top story and Luvs2Read: I cannot believe you guys remember this story. Thank you so much your comments made me cry haha x

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Nell cursed to herself, as she rifled through the contents of her car.

Two hours she'd spent last night, putting together a comprehensive and well organised file, filled with every bit of information she'd need to get the leaking roof of her bakery fixed. She'd been so smug, going to bed the night before confident in the knowledge that she had beaten whatever curse it was that followed her whenever she had something important coming up. How young, how naive she'd been! Ten minutes into the drive to Andrews Construction she'd been forced to break at a red light, and the contents of her file had gone flying. It seemed in all her preparation she'd somehow forgotten a key ingredient: a paperclip to keep it all together.

Nell checked her bright pink watch, letting out a wail of distress as she saw the time. Ten minutes late! If Fred didn't think she was an incompetent moron before he sure would now.

Stop it! She snapped at herself, pausing mid-search. It's not gonna do you any good being a bitch to yourself! Count your blessings. You still have everything you need for the meeting, everything is just a little... askew right now. You'll put everything to right, you just have to be a little more patient with yourself. Shit happens. Nell slowly began to feel the ball of stress that had been building up inside of her evaporate, a sense of calm flooding through her senses. She had this! She totally had this! This was nothing to get worked up over. Positivity prevails, as her yoga instructor liked to say whenever Nell found the time to go to a lesson. Fred is a nice guy. He'll understand that it's just been one of those days. He's probably had loads of them himself. Suddenly Nell was brimming with self-confidence, ready to charge in there and seize the day!

"Positivity!" Nell nodded to herself, clenching her fists together, "Positivity! Posi-"

She froze mid-cry, feeling the bewildered stares of two of Fred's workmen as they walked by her. Completely mortified, she waited until she was sure they were out of earshot before letting out a cry of despair: "AHHHHHHHHH!" She threw her hands skyward, silently berating whatever nefarious spirit/higher power/witch or troll that had decided to fuck with her on this particular day. She was sick and tired of buying buckets! Once Nell's anger at her bad luck was out her system her shoulders sank, her attention turning back to the collection of papers she seriously needed to get back in order. Her bakery and her sanity depended on it.

She smoothed out her flowery light blue skirt, a favourite of hers that had white daisies on it. Along with it she wore a layered butterfly sleeve shirt in a matching shade, some white rimmed cat eye sunglasses and a pair of cute white heels, all of which left her feeling pretty good about herself at that moment in time. Besides, nothing could be that horrible when she had a skirt as pretty as this. She thought, feeling bizarrely reassured. And so she set off to work.

Once her file was back together and wedged firmly underneath her arm, Nell locked her car and began the walk up to Andrews Construction's main office. The office in question was a white portacabin sat on top of stilts, with an Andrews Construction sign with distinctive blue lettering perched on top of it. It was humble and practical, just like Fred. Andrews Construction was pretty much the only place of business in Riverdale that didn't intimidate the beejesus out of her. Meeting with Fred was more akin to talking to a warm and kind friend, rather than a fellow business owner who could make or break her livelihood.

She was already bleeding customers and the bakery wasn't even a year old. People went to Top of the Muffin to get away from their everyday lives, to bask in the pretty fragrances she would covertly have pumped into the shop, the yummy pastries she'd nearly killed herself perfecting and all the cute decorations she would have probably bankrupted herself purchasing for the place if her brother hadn't made her cut down her wish list to a select few things. Instead, they were now trickling off elsewhere, as she scurried about the place with buckets all while trying to make sure her cake orders didn't burn and her new hires were following the recipes exactly. Her roommate and tormentor Elena liked to joke that she was Sookie St James on crack, and she probably wasn't far off.

Some people (mostly her brother and Elena) liked to say that she was anal about the bakery, but she was just particular about things. She'd worked hard to get to this place in her life, and she wanted everything to be as perfect as possible. Things hadn't always been so rosy growing up, but she'd made it out to the other side. She'd built her dream business from the ground up, and was working her ass off to build a decent career for herself. It would take more than a freak thunderstorm and a leaky roof to throw her off course. Of course she did wonder sometimes, if she was truly living her life at all. Did she have that rosy dreamlife she'd always fantasised about as a kid? Or was she just simply jumping from problem to problem, like she'd been forced to do throughout her entire childhood?

Nell was pulled away from her troubling train of thought as she reached the top of the portacabin steps, knocking just in case Fred was in the middle of something. A few seconds later she heard him call for her to come in. Slowly Nell opened the door, teeth digging into her bottom lip absentmindedly as she mentally ran through everything she would need to discuss with Fred.

