Cingulomania
This is a work of fanfiction, no copyright infringement is intended. I own nothing pertaining to The Archie Comics/Riverdale Universe.
Chapter 22
…~*~...
"Your love is therapy
No drug can give me clarity
As much as you do, ooh (as you do, baby)
Yeah, I need you here (I need you here)
Your love is scaring me (no one)
No one has ever cared for me
As much as you do,
Ooh, yeah
I need you here…"
-Scary Love ~ The Neighborhood
…~*~...
After spending a good long while discussing the adverse points of teen pregnancy and teen motherhood, Tanis gave in and let Betty stay over. The overprotective tendencies she'd had since hearing Sweet Pea cry for the first time had reared its head at a most inopportune time. She was quite embarrassed, wishing like hell she'd just kept her mouth shut after finding her teenage son intertwined in the arms and legs of Alice Cooper's very own teenage daughter.
Having shared horror stories and remembering love lost, Tanis finally retreated to her room, leaving the young couple to do, whatever. She opted to turn her radio on to fall asleep. Choosing to be naive to the hay romping on the other side of the hall, if they chose to do so.
Sweet Pea and Betty did their best to shrug off the element of surprise, and also the awkward benevolent speech they were given regarding their physical intimacy. Betty thought she might spontaneously combust after Tanis caught them in the kitchen. Forget that Betty had only been in Sweet Pea's shirt, which she changed back into after they'd returned to his room for the night.
They were snug under the comforter, their bare legs tangled together, fingers drawing circles over one another's skin. They lay there in silence, listening to Sweet Pea's cd player switch out the discs when necessary until there was the faintest sound of heavy even breathing. Betty fell asleep first, exhausted from school and work and Jughead. Sweet Pea didn't blame her one bit. Pulling her closer into his side, he finally drifted off himself, the sounds of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham floating in his subconscious.
《《•》》
Betty woke early the next morning, despite the late night and pizza roll eating. Careful not to wake Sweet Pea, she slid down to the foot of the bed, depositing her feet to the flat pile carpet, to get dressed. Her clothes felt felt slightly foreign after wearing the t-shirt and being engulfed in Sweet Pea's scent for hours on end. Replacing the soft worn cotton with her lycra infused tank top and reconstructed shirt left her wishing she hadn't said she'd be home for breakfast. It was too late though, she thought, sneaking quietly down the hallway, boots held tightly in her fingers. The couch looked solemn, like she felt leaving Sweet Pea. Pushing her ever present needtobreathe the boy in, Betty opted to slip her boots on, using the back of the couch where jacket lay for leverage.
The cool satin lining of the jacket sleeves sent shivers down Betty's spine. Shaking it off, she took another look around the apartment, it looked different to her somehow, after last night. With a deep breath she did her best not to make too much noise opening the door, which she did successfully. The cool morning air biting at her skin, a sharp contrast to the heated apartment, to the sleeping boy down the hallway. Manually locking the door before shutting it as gently as she could, her eyes closed tightly, holding her breath until she heard the jam click. Her bag was already over her shoulder as she descended the stairs. The station wagon was waiting for her in the parking lot, exhaust billowing from the back. Slipping inside, she settled into the warm seat not looking at her driver too closely.
"I was a little shocked when you text me for a ride. Good thing I was up." Betty took a good look at him now, his sexy pout amidst the stubble that grew along his sharp jawline. Her heart shuddered looking at him, like it always did, like it probably always would despite their current situations.
"I couldn't think of anyone else to ask, honestly. I couldn't exactly wake Sweet Pea. He'd want to come with me, and that's not exactly a smart right now. Not after…" She looked away now, couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. He knew what she meant anyhow.
"Yeah, I know." He dropped his head, pulling his pack of cigarettes from his leather pocket. His calloused fingers flipping the lid up, removing a single smoke from its contents. The filtered end nestled between his lips had Betty squirming just a little in her seat. After the delicious things she'd felt with Sweet Pea last night, she couldn't help but let her mind wander a bit.
Bringing the orange coil of the car lighter to his cigarette end, he glanced his ice blue eyes in Betty's direction. Eyes never leaving hers, he sucked lightly on the filter, breathing in the harsh air, swirls of smoke escaping through his parted lips.
"You look, different, Betty." She was like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes wide, chest tightening in a panic.
