Our Lustful Summer

Chapter Ten: Jealous

(Archie's POV)

As Veronica and I were heading to school, she began to talk to me about the song, and I tried to hold my composure as best as I could, but..

I began to cry when she brought up his name.

"Archiekins?" She asked with a worrying expression while trying to keep her eyes on the road. "What happened last night?"

I went into painful detail of what I saw last night, leaving out Betty and I's encounter since we hadn't even talked about it yet.

She started to pat and rub my shoulder with her free hand as we parked in the student parking lot at Riverdale High, and as we got out, boy was there a sight to behold.

Kevin was standing there with a bunch of students with signs, and before I could wonder who this elaborate set up was for, Jughead rolled on in and Kevin's eyes perked up as he saw him.

Great. This is just what I needed to see so early in the morning today.

Veronica began to tug on my arm, knowing what was about to happen and that I shouldn't be there for it. I stopped her, needing to see it with my own eyes (again).

When Jughead started walking toward him with his coy smile (I'm getting flustered just thinking about it again), the students lined up on either side of the sidewalk started holding up signs.

"JUGHEAD"
"WILL"
"YOU"
"GO"
"TO"
"HOMECOMING"
"WITH"
Kevin held the last sign, and read it aloud as he flipped it over.
"Me?" Kevin asked in a semi-confident but also a totally nerve-wracking tone.

Jughead looked around and laid his eyes on me. I could see all the hurt and all the anguish that his eyes portrayed, making sure that he knew all of the emotions that mine were displaying back, while also making sure that he knew what I saw last night in the music room. He abruptly looked away from me after staring for a moment too long and turned back to face Kevin, smiling.

"How can I say no to you?" He said with a bit of pep in his voice as Kevin pulled him closer and planted a huge kiss on his lips and wrapped him in a hug.

As Ronnie and I started to walk away, I turned around again to see Jughead staring at me. I just shook my head and walked away, getting all the closure that I needed in that single moment. We were over and I wasn't about to wallow in self pity another moment longer.

I was walking a lot faster than Ronnie, as I was absolutely distraught with what I had just witnessed, and was so much in my own head that I didn't even realize Betty was standing right in front of me until I bumped into her.

I count into her elbows and we both stood there in silence for a few seconds looking into each others eyes before Betty broke the silence.
"Hey, Arch," she said in the best morning perky voice she could muster up.

I took a shaky breath before replying back.
"Hey, Betty."

Ronnie was standing from afar witnessing the whole exchange and I could see from the corner or my eye that she was piecing together everything.

That was when I heard the sounds of footsteps approaching closer and then heard "Hey B, milkshakes later at Pop's?"
Veronica approached us and threw her arms over both of our shoulders. Betty threw a smile towards Veronica and she nodded.

She turned to face the both of us.
"I hope that you don't mind, Betty, but I got to enlist Archiekin's help with a little homecoming project, so we'll talk to you later!

Before I got a chance to answer, she grabbed my hand and pulled me away. I waved a goodbye to Betty as we went into an unused classroom, a confused look on Betty's face present as she started walking toward the Blue and Gold's office.

The atmosphere was beyond silent you could hear a pin drop as Ronnie and I walked into the unused classroom, the only sound heard was the door being shut and my intensely heavy breathing.

I was sat on the nearest table looking up at the ceiling, when Veronica spoke up.

"Archiekins, I know what happened between you and Betty.

She took a deep breath before adding further, "Pray tell I don't know specific details of course, but it is evident you kissed? Want to talk about it?" she walked across the room and sat on a different table.

I stop staring at the ceiling and muster the energy to bring myself to face Ronnie whilst taking a long awaited deep breath.

I begin to twiddle my thumb over the other round and round before opening my mouth to talk about what I had been holding in.

"Ronnie, the night I saw Jug and Kev in the music room, I ended up at Betty's house looking for someone to talk to about what happened. Betty and I did a little more than kiss, in the heat of the moment we lost our virginities to one another." I looked down at my feet so I couldn't see the look on Veronica's face.

I heard footsteps walk closer towards as I felt V take my hands in her own.

"Archiekin's, I can't say much about what happened, as that is for you and B to talk about amongst each other.

She takes a break, and squeezes my hands to assure me it is okay before continuing on.

"However, I feel what has happened is natural as you are hurting and acting on feelings you have had for Betty for a really long time."

I moved my gaze away from Veronica for a moment before looking back into her eyes and we sat in silence for a brief moment.

I took in a really deep breath before I opened my mouth and spoke.

"You always know what to say Ronnie," I say with a half smile and a tear trickling down my face. I have had feelings for Betty since I was a young boy and they have grown stronger over the years as we have grown."

I stopped and paused for another moment to gather my thoughts before speakig again.

"Alas, I love and adore Jughead and I truly want us to get back together."

Veronica stayed silent for a moment before looking me in the eyes.

"Archiekins, you're a passionate guy and when you love someone, you want to do the absolute best you can do to ensure that they know it."

I looked up and smiled at her before she continued on.

"The feelings you have for a Betty of course are valid, but I am not blind and I can see you are completely in love with Jughead. I will do everything in my power to bring you two back together in time for homecoming."

I pull my gaze away from Veronica and look down into my lap, when in that moment I opened my mouth.

"Veronica, you are right, and those moments shared with Betty were special, and I need to talk to her about it. But I do want Jughead back, as I love him with my whole heart."

She let go of my hands and stood up from where she was sitting looking down at me before speaking.

"Archie, we have some serious work we need to do, so come along and we can get started on Operation: Beanie!"

I stood up with the usual Archie Andrews pep back in my stepped and followed shortly behind her, hopeful for the first time in a while.

END OF CHAPTER TEN