bettyinsp-blog

[bettyinsp-blog]

VERONICA LODGE.

     “with the two of us in charge, the world has no idea what’s coming.” she smiled genuinely. it was natural to feel at ease in the company of a friend. back in new york, she had friends, plenty of them, but no one like betty. not a single one who made her feel comforted, or as if they were speaking to her for more than a night’s good time && the notoriety that her namesake drew. she was happy to feel as if she fit in with a group, each one – even the ever-sarcastic jughead. having people for the first time in her life she felt she could lean on && prop up in return.

     “you don’t even have to ask —- say the word, i’m there. just … i might have ONE tiny suggestion.” she paused, a teasing smile taking to her lips, “no more parties.” not with how the last one had gone, jughead far from pleased with any of them. “maybe the booth is an idea.” she shrugged, sinking back into her side of the booth as she drew upon her straw. the reinstatement that betty suddenly launched into caught the lodge off guard. she wanted to offer her something more, something honest. “i know, b. it’s just that i also … don’t know. not about you, but about… everything else. when it was just me and my mom i kind of at least thought i knew what to expect, but with my dad coming home…. i can’t say what it is, but i’ve got this bad feeling about it, and it’s like it’s completely WRONG for me to think that way.”

         betty’s first reaction is to wince, a small grimace pulling at her lips as she’s reminded of her disastrous attempts to give jughead a birthday party. things had turned out fine in the end, but she regrets how terrible that evening had gone, for all of them. ( or at least, for herself and jug. she’s not sure where veronica and archie got to afterwards ) “ definitely not. maybe i’ll make it up to him by celebrating his birthday the way he wanted it in the first place, before i freakishly took over --- at pop’s, just the four of us. ”

         betty can’t help but smile at veronica’s way of phrasing things, but it slips quickly into something more tender as she continues. “ it’s not wrong, ” she presses firmly, “ v, i totally get it. with polly and my dad back home... it feel like things could go nuclear at any second. it’s hard to expect the unexpected. but your dad... you’re veronica lodge. you’re stronger than anyone i know. you’ll be okay. and if you’re not, if you need somewhere to crash... well, i can always smuggle you into my room when my mom’s looking the other way. scout’s honour. ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

ARCHIE ANDREWS.

    if one person could help him with investigating this all, surely it was betty. she practically figured out who jason’s murderer was and even investigated grundy for his well-being. that alone opened his eyes to a lot of things about her — plus on top of that, her parents were running the local newspaper and she was dating jughead. it was practically inevitable that she’d find out about it. at the same time, he wanted to keep this between him and fp. if anything, he just needed his best friend by his side. he didn’t need any words of reassurance, he didn’t need any looks from her to see how he was doing, he needed to just cling to her like little archie would and enjoy her presence like it was his last time. this alone was proof that he needed to appreciate the people he loved more than ever. if his dad had been targeted, who was next?

      he could still hear betty rambling as her voice muffled against his legs, having to gain all his strength to be able to reach for the phone to bring to his ear. “fourth floor, betty. he was rushed into surgery straight away.” he choked out, beginning to pant for breath now before rubbing the tears that were still falling. “i’ll see you in a bit..” he just wanted his friends surrounding him. he wanted betty, jughead and veronica with him. if he was going to lose the most important person to him in riverdale, he needed the others with him.

         betty’s marching into the hospital immediately, making a beeline for the fourth floor and chewing her lip for the short amount of time that it takes for the elevator to get there. she’s never been a huge fan of hospitals --- not for any particular traumatic reason, but just for the fact that it’s so sterile. impersonal. it’s the place where lives are saved, but also where they’re lost, and the idea of sitting and waiting for someone else to take care of things doesn’t sit well with her. makes her feel a little funny, and unbalanced, and vaguely dizzy. she likes having fate in her own hands, not in someone else’s. she can barely imagine what archie must be going through.

         as if her thoughts summoned him, suddenly she spies a familiar crop of cherry red hair down the hallway, and she’s rushing over to him before she can even acknowledge she’s doing it, clicking off her phone and shoving it into her pocket hastily. “ arch, ” she says, holding her arms out in the event that he wanted a hug, swallowing thickly at the state of his clothes. “ oh, archie, ” she breathes, and promptly falls into the seat next to him. “ you said he was in surgery ? well, that’s good news, right ? the doctors here know what they’re doing. i did a research project on this hospital in the ninth grade. top quality. good results. ” she’s rambling. again.

