Sugar's mouth began to pull down at the corner when Reggie's phone began to vibrate against the tile floor. Sugar checked the screen - Jughead.
The frown on her face suddenly turning up at the corner.
"Hey." She answered trying to mask her excitement a little bit.
"Imagine my surprise when I have a voicemail from Reggie Mantle and it's you on the other side." Jughead chuckled nervously.
"I wanted to tell you that everything is fine." Sugar attempted to change the subject.
"You're comfortable there?" Jughead reaffirmed.
"Yeah," She promised. "Are you okay that I'm here?"
"Of course," The high inflection of his voice made her suspicious.
"Where are you now?" Sugar changed the subject.
"Someone stole the head off the Pickens statue," Jughead informed with the heaviest sigh, "McCoy is doing her damnedest to blame the Serpents - so… I'm looking for it."
"Why does she think the Serpents are involved?" Sugar wondered wearily; half feeling that she really didn't want to know the answer.
"I published an article about the Uktena that wasn't…received well. That's why Toni and Thomas were upset. So we showed up at Pickens Park-" Jughead suddenly stopped speaking when Sugar heard a female voice chime in the background. "Hey, I gotta go. Can I call you later?"
"Wait, will you finish telling me what happened?" She stalled.
"I really gotta go." Jughead rushed her.
"Okay." Sugar murmured with defeat.
"I'll talk to you later." Jughead spoke quickly as the line went silent.
Sugar wasn't sure if she felt dejected because he rushed her off or because she didn't know why he did it, exactly. Maybe it was the fact that she'd decided to stay with Reggie.
Sugar knew that, in the long run, being around her ex was a poor decision. Unfortunately, she didn't see a way around it, yet. She had herself convinced for so long that Reggie was the one and when he turned on her…
To be fair to him, she had lost her temper a bit when she found out about the brawl.
"I swear I haven't seen her!" Reggie called out at the top of his lungs. He was letting her know that she wasn't safe in plain sight.
It was shitty system he employed, but effective, Sugar thought as she heard footsteps clapping against the marble stairs. Sugar jumped to her feet a little too quickly and blinked away stars in her eyes as she made for the bedroom. Sugar stumbled over her own feet, barely catching herself against the door frame.
She sounded off a loud thud as her knee knocked into the dresser. "Shit." She cursed under breath trying to stabilize herself.
"What was that?" Vicky - Reggie's mother - wondered as her footsteps grew closer. Sugar panicked, ran for the rear of the door, and went to change her mind. It was too late. Vicky threw the door open - nearly clapping it against Sugar. She did her best to suck it the plump of her belly, but nearly failed.
"What are you doing?" Reggie scolded her and walked hastily inside. Sugar watched from between the cracks of the frame. "There's no one here except me."
"Do not lie to me, Reginald." She jabbed a finger at him. "First, we find marijuana in your pocket," Vicky advanced on Reggie, "Then we find a bra in your room, and, the straw that broke the camel's back, the Jingle jangle in your car. We had cameras, then, Reggie, but they're nothing compared to what we have now. I watched you. You walked her in through the front door. She threw up in our driveway! You lied to Fredrick about it."
Reggie opened his mouth to speak when he finally saw Sugar hiding behind the door. Their eyes met for only a brief moment, but it was enough to for Sugar to nod at him. "You know what?" Reggie boomed and then cleared his throat, "I did, but she's not here anymore."
"Do you think I'm stupid?" Vicky finally leaned away from him and folded her stringbean arms. "She hasn't left this house since she showed up. I put enough goddamn cameras around this fucking house to know that! Why are you such a liar, Reggie? All you have to do is what you're told and you're not even smart enough to listen. Do you see how well Oliver does in school? Why can't you be like that?"
For the first time in…well, ever. Sugar could never recall a time when she saw Reggie cower to anyone. His eyes downcast, his chin tucked into his chest, and his nostrils started to shutter.
Sugar started to push her way out.
Reggie eyes snapped up as the door began to move and he shot for it. He turned his back and rested against the surface.
"What do you want me to do?" Reggie questioned with defeat.
