Lorcan only felt marginally better when she swung open the door to the Whyte Wyrm that evening. Coming home always made her something within her feel at ease though, so her spirits were immediately lifted somewhat the moment she stepped into the rowdy bar. Here, she was known. But better than that. She was respected. Cared for.
The South Side was where she belonged. And the longer she spent on the North Side, the truer that statement felt.
Lorcan made a beeline towards the bar itself and smiled when she saw a familiar face serving drinks. "Hey Topaz," she greeted, pulling herself onto a barstool in front of one of her oldest friends.
Toni's face lit up when she saw Lorcan. "Hey!" Then, at the redness around Lorcan's eyes, "Rough day?"
Lorcan snorted. "You have no idea."
"Would a drink help with that?" Toni hinted, gesturing playfully at the assortment of bottles behind her.
Lorcan looked at them almost wistfully for a second before shaking her head. "Irene would literally skin me alive."
"Well, well, well. Looks like a North Sider's stumbled onto the wrong side of the tracks." A deep voice filled the air and made Lorcan stiffen. Toni looked up, brow raised at the intruder.
Lorcan swung off the barstool and stood glaring at the source of the voice; an incredibly tall dark-haired boy with a leather jacket which she knew for a fact had the Serpents logo branded across the back. "You wanna say that to my face?" she challenged, arms crossed across her chest and pulling her most threatening expression, face like stone.
The boy in question smirked, glaring equally as fiercely back at her, shoulders squared as if he was preparing for action. The two stood for a few moments glowering at each other, as though they were both challenging the other to something, daring the other to break first. The whole bar seemed to quieten down the longer the two faced off, as though everyone had turned to watch.
In the end they both broke at the same time.
They lurched towards each other, his arms around her waist and hers around his neck as he picked her up in a tight hug, spinning her round slightly and causing her to shriek out a laugh.
"Hey Fireball," Sweet Pea murmured in her ear.
"Good to see you, Sweets," she murmured, inhaling deeply the scent of leather and something fresher that she only associated with Sweet Pea. God, she had missed him. She pulled away slightly to look in his face, his arms keeping her at his height and they both smiled like loons at each other. Lorcan leaned her forehead against his, eyes closing involuntarily as she just wallowed in the moment. It had been too long.
They let go eventually and sat down next to each other at the bar, turning to Toni with a smile but she was just looking at them like they were the strangest people she knew. Which they kinda were.
"Why don't I get a greeting like that?" she drawled, picking up a glass to dry it with an unimpressed look on her face.
"What?" Lorcan squawked, standing as if outraged. "Hey, you know what? I will climb over this bar and hug you if you so desire. Sweets," she gently slapped his shoulder, "give me a boost. I will do it Topaz. Don't test me."
Sweet Pea offered his hands as a boost, wide smirk plastered over his face, and Lorcan was genuinely half way up and nearly over the bar, arms outstretched for a hug, when Toni pushed her away with a laugh.
"Or," she chuckled. "You could have just pulled this open, you freak." She pulled up the part of the bar that acted as a door and walked through it, pulling a 'ta-da' like motion when she was through it. Lorcan, frozen with one foot still in the cradle of Sweet Pea's hands and hands bracing herself on the bar, blinked.
"Yeah, okay," she grumbled, pulling her foot off of Sweet Pea's hands and putting both hands on her hips. "I was showing devotion. And if you don't appreciate that –"
"Oh, shut up," Toni demanded softly, pulling Lorcan into a tight hug. Lorcan immediately quietened and wrapped her arms around Toni, head dropping into the crook of her shoulder. "We've missed you, idiot."
Lorcan sniffed, pulling away and dropping back into her seat. "Yeah, I missed you guys too." She put her hand on Sweet Pea's knee and he took it, squeezing it gently and mustering a "She's not lying" look.
"Although," Toni continued, now back behind the bar with both hands on it, leaning towards her two friends, "his greeting was better than mine."
"Wow," Lorcan leaned back, sighing in mock-disappointment. "Well, I gotta be honest. I just like him more than I like you." She smirked impishly at Toni, throwing her hands up in a matter of fact surrender.
"Ah-ha!" Sweet Pea pointed victoriously at Toni. "I knew it."
"Yeah, dude, we all knew that." Another familiar male voice filled Lorcan's ears and she turned, a grin on her face, to see Fangs Fogarty drop onto the bar stool on her left.
"Fangs," she greeted, slapping his shoulder lightly.
"Hey, L," Fangs smiled, ruffling her hair playfully. She pushed his hand away, eyes narrowed in a mock threat, but the teasing smile ensured there was no heat to it.
"Although," Lorcan started, turning back to the previous conversation, and pointing a finger at Sweet Pea with a real threat attached, "You ever call me a North Sider again and you see how quickly you lose favorite person status."
