Rosemary ⋇ Jughead Jones

XXVII

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The next day Rosemary was picked up by her dad at the hospital and dropped off at Pop's, her telling him that the only thing she wanted was to spend time with her friends and a milkshake. She soon was sitting in a booth at Pop's with Betty, Veronica, and Jughead. Betty and Jughead shared a bench on one side of the booth while Rosemary sat next to Veronica while Jughead told the story.

"Oh my God, Rosie that must've been awful," Veronica took the blonde's hand in her own. "What about Moose, is he alright?"

Rosemary looked awful. Her nose had a scab on the bridge and was slightly crooked. She also had bruises under her eyes due to the broken nose and mild concussion she had. Her ribs hurt but the doctors told her that they weren't extreme breaks and that she'd heal in around two weeks. She already felt a little better because of the pain medicine she had taken that morning, but her body still ached.

"His name is Moose," Jughead joked, trying to lighten the mood. "He's fine."

The doorbell rang through the diner and Rosemary looked up to see Archie walk in looking slightly distressed with his letterman jacket in his hand. When he saw Rosemary he rushed forwards and bent down, hugging her around her shoulders tightly.

"Woah, woah," Rosemary laughed as she bit back a groan of pain. "Easy there tiger, still broken."

"Right, right, sorry," Archie nodded before sliding into the booth next to Rosemary and Veronica, looking across the table at Jughead. "Dude, what the hell? I've been texting you."

"I have his phone," Rosemary pulled Jughead's phone out of the pocket of his jacket, which she was wearing. "Sorry."

"Archie," Betty spoke up, scooching a little closer to Jughead. "Jughead just told us what happened yesterday."

"Thought I checked out at the words 'construction' and 'site'," Veronica joked.

"Moose and I are going to the Southside to find those Serpents," Archie told Rosemary and Jughead, quickly looking between the two. "You in?"

Both Jughead and Rosemary's expressions changed completely. While Rosemary's face filled with anger, Jughead's filled with complete fear and his eyes widened quickly. Rosemary knew that Jughead didn't want anyone to know about his father being a Serpent. He didn't even want Rosemary to know, and he didn't even know that Rosemary knew."

"Woah," Betty spoke up, gripping onto Jughead's arm. "You didn't say it was the Serpents who beat Moose up."

"'Cause it wasn't, Archibald!"

"'Cause we don't know that for a fact," Jughead rephrased Rosemary's harshly toned words.

"Well, it's still worth a shot if it might help my dad," Archie looked between Jughead and Rosemary. "Kevin's boyfriend can get us in."