"I do?" She sounded guilty. Of what he had no clue.
He lifted his right hand from the lighter he'd placed back in the dash and brought it up to the spun gold locks framing her face. A finger lifting a tres from her line of sight, he tucked it behind her ear. "Don't you?" He winked at her. The fingers of his left hand grasped the cigarette, taking it from his lips.
All she could do was watch the plumes rise out of his mouth, her mind conjuring all sorts of things that he could possibly be suggesting. The most rational was her tattoo, sore and throbbing above her hammering heart. He leaned over the center console, his left hand still holding the lit cigarette, a devilish smirk covering his handsome face
"Am I making you uncomfortable Betty?" He was so close to her, she could feel the heat from his breath spread across her cheek.
"No, should I be?" She lied. She tried to relax, tried to ignore how close he was or the fact that she had repressed wanting to be in this proximity to him countless times before.
Lifting her gaze back up, they locked eyes, he took another drag, swirls surrounding them in the small front space of the car. His hand rose again, inching toward her. Two of his fingers came to rest on the bruised, saran wrap covered flesh over her hammering heart; her breath caught on contact.
"I must say Betty, it really does suit you. Let me ask you though," his eyes squinted now, chin tilted up in inquiry. "Why over your heart?"
"Because I'm a Serpent at heart, and I want everyone to know." She didn't bat a lash answering him. He was testing her, wanted to know if she really made the right choice, and he believed she did.
Placing both hands on the wheel now, he turned them toward the exit of the parking lot. It was silent between them, even though Betty kept stealing glances at him, she couldn't help it. She didn't want things to be weird between them after last night.
"Just ask Betty, I can't deny you anything, you know that." He took one last drag from the nearly spent cigarette, flicking it out of slightly opened window. Smoke rose once again from his lips, he pushed the rest out of his mouth and smiled wide at her. She didn't know how to broach the subject with him, afraid of his reactions.
"Are you upset with me about last night?" She was quieter than she had been before, not entirely sure of herself in this moment.
"Not at all Betts." The way he said it made a shiver run down her spine. Instinctually she leaned toward him in her seat, nevermind the buckle jutting into her hip.
"Hmmm." She didn't know what else to say. He pushed the button of the cigarette lighter into the dash.
"What happens between you and the others in this club, it has to be dealt with in real time. You have to be bigger than the problem and squash it. I know you're young and things are fresh, but Jughead is a goddamn moron." FP took another cigarette out and lit it with no hesitation. She watched the smoke roll out from the small cylinder.
"I came on too strong." She said matter of factly.
"Oh bullshit. You went after what you wanted. You took initiative and you came out better for it. You're incredible and he knows it." Fp continued to drive through the familiar suburban streets of Riverdale. The solitude they had on the tree lined roads was comforting. She needed the reassurance that her President was angry with her for moving forward with Sweet Pea and not his very own son. It was something she thought about often, sometimes keeping her awake at night.
"I can hear the wheels turning in your head Betty." He said, letting the statement hang in the air.
"I don't think can go back to Jughead ever. It hurts to say it, but I don't think it was meant to be FP. I love Sweet Pea so much, it…" Her eyes dropped to her hands in her lap. She was still turned toward FP in her seat, the belt buckle long since forgotten. Fp placed his right hand on hers, his cigarette burning in his left on the steering wheel.
"It scares you." He said matter of factly.
Her eyes met his again, all signs of her childhood crush erased from her mind. "Yeah, to death." She said.
"I feel that Betty. More than you think I do. It's okay, you just feel that and use it protect what's yours. You take that deep burning feeling and turn into your will to live, and you can do anything." With one last squeeze of her hands, he returned his hand to the wheel, taking drag, leaving the butt to rest between his lips again.
"That's how you did it?" She leaned back into the headrest, relaxed for the first time since last night.
"It is. You have to find something to make you great, a reason not to run away. This life isn't for everyone. Ever since you danced for us, Sweet Pea has had increased turn around on his profit, the kids a fucking genius if you ask me. I know some of it is you, your business plan and organization skills. Sweet Pea took it to the next level. Training Fenton, talking with the Wild Boys, it's the most organized we have ever been. It's because you made him wake up, realize there was more at stake, that he had a reason to wake up in the morning, the breath." Repeating his action of flicking the butt from the window, this time he rolled it up. Betty tore her eyes from the older man, realizing they were almost home.
