CHAPTER NINETEEN
AFTERMATH OF
THE ACCIDENT
"i'll stay in the pool and drown"
˚✧₊⁎*⁎⁺˳✧༚

     Hospitals.

     White walls, glaring lights, the constant scent of antibacterial and the disgustingly horrible food.

     Either you hated them, or you loved them. Loved them because they saved a loved one from dying, saved some from the inevitable ending of life, giving them more time to right their wrongs. Hated them because this time, they just couldn't save the ones you cared about. The familiar structure and rooms calling back old memories you would rather be forgetting.

     After what had happened to his father, being shot and all, Archie Andrews couldn't stand hospitals. Yet, after catching wind of what had happened, here he was, standing in a waiting room full of people. All of whom were there for the same person.

     After the night of the fight outside of Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, Sweet Pea watched Harley get hauled into her mother's car with a horrible feeling churning in the pit of his stomach. That's why he decided to follow them. He needed to make sure Harley got home safe, and he was planning to sneak into her room to make sure she was okay. But, alas, he never got the chance to.

     It had all happened so fast. That's what everyone said at the scene of an accident, right? Sweet Pea could finally understood why they all said that. In one moment, his eyes were locked on the car. The next, the car swerved widely on the road, a truck appearing out of nowhere. Sweet Pea had only seen the blaring headlights and heard the loud crash. He had barely managed to stop. Once he had, he didn't waste a second, throwing his bike carelessly to the ground as he ran towards the wreck.

     Tossing his helmet recklessly aside, he threw open the car door on the passenger seat. Without wasting a single second, he sprung into action. With a swift motion her seatbelt was unbuckled and she limply fell into his arms. Her eyes were closed, her entire face covered in tiny scars cut by shards of glass. Sweet Pea yelled out loudly: "Help! Someone help!"

     Fortunately, his yells successfully lured people out from their houses and onto the street. In turn, someone called an ambulance.

     "Miss, miss are you okay?" Sweet Pea was staring down at Harley when someone else tried helping Addison, who was still trapped in the car. He couldn't be bothered to check if she was alright, he was too preoccupied trying to check for Harley's pulse. Relief washed over the Serpent when he felt thumping against his two fingers placed on her neck. She was alive.

     When the first ambulance had arrived, Sweet Pea had made sure Harley was the first one to receive help. He needed her to be okay, and quite frankly, he blamed her mother for it all. It was probably bad of him to do so, unfair even, but hadn't she been so angry she wouldn't have been driving like a maniac.

     Sweet Pea had speed down the road on his scratched motorcycle to the hospital, wanting to make sure Harley got there safely. Once he had arrived, he had been ordered to wait in the waiting room. That's when he decided to call around, inform everyone of the accident.

     "Is she okay?" Was the first question asked when the doctor stepped out and into the packed waiting room.

     "Well, Mrs. Byers was in critical condition—"

     "No." Sweet Pea interrupted. "Not her, Harley." The doctor glanced around the room, realising that the several teenagers weren't there for Addison Byers, they were there for Harley. Of course.

     "She's in good condition. She's suffered a real beating from the crash, but other than a few scratches and bruises here and there, she's fine." He informed. Relief washed over everyone gathered there; Jughead, Archie, Veronica, Betty, Midge, Sweet Pea, Reggie. All of her closest friends were there. Her father? No where to be seen. Jughead was really the only one who truly knew why.

     Sweet Pea had tried calling Harley's father, but he had been sent straight to voicemail. Jughead had brushed it off to her dad's phone not working when Sweet Pea had questioned him about it.

Jughead had been the first one to burst into the room, everyone else in tow. Unfortunately Harley hadn't received the luxury of a single room, so she was forced to share the rather small room with three others. She could get a bigger room for herself, but that was a whole lot more expensive. And it wasn't like she was staying there for long anyways. She could make do with sharing her room.

Harley left confused and not to mention disoriented. She woke up to a killer headache penetrating through her skull. The crash had knocked her out, but according to what the doctor told her once she woke up, she wasn't hurt other than a few surface scratches. She had also been informed about her mother's condition.

Addison had been badly hurt seeing as the truck that they had swerved into had hit the drivers side of the car. Harley couldn't deny that she was worried sick for her mother. She was also filled with regret. What if her mother didn't survive this? Their last interaction was a huge fight; a fight that caused the car accident. Harley would never be able to forgive herself.

But the doctor had tried assuring her at despite the fact that Addison had been in critical condition, she was stable now. And Harley had to trust that she'd be fine.

"Jughead!" Harley squealed, letting the Jones boy wrap her into a caring embrace. Taking a deep breath, Jughead realized he had never been this relieved to breathe in the sweet scent of his very best friends. Times like this made him regret every thing he had done to risk their friendship. From now on he was determined to be a better friend. Even if that meant not  pursing something romantic with her, he was willing to give it all up for her. For them.