[bettyinsp-blog]

ALICE COOPER.

Alice could only imagine what was going on in her daughter’s mind. Everything seemed to be getting pulled up by the roots and this was probably going to end up being one of them. Spending time with Betty wasn’t something that happened often - or at least spending time that didn’t result in a fight of some sort.

“I know you know the factual aspect of me having been a teenager but I am sure it’s probably difficult actually picturing it.” Alice knew that she felt the same way with her own parents as a kid. It seemed like they had never been in her shoes and that they would never understand what she was going through. It seemed like a rite of passage to feel that way as a teen. “Sure, I had friends. Before senior year, it all seemed so easy, you know?” There was a difference between having a group of friends and having best friends. The fact that Alice had always been a perfectionist and to some people (okay, almost everybody), she was seen as stuck up - which caused a pit of loneliness at the bottom of her stomach.

“This was sort of my booth.” Alice explained with a small smile as she stared at the carving. “I’d come here late at night when I couldn’t sleep and when I wanted to write and just sit here. Sometimes I didn’t get any writing done but that was okay because it was…peaceful. I wanted to leave my mark somehow and this seemed the most appropriate - even if I probably shouldn’t but who cares? I am pretty sure I lived in this booth most of high school.”

Alice reached over for one of the binders - a blue binder that was neatly designed with the Blue & Gold logo of her high school years. “I, uh, I was going to show you this when you announced the start up again of The Blue & Gold but then everything hit the fan, you know?” She slid the binder over to Betty. “I kept every paper we published while I was there. Twice a month for four years - with special editions depending on certain events.”

         betty can’t help but smile at the thought of her mother, the infamous alice cooper, as a teenager. making mistakes, stumbling her way through life --- just like everybody else. it’s a little bizarre, but weirdly comforting too, to know that her mom, and her mom’s mom, and generations of people before her have gone through the same emotions, the same strange, teenage experiences ( minus the murders and investigations, of course ).

          “ are you still in touch ? ” betty asks, curiosity creeping into her tone. she knows that it’s a small town, and that everyone knows everyone, but so far she’s never witnessed her mom act particularly close to anyone --- save for her dad, obviously. 

          at her mom’s next words, her smile really does grow, lighting up all the corners of her face. she tries to picture it: alice cooper, still growing into herself, curled into a corner and scribbling into a notebook. in a flash, it reminds her of something. someone, she supposes. “ you sound just like jughead, ” she says on impulse, immediately hesitating to gauge her mother’s reaction. for all her acting, betty’s still not sure what her mom thinks of jughead. really thinks, she means.

          her fingers run almost reverently over the blue binder, hands eagerly going to flip through the papers, eyes scanning them a little greedily. “ wow, mom. i didn’t know you were there for so long. or that you were so invested in journalism from so young, ” she murmurs.

[bettyinsp-blog]

FP JONES.

“no, you’re fine, betty.” fp insists, trying to let a sheepish grin escape his features. besides, it’s not like it didn’t make sense for her to want to know. despite his best efforts, he was certain that conversation is what made jughead not give up in his father, regardless of how much he pleaded. it was a rough time, and if he was being honest? he didn’t know what the affect was when it came to jughead, but he was grateful for it. he looked up back over at her as she began to speak again. the smile grew slightly, albeit in a weird way. “it was true. i don’t deserve a second chance and i’m not holding my breath for one. as long as my son knows that i love him, and that i’m going to think of him every day and look forward to getting out to seeing him again, i’m fine. i just want him to do everything he was meant to do. i don’t want this to hold him back at all. ” fp finished, exhaling a loud breath he had been holding throughout that entire monologue.

“it seems a bit… ridiculous to completely dissociate yourself from your family. i mean, i get that MURDER was involved but… i feel like once this thing started with your sister and jason… hal should have came clean. which, i guess i could understand why he kept his mouth shut but..” fp trailed off, giving up with trying to figure out what the hell was going on in betty’s family’s minds.

