"I can't say I agree with this," Cheryl raised an eyebrow as she looked Betty up and down. "I really don't know if I can remain best friends with someone who is...Who is prostituting herself out just to the pay the rent," she shook her head, all over dramatic with her bright red lips and her fluttering eyelashes. Betty snorted, ignoring her friend as she leaned closer to the mirror so that she could finish her eyeliner.
"I'm working as a bartender, not a two dollar hooker," she responded as she leaned back, satisfied with her winged eyeliner. "And I worked as a bartender before, you didn't seem to have a problem with it then."
"That was because you were nineteen, it's a different then," Cheryl curled her shiny lips up in disdain. "It's a little more tragic when you're twenty-four."
"Good to know that I can always count on you to make me feel better, Cher," Betty said sarcastically as she stripped off the baby blue tee-shirt she was wearing, walking over to her wardrobe and flipping through the dresses that she had hanging there. Given Cheryl had absolutely no sense of personal boundaries and rarely ever announced when she was going to barge into Betty's room, her need for privacy when changing had disappeared very shortly after the pair of them had moved in together.
"If you're not whoring yourself out for menial tips, then why is it you're looking for the sluttiest dress you own?" Cheryl pointed out when Betty pulled out a slinky black dress that she only wore out when they went clubbing and she had the sole purpose of getting laid in mind.
"Not all of us have mummies and daddies who are happy to have us lift off trust funds," Betty responded as she took off her bra and pulled on the dress. She moved back to stand in front of the mirror, scrutinizing her appearance and then decided maybe she was dressing a little bit too over the top now. When she had spoken with Nancy Woods—a girl that she had met when she lived here years ago, they had been in high school together—Nancy had said that just like any other bar or club, the sexier she looked, the better she would get tipped.
But then again, this was Riverdale. Unlike New York, the standard of sexy that this town was used to wasn't quite as high, so she didn't have to try quite as hard as she did when she was nineteen and competing with hundreds of other pretty bartenders.
So she stripped out of the dress, crumbling it on the floor of her childhood bedroom and opening up the drawers and finding a pair of denim shorts that she had brought a few years ago. She had been skinny in high school, not really filling out much at all, mainly because she was so scared of comments from her mother whenever she went for seconds at dinner. After she left Riverdale and became more comfortable with herself and her body, she let herself fill out a bit more, and she and Cheryl had taken self defense and boxing classes in Los Angeles, which had given her some muscle tone and she quite liked the curves her body now had. The denim shorts clung to her ass and showed off her long legs, and then accepted a dark green singlet that Cheryl threw at her, with a deep v-neck.
"Hey, Bets?" Cheryl voice was a little bit quieter this time, and the blonde turned around to face her friend. "I saw Archie the other day." Betty waited in silence, knowing that there was no point in trying to prompt Cheryl to speak faster, because the girl only worked at her own speed. "He asked if we wanted to come over for dinner and his and Ronnie's place."
"What did you tell him?" Betty asked quietly.
"Well, when he said that he'd invite some of the guys, and it'd be like old times, I kinda guessed that meant Jughead," Cheryl's eyes were scrutinizing her, even if she wasn't being obvious about it. "So I said that maybe we'd set something up later." Betty pursed her lips together before jerking her head in a nod.
"Thanks," she muttered. Cheryl watched her as she reached over to grab her handbag from where it was sitting on her bed, and then tipping her head to the side to follow her friend as she walked across the room to where her shoes were. "These are going to be a killer," Betty sighed as she pulled on the heels that Cheryl had given her. They were only a couple of inches tall, and made her legs and ass look amazing, and would undoubtedly bring in some extra tips, but her feet were going to ache at the end of the evening.
"Hey, Bets?" Cheryl called out as Betty reached the door.
"Mm?" Betty glanced back at her friend.
"You know me and Jughead never really got along, and he's still not the sort of person that I'm going to invite to Sunday brunch," Cheryl began, her bright red upper lip curling slightly, but then softening her expression before continuing. "But you're going to have to talk to him, at least to smooth the air. I mean...As much as I hate to admit it, we kind of live in their town, right?" Betty arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow at her friend and snorted.
"I never thought that you would admit this town belonged to any one other than the Blossoms," she teased lightly. Cheryl just gave her a flat look, showing her that she couldn't joke her way out of this. "Look, I will talk to him. I'll get there," she shrugged. "Just...Haven't had the chance yet." She hadn't told Cheryl that she had pretty much sprinted in the opposite direction when she just saw Jughead on the street, through the window of a store, and she would probably do the exact same thing the next time she saw him. "Anyway, you going to be here when I get back tonight? Or you going out?"
"Eh," Cheryl shrugged, walking over to Betty's bed and flopping down on it, looking extremely at home in the room where Betty had grown up. "We'll see if I get a better offer or not." Betty just rolled her eyes, leaving the room and heading down the hallway.
After her mother had died and the house had been left to the two sisters, Betty had been more than happy for Polly to take over looking after the house and living in it. With the money she had been left to her, from both parents since all the money her father had left had gone to their mother until she passed, she had enough to be comfortable. Other than buying her car, she invested a little and saved the rest. She didn't live outside of her means, and she managed to put away some more from what she got in salary from the garage. After Polly did up the house, the sisters were going to sell it, since it had been left to both of them, they would split the profits.
But what she had liked—loved, really—was what Polly had done to Betty's bedroom. She had repainted it from the light pink colour that it had been when she was growing up, to a neutral, faded coffee colour. A lot of the things in the room were exactly the same, including the stuffed bear on her bed that she used to refuse to go to sleep without, but she had replaced the frilly curtains and replaced the light pink drawers with a plain wooden set.
