IMAGINES ▹ ROSS BUTLER

↳ you belong with me

( YOU BELONG WITH ME ) 
by ju-gg 

Riverdale had been cold for a while now, granted it had never been an overly warm place but for weeks now there had been nothing but icy cold weather. Maybe it was the season, maybe it was the chilling reality that a teenager was dead and his killer was still roaming, either way, the wind had carried an unshakable frost for countless days. Fortunately, some people didn't mind the cold, most of the residents had acclimatized but Y/N had assumed that had something to do with the frozen state of their hearts.

Now, in the middle of the night, she was running. Running where? Not even she knew that. The frost bit at her, even through her hoodie and sweats, it felt good, to run until it felt like breathing was impossible, the world was silent at 1am. Everything had become so complicated recently, especially in her family and as much as she tried her best to avoid it all, it wasn't exactly easy when you lived under the same roof as two people who were so wrapped up in Riverdale drama they couldn't see straight, when it was night she could just run and forget that anything about this town was abnormal.

Usually.

Tonight was different, it had started out fine, she'd left the house, put in her earbuds and turned her music up so loud she couldn't even hear the voices in her head, but for the past few minutes she hadn't felt so alone on her regular jog... and not in a good way either. Someone was watching her, following her, and it was getting harder and harder to put it down to paranoia, she pushed her hood down as casually as possible to glance over her shoulder, only to see a hooded figure getting closer to her. She turned quickly back in front of her, speeding up steadily, her music was pounding in her ears and she couldn't hear if the other person was getting any closer. Everything ached, her heart seemed to be pumping blood straight to her head, they were still following and she could feel the dread squeezing her lungs. For a moment, she contemplated pulling out her earbuds to hear them but her hands were shaking so harshly she was afraid shed drop them and trip, her thoughts were jumbled horrifically in her fear and she had never felt closer to cardiac arrest than she did in that moment.

Strong hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her back as they slowed their pace, pulling her back with them as she started to scream and thrash, clawing at their hands. She yanked her earphones out in the struggle as she elbowed the person holding her, yelling desperately for help. The hand of her attacker came up to cover her mouth as he spun her around to face him, their eyes meeting and her heart stopping at the realisation of who she was staring at.

"Shit, Y/N! You're really fast." He breathed out, panting slightly as he tried and failed to take air into his body.

"What the fuck?!" she hissed on empty lungs, gasping for the oxygen she'd lost not only from her run but from the fear she felt at expecting to be killed, "You scared the life outta me, Reggie!"

"Sorry, I did call your name about a million times, but your music was so damn loud." He wheezed slightly, somehow still smiling.

"Well, I didn't really expect to need to hear anything." Y/N admitted quietly, tucking her ear buds away in the pocket of her hoodie and wandering over to the edge of the street, and sitting on the curb while she tried to steady her breathing. "Why didn't you just run past me and turn around instead of grabbing me like a maniac?"

"I couldn't catch up!" He whined, taking a seat beside her on the concrete, "You didn't have to elbow me, though."

"You basically jumped me!" She squeaked indignantly, folding her arms over her chest.

"Okay, yeah, that was my bad. I didn't really think it through." Reggie chuckled, groaning softly as he laid down on the pavement putting his arm behind his head.