Betty rolled down the window, the exhaustion she was feeling was causing a wave of nausea which was not mixing well with the massive pit of anxiety that was already swelling in her tummy as Joaquin sped down the streets that were becoming too familiar, they were nearing her part of town, and she just wasn't ready to face anything yet. Her mind felt over stimulated and somehow empty simultaneously, she tried desperately to clear it and focus on one thing at a time, her body was still tingling as she flashed back to the way Jughead had touched her, and even kissed her in front of the guys, who were in the serpents, or the club as he had called it. Her nerves were spiked at the thought of facing Archie and Kevin, and on top of everything she was so desperately longing for a warm shower and a good long nap, but the thing that mainly occupied her brain was just wondering what he would be doing in New York, and what he would be thinking after everything that had happened between them. They turned on to Grand Avenue, the street pops was on, and she realized it was her chance to buy herself a little more time.
"Hey Joaquin," She started, he turned his head slightly towards her but kept his eyes on the road "Turn left up here," she smiled innocently and he just nodded. But as they slowed to round the corner he turned to her completely.
"Betty this isn't the way to your house," He warned eyeing her carefully.
"No, its Pop's diner, I'm starving!" She smiled hoping it wasn't way too obvious what she was doing but judging by the look he was giving her it definitely was.
"I have very clear instructions to just take you straight home Betty. You know that." He sighed kindly giving her a pointed look.
"I know, I know… but it will just take twenty minutes, tops," she argued pulling her hands together in a mock-beg "c'mon I know you love pops too, I've seen you here!" She smiled brightly trying to coax him into letting her procrastinate going home.
"I don't know," he looked around as if Jughead would somehow be there to scold him.
"I won't tell him, I promise," Betty tried already reaching for the door handle as he pulled into a parking spot.
"Fine, but we make it fast," he huffed throwing the car into park. She let out a huge exhale, relief flooding through her as she pushed her way out of the car, and flug her backpack back on seat digging through it for her wallet. "Don't worry about it, I got it," Joaquin said finding his way around to her side of the car. She nodded too tired to even protest, and just grabbed her phone sliding it into her back pocket, closing her door at starting to walk away, but he stepped closer to the car instead of following her. He opened the door locking it, and closing it again. Right, she cringed obviously there wasn't an auto-lock.
"Sorry," she shook her head as if it was somehow going to fix her exhaustion and make her more aware. They walked in silence up to the front door, the tiny bell ringing as they opened it and stepped inside. Pop's head lifted from the register and he smiled.
"Elizabeth, come in!" He welcomed them warmly, but Betty felt anything but warm as it dawned on her that the chances of her seeing more familiar faces were pretty high and she was getting breakfast with a Serpent, it was a town where pretty much any gossip traveled quickly, so it was only a matter of time before the rumors started swirling. She sucked in a sharp breath mentally preparing herself. It was beginning to look like there was nowhere to run from the stresses of facing her new bizarre reality. She waved weakly at Pop, before finding a booth in the far corner and sinking into it, letting her body melt into the soft, worn leather, her eyes fluttering closed feeling too heavy to keep open.
"Long night?" Joaquin's voice making her eyes open and watch him raise his eyebrows as he sat in the seat opposite of her.
"Something like that," She whispered rubbing her temple where it was starting to throb.
"Can I get you guys some coffee?" She knew the voice before she even had to look up, Veronica. She was so exhausted, hungry, and nervous that she had somehow let it slip her mind that Veronica had gotten a job at Pops almost immediately after she had moved here.
"Hey V," Betty tried shutting her eyes tightly before finding the strength to somehow look up and meet her friends eyes, that were staring at her wide-eyed basically nonverbally screaming 'what the fuck' at her. She had several classes with Veronica and had really started to enjoy her company, they had even planned to go the upcoming school dance together since Archie would be playing it with his makeshift band he was trying to create, along with Josie. She knew obviously at some point she was going to need an explanation, her secret connection with the Serpents was quickly becoming the least secretive thing in her life, which couldn't end well, in fact it would most likely end in her mother finding out, and at that point Betty decided she would rather just fake her own death and run from any more confrontation.
