stay away

Part 24

Betty pov

I would be lying if I said I wasn't afraid of Jughead last night, because I was. It was an absolute shock for me to see him so hurt and out of control that I really had to gather all my courage to stand up to him. I would never have forgiven myself if I had just left and left him in that state. No one should be alone in such a situation, even if they think it is better for them.

My heart was bleeding when I found him completely lost in his apartment and didn't know what the reason was. Toni and many other serpents tried to stop me from going to him, not knowing what he would be able to do in such a state, but I wanted to help him no matter what the consequences were. I trusted that he would keep his word, that he could never hurt and that he loved me.

In the morning, after a restless night, I lay in his bed and watched Jug sleeping peacefully, I read the 20 messages my friends sent me in which they ask if I and Jughead are okay. I didn't answer and instead thought about what my next steps would be. Somehow I had to get Jughead to tell me why he was so freaked out and if it had anything to do with talking to his mother and Jellybean. Would he finally open up to me or would he continue to stay closed and not let anyone in? There were too many thoughts in my head so I decided to clean up the chaos of yesterday. Slowly and carefully, so that Jug would not wake up, I sneaked into the bathroom to freshen up and wash last night off my body. The shower felt incredibly good and gave me the strength I needed for the following day. Since I didn't have any clothes to change into, I borrowed a clean pair of underpants and another shirt from his dresser. I briefly watched my boyfriend who was still sleeping relaxed before I quietly closed the door behind me so as not to wake him up by accident.

In the early morning light I saw that the living room looked much worse than I had seen the night before and I only now realized the full force of his anger. There were shards of numerous bottles everywhere whose liquid had spread all over the floor. I took care of the big things first before I did the rest and found a picture frame in a corner with a photo of Jug and JB. The glass was shattered and the frame was broken but still you could see the picture clearly. The two were young and stood together, with what I suspected was their father, in front of the shining sign of Pop's. I immediately saw where Jughead got his sharp facial features from as well as his raven black hair. I would have loved to meet the man in the photo but I knew from Toni that Jughead's father had died when he was just 17 years old.

"Betty?" I heard a scratchy voice say behind me and flinched slightly because I didn't expect to be watched. I turned around where I saw Jughead leaning against the door frame with a shy smile on his face, showing me that he wasn't angry that I wasn't in bed anymore.

"Good morning Jug. How are you?" I asked timidly as I got up, put the photo aside and went to him to give him a kiss that he immediately deepened. I knew that he wanted to distract me from the emotional question, but I was too captivated to stop kissing him. His grip on my hip became stronger and I knew instantly that he wanted to lose himself in me so that he could escape from his problems for a moment. I really wanted to give him what he needed and wanted, but I was sure that if he didn't talk about it now, he never would, so I carefully separated from him and saw what to expect: a disappointed look on his face.

"Jug I'm sorry, I would love to take away your pain by giving in to our lust but it doesn't work that way, we have to talk, please." I begged him and tried to make him understand what this was really about. It took a moment before he decided to release his grip from me before he put his hand on my cheek to caress it tenderly.

"You're right baby. We need to talk but not here. Are you free today?" I nodded and was overjoyed that he accepted my suggestion. It was a step in the right direction.

Just as we were about to go out the door, there was a powerful knock several times which confused us a bit.

"Jughead open the door, NOW! Where's Betty?" Cheryl screamed through the closed door, and sounded as if she was about to kick the door down herself with all her might. Before that could happen, I slowly turned the knob to reveal Cheryl, Toni, Veronica, Sweet Pea and Jellybean seconds later. They had different facial expressions, from worried to angry.

"Hi guys how can we help you?" I asked calmly to our friends and got confused looks from everyone.

"Betty, are you okay? Did something happen?" Cheryl was visibly worried as she came up to me to check me out from top to bottom. What just happened here?

"May I ask what this is all about? I am fine. Jughead and I were just about to leave." I replied with a frown, looking from Cheryl to the others. I didn't understand anything, but Jughead was quicker to connect the puzzle pieces. An angry expression came over his face and scared me a little.

"You don't seriously think I could hurt her, do you? Are you nuts?" he yelled and made our friends flinch. He stood in front of them in full size, looked threateningly and apparently wanted to say more on the subject before I stood in front of him to calm him down.

"Hey, Juggie, it's okay. We're gonna go now and we'll sort this out later. You hear me?" I looked deep into his eyes as I watched his anger slowly diminish and disappear seconds later. He nodded and was immediately tamer than a little puppy, which astonished even our friends.

"We will leave now but don't think that we will not discuss this situation later. Now excuse us we have to go." I grabbed my purse, his keys and Jughead's hand to drag him out of the danger zone as fast as possible. I couldn't believe that they thought he could hurt me. What made them think that?

Jug insisted on driving so I let him take the lead and enjoyed feeling the wind in my face for the first time on his bike as we left town. It wasn't a very long ride as Riverdale wasn't big and after a few miles we were on open road. To our right was a huge lake while to the left a dense forest lay along the road. It was breathtaking and absolutely calming to see how peaceful it was here. We stopped after another 5 minutes and found ourselves at a small hidden part of the lake where we could neither see nor hear the road. It was simply beautiful.

"This place is gorgeous. How did you know there was something like this here?"

"This is my retreat. This is where I come when I want to be alone without anybody disturbing me." he explained to me whereupon I blushed because he had taken me to his very personal place. The gesture was so romantic and I couldn't help but love him even more.

"You don't need to blush. I would take you everywhere, because I want to share all the beautiful things with you. I love you." he said lovingly and pulled me towards him after we sat down on the ground so I could cuddle up to him and lean my head against his chest. I could have sat there like that forever and forgotten the world around me, but we were here for a reason. Jughead had to open up to me to make our relationship work and to knwo exactly how it looks like inside him.

"Love, I would like to stay like this forever but we need to talk. What happened yesterday? Why did you freak out like that?" I asked carefully and waited anxiously for an answer. My heart was racing and would have loved to jump out of my chest as I nervously waited for Jughead to start his story.