It's Betty's wedding day but she's not in love with her fiance. And a certain someone from her past showing up doesn't help the situation.

A/N: Based on the infamous "I, Ross, take thee, Rachel" scene from Friends. Also, possibly the most angsty and simultaneously idealistic fic I've ever written. Thanks for reading!

A knock resounded through the much too big hotel room, making Betty jump. She slowly made her way toward the door, wondering and dreading who it could be.

It could be Cheryl, coming to tell her that some aspect of the wedding was already falling apart.

It could be her mother, coming to tell her that she was "doing her right thing" (a mantra she had been hearing for the last year).

It could be Veronica, coming to claw her eyes out.

Suffice to say, Betty wasn't looking forward to opening the door.

However, the person she was least expecting was the one she found on the other side of the door.

"Archie..." she said, staring at her red-haired childhood best friend. He didn't look too happy about saying whatever he was going to say.

"Jughead's not coming," he simply said, not bothering to exchange pleasantries. Betty felt pain at the familiar yet foreign name shoot through her. After all, she hadn't heard his name in the last four months of her life. The name brought back a flood of memories of a screaming match that had ensued two months after deciding to "figure it out". A screaming match that had ended in them tangled together under sheets and Betty waking up the next morning to no one.

"Okay," she said, allowing the information to sink in. "Okay, well, we need to - come in - we need to figure out the seating chart because there's this empty space now. Are you sure we can't somehow get your great aunt into joining us? I mean, it is your wedding after all - you'd think she'd want to be there. The alternative is asking Cheryl to hang out at the bar. I'm sure she would be more than happy to oblige about that. Honestly, why would someone RSVP and then cancel last minute. That's just bad etiquette-"

"Betty!" Archie exclaimed, interrupting her rant. She looked up at him, daring him to say whatever he was planning to. "I just told you Jughead wasn't coming and all you can talk about is seating arrangements?"

"Well, what do you want me to say, Archie? I already knew I was expecting too much by asking you to send him an invite. I never imagined he'd say yes. I mean, I haven't seen him in four months. How else am I supposed to react to a practical stranger not showing up for my wedding?"

"I'm just saying, Betty. I mean, I know you guys were close and-"

"Close? I loved him Archie. He was as much family to me as my mom and dad - more so considering the predicament I had been placed in," she said, the admission of how deep her feelings ran making her feel lighter and heavier simultaneously.

"Betty I realise that this is hard but please we-"

"We don't need to do anything. You need to let me figure out the seating arrangement," Betty said, allowing her hair to fall around her face like a curtain to hide the tears pooling in her eyes.

I loved you.

She waited until she heard the lock click into place and then got up, going to the window and trying to look at her phone through blurred vision. Unable to make out anything, she scrolled blindly through her contacts and picked someone at random to talk to. She wasn't even sure what she wanted to say - she just needed to be alone with someone other than Archie.

The phone rang thrice before someone picked up.

"Hello?"

Instantly Betty's tears ceased and her eyes cleared as she listened to the familiar yet unfamiliar voice in shock.

"Betty? Is that you?" The voice asked again, pulling Betty back from the memories that had engulfed her again.

"Hi... Jughead," she managed to respond and heard a sigh on the other end. But it wasn't the annoyed sigh she had been expecting. It was more resigned like he had known this would happen. She suddenly realised she wished he had been annoyed with her. She wished he would yell at her and she could yell back at him and they could just get into a screaming match about this shitty situation they were in.

"What do you want?" He asked and she could feel the animosity in his tone.

"I just... I needed to talk," she said, still not sure what she would talk about. She waited for him to hang up. But instead, after a moment of silence -

"What's up?" He asked, surprising her.

"Nothing much. You?" She asked in her shock and wanted to kick herself for the idiocy of her response. To her further surprise and relief, she heard chuckling on the other end. Hearing Jughead chuckle sent waves of pain through her but at the same time she suddenly felt lighter.

"Well, I was under the impression that you wanted to talk about you, Betty. I mean you called me," he said and she could see him smiling on the other end. She smiled too, sitting down in the window seat.

"I'm sorry, Jughead," she finally said.

"I'm sorry, too."

"Why are you sorry?"

"There was all this unnecessary pressure on you and my constantly asking you to drop everything and come away with me clearly wasn't helping. I'm sorry, it's just that I get kinda insecure. Especially when it comes to Archie," he said and then they fell into silence again.

