Betty x Jughead || Smut

Chapter 7

Betty paced the interior of her frilly, flowery bedroom, and thought about how she'd wanted to redecorate it this summer. Nothing too edgy, but maybe not so much freaking pink, something a little more like what a woman's bedroom instead of a little girl's. But Alice wouldn't hear of it. She wanted Betty to stay young and innocent forever, and by making her keep her childhood quilt on her bed, she thought somehow would also keep Betty just like she was when she was eight. Little did Alice know what very mature things she and Jughead had done on that lacy, pink blanket.

It had been less than twenty-four hours since Polly had taken a cab away from Veronica's and to the Blossoms' estate. How could Polly have left her? Again. Having Polly move into the Blossom's was like losing her sister all over again. It hurt worse because she had just got her back. Their family wasn't as perfect as everyone in Riverdale thought, but they always stuck together. At least until her parents had ripped the family apart when they sent Polly away. Betty was afraid that after all of this, her family would never be able to meld back together again.

All her life, Polly had been the favorite daughter, favorite student, favorite River Vixon. Betty was forever referred to, not as Betty Cooper, but always as Polly's sister. She didn't mind it, though. She loved Polly with an adoration that only a little sister could. She had desperately wanted Polly back, and was excited for the prospect of having her in the house again. It had been so lonely this summer without Polly. Nothing had been right with the family since Polly left, and now that her dad was gone, too, Betty wasn't sure her house would ever feel like a home again.

Betty peaked out her curtains to the Andrews's house. All the lights were still off. No one was home. She'd seen Archie and his dad leave a while ago in Fred's truck. Jughead had told her a little bit about the fight he and Archie had gotten into the other day. She knew Archie was jealous of them, but she had no idea why. Archie didn't see her that way. If he had, he would have made a move years ago. All it took for Jughead was to spend a few late evenings with her at The Blue and Gold and he kissed her. And changed everything. Archie had had a lifetime, and he missed his chance with her.

Jughead had told her he was job hunting this afternoon and would be busy, but it was after nightfall now, and she hadn't heard from him. There had been no new leads or evidence in the murder investigation since Jughead had been taken into questioning. That meant Jughead was still under suspicion and the killer was still out there. Both made Betty nervous. No one else in Riverdale had died, so the killer probably wasn't of the serial variety, but she and Jughead had openly been snooping around, and killers usually didn't like that. That's why she was walking back and forth, back and forth, wearing a tread in the rug in front of her bed.

She told herself to calm down. Jughead was fine, and he was busy with looking for a job. She sat at her vanity, and when she did, she saw the prescription bottle of Adderall, that her mother had refilled despite Betty telling her not to. It wasn't the only medication her mother had pushed on her. Speaking of drugs, Alice Cooper was in a close-to-catatonic state herself. During the day, she popped Adderall like breath mints, and at night, to calm her brain enough to sleep, Alice relied on Ambien. It was still early evening, but Alice was asleep, dead to the world.

Betty took her own medicine bottle and tossed it into the drawer of her nightstand. She still wasn't sure if her sister was sane or not, and she knew for a fact that her mother was unhinged, and there were times she worried that the mental health problems were hereditary. Maybe it was just a matter of time before she lost it, too.

Then there was her dad, a man she thought she could love and trust, a respite from the storm of her demanding mother, but she had learned that maybe she didn't know Hal Cooper at all. And she had hoped that she'd taken after her dad in the not-crazy department, but now she wasn't sure a single Cooper was sane.