Betty paused outside of Audrey’s bedroom for a few heartbeats to gather herself. This was a situation that she couldn’t have been prepared for, and she needed to sort her thoughts into some order before she finally rapped her knuckles against the door. It wasn’t that she thought she’d interrupt anything, especially not with the anticipation of her arrival, but that it felt too odd to just push the door to a stranger’s room open. Even if that stranger had it propped it open for her to come join them.
Once the door was pushed open, the reunion was just as Audrey had expected. It was a blur of excitement as Jughead moved forward to her wordlessly. His arms wrapping around her were impossibly tight, and Betty could feel so much he was trying to express in his embrace. She’d known him long enough to be able to read his body language. It was all fear and confusion, and she could see the guilty relief in his eyes as she pulled back. She let a hand run over his cheek, slow and silently comforting. She wanted to promise him that somehow everything was going to be okay, but all the false assurances would have to wait till later.
Betty let her hand fall to link with his fingers, before turning to offer the other pink manicured hand to Audrey. There had been something odd in their earlier exchange. She could read the awkwardness in the comments; she wasn’t stupid. There had been tension in the interaction already, but she didn’t intend to linger on that. She wasn’t a suspicious person, and there was no point in jumping to conclusions.
Even with that noble thought in mind, she didn’t manage to hide the shock on her face as well as she’d meant to. It made sense that Juggy would have sought out someone who seemed so similar to him in a terrifying and unfamiliar situation. Exactly how outwardly similar Audrey was, however, left Betty stunned. They could have been brother and sister. They looked like a matching set, from the soft babyish features and sulking ‘resting face’ to the flip of dark waves that hung down over bright eyes. They even held themselves in the same cut off manner.
“I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but that feels a little strange given the circumstances.” Betty said, trying to maintain a careful smile. It was harder to avoid staring, though. There were more important things to figure out than if this dimension was a genderswap AU, right?