A million thanks to katdvs for the title suggestion!
Rated: K+
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
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"You hate Christmas!?" Betty asked her eyes wide as she stared at her boyfriend. "How could anybody hate Christmas!?"
Jughead leaned back in the booth and shrugged. "I don't know. It was just never a big deal at my place. There wasn't a lot of money so we couldn't ever afford a tree or presents. And my parents spent most of the day arguing because what little extra cash we did get went straight down my father's throat."
Betty lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry Juggie. you never said—"
"Archie knew," Jughead told her. "More often than not, I'd wind up over at their house on Christmas day."
Betty nodded, remembering multiple December 25ths when she'd looked across her yard and saw a little Jughead Jones bundled up on the Andrews's porch while she had been waiting to go to her grandmother and grandfather's house to have dinner and to open even more presents. It had never occurred to her that one of her best friends might not have been having a good day. She had still been living in a fantasy world that included everybody she knew safe and loved and happy on Christmas.
"I am sorry Jughead," Betty repeated, biting her lip.
"It's okay Betty, you wouldn't have known!" Jughead assured her. "There are certain things people try to keep kids sheltered from and that's one of those things. Though I'm sure all the parents talked about it behind closed doors. . ." he trailed off.
Betty stood up suddenly, an idea was dawning on her.
"I just remembered something I have to do!" She said, stopping to press a kiss to his cheek. I'll talk to you later!"
Jughead smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "I am sorry if I upset you."
"You didn't," Betty hurried to assure him. "Come to my house tonight. My dad and mom are in New York City for a journalism conference. Cheryl took Polly and the kids to Disney World, I'm going to be all by myself."
"What time should I be there?"
Betty glanced at her phone, it was 12:00, she mentally counted hours in her head and then smiled at him. "Come over around 6," she answered. "I'll be waiting!"
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Her first stop after leaving Jughead was at a craft store. They had started to set up five whole aisles of Christmas supplies in June for all the craft fair-ers. So, Betty had plenty of merchandise to choose from.
She got a large wreath, a fur tree skirt, yards of silver ribbon, several boxes of multi-colored Christmas lights, glass snowflakes and a medium-sized fake pine tree before stopping in front of a display of ornaments. The first one that caught her eye was a vintage typewriter. She added it to the other stuff in her shopping cart along with a dog that looked like Hot Dog, a laptop computer, a crown and one that said Our First Christmas 2017. On the way to a cash register, she threw candy canes and a CD with jazzy holiday standards into carriage.
She paid for her purchases and then drove to the bookstore where she spent way too long looking for a book to give to Jughead as a present. She finally settled on a beautiful copy of the Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner.
Her last stop was the grocery store where she paid an insane amount of money for a ham and a pint of vanilla ice cream.
When Betty finally got home, she had four hours to spare before Jughead was going to arrive. She went to the attic to get the rest of the Christmas stuff and some wrapping paper then set out to start cooking dinner.
She scalloped potatoes and doused the ham in fresh pineapple and brown sugar before popping it into the oven. Then she mixed up a sugar cookie batter before cooking down rum until it was sticky and sweet. When she was just running out of time, she went upstairs and changed into the only Christmas sweater she owned, she put her on a plaid pair of pajama shorts and put bow studs in her ears.
The doorbell rang and Betty hurried down the stairs, pausing long enough to hit the play button on the stereo system. The Christmas Song started to fill the air as she opened the front door and smiled at her boyfriend.
"Merry Christmas Juggie," she said.
"Merry Christmas!?" Jughead repeated. "Betts, it's the middle of July—"
"Yeah!" Betty agreed enthusiastically as she pulled him in the house. "It's Christmas in July!"
"Christmas in July? What are you talking about!?"
"We're going to celebrate Christmas in July," Betty explained to him. "I've made Christmas dinner and cookies. We have peppermint stick ice cream and we'll decorate a tree while we watch movies like Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life. I even have a present for you to open."
"Why?" Jughead asked, shuffling from side-to-side.
"Because I know most of your Christmases have been crummy," Betty replied. "I wanted you to see how magical it really is. I-I didn't mean to upset you, I'm sorry if I did."