"You know, I don't think I was ever in love with Archie," Betty suddenly said after mulling over Jughead's apology.

"I'd beg to differ but go on."

"No, seriously. I mean, I think I was always in love with the idea of us being together. Like some kind of idealistic childhood sweetheart fantasy that I was trying to force Archie into or something. But then I realised at some point that I was never in love with Archie. Well, I loved him platonically but never anything more. Besides, there was always the fact that he wasn't single long enough for me to work up the courage to ask him out, ever."

"Not for lack of trying on your part, though," Jughead said and Betty rolled her eyes but was unable to conceal a laugh of her own.

"I really did believe that Archie and I were meant to be, you know? And somewhere along the line - somewhere around the time he started his on-and-off relationship with Veronica - I just stopped believing and..." she trailed off not knowing how to continue this.

"And then you met me?" He asked and she smiled, tears filling her eyes again for some reason.

"And then I met you."

It was so easy. So natural to speak to Jughead so candidly about their day. It was as if the last four months hadn't happened.

And that feeling lasted until Betty realised how late it was. How she had to be up in a few hours to get ready for - oh god - her wedding. She didn't want to bring it up, though. It was the elephant in the room that they had been tiptoeing around for the last two hours of conversation.

"It's getting late. I should go sleep. And you need to sleep too," Jughead said at long last, bringing Betty back to reality.

"It's a big day tomorrow," he added, with a strained laugh. Betty mirrored this laugh.

"Yeah. It is," she said but neither hung up.

"Goodnight." "I don't want to get married," Jughead and Betty said simultaneously. Jughead was silent for a few moments. Then Betty heard the beep, signaling the end of the call. Betty sighed: it had been only a matter of time before he hung up. Maybe she shouldn't have told him she didn't want the wedding. It just made things more complicated by saying that. And, considering this was the first time they were speaking in three months, they didn't need complicated right now.

Betty couldn't focus on the book she was trying to read. Her mind either wandered to the phone call she had endured half an hour ago or to what was coming. And god knows she didn't want to think about what was to come. She was trying desperately to focus on Emily Bronte when the doorbell rang. She almost didn't hear it due to the thunder that happened at the same time.

Opening the door, she came face to face with a man completely drenched to the bone.

"Jug-" she began, shocked at seeing him.

"Why would you tell me that?" Jughead asked, not coming in.

"You should come in," Betty said, moving aside.

"Of all the things you could have said, you just had to tell me that you didn't want to marry Archie, didn't you? You do realise you just told me that you wanted to leave my best friend at the altar, don't you?" He said, not heeding her words.

"You're completely drenched. Come in, I'll get you something warmer to wear," she repeated.

"No, I don't want to fucking come in! You know, you had no right to tell me that you loved me! No right at all. I was doing fine until you called. I didn't need you to come in and mess everything up. Wasn't one time enough for you?" He said and Betty head snapped up, meeting his eyes with narrowed eyes of her own.

"Enough for me? Really, Jug? You think I wanted any of this? I was fine too! I was fucking brilliant until Archie barged in here telling me that you weren't coming. And really, Jug? Not coming for your ex's wedding? Isn't that a little juvenile? I mean, that's incredibly petty - even for you. And don't even get me started on your strategy at trying to guilt me into apologizing for the truth. I am not going to say I want to marry Archie and you know what? It's entirely your fucking fault," she said and he fell silent, staring at her in confusion. She rolled her eyes and was about to ask him to leave when he said, in a much softer tone, "What do you mean it's my fault?"

Betty stared at him, not knowing how to respond. She could tell by the way he asked that he already knew why but was waiting for her to say it.

Instead she kissed him.

It was the happiest she had felt in weeks. After an initial shock, Jughead relaxed and cupped her face, his hands reclaiming their former position. When they finally separated, Betty, after allowing her breathing to level said, "That's why."

Those two words seemed to bring Jughead back to reality. He opened his eyes and let his hands drop from her face, stepping away. Betty nodded once, giving a tight-lipped smile and stepped back, over the threshold of the hotel room.

"I can't do this, Betty," Jughead said, after a few moments of silence.

"I know," she replied.

"It's too complicated."

"Yup," she nodded.

"Yeah, well, I should go," he said and Betty nodded, blinking a little faster and harder.

"You should," she agreed. But neither moved a muscle.

Instead he kissed her.

