Crossing Paths- Chapter 12: Arriving in Riverdale

Betty and Jughead left for Riverdale on that Friday. After driving for a few hours they stopped at a gas station and while Betty ran in to pee, Jughead filled up the tank and went in to buy some snacks. Once they were back on the road Jughead called his dad to let him know that they were about 45 minutes away.

Jughead pulled into a neighborhood that looked very similar to Betty’s parent’s neighborhood, except for it was on the south side of town.

“Hey this neighborhood is new” Betty commented.

“Yeah Andrew’s Construction built this new neighborhood on the southside about a year ago and made sure there was a place that was perfect for my dad so he could move out of the trailer park” Jughead said

“Wow that’s awesome. So are your dad and Fred still good friends then?” Betty asked

“Yup, It’s really great for my dad to still have friends like him. Oh hey, there’s his house” Jughead said pointing to the blue house on the corner. He pulled the car into the driveway, and went around the other side of the car to let Betty out.

“You ready?” Jughead asked Betty.

“Yeah” Betty said noticing Jughead’s hesitation.

“Hey I’m excited, don’t worry, it will be great” Betty said touching his cheek.

They went to the back of the car, grabbed their suitcases and headed to the front door.

When they knocked on the door, they were greeted by FP and he instantly pulled Jughead into a hug.

“I’ve missed you” FP said

When they pulled apart, Jughead introduced Betty to his dad, and FP then pulled her into a hug before leading them into his house. They walked into the living room and as soon as Jellybean saw Jughead she ran towards him, meeting him with a hug while simultaneously jumping up and down.

“It’s so good to see you JB, I would like you to meet my girlfriend, Betty” Jughead said gesturing towards Betty.

“Oh my God!” JB said as she pulled Betty into a hug, “You are so beautiful!” JB said to Betty as she winked at Jughead which left him chuckling.

“Thanks” Betty said blushing and looking at Jughead, “It’s so good to meet you guys finally”

“You too, Jughead doesn’t tell me nearly enough over the phone” FP said smiling in Jughead’s direction.

“Here why don’t you kids sit down and I’ll bring in some drinks” FP said

“Sure, thanks Dad” Jughead said, leading Betty to the couch.

“This is going to be so much fun, it will be like a real family Christmas” JB said excitedly.

“I can’t wait, I’m sure we’ll have the best time together” Betty said

“OOOO, we should go shopping together tomorrow!” JB said, as she came to sit on the other side of Betty.

“Sure, sounds like fun” Betty said smiling.

FP walked in with some eggnog then and took a seat in the loveseat next to the Christmas tree.

“How you guys doin’?” FP asked

“Awesome, Betty and I are going shopping tomorrow” JB said excitedly

“Good, it will give me some alone time with Jug” FP said in a teasing tone.

“Here, why don’t I show you two to the guest room so you can put your stuff in there.” FP said as he got up and grabbed Betty’s bags, Jughead picked up his own bags and him and Betty followed.

Once they got settled, they spent most of the day talking in the living room around the Christmas tree; catching each other up on their lives and talking about Betty and Jughead’s relationship, which JB and FP seemed thrilled over which made Betty happy, and she was sure she was going to have an amazing Christmas with them.

Later FP made spaghetti for dinner and they talked some more before going to bed and having the best night of sleep they had had in awhile, considering they had just finished a semester of school.

The next morning Betty and Jughead woke up to music playing in the kitchen and JB’s very loud singing.

“Wow she can really sing” Betty said rolling over to face Jughead who just groaned.

“Ok well I’m gonna get up and see what’s cooking out there, because it smells amazing.” Betty said.

She got up, took a shower, got dressed and ready for the day as quickly as possible. When she left her bedroom, she headed for the kitchen and found JB setting out a beautiful spread of pancakes and fruit on the table.

“Good morning” Betty said

“Hi! You’re up!” JB said, “I was thinking we could eat breakfast and then get going on our shopping day”

“Sounds good to me, this looks amazing by the way” Betty said gesturing towards the table.

“Thanks” JB said.

Later Betty and JB went out shopping and left the boys at home. JB took Betty to all her favorite stores and they were having a great time together.

“What do you think of this dress?” Betty asked

“OMG it’s amazing, you have to try it on” JB replied

Betty stepped out of the dressing room in a flowy, knee length, bright red dress that came in at her waist and fit her perfectly.

“Wow, Betty you have to get this dress! It would be perfect for a Christmassy date with Jughead” JB said

“You think?” Betty asked looking in the mirror again.

“Yes! Jughead’s gonna die” JB said

“OK, I’m gonna get it!” Betty said excitedly

After the shopped for a little while longer and found a substantial amount of Christmas presents, they hopped in the car to go meet Jughead and FP for dinner.

