"Juggie?" Betty peered around the door to the living room, calling for her boyfriend questioningly. She pressed her lips together to supress a laugh at the sight of Jughead slumped into the couch, arms crossed over his chest. His face was creased into a deep scowl as he kept his eyes locked forwards, refusing to turn and look at Betty.
"Still sulking, I see?" she mused, leaning against the doorframe and watching him with a smile on her face.
"I'm mad at you" he ground out, still not looking her way.
"I can see that!" She laughed at his childish pout. Pushing herself away from the doorway, she shuffled towards the couch and slid onto the cushions next to him. She lifted her legs to tuck beneath her, angling towards her boyfriend. "Anything I can do to redeem myself?"
He blew a deep breath through his nose, and rolled his head along the back of the couch to look at her. While his blue eyes, roamed her face, his features were still twisted into a frown. Betty quirked an eyebrow at him questioningly. "Nope, still mad at you" he huffed, turning away from her again.
"I'm sorry Juggie," Betty whines pleadingly, placing a hand on his chest.
"You cheated, I'm sure of it" Jughead proclaimed accusingly, making Betty giggle, raising both eyebrows at his statement.
"Oh yeah? How did I cheat?" She teased, her voice was thick with amusement, wondering what he would come up with. Clearly his ego had been deeply bruised by the whole event.
He was silent for a moment, thinking over his reply, before quickly sighing "I have no idea, but I'm sure you cheated." All he was accomplishing was making Betty giggle more, causing him to grow more frustrated with her.
"I didn't cheat Jug, I'm sorry" she started playing with the collar of his shirt as an attempt to soothe him, making sure to let her fingers brush over the sensitive skin of his neck. She smirked as he saw him shifting in his seat, clearly affected by her movements.
He cleared his throat before crying "but you must of!" turning and facing her fully. "I mean come one, no one is that good at scrabble." The seriousness of his whole composure insights a fit of giggles in Betty that she could no longer hold back. Jughead was sulking because after a series of tedious games with Archie and Veronica at game night, Jughead had demanded to play something more intellectually challenging, growing bored of the likes of Pictionary and go fish. Though Archie and Ronnie had retreated home at Betty's suggestion of scrabble, Jughead had been more than eager to challenge her. Whilst at first he had done pretty well, it didn't take long before Betty completely dominated the game, beating him by a landslide. Apparently, the loss had struck a nerve
"I don't like it when you laugh at me Betts" he pouted. "I'm serious, my ego is hurt! I'm a writer, if there is one game I was supposed to never lose it's scrabble!" He huffed, flopping back into the couch again.
Betty shifted herself so she was planted sideways in his lap, making his gaze dart to her. "I think you're forgetting something Jug" she hummed, looping her arms around his neck, "I'm a writer too." Jughead's concentration faltered momentarily when he felt her dainty fingers begin to thread through his hair, an action which made him weak in the knees. "My vocabulary stretches just as far as yours," she continued, "I just chose not to exercise it in everyday conversation like you do."
His eyes snapped open where they had fluttered shut, soothed by the gentle massaging of her hands in his ebony curls. "Unacceptable!" he proclaimed, scooping Betty up behind her legs and bringing her to stand with him whilst she squealed at the sudden movement. Once he placed her firmly on her feet, Jughead turned to face Betty. They weren't quite nose to nose, considering how tall he was when he stood at full height, but it was pretty close.
"Betty Cooper, I challenge you to a rematch" he declared, smirking at her. One of her perfectly shaped eyebrows shot up in surprise.
"Didn't think your ego could take another hit Juggie, I mean you've only been sulking about the first loss for 1 hour and..." she grabbed his wrist to look at the watch that rested there, "37 minutes," she giggled.
"Oh Betts," he reached to cup her face and softly pulled her in to place a brief kiss on her full pink lips, "this time, I'm gonna destroy you at scrabble"
Betty bit her lower lip, holding back a smile at his newfound confidence. "Bring it on Juggie."
--
Three games later, Jughead was convinced Betty had every word in the English dictionary committed to memory. She had beaten him at every single game, and each time Jughead reacted by yelling at himself with frustration for a few minutes, whilst Betty watched him howling with laughter, before he sat down again and began gathering the tiles to prepare for another game.
"Fine, FINE! I concede defeat!" he shouted, throwing his arms in the air dramatically and slumping back in his chair. "I'm never playing scrabble with you again."
"Are you bored of sulking yet?" she asked, scraping the tiles together and scooping them into the bag.
"Nope. Gonna milk this for a little while I think." He muttered, watching Betty shake her head at his stubbornness. When she started to walk past him towards the kitchen, he caught her hand and pulled towards him, so that she fell onto his lap. With a smile, she shifted so that she was straddling him, placing her hands on each side of his face, stroking his skin softly with her thumb. "How come I had to fall in love with a girl who's so much smarter and prettier than me?" his tone was dripping with teasing sarcasm, making them both grin widely.
"I don't know Jug, I think you're very pretty" she teased, pushing the dark curls away from his face, so she could lock eyes with him. "But you do suck at scrabble."
"Shut up" he grinned and reached up to pull her face to his, they both smiled into the kiss.
Jughead has never won a game of scrabble.
