Real

4

Jughead had left Riverdale at 5:00 pm on Wednesday.

He arrived in California at 6:19 pm on Friday.

For the last day, he had been receiving texts from his kinda friend Archie. Most of them reading something along the lines of

"Where the heck are you, bro, you like disappeared.

She told him not to tell Archie where he had gone. So he ignored Archie. She had guided him to a hotel she wanted them to stay till he could find an apartment.

Despite being awake nonstop and only having around 3 hours sleep in the past day he couldn't sleep. No matter how hard he tried. Every time he tried to close his eyes she was there hissing hateful words in his ear from those beautiful rosebud lips.

"We came here to be together and you wanna sleep, really Jughead do you even love me?"

He wished he could just ignore her.

But she gave him that same warm fuzzy feeling Betty gave him. The feeling he never wanted to leave because sometimes she made him feel like shit but at least he was wanted.

All he wanted was to feel wanted.

He had given up on sleeping precisely 56 minutes ago.

Jughead liked things precise.

She offered him her company but he wasn't sure it was what he really wanted.

Her big green eyes with those thick dark lashes just stared at him. When those beautiful full cherry lips did speak they spewed nothing but hate. He blamed her coldness on his lack of sleep.

He felt himself finally starting to drift off.

Finally, sleep.

Finally, an escape from the world he was trying to defeat.

He just wanted to ignore her.

It felt like the restless nights where Betty was sleeping soundly curled into his side but he was lying wide awake. Betty didn't care about the darkness under his eyes. Betty enjoyed it. Betty enjoyed seeing him alone and falling apart. Just like her.

The moment he fell asleep his dreams were riddled with her and Betty. The hate they often spewed at him playing on a vicious loop.

"No one loves you Jughead, not even me I just feel sorry for you because you're literally insane" she cackled.

He didn't understand.

He loved her so much.

But she hated him.

"No one loves you as I do," Betty spoke softly.

"I feel sorry for you honestly I'm the only one who can ever love you." She spat.

He woke up many times during his sleep last night and it was the furthest thing from restful.
She was there in all her glory when he awoke. Her short pale legs with little scars around the ankles. Her long arms with the bony hands attached with those ever-present barely-there fingernails.

Then there was her face.

Her beautiful face.

The face reminded him of when times would get worse for him and Betty.

The face he just couldn't seem to stop loving.

"Hi Jughead feels like I've been waiting hours for you to wake up," she said to him.

She had an odd look on that beautiful face. Her light sparse eyebrows were furrowed causing little wrinkles in her forehead. Her lips were puffed out in concentration.