"You're all here." Harley noted, her eyes gliding over everyone in the room. Her eyes lingered on a particular someone. . .

"Thank god your okay, Har." Reggie said, pushing aside Sweet Pea to wrap his old flame into a lingering hug. Harley relaxed deeply into his arms. The Byers girl just now realized how much she had missed the boy. Not necessarily romantically, but in the friendlier manner.

Sweet Pea swallowed down his jealousy as his eyes hardened. He hated seeing Reggie of all people with his dirty hands on Harley. If this was a cartoon, smoke would be escaping his nostrils and ears and his face would be green with jealousy.

Archie lingered in the back of the room, not daring to utter a single word. He was horribly ashamed of the things he had called Harley that morning outside of Jughead's trailer. Despite being worried about her, Archie didn't feel like he had the right to show up and care about her. Same went for Betty, which is why the both of them slipped out of the hospital room undetected. They were there to make sure their friend was alright. Knowing that she was, they didn't have any other reasons to stay in a cramped hospital room with both Veronica and Jughead. So, they left.

     "Excuse me." A nurse interrupted the banter going on between the teens in the room. "I get you want to check in on your friend here, but there are also other patients in this room. I have to ask a few of you to leave."

     Veronica, Reggie, Jughead and Sweet Pea all looked at each other, trying to decide who got to stay and who had to go.

"I'll leave." Sweet Pea announced, taking himself out of the equation. That last thing he wanted to do was to leave, but standing in the room gave him an epiphany. Harley had tons of people who loved and cared for her, people who knew her a lot more than he did. They had hung out a few times, it was fun, but the reality of the situation was that Harley was a pretty, northside good girl. She was popular, funny, charming, charismatic and stunning. Sweet Pea was rough around the edges, cut from the wrong side of the cloth. They didn't fit, and the sooner Sweet Pea realized and came to terms with that, the better.

Harley wanted to protest, but with Reggie and the others watching, she simply bid him goodbye.

The next to volunteer to leave was Veronica. Harley and Veronica weren't really that good of friends, and Veronica had family business to attend to. Then Reggie got a call from his father whom was demanding his presence at home. Lastly, Midge left as she knew both her mother and Moose was waiting for her at home. That only left Harley and Jughead.

"Come, there's plenty of room." Harley grinned, shuffling to the side to make room for Jughead in the hospital bed. She patted the space next to her, watching Jughead kick off his shoes and climb in with her. Harley relaxed into his warm embrace, her head softly resting on his shoulder. "Did you call my dad?" Harley had asked the question she had dreaded to ask all night.

"Uh, yeah. Sweet Pea tried calling. It went to voicemail." Jughead hesitatedly answered.

"Did he leave a message?"

"Yeah."

Harley took a deep breath, salty tears stinging her eyes. Her father was too drunk to even check up on his daughter and wife at the hospital. How fucking peachy wasn't that? Father of the year award.

"He cares about you, you know that." Jughead tried to comfort. His words fell on deaf ears. Harley knew the cold hard truth of it all; a green bottle of beer was worth more than she was in her father's eyes. God, she should've realized that when he shattered her piggy bank to afford the booze. But a ten year old in denial didn't want to shatter her hopes for a normal life.

Sadly, a ten year old's hopes were bound to shatter like a glass window coming in contact with a brick. And the message on this brick? Reality is a bitch.

"Whatever Jug, I don't even care anymore." Harley lied, putting on a tuff front. "So, I'm guessing you're my ride home then?"

     "Yeah, no don't think so. I've only got my motorcycle—"

     "So? This accident hasn't scarred me for life or anything, Jug. I'm not scared of your motorcycle." Harley assured.

     "Are you sure? I could call up Reggie—" Jughead paused upon seeing the facial expression Harley was sporting.

     "You are not calling Reggie! You hate him!" She exclaimed.

"I don't hate him, I just prefer not to be within a twenty foot radius of him because or else I have to gauge my eyes out." Jughead replied with a shrug to his shoulders.

"When I told you I had been with him you refused to touch me for two weeks in fear of 'catching' anything." Harley recalled. The two laughed along at the memory.

"In my defense, who knows what you could've caught from him?" Jughead said.

"I've missed you." Harley suddenly said once their laughter died down. "I've missed this. Where have you been lately?"

Denying my feelings, Jughead thought. "Things have been crazy." He excused. Harley nodded. Things had been crazy.

"I know, just promise me we'll keep our friendship. That. . . kiss. It doesn't have to mean anything. We can still continue as we have been, right?" Harley stared at the beanie wearing boy with hope swimming in her eyes.

"I promise, Har." Jughead said, pulling her closer. "I promise. Now let's get your ass out of here."

     "Yeah, let's."