"Yeah I'll take one," Joaquin smiled politely taking some of the attention off of Betty for a split second. Veronica cast him a glance nodding sightly, before returning to the blonde who sank further into her seat wishing she could just sleep and wake up and all of this would be gone, she would wake up in her bed safe and warm, but her gut twisted realizing that also meant regretting Jughead, and last night, it meant wishing that had never happened either. The strange mixture of emotion twisted through her as she felt herself fight for clarity, but it didn't seem like she would be winning that fight any time soon.
"Can I just get a water please," Betty attempted a smile, silently begging Veronica to let it go. Luckily the raven haired beauty seemed to get it, at least for the time being.
"One coffee, and a water, with some advil from my purse?" she smiled gingerly at Betty.
"Thank you V, have I told you lately you're amazing?" She pressed her fingers to her temples again the pressure head building like a balloon slowly filling with helium.
"You never have to tell that," She smiled cockily before spinning on her heal and walking away.
"Hangovers are the worst..." Joaquin started empathetically.
"I'm not hungover, I wasn't even drunk," a little high maybe, on the drug that was jughead jones, she finished in her head watching as his eyes widened.
"Oh… So it was a different kind of long night," he pressed his lips together in a thin line, watching her.
"It's not what you're thinking," She looked down at her hands in her lap, rubbing them together mindlessly. He leaned closer to her resting his elbows on the table just a Veronica returned with their drinks dropping the painkillers into Betty's hand that was now palm up on the table she popped them into her mouth and took a huge drink of water reveling in the feeling of water entering her system, not realizing how thirsty she had been, she gulped down a few more sips.
"Food?" V asked looking at her worriedly.
"Yeah, can I just get an order of French toast," Betty decided she needed some form of sugar, and an excuse to eat way too much syrup.
"Just some toast for me, thanks," She eyed him wearily as he spoke.
"Toast? That's it?" She chided feeling so irritable and exhausted. His eyebrows knitted together, as he laughed slightly.
"And some eggs, I guess," He held up his hands in surrender. Veronica nodded but still watched Betty, she knew she wasn't acting like her normal polite self, but she couldn't seem to find the energy. Ronnie just silently smiled and walked away. Joaquin leaned forward again putting his chin in his hands. "I know it's not what you think I'm thinking," He whispered somewhat loudly to her. She closed one eye trying to resay his words in her head to make sense of them. "I just mean that we have some pretty strict rules in the club and no one follows them more closely than Jug." At the mention of his name she suddenly felt very awake, the intimacy of this moment dawning on her, as she realized she was alone with a Serpent, particularly one who seemed to have a pretty tight connection with their leader, and Betty had him all to herself for however long she could get him to stay. Questions began flooding her mind, there was so much she wanted to know and only so much that Jughead would probably ever tell her. She cursed herself for wasting the whole first half of her opportunity with worrying about her fatigue, but with this new found energy she pushed herself forward on her hands mirroring his stance and raising an eyebrow.
"And what rules are those?" She asked shrugging innocently, he eyed her carefully knowing what she was doing but obviously not finding to much harm in it as he prepared to answer.
"I just mean to say you don't have to explain anything to me, but I guess also… Don't feel too bad if nothing happened. It wasn't your fault," He looked into her thoughtfully, making her sit back a little.
"How do you know nothing happened?" She asked cautiously her mind reeling with all sorts of possibilities, did Jughead already tell them? Was the house bugged? Were there cameras? She blushed immediately thinking of what they could have seen.
"Just one of the rules," He shrugged picking up his coffee and taking a sip of it black.
"You guys have a rule to not sleep with people? Or just Northsiders?" Betty asked suddenly feeling offended.
"No….," he started carefully placing the mug on the table and looking back to see that Veronica was on her way back to the table with their food. "Just with minors," He finished just as she stepped up to their table. She gently placed the plates in front of them, looking between them clearly sensing the change in the air.
"Enjoy guys, let me know if there is anything else I can get you," She smiled politely before walking away again and Betty let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She turned her attention back to the boy in front of her who was already taking a huge bite of his toast that was slathered with butter.
"So no minors…" she mused "Why would that be such a huge deal?" She asked gently, grabbing her fork and pushing it into her french toast but not moving to take a bite.
"I don't know really, I guess just cuz the club has enough problems with illegal shit, the last thing we need is some clingy underage Snakeskin going crazy and getting one of the guys put away for statutory rape and shit," he said wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. Betty couldn't exactly argue with their logic but a word had caught her attention.
"Snakeskin?" She asked finally cutting off a corner of her gooey french toast and pulling the fork to her mouth almost sighing at the comfort she found in the sweet bread.
