Author's Note:
Hello again, all! Is it tiring hearing me (reading me, you know what I mean) say thank you week after week? Too bad. Thank you for the continuous encouragement and the good faith you've shown this story by returning to it. Your comments in particular have been so flattering that I'm just hoping I don't goof this up at some point. Recently, I received feedback along the lines of "more dialogue," "more Sweet Pea," and, reading between those lines, inferred: "more M-rated moments." If you tell me I'm wrong, I can promise I will not believe you haha
Enjoy!
XO ForASecondThereWe'dWon
XI
"That's it?"
"What do you mean 'that's it?'" Betty asked, disappointed by Veronica's reaction. "It was really romantic."
"But you just drove around."
Betty sighed, adjusting her hold on her phone. Her friends had basically left her to her own devices after the dance, trusting (in Betty more than Sweet Pea, she suspected) that she would get home safely. She had sent Kevin a text to let him know that she had and put off the thought of the verbal bombardment she knew would be coming. Veronica had managed to restrain herself until the following morning, a Saturday, though Betty was almost certain the delay was due to however her friend and her redheaded neighbour spent their evening rather than any conscious attempt by Veronica to give her space.
"Uh huh," Betty confirmed.
"So where's the appeal in that? I saw how you two danced," Veronica teased. "I would've been less surprised if you'd told me you'd climbed in the backseat than the front."
"People used to do that in this town, you know, V? Just cruise."
"And was that before or after the invention of the birth control pill? 'Cause I'm guessing it was before."
Betty couldn't help laughing, even as she pressed her fingers against her forehead in mild frustration. It seemed so easy for her friend to fling everything out in the open like that, her opinions, her actions. There was no doubt in Betty's mind that Veronica and Archie were sleeping together because they were both just so… comfortable with their affection in public. It helped Betty in a way, knowing that she had someone to turn to if her own situation progressed. After the night Jughead had told her he loved her―which felt like it had been about a decade ago now―Betty had talked to her mother, and then her doctor, about going on the pill; the very same item Veronica was currently treating with such flippancy had been a big deal for Betty to consider and procure. Having that conversation with her mom had been a particularly hellish brand of mortification, but at the time, her relationship with Jughead had seemed to be clearly moving in that direction. Being prepared was one of Betty's most defining traits. That milestone step aside, she'd seen no reason to expose herself to further torturous talks as far as possible bedroom specifics. In the end, she and Jughead had broken up, never having again come as close to sex as they had that first and only time. But now, when she was thinking about it again, there was Veronica, providing advice whether Betty was totally comfortable hearing it or not.
"Just… hold off on the guidance for now, would you?" Betty used her shoulder to press her phone to her ear as she pulled her boots on.
"I'm only trying to help," Veronica protested in a sympathetic tone. "Besides, I'm not sure I'm actually capable of resisting the instinct to assist you with my worldly wisdom," she joked.
"Well, I'm not asking for forever, V, just until I get to Pop's." Betty smiled into the phone.
"Fine," Veronica capitulated, "I'll see you in, what? 10?"
"Yep. I'm just heading out." Betty waved to her mom, seated in the kitchen, and mouthed 'Pop's.' Alice nodded.
Veronica was already in a booth when she arrived. Betty sat, then turned to catch Pop's attention to order a milkshake, but as she did so, the very man appeared and set a pair of them on the table. She thanked him and rotated back to her friend, who was smiling in deep satisfaction with her chin resting on intertwined fingers. Preparing to be grilled like one of Pop's burgers, Betty took a deep breath.
"So you gave the boyfriend the slip today, did you?" she asked companionably. Veronica's eyebrow arched.
"I could ask you the same question. You and Sweet Pea are official now, aren't you?"
Betty smiled around her straw, face heating a little although her mouth was full of ice cream-y slush.
"I think so."
"Did he say you are?" Veronica swirled her own milkshake with a straw.
"He asked me, actually."
"Then that's a definite yes, since he strikes me as the kind of guy who treats his word as law. Serious Betty and her serious boyfriend." Veronica smiled, tipping her head to the side as she met Betty's gaze.
"Boy, don't we sound fun," Betty replied sarcastically, though they both cracked a grin. "You did get to meet Sweet Pea though. What did you think of him?" She drew one leg up, pinning her ankle under her opposite thigh and twitching her foot nervously against the seat.