Sort of what Betty had always wanted as she was growing up, but her parents had refused to let her have. So when she returned to Riverdale, at least she was comfortable with the room she was in.
Probably the only thing she was comfortable with.
Despite the fact that Cheryl had managed to put off Archie and Veronica and their dinner date for now, it wasn't going to be long before they tried again. And it wasn't fair that Betty put them off because she was scared that she would run into Jughead.
Coming face to face with Jughead was inevitable.
Riverdale wasn't small, it had definitely grown since she was gone, but it was in no way big enough that they wouldn't end up confronting each other at some point, especially since her friends back in this town were friends with them. And, if she was being completely honest, things would work easier for her if she just talked to Jughead and smoothed things over with him. The hardest part was going to be the first time they spoke, and then maybe once they had gotten that over with, they could both go about their separate lives.
Maybe that's what scared her.
Being in Riverdale and not being with Jughead.
Everything about this town reminded her of him, which was why she avoided this place like the plague.
To be fair, though, she carried a permanent reminder of him with her everywhere she went, tattooed on her hip.
The night went better a lot better than Betty thought it would. It had been years since she had waitressed, and this was her first night in the bar, Nancy said that she was going to have it easy to get back into the rhythm of things. But it was easy to remember what needed to be done, and it really wasn't that hard, nowhere near as complex as what she was dealing with when in the garage, and so by halfway through the evening, she was looking after her own tables.
She had gone to high school with Nancy and they had even been on the cheerleading squad for two years, the cheerleading squad that Cheryl had been captain of, before Betty had dropped out in her senior year, and she had also dated Chuck Clayton for several years. Betty wasn't sure when they had broken up, but a few years ago a picture had come up on her newsfeed of Nancy kissing another guy, so she had guessed they were broken up.
Betty recognized some of the people who came in, there were even some people who came in that had been in her year at school, but thankfully no one that she had been close with, so it was all small talk and they didn't ask any prodding questions.
As the night went on, people got drunker and a few tried to grope her, but she had lived for six years in Los Angeles and was very good at dodging around wandering hands. The bar closed just after two in the morning, and Nancy told her to leave and let her and the other two waitresses deal with the clean up. Betty's car was parked around the back, where it was dark and there was barely any light. But this was Riverdale; it was a small, safe town, nothing like Los Angeles, where you had to make sure you always walked in twos after dark and should never, ever go down dark alleys.
So Betty pulled on her cropped jacket as she walked out of the bar, heading down the skinny driveway behind the bar to where her car was parked. She was pulling out her keys and getting ready to unlock the Camaro when a figure stepped out from the shadows of the building.
"Holy fuck!" Betty gasped out, jolting a step backward and putting a hand to her chest as the person lifted their head, and in the slim line of moonlight that was filtering down through the gap in the buildings, she saw it was Jughead. "Shit," she breathed out, relieved that it wasn't someone who was about to jump her, but then wondering if perhaps the alternative would have been better.
"Betty," Jughead's voice was low...Raspy...And it sent a shiver down Betty's spine. "I think we need to talk." Betty swallowed hard, holding her keys hard in the palm of her hand, so that the dips in the metal were biting into the soft skin there. "Go for a ride?" Betty's eyes slid to the side and she realized that his bike was parked there, close to the wall.
She should say no.
She should say no, and go home, where Cheryl was probably waiting for her on the couch with some expensive wine that she couldn't pronounce the name of.
She should say no, because she needed to think this through properly, because had always been, and always would be a mess when it came to Jughead Jones.
"Okay," Betty agreed in a quiet voice, stepping forward as he offered her a spare helmet, that he must have brought along with the intention of giving to her. Jughead pursed his lips together as he put on the other helmet, and the engine of his bike roared in the narrow alley.
Now, my favourite songs at the moment are No Promises by Cheat Codes and Demi Lovato, Hold On For Your Life by Sam Tinnesz (holy shit, yes, so many times yes, I absolutely love this song) and also Unsteady by X-Ambassadors. With Unsteady, I also completely push you to go onto Youtube and search the song and then 'DanceOn' to watch the dance video. Holy shit. My heart. Every. Single. Time. I watch this video. So give that a watch and let me know what you think :)
The latest movies I've seen are John Wick 2...Not a fan of Keanu Reeves, but I fucking love these movies...And then the latest Pirates of the Caribbean. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but me and my hubby were very happy with the end. We were like, if just one thing happened, we would be happy. And then it happened! Also watched Miss Sloane. I absolutely love Mark Strong, and although I'm not the biggest fan of Jessica Chastain, she did an amazing job. And then, holy shit, and then Wonder Woman. Omg. The DCEU finally did it! This was such an incredible movie! I've been in love with Gal Gadot for years and she did such an amazing job!
Have any of you guys watched Famous In Love? I'm really not a fan of Bella Thorne, but I've heard that the show is pretty good. Anyone watched it? Let me know if it's worth checking out? Ooh, and a special shout out to reppinda5o3 for watching Riverdale and also lima17 for watching Sense8! More people to fangirl with. And also to Caaatttt for getting tickets to Ed Sheeran! Yeeeeah, girl! Just a year away, but we got this ;)
OMG, and props to President Macron and his winning handshake ;) I'm loving the memes that have come out of that. Along with the meme's that have come out of 'covfefe'.
Also, a lot of people have been asking me about stories that I'm planning on writing, or posting in the future around Clace. If you want to talk about those or just generally fangirl with me, send me a message :)
Leave a review, let me know what you think xx