“how’s polly doing with all of this?”  

         her heart breaks a little for fp that day, sitting across from him in a plastic chair in a plastic town. truth be told, betty isn’t exactly the shining example for a perfect happy family ( that is, despite the coopers’ desperate attempts to convince themselves otherwise ), but she can’t imagine being torn apart quite like this --- prison cell, convicted guilty, kind of torn apart. “ i’ll tell him, ” she says impulsively, after a moment. “ if you want me to, i’ll tell him that’s what you want for him. and i’m not gonna stop fighting for this. ”

          “ my dad could have done a lot of things, ” betty mumbles, eyes flickering down to study the taut white skin of her hands, pressed into the table. “ but he didn’t. so here we are. in a ship about to crash. ” it had always seemed like her mom was the one the instigator, but as truths were revealed and secrets unravelled, it’s become a little hazier to betty. and it looks like maybe... maybe her dad is at the root of it all.

          “ polly is... healthy, ” betty says, because what else is there to really say ? “ she’s come back to school, which is a good sign, i guess. she seems to be taking this much better than the rest of us, but she’s always been strong. ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

ARCHIE ANDREWS.

      in all of the years of knowing betty, he didn’t think he had ever broke down and cried in front of her. jughead might have been a different story but betty?? definitely not. the redhead grew up thinking he was going to marry her, therefore, young archie always felt the need to show how strong he was, to show that he’d be that person in her life. even if he got into a little fight or was pushed on the playground, no matter HOW MUCH IT HURT, he ignored the pain and would put on a smile for betty cooper.

    his brows furrowed when she asked him to explain what happened, wiggling his toes to make sure there was still feeling in them. he was beyond tempted to let a sarcastic comment drop, obviously not wanting to relive it all. but he knew he’d have to explain it to sheriff keller, so he may as well have told betty what happened so if he couldn’t talk about it to kevin’s dad, she could be there for him to explain. “we were meeting to just talk about something.. i went into the bathroom to wash my hands and when i came out, there was a guy standing on the counter pointing a gun at pop.” he swallowed.”it was just us three.. me, dad and pop…. then the gunman pointed it at my dad.” it was all happening so fast and the pieces were coming together so quickly.

      “i ran in front my dad.. thinking the guy wouldn’t shoot… but he still managed to pull the trigger and h-he shot him.” archie began crying again, though this time, it was quieter — the thought was still stuck in his head.. betty hadn’t seen him like this before. tear-stained cheeks, his white tshirt basically covered in red… he was a mess. “and i didn’t even find out what dad wanted to speak about.” he dropped the phone from his ear, letting it land on his legs as he sobbed, not able to stop the tears from flowing.

         ‘ the gunman pointed it at my dad ’ archie says, and betty’s mind spins with the sudden incredulity of it all. it seems so impossible --- all of it, from the gun, to archie’s connection with it. who would want to hurt fred andrews ? of course, she had no idea of what he did behind the scenes, but he’d always seemed like such an honest man, a decent man, a good dad to archie. and to dislike someone enough to point a gun at him ? maybe he was just in the way, or he wasn’t the whole target, or ---

         betty stops herself before she can derail into such dangerous territory. driving to the hospital is not an ideal time to be ‘ nancy-drewing ’ and thinking the WORST, especially when a friend needs her like this. “ oh, arch, ” she mumbles sympathetically. she’s at a loss for what to say. normal comforting words don’t seem adequate enough for this sort of thing. she presses down on the pedal. if there’s a time she deserves to get a ticket, it’s now. 

         “ he’ll be okay, ” she manages reassuringly, hoping to heaven and back that she’s right. “ he’s strong, arch, okay ? i’m pretty sure it’s an andrews hereditary trait. you’ll find out what he wanted to tell you, okay ? ” and god, just as everything’s been wrapped up with jason blossom, too... riverdale just seems to getting more treacherous. she pulls up to the hospital just as archie’s voice drops away from the phone, and she picks it up and climbs out of the car. “ hey, arch, hang in there. i’m here, i’m in the parking lot --- what floor are you ? ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

ALICE COOPER.

Alice gestured for Betty to sit down, moving some of the papers out of her daughters way. After recent revelations, there’s a part of her that hopes in some way her relationship with her daughter will get better - hopes her relationships with both of her daughters will ultimately get better. She chuckled softly at the mention that Pop’s isn’t her scene. Betty definitely wasn’t wrong in that assumption because that’s all she has seen her whole life but that’s just another secret Alice had kept from her.