As attached to her independence as she was, Betty relied deeply and openly on her friends' opinions. Maybe she hadn't heeded Kevin's warning about getting involved with a Serpent, but she still liked to know what her friends thought. Being around her new boyfriend had actually made Betty want to encourage honesty in herself and others. Secrets and deception had only ever gotten her into trouble. A little faint-heartedly, she also tried to communicate to Veronica with her eyes not to give her the very harshest version of the truth. Betty felt as though she'd fallen into this thing with Sweet Pea fast and hard enough that she wasn't looking to be dissuaded. Like her boyfriend behind the wheel of Toni's car, she didn't want to be stopped, or even slowed if it was possible. She knew it might have been a little reckless of her and yet she felt entitled to that recklessness in a way she never had before. Hopefully not presenting herself as her boyfriend's perfect opposite would be a better bet for her this time around.
"A little hard to read, to be honest," Veronica responded with a pensive tilt of her head. "I might have assumed he was just a private person if not for the fact that not five minutes later he spanked you in front of us all."
Betty groaned in embarrassment, dropping her chin to the tabletop and resting her flushed cheek against the tall, cold glass of her vanilla milkshake.
"God, V, don't say 'spanked.' You're making it sound unnecessarily kinky," she chastised as quietly as she could. Veronica gave her a disturbingly knowing look, so Betty pressed on. "What else though? Don't you think there's just… something about him?"
"There's certainly something about the two of you together," her friend shot back. "Facing off against me, Kevin, and Archie all at once seemed to put him on edge, but as soon as you appeared, it was like the rest of us just ceased to exist. Which," she added in a tone of minor annoyance, "was a little disconcerting."
"You don't think he's really, you know, dangerous though, right?" Betty's eyebrows rose pleadingly.
Veronica took a long drink of her shake. Long enough to make Betty worry.
"Not for you," she finally said, "but you weren't at the Serpents/Bulldogs street fight." She held raised a hand, palm up, ostensibly weighing the memory. "To be fair, it was raining and there were a lot of flailing limbs, but I know that Sweet Pea was one of the ones right in the thick of it."
"But so was Archie," Betty replied defensively.
"Archie wasn't the one who showed up on Sweet Pea's doorstep looking for a fight," Veronica pointed out, posture stiffening.
"Why don't we just… leave the past out of this?" Betty suggested in a voice of exaggerated calmness. "You and I have fought before and I never want to go back there."
"Me neither," Veronica immediately agreed. "And I want to make this relationship as un-West Side Story-ish as possible for you." She laughed and Betty smiled gratefully. "So you really just went for a drive?"
For a moment, Betty marvelled at her friend's capacity to forgive and forget, then allowed her to carry them back into the conversation they'd started out having by phone.
"We really did," Betty assured her. "Then we said goodnight, we kissed, and I went up to bed." She shrugged, smiling.
"But you're at least going to tell me that he couldn't stop texting you, or that he called you before he went to sleep because he just wanted to hear your voice, right?" Veronica prompted.
"He said he didn't want to text me―"
"What?" Veronica butted in, voice high and sharp as a cymbal. Betty gave her a flat stare.
"Let me finish. He didn't want to text me because he was afraid of falling asleep and leaving me waiting. He said he didn't want to disappoint me." Betty made an isn't that adorable face to Veronica which led to an immediate, synchronized, venerating squealing. "And you can't tell that to anyone. Not even Kevin."
"Consider me sworn to secrecy," Veronica declared, holding a hand to her heart. They were quiet for a minute, drinking their respective milkshakes. "Wow, I would never have thought it of him." Her eyebrows flicked up and she returned to stirring her drink.
"I'm definitely surprised by his behaviour more often than not," Betty admitted.
"And by your own when you're with him, I'm guessing." Veronica shared one of her perspicacious smiles. "I can tell," she said, when Betty looked at her inquiringly.
"Tell what?"
"That you're head over heels."
Betty rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. Her phone buzzed in the pocket of her open jacket and she retrieved it. Texts from Sweet Pea. Veronica read that much in her face while Betty scanned the actual content of his messages. He wanted to see her. She glanced up at her friend.
