Jughead laid wide awake, despite it being the middle of the night. It wasn't the first night he had ever been plagued with insomnia and it wouldn't be the last. As usual, the lack of sleep made his mind swirl, lost in thought. This time, the first thing on his mind was that he ought to find time to fix the curtains. All the city lights coming from the outside were as pretty as they were annoying, according to Betty.
He looked down from the orange and yellow lights reflected on the ceiling to see her sleeping peacefully by his side, and a smile found its way to his face upon remembering how they'd gotten together.
After all, it was another one of those cases where life had just been waiting for the right moment.
They had been friends for as long as he could remember. Since kindergarten, it had been Betty, Archie Andrews and him. The three musketeers. As they grew up, their friendship didn't change much.
That is, until they got to that age where boys and girls start paying too much attention to each other. And just as Archie started looking at every girl in the school, Betty started having eyes and feelings for Archie, starting a cycle of awkwardness that was just shy out of a sappy teen novel. At the time, Jughead understood the appeal. His best friend had abs, good looks, a voice to shame even the most talented birds and a heart of gold, what girl wouldn't want him?
He had watched Betty pine for Archie, while Archie was just too dense to notice her. Many times he thought about yelling or shaking the redhead, but something always stopped him.
His own feelings for her, most likely.
When he started noticing girls, she had been the first one on his mind. But between his own shyness and awkwardness, and the fact that she was in love with Archie, he thought it would never happen.
Pushing down his feelings for her allowed him to see other girls, and in no time, he was following the path guys in his age did. First was Toni, a hot pink-haired girl from the Southside. Then Valerie, Anna, and a new girl named Evelyn. And those would be the ones that lasted for over a few weeks.
Fast forward to getting a scholarship and moving to New York City, that part of his life only improved. He knew he sounded like a douche when he admitted he didn't remember most of his one night stand's names,, but that was the truth.
It was this - moving to New York City - that brought him to the moment where everything changed. With Archie and Betty also living and studying in New York, they had this regular once in a fortnight date, where they would go out to catch up and have fun.
That night, somehow, both Archie and him ended up doing what they always did, talking to girls and trying to get lucky, not noticing how it was bothering Betty until she literally called them out on it.
At some point Archie asked if she was okay, and that was when it all came to a breaking point.
" Seriously ? I'm far from okay, you idiots! You don't fucking know how to have eyes for only one person! You always go around with a girl while looking at another! Is it really that hard to keep it in your pants?"
Their first reaction had been to just stare at her, mouths open. And while Archie had tried to explain himself - something about being single now that his latest fling had dumped him - her words had hit Jughead deep. It was then that he finally understood what he was doing and how shallow he'd become. He had been too distracted to stop her from getting up and leaving.
"Jug! Aren't you going to do something? Betty's pissed, man!"
"Shit!" Getting up, he went after her.
She was standing on the sidewalk, hugging herself because of the cold breeze, while cursing at her cellphone.
"You're right. We're being idiots," he said,trying to wave a white flag.