"I had no idea." He almost didn't hear her.
"There's a reason for Ole Ladies Betty. They're more than just property. That's just other clubs don't fuck with you, other charters don't think you're free game. We protect our women like our brothers. To the death." The car turned into the narrow drive on the side of the house.
"I'm not an Ole Lady though." Pulling her leg up to turn completely in his direction, Betty was at full attention.
"No, your Mom is. Sweet Pea will ask you to wear his Property patch, wear his snake. Then what? Do you step down and follow the rules? Become what your Mom is? Work outside the Serpents?" FP was so nonchalant about it. He just leaned there, Betty found it unnerving.
"I want to go to college." She said, watching FP's face.
" You can do that, but we can't follow you across the country. We'd have to transfer you to another charter, or make you go nomad if there isn't one where you plan to go. I can't send Sweet Pea where he doesn't want to be." FP watched her for any sign of faltering. She didn't.
"How many Serpents go to college?" She was genuinely curious.
"A lot. Your Mom, although that is different. Penny, Tall Boy, a few others. It's not uncommon, we make it work." He was still watching her for a chink in her armor.
"What about an Old Lady, do they get the same accommodations?" She already knew the answer. Fp's face broke into a half smile. He knew it the whole time. He knew what happened last night, why she squirmed so in the tweed covered foam seat. She looked him dead in the eye, her heart dropped.
"Old Ladies stay here. Sure, they follow their Serpent, they work, they are protected, but it's different. You wear his property patch, you stay here Betty. A lot to think about." Finally looking away from her, he released a deep breath. "You can always get the bite, keep it between you and Toni, go off the Harvard or whatever, come back and own that Property patch. There's ways around it." He tilted his head, looking up at the windows of the house.
"He already talked to you about it didn't he?" She could have died at the realization.
"Yeah, about a week ago. We talked about your options. He never would have asked if there wasn't a way he could solidify your place in the club, and with him. He doesn't want you going off to college not already belonging to him completely. It scares the hell out of him, you finding some Ivy League douche bag and running off into the sunset." Fp remembered painfully when it happened to him.
"That's what she did to you when she left Southside?" Betty was angered by this revelation.
"No skin off my back Betty, I live in house, help raise his daughter, and now I have his wife. It all came full circle. Not in the way I wanted it to, but I have what I always wanted." FP drew swirls into the fog covering his window.
"Who else knows?" Betty was a little concerned for their privacy.
"Well, I do. Your Mom. He asked her permission first, Tanis really did an outstanding job with the boy. I don't know if she knows though. The less people that know the better. It makes it easier to conceal the nature of your relationship. Your intentions." He wiped the window clean now, looking through the water spotted glass to the woman in the kitchen window, she held up a steaming mug and smiled at him. His face lit up. Betty's heart skipped a beat at how FP loved her Mom. Her Dad never had looked at Alice that way.
"I'd walk barefoot through hell for her. Sweet Pea would do the same for you." He sat up straight now. Looking at Betty again. "It's not so bad, waiting a little while. Just don't fuck it up like I did Betty. Come on, let's help make breakfast." He patted her knee and opened the door, she followed him.
…~*~...
"Stay with me
As we cross the empty skies
Come sail with me
We play in dreams
As we cross the space and time
Just stay with me…"
-Rosemary ~ Deftones
…~*~...
"Goodness, I'm stuffed. I think I need a nap after that." FP winked at Alice, pushing his chair back from the table. Wordlessly, he rose taking his plate with him to the sink. He washed the sticky mess from his empty dish then rinsed the suds from the stoneware. After placing it in the dry rack he repeated the action with his fork and knife. He walked a little too quickly toward the table, kissed Alice on the cheek and went to the stairs.
"I should probably clear this, and get some laundry done for your trip tomorrow." Alice grabbed a few plates from the table, took them to the sink, washed them by hand as well and after rinsing them, placed in the dry rack with FP's dish, then darted up the stairs also. Nevermind the fact that the washing machine was in the mudroom on this level, not upstairs.
