𝓛𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓑𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭

𝓉𝓌𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓎-𝓉𝓌𝑜

As soon as both of trailer's inhabitants returned, the sky broke down in a warm summer rain shower. Deciding against the idea of going for a ride, the two instead stayed at home, each alone with their thoughts.

+ + + + 

Nellie absentmindedly stirred the pasta. Sweet Pea who was standing on the other side of the counter, watched her repeated moves over and over again as the knife in his hand followed a certain tempo as he cut mushrooms. 

Unaware of her spectator, Nellie chewed on her bottom lip, her thoughts wandering to the hotel room in the Five Seasons. She'd barely made it out last time, why did she think she could handle another confrontation with Lenny Kowalski? It had taken her a scorching hot shower to convince herself his touch had left no trails on her skin when he had approached her. She'd been going over the plan countless of times since she left the Jones' trailer but something in her gut told her she was getting her feet right into a vesper's nest. It was only a matter of time before she'd get bitten.

"What's wrong? " Sweet Pea asked. He had noticed her vacant stare for hours now. It was only now, that the sun was going down, the emptiness was replaced by fear, as if her thoughts really consumed her. As if afraid for the dark, Nellie tried to focus on anything but her thoughts turmoiling in her head.

It was so unlike her. He had to admit that sometimes a sudden darkness hooded her eyes, but nothing that clung to her as the mood that surrounded her today. He wondered what she'd been up to whilst he was visiting Bear. 

Nellie couldn't quite get rid off the anxious feeling. Her palms were sweating, her heart was thundering in her chest, she felt her cheeks blazing. A droplet of sweat cascaded down her chest.

Not wanting to be a burden, she merely shrugged, afraid that if she'd say anything she would burst into tears. Tears that held no sense. She wasn't sad but the thought of running into Kowalski after she'd barely escaped the man, didn't set with her. Combine with that the moody weather outside, and Nellie's mood would match the dark gray clouds. 

"Nellie, you can trust me..." Sweet Pea said and she felt him coming closer to her. Her breath hitched in her throat. Should she tell him she was looking for anything to blackmail her father with? Should she tell him about Kowalski? Perhaps it was best if she told him everything... Her mother would encourage her to open up to someone at last. But Dahlia Hearst wasn't here anymore.

"It's just work..." she shrugged the incident off, trying to make it sound as though she was stressed about gettin ready or something amongst those lines. She hoped it was enough to draw Sweet Pea's attention away.

"Work?" Sweet Pea insisted. 

"Yeah," her voice trembled and Nellie could mentally slap herself. The disappointment of breaking down was so huge, tears were forming in the corner of her eyes. She needed to get away from Sweet Pea or she'd burst in tears. That was something she didn't want him to see.

But Sweet Pea noticed how her walls were crumbling. She was trying to hold herself together, holding onto falling bits and pieces of her mask.

Without saying a word, he reached for her, almost on instinct. She turned her head away from him as tears threatened to spill. Although she resisted, Sweet Pea pulled Nellie closer, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her to his chest. Her arms remained limp at her sides, her hands clutching in trembling fist.

"Whatever it is, Nellie, you can do it," he whispered in her hair. 

Nellie took a shaky breath, inhaling the smell of cigarettes and pines that seemed to surround Sweet Pea wherever he went. It would've been so much easier to just open up to him, tell him about her father and how the man had hurt her when he abandoned her, time and time again. How she wanted nothing but revenge, make Hiram feel what it is like to lose something. But she couldn't... 

She told herself she didn't want Sweet Pea involved but the truth was, she wasn't prepared to let him know how bloodthirsty she actually was. It scared her how much she wanted Hiram to suffer, she didn't want Sweet Pea to realize how crazy she was getting.

"Do you want to tell me what's wrong?" the Serpent asked, his voice dangerously close to Nellie. She shook her head.

Sweet Pea bit his lip, wanting to urge her to speak to him. Although his instinct wanted to force her to open up to him, his mind knew better. She didn't need him to force her right now. If he did, she'd lock herself up anyway and things would only get worse.

Just as he was about to let go of her, feeling stupid for holding Nellie so protectively, Nellie hesitantly wrapped her arms around his waist. Her forehead leaned against chest. A defeated sigh escaped her lips.

In silence, they stood there for a few moments, both uncertain of how to continue.

It was Nellie who pulled back, clearing her throat and with that forcing the tears back.

"I'm sorry, it's just..." she started but Sweet Pea cut her off. He looked shaken, out of his element as he nervously put his hands in the pockets of his black jeans.

"Can you handle it?" he asked, his dark eyes looking for hers. She took a moment to think. Her heart stuttered at the realization that he asked her if she needed help. His help. At last, she nodded. 

She knew she could manage a confrontation with Kowalski if that was to happen. She'd go down biting and kicking if she had to, but bringing her father down was a priority right now. If that meant taking a risk, she would. Even if her whole being wanted otherwise, she wouldn't want anybody else to cause Hiram's downfall.

Sweet Pea nodded and sighed deeply. "Alright, that's good, yeah..." he mumbled as he left her behind and walked over to his backpack.

"Listen,..." Sweet Pea continued, searching for something in the contents of his bag. "I don't know what you're putting yourself into, but if this might give you any reassurance..." he bit his bottom lip as his fingers scratched amongst the bottom of his bag searching for one particular item. When he found it, his eyes lit up.

He proudly held out the pocketknife to Nellie. She looked at it confused. In Sweet Pea's large hands it looked nothing bigger than a plastic knife but looks deceived.

"A knife?" she stuttered, a confused frown displaying on her face. She wondered if he knew more than she had told him, if perhaps F.P. or Jughead had talked to him about their plan. But no one could've told him about her run-in with Kowalski. For as far as she knew, the only one who knew was Waverly Campbell but the girl didn't seem the type to hang out with the Serpents.

As if the gesture seemed rather dull all of a sudden, a flash of shame crossed Sweet Pea's eyes. He immediately pushed it away, scoffing.

"Yeah, what else would it be?" he said, a corner of his mouth pulling into a dangerous smirk.

"If you don't want it,..." he started but Nellie cut him off by reaching out for the pocketknife. Her hand rested a moment too long as she took it, her fingers grazing Sweet Pea's hand.

"It's actually kind of perfect," she said, clasping it in front of her chest.

"Now, you're scaring me, Hearst," Sweet Pea remarked jokingly.

Nellie felt a weight drop off her shoulders as she tightly held onto the weapon. At least she would be able to cause some serious harm should Kowalski ever consider to lay hands on her again.

A/N

dearest reader, 

thank you for your devotion to this story and your loyalty to read this. I am not entirely certain if I'm pleased with this chapter. I've been editing it for a while now and can't seem to get it just right. 

So if you could do me a favor, and review this chapter on a scale of 1 (bad) to 10 (great) and perhaps, if you want to, add why you're giving it a certain score? That way I can try to keep decent sized/partly good written chapters coming for you! 

thanks in advance, 

willowwhisps