skin and bone ; riverdale ♡

thirty one ♡

The blonde woman walks out of the door confidently, clad in a dark outfit as she counts the dollar bills in her hand. She looks up from counting her money, stopping in her tracks when she sees us.

"Mom?" I speak, barely audible.

My mouth is still agape as she says, "Olivia, what are you doing here?"

"I'm getting a tattoo." I bite, with a little too much anger. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in Italy with dad?"

"You're still so naive." My mother chuckles as she leans against the counter. "Your dad and I broke up years ago. He wanted you to believe that we were still playing happy families so while you were in boarding school he made some bullshit excuse about having to move to Italy."

"So, Dad didn't get a better job offer?" I ask, confused about this whole situation.

"Oh, he did. I came back to Riverdale though." She shrugs.

"I-I need to go." I stutter, pushing past Toni and running out of the shop.

As I lean against the wall of the sleazy run down tattoo parlour, Toni walks through the door, confusion clear on her face.

"What the hell just happened?" Toni asks, her eyebrows furrowed as she looks at me, waiting for an answer.

Not really knowing entirely what happened myself, I weakly shrug my shoulders, "I-I don't know. I-" I cut myself off as I feel a tear slip down my cheek.

I quickly wipe it away, not wanting to seem weak. I feel Toni's hand on my shoulder, making me look up at her.

"Come on." She says quietly, sympathy etched on her tan face. "Let's get you away from here and then we can talk."

With that, she wraps her hand around my wrist, gently tugging me away from the building. It takes no convincing for me to follow her. I want to get away from here as soon as possible.

"Where are we going?" I ask quietly.

"To the Whyte Wyrm." She answers. "We'll get you into the bathroom so we can talk and fix up your makeup a little, yeah? I would take you back to my trailer but I'm currently couch surfing."

"Couch surfing?" I ask the pink haired serpent. "Why?"

"That's a story for another day." She gives me a small smile.

"But-"

"Another day." Toni interrupts me as we reach the whyte wyrm.

Toni pulls me through the door, ignoring the looks we're getting from the Serpents. I have definitely learnt by now that Northsiders aren't exactly welcome here. I definitely can't blame them for not wanting Northsiders here after everything the Northsiders put them through. I mean, Archie held a gun up to them.

The smell of smoke makes me crinkle my nose as I lift my other hand to cover my mouth. The last time I was here, the smell of weed and cigarettes definitely wasn't this strong.

Toni opens the door to the ladies's bathroom as I follow timidly behind her. I lean against the sink watching as she turns to close the door.

Toni turns to face me, the sympathetic look back on her face. "So, your mother is Penny Peabody?" Toni asks. "I thought you said her name was Aspen or something."

"Penny Peabody? That's what she has people calling her? Her name is Aspen, I guess Penny is a nickname. I have no idea where Peabody came from the though." I explain before sighing. "So, you know who she is?"

"Of course. All the serpents do. We call her the snake charmer." Toni leans on the sink next to me. "Are you okay?

"Honestly? Not really." I admit to her. "I'm so confused. I mean, we've never really got along, incase you can't tell, she's not exactly mother material, but she's actually been in Riverdale this whole time? And she didn't even try to contact me once."