Taking my message from the veins | Jarchie ✓

Five.

As the sun rose once again to greet the small town of Riverdale, Archie hoped that this day would hold more answers to the mystery that was his and Jughead's lives. He rolled over to look at the raven-haired-haired boy sleeping on the mattress next to him, still fully clothed from the night before. Archie's memories from that night were still slightly cloudy since he was only half awake when Jughead returned from his little rendezvous with Betty, but from what he did remember it seemed to have not gone so well. He remembered Jughead coming into his room in the dead of night, he didn't see his face due to the darkness, but from the few words he spoke Archie could sense that he felt hurt. He had no idea what could have happened to make Jughead feel that way, but Archie was going to make it his mission to help him forget about it.

He removed himself from the covers of his own bed and sat down next to Jughead, shaking him gently to wake him up. Archie's soft attempt surprisingly worked and Jughead woke up within a few moments. "Good morning, sunshine." Archie whispered.

Jughead groaned and rubbed his sleep-deprived eyes. "What time is it?" He murmured.

"Half past, we're 10 minutes late." Archie answered, and immediately regretted doing so straight after. It was clear that Jughead wasn't in the right mood or state to go to school, and if Archie was being completely honest with himself, neither was he. Seeing Jughead like this just made Archie want to whisk them both away to a place where all their troubles and the rest of the world didn't exist, a place where they could both be happy with nothing and no one to bother them. That's when Archie had an idea. "Skip school with me?"

Jughead looked up at him with a confused look on his face. Skip school? Archie never skipped school. He had always been the good student who always turned up on time, who always handed in homework on the day it was due, in fact Jughead had never seen him miss a deadline in his life. "Skip school? You?" He asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Well if it means that we have a better chance to talk, then sure." Archie replied. Jughead looked deep into his eyes to try and find any signs of doubt, but there were none. He was being completely serious. "So, are you in or out?"

"Of course I'm in!" Jughead said, a sleepy smile forming on his face.

*

Even though Archie never skipped school, he had to admit that he was enjoying this. Being away from all those distractions in their lives, it almost therapeutic. The two boys had walked from Archie's house to the outskirts of town, where they knew nobody would go looking for them, and had decided to take a break on a bench. There was a brief awkward moment where neither of them knew whether to speak first, considering it was obvious from the start that the main reason they were out here in the first place was to talk.

"Just ask the question, Archie." Jughead spoke, finally breaking the silence.

Archie took a deep breath. "What happened last night?"

Jughead saw it coming long before Archie even asked that question, but it still felt hard for him to answer. "I... I ended things with Betty."

Archie was in shock. He had been telling Jughead to break up with Betty ever since they became a couple, but he never thought he would actually do it. "You broke up with her?" He asked, trying to fully understand what he had just heard.

"Pretty much."

"Dude, I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. Besides, I'm not." Jughead let a small chuckle escape his lips. Now that he had told Archie what had happened, he felt so much better. "I was over Betty long before I called the whole thing off."

Archie was beyond happy that Jughead and Betty's relationship was finally over, and more importantly that Jughead didn't seem even the slightest bit torn up by the whole ordeal. "How did she take it?"