Flash of Red

Chapter 9

Jughead frowned as he sunk down into a dining room chair, bringing the beer bottle to his lips and taking a drink. "You just got overruled in your own house." He rolled his eyes at Archie's words, leaning back. "Jughead ain't gettin' none."

"You're disgusting, I could care less about that. I care about how close these two are. I kid you not, Arch, they are thigh-to-thigh right now on the couch, there is not even a breath of room between these two." He dropped his head back, squeezing his eyes shut. "God, what if he's a secret boyfriend? What if he's not a friend? I mean, I'm not saying she would lie to me ever but hell, you never know."

"They can't be that close."

"No, they're that close." He took another swig from his beer when Betty let out a belly laugh, a frown heavy set on his face. "I'm going to go."

"You sure you can handle this all alone?" Archie chuckled and Jughead rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I'll talk to you later." He ended the call before Archie could say anymore, dropping the phone on the table before finishing his beer and standing up. He walked into the kitchen, running into Betty grabbing beers for herself and her friend, a name he still for some reason didn't know. "Hey,"

She gave him a smile, her eyes half lidded. "Hi," He put his beer in the sink, Betty closing the fridge with her foot. "I know you're probably going to bed, but Kev and I were going to stay up for a little bit."

"Okay, just come up when you're ready." She gave him a smile, walking away. He scoffed quietly, standing dumbfounded for a minute before walking forward. He paused when he passed the entryway to the living room, frowning even more as Betty threw her head onto his shoulder while she laughed.

It really wasn't his right to be jealous, he barely knew Betty and for all he knew, him and her were just a fling for the time being no matter if he wanted them to be more. He was a friend, he told himself over and over again until he fell into a restless sleep.

~

Jughead woke up to stumbling, blinking his eyes at Betty giggling as she shut the bedroom door. "Betts,"

"I'm sorry, go back to sleep." He sat up as she whispered the sentence, crawling into the bed. "Did I wake you?"

"I-" he swallowed the comment he had, helping her cover herself up and snuggle into the pillows. "No, no you didn't."

"Oh, okay, that's good." Her eyes slowly fell closed and she hugged the blanket to her chest. "That's good..." He sighed, lying down next to her and rolling to face the window.

~

Jughead wiped his hands on his pants and dropped his cigarette on the ground, stomping on it before walking inside the house and into the kitchen.

"Hey, it's about time you're up." He said it with a chuckle and Betty frowned, her friend giving him a glare.

"That's not nice." She rested her head in her hand and Jughead opened his mouth to speak but thought against it.

He sighed as he walked over to the sink, filling a glass with water. "Hotdog was looking for you this morning."

She looked back at him, annoyance in her eyes. "Okay?"

"N-Nevermind." He dropped his cup into the sink, walking away with a sigh as he heard them start talking.

He worked outside for most of the day, ignoring the two of them when he would go inside for water. Really, it was unneeded seeing as she was actively shunning him for some reason. He couldn't tell if it was from his comment this morning or if he had done something else that had pissed her off but whatever it was, there was no need to be this petty over it.