Flash of Red

Chapter 10

The days up until Kevin left came quickly. Betty had spent most of the time with him then spent the night with Jughead, which is when he seemingly needed her most.

He was going through some spiked high of PTSD that he never really experienced before. Sure, he's had the dreams. He's had the good ones where he comes home and she's there, 9-years-old and all, running up to hug him. He's also had the dreams where she's getting pulled away from him by some unimaginable black hole. But those mostly happened right after the accident.

He had never experienced dreams as vivid as the ones he was having now. The crash always happened each time. He always ended up on the ground each time because, well, that's how it was. But sometimes Jellybean would be in the car like how she was at the actual crash. Or she would be walking around, looking at herself in the car. Sometimes she was a paramedic, other times she was the frantic lady. It was really never the same.

But the black abyss, the part where she screams and chants, that's always there and it's always the same.

Jellybean always asks why he did what he did, he can never touch her, he always ends up sobbing and clutching his head, holding it between his knees, and he always wakes up panting as his chest burns and screams for him to calm down.

Betty's always there though. She's always waiting with a blanket and open arms, ready to tell him it's all okay. No matter how long it takes, she sits there and runs her fingers through his hair until he's calm and sated. She lays him down when he's ready like he's a child and there's a weird feeling of domesticity behind it for both of them.

He was thankful for her because without her, at times, he doesn't know what he'd do. He wonders why she had shown up on his doorstep, why she had been the one out of the many people who have knocked on his door that he fell in love with.

~

The day Kevin had actually left was a sad one for Betty. It was Jughead's turn to hold her while she cried. It was his turn to console her, not the other way around for once.

She had ended up getting over the loss of his presence quickly, the two of them falling back into their regular routines.

Betty had started going on her runs with the dogs again every morning and Jughead would always come downstairs to her making something for breakfast. He would always interrupt her with a deep kiss that had her shoving him away after a few moments with a playful glare.

He would do what he always did and would work outside until she would bring him a sandwich for lunch, sitting and talking with him until he absolutely had to start working again. Though it would always end with her whine of protest as she made her lips pouty, distracting him to the point of no return as he would carry her cautiously inside, dropping her on the couch to get her flustered and begging but never satisfying her need.

She would huff in annoyance but would eventually find a book or continue the one she had already started, coming outside to sit on the front porch and read. She had said the balcony was too far away from the kitchen and that's why she had switched places. He would tease her endlessly about how she just wanted an excuse to watch him work and she never agreed with it or denied it, she would simply shrug, enforcing her original reason with a blush high on her cheeks.

After he was finished they would go back inside and Jughead would help her make whatever she was preparing for dinner that night. It was always a different job too, but it was never chopping vegetables. She had said she didn't trust him with knives and she didn't want him to hurt his hand again. He would always frown, acting like it hurt his feelings but would always end up getting her to laugh just moments later.