“This was so fun JB, thanks for taking me” Betty said

“Of course, Jughead’s never really had a serious girlfriend that I ever got to spend any time with so this is so much fun for me” JB said

“Wow, I guess I didn’t really think about that” Betty said thoughtfully

“You can tell that he thinks your the real deal” JB said

“Really?” Betty asked

“Yeah, I mean have you seen the way he looks at you? I’ve never seen him look like that. It makes me really happy for him and you” JB said

“Well… I guess I feel the same way about him” Betty said smiling as she placed her hand on top of JB’s free hand resting on the consol.

When they got to the restaurant, Jughead and FP were already sat at a table. When Jughead saw them he stood up and gave Betty a lingering kiss.

“Sorry, I’ve been wanting to do that all day” he whispered to her

“Me too, but we should probably join your family” Betty said before they turned around to JB and FP’s amused faces.

They had an amazing meal full of lively conversations and Betty knew this was going to be an amazing Christmas.

Crossing Paths- Chapter 11: Finals and Family Plans

The next couple of days, Betty and Jughead spent every moment together accept for when they had to work. They were beginning to get used to each other’s company.

On Tuesday Jughead got a call updating the work on Betty’s apartment, and they told him it wouldn’t be ready for several weeks because they were going to have to replace some of the floors, and ceilings of the apartment below hers. Jughead was secretly excited about this news because it meant Betty could keep staying with him.

It was the last week of school before winter break which meant both Betty and Jughead were slammed with finals. Tuesday night after work, Betty and Jughead were sitting on the couch together with their laptops trying to finish their essay for their creative writing class.

Betty leaned her head back in frustration and let out a sigh.

“Hey do you want me to make us some relaxing tea?” Jughead asked

“Yeah actually that sounds great” Betty said

Just as Jughead was getting up from the couch, his phone rang, it was his dad.

“I’ll just be a minute, it’s my dad, then I’ll get our tea” Jughead said leaving the room

“Ok, take your time” Betty called after him

“Hello? Dad?” Jughead said

“Hi son, how are you?” FP asked

“Really good actually, accept for being slammed with finals..”

“You’ll do great, like always”

“Thanks Dad”

“Anyway, I was calling to ask you what you were planning on doing for Christmas this year, ‘cause I was hoping you could come see me, and Jelly said she’s coming already.”

“I would love to come see you guys, but..” Jughead hesitated “You know that girl I told you about a couple of months ago?”

“Yeah?”

“Well her apartment flooded recently and she is currently staying with me and we have gotten a lot closer since you and I last talked, and I’m not exactly sure what her plans are for Christmas”

“You should bring her! I would love to meet her, and I’m sure her and Jelly would have a great time together. “

“Well… I would love for her to come too, but as I said I don’t know what her plans are, but I will ask her and let you know.”

“Ok son, good to talk to you”

“See you soon”

“Bye, see you”

Jughead hung up the phone and went out to the kitchen to make two cups of tea for him and Betty and brought them over to the coffee table and handed Betty her Star Wars mug.

“Thanks, what did you and your Dad talk about?” Betty asked

“Christmas plans. What are your plans for Christmas?” Jughead asked

“Well usually I go to my parent’s house in Riverdale, but this year they are going on a trip and won’t be back until New Years, so I’ll probably go to theirs for New Years.”

“You know, my Dad invited you to come with me to his house for Christmas, my sister is coming too”

“You told your Dad about us?” Betty asked

“Yeah.. I may have mentioned you a couple of months ago” Jughead said smirking

“I would love to come with you for Christmas, I can finally meet your family!”

“Really? That’s great, there’s no one I would rather spend Christmas with” Jughead said

“You know we could go to my parents for New Years after we go to yours for Christmas, so you could meet my family, although I haven’t exactly told them about you, but it will be fine.”

“Sounds like a plan… maybe we should actually finish our essays before it gets too late” Jughead settling further in to the couch with his laptop on his lap.

“That’s gonna be hard now that I’m so excited about the holidays” Betty said

The next morning Betty woke up to her alarm and saw that Jughead was already up. She slowly got out of bed, grabbed some clothes and headed to the bathroom. On her way past the kitchen Jughead turned around and saw her.

“Good morning my beautiful Betts” Jughead said as he set a pile of pancakes onto the already set table. “You go get dressed and we can have a nice breakfast together before our day of finals.”

Betty made her way over to him, kissed his cheek, smiled at him, and headed to the bathroom.

After breakfast they both headed out the door to start their usual walk to school.

