CHAPTER FOUR:

THE AWKWARD EX

     BETTY LED THE WAY WITH JUGHEAD behind her, entering the waiting room with bags of food from Pop's. The two were silent on the way back, Betty awkwardly clutching onto Jughead as he drove them back to the hospital. Betty was thinking about what they had talked about and Jughead was thinking that it was a mistake to bring the blonde girl with him.

"Who's hungry?" Jughead called out to the group as he held up the bags of food. "We've got burgers and fries and onion rings—"

Cheering drowned out the rest of his words as people came up to help with the bags.

"Nice, Jugs."

"Your dad would be so proud of you, Arch."

Jughead spoke up, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, you've really been just a rock-star god through all of this."

Veronica paused, watching Archie's reaction to his friends words. She was worried. "Archie– what is it? Talk to us. Maybe we can help."

Archie sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Guys, there's something I haven't told you, 'cause I'm–So I'm so ashamed." The red headed boy stared down at his hands, avoiding his friends stares. 

"After the guy hit Ginny and fired his gun, I should've rushed to my dad straight away. Or I should've tackled the guy, but I was I was paralyzed. I didn't move, not even when the guy walked up to me, and he held his gun to my head. And I just closed my eyes, I don't know how long. Long enough for the guy to have taken my dad's wallet, I guess. But I didn't open them until I heard the bell. Pop's bell. Which meant he was gone."

A shuddering breath escaped from Ginny as she heard his point of view from the terrifying experience. She was happy that she was knocked out so she didn't have to witness Fred getting shot. 

"There was nothing else you could've done." Ginny told him with a shaky voice. "He had a gun."

"That's not true, Gin.  I could've done anything to comfort my dad. To get the gun away from the guy. I was a coward. And now, me and my dad were witnesses, Pop Tate too. This guy may have my dad's wallet, all his information. What if he comes back?"

Those final words Archie spoke chilled Ginny to the bone.

Would he come back?

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      AFTER STAYING AT THE HOSPITAL for long enough, it was time for Ginny to go home. The hospital was making her uncomfortable. Being in the hospital for too long reminded her of her mother's overdoses. Jughead obviously was going to take her home. Together the two walked hand in hand through the doors outside.

"Oh hey," Ginny was surprised to see Betty Cooper outside, waiting for her mom. She greeted the teen girl who stood outside. "What are you doing out here?"

"My mom is coming soon to pick me up." Betty told the two awkwardly, noticing how the couple's hands were intertwined. 

"Sure Jug can't give you a ride home?" Ginny offered to the blonde girl.

Betty opened her mouth and closed it, glancing between Ginny and Jughead. "I think if my mom saw me getting off your motorcycle, she'd come out with a shotgun." She was trying to avoid conversation with the happy couple.

Jughead chuckled, realising Betty was trying to distance herself with him. Maybe that was a good thing. "That's fair enough."

Betty noticed her mom's car approaching and walked away before stopping. Her blonde hair spun with her as she turned to look back at Jughead. She decided it was best to voice her opinion. If she was to stay in the teen boy's life, she knew she had to support him in anyway. She couldn't lose him as a friend. 

"Jug? What you said at Pop's I heard you. Whatever you need to do or explore, I support you."

"Support what?" Ginny asked with a frown as the blonde scurried away with a nervous smile. Ginny glanced between her boyfriend and Betty Cooper who hopped into her mother's car. 

Something had happened at Pop's. 

"Nothing, Gin." Jughead told his girlfriend, squeezing her hand gently.  

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     IT WAS LATE AND GINNY AND JUGHEAD WERE EXHAUSTED from the tumultuous day. Jughead offered for Ginny to spent the night and she gladly agreed– she wasn't sure she wanted to be alone anytime soon.

As Jughead walked in first, waiting till Ginny was in behind him, he locked the door. Ginny stilled as she noticed the others in Jughead's home. Jughead noticed how quiet Ginny was and turned to see what she saw– Tall Boy.

"What the hell guys? What is this?" Jughead asked in shock, watching as the two older Serpents motion to the unknown man. Ginny was nervous as the man sat in fear. She also noticed the brass knuckles the younger one was wearing. 

"Went out like you asked. This guy was holding court in the Whyte Wyrm. Talking about how if Freddy Andrews was gonna let Hiram Lodge's bitch run the show, fire his crew, then it's good he was gut-shot. So we thought we might press him a bit. See if it was all just talk." Tall Boy explained to the young teenager who asked for his help. 

"And?" Jughead asked in exasperation. He didn't like working with the Serpents that much, he just wanted to know what happened. 

"And after a lengthy cross-examination, yeah, we've concluded, he was just being a loudmouth." Tall Boy announced proudly. 

"Oh my God," Ginny breathed out in shock. She didn't realize that Tall Boy was such an idiot.

Jughead stuttered in disbelief while Ginny giggled nervously at the men's idiocy. "What did you bring him here for if he didn't even do anything?"

"So you could see we'd done what you asked. So you could tell your old man. That's important to us. With or without the jacket, you're a Serpent."

Jughead sputtered over his words. Ginny knew what was happening. There was a change within Jughead's home after his father's arrest, the masked man, and the robbery gone awry. 

Tall Boy and company left, Ginny tugging on Jughead's hand. She watched as Jughead numbly shut the door behind the Serpent members.

Jughead was deep in thought at the thought of being a Serpent. Ginny didn't bother jolting him from his thoughts, knowing that those words were heavy on him. Was he to pick up his father's legacy?

Was that really what he wanted though?

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why. why does bughead have to have kinky weird ass sex????

i don't have a computer sorry i haven't updated! hope this isn't so shitty, i'll edit it later <3