Lost (in Your Emerald Eyes)

T W E N T Y - O N E

Jughead woke up the next morning in the Cooper house. It was warm, comfortable, and it smelled fucking good. Betty wasn't in his arms anymore and his legs were tangled in her sheets, but the pillow he had slept on had a scent to it. A girl's scent. Betty's scent.

It reminded him of strawberries and vanilla, but with his palette, it could've been cinnamon-scented, and he wouldn't have known the difference.

The boy buried his face into the pillow they had shared, closing his eyes again to relive their last night's cuddles and conversations, until he noticed another smell in the air that he would recognize anywhere.

Pancakes.

Yawning, the boy grabbed his phone to quickly check if he had any new messages, only to see a few, one of them from Betty. With a frown, he opened it and eyed the picture she had sent him. The photo was a meme about one of their favorite books, directed to a very targeted audience, but he was a part of it, causing him to chuckle.

With a brief text back to her, even though her phone was still on the bedside table next to him, he stood up and quickly made a trip to the bathroom before moving down the stairs.

Betty stood in front of the stovetop, hair bouncing on her back as she nodded her head back and forth, humming to the song on the radio. She looked beautiful, Jughead noticed. With his shirt that she had grabbed from the drier last night and her short pajama pants, she seemed relaxed. He hoped it would stay that way.

"Good morning," he said, making her jump a bit as she turned around, a smile appearing on her face.

"Morning," she chirped back and nudged her head toward the coffee maker. "I know you prefer homemade coffee over the capsule one, but we only have that, so if you wish, you can make some."

He smiled and nodded, walking over to her. With his hands on her waist, tugging her snug against himself, the two grinned at each other and shared a couple of kisses before Betty had to turn around to flip the pancake on the stove.

Jughead grabbed the white mug she had set out for him and placed it under the machine, only clicking a button to make the coffee appear. With another yawn, he leaned against the counter, watching her silently as the black drink filled the cup. Usually, he liked to listen to the dripping of it, but this time his attention was on the girl in front of him. The rain outside didn't help.

Her cheeks were pinkish, lip caught in between her teeth as she stared at the last spoonful of batter she spread on the pan. "Making pancakes?" Jughead asked, and the twitch of her nose was all he needed to confirm his doubts.

"Yep," she said in a shaky voice.

Jughead grabbed his coffee and sipped the hot liquid before placing the mug back down and moving to stand behind her. With his arms around his girl, his mouth pressed a gentle kiss to her bare shoulder, his shirt that she was sporting revealing a bit more skin than it did with him. But then again, her neck and shoulders were smaller and skinnier than his anyway.

"Blueberries?" he sighed exaggeratedly, attempting to pull a smile out of her. "Betts, the only real pancakes are the chocolate chip ones."

With a slight giggle, the girl flipped it around on the pan and leaned into his chest. "We don't have chocolate in this house."

His nose wrinkled, resting his cheek against her head. "Well, then, I guess this is fine too..."

A few minutes later when Betty served the pile of pancakes, Jughead was already sitting in the table, nursing his black coffee. "So, I only have strawberry jelly, and I didn't put much sugar in the pancakes because I wouldn't be comfortable with eating them, so—"