Poison | Jughead Jones

Chapter eighteen

Drowning in denial

The early morning sun trickled through the cracked window, the light refracting against the dusty bottles littered on the floor. Bella rolled her eyes as she lingered by the rusting doorframe, waiting for Jughead to retrieve what ever he needed from the caravan. She kicked one of the many glass bottles, and watched as it rolled underneath the broken sofa.

"The prodigal son returns." A gruff voice called out into the dank atmosphere; a sly grin pressed against his lips. He barely glanced to the bitter girl leaning against the rickety door frame, his focus intent on the boy tensed in the makeshift hallway.

"How you doing? You look good." FP grinned sloppily, shoving an empty bottle into one of the dusty cupboards, no edible food visible.

"I'm hanging in there." Jughead muttered, his hard expression softening ever so slightly at his fathers state. The room stank of stale beer and gone off takeaway, the evidence clustered on the floor in heaps.

"I came by to ask." Jughead began, wincing as a sharp inhale burnt his throat.

"If you would consider going to work back with Fred Andrews?" He finished, his voice pleading underneath the cold tone. FP laughed, shakes his head and cracked open another glass.

"He called me. I said no." He answered abruptly, swigging the brown liquid down his throat and coughing from the sting.

"Don't give me that sour look young lady, he fired me. What kind of man would I be if I went back, hat in hand." FP pointed the bottle toward the brooding brunette who still hadn't budged. She scoffed but stayed silent as Jughead shot her a look of warning.

"An employed one." The boy answered gruffly, already turning on his heels to storm out.
"Maybe then you would try and fix this family."

Bellas hand fell against Jugheads bicep as his sullen expression swelled, she saw that it was tearing him up. The small fact that his family were left in tatters because of his dad, his own flesh and blood washed away with drops of alcohol.

"Talk to your mum! She's the one who tore us apart, who took your sister!" FP spat, wiping away some spit that had launched onto his cheek. Jughead shuddered, painful recollections of that day still recoiled in his mind.

"Can you please go and talk to mr Andrews, he's willing to give you another shot." Jughead begged one last time, his hat now in his hands as his body began to shake. Bella already had the door open, ready to leave and pull her best friend along with her.

"Oh he's willing huh? That's generous of him considering all the crap he pulled." The disgruntled father roared back, pushing past the kids and falling onto the broken sofa. Bella bit her tongue and silently seethed in anger, she hated to see the Jones family torn apart.

Not after all they had done for her and Sweetpea. But FP was drowning in denial, pushing everyone away, to avoid drowning them too with his burden.

*****

Bella sat in her living room, events from the morning tearing her up. She had a green beanie nestled in her curled locks, huddled in one of Jugheads oversized jumpers for warmth. Winter had bitten back the town with frost, and a man hunt was about cause an ice storm by white water river.

Sweet pea glared from the kitchen, staring down the scrawny boy who was finding out the details from non other than Riverdales resident Nancy drew over his old and tattered phone.

"Stop seething SweetPea, just because you're a serpent doesn't mean you have to be so sour all the time." Bella grinned, tightening the muddied laces of her boots. SweetPea rolled his eyes as his sister batted her eyelashes in fake innocence.

"Why do you have to go searching for a north sider anyway? They wouldn't return the favour." He bit out sourly, still contently staring at the boy mumbling on the phone across the room.

Bella narrowed her gaze in a sulky way, tugging on her gloves and allowing her body to conserve the morsel of warmth that leaked into the bitter room.

"I'd hope they don't have to return the favour idiot, I don't want to go missing." Bella chided, quickly grabbing the small box that had been collecting dust for the last weeks.

"Why wasn't it fun the first time?" SweetPea muttered humorously, grabbing his own serpent jacket and keys. Bella swatted his remark away with a quick unmanicured slap and shrugged her brother off as he tried to hug her. She waltzed over to the boy only just clicking off his phone and smiled sweetly.

"Ready to go?" Jughead asked, attempting to ignore the bitter stare of the boy towering behind his sister with a hallowing glare.

"Yeah, yeah in a second. But Jug..." Bella lowered her voice, pushing the box into his grasp with the lingering of her quilted fingertips. He furrowed his eyebrows for a moment before realising what the box was, questions flooding his mind.

"I went to yours a while back, salvaged this before your dad could get his drunk hands on it. I should've given it to you earlier but I kept on forgetting, and I know it was stupid of ..." Bella ranted, panicking slightly to her lame response. Jughead smiled as her eyebrows creased ever so slightly and her chin wobbled when she tried to think of something to say.

"Pea." Jughead laughed, placing the box on the side for a moment as she looked up disheartened. Her chocolate eyes wide and oozing in slight shock.

"I didn't know why I went and found it, I shouldn't of gone through your stuff Jug, I just knew how much it meant to..." she continued to rave, her cheeks reddening and the pink oozed down her skin like a faucet.

"Pea, shut up will you." Jughead interrupted her again, his large hands finding her cheeks and soft smile gracing his skin. Jessebelles gaze snapped up to meet his once again, her lips slightly parted.

"Thank you." He told her simply, but it made her stomach rave in something that she thought she'd never feel. She was speechless, and confused at why her mind was racing, but mainly speechless as she watched his reaction.

He gently tilted her head and kissed her hair, chuckling as her beanie shifted slightly and fell to the floor. SweetPea coughed gruffly, his glare piercing into the pair as he strode forward and swept the beanie off of the floor. The two separated slightly, but still lingered by each other's frame. Bella glowered as her brother pulled her towards him and shoved the hat into her hands.

"Jeez SweetPea, go find an elementary kid to torment."

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