“Contrary to popular belief, I do not have anything against Pop’s. Sure, fast food on a daily basis is anything but healthy but it can be good when you’re craving guilt food, you know? I was a teenager at one point in time and this was the popular hangout so I did spend a lot of my life here,” Alice explained with a nonchalant shrug. She reached for her fries, taking a bite.

Taking a risk, after she finished chewing her food, she reached over and pushed the napkin container to the side to show the carving in the table. “The one thing I love about Pop’s is how nothing seemed to change over the past however many years.” Carved into the table were her initials surrounded by a heart (well, her initials before she had become a Cooper that is).

         betty blinks for a few moments, out of pure surprise at the very image of alice cooper sitting nonchalantly in a booth at pop’s. it’s a strange sight. not UNWELCOME --- but just strange. she slides into the seat across from her mother upon request, leaning her arms on the plastic table  and eyeing her a little curiously. 

         her mouth curls into a little smile, fingers outstretchng tentatively to snare some fries from the plate. “ i do know, mom, ” she says, although she has a hard time picturing her mother as a teenager. still prim, probably --- but she’s never properly glimpsed at any pictures of alice’s past. “ did you have a lot of friends ? ” she asks, wondering absently if alice had a kevin, archie, jughead and veronica of her own.

          despite her previous surprise, nothing really prepares betty for the carving neatly engraved to the table. her mouth drops, her eyes widen, gaze flickering back and forth from her mom and the table. “ you did this ? wow, ” she marvels, a little bit of admiration creeping into her grin.

[bettyinsp-blog]

please follow POLLY COOPER !

[bettyinsp-blog]

ARCHIE ANDREWS.

         NUMB. he just felt plain numb. and a million things were running through his head as he rode in an ambulance whilst clinging to his father. who would do that?? shoot the one person he would always care about? anyone who knew fred andrews knew he was the most genuine guy around riverdale. sure, he wouldn’t have been surprised if there was A LOT archie didn’t know about him (he knew there was). and for any kid, this was a traumatic experience. there was blood.. SO MUCH BLOOD. his plain white tshirt and letterman jacket were basically covered in the red. jumping in front of his dad was foolish, sure, but it was the first thing to come to his mind.. until fred pushed him out of the way, of course. archie could still feel himself growing weak at the knees as he held onto the soft bedding that fred was lying on. “dad… DAD, stay with me. stay with me!!” the redhead pleaded, hands shaking as they gently moved to his shoulder in hopes of keeping his eyes open. “i can’t do this without you, pops… us andrews men gotta stick together.” seconds later and the ambulance doors were flying open and fred was being wheeled into the hospital. wiping the remainder of the sticky blood onto his jeans, archie followed the commotion, chasing after them as close as he could despite how weak he still felt. he wasn’t the one who was shot, he knew he shouldn’t have been like this.

     “n-no… i’m not leaving him!! i need to.. i need to stay with him.” and for the first time in a long time, the seventeen year old’s eyes began to water in front of strangers, slowly backing away to the waiting room. he couldn’t be rude to the people who could potentially save his father. no. who WOULD save his father. his breathing was heavy and eyes puffy as he carefully moved towards some chairs, though instead of planting himself in the cushioned surface, he dropped to the ground, his back moving straight to the wall. it was empty which was reassuring and helpful, but he was feeling vulnerable… he needed someone to just sit with him. his hands were shaking as he reached into his pocket, deciding to call the first person who came up. archie was like an eighty year old typing, eyes narrowed at the screen as one finger tapped against the letters on his phone to get the name. 

    tapping the contact name, he lifted it to his ear, his breathing heavy and quick. “hey.. i—” he paused, inhaling. “i’m at the hospital.. my dad.. h–he… someone s-shot him.” archie choked out a sob at the word ‘shot’, rubbing at his tear-stained cheeks. “i could just.. use somebody around here. i get it if you don’t want to come—i.. know you have things going on…” he tried to hide the hurt in his tone, knowing he wasn’t doing a good job. and after a few seconds of sobbing and his shaky breathing, he glanced towards the nurses scurrying around.

             “i need you.” the boy who never asked for help was BEGGING for it now. 

    “i.. just… come by if you have the time. please.” at this point, he just needed someone to sit next to him. he needed somebody by his side.. because right now, the one person who was always there for him was practically fighting for his life. pulling off the letterman jacket he was wearing, he let it fall onto the ground next to him, his head dropping so he could look down at his blood stained tshirt and hands. 