"Hey!" Nell waved as she took off her sunglasses, immediately spotting Fred at his desk. "Sorry I'm late-" She laughed at herself, wishing more than anything for the ground to swallow her whole. "There was a very angry red light and I forgot to use a paperclip-" (She had some really cute blue ones sat in a drawer at home as well!) "Point is I'm here and very, very sorry!" She apologised, clasping her hands together and moving them as she emphasised her point. Oh god I'm rambling. Nell stressed, tucking a stray piece of blonde hair behind her ear.

About ten seconds into her apology Nell realised with a start that Fred wasn't alone. A woman was sat across from him, who even from the back exuded a level of glamour and sophistication Nell could only hope to emulate. She was immediately intimidated. However when looking back at that particular moment in time, Nell was pretty sure cartoon love hearts popped out of her eyes the second she laid eyes on her.

"Don't worry about it Nell, we were just finishing up." Fred replied, as the two of them began to rise from their seats.

"Yes." The woman replied, her voice velvety smooth if a little distant. The woman turned around and met her gaze, effectively turning the baker into a pile of goo.

Fred's lady friend was beautiful. She was a latina woman in her early to mid-forties, dressed in a luxurious looking black lace dress that complimented her body so well Nell was forced to tear her eyes away. Around her neck was a string of pearls that probably cost more than she made in a month. And her hair! Oh her hair! Nell was tempted to ask her for her hair care routine. Her dark brown locks were so thick and shiny, Nell could see them being the envy of any Pantene commercial model. She was of about average height, with the eyes she was so drawn to a soft dark brown. But there was a layer of calculation hidden beneath them as she looked at her that intrigued Nell. She was all sharp angles and even sharper cheekbones, yet there was a hint of softness simmering beneath the rich lady exterior. She seemed friendly -approachable even- which Nell wouldn't have guessed at first glance.

The woman smiled at Nell's stunned state, sending her stomach fluttering. God she's so pretty. Nell flushed, thankful as the woman averted her gaze. There was something a little familiar about her, though she had zero clue where she would have seen a woman like that before.

"Nell this is Hermione, she's new to town," Fred introduced, gesturing to the other woman. "Hermione, this is Nell, she runs that bakery we were talking about."

Fred talked about her? Aw.

"I'm kind of a returnee," Hermione shrugged, a little sheepish as she turned her attentions to Nell once more. Her insides promptly began doing somersaults. "I used to live here." She promptly changed the subject, something that Nell didn't miss. It wasn't an entirely happy homecoming then. "So you're the one who owns the bakery with the vintage furniture?"

"I- I am." Nell smiled, teeth showing as she blinked in surprise. She knew about the furniture? No one knew about the furniture! "That's me! I am her." Shut up!

"I might have done some covert Googling pre-move," Hermione admitted, offering her a genuine smile in return. It was adorable, both sides of her mouth stretching upwards to form two small but distinctive dimples. "It's a beautiful place from what I saw. I'll have to stop by once we finally manage to unpack."

Nell nodded, cringing internally about how happy that promise made her. Put a gorgeous woman in front of her and she turned into silly putty. She was worse than her brother. "I'll keep an eye out for you." Be casual, be casual! Nell's heart hammered as Hermione smiled warmly at her once more, before turning back to Fred. The blonde took a second to bask in the glow of being looked at like that. She was so ridiculously pretty in both face and manner and it made Nell's heart hurt.

"Thanks for at least hearing me out." She sighed, a worn expression overtaking her face. She headed straight past Nell and towards the door, designer handbag in tow.

To Nell's surprise she inclined her head towards her, waving a hand to say goodbye. "It was nice meeting you, Nell." She paused, eyes roaming downwards before rising to meet Nell's once more. "Nice skirt." She complimented. And though Nell would later rationalise that it had probably been her imagination, she was almost positive Hermione was smirking as she walked out the construction office's door.

"You too." Nell waved back, still frozen to the spot long after she had left the office.

Who the hell was that?

...

Once Nell was back outside of the portacabin, she made certain she was out of Fred's line of sight before proceeding to victory dance.

(She was indeed a complete dork.)

Clenched fists were thrown into the air, a moonwalk was attempted, and she swayed from side-to-side more than a dashboard hula girl. She just couldn't help herself! The meeting had gone really well, with Fred promising to start work at the bakery by the end of the week. The bakery's roof and her will to live were saved!