“You know my dad seemed pretty excited about you coming for Christmas” Jughead said

“Did he? That’s great, I wouldn’t want to seem like I was intruding on your Christmas…” Betty said looking down at her feet.

“Of course not Betts! My dad and sister will love you.” Jughead insisted.

“How do you know?” Betty asked

“Because I love you”

“I love you too” Betty said as they both leaned in for a kiss.

When they got to their class they took their usual seats in the second to back row of the class.

The rest of Betty’s classes were finals, finals and more finals. She was basically drained before she had to leave school for her shift at work.

When she walked in, Lex was already there, as always.

“Hey Betty what’s up, how were your finals today?”

“They were good I think, but I’m so tired and drained from all of it, I’m so glad it’s over. How about you?” Betty asked

“Yeah they were good. What are your plans for break, maybe we could hang out?” Lex asked

“Actually I’m going to Jughead’s dad’s house for Christmas with him, then we’re going to my parent’s house for New Years. I’m sorry I would have loved to hang out over break.”

“Well I would have been annoyed but now I’m just excited for you. This is getting pretty serious, you and Jughead.” Lex said

“Yeah, I guess it is” Betty said smiling as she put on her work apron.

As usual Jughead met up with Betty at the coffee shop after his shift ended at the bookstore and they walked home together.

On their walk home they stopped at a mexican restaurant and got some food to go.

Jughead unlocked his apartment door and guided Betty in with his hand on her back.

“Table or living room?” Betty asked

“Living room” Jughead said as he picked Betty and the food up and carried them to the couch.

Jughead sat down and pulled Betty down on his lap with the food on her lap.

Jughead reached for his food when Betty moved it out of his reach, “Ah ah, not so fast Juggie” Betty said teasingly

“But I’m hungry!” he whined

“Alright close your eyes and open your mouth” Betty instructed.

He did as she said and the next thing he knew, her tongue was in his mouth and they were kissing. He didn’t open his eyes until she pulled back.

“We can eat now” Betty said

“I just did” Jughead replied as they both burst into laughter.

Crossing Paths- Chapter 10: Beloved

Betty woke up the next morning to the smell of waffles and bacon. She sat up on the couch and set aside the blanket that was draped over her. She walked over to the kitchen and hugged Jughead from the back.

“Good morning beautiful” Jughead said

“You haven’t even looked at me yet” Betty said with a slight laugh

“Your always beautiful” Jughead said turning around to face her.

She immediately leaned up to kiss him. “Sorry about my morning breath” Betty said when she pulled away.

“I don’t mind” Jughead said smiling

“I’m just going to go take a quick shower. Hopefully I don’t flood your apartment also” Betty said

Jughead felt bad because he didn’t want Betty to feel like the flood was her fault, but soon looked up and saw her face smiling.

She grabbed some clean clothes from the pile of stuff from her apartment and headed to the bathroom. When she stepped in the shower she let out a long sigh as the hot water hit her body. ‘How amazing is Jughead. He is so caring. How do I deserve him? I can’t believe we exchanged I love yous.’ Betty had known she loved Jughead for a little bit but hadn’t admitted it to him or herself really until last night. And how good it felt, especially since he reciprocated her feelings.

Betty stepped out of the shower, got dressed, brushed her teeth and loosely french braided her hair. When she walked back into the kitchen she saw that Jughead had set out an amazing spread on the table for the two of them. Eggs, bacon, waffles, strawberries, orange juice, and two lit candles in the middle of the table. Jughead went over to her side of the table and pulled out her chair and gestured for her to sit down, then went to the seat opposite her and sat down.

“Jug, this looks amazing! Thank you so much” Betty said gazing at the table

“Anything for my favorite person” Jughead said winking

As they ate, Betty was almost positive Jughead had eaten about 8 waffles.

“How on earth does that all fit inside of you?” Betty said shaking her head

“I don’t know I just love food, it’s my passion in life, didn’t you know?” Jughead said giving Betty a teasing smile.

“Who do you love more, me or food?” Betty asked instantly regretting it as she didn’t want to push the word on him more.

Jughead proceeded to go around the table and pick Betty up by the waist and carried her to the couch. He came down on top of her and started kissing her passionately and with such intensity that Betty had turned to mush beneath him as he moved to her neck.

“Jug” Betty breathed, “You left your plate full of eggs and bacon over there”

Jughead immediately pulled back and looked at her with a great big smile on his face, “Does that answer your question Betty Cooper?”

She just smiled.

Later that day Betty got a call from Veronica. She picked up in the living room while Jughead was changing his sheets in his room.

“Hello” Betty said

“Hey Betty, How are you?” Veronica asked

Betty sighed

“Betty what is it?”