"That wasn't obvious or anything. They're like horny teenagers." Jughead said, averting his eyes from Betty. He felt so overwhelmingly uncomfortable when she walked in the house with his Dad this morning. She had tousled hair, and quickly darkening love bites on her throat. He could tell she had been loved last night. It pained his heart to think of her laying with his friend. A friend he had intentionally pushed away. He'd pushed them both away, practically put them together. He had no right to be upset that she was involved with Sweet Pea romantically. It hurt him all the same to think that she slept in his bed, let him touch her in all the places that Jughead himself wished he could have touched her. He laughed uncomfortably, then pushed his own chair backward.
"Yeah, but they lost a lot of time being apart. They're making up for it. Can't blame for that. Besides, I think they're cute together." Betty stood, stacking plates on the table while Jughead took glasses and mugs to the sink.
"Sure. Cute." He said.
Silently they took their places at the farmhouse style sink. One washing the dishes, the other rinsing them in warm water. When they got to the silverware, Jughead's fingers grazed Betty's during the handoff of forks. They looked at each other in that moment, not sure what to say to each other. So close at the sink, yet so far away from each other emotionally.
"I'm sorry about last night Betty. I could kick myself." Rinsing the forks under the steady stream of water, Jughead didn't look up when he placed them in the dry rack container.
"Mmm. It's alright, I know you're upset." She didn't know what to say exactly. On one hand she couldn't blame the guy, she knew how it felt after all. She had seen him and Toni at Pop's that one morning and she was set ablaze with anger and hurt feelings.
"Yeah, upset. Not my choice of words, but it works." His heart was raging through his chest, his blood circulating his body at a fierce rate.
"It's not the same feeling, I know that. It's not the same circumstance." She left it at that, washing her hands with the milk and honey scented hand soap from the little pump set in the sink itself.
"It's not the same at all." He followed her actions, pumping the butter yellow liquid into his palm and rubbing his hands together, suds forming over his long fingers and large palms. Betty watch as he scrubbed each finger and rounded each nail. It was a practice from fixing bikes and cars. "I wasn't dating her, never did. I was trying to move on like you had Archie tell me to." He knew how he sounded. It was a replay of how he'd been for months.
"Wow, okay Jughead." She dried her hands on a towel and started to spray the counters down for wiping. One of her go to forms of blowing off steam. She didn't this to be a screaming match. So she searched for a cloth or rag to begin the scrubbing process.
"I didn't mean for it to come out that way." He brought Betty the crisp white cloth to wipe the counter tops with. She took it silently, then wiped in circles at first.
"It always comes out that way. Except for that day in the Blue and Gold. You were very receptive to my friendship and understanding then. Then you guys left for Florida and you came back a giant dick! Girls from the Wyrm telling me all about you. How you're wild in bed, and you fuck like a God. I'm supposed to come running back to you after that? I'm supposed to want you to rock my world, be jealous of handfuls of girls and a distant nutjob in Everglades City?" She was scrubbing so hard she'd broke a sweat. "No thanks."
"At first I was trying to numb the pain. Trying to forget you with the company of other people. Then I seen how cozy how you and Sweet Pea had gotten, it ripped my heart out of my chest. So then I was trying to get you back. I was trying to steal you back. I was hoping we could work together again, find that same groove we had once. Remember? We used to work well together. We still kind of do Betty." Raising his arms up to motion at their surroundings. Her movements stilled, the kitchen was spotless. While they had been tense and slightly angry with one another, the kitchen was cleaned.
"We still work well together. We just shouldn't be together. There's a difference." Placing the soiled cloth in a basket, Betty crossed her arms. Jughead looked defeated. His face fell with the breaking of his heart.
"I still love you Betty." His voice was thick with emotion, eyes welling with tears when he finally looked at her.
"I know, I love you too, but not in the same way." She reached for him. Wanting to hold onto her friend, as if her arms could keep him from shattering before her very eyes.
"You love me as a friend." He said. More for himself, rather than to clarify. He let her warmth seep into him. He'd felt so chilled without her, like he'd never be warm again. It was simply the absence of her that caused his chilly demeanor. She made him whole, kept him grounded.
"I'm sorry Jug. You told me to move on, I did." Squeezing him tighter, he finally encircled her in his own arms, breathing her in. She smelled different. She didn't have that sweet vanilla fragrance like used to. Instead she smelled of leather, cigarette smoke and a hint of something else. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"It's okay Betty. I understand. I know you're happy. I wanted you to be, I just wanted you happy with me." He almost let a tear slip, he breathed in deeper, inhaling her new smell. Then it hit him. She smelled like musk, the same musky scent that Sweet Pea left in a room, it made a whole new sea of emotion wash over him.
