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Jughead had known Betty since he was a little kid. Of course they hadn’t been that close while he and Archie didn’t speak, but before that they were kind of forced to be friends since they both wanted to hang out with Archie.
Jughead prided himself in knowing that he was a good observer; he could read people like books: a single look, a smile a little too wide or even the slightest change of their facial expression – he was pretty good at seeing what people felt if he wanted to.
So even if he wouldn’t have been dating Betty Cooper, he still would’ve recognized the look of hurt and jealousy in her eyes as she watched Archie and Veronica sing side by side on stage.
Without even noticing, Betty had walked away from Jughead to be closer to that stage. She took in every little detail: the way Veronica and Archie were so comfortable around each other, the lingering looks and flirty movements of Veronica and Archie’s bright smile in return.
Wordlessly, she turned around.
“I have to go to the bathroom, sorry Juggie” she said, faking a smile before storming out of the door.
That left Jughead by himself, wondering what on earth had just been going through his girlfriend’s head.
A few seconds later Archie and Veronica hugged and were met by a huge round of applause. Laughing, Veronica bowed down before leaving the stage. She and Archie made their way towards Jughead.
“Awesome performance, didn’t know you could make a whole round of teenagers scream out the lyrics to a 80s song.”
Archie grinned and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by his parents. While Fred hugged him and his mother gushed about how proud she was, Jughead turned around to look at Veronica.
“Where’s Betty? Did she miss our performance?” she asked with a slight disbelief in her voice.
“Uhm, no. Not really, at least. She saw the beginning but went to the bathroom a few minutes ago.”
“Is she alright?” Veronica already had a concerned look on her face and before Jughead even had the chance to answer, she had turned on her heel and walked out of the gym door.
* * *
“Betty?”
Veronica heard nothing but a slight echo of her own voice. Sighing, she opened the bathroom door to find the blonde girl standing in front of a mirror, looking at herself.
“Is everything alright?” Veronica asked while stepping closer to her. She was about to put her hand on the taller girl’s shoulder as she suddenly spun around.
“I’m fine, let’s go back inside.” Betty mumbled and started to walk towards the door.
But instead of following her, Veronica reached for Betty’s wrist which effectively stopped her from going out of exit.
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes. Come on, I don’t want to miss the party.”
When Betty finally turned around to meet Veronica’s eyes, she knew it was too late. The other girl had already sensed that something was wrong and she was not letting it go.
She could practically feel Veronica’s gaze boring into her eyes. Trying to maintain an emotionless face was impossible; Betty knew that Veronica could see right through it. Blinking away new tears that were filling in her eyes, she shook her head.
There was a long silence. Then:
“You’re jealous.”
Betty held her breath.
“But you’re with Jughead. I thought we were over this whole fighting about Archie thing.”
“I’m not jealous of you and Archie.” Betty stated.
It was not really a lie but also not the truth. Hoping Veronica would just let it go, Betty kept quiet. She could see how Veronica’s brain was working and she hoped it wouldn’t find the real reason.
“That doesn’t make sense. You were perfectly fine with Archie and Valerie being a couple.”
The dark haired girl started rambling.
“But then why are you jealous?”
Betty’s heart started pounding.
“Are you jealous of…”- another pause.
Veronica looked up to Betty, unsure whether she should continue or not. Meeting Betty’s eyes, she took a deep breath.
“Are you jealous of Archie?” she whispered.
There was a mixture of hope, desperation and disbelief in her voice.
Betty felt her knees shaking and started curling her hands into fists. She closed her eyes until she felt the familiar sting of nails digging into her palms. But after a few seconds, the pain was gone.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Veronica taking Betty’s hands in her own. Softly, she felt Veronica’s thumb circling the back of her hand.
“Betty, were you jealous of Archie?” she asked again, this time with more confidence in her voice.
“What if I was?” Betty asked hesitantly.
A range of emotions flashed through the eyes of the girl in front of her until her gaze grew colder and she dropped Betty’s hands.
“Are you serious?” Veronica asked. She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself.
“Do you really think you have the right to be jealous?”
“No, I-“ Betty tried to interrupt her.
“You were the one who kissed me only to tell me it meant nothing the next morning. You got together with Jughead two fucking days later. And I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to destroy our friendship. If anybody here has the right to be jealous it is me. So forgive me if I’m trying to get over you and date other people, even if it is your ex crush.”
Slipping out all these words at once left Veronica standing before Betty with trembling breath.
Trying to compose herself, she roamed over her dress while looking anywhere but to the girl in front of her.
“What if I don’t want you to get over it?”
It was barely a whisper but Veronica had heard it. She glanced up to Betty who mirrored her look of desperation and hope.
There was a short pause until they both moved in at once, crashing into one another. The kiss was passionate and angry, all lip biting and hair pulling.
Veronica was the one to move away, breathing heavily.
“I swear if this is just another one of these moves and you’ll run back to Jughead after that, I can’t guarantee that I can put up our masquerade of friendship again.”
Instead of responding, Betty pressed their lips together again. This time softer, she slowly moved her lips against the other girls.
“I made up my mind.” she whispered.
Veronica couldn’t supress the smile her mouth was forming until she was grinning like an idiot.
“We have a lot to talk about.” she said but still couldn’t stop herself from smiling softly to the girl next to her.
“Then we better start talking. Wanna get out of here?” she said, taking Veronica’s hand in her own.
They made their way towards the exit only to find Jughead waiting in the hall.
When both of the girls stopped before him, he eyed their linked hands with a suspicious look.
"You were jealous.” he stated and watched Betty’s expression.
“And I wondered why because you weren’t jealous of Valerie before.” he continued.
Veronica was standing next to Betty, uneasily lifting her weight from one foot to another.
“You weren’t jealous of Veronica.” Jughead spat out.
“You were jealous of Archie, weren’t you Betty?”