Sweet Pea held up his hands in surrender. "My bad. Of course my Fireball could never be a North Sider."
"Our," Toni emphasised, pointing her dish towel in Sweet Pea's direction.
Sweet Pea inclined his head in agreement but winked teasingly at Lorcan, causing a slight flush to appear on her cheeks. Then he caught sight of her red rimmed eyes and his face dropped, mood completely serious now.
"You been crying, Lo?" he asked quietly, rubbing his thumb gently beneath her right eye.
"What? No," Lorcan softly pushed his hand away, ducking her head. "It's just allergies."
"You're not allergic to anything," Sweet Pea's voice was like steel. "Who made you cry?" He stood and, towering above her, Lorcan couldn't help but feel her heart swell a little at how quickly he was willing to go to war for her.
"No, Pea, it's nothing," she stood too, grabbing his arms and pulling him back down on to his stool. He did so reluctantly but his face was still wary, rage simmering in his eyes. "I just had a bad day, that's all. No one needs you to pay them a little visit okay? Okay, Pea?"
He grudgingly nodded. "If you're sure, Lo," he rumbled.
"You too Fangs," Lorcan warned, barely looking behind her to see the grumbling figure drop back into his seat. "None of you guys need to start a war with the North Side, m-kay?" At the threatening look in her eyes, they all acquiesced, even Toni who just help up her hands in surrender and muttered, "Hey, I'm just serving drinks."
"So, what's with the tame outfit?" Fangs started, beginning to feel ill at ease in the silence that had descended upon them.
Lorcan looked down at her clothes with a start, as if having forgotten what she was wearing. Instead of the ripped jeans, cropped shirt, boots and leather jacket she would have worn back home, she found herself in a loose gray sweater, black skinny jeans that basically looked gray, they were so worn, a denim jacket and Converse. No leather jacket in sight. Nothing that screamed 'South Side' in sight. At least her chokers and dark make-up remained. That was one part of Lorcan that Irene, no matter how hard she tried, could not remove. (The choker, as Kevin would have said, was iconic.)
"Oh," Lorcan pulled at the sweater with a sigh. It was something she would have worn on her lazy days on the South Side. Not in public. That wasn't who she was. She liked to make an effort. She liked fitting in with these people. They were her people. "Irene."
"The cursed aunt," Fangs lamented.
"That's her alright."
"She the reason we haven't seen you in three weeks?" Sweat Pea asked quietly.
Lorcan looked at him, seeing him hunched over slightly, but he refused to look her in the eye. "Yes. You think I would've stayed away by choice?"
Sweet Pea shrugged.
"Pea?"
"Of course he doesn't," Toni interjected. "Right?" She gave him a very pointed look.
Sweet Pea looked at her. "Course not." His voice was gruff but Lorcan still looked at him with something resembling despair. He really thought that of her?
"Lorcan?"
The three were interrupted by a male voice and looked round to see FP Jones standing by a snooker table, cue in hand and looking at her with a mix between disapproval and relief. Lorcan groaned and slid off the stool, grudgingly making her way over to her uncle.
"What're you doing here, kid?" FP scolded, the cue having been put down and his hands now on his hips.
"Seeing my friends," Lorcan shot back, crossing her arms over her chest. She loved FP, she did, but a scolding from him was really not what she needed right now. Tall Boy was standing over FP's shoulder and Lorcan shot him a sarcastic wave, to which he scowled.
"Really? You wanna piss off Irene?"
"What, you scared of her?" Lorcan scoffed.
FP sighed. "Lorcan."
"FP," his niece mocked.
"Go home," he commanded.
"What? No," Lorcan objected.
FP looked at her almost helplessly, knowing she wouldn't back down.
"Why do you want me gone so bad?"
"I don't," her uncle admitted quietly. "I love having you 'round here." As much as he wanted to keep the children in his life safe from the Serpent way of life, FP knew that Lorcan was at her happiest there. The Serpents were her family, perhaps even more so than her blood one. Well, parts of her blood family at least. He gestured her to come with him, placing a hand at her back and directing her towards a table.
Lorcan sat down with a huff, convinced he was going to continue berating her but, to her surprise, upon sitting FP only asked, "How's your mom?" He leaned across the table towards her, whilst Lorcan leaned back in the chair, fiddling with her choker.
She exhaled. "She's been better." That was the diplomatic answer. In truth, she didn't know how her mother really was. Having shut herself away for the almost entire eight months that her husband had been dead, Lorcan hadn't seen her mother for less than a few snatches of minutes every here and there. She was convinced that Irene had something to do with this but, despite the vastness of the house, Irene almost always caught Lorcan whenever she tried to sneak into the suite her mother was staying in. Your mother is grieving. She needs her space, was the answer she always got. Well, Lorcan was grieving too. And she wasn't being locked up like the mad wife in the attic. "How're you doing?"
