The Only Beanie - Book 4 (Riverdale Season 4/5)

To Die For - Part 2

Aminity tapped her finger on her thigh, looking up at the clock as she sat on the couch in Mrs. Burble's room, her head feeling colder than usual without her signature beanie.

"Aminity?" she asked and she jerked her head to see Mrs. Burble staring at her.

"What?"

"I asked you how you were doing."

"Oh. Uh... Okay, I guess."

"Your brother died and you're okay?"

"Not really, but I don't want to talk about it."

She smiled. "So much like him. Did you look up to him?"

"Every day since I was born," she nodded with a sigh.

"And you two were close."

"Pretty close. We weren't for a while at the beginning of his sophomore year, but then things went back to normal."

"And how are you coping?"

"Um..." She thought back to the days she had spent in her dark room, curled up on her bed. "I'm trying to open myself back up more. I went out for the first time. Started talking again."

"To who?"

"My dad. And my boyfriend, Sweet Pea, and friends, Toni and Fangs."

"What about Betty?" Aminity went quiet. "Anything you say in here can't hurt or help Betty and your other friends. This isn't an interrogation."

She shifted slightly. "I haven't really talked to them. Any of them."

"And why's that?"

"Because they're hurting like I am. We all needed space."

She hummed. "And how does it make you feel now that your brother's death has been labeled a murder."

"I knew it was since we found him. It doesn't change anything."

"But now your friends are being blamed for his murder."

"They didn't do it," she said, emotion coming into her voice for the first time in their conversation. "I know them. They didn't kill Jughead."

***

"The results of the rock came back," FP explained to his daughter as they sat on the couch. "It was just fake blood. That's why Betty, Archie, and Veronica were released."

"You don't think it was them, do you?"

"No," he shook his head, "of course not. But I have to follow the law and how things work."

"I know."

"Hey," she looked up, "we're gonna figure this out." She nodded before leaning her head onto his shoulder.

***

"Morning," Betty greeted as she came downstairs.

"Morning, sweetheart." Betty looked over at Aminity who nodded.

"Mr. Jones," she started after a minute, "I know it might be weird, but I think the time is right to host a funeral." Alice put her hand on FP's shoulder as he took off his glasses. "We could host a wake. Here, in Jughead's home. I was talking to Aminity about it and she said that was Serpent tradition. It might help everyone who knew him just to bring some semblance of closure."

"You want this?" he looked over at his daughter who nodded.

"Jughead's not coming back and I want... I need to do this. To say goodbye. I think it might help give me and everyone else some closure."

FP bit his lip and nodded. "If you wanna organize something, Betty, that'd be alright with me."

***

"Alice bombarded me with questions about filming me when I got here. Do you know what that's about?" Sweet Pea asked as he came into the room, sitting on her bed.

Aminity sighed, laying her head in his lap. "She's making a documentary about Jughead and is trying to interview anyone and everyone she can. Dad already told her to leave me out of it though. What'd you say?"

"I told her I'd talk to her later about it." Aminity just looked at him. "She's gonna come back up and ask me isn't she?"

"Sweet Pea?" Alice knocked on the cracked door. "Are you ready?"

"Um," he started, glancing at Aminity before looking back at her, "I'm good. Thanks."

"Are you sure? I was hoping-"

"Really. I don't want to be interviewed." She huffed, but nodded, turning and walking out.

"Thank you," Aminity said quietly.

"Anything for my girl," he matched her volume, kissing the top of her head. "How is the funeral planning going?"

"I don't know. Betty's doing the planning. I just couldn't."

"There's nothing wrong with that," he tried to assure her.

"She asked me to give a speech though. I've been trying to write, but... It's like the closer it's getting, the more real it is," she started to cry and he pulled her up and into a hug.

"It's okay to cry, Princess. I haven't even seen you cry since the autopsy."

"Part of me can't believe he's gone," she admitted as she cried on his shoulder. "I can't even put on my beanie. We've both worn them since I was five. Now it just feels wrong knowing that I'm the only one wearing it. They didn't find his when they found him."

He pulled back and looked at her, wiping the tears off her face. "You don't have to wear it and I can't imagine what it must feel like when you try to put it on in the morning." He hesitated. "But did you think about part of him is always being with you because of that beanie? Because of who you are?" She looked up at him. "He's never going to be completely gone." She sniffed, nodding before putting her head back on his shoulder.