"Yeah, the girls that kind of follow the club, I guess they like...taking care of the guys. I've never understood it but it's probably 'cause I swing for the other team…" He trailed off polishing the last bit of his toast. His words stuck in her brain, Snakeskin… So girls just followed the club around, hung out with the Serpents, and took care of them which she could only assume that meant sexually. She thought back to the night at the Whyte Wyrm, she hadn't really noticed anyone specifically but then again that night was a blur, and her attention had been somewhat singular. Her face twisted uncomfortably at the concept, it was so dehumanizing to her…but was she just like them? Did Jug just think of her as a snake skin?
"You're not like them," He eyed her as if reading her mind, making her shift uncomfortably. "At least that's what it looks like to me," He looked down at his food grabbing a fork and getting a huge bite of scrambled eggs. "Weren't you the one who was hungry?" He nodded toward her food smirking.
"Oh yeah," Betty grabbed another forkful chewing it quickly and beginning to speak "What do you mean?" she asked referring to his previous statement.
"About you not being like them?" He asked picking back up his coffee, she just nodded hoping he saw. "Just a feeling I guess, you don't seem the type.." He emphasized the last word dramatically. Betty shivered at his words doing everything in her power to not let his words get to her, but they were already stuck in her brain. She knew she shouldn't be offended, she didn't want to be like them, but it just solidified that she wasn't the type to be around the club or Jughead just like he had said.
"Oh..," She squeaked out, feeling defeated and tired.
"I mean it as a compliment," He smirked "Jug isn't like that with anyone I've seen…. Especially not a snakeskin... " He trailed off tipping back his mug and finishing it off. She sucked in a quiet breath, butterflies erupting in her stomach at his words. Did he really mean that or was he just trying to make her feel better, was she really something different to Jughead? She suddenly longed for him to be in front of her, to just flat out ask him, but she knew in her gut he probably wouldn't answer, and yet in that same gut feeling she also already knew the answer. She had felt it, she knew in all of his actions that he was far out of his comfort zone, she heard his words clearly in her head.. 'there is something between us, some undeniable connection I have to you, some ridiculous need I have to take care of you'... She already knew she was different to him, because he was just as different to her. She had never in her life looked at anyone the way she looked at him, it had no logic to it, they hadn't even been around each other for years, and yet somehow he already felt like her best friend, like an intimidatingly important part of her life, something was there… something impossible to explain or even put into words but it was there, undeniable and irrevocable.
"So.." She shrugged trying to keep her cool, and change the subject "The Serpents are a motorcycle club… Why does everyone assume you guys are like some dangerous gang?" She laughed nervously trying to play slightly dumb, wanting to know the opinions of the people on the inside.
"You know the answer to that already," He eyed her wearily raising an eyebrow.
"Okay, okay, fair enough," She huffed out a breath dropping the act "So what happens? You guys just make your money being a gang? Selling drugs and stuff?" She pried.
"We don't sell drugs," He laughed shaking his head "We have a lot enterprises around the city, like the Wyrm, we have a garage down in Greendale, we own a storage facility, we have our ways of making money," He tilted his head to the side watching her and she held his gaze sipping her water, the dynamic between them making her feel like maybe they were friends, and she liked it, it was oddly comfortable around him, just like with Jug. All the Serpents were oddly charismatic and cool, like the people you just wanted to be around, to be a part of, and she suddenly understood the appeal of the club and yet they were also some of the most scary people she had been around, which was so conflicting for her.
"So you own businesses, that doesn't seem too dangerous," she said honestly going back to her original inference that they were just a club of like-minded people. She knew they had a reputation, she knew in the past a lot of them had been in and out of jail, but she actually had no real reason to believe they were that dangerous other than the fact that she had just always been told that by the adults in her life, and... well.. Jughead had said so too. Maybe it wasn't nearly as bad as she was making it in her head.
"Betty…" He started, a tinge of warning in his voice, but it was too late she had already gone too far down the road of hoping there was a chance they weren't as dangerous as she was led to believe and she just needed more ammo to justify her connection to Jughead.
"So you guys aren't even on the wrong side of the law," it was more of a statement than a question. She couldn't help the small relieved laugh that left her lips.