Nell was so caught up in celebrating in fact, that she almost missed the quiet sounds of someone sobbing by their car. She froze to the spot, eyes immediately zeroing in on the only other car within the vicinity. She'd seen it on her way over, though she hadn't quite registered its presence on account of being a panicked mess. It was parked not too far away from her own and was quite the fancy piece. It was a Rolls Royce Phantom, a fact that she only knew due to her friendship with Patrick Blossom. He loved to talk about his one true love of cars to anyone with the ability to hear, causing Nell to inadvertently pick up some knowledge along the way.

As she hesitantly made her way over to the car she spotted Hubert Smithers stood to one side, taking a phone call conducting whatever rich people business he needed to do. Hermione was stood on the other side, face buried in her hands as she silently wept.

Nell's heart sank at the sight. What a woman like that could be crying over she wasn't certain, but it was a terrible thing to see.

Before her brain could catch up with her body, Nell was opening her mouth. "Hi."

Hermione jumped in alarm, eyes wide with confusion as she registered who was in front of her. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. Are-" She hesitated, wondering if she was edging into nosy stranger territory. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Hermione nodded, retrieving a tissue from her purse to dab at her eyes. She seemed to be really embarrassed at being caught crying, pointedly avoiding looking at Nell directly. "I'm the one that's sorry," She gestured to her face, staring down at the ground as though she were silently willing it to swallow her whole. "It's been a long day."

Nell spared a look at her watch, glancing up at the older woman once more. "It's only 10.30." She stated.

A sudden laugh ripped through Hermione. Her hand flew to her mouth, shoulders shaking as she seemed to release whatever built up tension she'd been harbouring. A smile formed on her mouth, pearly whites showing as she tilted her head at Nell. She opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it once more, re-thinking to herself. She came to settle her back against the car, beckoning for Nell to come and join her.

Be cool, be cool, be, cool!

Nell pondered over what stance to take, finally settling on simply folding her arms. Hermione threw her purse into an car open window and let out an exhausted sigh. "I went to ask Fred about a job and he turned me down."

Nell frowned in puzzlement. Her? "Why? I mean no offence but-" She gestured to Hermione's expensive outfit as well as her car. "-you don't exactly look like you're in dire need of money."

Hermione bit her lip to repress a smile. "You don't know who I am, do you?" She stated, amusement pouring through her silky smooth voice.

Nell shrugged. She was always a little out of the loop when it came to town news, too wrapped up in work or personal issues that town gossip had gone on a backlog for her. "Should I?"

A sheepish look fell over her face, igniting Nell's curiosity. What on earth could have brought a woman like her back to a town like Riverdale? "I have my sights set on town pariah by the end of the week." Hermione joked, carefully maneuvering around the delicate subject matter in a way that wasn't missed by the blonde. She held her head up high, regal and dignified as she pushed her hair behind her shoulder. The action exposed her neckline to Nell, whose gaze lingered on it a few seconds too long. Longing filled her entire being, shocking her into looking away.

Nell shook herself out of it, opening her mouth in mock outrage. "Well gosh, you know I was hoping to get that again this year."

Hermione seemed surprised by the confession, she too now a little more interested in the person stood by her. "You don't exactly fit the bill for that."

"Whatever do you mean?" Nell teased, grinning as she backed her into a corner.

The brunette fumbled for a polite answer, opening and closing her mouth a number of times before finally giving it up. "Well-"

"I dress in bright colours and have a colourful attitude?" She supplied, fluttering her eyelashes all while smiling coyly.

Realising what she'd done, Hermione gaped incredulously. "Well, well." A pleased look crossed over her features that made Nell catch her breath. "Barbie has some bite to her."

Nell tried to fight back the grin that had practically cemented itself on to her face, but to no avail. This woman was beautiful, interesting and could go toe to toe with her in some verbal sparring. She seemed like a great addition to the town in her opinion.

"So why were you asking Fred Andrews about a job?" Hermione arched a brow, which Nell could only answer with a shrug. "You've intrigued me Miss Secretive."

"Money troubles," She answered, that worn look returning to her face once more. It made Nell wish she could take it away somehow. "My husband was arrested for fraud and embezzlement recently. I moved back here with my daughter for a fresh start. Growing up here was good for the most part and I want some normalcy for Veronica, she deserves at least that after the past few months." She laughed sadly. "I worked so hard to get away from this town and now-" Nell could relate. Painfully so. "And-" Her voice caught with emotion.

Much to Nell's startlement tears began to pool in Hermione's eyes once more. She stared down at the ground, closing her eyes in shame and to try and keep Nell from seeing her cry once more. "I have another daughter who lives here as well. Veronica just called me from school. She talked to her."