         FRED ANDREWS. shot. hospital. archie. the pieces fall together in disjointed fragments, scrambling to place clumsily in betty’s head, the words ringing endlessly, like a record player without end, like the rolling credits to the world’s longest horror movie. she isn’t quite sure what to say. she isn’t even sure what to think. fred andrews... he’d always been next door, he’d always been that familiar staple at the andrews house. she remembers multitudes of playdates over at archie’s as a kid, wandering through the house and piping a cheerful ‘ afternoon, mr. andrews ’ as she ran past, ponytail bouncing, backpack trailing. he’d always just been there, at archie’s house, a constant. unwaveringly familiar in it’s predictability. it can’t be true. ------ and yet, archie’s voice is shaking, broken in a way that she’s never heard him before, not in seventeen years of firm friendship. she forces her attention back to the phone.

         “ god, arch, what ? ” she manages, speechless for a few precious moments. then he asks if she ‘ has the time ’ and she wants to throw something at him. he’s precious, and stupid, and he needs someone to be there for him right now, and she’ll be damned if she’s going to leave her best friend hanging right when he needs her so desperately. but it’s good, because it jolts her right into action. “ god, of course i have the time. i --- hang on. ” she drops the phone for a few seconds, shoves her feet into shoes and scribbles a brief message on a post-it note for mom, dad and polly. ‘ gone out. emergency. betty. ’ then, she’s ducking out to the garage before she even knows it, her phone tucked under her chin as she fishes for the car keys.

        “ okay, just --- stay on the phone, okay ? tell me what happened, or talk, or just --- do anything except sit there and worry, alright ? the hospital’s not far. ” she switches the phone to bluetooth at the last minute, pulling out of her drive and heading down the road. she faintly remembers the route from fifth grade, when polly had gotten her appendix out.

[bettyinsp-blog]

ALICE COOPER.

Alice couldn’t really say how she ended up at Pop’s sitting in a booth near the back of the restaurant but here she was, by herself with notebooks and folders scattered across the table in front of her. She could have stayed at home to do this or at the Register but nope. GIven the whole 75 years of Riverdale and the fact that it seemed like secrets were being revealed left and right lately, Alice has felt an almost nostalgic feeling. 

She was currently reading an old story of hers from high school - which is something she doesn’t even do any more (write narratives that is). She only writes for the Register anymore and not for fun so reading stuff from a time where she found writing more so a hobby than work was nice but also bittersweet. It made her realize how much time has changed since than and there was nothing she could do about it. Even the situation she was currently in by sitting at Pop’s with a milkshake and bacon fries with her writing was a bittersweet memory. She looked up from where she was reading out one of the notebooks when a shadow fell over the table. “Yes?” 

         of all the people and things that she expects to find sitting in a booth at pop’s chocklit shop, betty has to admit that her mother is not one of them. she pauses by the door for a few minutes, contemplating ducking back out and finding refuge somewhere else --- but it’s snowing outside, and pop’s is a safe place, and it’s just her mom. after everything, after the whirlwind of the past couple of days, she can spend some time with her mom. ( especially after recent revelations... but she’d rather not think about that at present. )

         she’s hovering next to the table before she knows it, nose and cheeks flushed from the cold of winter, fingers dug into the warmth of her blue coat. “ oh, i --- ” she says, a little surprised by alice cooper’s abruptness, and crinkles her nose a little in greeting. “ sorry, mom, you look busy. what are you doing here ? ” she asks, hoping she doesn’t sound ACCUSING. “ pop’s isn’t exactly your scene. ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

VERONICA LODGE.

     “trust me, i don’t expect to earn your forgiveness right away.” she couldn’t really blame betty for being upset with her in the first place, were the shoes reversed, veronica imagined she’d be hurt herself. so lost in the task of finding out who’d been at fault, wanting to know once and for all whether or not it was her father’s doing —- she hadn’t fully considered how everyone else would be effected, admittedly. there was also the secondary issue: one archie andrews. “ && now for the sappy part where i just say… i can’t imagine being here in riverdale and not having you as a friend. trust me when i say as far as jug and his dad go, i’m working on it. you already help me more than you probably realize.” stated with a smile before she turned back to her milkshake.

