5 Years On | Bughead

Seven

"Why did you leave him with me?" Betty demanded desperately through her tears.

Jughead was still sitting there with his arms crossed, trying to let this all sink in. His own tears had stopped - he couldn't touch her. He just . . . couldn't. And then without warning, all the anger came back. The wounds felt fresh, raw. Hot Dog had died because of her neglect.

"Why? Because I didn't want you to be alone!" he yelled. "I was fucking worried about you with your family taking off like that and I wasn't going to be around either. I thought Hot Dog –"

She quickly got away from him. Jumped off the end of the flatbed and just started running. Into the dark. Into nothingness.

What?!

After a second, Jughead ran after her, screaming her name. He was losing sight of her. Oh no . . . Suddenly he panicked. This was all wrong. So terribly wrong.

"Betty please! Please don't leave me. I'm sorry," he screamed into the void when he could no longer see her. "I'm sorry."

He dropped to his knees and wept. "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to . . ."

Betty stopped running and stood there panting in the dark. She didn't realize that Jughead yelling at her would do that - that it would cause her to panic. 'Cause she deserved it - she fucking deserved it. She had needed to come here and face him - to apologize for the worst thing she had ever done in her life.

Even though she had been unable to feel the hurt until much later - when she found she needed to numb herself with alcohol - it had still hurt so damn much when he left her. So much. She started sobbing at the memory. "Oh God, Juggie. Please don't leave me. Please."

It didn't take long before he found her in the dark, scooped her into his arms and held her, whispering into her hair, "I forgive you, Betty. It's okay. I forgive you."

"You can't," she spat and tried to pull away.

He didn't let her get away. He held her firm. "It's not your decision, Betty. I forgive you."