Nell's blood ran cold. No! It couldn't be!

"My husband and her had a falling out a few years ago and she ended up leaving home. For here of all places." She held up her hands, meeting Nell's eyes as she wiped away her tears. "You must think I'm awful." Nell barely registered her words, the story uncomfortably similiar with the one that had been recounted to her a year and a half ago when Elena had first moved in with her. It couldn't be a coincidence. Which meant the woman in front of her was-

"No," Nell shook her head, aware of the fact that she was blinking far too much. "Believe me when I tell you I know worse people. Garbage personified you might say." Oh god I was just perving on Elena's mom!

Nell did her best not to show her complete and utter mortification, though she was rather tempted to smack her hand against her forehead. She suddenly knew why Hermione had felt so familiar to her earlier on. There was a picture Elena had that was tucked into the corner of her vanity mirror. Nell occasionally glanced upon it when sneaking into her room to steal her hair ties, thinking it a pretty cute picture everytime she saw it. It was of Elena at about five years old stood in front of the Eiffel Tower, beaming into the camera as she hugged a woman knelt down next to her who could have doubled as her present self's twin. Nell had never really thought about the picture for long, instantly forgetting about it when she left Elena's room.

Of course it was of her and her mom. She was such a big ditz.

I have to call her. Oh my God! She said the sister spoke to her! Nell couldn't imagine what her friend was going through at that moment in time. She would definitely have to stock up on some ice cream and give her plenty of hugs when she got home. Nell did her best to protect her given what she'd been through, but there weren't exactly any articles online on how to help your teenage roommate with the sudden reappearance of their sister and their hot mom.

Shit! Should I tell her? No, no. I should talk to Elena first, get the lay of the land.

More than anything though, given the way Elena had spoken about her folks in the past, Nell was mostly surprised that she didn't have horns and a tail.

Hermione's brows shot to the top of her head. "That bad, huh?"

Nell simply nodded in response, still rather shell-shocked at the realisation of who she was stood next to. She still got queasy if she thought too much about the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. "I had something of a lousy upbringing. Nuns were involved."

She placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder, choosing her next words as carefully as she could. She didn't know the full story of whatever had gone down between Elena and her family, but from what Nell could make of Hermione Lodge it was clear to her that she held a great deal of emotion about Elena. She cared. And if she cared, all the better for her friend in the long run. "Look I can't presume to know what's going on in your life, but take it from a former resident of rock bottom: You'll climb back up in time. Keep looking for a job, swallow your pride and focus on the people that matter. Don't give the gossips and the curtain twitchers a second thought. Do that and I think that pariah title will remain out of your reach."

Stunned but mostly touched, Hermione's hand came to lay upon Nell's. "Thank you." Though it was gloved Nell felt goosebumps race up her arms, all of her awareness zeroing in on that single touch. For some reason her eyes fell upon her lips, full and pronounced and painted a nice subtle shade of pink. There was that longing again, sweeping through her body like smoke as she was overcome with the urge to kiss her.

Nell gave herself a mental slap. You are too gay for your own good!

"No problem." She laughed, sounding so notably rattled that even Hermione probably heard it in her voice. She snatched her hand away, the fog beginning to clear as she forced herself to take a step away from Hermione. "Just friendly neigbourhood hospitality." She waved her off, fidgeting anxiously.

"No, really." Hermione shook her head, her face earnest as she smiled gratefully. "I don't have a lot of friends right now so- I'm really sorry for subjecting you to the horrors of my personal life, but thank you for listening." She blushed slightly, averting her gaze to Smithers who'd just finished up his phone call. "I promise the next time you see me my make-up will be intact." She gestured to the smudged remnants on her face, laughing at herself in a way that made Nell swoon.

Nell giggled, nodding at her promise. "I'll hold you to that."

Nell turned to go, tucking her hands into the pockets of her skirt. She needed to get away, clear her head, and give Elena a heads up. But a thought occured to her. She turned back around on the spot, raising her hand in a wave. "Friends get a 10% discount." She wagged her finger, her whole being lighting up with warmth as Hermione chuckled at her.

"Oh now I'm definitely coming."

"Good."

And with that -feeling a little lighter in her step- she headed back to her car.

Elena felt like her whole world had been flipped around.