"Do you mind if I―"
"Go," Veronica encouraged, laughing. "I'm supposed to meet Archie this afternoon anyway, then he's coming over for supper."
"That's great, V," Betty said, squeezing her friend's hand as she slurped the last of her drink and rose from their booth. "Look at us," she remarked before leaving. "So much has happened and having a chat over a milkshake at Pop's is still our go-to."
"You know what they say. Plus ça change." Veronica waved her hand airily.
Betty hurried off, feeling like her friend was completely correct about their dynamic. She and Veronica had developed and strengthened a bond that had remained solidly reliable while everything else was up in the air. However, she wasn't sold on the universal truism of the phrase. As far as Betty could tell, other parts of her life were still changing, shifting like tectonic plates, in a way that made staying the same seem impossible. And anyway, it felt about time for something new.
It was starting to snow when he met her halfway between the Northside diner and the Southside bar, stingy February flakes swooshing in every direction through air that burnt the inside of his nose to breathe. Sweet Pea's plan had been to wait for Betty in the heart of Serpent territory, to sit by a window so the bright daylight could warm his face without him having to step out into the biting cold that went with it, but he'd barely been able to stand still since texting her, let alone sit still. What the weather had suggested, the sight of Betty's face confirmed: there always seemed to be something a little painful in beauty; the wind tossed his girl's hair as she came towards him and his insides flopped around like clothes in a drier.
"Don't tell me you're cold," he joked when she stopped in front of him on the sidewalk and shivered.
"I think I'm finally getting used to it actually," Betty protested, though she nuzzled her chin down into her scarf. "Pop's is always so warm that it takes me a while to adjust again after―"
Sweet Pea tugged the front of her scarf down and interrupted her with a kiss. After a second, he felt Betty grab hold of the front of his jacket, pulling him in. He smiled against her mouth.
"So what's the big hurry?" she asked, a little breathless. "Why did I have to come right over?"
"I just showed you why." He smirked down at her and Betty raised a mittened hand to sweep gathering snowflakes off his head with an expression of serious concentration. It threw him off, but her attention felt good. "If you're warm enough," he went on, "we could stay outside for a while."
Betty shrugged, giving him a considering look as he drew her against his side and started walking. Once he'd settled his arm comfortably around her, Sweet Pea kept his eyes forward, letting her take her time.
"As long as you're not trying to avoid anyone seeing us together." She said it subtly, not quite accusing. He narrowed his eyes and glanced over at her.
"You're the same girl I was with last night, aren't you? You should know that the possibility of people seeing you with me isn't exactly something that scares me."
"But, I mean, that was a pretty specific circumstance…" Was she blushing? It was hard to tell since her face was already pink from being outside.
"If there was any reason for me not to want people to see us it would be to, I don't know, spare my friends the jealousy." He watched as she shook her head disbelievingly. "And, ok fine, maybe also to spare you from hearing some of their… um… suggestions to me."
She turned her head to stare up at him with a frown. He raised his eyebrows and saw in her face the second it clicked.
"Ah." Betty's green eyes widened.
"You have no idea," he said seriously, leading her away from the sidewalk. "They've given me so many ideas, I'm going to have to start writing them down." The corner of his mouth slid up into a grin.
"Oh my god, stop," she told Sweet Pea, laughing and slipping out of his hold to brush past him. "I don't want to know!"
He wondered if it was his words making Betty nervous, or his body half-wrapped around hers. To test it, he rushed after her and grabbed her around the waist, lifting her off the ground. She shrieked, clinging to his arms until he let her feet touch ground again. Still, he held onto her from behind, bending to press his cheek to her temple.
"You don't want to know? Is that what you said?" He had sucked in cold air too fast and his voice came out ragged.
"I thought you wanted to spare me from their suggestions," she shot back. It made Sweet Pea smile into her hair to see how tough she was acting in his hold. Betty was good at hiding feelings of intimidation, obviously, but he wanted to know―had to know―if there were other feelings she was trying to hide right then.
"What about from my suggestions?" A hunger rose in him and he had to let Betty go before he could say too much, wiping a hand across his face to clear his head.