"You love him, don't you Betty?" God he wanted to punch through something when she pulled from him slightly. Her green eyes piercing when she looked at him.
"I do Jughead. I love Sweet Pea." She could almost feel his pain when she said it. His large hand tangled in the fabric of her blouse, and she was pulled further into his embrace.
*·*·*"Time shifting
We discover the entry
To other planes
Our minds bend
And our fingers fold
Entwined, we dream
I know…"*·*·*
"I'm sorry I hurt you Betty. I'm a selfish piece of shit." A hot tear slid down his cheek, he wasn't ashamed to let her see it. He ached for her after all. "I wish I'd never let you go." Then his lips were on hers, hot, and needy.. She was taken completely by surprise.
Something in her allowed for Jughead to kiss her at first. Call it pity or simply missing him in general,a mixture of them both sprinkled with guilt, but she kissed him back for just a moment. A goodbye kiss might be all he needed, she wouldn't deny him that. But his urgency increased, his body engulfed hers now, his scent invading her nostrils. His tongue snaked out and slid over her lips. He moaned at her flavor, missing how she tasted on the tip of his tongue. His manhood springing to life beneath his jeans.
"Jughead, stop, please." She gasped into his mouth, her palms flat against his chest.
"I just want to taste you one last time. I'm begging you." Another tear fell, splashing onto her shirt.
"I can't. It's not right." His arm loosened around her. He couldn't help but to look at her. She was so goddamn beautiful, and he'd never get to touch her or feel like this again. Twisting her hair between his fingers, he tugged her head back slightly. He ran his nose along the column of her throat, breathing her in one last time.
"God, I love you so much Betts." His breath ghosting onto her skin, goosebumps erupting on her flesh. He could see them, every little raised bump down her neck and under the camisole she wore. Placing his lips to her neck, he kissed her gently. Her heart ached at his honesty and his desperation.
"Jug." She pleaded with him. He needed to come back to reality, but he couldn't just yet. He needed to savor what he could before she was gone forever. He knew when Sweet Pea found out, he'd get the ass whooping of a lifetime, so he needed to make it count.
"This one last time Betts, I swear to God, this is it. I need this, just let me kiss you, hold you, please?" Now he was pleading, begging for her tongue on his own just once, even for a second.
"But Sweet Pea…" She whispered, looking into his eyes, full of unshed tears and misery. She nodded to him. Allowing Jughead to take her lips with his own. He was urgent and hard at first, pushing at her mouth with his hot tongue, she granted him entrance. It was familiar yet intriguing. He'd learned quite a bit in their months away from each other, they'd grown separately. He wasn't the same Jughead by a long shot.
Thinking the same about her, the throbbing in his chest spurred him on, pushing her back toward the counter they'd just wiped clean. His tongue pierced her mouth, intertwining with her own. A little sound escaped her mouth when he lifted her onto the counter. Instinctually, she opened her legs on impact. Jughead smiled a little, tugging on her hair again.
"You taste so fucking good Betty." Jughead said into her ear. She shivered. "I don't want to let you go. He better treat you right." Then his tongue was back in her mouth, the wetness from his tears was upon her face now. Before she could think of anything else, Jughead broke away. He would always remember her this way, with her hair down and wild, the fresh tattoo on her chest, eyes rimmed in khol, with her perfect mouth having been ravished by him. Then he left, slamming the front door shut, the sound of his bike roaring to life filled the air and he was gone.
"There's no sound
But the engine's drone
Our minds set free
To roam…"
-Rosemary~ Deftones
°·°·°·°
A/N: Good gracious… I have been trying to get to this point for awhile. Your reception of such a twist in the plot has weighed on me for a bit as well. Either way, here we are. Please don't freak and think this is an ongoing shit show, it isn't. Jughead finally has closure, I hope… The next chapter will find us in Florida, gators and fish fry, moonshine and maybe some familiar faces. Who knows.
Thank you to all who said such kind words in regards to my brother in law. It means a lot to me. I know I didn't say as much before, but it's been a little touch and go for me. My head a is jumbled mess. As always, thank you for reading, thank you for going down the rabbit hole with me. ~S.C.