Falling Apart

Chapter 32

With the graduation around the corner, everyone is stressing about college and waiting for the letters what still haven't been sent out. So are we. Waiting for our letters from Harvard, hoping we got in.
“Two letters,” Nick announces and drops them on the table in front of us as we're studying in the kitchen. We both look at each other anxiously and take our letters. Harvard University.
We rip them open rapidly, making Nick chuckle as he sits down. He came here for only two days, but that's a lot since he's not leaving Sarah. The baby should be born in a few weeks and he is extremely worried he won't be there by that time or it will happen during hone of his concerts.
I skip the first part of the letter, knowing Jughead does too and go right to the answer. Yes. I freeze and look at Jughead with a shocked face. He looks at me the same way. Now is the problem. If I did get in and he didn't, we're doomed. “What does it say?” I ask, scared.
“What does yours say?” he asks the same way. We stare at each other for a few more seconds and them quickly exchange the letters. Yes. It's a yes. I'm going to Harvard. I basically jump on him and he wraps his arms tightly around me as well. We hug for a long long time.
“Can you two stop now? It's my turn,” Nick whines, making both of us chuckle. I quickly wipe the few tears away I have and hug my brother. He kisses my cheek at the same time and then hugs Jug as well. “I’m proud of you two. Seriously.”

“Yess! Guys, our lyric worker just smashed those songs,” Kev says, coming in the room with all the cast for the musical. We smile and he hands all of us a copy od our new changed song lyrics what is ‘appropriate’ for high school apparently. Since only seniors are supposed to do everything, it's one of the students who changed it. It's genius, honestly, just some things are so stupid that I'd wanna laugh my head off. “And you're all free for tomorrow, don't forget, tomorrow is your costume fittings, some Serpents have really done a good job.”
We smile and get up. I kiss Ronnie's cheek fast and she smiles, following Reggie somewhere. I go to the corner of the room, where Jughead is basically sleeping, camera on his lap. He looks adorable. I sit next to him and brush that hair back under his beanie that has fallen out. His cheeks go red as I kiss his cheek softly and then his eyes open tiredly and he turns his head towards me slowly, looking really tired. He smiles at me, but my hand goes back on his forehead, not liking the heat.
“Baby, you have a fever, for sure,” I say softly. He leans on me and hides his face into the crook of my neck. I kiss his beanie and pull out my phone to text dad to come and pick him up.
So in about 15 minutes, he's here. He sighs, seeing that Jug is basically sleeping on me, looking pale. “You need to go to class,” he tells me. I nod and look back at Jug who moves a little and then tiredly raises his head up, looking around confused.
“Hey,” FP says and touches his forehead, which Jughead hates. He hates being taken care of when he's sick. He loves being the one who takes care of everyone, not the other way around. “She’s right, you have a fever,” FP sighs. “Come on, I'll take you home. He helps him up and I see Jug leaning on the wall with closed eyes for a moment and then opens them and looks at me sadly. I give him a soft kiss. “Let me guess, you have to stay here,” he says.
“Yeah, but I'll be home in three hours, just go to sleep,” I say and kiss his cheek. He nods and kisses my hair.
“Stop kissing each other if you don't wanna get sick,” FP says.
I roll my eyes. “Bye.”

Jughead's sleeping on the couch, under a duvet, because he has obviously been cold before. I sigh with a little smile and go to him. He isn't wearing his signature beanie, because the heat in your head isn't good during that period of time. I brush his hair off his forehead again and kiss it.
His eyes go open slowly and he smiles at me. “Hey,” I whisper and keep stroking his hair. “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” he says and purses his lips to get a kiss. I smile and peck his lips softly. That leaves him satisfied. “Can you cuddle with me?” he asks tiredly.
I chuckle. “I’ll get some more comfortable clothes on, okay? I'll come in a minute.” He nods and I stand up.
I end up wearing my sweatpants with one of Jughead's S T-shirts I love to sleep in. When I go downstairs, he is sitting up just a little more and eating. “You’re the only person I know who can eat while being sick. Who wants to eat,” I grin.
“I'm unique,” he says and lets me climb under the duvet, next to him. I snuggle close to him and he wraps his arms around me and kisses my cheek. “Hi,” he whispers, making me chuckle.
“Hi baby,” I say and kiss his chin that I reach. “Come on, I'm tired. Let's sleep.”

I feel Jug rapidly unwrapping us from the blanket and the getting up and running somewhere. I sigh and go after him. I discovered yesterday that I'm not the only one who hates puking. He literally can't let it out because he starts panicking. I squat down next to him and start rubbing his back a little. “Come on, relax,” I say quietly.
With a few seconds he does and starts puking. I try to help him and look away at the same time. I hate looking people throw up or myself throw up. But I need to help him. So I help him rinse his mouth afterwards and take him back to bed.
“I hate being sick,” he mumbles, letting me snuggle back into him.
“Yeah, I can see that,” I say. “Come on, let's keep sleeping,” I say tiredly, hiding my face into his neck.
“I have a feeling I'm not the sick one here,” he chuckles.
“I just like sleeping, baby, you know that,” I say and kiss his forehead. “Come on, you need some rest.”
“I just need you,” he mumbles in my hair and kisses it before we fall asleep.

“Come on, tell us,” Nick says.
“No,” I chuckle.
“We wanna have a dinner, but she doesn't agree with us,” Jug says, cuddling me at the same time.
“’Cause it would feel weird. You've all been here, we've all been together,” I say.
“Nott Matt though,” Nick says.
I narrow my eyes at my phone. “Are you seriously agreeing to this?”
“Well, we're all coming anyways, right? It could be fun,” he says.
“As long as you're bringing Noah, I'm fine,” I say. They chuckle at me. Noah is his son. He's like 2 months old now and I wanna see him so badly.
“We're all coming, Betty. And Matt would like the dinner,” Dan says.
I sigh and look at Jug sadly. “Come on, it'll be fine. I've never seen him.”
“Yes you have, through the screen,” I say.
“It’s not the same,” he says and rolls his eyes.
“Hey, how's the musical going?” Jake asks.
“Hard,” Jug says. “Imagine sitting every day for two hours and watching them do the same scene over and over again.” We laugh at him and I kiss his cheek.
“No, it's great. I mean it's gonna get boring for you if you have to watch high school students sing and dance and act for two hours straight, but it's fun to do,” I say.
“It can't get boring. You're in it, I'll literally watch you all the time,” Dan says making me smile.
“She’s great. She plays a bitch, I love watching her dance,” Jug says.
“I've seen Heathers, Jug,” Nick smirks.
“Well, that's great,” he grins.
“What's with the dancing?” Jake asks with a confused look.
“The Heathers have to dance sexy. The candy store,” Nick says and points at me. “You better not overdo it, girl.”
I smile and look at Jug. He smirks. “Oh, they're all overdoing it.”
“I’m not,” I chuckle.
“Right,” he says and kisses my hair.

“Hey. You told your brothers?” FP says right after he comes to the living room.
“Yes,” I say with a pouty face.
He chuckles. “As I can see, they agreed.”
“They didn't just agree, they liked the idea. She says they betrayed her,” Jug smirks. They laugh at me and I show them my middle finger, making them laugh only more.
“Seriously, Betty. It's not that bad,” Jelly says. “You can see your nephew.”
“I could see him without that stupid dinner too,” I say.
“You still have two weeks to get used to the idea, baby,” Jug says. I roll my eyes at him and rest my head onto his chest.