Author's Note:

Yes, I've been updating this story frequently. No, this is not a warning that I'm going to stop. In case you're trying to find a method in my madness, I'll just clarify that I update on Tuesdays and/or Fridays and/or Sundays, plus Valentine's Day. But wait, we've already had that last one! I can't see this story stretching out for another year, so you can disregard that one.

To paraphrase Bing Crosby in White Christmas, "Thank you. Thank you [readers] from the bottom of my heart." (Not a strictly original phrase, but there's something catchy about his intonation when he says it.) The praise and encouragement are always noticed and deeply appreciated.

Enjoy this one!

XO ForASecondThereWe'dWon

XIV

Riverdale High stayed closed just long enough to buy them a pair of short weeks and Sweet Pea went back to class feeling like he was returning from the kind of worry-free vacation no Serpent in history had ever been privileged enough to afford. In contrast to the Big Event on Valentine's Day, he and Betty had cooled things off during the remainder of their little break. He'd noticed a change in her, beginning the same night she'd given it up to him; his girl was always quiet, steady, and composed, but she'd retreated somehow. By now, she'd levelled out, so he figured that maybe she'd just needed their old school routine to stop her from letting that persistent mind of hers wander. He was more than willing to be her strong, silent type of knight in shining armour or whatever bullshit cardboard cut-out superhero she needed while convincing himself that the rollercoaster-like plunge in her affection didn't terrify him.

So when they got out of their morning classes and headed to the student lounge together, Sweet Pea took Betty's hand and tried not to hold on too tight.

Down the hall, he spotted Archie and Veronica heading their way (forcing himself to think their names meant it was less likely he'd refer to them by disrespectful, off-the-cuff nicknames aloud). Sweet Pea glanced at Betty and knew she saw them too. Archie's garish football jacket was over Veronica's shoulders, which, with the difference in their statures, was giving Sweet Pea weird child-wearing-their-father's-clothing vibes, but he felt Betty's shoulder rise and fall against his and guessed the old school possessiveness the jacket implied was something she admired. He leaned down to speak near her ear.

"I'd give you my Serpents jacket to wear if it wasn't banned in this place," he told her. She smiled at him, looking more at ease than she had the moment before. Just inside the lounge, he kissed her quick and fierce, grinning against her lips when he felt her grip his arms to, he assumed, keep from swooning.

Although they were dating (and everyone knew it), and although they were now also doing it (and Sweet Pea wondered if everyone knew that too, just by the way he stood or the way he couldn't stop looking at Betty), they still sat apart in the lounge. Sure, there'd been plenty of talk by Principal Whatshisname when the Southsiders were transferred, but Sweet Pea hadn't seen any direct interference by the staff to get the students to properly welcome the outsiders. It was for damn certain that the two groups weren't going to solve the integration issue on their own, and the Serpents were resolved to keep theirs a closed group with its eyes open. Normally, being able to immerse himself in his familiar friendships and even Jones's stupid schemes was a highlight in his day, a little oasis in the sea of chin-dimpled, hair-perfectly-parted preppy assholes this school seemed to endlessly produce. Today, Sweet Pea settled among his comrades a little on edge. Not yet beaten down by a week of lessons and homework, the other Serpents were rowdy and smiling, and started teasing him about his broodier restlessness, calling it 'girl trouble.' The thing was, it wasn't Betty he was thinking about.

Well, it was, but it was also Archie and Veronica. Even before Sweet Pea had been sharing the same ugly speckled hallways with them, he'd gotten a sort of downwind whiff about Riverdale High's power couple. It was impossible to make himself cough up a fuck to give, and yet, shifting on a couch that didn't smell like countless couples had banged on it (oh, how far they'd come from the common areas at Southside High), he wondered why he and Betty weren't also a power couple. With Betty's brains and his (occasionally contested) leadership of the young Serpents, Sweet Pea thought they definitely should be. There was a discontented feeling he had though. Why was the distance between them still so difficult to bridge? Was it him? Her? Both of them?

When he was thinking about Betty, he couldn't help also staring at her. Jesus, she was pretty. As the room became more jammed with more students being dismissed from class, the conversation in his immediate circle lowered to a snake-like hiss, which was easy for Sweet Pea to tune out. He knew he wasn't ignoring anything important―the Serpents liked to keep their voices low to make the rest of the student body worry about what they were saying, not because they were actually dumb enough to plan something important sitting in the middle of the lounge. He could care less about Toni whining over her bar-back schedule at the Wyrm, or Jones's latest conspiracy theory. The feelings (he didn't want to call them doubts) he was having about his relationship took precedence.

