Falling Apart

Chapter 18

"Hey," Nick says softly as he enters my room. I know I'm supposed to be downstairs with my brothers and his girlfriend, but I'm broken. So fucking broken. I even told Jug to go home. Because I can't see him hurt because I'm crying.
He comes to me and pulls himself on the middle of the bed, sitting in front of me. I don't look up from my knees, arms wrapped around my legs, face hidden inside them. "Betty," he says and touches my hair. "It's not your fault. You didn't leak that information."
"I'm the only one who knows," I cry into my knees.
"Well apparently you are not. Someone's trying to hurt you for some reason," he says sadly.
I look up from my knees and his face grows even more worried as he now hears how long and big my sobs are. "You- believe me?" I ask between the sobs.
"I do. We all do. Jug does too," he says.
"He didn't leave, did he?" I cry. He chuckles sadly and shakes his head. He's downstairs.
"Come on, let's go downstairs," he says sadly. "We can make you feel better."
"No," I cry. "They all hate me."
"No one downstairs hates you," he says, making me chuckle quietly, 'cause he knows what I mean. "Come on, please? We've all missed you. And the boys have missed you more than you could think."
"I don't wanna ruin your mood," I murmur as he wipes my tears away and kisses my forehead making me calm down a little.
"Our mood is already ruined, Lizzie. Just come downstairs with me," he says. I smile at that a little and feel him kissing my hair. "Come on."
I sigh and get up. I drag my feet with me and slide my phone into my pocket, waiting for more of these messages, though I'm not sure why. They all smile a little as they see me. I walk to Jughead and sit down on his lap, pulling my legs up as well. He wraps his arms around me and kisses my temple softly.
"You knew my best friend was dating my sister and you didn't tell me," he says softly, making me smile.
"I didn't know anything, I just saw them kissing."
"I hope dad didn't find out," he mumbles to himself.
"He wouldn't be mad," I breathe out and look at him. He raises his eyebrows, not believing it. "Really, he's awesome," I say.
"With you. He loves you," he smirks. Our phones do the message voice again and I tense up. I gulp and look at Nick. He shakes his head, telling me not to look at it. I do the opposite. I take it out and look at the message.
Betty Cooper. Problems in paradise much? Dad in jail for mentally and physically abusing her all her life. Therapy sessions once a week.
Here's a fucking picture of me and Jug cuddling while sleeping in my bed, covers pushed off, because we were hot probably. I'm in my short pajamas and he is in his boxers, his arms around me. We can see the scars on his arm, a circle drawn around them. And then all the scars on mine. The one what I've gotten by cutting myself, the ones by my dad cutting me. My shirt is moved up a little, revealing the purple, black, yellow bruises what the doctors said will never go away and the pink scars. The shorts are showing the cuts on my legs as well. The picture has been made during the last two months, because I don't have any bruises on my arms or legs.
"Betty? Who is it this time?" Dan asks softly as I keep staring at my phone screen with widened eyes. I get another notification.
Juggie😘 added Cheryl Blossom to Ganggzzzzzz
I look at Jug, but he types something and then I get the message too.
It's Archie.
I look at the picture again in shock. Why would Archie do something like that to all of us? Why would he torture me? But yes, it is made from Archie's window. For sure.
Jug's arms tighten around me and I look at him sadly. He kisses my cheek. "Baby, stay here, okay?"
"Where are you going?" I ask sadly.
"Calling a few Serpents, taking care of it." He places me to sit on the couch and gets up, but I grab his hand into mine. He sighs and looks back at me worriedly.
"Don't kill anyone," I say. Even my brothers don't laugh, they can see the look on his face at the moment.
He starts smirking now. "I won't kill the carrot."
"Don't get him in the hospital either," I say quietly.
"Can't promise you that," he says between his teeth and leans down, giving me a kiss on my forehead. "I'll be back soon." He gives my hand a little squeeze and jogs out of the room and the house. I sigh and pull my knees back to my chest, resting my chin on it. For some reason, the fact that everyone knows about my secret hurts less than the fact that they know about my friends'.
"First, he loves you," Jake says, making me smile a little. "Second, can you explain everything, because I don't understand a shit?"
I let out a shaky breath, not even laughing at that. "The messages were about my friends. Most of the things, only I know. So now they hate me because they think it was me who leaked them."
"I'm not that stupid, sis," Dan smirks. I chuckle quietly.
"He's in a gang called Southside Serpents. He's gonna be the leader after his dad's retirement. The Northsiders are scared of him. They're dangerous, so he went to call some friends or even his dad, I'm not sure, to kill Archie, the redheaded boy next door, who leaked that information."
They're all in shock. "Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait," Nick says rapidly. "You're dating a junior gang leader? You know he's dangerous, but you still are dating him?"
"Does he look dangerous when he talks with me?" I ask him. "No," I answer myself. "He's not dangerous, the Northsiders think they sell drugs and kill people, but they don't." I roll my eyes.
"Wow, you like bad boys," Jake smirks.
"Only one," I murmur to myself.
"Now, who's this redhead again? How do you know he leaked all of that? How could he even do that?" he continues.
I shrug. "His window faces mine, he's the only person who can take this photo," I say quietly, looking down again.
"What photo? The last one's about you?" Sarah asks. I gulp and nod, looking up with my eyes, meeting with Nick's. He's looking at me sadly as he stretches his hand out. I put my password in and place my phone on his palm.
"You're acting like a dad," Jake grins at Nick.
"Good to know," he mumbles, making me smile a little. He looks at the picture, his teeth pressed together at first, but then in a few seconds he starts smiling and looks up at me. "This is extremely cute."
"Oh shut up," I say and grab it back.
"Can I see?" Dan asks and takes it from me rapidly.
"Well obviously you're not waiting for the answer," I say, resting myself against Jake who wraps his arm around me.
He kisses the top of my head and sighs. "Well at least you can wear short sleeves now without anyone caring," he says to me.
"Have you not been to high school?" I ask him. "Everyone will do something about it. I just hope most of them bully me not look at me like I'm pathetic," I mumble.
"Seriously?" he chuckles. "You're worried that everyone's gonna pity you?" he asks.
I give him the look and hide my face into his shoulder. I feel him sigh and kiss the top of my head.