It had taken her a long time to adjust to life outside the Lodge family. No more credit cards, no more vacations, no more spur of the moment purchases, no more clothes or food outside a set price limit, not to mention no money or parents to fall back on if she messed something up. That had been her one big assurance growing up. That no matter how badly things went wrong, she had the lifestyle she'd always known to catch her fall. But all in one day it had been ripped away from her in one fell swoop. Adjusting to a life without the privileges she'd taken for granted had been one of the most dramatic and scary experiences of her life. But with a bit of perseverance and luck, Elena had made it through.

And now she was right back in that situation. Only this time instead of a Lorelai Gilmore-esque lifestyle change, it was everything from her old life tied up into one very happy sister of hers.

She'd managed to evade Veronica for the time being, all but running out of English once the bell rang to go track down Cheryl who was down the hall. She caught her just as she was leaving the classroom, all but dragging her to a quieter part of the hallway as the ant-hill of people strolled back and forth in front of them. "I'm fucked." Elena informed her solemnly, as they came to a halt.

"What else is new?"

"No-" Elena shook her head, the tension in her stomach tightening more and more with every breath she took. "My sister is here!"

Cheryl's eyes widened. "Your what now?"

"Person whom I share DNA with." Elena clarified, earning herself an eye roll. "My Dad slipped up and he's in jail, so the authorities seized all their shit! Now they're kind of broke and according to Veronica her and my mother (Oh god it was settling in now!) came here to get away from the craziness in the city. I'm fucked Cheryl! I'm fucked and I don't know what to do!" She stressed, pacing back and forth as she kept wringing her hands. "She's going to school here! We agreed to give the whole sisterhood thing another go and it was amazing, wonderful even!"

Cheryl stared in confusion, tilting her head at her girlfriend. She took Elena's arms into hers, forcing her to stop her nervous pacing. "Well if that's the case Ellie, then what's the problem? That sounds like everything you've ever wanted."

Elena's voice trembled as she uttered aloud the fears that had been growing within her. "I'm going to mess this up. I'm gonna say or do the wrong thing and she's going to hate me all over again! And I can't talk to my mom!" She confessed, feeling everything pour out at once. Admittedly she'd been something of a mama's girl growing up, but as she'd transitioned into her teen years Elena had always gotten the sense that she loved her mom a lot more than she loved her. "Hell I wouldn't know how!"

She buried her head in her hands. She couldn't ignore them, that much was obvious. But the urge to run as far away as she could from them was overwhelming. She couldn't do this. Even if she did get somewhere with Veronica and her mom she was going to ruin it somehow like she always did. A part of her wasn't entirely convinced she wasn't going to do the same with Cheryl. It was like clockwork. Elena would be in a positive place with someone, she would feel safe and secure and happy with this person in her life, and then something horrible would come along and rip said person away from her. She knew Cheryl would say she was being a pessimist but was that the case with a proven and repeated pattern?

Cheryl pulled her hands away from her face, eyeing her with an all too knowing look. It was eerie sometimes how Cheryl could just look into her eyes and sense which anxiety rabbit hole she'd fallen down. She knew her. And that made Elena's fear all the more real. "You're not going to mess it up! That's just your awful brain chemistry talking. You're overwhelmed and not thinking straight. Do you remember when I took you to meet JJ for the first time?"

Elena nodded wincing slightly at the memory. She'd been a complete hot mess. Jason was her girlfriend's brother, the one person in the whole Blossom family whose opinion of her actually mattered to Elena. So naturally she'd overthought everything from her clothes to her choice in perfume, all for it go perfectly fine. Jason had been a little footballer-ish but cool and Elena had felt like a complete idiot afterwards. But she'd left Veronica and her mom without so much as a goodbye, this was a whole other ball game.

"You panicked about looking stupid in front of him and you worried enough for everyone in Riverdale, yet it turned out just fine." She slipped a hand covertly into hers, giving it a small squeeze in reassurance. "You are perfectly wonderful human being Elena Lodge. You're also allowed to be imperfect. If either of these two are worth re-connecting with they will recognise that and continue to love you anyway." She paused, blushing slightly. "I know I do."

"Softy." Elena teased, though she was genuinely touched.

Cheryl smiled back, booping her on the nose. "I say give it a whirl my lumière brillante. The way things were back then weren't ideal, but if you're willing to try and so are they-" She shrugged. "You could put your relationships with them back together and have them be of the healthier sort this time around. Be honest-" Elena opened her mouth but Cheryl quickly held up her hand. "As honest as your comfort levels will allow you to be. I know it's scary but I truly believe in you Elena."

Elena's eyes pooled at the redhead's words, a rising tide crashing down inside of her. She really thought she could face them both? Even after everything she'd put them through?

