Second Chances [Sweet Pea x OC]

Chapter 7

We watched FP walk out of his trailer, helmet in one hand, phone in the other. "Jughead and Archie are in Toledo," he said, lowering the phone from his ear.

"I told you they were there hours ago," I said.

"You did," FP sighed. "Fred and I are going to bring our boys home. We can be there by morning if we drive all night. Are you coming?"

"It would be nice to see Gladys and Jellybean again, but Veronica has asked for my help tonight."

"Come on, Abigail, does it have to be tonight?" Fangs whined. "You just got here."

"I've been here all day," I replied, swinging my feet off his lap before standing from my seat on the couch. "You however, were not."

Sweet Pea nodded from his seat across the fire from us. "It's true, she got here this morning while you were off doing whatever you had to take care of."

"I'd offer you a ride to Pop's but, but I'm heading the other way out of town," FP said. "You sure you don't want to come along instead?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm gonna try sticking around town a little longer this time. Tell them I said hi though. I"ll come by later if it's not too late," I told the pair staying behind.

Before long I was sitting in Veronica's empty speakeasy as she paced the area behind the bar. "Your text said you had news," Cheryl Blossom's voice sounded from the stairs.

"Don't hold your breath," I said, turning in her direction. "I've been here twenty minutes now waiting to find out why I'm here."

"It's not enough that you come back to town and make yourself comfortable in the Serpent camp, but now you have to take over La Bonne Nuit as well?" Cheryl asked coldly.

"Enough," Veronica snapped. "You two need to put this animosity aside and figure out how to get along for the time being." Cheryl and I glanced at one another, silently agreeing to as asked, though only temporarily. Satisfied, Veronica continued. "Betty called. She's at the Sisters of Quiet Mercy."

"What?" Cheryl exclaimed. "That place is the Hellmouth of Riverdale. We have to break her out of there."

"I highly doubt it's going to be as easy as it was when we broke you out," I said. "That tunnel will have a new, stronger lock on the door, if not worse."

Veronica nodded, walking around the bar to stand between Cheryl and I as she spoke. "Betty said she's working on that, but we have another mission. According to B, my father's testing Fizzle Rocks in the patients at The Sisters of Quiet Mercy. Moreover, she saw your Uncle Claudius with him, using Blossom Maple trucks to deliver the drugs."

"Shades of the Legion of Doom," Cheryl muttered.

"Why am I not surprised the two of them are working together on this?" I asked. Was Cheryl just using the Blossom money with no part in the business? If that was true, how much of their fortune really came from the maple syrup they were always bragging about?

"They're planning something, Cheryl, Abigail," Veronica continued, ignoring our comments. "My father likened it to the apocalypse. For all we know, my father may be somehow responsible for the seizures, but he wouldn't be any more specific than that."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course he's responsible. The Jingle Jangle recipe is so precise that even the slightest alteration can cause side-effects like seizures. And if he's giving Fizzle Rocks to patients, that can only mean he's messing with the recipe. We're not going to get answers from Hiram Lodge though, so what are you suggesting we do?"

"I was thinking maybe we could ask your mom," Veronica answered, looking at Chery. "Since she's in cahoots with my father?"

"With pleasure, Veronica," Cheryl replied. "My Vixens have fallen. My TT has fallen. If my gorgon-like mother has any knowledge of how or why that's happening, we'll get it out of her."