     “no, he doesn’t – but he’s tough. between you and i, i don’t think he’s used to having someone as back up. there’s always been archie, but that’s different.” she at least liked to think that jughead would come around. the way the pair looked at one another, looking in from the outside, veronica noticed the s p a r k perhaps a bit more than she’d like to admit. it was something that deep down, the pair made her realize she wanted to have. squeezing the girl’s hand in return, again she smiled softly. “it definitely wouldn’t be. i swear, one day they’re gonna make that his honorary booth. —- && as one of those said friends, i’m not going anywhere. i also have a habit of being right about things.”

         well, veronica lodge knows just how to bring a smile to betty cooper, as it turns out. her forehead crinkles along with her smile. “ that’s sappy, alright, but i agree, v. i’m --- really glad that you came down from new york. i mean, i’ve never quite had a friend like you. and i mean that as a compliment. it’s you and me, saving the world one day at a time, right ? ” truthfully, it’s hard to think back to a time without veronica. maybe it’d been a little bit more peaceful --- but a little less vibrant, too. it’s almost eerie, how quickly veronica has fit in amongst broody jughead and excitable kevin and golden boy archie. 

        “ well, i want him to know he does have back-up, ” betty says, eyes glinting in sudden determination. “ maybe i can --- i don’t know, plan something, or do something to prove it. you’d help me, right ? ” she retracts her arm to swipe a lump of cream from her milkshake glass and stick it in her mouth. “ honorary. he’d so like the sound of that .” she pauses, eyeing veronica with a grateful grin. “ you’re very modest. ” but if it’s a choice between veronica and modesty --- well, there’s a clear winner. there’s a sudden swell of affection for her friend. “ hey, ron ? you know if you ever want to load your problems on me, or just... talk, about anything, i’m here right ? it’s the very least i can offer. ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

FP JONES.

            fp let out a smile then, a real one. he hadn’t gotten to truly see him since the last time, and well….. it wasn’t the best of times. if he was being honest it was probably the hardest thing he’s ever been through — which is saying something. well, which is saying A LOT, actually. with that being said, he knew that keller was probably doing his best to keep juggie out of his sight.  "thank you, betty. really.“ he states, his smile falling as she asks him her second question, his heart falling to his stomach.

            fp exhaled heavily, almost letting out all of the oxygen in his entire body. or at least that’s what it felt like. "i told him what i had to do to make sure he didn’t interfere. or, what i thought would make him not interfere. it worked. at first..” fp winced slightly, “and then i cracked. not too much. i don’t think most people would have noticed. in fact, i don’t think anyone would have noticed if it wasn’t him.” his fingers tightened around the bars in front of him, clearing his head. “i became the monster that he was always afraid i was. the monster everyone wanted me to be. i was expecting to never see him again. i thought i never would…” he trailed off there, shaking his head to bring him back. he was past that now, they were all past that now. he didn’t mean to drop all of it onto her. he didn’t mean to crack.

            fp quirks an eyebrow raise at her first quip, a little confused because well he thought this shit was just hilarious. that being said, he wasn’t thinking THAT far into the specifics of everything and just what that means for the families. so, you can imagine that by the time betty finished her last sentence, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. “oh, shit.” was all he could say. his face twisted. “oh… fuck.. excuse my french. but what the fuck?”

         “ of course, mr. jones, ” says betty, eyes crinkling slightly as she returns his smile with a tentative one of her own. if there’s something betty can do to HELP --- she’ll do it. her stance grows a little uncomfortable as his smile slips, her jacket pinching slightly at her shoulders as she shifts uncomfortably in her seat. she’s overstepped; or something towards that fashion. sometimes she thinks she’s becoming more and more like her mother every day. ( but whether that’s a good thing or not ? that’s still in the cards. )