"I didn't say that." His words were clipped and pointed, it and it made her attention snap back from her little fantasy as she focused back on him. His features were hard and the playful look in his eyes had completely disappeared making her freeze. "Look," He softened "I like you Betty, and I really don't want to have to lie, but you gotta know…" he paused thoughtfully "There are some things you just shouldn't ask," He sighed looking at her kindly. And she nodded back, the twist in her gut growing tighter. She ate the last few bites of her french toast in silence and he just looked out the window next to them.
"So you don't wanna ask me anything?" She asked finally finding her voice again. He turned his head back to her a confused look on his face.
"Ask you what?" He pondered, crossing his arms over his chest. Betty put her fork on her plate and pushed it gently away from her.
"Like stuff about Kev…" She trailed off
"Oh, no not really," He laughed breezily and she suddenly felt super protective of her best friend.
"So you don't care?" She asked her voice sharp and defensive.
"No it's not that," he laughed again "I care quite a lot, I just know that no conversation in a diner booth could answer all my questions about that complicated kid," he joked, and Betty calmed down realizing how she must sound right now.
"Yeah I guess that true, sorry…. I must just be that tired" She chuckled fiddling with her thumbs.
"C'mon, let's get you home," He pulled out his wallet and dropped a $50 bill on the table, an amount that was obviously way too much for the bill and started to scoot his way out, grabbing his jacket that had been draped on the back of the booth. Betty noticed that the image of the snake on the back of the leather was different, Jughead's had a two-headed snake in the shape of an 'S', but Joaquin's had a snake curled up with only one head with its mouth open facing straight up.
"Why is your snake different?" She asked following him out of the booth, and hurrying to keep up with him as he walked confidently down the aisle.
"Keep the change," He nodded at Veronica as they weaved around her while she helped another table, she stood up straight smiling at him then glancing to Betty who was behind him.
I'll explain Betty mouthed to her shrugging her shoulder innocently. As they made their way out of the diner She reached for her back pocket, but remembered quickly that she didn't even really want to check her phone.
"My snake is for prospects," He said over his shoulder to her, not turning around.
"Prospect?" She asked as he made his way to the passenger door, unlocking it for her and walking around the front of the car to the drivers side. She opened the vintage door noting how much heavier the metal was. They both settled into the car and she shifted her backpack at her feet making room. Joaquin reached his long arm over the front seat at an odd angle, grabbing the small lump of grey fabric on the back seat and handing it to Betty.
"Bosses orders.." he nodded towards the beanie. "It means I'm still a prospect, like a possible member… I'm still working my way in" He said answering her original question as he turned the key, the engine rumbling to life. Betty twisted the fabric in her hands longing to pull it closer to her face, but she refrained instead just stuffing it into her backpack.
"What do you have to do to get in?" She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket as she spoke and she cringed, her situation coming back to her like a giant wave, and the panic returning as Joaquin pulled the car out of the parking lot.
"Just prove your loyalty over time and shit," He shrugged "Now can we be done with this interrogation?" He asked giving her a side-eye. She just nodded her train of thought going in a completely different direction now. They drove in silence from that point on as her mind reeled with what exactly she wanted to say to Archie.
They arrived at her street impossibly quick and a queasy feeling in her stomach intensified. He slowly pulled the car up to her house, her breathing became oddly forced as she focused on sucking in air and forcing it out, she braced herself and looked out the window, Archie was already on his way over to the car from the doorstep at his house. She clutched her backpack and looked to Joaquin to thank him for the ride but his door was already open and his face was stone cold as he got out of the car. Betty watched with wide eyes as Archie saw him, and she quickly scrambled out of the car the hair on the back of her neck rising as the boys made eye contact. Archie seemed to ignore the Serpent and bee lined straight for Betty, he closed the distance between them and grabbed her shoulder unintentionally roughly. He looked her over his eyes searching hers, the look on his face was so obviously conflicted like he was mad, relieved, sad, scared, and a million other emotions were twisted across his features. He didn't say anything for what felt like forever. Finally Joaquin spoke up from where he was perched leaning against the car next to her.
"Betty you'll be okay?" He didn't even try to hide his dirty look he was giving Archie, who also shot him back an equally vicious look.
"She'll be fine, thanks man," Archie glared for a second but quickly turned his attention back to Betty. She looked to her side noting that Joaquin wasn't budging, taking in a deep breath she took a step forward forcing Archie to let go of her as she made her way next to him now facing Joaquin.