She sometimes forgot that the day she had lost a dad, FP had lost a younger brother.
"Don't worry about me, kid," FP smiled sadly, patting her shoulder gently. "How 'bout Jet? Waverly?"
"They're fine, I guess." The one thing Irene or grief hadn't been able to take from her siblings was their infectious energy and Jet and Waverly were still as rambunctious as the day they had been born.
"That's good. And you?" FP looked at her with a raised eyebrow and Lorcan knew there would be no lying to him.
"It's been a rough summer FP." She wanted to tell him about Jason, wanted to get it all off her chest to someone that wasn't Cheryl and that wouldn't judge her. FP could help, right? He had contacts, he could help find Jason. Then maybe she wouldn't feel so damn guilty. She had just opened her mouth when her phone started vibrating. Lorcan pulled the phone out of her jacket pocket and groaned when she saw the screen. It was a text. From Irene.
Get home. Now. You have a visitor.
"Crap," she sighed and pushed the phone back into the pocket.
"Important?"
Lorcan huffed irritably, running a hand through her loose hair. "Only the frigging Queen."
The phone vibrated again.
"I think you should do as she says," FP said pointedly, watching as Lorcan pulled the phone back out and made a face at the screen.
NOW Lorcan.
She stood, rolling her eyes at her uncle. "You are scared of her." FP only pulled an innocent grin, standing too, but Lorcan missed the saddened glint in his eyes. Of course he was scared of her…
"Sweet Pea," he called, and said teen looked up from where he was still sitting with Fangs at the bar. "Get over here."
Lorcan looked distractedly at her phone as the boy made his way over.
"Give Lorcan a ride home. The She-Devil calls," FP ordered and Sweet Pea looked reluctantly at Lorcan but nodded. Lorcan sadly wondered why the atmosphere had become so tense as soon as she and Sweet Pea had to stand together. A small part of her brain whispered, when he started believing you no longer cared about him, and she frowned.
"Sure," he acquiesced. Then he looked at her and a mischievous glint entered his eye. "Anything for North Side royalty."
Lorcan looked up in outrage, gaping at him.
And things were suddenly back to normal.
"I'll see you later," she muttered to FP, giving him a quick side hug before beginning to stride out of the Whyte Wyrm, calling out a farewell to Fangs and Toni on the way. Sweet Pea followed, nearly crashing into her when FP's voice caused Lorcan to halt suddenly. She looked questioningly back at her uncle.
"How's Jughead?" The tone of the question made it seem like FP was only asking as a formality but Lorcan knew how deeply he cared for his boy.
She looked at him sadly. "You gotta ask him yourself, FP. You have to talk to him sometime."
FP nodded sadly and Lorcan turned to leave again, realising that now Sweet Pea was in front of her and taking the opportunity to slap him harshly on the back.
"Ow!" he yelped. "What the hell was that for?" He looked back at her, rubbing his back, with wide eyes.
"I told you not to call me a North Sider," Lorcan explained lightly. "It's your own fault." With that, she breezed past him and out of the bar.
Sweet Pea watched her go, still clutching at the sore part of his back, with something resembling amazement on his face. After a second, he shook his head fondly and followed her out.
FP watched the encounter between the two with fondness in his eyes. He shook his head and, turning back towards the pool table, muttered, "Kids."
Tall Boy looked at him questioningly.
"They're crazy for each other," FP explained, as though it was obvious. "They'll figure it out eventually."
Tall Boy sighed. "Oh good," he muttered dryly and turned back to the game.
Lorcan never felt so free as when she was on a motorcycle and the ride back into Astor territory was honestly one of the best parts of her week. Sadly, it was over too soon and she felt like she had only just got on the bike when Sweet Pea was pulling up as far away as was necessary so as to keep safe from the wrath of Irene Astor. She reluctantly released her grip from Sweet Pea's waist and climbed off the bike, looking over the hedge at the Astor house with a deep sigh. Sweet Pea, still perched on the bike, looked at her with concern.
"I didn't really think that you didn't want to see us," he admitted quietly and Lorcan looked at him with a frown, looking to see the trace of a lie in his features. "It's just, after so long without seeing you, I started to get these doubts. I don't believe them."
She eventually nodded. "I wouldn't blame you if you did. I'm sorry I made you doubt me. But honestly Pea, getting out of this house is like escaping Alcatraz. I would never leave you guys willingly. I need you to know that."
"She's really that bad?" Lorcan shrugged. "You want me to talk to her?"
She grinned. "There's no need. She'd take one look at you and point a crucifix in your face or something."
Sweet Pea snorted. "Sounds like a real terror."