          “ i --- i shouldn’t have asked. i’m sorry, ” betty manages softly. it’s true ; she regrets prying like that. but now that he’s spoken, now that he’s actually given an answer... she can’t resist the temptation to put her two cents in, features softening in something that might be akin to sympathy. or maybe understanding, although she was precisely zero experience with this sort of thing. “ look, things are up in the air right now. and things are messy, and cruel, and you and jughead... you’ve received the worst of it. and that’s unfair, that’s so unfair, but... we have to have faith. and maybe that’s hard, and maybe some of what you said was true, but --- ” betty releases the lip she’d been chewing. “ i don’t believe that you’re a monster, mr. jones. and i don’t believe that this is the end. and i can’t say for sure, because i’m not a mind reader, but... i think jug believes that too. and when you get out of here, you can prove it to him. ”

          betty’s expressions curls into somewhat of a dry laugh, fingers splaying out, pale and white, pink scars face down to the table. “ you’re telling me. i mean --- i’m related to cheryl. i’m related to jason. or --- i was, i guess. ” she resists the urge to rub at her temple and sighs instead. she’s not entirely sure WHY she’s telling fp jones this, but it spills out anyway. “ this is all just... crazy, and twisted, and complicated. ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

please follow ALICE COOPER !

[bettyinsp-blog]

FP JONES.

she’s good. it’s something that fp could see from the minute she walked into his trailer, even though the circumstances were a bit on the troubling side. she was someone that fp could be proud to say his son was with, someone that he thought would actually and truly be a good light in his life. these were dark times for riverdale and even darker times for the jones men. sadly, fp didn’t think that there would be  a break in it any time soon, so the possibility of jughead having more than just archie to keep his spirits up? meant the world to fp.

forsythe nodded at her answer, looking down at the misleadingly sterile floor that he stood on. he may not be happy, he may be upset…. but at least he was alive. and if fp was being honest? that was his main concern. of course, all he wanted was for his son to lead a happy life —  the life that he was starting to be able to give him just before he was landed in this disgusting mockery of a holding cell. “i want to see him. whenever he’s ready. i know coming around here can’t be the easiest thing to do.. especially not after our first conversation here.” he stated, clearing his throat. “but i’d like to see him.” 

fp was damn well glad he didn’t have anything in his mouth. “a blossom? how so?” he asked, raising one of his eyebrows in his signature inquisitive stance. he sat back on his sad excuse of a bed as he tried to put that together. “you land in a jail cell and the entire world flips. maple syrup turns to heroin and coopers turn into blossoms.” he mused, a small smile wanting to come out. he thought he was hilarious, truly.

         a little warmth blossoms in the chilly room for a brief moment as she acknowledges his words. fp’s ways of showing it are a little... unorthodox, when it comes to being compared against the social norms, but it’s obvious to her that he cares for his son. that feeling ? surely, it proves fp’s innocence in this whole fiasco. the southside residents have it bad --- when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and riverdale likes to point fingers and shout accusations just to save their own skin. it makes her temper flare, just a little bit, at the injustice of it all, at the pure fact that people like fp, like jughead, are the ones being sucked deeper into this mess. 

         “ i’ll let him know, ” betty says softly, leaning forwards slightly in her earnestly. “ when i talk to him, i’ll let him know. he’ll swing around again. i can’t say when, but... i’ll make sure he comes back before... ” before you go to trial, she doesn’t say, or worse. her teeth chew hesitantly at her lip, strands falling out of her hasty ponytail. “ what did you say to him ? in your first conversation here ? ”

         betty lifts her shoulders up in a slight shrug, lips tilting somewhat, fingers reaching up to swipe the tiredness from her eyes. “ not funny, ” she quips with a wry smile, “ truth is, grandpapi blossom and grandpapi cooper weren’t just rivals after all. they were brothers. and somehow, their war blew so nuclear that it sent mine reeling out of the expensive blossom gutter and into a life of hidden identity instead. thus, the coopers. which means that polly's babies... ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

ARCHIE ANDREWS.

      it wasn’t that he didn’t want betty to know. he wanted to tell her more than anything, but it was hard to do that when he didn’t know where he stood with veronica. on top of that, he knew veronica really cherished her friendship with betty and he respected that more than anything. there was no labels despite the amount of kissing the two had done as of late. “no, it will.” he had faith in jughead and betty, they were good together, even if there was a twinge of jealousy stuck in him. “not about anything that happened.. i want him to come to me if anything. he knows i’m there for him.” he was trying his best to bring it up, but it was down to jughead. “he’ll be fine. you two will be fine.”

         betty can’t help the small smile that creeps onto her face, ducking her head to finish off her mikshake. a little word from archie goes a LONG way, she’s learned, and she’s glad to have him on her side, as a friend. maybe things haven’t worked out how she’d always naively wished they would, growing up, but it’s definitely not so bad this way, either. it’s good. “ he’ll come to you, ” she assures him confidently, “ you’re his best friend. ” there’s no doubt in her mind about it. as kids, the three of them were always a staple, with archie slap-bang in the middle ; the centre of things. friendship like that doesn’t wash away so quickly --- and it’s then she wonders what it must be like for archie, to have his two best friends dating. “ thanks, arch. i hope so. i really do. we could use some happiness around here. ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

please follow FRED ANDREWS !