"You've already faced down Veronica-" Cheryl pointed out. "What's one more relative?"

It was everything. Her mother and father were the two most intimidating people she'd ever known. Her mom in particular was impossible to read, was as unpredictable as they came and had been so closed off emotionally in her last few years with Elena that it had kind of scared her. Was she like that to the people around her? She could be pretty introverted especially when it came to her emotions, but if she was a brick wall then her mom was a fucking moat. How did she even function? In her darker days Elena had even wondered if there was anything behind that cool facade of hers that actually felt any kind of positive emotion towards her.

"How much can I pay you to go talk to her for me?" Elena joked, offering up a quip to smooth over her nerves. She could be brave. No, she would be. She owed her at least that.

"Ellie!" Cheryl chastised.

"Fine, fine!" Elena held up her hands in surrender. "But if Medusa murders me it's on you."

"I'll be sure to mention it in your eulogy."

Elena let a small smile split across her face as her eyes fell to her and Cheryl's clasped hands. She had such warring feelings about her mom. On the one hand, she'd been the superior parent in nearly every way: She'd been a completely normal mom when she and Veronica had been younger, loving and warm and someone you could go to for just about anything. On the other hand the more she'd gotten involved with her husband's illegal activities, the more she'd seemed to unconsciously distance herself from Elena, who hadn't been afraid to get vocal about how much of a doormat she was being. Not to mention the bingo card worth of excuses she'd been forced to resort to in those last few months at home to explain away her odd behaviour. That in turn had only inadvertently widened the gap between them even further.

Elena had and did still love her so much despite everything but the thought of seeing and talking to her made Elena want to curl up in a ball and hide. What would she even say? Hi Mom, sorry I left without so much as a note. Does Dad still hate my guts? Do you still resent the fact that I'm not a perfect social butterfly like Veronica? "Do you think she hates me?" A woman like her Mom couldn't possibly wish for her daughter to turn out like Elena.

She felt Cheryl's fingers push her chin upwards. She met those brown eyes she could practically swim in and every bit of worry fell away. Even if things blew up, she had Cheryl to back her up. It wasn't like before. She was with someone who hopefully wouldn't dream of kicking her to the side if things got ugly in her life again. She hadn't gone away or gotten mad at her yet. "No." She replied, firm and unyielding. "Not if she has any sense."

Elena smiled, a little more confident but a little sad as Cheryl took her hand away. Would things always be like this between them? Stealing moments together in public and never truly being able to be together unless they were in private? They were both so afraid of being completely open with their families that it was kind of depressing if Elena thought too much about it. She was barely holding herself together at the thought of regularly talking to hers once more.

However much to her chagrin, Elena did what she always did when faced with an avoidable uncomfortable conversation. She kept her mouth shut, letting her turmoil continue to stir within as she looped her arm through Cheryl's and let her lead her elsewhere. All of that could wait.

...

Elena heard Cheryl inhale deeply as she zipped up her black mourning dress, wiping off some stray pieces of lint before allowing her to turn around. "All in order?"

Cheryl nodded in confirmation, inspecting the outfit she'd changed into for Jason's memorial speech. She'd commandeered a mirror from the drama department with the help of the River Vixens, who'd deposited it inside the girls changing room for their captain's use. "I think so." She smoothed out the crinkles in the dress, spinning around to meet Elena. She repositioned her headpiece about half a dozen times by Elena's count, a little fretful in her movements.

"I shouldn't be doing this, should I?" She pondered aloud.

Elena sat herself down on one of the seats, crossing one leg over the other. "No." She argued. "If anything not doing it would arouse suspicion."

Cheryl arched a brow teasingly as she moved the headpiece once more. "Are you trying to say I'm extra, Elena?"

Elena's phone buzzed with a text. "Oh I'm not trying to-" She pulled out her phone and opened up her messages, frowning as she saw the text was from her roommate Nell. "-you are."

Bubbles: Call me!

Why did Nell want to talk to her in the middle of the day? She never called unless it was an emergency, she'd locked herself out of the apartment or her car, or one of the guys from the bakery called from her phone to let her know she was still decorating cakes at midnight. Maybe it was the meeting she'd gone to with Fred Andrews? Had it gone good? Bad? Though now that she was calling, Elena thought it would be nice to talk to her about the whole Veronica thing.

Elena wasted no time, dialling her number and pressing the phone to her ear. Three rings in, the older girl finally picked up.

"Hey, what's up?"

