His hands rubbed my back in small circles as I began to mimic his breathing, my mind gradually settling with the assistance of his scent and overall presence.
He hushed me in a whisper, rocking us back and forth as our knees made contact, unmoving and not resentfully, but comfortably enough.
"I never knew lavender could be so calming.", I said with a sniffle, grinning against his shoulder as he let out a husky chuckle.
"I'll be sure to spread the aroma around the house every morning. It always used to help me calm down when I felt as if I were drowning.", he muttered, his massages accelerating as an attempt to suddenly draw my attention away from the new, broad subject that had just been revealed to me.
My muscles tensed, freezing our rocking motion as I became slightly taken aback by his words. The surprise replaced itself with remorse as I felt guilty and selfish for not having taken into consideration that he could've been struggling too, or had been at some point.
"D-Don't think about that too deeply, Betty. I promise you, I'm all okay now, and my only focus and concern is taking care of you and building that happiness that I know exists somewhere inside of you. If you were incapable of being happy, you wouldn't have been practically beaming against my chest a moment ago. Shouldn't that give you some hope?". His tone suddenly became intoxicated with a hint of panic, though he was clearly making an effort to conceal it.
I pulled myself off of his chest, sitting back with my legs crossed, my hands tucked shamefully in my lap as I took in a sharp, painful breath that only reminded me of how selfless he had been towards me as I inhaled more of that overwhelming serene lavender scent.
"I'm not sure how you've managed to get me to genuinely smile, Jughead, but I highly doubt this is anything that can be permanent.", I mumbled, tears threatening to slip once again. "I shouldn't have been so ignorant or inconsiderate. You're human, too. Surely you have, or have had, problems in the past, and I'm so absorbed in myself that I completely disregarded that possibility, so I'm sorry.".
He swiftly swiped away the silent tear that fell onto my cheek unbeknownst to me, his index finger lingering on my face. He allowed the rest of his hand to cup my cheek, his eyes staring thoughtfully into mine.
"Betty, it's okay. Don't beat yourself up about it. Trust me, you're a lot more considerate than a lot of others for coming to that realization. I've had times where I haven't thought much about other people's feelings, as well. It's okay. It's normal. It's difficult to do so when you feel as if your whole life is some fever-dream-ish nightmare that you'll never escape from.", he pointed out as his thumb caressed my cheek softly.
"But I'm okay now, and you will be too. So why don't we stop talking about this now so you can eat those wonderful waffles that I made you? No tears to top those off with, though. There's nothing to be upset about right now. Don't focus on your past. Just focus on the lovely assortment of berries surrounding your breakfast. And when you're done, we can go and find something else to do. Maybe we can watch a movie. We can watch The Bee Movie. I've heard it's pretty funny, but only because the plot is incredibly idiotic.".
I bit my lip, a tearful smile rising to my face. The saltiness of my tears became apparent as one of them slid carelessly into my mouth, but I paid no attention to it, absorbing and taking into consideration what Jug had just enlightened me with.
"It looks fantastic. I'm really excited to taste it.".
"That's good. Excitement. Let's add it to the list.".
"List?".
"List of positive emotions I've brought light to for you.", he stated, grinning cheekily as he gestured towards my food.