Lorcan came and stood right in front of him and, with him sitting on the bike, was only a little taller than him. "I really do miss you guys," she murmured, taking his hand.
Sweet Pea squeezed it. "We miss you like hell, Lo."
She looked down at their joined hands sadly. Who knows when she'd be able to have this again? (It would actually be a lot sooner than she thought, but a tragedy was needed first.)
She then looked back at the house. The two parts of her life. Her mother's family. Her family.
God, she really didn't want to go back into that house. It would be so easy to get on the back of this bike and ask Sweet Pea to get her the hell out of there. Out of Riverdale maybe.
But she couldn't leave them. Not her mom. Not Jet and Waverly. They needed her. And she'd be damned if she let Irene twist them into North Siders. Into people they weren't.
"I miss my dad," she exhaled quietly. "He didn't let Irene walk all over Mom. And I'm trying, but I can't do it. I'm not strong enough to say no to her. I'm constantly terrified of doing something she disapproves of but that's just her messing with my head. What if, one day I wake up and I'm this perfect student who starts cheerleading and volunteering? What if I start acting like a North Sider, Pea? I can't become that, and I'm terrified she's gonna make me into it." Her voice had taken on a panicked tone and Sweet Pea had to grab her other hand, pulling her closer to him.
"Lo, look at me," he commanded. "Look at me."
Lorcan did as he asked, her breathing slowing the longer she looked at him.
"That's not gonna happen." He sounded so sure. "I know you. You're strong. You don't let people walk over you, and you know who you are. Irene can't change that."
Lorcan nodded. "You're right." He believed in her. That meant a lot to her. She took a deep breath, casting another look at the house. "Okay. Time to go back to the mad house."
Sweet Pea let go of her hands. "Good luck."
"I'll need it," she grumbled. Then she leant forward and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek. "Thanks for the ride."
Sweet Pea smiled. "Knock 'em dead, Fireball," he winked.
Lorcan gave him a thumbs-up, before she reluctantly took a step backwards, casting Sweet Pea a wan smile before making a sharp turn and striding towards the drive up to the house. She didn't see him press a hand to his cheek, on the exact spot where her lips had been a moment previous, and neither did she see the slight flush of his cheeks. Sweet Pea cast one look at the Astor house and muttered, "You better be good to her," before speeding off, back to the South Side.
Lorcan didn't know then that the next time she would see Sweet Pea would be after tragedy had struck.
Her aunt's house was excessively large. Well, it was technically the Astor family mansion of much the same ilk as Thornhill, with both her aunt and her mother having been due to inherit it upon the death of their parents. When her mother had absconded with a Serpent, however, her parents had disowned her and, whilst still alive and now having had retired to Florida, they refused to allow her back into their will. Therefore, the house was technically nothing to do with Lorcan – something she had brought up to FP when her mother had decided to move into it. Irene constantly held it over them that they were only there out of the kindness of her heart, to which Lorcan replied that true kindness would be allowing her to stay on the South Side. Irene had ignored that, as she tended to ignore most things she didn't agree with.
Lorcan pushed open the door to the entry-hall to find her aunt sitting in a rather sinister manner in the armchair in front of the fire at the far end of the hall.
Irene immediately stood up the moment Lorcan entered the house and stalked towards her. Her face was eerily calm and Lorcan knew then that she was in for a storm.
"And where have you been?" Irene's voice was cool but Lorcan wasn't fooled by it.
"Out," she answered airily, taking off her jacket and folding it over her arm.
"Out where?"
"Walking."
"Don't be pedantic, Lorcan," her aunt tutted and Lorcan rolled her eyes.
"I went for a walk through the woods, okay? Happy?"
"Not particularly."
"Well, Irene, there's not much I can do about that. I can't go back in time." Because if I did my dad would be alive and I wouldn't be in this hell.
Irene gave her a forced smile. "Your guest is in your room." She then turned and strode into the bowels of the house.
"Who is it?" Lorcan called.
"Find out for yourself."
Lorcan rolled her eyes, glancing at the ornate wooden staircase and preparing herself to climb it.
'Room' was an understatement as each member of the Jones family was presented with a small wing of the house, consisting of a bedroom, small living room and ensuite. The result, Lorcan felt, was feeling isolated from the rest of her family. Five of them had once lived in a space of much the same size and now she wandered the house and felt like she could go for days without seeing another human being. Sometimes, she darkly thought that if she died, it would take days for someone to find her.
But then, Irene was so obsessed with her whereabouts that maybe it wouldn't take that long. But, it would be just as easy for Irene to kill her and people to not find the body…
Lorcan shook her head and pushed open the door that led to her wing. Her visitor was sitting primly on her bed, flicking through a book, long legs crossed.
Cheryl Blossom.