Maybe Betty felt Sweet Pea's eyes on her, or maybe going to this freaky clean school had caused him to spontaneously develop telepathy and he was sending a signal straight to her brain, because suddenly, she glanced around, spotted him, and got up. Sweet Pea rubbed his hands on his knees, pre-emptively glaring at his friends as his girlfriend approached, but they weren't even paying attention to him. Apparently he was the only one who felt the earth move when he looked at her. Right. Her quiet "Hey" to Sweet Pea got some attention though, as she stopped beside him and fleetingly touched his shoulder. Fangs, that jackass, responded by greeting her much more loudly. Sweet Pea narrowed his eyes at his friend.

"Sit down," he invited Betty, wanting to reach for her.

"Yeah, we've always got room for someone who doesn't need a chair," Fangs chipped in.

Betty smiled in confusion. Sweet Pea knew whatever Fangs was about to say didn't deserve the suspension of his girlfriend's judgement.

"What does that mean?" she asked.

"Means we're expecting you to sit in Sweet Pea's lap."

Toni chucked a crumpled napkin at Fangs's head.

"Thanks," Betty said with a laugh, at the same time that Sweet Pea said it with something closer to a grunt.

"Ugh," said Toni, flicking her eyes between the couple with pretend disgust. "Don't make me take it back."

Betty smiled at Toni and Sweet Pea saw her crack, smiling in return. It was so strange to him knowing how Toni had initially disliked (to put the most positive spin on it) Betty when she was Jones's girlfriend. As always, Sweet Pea was ready to accept that Jones had been the real problem there and, beyond that, just be happy that his girl and one of his best friends were getting along now.

"So… can I join you?" Betty asked, glancing around at them all, obviously not having gotten the memo on perpetual Serpent informality. Before he could just drag her into a seat, Jones spoke for the group from a chair off to the far end from where Sweet Pea sat.

"Please," he said flatly. Sweet Pea studied his face, but the prick looked just as neutral as he did 99% of the time.

Toni started to shuffle over to make room between herself and Sweet Pea, but Betty waved her efforts off, perching on the arm of the couch next to Sweet Pea instead. He wrapped his arm around her to hold her hip and, as the others started back up with whatever they'd been talking about, gave his girl a curious look. She shrugged, but he thought it seemed like more of a 'we should have done this sooner' shrug than an 'I don't know why I'm here' one. As the break period passed, he was aware of Betty getting more comfortable next to him, relaxing and even reaching around his back to tap Toni on the shoulder to mention some assignment in a class they had together. Sweet Pea had always felt strong in his group, but being there with Betty seemed to give him a little something extra. He did actually feel more connected to the school for once, because he was connected to her.

When his thoughts became too sentimental―he was horrified and hoped they hadn't been playing plainly across his face―Sweet Pea snuck his hand up Betty's waist (at the edge of the seating configuration, she had no one on her other side) and caressed the side of her breast, making her jump. Biting her lip like she was trying not to laugh, his girl stared down at him and gave him an incredulous raise of her eyebrows. He did it right back. Again, Betty leaned around him to get Toni's attention about some boring homework thing, but this time she leaned around in front of him rather than behind, giving him an unobstructed look down her shirt when he turned his head. His blood seemed to plunge to his dick like it was riding the elevator in the goddamn Tower of Terror. Betty straightened back up, having finished her short conversation, which Sweet Pea was fucking certain had no real point besides making him aware of the lacy pink bra she was wearing. This time, when their eyes met, it was her who looked smug. He hadn't known that what he liked was a game until she started playing it too.

The Serpents broke up sooner than Betty was used to doing with her friends and so, even after following Sweet Pea out into the hallway, she was trying to detain him. It might have just been her, but she felt like they'd started something towards the end there that hadn't been properly concluded. Predictably, he was acting cool and serious. It was infuriating. Thinking fast, she tossed excuse after excuse at him for why they should prolong their time together or meet again later, watching him fight his smile. Finally, she recalled that he'd mentioned something during one of their non-physical moments while the school was closed that she'd thought would make a good premise for a newspaper article. He'd said it in passing, hinting at more. That could work.