The door locked behind them and clothes found themselves strewn around the extravagant room as they made their way to the bedroom, relishing in the comfort of familiarity.

Betty woke up to an empty bed, immediately re-living four months ago when she had found a note on a pink post-it saying:

Sorry. - J

This time, however, she heard the bathroom door creak open and looked in its direction - Jughead came out, his hair disheveled and only wearing boxer briefs. He caught her staring and smiled in response.

"Hey there, Juliet," he said softly, falling down onto the bed beside her.

"Morning," she replied, smiling at him too.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Like a baby. What about you?"

"Likewise. Isn't the saying 'like a baby' stupid considering how much babies cry when they wake up?" He asked and Betty laughed. She really had missed waking up to Jughead throwing linguistic errors at her.

"Adults cry when they wake up, too. They just do it on the inside."

"Ah, now that is a feeling I am familiar with," he said and she gave another laugh. They lay on their backs, staring at the ceiling for a while in silence.

"I missed this," Betty finally said and didn't have to turn her head to know that he was looking at her.

"I missed you," he replied.

For some reason, it was that statement that brought her back to reality. She looked at Jughead, giving him a smile before glancing at the clock.

10 a.m.

Betty sat up so fast, spots clouded her vision for a few moments as the blood rushed to her head.

"Shit. I need to get ready. Oh god what am I doing. Oh my god, what did I do?" She began furiously muttering to herself, realising the gravity of the situation she was in. If her mother were to see her in this position - or worse, Archie - she didn't know what would happen. Jughead seemed to sense the urgency with which Betty rose because he pulled on his jeans.

"I guess this is goodbye then," he said, as Betty came out of the bathroom to get her clothes. Hearing this, Betty stopped and stared at him. She couldn't let him go. Not again. Not without telling him what he needed to know. Approaching him slowly, she said, "Jughead..."

"Don't," he cut her off coldly. She was stunned at this sudden change in manner and he must have noticed because his expression softened.

"Sorry," he said, stepping closer to her, "it's just... I need to leave. I need to go before I see you in your wedding dress. And, if you say what I think you were going to say, it'll make leaving much harder. I just - I can't. Not again."

She opened her mouth, determined to say it. But he stopped her by kissing her instead. Her eyes shut and he pulled away.

"Don't open them," he said and she heard his voice waver. But she obliged and kept them closed for a few moments until she heard the bedroom door click shut. Slowly opening them, she was greeted by an empty bedroom, any trace that he had been there, gone. She let out a resigned sigh and walked over to the wardrobe on the other side of the bed, only to spot something lying on the ground - the beanie.

She wondered if he realised he had left it behind.

She didn't have much time to spend wondering because her mother brought the hair and makeup crew just then and so the beanie was pushed to the back of Betty's mind.

"You look beautiful, Betty," Polly said, four hours later, looking at Betty look at herself in the mirror. Betty didn't have the heart to reply to Polly. It was true - she was a vision in this expensive gown. But she didn't want to be. She wanted to wear a t-shirt and jeans and elope with someone else.

"Are you ready?" Polly asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Betty responded. Polly smiled and walked forward adjusting her veil at the back before moving to the front and pulling the front over her face.

"If there's one thing I learnt from being a rebellious Cooper, it's that you always have a choice," she said, letting the veil rest over her face and stepping back to allow Betty to look at herself. Betty simply nodded - for the first time in her life she didn't believe her sister.

"Well let's go then," Betty said and Polly led the way out of the hotel.

Betty waited outside the hall for her parents, feeling nauseous and with a perpetual glaze of tears in her eyes. She couldn't remember the last time she had hated the world so much. She was half thinking of walking down the aisle without them when someone bumped into her from behind to go in.

"I'm sor..." Jughead's words died on his tongue when he laid eyes on her. This was why he hadn't wanted to come. Seeing her in a wedding gown. Thinking about how it shouldn't be Archie who greets her at the end of the aisle. How wrong this all was.

"You - you came," Betty said, bringing him back to reality. He nodded mutely. She ran forward and threw her arms around him, hugging him. He slowly hugged her too.

"How could I miss this," he said, softly, tightening his arms around her.

"Betty! I'm so sorry we're late! Who are - oh, Jughead! You made it," Alice Cooper came running up the stairs of the hall, Hal following close behind. The pair sprang apart, as if they had been caught doing something they weren't supposed to.