"Yeah I will, thank you…," She paused debating on how to finish their interaction "For everything," She nodded and he simply nodded back pushing off the shiny black car and making his way silently to the drivers side, never even acknowledging Archie's presence. Betty Just started up the walkway to Archie's house assuming he still wanted to talk, but he grabbed her hand first spinning her to him and pulling her into a tight hug before bending his head down and kissing her in a way he never had before, it was rough and desperate, deeper than any way he had kissed her yet and she couldn't help but feel something, she kissed him back, his hand wrapped around her waist while the other one held her face lovingly and a small piece of her wanted to stay right there, but a cold sweat broke out as she suddenly couldn't breathe. She pulled away blushing, and before she could stop herself her head snapped to the car, that hadn't moved, that had the Serpent sitting in the driver's seat watching her and shaking his head slightly. Her heart dropped so quickly she almost lost her balance and fell with it. She met Joaquin's eyes and he gave her knowing and sad smile before turning the key and quickly speeding off, Betty gulped, her entire body screaming at her, wanting to stop him, to tell him what was going on, to not let him go back to his leader and tell him what he saw, only making this whole situation so much more difficult. But there was nothing she could do, the helplessness making her want to scream. All she could do was hope that either Joaquin wouldn't say anything or that Jug would actually hear her out once she spoke to him again. Her attention pulled back to Archie who was still holding her, his face watching hers before looking back to where the car had been the confusion on his face making guilt spike across her whole body. When he looked back at her, his eyes held more pain than confusion, and he sucked in a sharp breath.
"Betty…." He started and the hurt in his voice made her eyes drop to the ground "Are you…. Is there… is there something.." he trailed off dropping his hands from her and taking a step back. Betty looked up meeting his gaze, waiting on a held breath for him to finish his accusation, feeling the oddest sense of panic and somehow simultaneous relief, if he said it, if he forced her hand in telling him the truth it meant this whole thing would be done, and she had no idea if she wanted that or not, but if he made the choice for her she wouldn't have anything to figure out. "...With Kevin's boyfriend?" He whispered angrily, shaking his head. His words snapped her back to a clearer mind, her eyebrows pulling together tightly.
"What? No… Oh my god, no!" She put her hands up in front of her as if they would somehow deflect his words. "I wouldn't ever do that to Kevin," She tried to level her voice and not raise it but the irrational annoyance at his words was overwhelming.
"What about to me?" He asked sharply, she had realized the mistake of her words too late, it was the second time that morning she had stuck her foot in her mouth while defending her loyalty to one of the men in her life.
"Archie, I…."
"Who were you with?" He cut her off, his gears obviously turning too quickly, but she was grateful. If she were being honest with herself she had no clue how she would have finished that sentence.. Would she have just told him, or tried to lie... she was glad she would never have to find out.
"With Jughead, Like I told you," She tried, leaving him with simple answers not knowing what else to say.
"And that's it?" He asked her, searching her face. Her eyebrows still knitted together so tightly it almost made her head hurt, and her lips parted involuntarily as she eyed him carefully, trying to gauge what he had just said, realizing he was assuming she had lied and been with a different person, but clearly wasn't drawing the obvious conclusion.
"Yes that's it," She lifted her chin, meeting his eyes confidently with the knowledge that she was telling the truth. But she waited carefully still not giving too much away and letting him lead the conversation.
"You promise?" He asked quietly looking away from her.
"Yes," holy shit, he is gonna buy it. She leaned back on her heels letting out a breath that was dangerously almost a chuckle. He kept his eyes off of her as he seemed to mull over the information she told him so far.
"So what happened…." He asked cautiously still staring somewhat vacantly down the street.
"It was just a super weird situation, I guess that stuff has been getting worse in the southside… But Jug seemed like he knew what he was dealing with and I didn't have much of a choice but to trust him, I am so sorry for worrying you. I should have called I know but I just fell asleep. I was so overwhelmed and tired…" lie.
"Why lie? About being with Kevin?" He finally looked at her his eyes softer now.
"I didn't know who you were with, you could have already been with my mom or something Arch, she would have totally put me on lock down," lie.
"Should we do anything… like call the police or something?" He asked grabbing her hand.
"I really just want to shower and sleep more, I'm still super tired, and I feel so gross, I've had the same clothes on and slept in them…" Lie, Lie, Lie. "Jug said he would handle it," Maybe not a complete lie, but she was starting to find it disturbing how easy it was to say whatever she had to, it felt wrong and also like the right thing to do, she shook her head trying to find peace in what she was doing but there was none.
