It was the day before classes began for Betty and she was feeling her nerves turn with excitement and anxiety. It was 10 am and she was running around her apartment gathering her school supplies and chucking them in her bag to make sure she had everything she needed for tomorrow before she headed out for the day.
“Damn it” Betty muttered under her breath, as she realized that she left all the books she was currently reading in Riverdale.
She decided she would try to find a book store while she was out today. She was planning on finding her way to campus and having a walk around before starting school, to help herself feel more comfortable, and running any last minute errands she needed to before she was drowning in homework.
She pulled on some denim shorts and a button down then pulled the top half of her hair back before grabbing her purse and heading out the door. The hall was burning hot. The air conditioning must have broke, why is everything breaking here, she thought. When she proceeded to walk down the stairs she noticed that all the other floors had air conditioning. She sighed and continued out the front door.
Her walk to school would be two right turns, then a left, then 3 blocks forward. Pretty straightforward, she thought and set off towards school. Once she got there and started walking around she realized just how big the campus was. She decided to find where her first class would be so she wouldn’t be completely lost tomorrow. This specific writing class was at the very end of the hall, better be early tomorrow, she thought. Once she looked around for a while longer, she decided it was time to go find a bookstore.
She pulled up google maps on her phone and found a used book store just a couple blocks past her apartment the other way. It was called Commonwealth Books. On her walk over she was admiring the city scenery and thinking about starting school. Will I make any friends? Will anyone even want to talk to me? She sighed and decided to just let tomorrow unfold without worrying and risk surfacing her anxiety.
Once she came to Commonwealth, she stopped and gazed in the window at all the beautiful old books. When she walked in, she immediately turned into one of the many rows of books and started grabbing anything that caught her eye. She was in her element, reading, writing, words, they were her favorite things in this world, besides mugs of course. She was accumulating quite the stack of books in her arms when she took a step towards the next row and ran straight into someone, knocking the books out of her hand. She scrambled for her books and was apologizing before she heard her name.
“Betty?”
“Y-Ya… Jughead?” she said surprised
She gazed at him, noticing a single raven curl falling in front of his eyes out of his crown shaped beanie that she remembered he wore even when they were 15, as he started slowly picking up her fallen books and putting them back into her arms.
“Thank you Jug” she managed, “Oh, do you work here?” she asked
“Ya.. 6 days a week” he said with a smile
“Wow I’d love to work here, you have no idea how much I love old books” she said
“Um.. actually I think I have a pretty good idea” he said with a shy smile, “So what are you up to today?” he asked
“Oh, I actually just came from campus, I was just familiarizing myself before tomorrow, and then I came on a hunt for a good book store and found this place, It’s so cool in here” she gazed around at all the books with a grin spreading across her face.
“Ya I love it...Do you need any help finding anything?” he asked
“Actually I was looking for The Great Gatsby because I started it when I was still at home, and then forgot to bring it.” she said
“Uhh.. actually I think I just put a copy away” he turned to start looking in the next row over, Betty followed close behind.
“Here it is” he said with a grin handing it to her. “Can I ring this stuff up for you?” he asked
“Sure that’d be great, thanks” she said
She followed him to the register and got her wallet out as he started putting all her books in a big bag.
He handed her the bag and said “Well maybe we’ll run into each other on campus tomorrow”
“Hopefully we don’t actually run into each other again” she said with a laugh
“Haha ya.. See ya later Betty”
“Later Jug” she said with a smile as she headed out the door
He’s so nice, and he loves old books! She hadn’t really noticed until now but he seemed really sweet, not to mention those big blue eyes and soft raven curls.
It was now 2pm and Betty decided she needed some iced tea and headed towards a coffee shop she had noticed near Commonwealth. Once she ordered her drink, she was looking around and noticed a small table with a stack of papers that said Now Hiring, she considered for a second then grabbed one. It’s not like she had enough money saved up to pay rent indefinitely, she knew she would have to get a job eventually and this place was really close. She filled out the application and handed it to the worker when she handed her her drink.
“Looking for a job I see” the lady at the counter said after taking the paper.
“Ya, actually, and this place is really close to where I live and go to school.”
“Oh do you go to Boston University?” she asked
“Ya, I start tomorrow”
“I am taking some classes there right now too, just to finish up my degree this year. Maybe I’ll see you around? Oh by the way my name’s Lex.”
“I’m Betty, nice to meet you… and see you around” She turned to the door with her tea and left with a smile.
Betty took her time on her walk home, it was a beautiful day. She stopped by a park and sat to write in her journal and drink her tea. She watched the ducks in the pond and felt the slight breeze in her hair. This is exactly what I needed, she thought. She felt so at peace, which was a special and rare moment for Betty, as she constantly felt worried, and she definitely didn’t think she would feel this calm the day before starting college classes, It must have been the trip to the bookstore, she thought.
When she finally got up to walk the rest of the way home it was 4pm. She walked into her building feeling pretty tired from walking around all day, then as she made her way up the stairs she paused and remembered that the airconditioning in her hall was broken and decided to take a break in the still air conditioned halls before walking the rest of the way up the stairs with a hot death trap awaiting her at the top. She pulled out the Great Gatsby and started where she had left off at home. After about a minute Jughead walked up the stairs.
“Hey Betty, whats up?”
She quickly looked up from her book and smiled at who it was before saying, “Well actually the air conditioning in my hall is broken and I was taking a break before walking up there” she smiled and blushed when she realized she had been waiting right in front of his apartment.
“Oh that sucks, they really need to get a maintenance guy over here soon, is it still ok in your room though?” he asked
“Ya it was this morning, so it should be all good”
“Ok well just let me know if it gets too hot in your room… you could always chill in mine…” He trailed off not really knowing what he just said or offered.
Betty looked up at his blushing face and said “Oh, that's very nice of you, thanks Jug..”
They stared at eachother for a moment longer before Betty said “Well I better continue my trek up these stairs, Maybe see you tomorrow?”
“Ya, see ya later Betts.” he clenched his teeth at the old nickname he had just used, then smiled and turned towards his door.
“Bye” Betty managed with a smile before climbing up the stairs to her apartment.
Jughead entered his apartment still blushing as he reached to feel his burning cheeks. He sunk into his couch and pulled out his phone. After scrolling through Twitter for a while he opened a message to Archie.
J: Hey Arch, I was wondering If you could send me Betty’s Number
A: Uh ya, here’s her contact [Betty Cooper] why.. Do u like her?! ;)
J: No, I mean I guess, Idk. You're the one who told me to be nice to her and offer to help if she ever needed anything man.
A: Alright alright whatever man, talk to you later :)
Jughead continued blushing after that conversation and pulled open a new message to Betty.
J: Hey, Betty, Archie sent me ur number… you can text me if you ever need anything… by the way, is your apartment still cool?
He waited a couple of agonizing minutes before she texted back. He just felt so awkward texting her when he had got her number from Archie, but I guess it’s worth it he thought.
B: Oh, hey Jughead, ya my apartment seems to be cool, but damn that hallway is like hell. Thanks for checking on me btw, ur really sweet ;)
J: Well that’s good haha… see you later.
B: Alright Jug ;)
Betty spent the rest of her night chilling before her big day and went to sleep early with a smile on her face.
Jughead was starting to feel excited about starting school and he found himself hoping he would have a class with Betty. He wasn’t sure what his feelings meant, but he knew that he couldn’t stop thinking about Betty, she was so sweet and had the cutest smile he thought, but he wasn’t ready to admit anything to himself yet.
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