"SHIT!" A series of crashing noises came through the phone that made Elena wince. "Oh god, oh god- Why? Noooooo!" Elena wasn't quite sure if she'd dropped something or was having an orgasm.

"NELL!"

"Oh sorry!" Nell apologised stressfully, putting her on speaker after some fumbling around. "I dropped a ton of flour and equipment everywhere! I look like I did a bunch of coke it's a mess!"

Elena buried her head in her free hand. How did one begin to describe Nell? She was Elena's perky, blonde, twenty-five year old baker roommate who at times Elena couldn't believe was even real. If Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls and Roger Rabbit were morphed into one neurotic but sweet person, it would be her. They'd first met when Elena had been six and Nell had been fourteen, when her grandparents had hired her as her babysitter for whenever they had a bingo night or were busy during the times she'd stayed with them in the summers of her childhood. Nell had been a character even back then. They'd spend hours at the bowling alley, the mall and the movies and she'd always let her have as many sweets as she'd wanted. Nell was nice, paid attention to her and treated her like an equal, so naturally Elena had gotten overly attached. Elena had always been happy to escape to Riverdale to see her Abuela, Abuelo and Nell, and Elena would later discover that she too had used their time together as an escape. But all of the fun times came to a screeching halt when both her grandparents died within a year, giving Elena's parents no reason to let her go to Riverdale anymore. It had completely devastated her, kickstarting a chain of bad events that had ultimately led to her Dad kicking her out. But Nell had kept in touch, and she was the first person Elena called when she'd found herself out on the street with nowhere to go. Much to her shock as soon as she'd told her what happened, Nell had gotten on the first train to New York and had collected her herself. She had offered her a home and a chance to get away from all things Lodge, and she'd gladly accepted. As silly as she could be, Elena would never hear a bad word against her from anyone. She'd saved her life in more ways than one that day.

"Tell them it's your back to school special." Elena quipped.

"Oh god don't even joke!" Nell cried, as she picked up what sounded like a bucket and began to fill it with water. "If someone says the wrong thing and you-know-who hears-"

"She's not Voldemort she can't sense when her name is being used." Elena snickered, hearing the telltale signs of Nell huffing in annoyance at her.

"I beg to differ! I was piping a cake for Ricky DeSantos' birthday party last month, I make a joke about Alice Cooper- BAM! The she-witch herself appears out of nowhere wanting to do a story on local businesses!" Nell argued, panting tiredly as she mopped up the floor. "She can sense when I'm talking smack about her! I can feel it! She practices the craft!"

It was safe to say Nell liked Alice Cooper about as much as Elena did. The two of them had a rivalry that was borderline comical, stretching back to when Nell had been attending Riverdale Community College and Alice had written an article on the college's "budget restraints" after a visit. Offended and enraged on behalf of her hardworking and mostly working-class teachers, Nell had egged her car and the Riverdale Register office in revenge. Alice had never been able to prove it was her, so from then on it had been war.

"Alice Cooper." Elena whispered jokingly into the phone.

"Dooooon't!" Nell whined. "She'll hear you!"

"Alice Cooper! Hey Cheryl, can I use that mirror? I've got some summoning to do." The redhead rolled her eyes, still inspecting the contents of her hair.

"Will to live! Evaporating!"

"Okay, okay, what did you want to talk about?" Elena smiled, coming down from her teasing high.

Nell hesitated for a moment, telling Elena it was something big. Her throat suddenly felt tight. "Did you happen to run into your sister today at school?"

"How did you-" Elena gaped in shock. "You know?"

"Kinda."

"How?"

"Well," Nell did her nervous laugh, a sign that she'd either done something dumb or was about to tell her something bad. "I think I met your mom."

And suddenly everything felt a little more real. Veronica had said as such of course, that she was in town. But hearing it from someone she spent pretty much every day with, who couldn't lie for shit, made it so final and true. Her mom was in town.

"Elena? You still there?"

Elena forced herself to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat, as she wiped furiously at the tears that had formed in her eyes. She would not cry over her. The woman who loved money and her cheating husband more than her own daughter. "Was she mad? I bet she was mad. How'd you run into her anyway? Riverdale doesn't have a ton of glamerge egg stores." She wasn't anxious. She was not anxious. She was just digging her fingers into the fabric of her dress out of habit.

"It was at Andrews Construction actually," Nell informed her, delicate and gentle in a way Elena had never really had growing up as a Lodge, "it seems your folks have got some pretty bad money troubles. Your mom was asking him about a job."

