Sweet Pea figured it was about lunchtime. The repair shop had been a quiet, which was unusual for a Sunday. Business had been slow lately though, only three cars to keep him occupied; a new looking Jeep Renegade, a '69 Camero and the car he'd had towed from the side of the road in the darkness that belonged to Betty Cooper. It wasn't surprising she drove a well kept and spotless light blue Dodge Dart with a personalised plate, 'probably a gift from her parents' he thought sourly.
"Northsiders." He groused, under his breath even thought there was no one else in the warehouse apart from the boss to hear it. Not that he would be bothered to listen anyway, having grown tired of Sweet Pea's mutterings to himself within the first 2 hours of meeting him.
The boss had left him to it, spending his time holed up in the claustrophobic shit hole of a back office. The guy'd never worked on a car in his life, just gave orders and paid minimum wage.
Sweet Pea angrily kicked a slice of metal across the floor, the screech echoing off the machinery and the dispersing throughout the warehouse.
It left with him with a hollow feeling like his anger was misplaced and that he should have been directing it someplace else.
From his position he could spy the boss, who'd wheeled his chair from behind the desk, across the greasy floor and was tilting his flabby form around the doorframe to glare at him before sliding back to the desk covered in papers. Asshole.
Having already been written up for busting a wing mirror in a fit of temper when a customer had complained, anything else would probably lose him his job. He was lucky to get this one, not many people would employ a kid who was close to dropping out of high school; he could do without losing the reference.
Sweet Pea snorted and shook it off. He would take it out on someone later, right now there was work to do and the movement would help him stay warm as the building was too large to heat properly and any wind would rush through the building where the windows were broken. His only protection against a drop in temperature, a greying threadbare vest and a quilted red checked flannel with missing buttons from good will; a piece of clothing he decided was probably older than F.P.
His second least favourite pair of ripped jeans and black boots with steel toecaps, were perfect for the job; although he could count the number of times he'd dropped something on his toes on one hand, they were the best for kicking anything that caused frustration or got in his way.
The Serpent skin had had to be shed to get the job, -something about gang affiliations- and he realised later to the detriment of his good clothes that he should wear the shit stuff from the bottom of his storage boxes; the clothes he hadn't been bothered to unpack when he got his new place.
By the time the sun disappeared past the high windows, he had his head and half his torso inside the dusty grey Jeep, reaching into the back part of the engine to tweak a couple of the wires. He'd become accustomed to the smell of oil, the residue returning home with him every night embedded under his nails and sucked into his skin like a lousy moisturiser. The stench couldn't be completely removed, no matter how hard he scrubbed. Some of the girls he went with liked it, others not so much.
'How is my car?"
Sweet Pea nearly hit his head on the bonnet at the polite enquiry and female voice, not sure which surprised him most. He slowly glanced around the side of the vehicle to be greeted by the sight of Betty Cooper in blue overalls, scuffed trainers and her hair in a red and white dotted scarf. She leant against the dark blue Camero, a smile on her face, the light pouring through the windows as if it were there just for her.
He snorted in exasperation. A run in with the entitled Northsider who was also his King's ex was the last thing he needed to top off a pretty shitty day.
He'd no clue what had happened. Didn't care why and had no urge to know.
"Thank you for taking care of it. How long will it take to be fixed?" Her tone poised and elegant. He'd never really paid attention to her voice before nor really had the chance to.
"Few days" He grunted, going back under the bonnet, hoping that by ignoring her she would go away.
He basked in the silence, before hearing soft scuffing of shoes on the floor. The sigh that left his mouth combined with a deep breath out.
"What was wrong with it?"
Her voice close to his ear.
"Your battery packed up" Trying to keep his words staccato but as quiet as possible.
"Can I help?"
He turned to see her peering down and prodding at the engine. The rumour she was pretty handy with a set of tools seemed to be justified. His expression hardened and he narrowed his eyes; she was so close, smelling like lemons and fresh air. The calm that radiated off her swirled round his bones, the back of his neck coming up in goosebumps.
That wasn't good.
He focused past her, to the office. The luckily the boss hadn't noticed, but he couldn't shove her out the door, that would cause too much attention.
She was reaching into the Jeep fussing and touching the parts he had replaced as if analysing his work. He felt a roar of indignation build up, which he pushed down forcefully.
The boss would either care or not, but he couldn't risk it. Any more infractions and he'd be out of a job.
The irritating blonde kept poking at the Jeep, pulling at the wires and checking the fluid level in the window washer, making it pretty was clear that she was't going anywhere; leaving him wanting to slap her roaming fingers out of the way for touching what she shouldn't.
That wasn't good either.
"You can't be here." He hissed eventually, tilting his head towards the office, waiting until, she got the hint. "I could get fired."
"It's my car." She spiked indignantly "I just want it back. Let me help."
He recalled all he knew from stories; that besides her ability to wield a wrench, she was pretty stubborn.
A loud bang echoed around the room. Sweet Pea roughly shoved her down to the floor ignoring her discomfort and the ensuing muffled noise. He slapped his hand over her mouth, knowing full well that he was covered in oil and didn't care. Served her right for sticking around.
"I'm going on break" Came a booming voice. "Camero needs a new distributor and a full check over. Think you can manage that?"
A set of car keys skittered across the floor as the boss flung them towards the location he assumed Sweet Pea would be, who opened his mouth to yell "a break from what, asshole?", then shut it at the last second, his fury yanked back on a choke chain by the last vestiges of his common sense.
The outer door slammed shut and he removed his hand from her mouth, taking in her expression of outrage.
"Should have listened to me" He ground out smugly, as he stepped away. Rising slowly from the floor, she brushed herself down, her expression still less than impressed. "Like I said, you're not supposed to be here."
"You're following rules?" She uttered sceptically "Jughead said you always had trouble following his"
At the mention of Jughead, her expression flickered for a split second. He'd always known Jones was a dick.
"This can be a dangerous place." His tone low, a thinly veiled warning, changing the subject back, any issue she had with Jones was none of his business. The easiest way to deal with the situation was to not mention it. "It's not a playground for entitled Northsiders who like to muck about with cars."
He stepped forward and gathered the keys from the floor, standing still for a moment wrapping his fingers around his dog tags wondering if he'd made a mistake helping her in the first place; the concern subsequently batted away by Serpent duty and the reasoning that the quicker she fixed her car, the quicker she would leave him alone.
If she was going to be there it would be on his terms.
He glanced behind him.
The warning had knocked the grin off her face.
Good.
She was one of them, but not. It was weird and limbo like and it didn't sit well in his chest.
It made him want to punch a wall and he couldn't afford to damage anything else. He took a deep focusing breath before affecting his best sneer.
"Just to be clear, you're here to fix your car, that's it. I don't want to be your friend. I don't want to talk about Jones."
She nodded mutely.
He was back in control of the situation. It made the world feel normal again.
The sneer transformed into a shark-like grin, as he genuflected melodramatically towards the offending vehicle.
"Its over there. Knock yourself out"
Betty frowned, but stepped in the way he directed.
She strode towards her car, turning to glare at him suspiciously when she arrived, before slowly checking around the vehicle for any marring of the paintwork.
"Don't you trust me, Cooper?" he asserted, just loud enough for her to hear.
She paused her inspection, pulled herself up backwards onto the bonnet and looked him in the eyes. She snorted.
She was mocking him. A devilish smirk crept slowly across his face.
She wanted to play, he would play.
The feral voice inside his head desperate to see how long he could keep the Northsider on her toes and how long it would take her for him to make her forget about being a Serpent.