Chapter 4

                                    

                                          
   After long boring classes, it's finally lunchtime. Archie is of course nervous.
Archie, Betty, and Kevin gathered in the music room. One of the places most students wouldn't go during lunch. Archie was tapping his foot as they sat there in silence. Betty and Kevin looked at each other concerned.
"So...What's up Archie?" Kevin finally broke the silence. Archie looked at him and sighed.
"So um...you know how Jughead is going through a hard time right now?" They nod.
"Well last night he fell asleep on my bed and um..." He went silent. He couldn't say it. If he said it then he would have to face the truth. He was dating Veronica, he shouldn't feel this way. Betty stood up and brought herself over to Archie and put her hand on his shoulder.
"It's okay Archie..You can tell us." She spoke calmly to reassure him. Although she was nervous about what this was about. Archie took a breath and it tumbled out.
"Last night jughead was really tired and fell asleep sitting up. So I moved him to where he was laying down. But when I looked at him, my heart started beating like crazy. He looked so...sad. I want to help him, we all do! He's been my friend for years, same as your guyses. But looking at him made me see him in a new light..I don't know exactly what I'm feeling. But I almost....I almost kissed him?" Betty and Kevin's mouths dropped. They were not expecting that to come out of his mouth. Kissed? Him and Jug? How strange.
"I know! It's weird! I'm dating Veronica and I love her! I really do." Archie covered his face with his hands. Betty rubbed his back.
"That doesn't exactly mean you love him like that. You could have been curious about kissing a boy, and Jughead is a close friend. So maybe you felt comfortable doing that. Maybe wait to talk to him until we can figure out if these are genuine feelings or not." Betty hugged him. She looked at Kevin with wide eyes and he shrugged. All they could do was help Archie through this confusing time and support him. Kevin stood up and dusted his pants off.
"Bettys right, we will be here to support you through it, we promise! Now that that is out of the way. Let's get you some lunch okay?" Archie nodded and stood up, thanking them for talking to him about this. They left the music room and went to the cafeteria. They ate with Veronica and the football team for the last ten minutes of lunch. Archie felt better, he was glad that this might be just a curiosity. He didn't want to create a wall between him and his best friend's relationship. That would be terrible. 
Jughead stepped out from behind the piano in pure shock. He touched his cheeks, they felt warm. He felt his chest, his heart beating as quickly as a kid about to present in front of millions of his peers for the first time. Jughead collapsed back down on the stool in front of the piano and sorted through his thoughts. How should he confront this with Archie? Should he at all? Did Jughead feel the same? He wasn't sure. He decided that he would wait until he knew before he would do anything drastic. Archie was his best friend. But maybe they could be more?