"Yeah it sounds like you had a stressful night, can you come over for dinner tonight maybe we can talk more?" He pulled her closer to him, clearly having no idea about her internal torture.
"Sure, I'll text you in a bit," she smiled saying anything to get as far away from this situation as possible and just nodding.
"I love you Betty," He hugged her before pulling away and kissing her, in a daze she kissed him back squeezing his hand, before starting to walk away, she turned back realizing she hadn't responded.
"I love you too Archie," just not like that. But she couldn't actually finish that, not right now at least. She turned back around, slinging her suddenly impossibly heavy backpack over her shoulder and dragging her feet across the lawn to her front door.
She made it inside letting out a heavy breath, she hadn't realized she wanted to cry but the feeling bubbled up and she tried to choke it down. She rounded the corner hearing her mom in the kitchen, and for a minute she debated just sneaking up the stairs but she knew Alice would just come bug her later if she didn't say something now. She forced her feet to move forward and braced herself as she walked through the open door frame to the kitchen.
"Hey mom," She sighed waving tiredly.
"Elizabeth.."Her mom smiled but it fell quickly once she looked her daughter over. "You look awful, what happened?!" she hurried over to Betty grabbing her face and feeling her daughter's forehead.
"I umm… I think it's food poisoning," Betty was getting way too good at this lying thing.
"Oh honey," her mom's voice was filled with empathy and concern as she looked over her again. Betty felt all to aware of the red marks that had been on her neck and collarbone from Jughead and she hoped they weren't visible anymore as she reached up zipping up her pink Jacket more and holding the top closed pretending it was cold.
"I'm gonna go shower and sleep it off hopefully," she nodded more to herself.
"Okay Sugarplum, you just yell if you need anything," Her mother smiled sweetly. Betty nodded again.
She turned back into the hallway and rushing up the stairs into her room, she closed the door behind her, throwing her backpack on the bed and beelining to the bathroom. She undressed quickly and studied herself in the mirror, her mom wasn't wrong… she looked terrible, the dark circles under her eyes were dark making her skin look impossibly pale. Luckily her neck was a normal color but the angry red bite mark low on her collarbone was still visible and getting a light purple color in the middle as it started to bruise. She brushed her fingers along it flashing back to the moment it happened in his car, it felt like weeks ago now. She shivered pulling herself back to the present, she made her way to the shower turning up the hot water as high as it would go and turning the cold knob slightly. The water started steaming, and she stepped into it chills breaking out all over her skin as she adjusted to the temperature. Before she even knew what she was doing she sat on the shower floor letting the water coat her hair and slowly cover her face, she closed her eyes reveling in the feeling, tilting her head back, and the tears came shortly after, she pulled her knees up to her chest and sobbed, the water mixing with her tears so she didn't even know what was hers anymore. She didn't know what she was crying for, maybe for Archie, maybe for Jughead, maybe for the girl she didn't even recognize as herself anymore. But she cried, and it felt good… she didn't really know how long she sat there, but the heat of the water eventually began to cool slightly and she forced herself to stand not wanting to be pelted with cold water. She washed her hair quickly and scrubbed her body with far too much body wash the warm vanilla scent filling the bathroom. She got out of the shower drying herself off and wrapping her long blond hair in a towel, she grabbed her big plush robe off the hook on the back of her bathroom door and slipped her arms through it snuggling into the soft fabric and tying it around herself. She opened the door, letting the cold air hit her and taking a deep breath of it in. She made her way to the bed pulling the towel from her hair and rubbing it on her scalp to get all the excess water off. It felt so good to be clean and she crawled onto her soft comforter still in her robe, she groaned out loud knowing she would hate herself in a little bit if she let her hair dry without running a brush through it so she pushed herself back up, and shuffled to her vanity.
Looking at herself in the mirror blankly she held her brush and mechanically pulled it through her locks, pulling it to the side getting all the tangles out. She knew her brain should be working through everything that had happened, she should at least be thinking of something, but she had no energy. She stood up, rummaging through her backpack she found his beanie before tossing the bag to the ground, she threw her covers back and slid under them curling herself into a tight ball, pulling the beanie to her nose and inhaling his scent, before clutching to her chest and drifting off into a hard, and dreamless slumber.