Glancing back at him with an expression he didn't understand, she continued forward into the park he'd been heading to. It wasn't much more than an infrequently mown lawn and a basic, ancient swing set, which would probably give anyone who touched the metal at this time of the year instant frostbite, but it was a neighbourhood landmark. Hell, the Serpents' kids had to go someplace before they were old enough to be allowed into the Wyrm. Nobody was around today though. Sweet Pea followed Betty, crispy, icy grass snapping under his shoes. She had stopped by one of the swings and he shook the rubbery seat, then ran his sleeve over it to clear it of snow before she sat. Without spoken agreement, she took her feet off the ground and he began to push her steadily.
"Let's hear your suggestions," she called into the cold air when he'd gotten her swinging to about half the height it would take to go flying over the top bar and wrap the swing around it. It was something he'd always challenged his friends to do when he was a kid, and accepted any challenge to do it himself. There was no better sensation than feeling like you were taking your life in your hands in that moment before freefall kicked in and gravity let you hang out way up above everything. By the sounds of it, just being on the swing was lending his girl some of that same eager recklessness.
"What, shout them?" he asked doubtfully, propelling her up towards the sky again.
"Yes!"
"Without getting to see your reaction? I don't fucking think so."
Sweet Pea abandoned his post and came around to the front. Betty didn't kick her feet, watching him, and started to slow down. Before it was 100% safe to do so, he rushed forward and grabbed the chains suspending her seat. It jostled her badly enough that he nearly got a boot to the groin, but he didn't acknowledge the close call, just dropped his hands from the freezing chains to her denim-covered knees and pushed them apart so he could stand between her legs.
"What are you doing?" she exclaimed, laughing incredulously. Sweet Pea didn't speak, only stared hard into her eyes and pulled her up, keeping her against him with a hand on her ass.
"You asked for my suggestions."
Betty licked her bottom lip, moving her hands up his arms to his shoulders.
"And you're going to tell me?"
He smirked.
"No."
"No?" she echoed. Sweet Pea thought she almost looked relieved, maybe thought he was going to protect her from the urges within him that he'd barely begun to reveal the night before. Maybe thought he'd give her room to get familiar with him, give it and give it and give it until nothing he said startled her or made the colour flood her face like it was doing now. Maybe thought he was just another Jughead Jones.
"Don't you know what I want?" he demanded of her. Betty's eyelashes fluttered and Sweet Pea leaned his face over hers to protect her in case there was snow blowing into her eyes. Pale sunlight made her hair golden.
Rather than answering, she stretched up and kissed him. Sweet Pea moved her away from the swing and backed her into one of the poles. She was working her mouth against his in a way that didn't seem too indecisive, so Sweet Pea dug his fingers harder into her ass and slipped his other hand up under her coat. Dick stiffening, he pushed her sweater out of the way, intending to grope north towards her boobs. When he touched her bare skin with his hand, however, Betty flinched from the cold, making her body clench inward. Even with his eyes closed, Sweet Pea could feel the hollow her reaction had created, knew how her abdomen would have jerked away from the waist of her jeans. His palm ran south instead and Betty made his lips vibrate with her moan as his hand snuck over the shape of her. She was hot between her legs and with a little persuasive rubbing, wet through her underwear.
"You know what I want," he rephrased in a mumble next to her ear.
"I think I understand the general idea," Betty said, surprising him into a grin with her coyness as her eyes locked with his. She removed her mitt with her teeth and held it there while she gripped his wrist and extracted his hand from her jeans. Sweet Pea was sure he was being told to back the fuck off until it was her hand darting down his jeans. He nearly choked when she lightly squeezed his cock through his boxers. His eyes closed and he heard himself exhale loudly when her hand ran slowly down his length and up again. With a slight jolt, she withdrew her hand, which was when he opened his eyes just enough to glare at her. Betty pulled her mitten back on with a wink. Leaning her hips firmly into his, she wiggled out from between him and the pole. If not for the early February cold snap, he would have dragged her right back instead of standing there and letting her tease him. He'd have to watch this one, that was for damn sure. No more going easy on her.
"I have some fact checking for the Blue and Gold I want to finish before supper. You can walk me back as far as Pop's."
"Bullshit," he argued. "You can walk me back as far as the Wyrm."
Yet when they got to the sidewalk, he let Betty burrow a bare hand into his pocket to join fingers with him. And then he let her turn them north.
To be continued...