˚✧₊⁎*⁎⁺˳✧༚

     When Jughead had agreed to give Harley a ride home from the hospital, he had also insisted that she stayed with him for a while ( he had run it by his father as a temporary thing, but Jughead wasn't quite sure how long the stay would be ). FP would have preferred not having the girl in their trailer, but seeing as the girl had taken such good care of his son in his absence, he figured he owed her. Harley had, of course, made sure to check in on her mother before leaving, happy and relieved to be told that the woman was going to be making a full recovery, with a lot of rest and sleep of course. Addison had been soundly asleep when Harley went to check on her, which Harley was partly greatful for. She wasn't exactly ready to face the reality of the huge fight between them, which is also why she was quick to accept Jughead's offer to stay with him. The Byers girl would do whatever she could to avoid yet another confrontation between her mother and herself, and she didn't want to spend even a minute longer than she had to trapped in her childhood home with her drunk off his ass father.

     Jughead was sat on his motorcycle, parked outside the Byers residence. He was scrolling through his phone, patiently waiting for his best friend to pack a duffle bag of her things to bring to his trailer.

     Harley had a lot of stuff on her mind with everything that was going on, but for some odd reason the number one topic was Sweet Pea. She hadn't seen him since he left her hospital room, nor had she heard anything from him. The girl found herself craving his attention. The way he had volunteered to leave first back at the hospital didn't sit right with her. Out of everyone there, he was the one she wanted to stay. But she couldn't let the others know, they wouldn't ever let her live it down. Harley didn't want to deny anything anymore, it was obvious she was into the serpent. In fact, no matter what she had denied or not, it was pretty obvious to everyone with an actual pair of eyes that the girl was into the Southsider. Sweet Pea was probably the only one who didn't realize just how interest Harley really was.

     Harley was rummaging through her room, throwing every article of clothing she deemed wearable into the black duffle bag by her bedroom door, pushing Sweet Pea to the very back of her mind. The girl wasn't sure just how long she'd be staying with Jughead, but she wanted to pack enough to last her as long as possible without having to go back to get more. When she had snuck into the house, she found her father passed out on the couch as per usual, the only thing lighting up the living room being the tv. Fury burn in her heart as she glared at the man. While he had been passed out drunk on the couch, her mother had been fighting for her life at the hospital. And even if he did know, he was probably too drunk to even care.

     The girl had made sure to weave through the house as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake her father. She was in no state to argue with the man, and she was sure that if she did, she would say things she shouldn't be saying. Unfortunately for her, the Byers man had woken up to the sound of her rummaging through her room, and he had not only noticed but decided to investigate.

     "What are you doing?"

     Harley's stomach dropped at the sound of the slurred voice, effective immediately freezing in her spot. His heavy footsteps carried him inside of the teenager's room, confused eyes observing the scene infront of her.

     "I'm leaving." Harley replied sternly, proceeding to close her bag and throw the strap over her shoulder.

     "Where do you think your going?" The man barked as he stood in the way of her exit.

     Harley could feel the rage brewing in her chest as she glared at the man calling himself her father.

     "Where do I think I'm going? What, did the booze wear out and now you want to pretend to be my father? Did you even notice that mom and I haven't been home? Did you even care? Because we were in a car accident, dad. Mom is still in the hospital, I just got check out. Do you even see the numerous cuts on my face? Or that my arms are literally covered in bruises?" Harley yelled. "Of course you don't. You're too preoccupied drinking your life away, rotting in our living room, to even see what happening right infront of you! You're ruing our life, and you have been my entire life, and you don't even care. We called you many times. We left voicemails. But you don't care! So don't stand here, pretending to play attentive father when we both know it's just an act, and that as soon as you crack open the next beer, you've forgotten to care once again."

     The man stared back at his daughter, only now noticing the cuts and bruises. Shame washed over him as she glared at him, knocking him aside as she passed by. Harley wasn't planning on staying for the aftermath. The Byers girl rushed down the stairs of the house, exiting out the front door in a rush.

     "Are you okay? I heard yelling." Jughead queried as soon as the girl got onto the bike.

     "I'm okay." She lied, tears stinging her eyes.

     "Just drive."

     Jughead kept his mouth shut and obliged. The motorcycle roared to life, and just as he pulled out of the driveway, Harley's eyes met with her father's. He stared at her through the open front door, watching her disappear down the road.

     Harley just had to accept it; she was never getting her father as she once knew him back, and the sooner she realized the better.

word count; 3089
a/n

okay, okay, i realise how horribly evil it has been of me to leave you guys on a cliffhanger this long. i am truly sorry, but i hope this chapter makes up for it ? heh, anywhoo, did you guys enjoy the chapter ? feel like it might've been a little short, idk. just got my lashes done and i'm waiting for my friend to get done, so there will probably be several updates coming soon ! stay tuned till then !

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