Believer ➵ Bughead

Chapter 16

Jughead played with his beanie as he awaited for Julieta at the front door of South Side High.  She had just finished her performance at the talent show as the closing act. They had let her talk to her friends before going back home. 

Jughead and her haven't talked much about the kiss. Quite frankly, they've been acting like it didn't happen. And he likes that. He doesn't know what he'd do if she would ask him about it. He liked Julieta, sure. But not in that way. 

After they stood there for about 20 minutes, she finally came back in her cream dress and light gold necklace. He smiled, thankful that he could go back to his bed and sleep. Candy grabbed her by the shoulder and kissed her on the cheek.

"You kicked ass out there, mija." 

Julieta groaned and tried pushing her clingy mom away. 

"Moom. There's people around." She replied, blushing as she looked at Jughead.

He chuckled.

"Oh shut up, can't I show my daughter some affection?" 

The trio walked out of the school and headed for Candy's car. However, Julieta stopped them in their tracks.

"Could I talk to Jug a bit first?" She asked.

'Crap.' He thought as he shuffled a bit.

"Sure, but don't spend too much time chatting. We have pizza in the car." Candy replied as she walked away.

Julieta began to walk towards a bench close by. 

He followed her, scratching the back of his neck impatiently. 

They sat down in silence. 

Jughead's mind was fuzzy. All he could think about was that last night where he felt so lonely and just wanted love. 

He eased the tension, by speaking up.

"You did really well out there."

She laughed.

"Wow, nice way to break this shitty silence."

"Sorry, I didn't know what else to say." He blurted out.

He wasn't really good at talking about his feelings, so whenever it came to doing exactly that, he became extremely flustered. 

She shifted closer to him and removed his beanie. 

"Look, about the other night..." She began, running her fingers around the hemming of the hat.

Jug visibly tensed up, becoming stiff.

"Why did you kiss me back?"

He didn't know what to tell her. At this point, he knew that Julieta liked him. It was obvious. And he didn't want to break her heart. He would have to live with the idea that she'd see him everyday, heartbroken and sad. 

But, he also didn't know what he felt for Betty anymore. He still loved her, but he was also still mad at her.

A new period of silence grew between the two. Julieta's eyes widened as she looked at Jughead, puzzled.

He couldn't stand seeing this bright, energetic girl, so broken.

He moved over and kissed her quickly on the lips. 

She closed her eyes, clutching the beanie. 

He lingered there, trying to find some sort of spark.

But there was none. And yet, he was already to deep to back out of this now.

He pulled away, and stood up.