The Damaged -RIVERDALE-DISCONTINUED

TWENTY SEVEN

"What are you doing here?" Jughead asked his sister, his eyebrows furrowed and his face brooding.
Archie had left the two to talk after dragging them to the garage, knowing that they wouldn't be comfortable hashing out their problems with him being there.
"You're little girlfriend managed to persuade me," Manic hummed, casually walking around and surveying the slightly messy garage, "something about you needing your family but being too stubborn? Which does sound about right, doesn't it?"
"You don't care about family, Manic, so what's the real reason you came."
Madelyn scoffed. Her twin really didn't know her, did he?
"I care a lot more about family than you think. But when family abandons you, sometimes it's best not to look back."
"We didn't abandon you, Manic." Manic turned her back to him, trying to hide her tears of anger.
"Yes, you did," she said brokenly, "I woke up in a hospital bed, by myself, with no idea why I was there and no one to help me. No one to tell me that I'd be okay. Sure, you visited a few times but what about dad, huh? Where was he at when I was loosing my god damn mind and having a fucking mental breakdown? Because I can tell you where he wasn't at."
"Dad doesn't know what to say," Jughead tried to fix what was already far too broken.
"Well he could have at least checked to see if I was okay!" Madelyn yelled, turning around to face her brother who had gotten closer during their argument.
"He-" Jughead was cut off.
"He what? He was too afraid of me turning him away? He didn't want to face the fact that he's kind of a horrible person?" Manic questioned, despair growing as their conversation continued on, "none of that makes up for the fact that you both abandoned me when I needed you the most, okay? And you still aren't there for me."
Jughead was at a loss for words, not know what to say to make his twin feel better. He had never meant to abandon her, it's just that running away from the problem seemed like the only choice he had.
"I didn't know you felt that way," Jughead mumbled, "I never even realized that I left you behind just as much as dad did."
"And that makes it just so much better," Manic hissed sarcastically.
"It doesn't, Manic, that's the thing. But at least I'm owning up to it now," Jughead said, "at least let me try and make it up to you."
Manic didn't respond, too lost in her thoughts about whether or not she should forgive him.
As much as she wanted-no, needed- someone to blame the abandonment on, she knew that Jughead was the one person she just couldn't do that to.
"Tonight, eight o'clock at Pops. Just me, you, and Archie. It can be like old times, and if nothing gets better after tonight you can hate me as much as you want. But at least let me try and make it up to you."
"Fine. I'll be there at eight, and if you're even a minute late I'm leaving."

The two teenage boys made good on their deal and were, in fact, at Pops diner when Madelyn arrived.
They did not, however, anticipate the presence of two others. Fred Andrews and FP Jones. Now, both boys knew that Manic would kill them as soon as she saw Archie's dad and her own father, especially since she believed he abandoned her, but they also knew that if Jughead's family was ever going to be fixed, then having Manic and FP in the the same place was the first step.
So when the clock stuck eight and Madelyn Jones pulled into the parking lot of Pop's in her shiny black impala, Archie Andrews shot up and told the two fathers that his friend was here. FP and Fred had known the two boys had already had plans, so when Archie ran out to greet his friend they weren't surprised in the least.
But when Archie pulled Manic, who had been busy on her phone, up to their booth, hell broke lose.
The only person who missed the ghostly look on FP Jones face was the person to blame for it, but when Manic finally looked up from her phone to greet her twin and sit down, she was the one to lose all self control.
"What the hell is this, Jughead?" She hissed, a scowl on her face as she ignored her father's presence and glared at her twin, "You think you're so sly, don't you?"
"No, Manic that's not what-"
Manic cut him off.
"Oh save it, I should have known better to even think that for once you were being truthful! You knew damn well I wouldn't have come if I had known, and you still went behind my back and did it!"
Manic didn't have to specify the 'it' she was talking about. All four males knew exactly why she was pissed off. The redhead scoffed before turning on her heels and storming off. Jughead went to stand up and run after her but was stopped by Archie.
"I don't think she wants to talk to you right now, Jug."
Jughead nodded dismissively and sat back down, a crestfallen look cast upon his face.
"I'll go, she might listen to me since she isn't really mad at me," Archie volunteered, hoping to get the girl to come back in and fix things with her father, to fix things with her family.
Fred agreed that Archie should go instead of the dark haired teen, and as Archie went to follow after his best friends sister, Fred followed too.
She was hunched over her steering wheel in her car when the two Andrews' men caught up with her. Her windows were up and her doors locked, leaving Archie no other choice but to tap on the window until she acknowledged them.
It didn't take long for the redheaded Jones girl to become annoyed at the tapping.
"What do you want?" She spat after she rolled down her window. Archie hunched over and leaned on the car, getting as close as he could without feeling like the girl could punch him.
"Please, just come back inside. He didn't know your guys dad would be here, or mine, I swear."
"Sure." She rolled her eyes
"I swear, it was just supposed to be us three. We went to see my dad before coming here and they insisted on eating together."
"It's true," Fred spoke up, wanting the teen to come inside just as much as his son did, "I wouldn't have insisted if I had known the situation."
Manic leaned back into her seat, throwing her head back in exasperation.
"I'm not going back in there," she muttered after a moment, looking into Archie's eyes.
Archie looked back at his dad and motioned him to go back inside, knowing that he would have better luck convincing her without his father present.
Fred gave him a look before retreating into the diner and taking his seat at the booth, leaving the two redheaded teens alone.