No one ever said that it would be this hard

Chapter 27

♾ Betty ♾

The next morning, I woke up in my bed. With a slight difference to the past months: Jughead was with me again. We weren't anywhere close or even touched, just each one at either end of the bed.

But he was here.

And that was enough.

I rolled around, reaching out to touch his face softly. His brows furrowed, though he relaxed again. But he woke up as soon as I started to play with his hair, his eyes fluttering open.

"Betty?" He asked, sounding confused.

"Yes?"

"You're s...still here?"

"Yes" he groaned, rolling on his back. Jughead stayed quiet, blindly reaching for my hand.

"And you're p-pregnant"

"Yes"

"O-Okay..." he exhaled "we work... work together again?"

"Yes, if you want"

"I do" Jughead nodded, sitting up "but we need to d-do something then"

"In what way?"

"In 'us'. If we are s-supposed to work out a...again, then we need h-help. I don't- think that I can do it a...alone. But I want us to be normal again"

"Me too, Jughead. What do you suggest?"

❤️🖤❤️

Couples therapy, apparently.

We emailed a couple ones. However, most had a waiting list and the soonest we had was only in a month. That was too long. We only had three months — at most — until the twins were here. We needed to use every free second in order to fix this.

But we didn't really have any choice.

During the waiting, Jug and I just tried to somehow go back to normality again. I still had to go to school, so I left at seven in the morning, Jughead still slept then. When I came back at four, he was gone, at work, usually and didn't come back until late evening. There still wasn't much talk between us to be honest. All we really did together was eat dinner together, if Jug wasn't back too late, and then go to bed. We slept in one bed though, together, each one on their side. Sometimes we woke up cuddling. Sometimes Jug had a nightmare and I just pulled him closer until he would calm down again.

When it was actually time to go to the therapist, he shut off even more to be honest. He didn't talk on the drive and during our first session, just said the least thing necessary and only when he got asked directly. To be honest, it wasn't that exciting yet. Just normal questions to figure out who we were and why we were here.

"That was okay" I tried and he just nodded, fixing his hair again before leaning back in the seat. That was all that was said in the car as I drove us home. Once parked, I got out and waited for Jug to get out too in order to lock the car.

"Can- Can I just have a minute? Or... Or maybe five. Five s-sound good..." he said, not meeting my eyes. I hesitated but then nodded.

"Yeah, yeah sure. Just don't take too long, okay?" He nodded, so I closed the car door before walking over to our house. I got out my keys and unlocked the door. After walking in, I left it open for Jug to walk in when he felt ready. I headed in the kitchen in order to prepare some food. Shoving the pizza in the oven, I heard the door getting shut. Jughead just pulled off his jacket when I walked over.

"Everything okay?" I asked. He nodded.

"Yes, t-thanks for waiting"

"Do you want to go to the couch while we wait for the pizza? It's going to be another 20 minutes"

"I'm not... really hungry" Him not hungry? That's new. I furrowed my brows and walked over to him, wrapping my arms around him, though he pulled away from me "D-Don't touch me, p...please"

"Sorry, sorry" I apologized, keeping two feet distance between us "I forgot, Jug. I just- I'm worried. Are you okay?"

"Yes, why n...not?"

"It's just- I don't know. Just how you act"

"Well, I'm fine. I just... just you know, tired — which is also why I'll g-go upstairs to go t...to bed"

"But I made your favorite pizza"

"I'm just t-tired, Betty. Today has been... been a lot. Don't wait up for me anymore, I'll just s-sleep now" he said, walking past me. Though he hesitated and then walked back to me "sorry t-that I just shrugged you off like t...this but I just- I'm exhausted, r-really" he said, cupping my face. Jughead lingered for a moment and I already thought that he would kiss me, though he then pulled away again before quickly heading upstairs.

I let him go. I didn't want him him to feel forced, so I left him in piece. I had half of the pizza and put the rest in the fridge. Maybe he became hungry at some point and would get it for a midnight snack. The last time that he ate something was breakfast yesterday.

By noon, I went upstairs to knock on the bedroom. I don't know if he slept the whole time or what he did but I slept on the couch — to give him enough space. I knocked on the door but got no answer.

"Jug?" I asked. No answer. I slowly twisted the doorknob to peek inside. He was laying in bed and sleeping, curled up on himself and the blanket on top of him. I walked over to him and sat down on the edge of the bed. I rested my hand on his face and drove my hand through his hair. He stirred a bit and then his eyes fluttered open. His eyes widened and he sat up, shaking a bit. Though upon blinking a few times, he relaxed again.

"Betty, h-hey. What- What time is it?"

"Two, in the afternoon"

"Oh. What a-are you d...doing here?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you're okay. You have slept through the whole night and half of the day. I wanted to wake you up — and ask you if you wanted the pizza now" I said and he nodded hesitantly.

"Yeah... Yeah... Uh sure"