Elena erupted into laughter. Her chest hurt for laughing so hard, shocking herself a little. "My mom? No fucking way." Hermione Lodge did not do manual labour. She hired or guilt tripped others into doing it for her. Picturing her working for her own money was akin to trying to picture herself as the tooth fairy. It did not compute. "Are you sure it was her?"

"Yeah." Nell confirmed, worry seeping into her tone. "Glamourous type lady called Hermione who looks a hell of a lot like you, as well as that picture in your room?"

Elena's shoulders sank. "Yeah that's her." Things must be dire if she's trying to get work.

A long stretch of silence fell between the pair before Nell spoke once more. "She didn't seem mad." Nell quietly added.

"No? I figured she'd be furious being forced to share air with me."

"She didn't." Nell insisted. "If anything she seemed sad. About you, your sister, everything. She... Kind of vented to me." Nell admitted. "I don't think she knew who I was and I only realised who she was about halfway through our conversation but-" Nell sighed. "That was no Alice Cooper."

"You said the name." Elena pointed out, trying her best to sound upbeat even as her voice quavered. "She's getting up from her seat right now, ready to go track you down."

"I know, I know," Nell forced a laugh. "I'm going to go take cover in a bomb shelter somewhere." She paused, wondering whether to say more before pressing on. "Should I have said anything? I can come get you if you want."

"No, I'm fine," Elena sniffed, drying the last vestiges of tears from her eyes. "I'm glad you told me. Things didn't go too bad with Veronica-"

"That's great!" Nell enthused.

"Yeah," Elena smiled, mostly in amazement that she hadn't crumbled from the days events. "Maybe when I do have to face her it won't be as bad as I'm picturing."

"Things are never as bad as they seem in your head," Nell promised.

"Except Alice Cooper." The pair recited in unison, causing the roommates to laugh.

"Oh god she's gonna get us both."

"Save room for me in the bomb shelter!"

"Elena-" Elena realised she'd stopped mopping up, making her heart swell. She always did that, even on the phone. Listening to her with one-hundred percent of her attention. "It's gonna be okay. And even if it isn't well... I'm the only person in town that makes decent baked goods apart from Pop, so if she's a bitch to you she's fucking herself over."

Elena loved her ex-babysitter with all her heart and soul. "Thank you."

"Anytime."

"Okay, go make your coke cake."

"Give Cheryl a hug from me! Oh and buy tampons after school!" Nell recalled.

"You're so lucky we're on our own in here."

"Bye!"

"Bye!"

Elena sucked in a deep breath as she hung up the phone, vaguely aware as she felt Cheryl's arms wrap around her. Elena cuddled into her side and exhaled, feeling a little more grounded to the Earth. "And here I thought today was going to be easy." She remarked. "What an idiot, right?"

Cheryl planted a kiss on her forehead, eyes shining with concern as Elena rubbed circles into her girlfriend's hand. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Elena nodded, steeling herself. She had come too far and had worked too hard to rebuild her life to let her mom be the one to make her fall apart. She was stronger than this. She would make it through. Nothing was ever as bad as her mind made it out to be. "I will be. One problem at a time though. Nell sends her love."

"And I right back." Cheryl smiled, still keeping her close as Elena sat up. "You don't have to do this with me if you don't want to."

"I thought every JFK needed their Jackie?" Elena wondered aloud. "Look I even wore pink." She pointed to the pink rose she'd pinned to her own black mourning dress she'd changed into.

"You've already been through a lot today, what with your sister and now your mother-" Cheryl shook her head, shifting away. "I don't want to burden you with my own troubles."

Elena took her hand back into hers. "You could never! Okay? I'd take your worst problem and still be there for you over anything Lodge related. I happen to like you quite a bit Cheryl Blossom and when I like people they get stuck with me. Nell can attest to it."

Cheryl beamed at her and the effect was dazzling. Cutting off every other part of the world sounded pretty good to Elena at that point in time, as Cheryl looked at her like that. Like no one else in the world mattered.

Cheryl leaned forward and kissed her, soft and gentle in every manner of her touch as she came to rest her hands on Elena's face. She pulled back after a moment, her face so serene and kind that it made Elena wish she could just snuggle into her side for the rest of the day. She stood, offering her hand out to take Elena's. "I believe I'm ready, if you would care to join me?"

Without a moment of hesitation Elena took a hold of her oustretched hand, giving it a quick squeeze as she felt Cheryl's hand shake slightly from nerves. "If I faint-"

"You've got low blood sugar and I've been on your case about it all summer." Elena supplied. She nodded towards the gymnasium doors. "Right this way Jack."