"Upset me? I'm not upset! I'm just a little confused, why would anybody celebrate Christmas in July? Why not June? June 25th is exactly 6 months before December 25th," Jughead explained.
Betty shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's because Christmas in July is the way it's been done since it was a thing."
"It smells really good in here," Jughead told her. "Did you get a ham?"
"Yes," Betty replied, lacing her fingers through his and tugging him down the hall and into the kitchen. "I also made scalloped potatoes and glazed carrots. The ham isn't quite done cooking yet though, so we're going to finish making cookies while we wait."
Jughead looked around and shook his head. "I can't believe you did this all for me!"
"Why not?" Betty frowned. "I love you and I just wanted you to see how special Christmas really is. Everybody deserves a good Christmas."
"Well, you've outdone yourself," Jughead told her. "I really don't know how you're going to top this when it's actually Christmas."
"You'll just have to wait and see!" Betty replied, winking at him. "Would you go and get the cookie cutters out of the pantry? I have them all labeled, you'll be able to find the Christmas ones without a problem."
Jughead returned a few seconds later with an old popcorn tin. "Got it!"
"You know how to roll out dough?" Betty asked.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe you could show me," Jughead replied.
Betty smirked. "Slick."
"Where are the rolling pin and cookie sheets? Sometimes a guy just needs to know how to do a little baking. Are you impressed?"
"Very," Betty said, beaming at him as she checked on the ham. "Dinner's almost ready. I'm going to come help make those cookies!"
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After they'd eaten and Jughead had cleaned the kitchen (he had insisted, since she'd spent most of the day cooking), Betty queued up White Christmas on Netflix and they started to decorate the tree that she'd bought.
Jughead watched as she strung up lights and sang "White Christmas" along with Bing Crosby. For a second, it was like having an outer-body experience.
He was actually in Betty Cooper's orbit, she had chosen him to love and she was giving him Christmas in July because he had never really had a real Christmas before.
"You're staring," Betty said, looking up at him.
Jughead went over to her and took the string of lights from her. "You're wonderful."
"What's brought that about?" Betty asked.
Jughead gestured around her living room. "All of this. I don't know a lot of girls who'd do this kind of thing for anyone, never mind me!"
"You're worth it," Betty told him as she kissed him once. "I can't think of anyone else I'd want to do this for more."
Jughead wrapped her up in his arms and nuzzled his nose in her neck. She smelled faintly of gingerbread and peppermint and pineapply brown sugar. "How can I help?" he asked.
"Finish stringing the lights?" Betty answered. "Then we can decorate the tree with the ornaments I bought especially for you. Plus we still have dessert and I want to watch John Hughes's remake of Miracle on 34th Street with you. . ."
Jughead listened to her ramble on, a feeling of perfect contentment washed over him.
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After they had decorated the Christmas tree, Betty gave him some sugar cookies and peppermint stick ice cream for dessert. She shut all the other lights off and they sat in the glow of the television and pink and blue and green. She cuddled up against him and they watched Miracle on 34th Street.
Betty talked through the whole things, telling him when it was one of her favorite parts and getting incredibly giddy as the story progressed even though he was sure that she'd already seen it a dozen times.
"Don't go," Betty said when the movie was over. "This is only Christmas Eve and I have something to give you tomorrow morning. And I'm making waffles, I do it every Christmas morning. "
"But I didn't get you anything!" Jughead protested.
Betty shook her head. "It's okay. I wasn't expecting anything!" she assured him. "Really, when I did this. . . myself was the last thing from my mind. You can make it up to me in December though."
"I don't think I'll be good at it."
Betty laughed. "You don't have to be good at it, Juggie. The only thing that matters is if it comes from the heart. I don't care if all you do is take me to go and see a movie and call it a gift."
"I love you," he told her, looking at her in awe.
Betty smiled at him. "Love you too. Come on, we can watch another movie!"
Jughead settled back in next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. She rested her head against him and he day dreamed about a thousand different Christmases to come. He could finally see the appeal.
The End
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Author's Note:
I am Christmas trash. . .
Hope that won't stop you from doing something even though it's entirely too early for this!
Until Next Time!
Love,
Holly, 7/14/2017