the other boys ⇨ jarchie

3

archie.

after finally getting into my house, i pat vegas on the head and rush upstairs to my room. alright. it's time to settle scores and sort out the drama between jughead and i. or betty and i, but i doubt she wants to talk to me. do i say it to his face, or do i text him? or, we could settle for the middle option of calling.

i pick up my phone and scroll to the very bottom of my contacts, and i tap the familiar name of 'juggy.' i click his name, taking a deep breath when his phone starts to ring.

i'm sorry, the person you've called has declined your message.

i grumble in frustration. i knew he would do this. i ring the contact again.

i'm sorry, the person you've called has declined your message.

one more. just one.

"what do you want, archie?" jughead sighs through the phone.

i sit up straight. "listen, i'm not calling to argue or be at each other's throats all the time. i know things are really complicated between us and you low-key hate me—"

"arch, i do hate you."

"—i know you hate me, and i'm not asking to be best friends again. i want to ease the tension between us, okay? i know i've been a dick in the past, and i'm still a dick now, but i'm sorry for everything i've done to you and betty. i know that sorry isn't going to end it, but sometimes i say things that i don't mean and they slip out: when i'm angry i can't control myself. so i'm asking, for you to just bear with me and see if i can become a better person," i say, biting my lip anxiously.

jughead hesitates. "ugh, fine. i'm sorry too. but you've got to realise that all of the shit you did really hurt betty, and especially me. but take this as a warning, because if you do anymore fucked up things, i'm not taking anymore chances."

i hear a sniffle from the other end. i frown. "jughead, are you crying?"

"no, boys don't cry, boys don't cry," he repeats to himself, probably grabbing tissues left right and centre. "fine, i'm a pussy. but i'm being serious, andrews, if you dare do anything stupid— like, if i see you in the back of sheriff keller's cop car, i will backhand you so hard that even your ancestors will feel it."

i laugh. "alright, jughead, see you later."

"bye archiekins."

we hang up, and i smile. archiekins. oh, how much i've missed the nicknames. i'm so happy that we've finally got that off our chests. i don't think he's gonna loosen up straight away, and i'm not expecting him to. we used to be so close, we shared secrets and stayed up until midnight telling 'ghost stories' which were really just metaphors for all of the bad things that happened to jughead. his dad would be the werewolf, to symbolise that he had no control, and his mom would be the vampire, who was greedy and wanted to take more than she wanted to give. even at age 8, he always had these ways of putting his experiences into stories, life imitating art. when we played those games, betty would always want to be the mermaid, which wasn't ideal, because none of us owned a swimming pool.

i think jughead had always known that he was a boy trapped in a girl's body. until the age of 11, he didn't know what being transgender was. at school, he'd tie his long hair up and tuck it all into his beanie, and whenever a teacher said his name, he'd reply with 'my name is jughead, and i'm a boy now!'