Jughead leaned against a tree, his thumbnail practically bleeding from his incessant chewing.
Despite what he'd said, hiding out at the bus station while Betty waded through the asylum's underbelly felt like what Sweet Pea would call a 'bitch move.' Obviously using Sweet Pea as a moral compass was stupid, but it reminded Jughead that, as a Serpent, he lived by a code. In unity there's strength. Just because Betty wasn't one of them didn't mean that he shouldn't have her back. Even if it landed him across an interrogation table from Sheriff Tom Keller, he was the partner she'd chosen and he was riding it out to the end with her.
In the dark it was nearly impossible to see anything coming, but when Jughead heard crashing near the path they had mapped out, he could feel the plan rip wide open. Running toward the noise, he found the girls jumbled together near the tree line. Betty curled in on herself as she tried to sit, Jughead fumbling for his phone to illuminate them all.
"She tripped." Caroline. He had barely noticed her as she had gotten to her feet. Her demeanor was surprisingly cool, like all fear had seeped out of her. "I tried to help…"
"The Sisters will have called the police by now." Betty's voice was a shrill bark, like she was losing control for the first time. "They're coming."
Jughead sprang to action, running to the car and grabbing the borrowed rucksack that held a stash of clothes, cash, a disposable cell phone and Caroline's bus ticket. "Here, change." He tossed the bag at Caroline, who immediately started to strip out of her standard issue, prison pajamas without the slightest hesitation.
Jughead had to ignore his growing panic if he was going to get Caroline out safe. But how? If the cops caught her in the car, they were all in a world of trouble and the law would come down heavily on the Serpents when the web was weaved together. Exactly what his dad had warned against. He glanced over the slick surface of the road, his bike bathed in the moonlight.
"What are the chances you know how to ride a motorcycle?"
Caroline secured her hair in a messy knot, something devilish curving her lips. "Pretty good, actually."
With no time for questions, Jughead tossed the keys to his bike at Caroline then slipped off his jacket and handed it to her. "The bus station is ten minutes west of here. Dump the bike in the overgrown ditch across the road from the depot." He pointed toward the highway, directing her to go straight for three exits. "They'll come here first to check the woods. Betty and I will try to buy some time."
Caroline, slung the strap of the rucksack across her body. "Thanks." She kneeled next to Betty, wrapping her in a tight embrace. "You risked everything for me. I'll never be able to pay you back for that." She kissed Betty's cheek. "But I'm gonna try."
The bike sped off, Jughead watching and hoping he'd see it again. More, he hoped this stranger who he'd entrusted it to would get out.
He turned back to Betty, who sat frozen, an angelic statue of horror. It was the first time he'd seen anything but bravery from her and it shook him more than the sound of sirens in the distance.
Gathering her up off the ground, he tucked her into the passenger's side of the car. With no time to think, Jughead threw the car into drive and gunned it. He skidded to a stop a few hundred feet down the road before making a sloppy U-turn so they were facing the approaching any cars head on.
"The cops'll have us boxed in." He wrung the wheel and looked at Betty, half expecting her to have a plan.
Staring ahead, Betty's words came slowly. "Get in the back."
Jughead looked skeptical. "What… why?"
Finally snapping to, Betty tried articulate the terrible plan coming together in her mind. "If we look like we came here to mess around in the backseat of a car, it's going to make whoever finds us incredibly uncomfortable." Soldiering through the excruciating throb in her ankle, she squeezed between the seats and flopped into the backseat. "We may be able to avoid too many questions that way."
Jughead swiped the beanie from his head, his fingers tugging at his hair. "I don't know." Even though he did. Kids came up here and hooked up all the time, according to her. What better reason for them to be there? He wished he knew one, Jughead quickly becoming one of the incredibly uncomfortable people she had mentioned.
Her breath caught in her chest as their eyes met between the seats. How was it so easy to convince men to watch her do what she did online yet suggesting a fake-out to Jughead was complicated. Because it was real? Because he would see her after this and know who she was? She'd never wanted to be that other, darker side of herself in person much less have anyone see it. But hadn't he all along? He'd been breaking the law with her for weeks. And when he'd held her hand earlier, then saved her friend when she floundered, he'd never been afraid of who she was. Maybe he could forget about this too.
