Matches ♕ Bughead

♕ | Chapter Twenty-Four

chapter twenty-four: MIA

♕betty♕

IT'S A TERRIBLE feeling, waking up in a place that offers no recollection of the night before. I sit upright rather abruptly, rubbing my eyes to better adjust to the dim lighting of this unfamiliar place. For a moment I'm frozen in fear, having no idea where I am only to be comforted by a sleeping Jughead laying on the floor beside me.

I smile as he sleeps, a voice in the back of my head telling me to look away, reminding me that watching someone sleep is in the nature of a creep, in which I am not. No matter how hard I try, I just can't look away. He looks so peaceful as he sleeps, like he's completely stress free. I realize now that this is the purest form of Jughead I have ever seen; this is the real Jughead, the one that hides behind the shadows. My heart skips a beat knowing he invited me to hide behind the shadows with him, trusting me with his secretes.

Slowly all the events of last night flow into my mind, like a cellphone loading information. It appears my brain's wifi is a little slow today. I glance at the digital clock on the table, frowning as I see it's nearing nine a.m. I would've hoped to get up nice and early today, jump to a head start in finding Polly. As much as I was angered that we didn't look for her last night, I know Jughead was right; I wasn't myself last night, wasn't thinking clearly. It almost felt like there was a ghost standing in my place, acting out of character and following rules abided by darkness.

I slowly stand and make my way to the bathroom, cleaning myself up. My hair is all knotted and my mascara has chipped away under my eyes from sleeping, the black drawn on my face like a raccoon. I quickly fix myself up, making my appearance presentable the best I can before moving onto my clothes.

My sweater is stained with blood, causing my heart to drop. What the hell?

Only then do I remember I cut my skin on glass, the bandage still fresh and clean on my hand. A faint smile crosses my lips as I remember Jughead last night as he struggled to tend to my wound. There were a couple times there when I thought he was going to faint. If he fainted than I would have probably fainted, and then we would all be in trouble.

Not knowing what else to do, I text Veronica and ask her to bring me a shirt. I refuse to return home at the moment, as Jughead and I have more important things to do. That happens to include getting breakfast, and organizing a search party to find Polly who has gone M.I.A.

Shoving my phone back into the pocket of my jeans, I leave the bathroom and wander down the hall, slowing down my pace a little as I glance at the few photographs on the wall. There isn't many, only four. They're the only four photos I've seen in this house so far.

I bite my lip as I stare at the photos, recognizing Jughead in each and every one of them. All of them are pictures of Jughead and his sister, Jellybean, with none of them including his mom or dad. They're all happy pictures, Jughead smiling widely. His teeth in all of them are crooked and huge seeing as this was pre-braces. Guessing by how old Jelly is, I'd say Jughead was only ten in these photos. My heart melts internally as I stare at these pictures, the Jughead within these frames seeming dramatically different than the Jughead sleeping on the floor now. In the photographs, Jughead always has this huge grin showing all his teeth. Now that I think about it, I've only seen Jughead smile that widely once, and it was when he was talking to me.