Letters From Another (Bughead)

Chapter Eleven

A/n Hello! Long time no see.  As I said in the last 'A/n' this chapter is going to be continuing from the last chapter.

Jughead POV

Pounding... Is it my head?  Has my own brain imploded on itself?  I can't tell what's real anymore. 

As the almost rhythmic banging continues I realize the good samaritan of Riverdale has made it to my front door.

I force myself to roll out of bed making sure not to spill my drink that I hadn't remembered pouring.  After stumbling around a bit, I finally make it to the staircase where my footsteps could be mistaken for runaway bowling balls. 

By the time I make it to the door handle I've lost all sense of direction. It feels like I'm stuck in an ongoing nightmare that I'll never escape.

I turn the handle and yanked the door open so fast I'm surprised it doesn't leave a hole in the wall.

I meet the eye line of a perturbed Archie. He stares me up and down like I'm an alien in his best friends clothes.

I brake the momentary silence, "What are you waiting for? Come in."

I walked over and sat on the part of the couch closest to our fireplace. He joined me from the furthest distance that still counted as couch.  One would think I have the plague. 

"Why'd you call me to come over Jug?" I didn't look away from the small amount of fire that remained burning. "Jug what's wrong? Why am I here?"

I gave a deep sigh, "Betty left me."

Betty left me. Betty really left me.

I turned around and studied the face of an Archie trying to make sense of an equation he had just been asked to solve. I guess that sort of reaction is justified in a predicament like this one. Archie, Betty, and I had been together so long. A broken up bughead would really cause a rift in all of our friendships.

After a minute of contemplating what I just said he responds with, "Why would she do that?"

I can't really find a way to tell him the truth without making myself look like the guilty party. At this point I feel there's nothing more to lose.

After taking a large breath, I look back at the dwindling fire. I feel like it will be easier to tell him what happened if there is no eye contact involved.

"To sum it all up, I cheated on Betty."

Archie POV

"Betty left me."

I was in shock. I could never imagine Betty leaving Jughead. What could Jughead have done to make  her walk out on the love of her life.

After I let it sink in I countered back, "Why would she do that?"

He focus returned to the fire, "To sum it all up, I cheated on Betty."

Jughead cheated on Betty? How could Jughead ever cheat on Betty?

"Why the hell would you do that?"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW." He yelled back at me. "I was fucking bored. I had never been with anyone besides Betty since high school. We got married and had a kid so soon after we graduated. I never got to live out that part of my life where I could be with other people and I was curious."

He was curious? Is that supposed to be an excuse for hurting one of our best friends since childhood? What did he expect to hear from me after saying all of that?

"You were curious? Is that supposed to be an excuse? I thought you love Betty."

I was cut off, "OF COURSE I FUCKING LOVE BETTY. IT WAS A FUCKING MISTAKE."

"HOW CAN FUCKING ANOTHER WOMAN BE A MISTAKE JUGHEAD?" I was done with his bullshit. He can't go through his entire life not taking any credit for his mistakes.

He was taken aback by my comment. I took this as proof that he hadn't been confronted often until this day. I'm sure he wasn't receiving the feedback that he wanted from me, but I didn't care. I'm going to take the side that I believe is morally right, and he wasn't right in the slightest.

Jughead POV

"HOW CAN FUCKING ANOTHER WOMAN BE A MISTAKE JUGHEAD?"

He was pissed, and honestly, I didn't blame him. Even though we were like brothers, Betty was like a sister to him and that meant even more. 

Once we had shared the silence for what felt like an appropriate amount of time, I started again, "I'm sorry Arch, I didn't mean to put you in the middle of a situation like this. I really had no one else to call."

His eyes softened.

"Listen Jughead..." he started slowly, "What you did wasn't okay and I can understand why she left."

"Geez Arch thanks for that."

"Jug you didn't let me finish..." he said. "Even though you did a massive screw up, I don't want this to be the end of you two. I know you love her, and Juliet, and I also know they love you." I really hoped that was still true. "If you really want me to help you with this you have to tell me the full story."

A/n So the next chapter is going to be in Betty's POV right after she left the house.  I was thinking of starting the next "Jarchie POV" chapter (Where he's explaining what happened with Betty) from when he first met Toni. Yes or no? 

If you didn't see the A/n in the last chapter, I changed 'Haley' into 'Toni'.