Reaching out, her hand closed around his wrist. "I know this sounds insane. And if you don't want to, we won't actually touch. It'll just… look like it."
Jughead relented as she tugged him back next to her, his expression skewing stunned as she undid the buttons of her blouse and loosened her ponytail until her hair fell around her. "For effect." He nodded and pulled his shirt off, his shoulder tattoo catching her attention. A snake. She was about to ask when flashes of bright red and blue popped in front of them, the seat backs blocking the direct glare of headlights.
Turning toward her, Jughead prepared to make a show of kissing her without actually doing it only to be met by the soft, electric sizzle of her lips on his.
Her hands gently took his face and his arm drew around her, his palm resting against the small of her back. It was meant to be a ruse, an excuse. But it felt real, more real than his last kiss and the one before that. Toni Topaz, fellow Serpent and former fling, might have punched him in the face for putting her second to a 'North Side princess,' but he couldn't manage to care. He liked this feeling with Betty - maybe too much - even if he couldn't nail down what it was or meant.
He nearly didn't hear the rapping on the window and he only stopped when a cold gust of night air clutched his bare limbs as he was yanked out of the car. "Jughead Jones and…"
Sheriff Keller's cadence and manner had never been particularly harsh but both lost all authority, becoming dad like and confused, when Betty slid to the open side of the car, clutching her blouse. "Betty?"
Her played embarrassment may have been passable to Keller, but Jughead could still feel the brush of her tongue to his. The scared girl who'd burst out of the woods was gone. Betty Cooper was no victim. And Tom Keller was no match for her.
The sheriff looked away as she fumbled with her buttons. "What are you doing here? And with..."
"Having a good time," Jughead piped in, the glare pointed in his direction making him want to laugh. "People do that sometime. You should try it."
Wrapping her arms tightly around herself, Betty looked down at the ground. "Please don't tell my mom. She would freak out."
Keller waved another officer over to the car. "Let's not worry about that right now." He gave her shoulder a reassuring pat before dragging Jughead down the road.
"What the hell is going on here? You've got that poor girl out here, doing who knows what."
It annoyed Jughead that he was suddenly some kind of predator. Of all thing things Keller could bust him on, sexual assault wasn't one of them. "Gimme a break, man. I took the class. No means no..." Jughead had to regain composure, he could not lose his temper. "She was the one who suggested it. According to her good buddy, Kev, this place is prime makeout real estate."
The mention of Kevin seemed to shake Keller, the idea that he was meeting up with random dudes in the creepy woods sending ice cold parental fear up his spine. "Whose car is that? If I run that plate, is it going to be stolen?"
"A friend let me borrow it. Truck's in the shop." Half true, Jughead thought as Keller scrutinized him. Despite being adversaries, Jughead knew the sheriff wasn't stupid and pushing a lie too far would easily end any chance of Jughead walking away from this scene.
"Have you seen anyone else out here tonight? The nuns up at the orphanage said that one of the girls wasn't in her bed when they checked. Maybe she was trying to have the kind of good time you were working at."
"I really wasn't looking for Wanda in the woods." Jughead's gaze flicked quickly over to Betty, who had the young officer with Keller on the ropes - the guy was handing her his cup, presumably filled with warming coffee. "I only had one girl on my mind."
Keller paced a bit, the weight of a missing girl clearly pressing on him. It was strange how Caroline's escape had been so damning to Jughead before when it was now the one distraction that could free him. Whether or not the sheriff wanted to buy Jughead's poorly orchestrated lies, he didn't have the luxury of time.
"Take that girl home. And whatever you're up to with her, it should probably stop. I may not be able to do anything but her mother is a whole other kind of mess you don't want in your life."
"Is that… is that concern, Sheriff? I'm touched that my well-being means that much to you."
"Get out of here!"
Jughead didn't have to be told twice, walking back to the car. The younger officer gave him a look, likely meant as a warning, before following Keller toward the woods.
"So?"
Jughead glanced in the rearview, seeing Betty looking out the window. "Let's get out of here before they start asking real questions."
Betty remained quiet as the tires kicked up gravel and sped away from the scene.