Weirdo - Jughead Jones

23: Calm

I took a deep breath before walking closer to the door. It was the morning after we found the car and Polly broke out.

"Mom?" I knocked on the door.

"Hm?" I heard a distant voice.

I paused before carefully opening the door. She was in bed, probably hungover but not drunk. "I just," I started. "I just wanted to let you know that we... that dad's flannel was found in the forest, close to where Jason Blossom would have been on the fourth of July."

She stared, saying nothing and not seeing me. I could tell it was registering.

"Do you, um, have any idea why it would be there?"

Her lip pouted a little bit as she shook her head, still not looking at me.

I hated this. This person was nothing like her. I didn't know where my mom was. I missed her.

* * * *

Later that day I was in my room, reading. So much had happened that I completely forgot about schoolwork.

My phone started buzzing, and I looked to see Jughead's name. I accepted the call and raised the phone to my ear. "Please don't tell me there's another investigation we need to do today."

"Guess what," he replied.

"Ugh," I groaned. "What is it now?"

"Open your window and you'll find out."

With that I turned around to see Jughead at my window, smiling with his phone raised to his ear. I couldn't help but laugh and go to let him in. "Hi."

"Hi," he grinned. As soon as the window was open he quickly placed his hand in the back of my neck and pulled me in for a kiss. I smiled into it, my hands on his upper arms.

We lingered after pulling away from each other, our faces still close and our hands in the same place. "Are you gonna keep standing out there and reaching through the window, or are you gonna come in?" I asked.

He chuckled and released me before climbing through the window.

"So what is it?" I asked him. "Who's car do we need to track down now?"

"I was kidding," said Jug. He smiled and looked at my hand before gently holding it. "I thought we could just have an 'us' day."

I couldn't stop smiling as I hugged him, burying my head in his shoulder. "I like that idea." Jughead chuckled again and swayed us a little, holding me tightly. "So what are we doing?" I asked him.

"I was thinking we could just stay in and watch some movies. What do you think?" He pulled away just enough to see my face.

"I think yes."

"Okay. Good."

"Good."

"Weirdo." He grinned.

"Nerd."

"Dork."oh

"Bitch," I sang.

Minutes later we were on my bed looking through Netflix on my laptop.

"Ooh, Alien." He murmured as we were looking.

"Alien? Isn't it scary? I can't do scary."

"Alien is more Sci-Fi than horror." He replied.

"Yeah, but Sci-Fi can be scary too." I turned my head to look at him. We were both laying on my bed; he was propped up on his elbow and I laid down next to him.

"Well, if it gets to scary, tell me and we'll change it." He nonchalantly moved a piece of my hair behind my ear. "Deal?"

I leaned into his hand. "Deal."

* * * *

I stared at my laptop screen, readying myself for another jump-scare. Without thinking, I shuffled backwards to get even closer to Jughead, who was spooning me. I had been doing this throughout the movie, and even when I couldn't get much closer, I still shuffled backwards. He was warm and it calmed me down.

When I did it again he chuckled. "Y'know, this is cute, but I think you're going to push me off the bed."

"Oh, sorry," I said, distracted by the suspense of the movie. He tightened his arm around me and I held it close.

When the credits of the movie started to roll, I stayed where I was.

Jughead propped himself up on his elbow to look at me. "You okay?"

"Am I okay? Yes," I replied. "Am I going to sleep? Nope."

Jughead laughed and held me tighter. "I'm sorry that I disturbed your brain. I do that sometimes if you're not careful."

"Can we like, watch The Office or something?" I asked timidly.

He grinned and said yes, laying down again by my side.

For that day, everything was calm. We forgot about what was happening elsewhere and enjoyed it while we could.