"Betty?" I hear Jake whispering. I let out a small sigh and pull my face out of his shoulder. He's grinning. "How can someone fall asleep like this?"
I chuckle tiredly and rest my head on the back of the couch, his arm around me anyways.
"B?" I hear Veronica's voice beside me. I wince and look at her, my hand flying onto my heart. She smiles at that a little.
"I'm sorry," she says quietly.
"You're the only one except for Jug who believed me," I tell her. Nick clears his throat. I start grinning and so does Ronnie, but we don't say anything about the fact that my brothers are supportive.
"Not about that... It's Archie."
I sigh and nod. "Apparently. You think he's mad at me because of you?"
"I'm certain, yeah. He's mad that you made me break up with him."
I hear Dan chuckling quietly. "You made someone break up?"
I roll my eyes. "He's a jerk and she just needed a talk to get enough courage to do it."
Ronnie smiles sadly. "Anyways. I'm kinda mad you didn't tell me that your boyfriend's sister is dating one of our best friends," she says. I let out a quiet giggle before she continues. "And Kevin's going to Fox Forest?"
"You're leaving out the best stuff," I smirk.
She sighs and looks down. "Cheryl has a crush on me," she says quietly.
"Mhmm. What do you think about that?" I ask and lift her chin up. She's smiling a little. I start smiling so big. "I. Knew it."
"Yeah, apparently you know everything," she smirks and kisses my cheek.
I hear the front door open. Jug comes into the living room, his dad following. I raise my eyebrows with a little smile. He freezes. "Right. Am I supposed to knock now?" he asks awkwardly.
We all laugh, even FP. "I mean since here are more people now, you could knock and then walk right in?" I ask.
"Right," he grins and comes to us. He smiles at Ronnie sadly and then squats down in front of me. I smile a little and let him take my hands to pull me to sit up normally so that I could hear if he says something to me quietly. The first things I notice is his right hand's knuckles though.
"What happened?" I ask worriedly, taking it in both of my hands.
"Uh, he stepped away and I ended up punching the wall once. It's okay," he says. I furrow my eyebrows and slide my fingers over his bruised and bloody knuckles. He doesn't even flinch, just keeps staring in my eyes. I bring his hand to my lips and kiss the bloody places for a few times and then sigh, looking into his eyes. I see the worry and lust in his eyes. He wants to kiss me right now, but doesn't know how I'd react to do it in front of my brothers. I have the exact same feeling. Can I kiss him in front of his dad? Fucking sexual tension, I'd just want to rip his clothes off right now, but it isn't the right time or place. So I just lean down, cupping his face and kiss him softly.
When we pull away, we both breathe out of our mouths, our foreheads together. This was a good passionate kiss. I'm still not recovering from it. I want his body against mine. I need his skin against mine.
I start to lean in again, but as I feel his lips really close, I know I shouldn't kiss him. If I do, it's gonna end up me on his lap, both of us naked. So I pull away rapidly instead, opening my eyes. He does the same and then his hand moves up to push some of the hair behind my ear, but he stops and fists in instead. "I'll see you tomorrow. I'll walk you to school, okay?" he says between his teeth. I give him one single nod and he pushes himself up and looks at Veronica. She gets up, probably they'll give her a ride home.
"No wonder I've never seen you two kiss if it takes so much time to recover," she tells me, making my brothers laugh, but me just look at Jug longingly. He does the same.
"Come oon," Ronnie laughs, takes his hand and pulls him out of the room.
It hurts. I drop my head on my nape and close my eyes, trying to breathe in fresh air that doesn't have his scent with it.
"I've never seen someone have sexual tension in real life. That is strong, dude," Dan chuckles and high fives with someone, probably Jake.
"Shut uuup," I whine, sliding my fingers into my hair and tugging on it hard.
"Are you crying?" Nick chuckles.
"No," I lie and wipe my tears away rapidly. They chuckle at me. "Leave me alone," I mumble.
"You're still hungry, right?" Jake asks. I look at him, tilting my head a little, and nod. He gets up. "You have food?"
"I don't think so," I say and they all look at me with raised eyebrows. "What? I eat at Pop's."
He rolls his eyes and goes into the kitchen anyways. I feel my lips curling into a smile and I move to the other side of the couch just that I could lean on someone, right now it's Dan. He chuckles and wraps his arms around me, kissing my head multiple times before I grin and push him away.