She told her all about her apartment and how Jughead let her stay with him.

“Wait so you're just staying in his house?”

“Yeah he insisted and has been taking really good care of me, you won’t believe how sweet he is.”

“Oh, that’s good. Are you ok though, like after the flooding?”

“Yeah, well I had a little bit of a panic yesterday, but it’s been fine today. I just don’t know how long it will take them to fix it”

“Well I’m sure as long as you’re with Jughead, your in good hands”

“I can literally hear you winking at me V”

“You got me”

“Thanks for calling to check in, your really sweet”

“Of course, I’ll call you soon B”

“Bye”

“Bye”

Just then Jughead walked out of his room.

“Hey, I cleared a drawer in my dresser, so you can put some clothes in it instead of having them in a crinkled pile on the floor.” Jughead said

Betty walked up to him smiling and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. “You’re the best… You know you didn’t have to offer your house to me, I could have stayed somewhere else…”

“Betty” Jughead said sounding a little offended.

“What?”

“I wouldn’t have offered my house to you if I didn’t want you to stay here… I love you, and I wouldn’t have you stay anywhere else… in fact i’m excited for you to stay here, we spend most our days together anyways, and now we can spend even more time together. I don’t want you to feel like an inconvenience to me, because you’re definitely not.”

“I love you too” Betty said hugging him, she leaned back to look at him, “Thank you”

“Anything for my beloved”

They folded and put Betty’s clothes in the drawer and then went to cuddle on the couch and watch some TV.

“What do you want for dinner?” Jughead asked

“Whatever you want Jug”

“Pizza it is!” Jughead said getting up to get the phone to order in. He ordered their usual and went back to Betty on the couch.

“Where were we?” Jughead asked

Betty jumped up and on to his lap as soon as he sat down and put her arms around his neck and cuddled in to him.

Jughead smiled and exhaled letting all negativity leave his body as he snuggled Betty closer, inhaling her scent.

They sat like that for a while before the pizza arrived. Jughead got up and put their pizza on a couple of plates and brought 2 mugs of tea over to the couch and handed them to Betty.

“Thank you. Oh my God! Jughead, you grabbed my Star Wars mug?” Betty exclaimed.

Jughead smiled and winked at her before sitting down and tucking in to his pizza. Before he could swallow, Betty took his face in her hands and kissed him.

“I love you” Betty said

Jughead swallowed and pulled her in for another kiss, but this time they didn’t stop.

After a while Betty heard Jughead’s stomach growl.

“Hey, maybe we should stop kissing, and eat our pizza.” Betty let out in a breath.

“Ok but I don’t know how long I’ll last” Jughead said winking

“You sure like winking at me Mr. Jones” Betty said

“Yeah… I think I get it from my dad. He had a way of making you want to smile… that is accept for when he was getting into trouble with the Serpents”

Betty instinctively grabbed his hand on the couch next to her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to lower the tone” Jughead said with a slight laugh as he stared at the floor.

“No, I like hearing about your life, tell me more if you want to” Betty said cuddling closer to him.

“Well… my dad was the Serpent’s leader essentially, for most of my childhood, he actually just recently left the gang. It pretty much consumed his life, to the point where it drove my mom away and she took my sister, and I still don’t see them that often. My dad really is a good guy, he just has a rough past and got into some bad stuff. I even joined the gang for a while…”

“Yeah, I remember Archie telling me about you when that happened…” Betty said

“It wasn’t all bad though. There were some nice guys I met, they were just into the wrong stuff. I was in a dark place at that time of my life, I let the Serpents consume my identity to the point that I was very protective and touchy about it. That got me in some trouble which led to my dad having a long talk with me about it. After that I let that identity insecurity go a little, and a little over a year later, I left the Serpents, and then about six months after that, I came here to go to college.”

“Wow, I’m sorry Jughead, I wish I could have been there for you then” Betty said sadly

“No no, Betty don’t be sorry. It’s ok I promise, that’s all in the past… and look at me now, I get to sit in my own apartment, eating pizza, and snuggling with the most beautiful woman in the world.” Jughead said turning to face Betty.

A smile crept across Betty’s face and they both leaned in for another kiss.

“I’ll be right back, I have to use the bathroom.” Betty said

In the hallway by the bathroom and his bedroom, Betty stopped to look at Jughead’s bookshelf.

While Betty used the bathroom, Jughead began to clear up their dishes and took them to the kitchen, when Betty came out from the hallway in her pajamas and was holding something.

“Hey, whatcha got there?” Jughead asked

“Beloved by Toni Morrison, will you read it to me?” Betty asked batting her eyelashes playfully at him.

