Jellybean
Gladys, a woman of pale skin and dark brown hair, not unlike her children, walked through her apartment. She was beautiful once, but her face was too gaunt and her orbits too dark to make her seem anything more than haunting now. She'd taken a vague note of her daughter's converse shoes piled neatly at the doorway, knowing she would be in her room doing whatever it was she did in there. Maybe homework…she and her brother had taken after their uncle Herman in that respect, had an intelligence unseen in either parent. Gladys didn't want to think about that, didn't want to think about her ex-husband or the little girl in the room with a grin that was so much like his. Not that the girl had grinned at her in years.
She stared at the closed door and considered going in to see if the girl still looked like him before changing her mind and heading to a much more familiar part of the apartment-the bar fridge. Within herself she knew she should probably be interacting with her…daughter, but Dionysus' blessing was more up her alley. Jellybean was perfectly fine on her own, and as far as Gladys was concerned by providing money for food and school, she had done more than other mothers could preach. Satisfied with her role as a guardian and heavily dosed on her best friends, vodka and gin, she happily stumbled her way to her room to get ready for another eventful night.
In the middle of applying her make-up with shaky hands, a knock at her bedroom door startled her. She cursed at the smear of red along her cheek. Wiping at it furiously with a damp cloth she stomped her way to the door to see a sheepish Jellybean bearing chocolate, on closer examination…liquor chocolate…yum.
"Hey mom! Saw these today and thought of you. You look lovely by the way." Too drunk and too focussed on the chocolates to comprehend the false flattery, Gladys practically inhaled two chocolates down before attempting to think of a response.
"I'm seeing Brian again tonight, he's taking me to that new club in town…Panda-mo- something. It's really exclusive you know!" She'd returned to her vanity mirror with chocolate box in hand, barely glancing at her daughter, not seeing the grimace that adorned the girl's face.
"He's taking you to Pandemonium? That's…exciting! You really picked a…charmer. Won't you let me do your makeup for tonight mom? It'd mean so much, to work on such a beautiful canvas…model." Jellybean briefly wondered if she'd taken it too far, but she'd clearly underestimated her mother's drunken state.
"Oh I suppose I could let my baby girl do up her mama's face…just for tonight." Beats trying to get these stupid hands to steady themselves…must be Brian, making me so nervous! "I'm just so nervous with this guy, he might be the one you know!" She gave her daughter what she thought was a sultry wink, though Jellybean was hard pressed to differentiate it from an uncontrolled muscle spasm.
"Sure mom. Here, let me." As Jellybean fixed her mother's makeup to something more elegant than the violent reds and golden glitter of before, she slipped some forms out from her pocket and a pen. "Hey mom, can you sign this permission slip for me? It's for school tomorrow, just a trip to the museum."
Distracted by how pretty she looked in the mirror, Gladys didn't even glance at the forms, just scribbled down a signature wherever Jellybean guided her fingers. The trip must have meant a lot to Jellybean because she was actually smiling in a way it shone from her eyes…in a way that looked too much like her father. Abruptly, Gladys stood up and shoved the papers at her daughter.
"Right, well. I need to finish getting ready. There's some money for dinner on the counter…don't you wait up for me now!" Another muscle spasm from her mother later and Jellybean found herself standing outside her mother's bedroom door-a common occurrence. She didn't care anymore…the termination of guardianship forms were signed, she'd send them to the court tomorrow morning, and then she'd be free to leave.
Grabbing the money from the counter she crammed it into her pockets and gleefully made her way back to her room. Once she was safely behind a locked door again, Jellybean pulled out two duffel bags and began filling them with the necessities. Clothes, toiletries, money, sentimental pieces and a few books she refused to leave behind. She paused her packing though when she came across an old friend. She ran her fingers through the soft white fur of her stuffed dog, gifted to her by Jughead years ago at an amusement park…he'd been christened Hot Dog at the time.
"Well Hot Dog, you're coming me with me right? Jug said you'd protect me from anything…and he's probably missed you too, eh boy?" He was the last item to be squished into a bag before she crawled into bed for the night. She'd put aside the money with the rest of her savings and hoped it'd all cover the flight she was currently booking through her phone. Everything finally in order she dreamed about tomorrow. Visions of the court, the finalization of the forms, the flight and lastly Riverdale and Jughead, danced through her head as she drifted off into a deep sleep.
So I've stolen some names and made some references to characters found in the original Archie comics…see if you can spot any of them ;) I honestly didn't mean to make the Jones' mom so…messy…but lo and behold…a messy mom. Actually, she probably fits in with the rest of the crazy Riverdale parents XD Hopefully she'll get a reality check soon…Our JBean's a little crafty eh?
I know these installments are rather short (here's me hoping it'll mean I'll update this fic quicker), but if you don't mind the fic, why not drop a pretty little review? Pretty please? With virtual Pop Tate burgers and milkshakes on top? XD