Under pressure

37: Happy 16th! (Part 1)

March 14th

Betty's POV

I wake up to Jug kissing my hair and then kissing it again. And again. I feel his arms tighten around me as my face is buried into his chest.

He kisses my cheek and my temple and then my ear a few times. So it's one of those mornings when he wants to cuddle and kiss and hug even more than usual. Gosh I'm lucky.

"Juggie," I mumble as he starts squeezing me even harder. "I can't breathe."

He loosens his arms a little. "Sorry," he whispers and keeps kissing me.

I giggle and pull my face out of his chest tiredly. "Can't you like... Let me sleep?" I ask.

He frowns sadly. I cup his face, "I know you're in the cuddle mood again," I whisper. "But I'm tired."

He smiles a little, "Okay."

I put my head back onto his chest after I peck his lips softly. He starts fondling my hair softly and sometimes kissing it. At least it's calming me and putting me back to sleep.

But then there's one thing he does, making me wake up immediatly. "Happy birthday," he whispers.

My eyes go wide and I quickly look up at him. He is smiling down at me lovingly, but it changes into a worried look as he sees the fear in my eyes.

"What's wrong?" he asks. I climb toyally into his side and curl up as a ball. He wraps his arms back around me.

"Baby?"

"My dad," I say quietly. "I mean.. Hal. Not my dad. Not your dad. Hal." I start spiralling.

"Calm down, tell me what's wrong," he says worriedly.

"He'll... He'll come. It's my birthday. He'll come here." I feel hot tears running down my eyes.

He sighs. "Betts, he won't come here."

I sob, "What if he will?"

"I'll stay with you the whole day, okay?" he asks.

"We have school," I say quietly.

"Crap," he says and looks over at hid phone. "It's 5 only."

I sigh and look at him with scared eyes. "It's wednesday, we only have two classes together."

He sighs. "Sweets and Fangs are some of them. And so is Cheryl or Ronnie or anyone. You won't be alone."

"But they don't make me feel safe." I wrap my arms around his torso, "Only you do that."

He looks at me, a big grin forming onto his face. "Do you even realize how badass you look for everyone else and then how adorable you are with me?"

I roll my eyes, annoyed now. He kisses my temple. "They'll be with you. And Hal wouldn't come to school. He'd for sure get noticed... And I'll come to see your soccer practice, okay?"

I nod slowly. He kisses my forehead. "Keep sleeping, I'm sorry I woke you up."

"It's okay," I sigh and kiss his cheek. He holds me against him while I fall asleep.

7am

"Happy birthday to you," they finish the song. I grin as I blow the candles out and then roll my eyes as they start cheering.

I'm sad, so they're trying to make me happier. Right now it worked. I got over my fear, 'cause I talked to Jug about it for about half an hours after we woke up. But I'm sad, just like I was most of the Christmas and New Years Eve. Right now it's my first birthday without mom. I wanna cry so bad.