Jughead started towards her, and picked her up by the waist and carried her to his bedroom. He placed her on his bed and changed into some pajama pants before crawling in next to her and opening the book.

He read a couple of chapters to her with her snuggled up in his side before he noticed her yawning.

“I think it’s time for bed” Jughead said as he set the book on his side table.

“Ok… do you want me to go to the couch?” Betty asked timidly.

“What? No of course not… unless you wanted to” Jughead said

“I don’t” Betty said sliding further under the covers and wrapping her arms around his waist. Jughead did the same, and they fell asleep easily in the comfort they had found in each other.

Crossing Paths- Chapter 9: Flooded love

Betty and Jughead spent the next week walking to class together, walking home from work together, and spending the nights snuggled up on one their couches before the other one had to go home to sleep before class the next day. Life was good in their eyes and nobody could take away their feelings for each other as their connection grew stronger.

It was friday morning and Betty had woken up early to take a shower before class, as she hadn't had time the night before because she was at Jughead’s place. She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower and reached for her towel, but she noticed that her shower knob was kind of loose and wasn’t staying where she placed it and was still dripping slightly, but she decided she would deal with it later or ask Jughead to have a look at it after class.

She met Jughead outside in their usual spot, he handed her her coffee, took her arm in his, and began to walk.

“Hey when does your shift start today?” Betty asked

“I think 4:30”

“Ok, my shower faucet was acting weird this morning, and I was hoping you could take a look at it before work if that’s not too much trouble. I would be there but I have to go straight from class to work today and I’m working a double shift, and I just don’t want to leave my faucet if there is something wrong” Betty said

“Yeah, of course. It’s no trouble” He assured her, “I’ll check right when I get home” He said as he kissed the top of her head.

Later Jughead finished at school and started walking home. He pulled out his phone to text Betty.

J: <3 <3

B: What’s up? My <3.

J: Just on my way home, i’ll be sure to check your shower. See you after work <3 ;)

B: Your the best. See u later <3

When Jughead got back to their apartment complex, he went straight up to the sixth floor to look at Betty’s shower, but when he opened the door he saw something he was not expecting.

Her entire apartment was flooded.

Jughead immediately started running around her apartment grabbing clothes, toiletries and anything he could carry to try to save it from the flood.

He ran her stuff down to his apartment and immediately called a plumber. He said he’d be there as soon as possible.

In the meantime, jughead went back up to her apartment, and tried to salvage anything else he deemed important.

Once the plumber had arrived and was working to fix her shower, Jughead texted Betty.

J: Hey, I’ll meet you at your work when you get off. I have to tell you something before we go home.

B: Ok… see you then :)

Jughead got ready for work and went to talk to the plumber before heading out.

Jughead felt anxious for Betty during his whole shift, and darted out the second his shift was over. He found Betty inside the coffee shop sitting at a table looking at her phone.

She glanced up and saw him and stood up to give him a hug, but she noticed something seemed wrong.

“Hey, what is it?” she asked cupping his cheek as they sat down.

“Ok, so, when I got home from school, I went straight up to your place to check the shower, and when I opened the door, your entire apartment was flooded.”

Betty’s jaw dropped and tears welled in her eyes.

“I grabbed as much of your stuff as I could and brought it down to my apartment and called a plumber. He stopped the leak, but said it’s going to take a while to fix, and the apartment below yours has to be evacuated as well.”

“Oh no, I should have called someone this morning” She sobbed “I’m so sorry” she said covering her face with her hands.

Jughead put his arms around her, “Betts, this isn’t your fault. It’s ok. They will fix it, and in the meantime, you can stay with me.”

“Really?” She asked sniffing and looking up from his chest.

“Of course” he said hugging her tighter.

They walked back to his apartment and immediately headed for the couch and started a movie. While Jughead ordered pizza, Betty noticed all her stuff he had saved and felt like crying, the fact that he even thought to do that for her and went through the trouble, meant a lot to her. Jughead finished ordering pizza and then cuddled Betty closely on the couch. The pizza arrived about halfway through the movie, and they ate it while watching the second half of the movie.

Once the movie was over and they had eaten their fill of pizza, Jughead got up and took their plates to the sink and put the remaining pizza in the fridge, then came back over to Betty and hugged her entire body close to him. They sat in silence for a long while with the occasional sniffle from Betty.

“I love you” Betty said, with her face still in his chest.

When he didn’t respond right away, she looked up at him, and was immediately pulled into a kiss. When they broke away, Jughead looked her in the eyes and said “I love you”.

They both smiled and Betty let out a breathy laugh. They kissed again and went back to silently cuddling until they fell asleep in eachothers arms.