[bettyinsp-blog]

VERONICA LODGE.

     “i take it that makes me bess ??” a smirk.  “i’m glad i’m on nancy’s side again rather than off. did i apologize already?” yes, but veronica still felt that tinge of guilt “—- either way, i really am. sorry that is.” sitting up straight, her eyes darted down into her milkshake as she drew upon the straw, mixing what was left. “you know what?? i’m gonna find a way to fix this mess with FP.” she owed it – to betty, to FP, to JUGHEAD. if anyone had the money power to turn something around in riverdale, it was the lodges.

     “he’s got it rough, b. which is all the reason to worry as far as i’m concerned.” having a dad in prison?? not exactly a walk in the park, she’d have known. “give him some time to process it all, and i’m sure he’ll be right back here in that very booth-” glancing over betty’s shoulder, she nodded towards, “-by tomorrow night. like i said, boys can be stubborn, but i see the way he looks at you —- he cares.” if he didn’t, she’d have been shocked, would also have to reconsider her ‘people-reading’ skills. setting the straw down, veronica inched towards the edge of her seat, reaching over to place a gentle hand along betty’s forearm. “listen to me, i can’t speak for everyone else, but me? i’ll be fine. as far as i know, archie will be too. he knows you’re worried about jug, your b o y f r i e n d. a bumpy road doesn’t always mean a break up.”

         “ who else would be my bess ? kevin ? archie ? jughead ? ” betty quips smoothly, eyes flickering as her gaze falls to the table. “ look, v, i’d be lying if i say i TOTALLY forgive you. but you’ve apologised a thousand times, and... i get it. you were in a rough spot. i might have done the same thing. so you’re on the path back to forgiveness, okay ? don’t beat yourself up. ” she flashes the other a comforting expression, “ maybe your apology is best directed to fp and jug. but in the mean time --- let me help you sort this mess out. ”

          jughead does have it rough, betty realises, much rougher than the rest of them. “ he doesn’t deserve it, ” she mumbles into the strawberry pink of her milkshake. her gaze follows veronica’s to their usual booth, and her pale lips quirk a little, her worries soothed slightly. veronica’s good at this whole comforting thing. maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise, after witnessing veronica and cheryl after the game the other night, but it is, anyway. a nice surprise, though. “ i’m not sure pop’s would be the same without him lurking in the corner, ” she admits, reaching out to squeeze veronica’s hand with a grateful smile. “ thanks, veronica. let’s hope you’re right. after everything, i’m not sure i can lose my friends too. ”

[bettyinsp-blog]

ARCHIE ANDREWS.

      was this the point where he was supposed to tell her about everything?? part of him was telling him yes, the other was telling him no. surely she wouldn’t mind. it had been a long time since her declaration of love for him, plus she was interested in jughead.. right? betty’s body language was telling him everything he needed to hear though. “—me too.” he mumbled under his breath once she mentioned liking veronica, reaching forward for more food as if to cover it up and hope to god that she didn’t actually hear him. “betty.. i’d talk to her about that though..” he didn’t even know where they stood and veronica would explain things better than the redhead ever would. he continued watching her carefully, his gaze locked onto her and her awkward exterior before biting his lip. “how are you and juggie??”

          betty pauses with an onion ring halfway to her mouth, somewhat squinting at archie. so that means there IS something to talk about. but if archie doesn’t want to talk about it, she certainly won’t press the subject on him. lord knows she’d have been embarrassed if he’d pried about her and jug before they’d been willing to talk --- and it’s not particularly like her and archie are very familiar with talking about this sort of thing. “ i’ll set a reminder, ” she says, with an expression that she hopes reads as reassurance, awkward as it is. “ jug and i --- it’ll work out. or at least, i really hope it will. i can’t even imagine what he must be going through. ” she crosses her arms and leans forward slightly on the table, concern flashing across her face. “ have you talked to him at all ? ”