Weirdo - Jughead Jones

Epilogue

Wow guys.
We're here.
We made it.

Five months later

Summer had finally come to Riverdale. It seemed like we were at Pop's even more often. In fact, we were there now. The school year had just ended, making way for a happy summer with all of the bad things behind us.

I laughed and sipped my milkshake, surrounded by Betty, Archie, Veronica, Kevin, and Jughead. The feeling of school ending seemed to wash me completely of stress. I enjoyed every moment of it.

When the laughter died down, Jughead took my hand under the table and said, "Guys. I guess we should... uh... tell you something." He used his other hand to scratch the back of his neck. "We're— Maddie and me.... uh...."

"We're dating," I finished for him. He squeezed my hand under the table and I squeezed back.

I looked to the others to see their reaction. They all burst into laughter. Jughead and I looked at each other in confusion.

"You really think that we didn't know?" Veronica asked. "You two are so obvious."

I laughed a little and smiled at Jug. "I guess we're obvious."

He returned it. "Guess so."

I embraced the evening summer breeze as Jughead and I walked to my house. We were holding hands, walking in a comfortable silence. The horrors of five months ago were finally retreating to the past. We were starting the summer as new people.

Before I could see my house in the distance, Jughead stopped. I turned to him, and before I could ask what was wrong, he held my face in his hands and kissed me. I smiled and kissed him back and he leaned me against the wall that we had been walking alongside.

We were like that for a while. I grinned when he pulled away. "What was that for?"

Jughead only looked into my eyes and shrugged, smiling back at me. He then took my hand and pulled me forward as we started walking again. More comfortable silence fell upon us.

As soon as I opened the door to my house, Baby jumped on me. He went crazy when he saw Jughead, who began to laugh and play with him. I laughed as I watched my boyfriend wrestle with my dog.

"What took you two so long?" I looked up to see my dad's teasing eyebrows raised.

"Nothing," I told him, unable to hide my smirk.

"Yeah, sure," he chuckled. "Hey, Jug." He pulled Jughead in for a hug, which made me smile widely.

My dad had come out of his coma about a week after I got out of the hospital. Since then he has completely recovered. He lives with us again, and is happily in a relationship with my mom again. Mom stopped drinking as soon as I was in the hospital. Unfortunately, Jughead's dad was still in jail, but it was proven that he did not pull the trigger. Archie and his dad had kindly opened their house to him for the time being.

I hugged my dad before following him and Jughead into the kitchen.

"God, that smells good," Jughead murmured.

"I think you only come here because of the food, and not because it's your girlfriend's house," I laughed.

"I think you're right."

I laughed again and slapped him lightly on the arm.

Jughead offered to help my dad cook, which my dad was pleased about. I watched them work together for a moment. He was always so sweet to my parents.

My mom arrived with a vase of flowers to set on the table. She smiled when she saw me. "Just in time. Will you help me set the table?"

I nodded and began to retrieve dishes from the cupboards. I exchanged glances with Jughead, who grinned at me while chopping up mushrooms. I grinned back at him, and it seemed to be stuck on my face for the next couple of minutes.

After setting everything up on the dining room table, my mom took my hand and squeezed it. I squeezed back.

"He really is sweet," she said softly, smiling at me.

"I think so, too," I chuckled.

My mom brought me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed tightly.

"I hope you can forgive me," she said. I could hear her voice getting low.

"I do forgive you, Mom." I gave another squeeze. "I love you."

She sniffed and let me go, giving my a wide, warm smile. "I love you, too."

"We got hot spaghetti here."

Mom and I turned to see Jughead carrying a large bowl of noodles with a pair of oven mitts. My dad followed with the bowl of mushroom tomato sauce.

"Thank god," I sighed happily.

"Thank Jughead," my dad said. "Chopping those mushrooms like a pro."

Jughead laughed. "I barely helped this master chef, but thank you." He met my eyes and smiled a little wider, his eyes glinting.

We sat down and had dinner, talking only about the good things in our lives. When I looked around the table, all I felt was love. I wanted this moment to last forever.

It was a long dinner, and once it was over, my parents washed the dishes as they told Jughead and I to pick a movie to watch.

As I led him to my room, my mom called, "Keep the door open, kids."

"Oh my god, Mom."

We both laughed as we walked into my room. Jughead sat on my bed and leaned backwards to lie on his back. I sat next to him and did the same, staring at the ceiling with him in silence.

"I want to be here forever," I heard him say after a while.

I turned to face him and cuddled up to him. "Me too."

He turned his head to look at me. His blue green eyes met mine and stayed there. So many words passed between us in that moment without either of us saying anything. He then moved forward and softly pressed his lips to mine.

"I love you," Jughead told me.

"I love you, too."

He kissed me again. "Weirdo."

I laughed and put my hand in his hair as he kissed all over my cheek. "Weirdo," I giggled.

We laid there, laughing and kissing, knowing that the worst was behind us. We had been strong enough to get through the storm, and we were still strong enough to defeat another. But for now we didn't need to fight anything. Right now it was peaceful and warm and bright. It made me feel like everything was going to be okay.
It was. And we stayed there forever.

The End

Thank you all so much for supporting this book. I really didn't expect people to like it, and it feels so good to hear from you guys. Also, I don't want it to end! I am currently composing a book of Jughead oneshots! Stay tuned if you're interested!

Until next time! Thanks, Weirdos :):):)