"So, I'll be in the Blue and Gold office until 3:30 if you want to come by and give me that tip," she suggested. Maybe a little academic for her boyfriend's taste, but she wanted to fit more time with him into her day. Their evening at the Whyte Wyrm had resolved her on its importance, since Betty knew she could either let her anxieties crush her or take control of the situation.

About to pull his fingers out of her grasp, Sweet Pea paused, his eyes suddenly, almost indecently, intent on hers.

"Oh, I'll give you the tip," he replied.

Betty felt her face heat up, then froze just as quickly as she heard Kevin's wordless groan of discomfort come from behind her. She turned, putting Sweet Pea at her back, and absorbed the look on Kevin's face.

"You," her friend ordered, pointing a finger at Sweet Pea, "work on your subtlety. You," the finger landed on Betty, "a brief word?"

"I'm going anyway." Sweet Pea motioned towards his retreating Serpent pack.

"Gee, thanks," Betty sarcastically responded as he hurried away, leaving her with a still-disapproving-looking Kevin. "What's up, Kev?"

"Don't worry," he told her, "I have nothing more to say about that blatant display of sexual tension. I actually wanted to ask you about something serious."

Intrigued, Betty let Kevin guide her farther down the hall, away from the student lounge.

"Now, don't get me wrong," he began again, "I love a long weekend as much as the next guy, but my dad's pretty much positive that what happened to the school was vandalism."

"I mean," Betty started, trying to keep her eyes wide and honest-looking, "couldn't it have been a temperature thing? Maybe something happened to the pipes when the weather heated up quickly. You remember how warm it was that day, don't you? Valentine's Day?" she prompted.

"The pipes? That's your answer? This isn't the Chamber of Secrets, Betty."

She felt her forehead furrow.

"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Kev. I'm not a plumber."

"No," he acknowledged, lowering his voice, "but what you do know about is a certain group of students recently admitted to our school who have unconcealed gang ties."

"What?" Her eyebrows shot up. "Dating Sweet Pea doesn't suddenly make me inner circle."

"Yeah, I know that well enough from going out with Joaquin, but I also know that sometimes you might hear something…?"

His floating question was leading her and Betty realized that the conversation she was having wouldn't have been so different from one her friend's father―the sheriff―might have when interrogating a suspect or a witness. And yet the vandalism wasn't really bothering her, not as much as Kevin's suspicion of her boyfriend. Even if he was right. Looking back into the familiar face she'd known basically forever, Betty felt her loyalties shift. It surprised her by being less painful than the bite of her fingernails into her palms used to be.

"I really don't think it was him. Or any of the Serpents," she emphasized when Kevin immediately opened his mouth to continue his accusations. "They actually like it here. Apparently it's nice to have gym equipment and teachers who aren't supplying drugs to students." Betty waved her hand exasperatedly, showing that she could go on and on in her comparisons, and Kevin knew it.

"I don't want to jump to any conclusions..."

"Then don't," she insisted, trying to sound friendly but firm. Kevin shrugged. "I have to go," Betty said. "I'll see you in class." He nodded and she had no idea if he'd believed anything she'd said. It might not have been the first time he'd felt like that, but it was the first time she knew she deserved it.

Betty rounded the corner then took off running, searching for Sweet Pea down every hall until she found him. He was still with the other Serpents, about to push out of the school's side door, possibly in search of greater privacy for whatever they were discussing, but she didn't know. He stopped when he saw Betty and strode back to her. They were near the Blue and Gold office now, empty at this time of day, so she pulled him inside and shut the door, improvising.

"This better be quick," Sweet Pea complained in his version of playfulness, eyes on the closed door.

His attention was recalled when Betty dropped her bag, then dropped to her knees. She couldn't imagine her boyfriend looking more surprised. It certainly wasn't something she'd ever seen.

"Ok," he said, evidently reassessing the situation she'd thrown him into, "this is going to be very quick."

They both reached for the fastening of his pants, Sweet Pea's hands going to Betty's hair when her fingers beat his to the button. She gave his pants and boxers a vicious yank, more conscious of the limited time than her own reasoning, and started to stroke him (unskillfully, she worried) while he muffled a groan above her.

"God, Betty," he mumbled, staring down at her. She liked the way his dark hair fell forward.

"Shocked?" Her voice was bright and hyper as she felt him hardening under her fingers. She just couldn't look.