"Get her out of my house." Vicky ordered. "And if she steps another foot on this property, again, I'm going to have her taken care of."
"Don't threaten her." Reggie warned.
"Remember who your family is." Vicky retorted turning her nose to the sky and slinking out of the room. Reggie leaned away from the door and pulled it back to free Sugar.
"Sorry about that." He took a step back as she peeled herself off the wall.
"I didn't mean to get you in trouble." Sugar sympathized. "I should get out of her before she comes back, huh?"
"No." Reggie shook his head as he spoke shortly. "You don't have to do anything she says. She just- she thinks yelling is going to change shit and it's not." His face dropped suddenly as though he were recalling those passed few moments.
"It's okay, Reg," Sugar reached for him on instinct. "My mom is like that, too. She's a bully and there's nothing we can do about it. You don't want to end up like me." When her fingers touched the skin of his arm, it felt just like before. The hours she spent tangled in him came rushing back and, without thinking about it, Sugar grasped him. "You just have to listen until you graduate. That's all. You don't want to be homeless, jobless, and alone."
"You're not alone." Reggie promised as he broke away from her touch long enough to take her by both elbows and pull Sugar into his body.
Sugar melted into Reggie's comfort and allowed herself to relax for just a moment. One of his heavy hands fell against her shoulder and the other rested just above the small of her back. "I'm trying to show you that I'm here for you."
"You can't do things like this at your own expense." Sugar reminded him.
"Who says?" Reggie argued as his grip got just a little bit firmer. Sugar rested her head on his shoulder and felt him lay his cheek against her skull.
"Me." Sugar replied as she pulled her arms back and pressed her palms against Reggie's chest. He took the hint and started to let her go, but seemed to linger for as long as possible.
"If I let you go, how do I know you're going to be safe?" He questioned finally dropping his arms at his sides.
"You don't have to worry," Sugar shook her head. "I have Sweet Pea and Jug and Toni. I'll go somewhere."
"You can't be on the South side." Reggie retorted furrowing his brow.
"It's all I've got." Sugar took a breath and released it slowly. "Unless you want me to go back to Midvale."
"Midvale?!" He gasped. "What are you talking about?"
"Oh," Sugar's eyes almost rolled back into her brain as she remembered that Reggie didn't know about the move. "I had to go for like a night. It was nothing."
"Midvale is like halfway across the state." Reggie overexaggerated.
"It is not," She gritted her teeth, "And I'm back now. So why are you yelling?"
"I'm not yelling!" Reggie spoke slightly above his usual tone of voice. He took a fiery breath as he realized, he was being loud. "I'm sorry." He swallowed. "Can you, please, just tell me what happened?"
"No," She folded her arms defiantly, "You're not my boyfriend, Reggie. You're technically not even my friend. So, can you let me leave? Please?" Hopefully he would take the bait, Sugar thought eyeing him carefully.
"Don't do that." He spoke softly taking her off guard. There was something that had changed in Reggie and, though Sugar wasn't entirely sure what it was, she was really liking it. "Don't be that guy. If you want to argue, let's argue about something important. We've passed the "you're not my friend" bullshit, okay? Don't bring it up, again."
Sugar couldn't stop the small smirk that turned up on her cheek. Her memory drawn back to the day Jughead had given her the same firm lecture. Her heart dropped back into her stomach. Just as she started to say something she heard footsteps behind her.
"Oh shit." She folded her arms and rolled her head back as she saw Parker Peabody cresting the doorway with Vicky Mantle.
"Are you kidding me?" Parker spoke montonously. "We had a deal."
"We did not." Sugar retorted making eye contact with him and cocking her head.
"I'm not arguing with you." Parker held up a dismissive hand. "We're leaving now."
"Sorry, Reg." Sugar turned back to Reggie, brought her palms together as if in prayer, and gave a minimal bow. As she decended each step, Sugar couldn't help feeling like she was walking into her doom. She supposed the Pelham kid farm wasn't that bad, but how was she supposed to stay away for so long? Sugar and Parker stepped finally stepped outside the front door and listened the definitive slam behind them.