Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

1.21

THE BEGINNING
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
June 21, 2017

In the Whyte Wyrm, Queenie's phone began to vibrate on the table it was resting on. She walked over to it and picked it up to see that it was a text from Sweet Pea, "Jesus, Sweet Pea, I guess you can't live without me," She muttered as she stared down at her phone. Queenie looked up at Joaquin and Mandy, who were playing pool together, "I'll be back, Sweet Pea needs me outside."

Her two friends nodded before Queenie made her outside. She groaned when she saw Jason standing next to Sweet Pea.

As Sweet Pea walked past her, he whispered, "He's all yours."

Queenie sighed as she watched Sweet Pea walk back into the Whyte Wyrm. Once making his way back inside the bar, Sweet Pea made his way over to the bar. He asked Hogeye for a shot, which the tall Serpent ended up downing easily before having two more.

"Dude, he is so fucking whipped," Mandy commented as she began to laugh, "Too bad she's with Jason. I would so ship it."

Joaquin frowned as he stared at Mandy in confusion, "What are you doing about? Sweet Pea doesn't like Queenie." Joaquin argued.

Mandy scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest, "Thirty bucks says if we get him wasted enough, he'll pour his heart out to us about how he likes Queenie, but can never be with her." Mandy proposed her bet with Joaquin.

Joaquin nodded, "Deal." He replied before the duo shook on it.

  
  Outside the bar, Queenie sighed, crossing her arms as she stared at Jason, "What are you doing here, Jason?" She questioned him.

There was a ten feet gap between them and Jason took it upon himself to walk over to her so they could talk privately, "Cheryl told me what happened to you." Jason informed her and Queenie scoffed.

"I guess Cheryl isn't one I can trust with a secret." She remarked quietly.

"She told me because you didn't, even though you should have," Jason argued, "You let me think this whole time that you were screwing Sweet Pea when in reality, you were raped. Raped by Malachi!"

Queenie's eyes widened when she realized how loud Jason said his statement. Queenie got angry and pushed him against the nearest wall, "Keep it down, Jason? What? Do you want the Serpents to wage war on the Ghoulies?" She questioned.

Jason stared at Queenie in disbelief, "Are you serious right now, Queenie? How are you talking about war with Ghoulies and Serpents when you were freakin' raped?" He asked her.

"Because I need to get past it. I can't be stuck on it forever. It happened, there's nothing I can do about it now without having to worry about the people I love getting hurt if I try to retaliate. You being one of those people." She explained in calm, quiet tone.

Jason was shocked at the way she was handling it, "You're crazy, you know that?" He asked her, not sounding that serious with his statement.

"I know, but that's why you love me," She replied and Jason could tell she was purposely trying to change the subject, like always.

"Stop changing the subject, Queenie," Jason complained to her.

"I'm not." She argued.

"Yes, you are." He argued back and Queenie rolled her eyes at him.

"No, I'm not."

Jason sighed before he finally decided to stop arguing with her, knowing that Queenie could argue with him all night if she really had to.

"Can you just answered one question for me, Queenie?" He spoke up and Queenie tilted her head as she slightly smiled.

"Depends, what's the question?" She answered.

Jason was quiet for a long moment before he finally decided to speak up and ask the question, "Why didn't you tell me? Why did I have to find out via Cheryl? And we both know that worse than Via call or even viz text." He asked her curiously.

Queenie looked down at the ground, trying to think of the best response to the question he asked. She honestly didn't know the answer, "Because..." She trailed off.

"Because why?"

Queenie groaned, "Fine, you wanna know why? You want me to be honest?" She asked him.

"Yeah, I actually do."

"I thought you would judge me, Jason. I thought you would leave me because you found it too gross or weird." She explained and Jason gave her a sad look. Why would she ever think so low of him?

"You know nothing about me, do you, Queenie? First, you thought I would leave you after I find out you were pregnant. Now, you think I would leave you after what happened to you last night. Do you not know anything about me?" Jason explained.

"Because most guys would." She stated quietly.

"That's the thing Queenie. You're not like most girls and I'm not like most guys," He told her as he picked up her hands and held him in his, "I would never leave you. No matter what comes our way, I would never do that to you. I love you too much to do that. I promised to be there for you when I gave you that ring. And I intend on keeping that promise to you. I love you more than anything. And I'll keep loving you 'til the day I die. 'Til death do us part, okay?"

Queenie nodded her head in agreement as Jason pulled her in for a kiss, "I love you." She said quietly.

"I love you, too." He replied before the couple began to kiss once again.

Back in the Whyte Whyte, Mandy and Joaquin watched Sweet Pea make out with some random Serpent girl.

He was beyond drunk and it was all Mandy and Joaquin's fault. They ended up going through with their stupid plan. It ended up working, but it ended up backfiring, too.

"I'm starting to feel really guilty, Joaquin." Mandy sighed, "Why didn't Queenie tell us?"

Joaquin looked over at Mandy, "Would you? She was raped by Malachi." He replied.

"We really shouldn't have gotten him drunk. He literally spilled everything: His newly grown feelings, the rape, Jason breaking up with her. Everything." Mandy complained.

Both Joaquin and Mandy stood quietly, feeling as if they shouldn't have gone through with their plan, "should we tell Queenie we know?"

"No, of course not. She would probably get pissed at Sweet Pea even though it's our fault. And when we do tell her that it was our fault, she'll get mad at us," Mandy explained, "She's already drifting away from us as it is, we can't let her cut us off fully because of it."

   At Thornhill Mansion, Queenie and Jason laid on Jason's bed. They began to kiss more and more and they knew what was going to happen between them.

   Jason was hesitant to, not knowing if she was ready after what happened just the night before. He sighed as he pulled away from the kiss, "Are you sure, Queenie? We can wait awhile, you know..." He told her and Queenie shook her head in disagreement.

"No, I want to." She told him quietly before pulling him in for another kiss.

AN: "And I'll keep loving you 'til the day I die." - Was is too soon for me to have Jason saying that, or what? 😂

    I'm debating on how many chapters to make part one. It's exactly two weeks until July Fourth in this book and I'm thinking more than twenty eight chapters total, but less than thirty-two chapters.