"On one hand―" Betty gave him a teasing squeeze and heard his breath catch, "―I knew this would happen sooner or later, but on the other…. Yes. Shocked as hell."

Satisfied, Betty adjusted her position kneeling on the cement floor (not great, but the spontaneity of her plan and Sweet Pea's reaction had already made up for it), and touched her mouth softly to the head of his erection. She didn't really know what she was doing, but the way Sweet Pea's fingers clenched in her hair provided a far-from-negligible amount of instruction. Betty ran her tongue over him, keeping up a constant stroke with her hand on the part of his length south of her mouth. In case his eyes might tell her something his gentle hair-tugging wasn't, Betty glanced up at Sweet Pea's face. His hands fell from her hair as he, panting, pointed at one of his wrists and tapped a nonexistent watch. She could almost admire the amount of nerve she felt it must take to let him tell her to hurry up. The only option was to raise one eyebrow and part her lips over his cock. He wanted this fast? Fine, she could figure out how to do this fast.

She held his bare hip with her free hand, carefully opening her mouth to him. It wasn't the most natural feeling and Betty's mind was on what she was supposed to do with her tongue. Her teeth? On the way down, she concentrated harder on being careful than being good, but on the way back up, wanting to head off another comment―verbal or otherwise―telling her to pick up the pace, Betty shaped her tongue to him and sucked. Sweet Pea cursed explosively, fingers tunneling back into her hair, and she knew she was in business; rendering him evidently unable to be silent was a great victory, though Betty didn't know over what. Establishing something almost like rhythm, she guided her mouth up and down some of his stiffened length and jerked her loosely circled fingers over the rest.

Once she could suck, and breathe, and stop paying attention to the floor under her knees, Betty began to enjoy it. The psychology of doing something like this―giving her boyfriend a blowjob in the Blue and Gold office!―was making more and more sense to her. She found she liked what Sweet Pea liked, and not just the mental aspect, but the physical. The more he struggled to keep from groaning, the wetter she could feel herself getting. When he grabbed the hand she had wrapped around his hip and urged her up, Betty half-expected him to push her skirt up and take her against the wall. She was wrong; as soon as her mouth and hand were removed from his erection, Sweet Pea's own hand replaced them. Realizing he'd stopped her because he was near climax, Betty pulled her lower lip into her mouth and staggered to the office desk, plucking tissues from the dispenser like they were flower petals. He wants me, he wants me not. Then she wasn't sure if she should be giving him privacy, but couldn't prevent herself from turning around, burning with curiosity, when he gruffly spoke her name. Their eyes met and he dipped his chin, silently commanding her to look lower. So she watched him, face hot. Sweet Pea beckoned for the tissues she'd forgotten were clamped in her fist and she handed them over. He came, clearly unashamedly, and Betty shared his every gusty exhale as her boyfriend panted through his recovery.

"Shocked?" he mocked her, bringing her eyes back up to his face. Betty made a meaningless gesture, waiting for words that wouldn't come. Sweet Pea fixed his clothes and tossed the clump of tissues in the trashcan. How was she supposed to summarize this?

"This time, I do have to go," he said with a smirk, hand on the doorknob. Betty's eyes went to the clock. They'd have to be back in class soon, and he still needed to meet with the Serpents before that.

"I wish I could go with you," she said, knowing it was futile. Whatever the Serpents had to discuss was none of her business. With Kevin trying to get information out of her, she recognized that it was much better that she didn't know more than she was supposed to. For now, it just might be sufficient to curb the inquisitive journalist side of her.

"Trust me, I wish you could go too." Sweet Pea gave her a suggestive look. Betty laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Just for the pleasure of my company, right?" she teased.

"Depends how we're defining the pleasure of your company." Sweet Pea took her face in his hands and kissed her slowly, probably trying to make sure she knew he was joking without having to actually vocalize his wish to reassure her. Oh, she had his number.

Betty did let him leave the office, then, with a lingering smile, pressed her face against the cool wall to take the flush out of her skin. Possibly, she should have been feeling regret, confusion, embarrassment… but her emotions were pulling her in a completely different direction. She stood there, kicking her feet to get the soreness out of her knees, and realized that, even if things weren't yet perfect between herself and Sweet Pea's friends or between him and her friends, being with him was the right decision. That could be enough for her. That could mean something.

To be continued...