; he sees everyone as a threat."

"I see."

By then, we had pulled up at my trailer. I thanked Donny for everything, and then took Betty inside. I tried to be as quiet as possible because I knew she needed her rest. The days of stress were catching up with her.

For a moment, I stared at her peaceful, sleeping face. It was nothing short of a miracle that I got her home so soon. However, it was too soon to tell what state she was in exactly. She didn't get much of a chance to speak.

I crawled into bed next to her, careful not to touch her. I didn't want to hurt her or anything, and I wanted to make sure she got the best rest possible.

I lyed awake for a while and thought about the last few days. It was entirely my fault that she was in that situation in the first place. They knew how much she meant to me. What if they hurt her? What if they would've killed her? She didn't deserve to die, or even be in danger. I knew her to be one of the last few things left in Riverdale worth fighting for. And I almost cost her her life.

It was then that I made the decision to distance her from the serpents and myself. This would be my fight for her.

I woke up with her in my arms.

At some point in the previous night, we worked our way into this position somehow. I closed my eyes, and was almost asleep when she whispered,
"Juggie?"

My eyes shot open and there she was. Awake, and (as far as I could tell) okay.

"Hi, Bets!" I whispered excitedly, "How're you feeling?"

"I'm feeling ok, but my head hurts a whole lot." She replied.

"I'll get you some medicine." I told her, getting up.

I walked into the small bathroom and rummaged through the cabinet until I found some headache medicine, then I brought it to her with a glass of water.

Once she took it, I once again wrapped her in my arms for a while.

"Do you think you would feel up to going out to eat later? Everyone's wanting to see you!" I asked gently.

"Honestly, that sounds great!" She said, smiling her beautiful smile, "I'm so hungry, and I'm just ready for everything to go back to normal."

"I'm sure you are." I agreed, "Try to get a little bit more rest, then we can go!"

She nodded, and fell asleep practically immediately.

When she woke back up, I started calling everyone while she was getting ready.

"Hey, Jughead?" She called from the bedroom.

"Yeah?" I replied.

"Do you have a jacket or something I can wear?" She asked.

She walked into the room wearing a pale pink fitted shirt and a pair of pale jeans she had left over here a while back.

"They took my cardigan while I was in there. Y'know, I just don't feel comfortable not wearing it, and I don't want anyone to see..." She trailed off, looking at her arms and chest, which was just riddled with bruises. Her black eye and cut was starting to look bad, too.

"I'm sure I have something," I told her, "but, first, let me check out that eye and cut."

I sat her down at the small kitchen table and dabbed hydrogen peroxide on the cut, making her wince.

"Shh, I'm sorry Betty, but this can't get infected!"

Once the area was clean, I put a bandaid on it and then got an ice pack for her eye.

"You know," she said, "I always imagined this would be the other way around, Jughead, that I'd be the one patching you up!"

We both laughed. But it was true, it should've been the other way around. She should've never gotten hurt.

"I'm sorry this happened." I told her.

"You couldn't have known it was going to happen."

"It never will again." And I meant that. As Riverdale died, I would ride it out until the end protecting Betty Cooper.

Not that she couldn't take care of herself, because believe me, she could. I just made an oath to myself to help her out when I could.

"Well," I said, handing her the black and white flannel tied around my waist, "there's no way to hide that shiner, but it is looking better!"

"That's true." She sighed, "It'll clear up in a couple of days anyway."

We decided to go ahead a walk to Pop Tate's. I was afraid Betty would be nervous walking anywhere, but she was actually okay. Betty Cooper was one of the strongest people I had ever met.

Everyone was already there when we arrived, and bursting with excitement to see her again.

Sitting at the biggest booth in the building was Veronica, Archie, Kevin, Polly, and Alice Cooper. One by one, they jumped up to greet Betty and hug her.

Betty wasn't lying about being hungry. She ate three hamburgers and we shared four milkshakes.

"Betty slow down!" Alice warned, "You're going to get sick!"

"After the week I've had," Betty said, "that wouldn't be too bad."

A/N: Just asking, if I were to start a Twitter to notify when I'm about to publish and just to keep up with Wattpad things, would anyone be interested in following?

~A.M.