"Yes, Mrs. Cooper. You look beautiful, by the way," he said, smiling at Alice. She laughed and said, "What a charmer. Well, I'm so glad you could make it Jughead. The more the merrier - that's what I always say."

"I have never heard you say that," Betty commented, earning a sharp look from her mother.

"Irrelevant. Well, Jughead, you had better go in and sit down. It isn't good etiquette to arrive this late but since you're such good friends with Betty, I'll let it go. Go in, then," she said and Jughead nodded. He heard Alice ask Betty she was ready - formality, he supposed - and took a seat at the back.

Betty walked past him, glancing at him once before looking back ahead. A part of him wished she hadn't looked at him while going towards Archie. But he forced himself to sit through it - after all, it was his best friends' wedding.

The vows were excruciatingly long and filled with false emotion. To someone who hadn't met them, by the vows themselves, they would be considered the cheesiest couple on the planet. But Jughead knew that Archie's father had hired someone to write out their vows. It was actually a very sad truth that brought these two families together.

"Now, Archie, repeat after me," the priest said and Jughead felt his stomach drop, unable to tear his eyes away from the very thing causing him pain.

"I, Archibald,"

"I, Archibald."

"Take thee, Elizabeth,"

"Take thee, Elizabeth,"

"As my lawfully wedded wife in sickness and in health, until death parts us."

"As my lawfully wedded wife in sickness and in health, until death parts us," Archie said, looking at Betty a little too hard. Jughead watched as Archie put the ring on Betty's finger and decided that now it was too much.

"Betty, repeat after me. I, Elizabeth."

"I, Elizabeth."

Jughead stood up, walking slowly to the door. No heads turned in his direction.

"Take thee, Archibald,"

His hand reached for the door. Two or three heads turned to look at him.

"Take thee, Jughead."

His hand stopped in mid-air as a few gasps passed through the guests. He turned around, looking at the altar, finding all eyes on him. Betty was staring at him, her mouth dropped open, Archie staring at her. Cheryl and Polly were staring at Jughead wide-eyed, no doubt blaming him for disrupting the ceremony.

"Archie," Betty said, her voice cutting through the crowd. "Archie. I take thee, Archie," she repeated, trying to pretend like she hadn't said someone else's name. Archie's parents stood up and went to the altar and Jughead could see that there was a furious argument taking place. Betty's parents went there too and the argument continued. Betty looked just about ready to dissolve into tears. Jughead didn't know how it happened but the next thing he knew, Archie had taken Betty's hand and was leading her down the aisle, towards Jughead. Every instinct told Jughead to run but he was frozen in place.

"Archie, um-" he began, not knowing what he would say. Luckily he didn't have to because Archie just walked past him, not sparing him a glance, taking Betty into a room adjacent to the main hall. The room was much smaller and had a table and chair in a corner apart from the windows.

"What the hell, Arch," Betty said, when he finally let go of her hand.

"Tell me now, Betty," he said and she frowned.

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me whether or not you want to do this."

"I - I-" Betty stuttered, feeling her mind blanking.

"Yeah, I thought not," he said and sighed. "It's because of Jughead, isn't it?"

"Archie-"

"Isn't it?"

"Yes - yes it is," she replied.

"Goddammit," Archie said.

"I'm sorry, Archie," Betty said, casting her eyes downward. He didn't reply for a while and Betty watched him carefully as he paced in the small room. Then he went to the window and pushed it open. Walking back to Betty, he said, "You need to leave."

"Through... that?"

"Yes. I'll get Jughead and you guys need to get out."

"Where will we go?"

"Anywhere, Betty. Go on the honeymoon we were supposed to have - whatever. Just leave."

"Archie, I'm sorry. But I made a promise to my parents and-"

"And what about you, Betty? I mean, you are so... perfect. We both know I'll never be good enough for you. But Jughead - he loves you. He told me. And I know you love him so you need to leave. Get out of this town and start living your lives together. You deserve it."

"And here I thought I'd be forced to have an affair behind your back," Betty said with a smile, after a pause. Archie laughed and pulled her into a hug. She smiled and felt lighter than she had in months. It didn't feel like running away. More like running toward something. Archie exited the room and, a few moments later, Jughead walked in.

"You forgot your beanie," Betty said, smiling at him. With a few long strides he was in front of her and he kissed her again.

"I love you, Betty Cooper," he said, as they stood, foreheads touching. Betty gave a laugh.

"Jughead Jones, I love you."