bitter heart - a jeronica fanfic

part five

I sat down at the table in the small trailer my father and I lived in- well mostly I lived in, since my father tended to go out at night and not come home. Betty chose to sit at the seat across from me, her eyes still filled with concern.

"What happened, Juggie?" she asks, and I shake my head.

"Don't call me Juggie. It doesn't feel right. I'm not your Juggie anymore either," I say coldly, and she nods reluctantly, rephrasing her previous question.

"What happened, Jughead?" she asks, and I sigh, not knowing how to phrase the story any way that didn't make me seem completely psychotic. So I didn't phrase it any differently, and told her flat out what I thought.

"I was questioning Cheryl and Toni- and I think that they're hiding something. I kind of lost it, and they told me to leave. I was just walking away from Toni's trailer after leaving when you saw me," I say, and Betty tilts her head, confused.

"You seemed pretty worked up for just a suspicion, Jug. You're paranoid," she tells me, and I consider this for a moment.

I definitely was paranoid of everyone and everything now, since Veronica's death. I mean, who wouldn't be? One of her closest friends killed her, and if even those closest to me couldn't be trusted, who could be?

"I guess," I reply weakly, allowing Betty to take control of our conversation.

"I think all this investigating business is really getting to your head, Jug. You shouldn't be putting this much pressure on yourself, you've just experienced a very traumatic event," Betty tells me, and as she rambles on I get lost in thought.

Maybe I was being too hard on myself- my girlfriend had just died. And these interviews didn't seem to be going very well, and my patience certainly wasn't holding up against the strain of the investigation.

I sigh, and Betty stops talking.

"What?" she says, and I realized that I had just rudely interrupted her.

"Sorry," I say, and she gives me an annoyed glance before returning to her previous lecture.

"What I'm saying is that you need to relax. Unwind. Spend time with people you love- and not for the investigation. Have some fun, Jughead!" she tells me, and I can't stop myself from chuckling.

I can't even begin to remember what it's like to have fun- ever since Veronica died it's like my whole body and gone numb. She really was my lifeline, and I owe her my life. Now I don't know what to do with myself, since she's gone.

"How am I supposed to have fun?" I ask after a long silence, and Betty immediately perks up.

"Well for starters, you could go to sweet water river with Archie, Reggie, Cheryl, Toni, and I today. It would be a great way for all of us to bond after losing Veronica- we need each other now more than ever," Betty tells me, and I raise my eyebrows in silent agreement.

She isn't wrong, isn't that what they always did in the movies anyway, after someone died? Spend time with each other and grow and grieve together? Or something like that. It didn't sound like something I'd normally be into, but I knew if Veronica was here, she would want me to do.

She would want me to have fun.

I groan and reluctantly reply, "Alright. I'll come. But Toni and Cheryl probably won't want to talk to me- it might be tense."

Betty grins and disregards my last comment, "They'll be fine! Oh this is fantastic, be there at 3pm sharp!"

She skips out of the trailer, and I hear the door close softly behind her. I roll my eyes but can't suppress a grin. I had no idea how she stayed so perky all the time- she had to be on something. But no- Betty is the perfect girl next door. Straight A's, student body president, you name the club, she ran it. She was just so...