Helpline ((Jughead Jones)) 2

3

"Jeez, Pop, lighten up," Jughead said, trying to ignore what Pop had just said. As he made a film reference, I thought over how Pop described this villain. It was as if he wasn't all human, as if he was detached from his own humanity.

After concluding that the wallet wasn't around the diner, I walked back up to Jug, slipped my hand into his, and told him the wallet was nowhere to be found. If it wasn't on Mr Andrews when he went to the hospital, it meant that whoever took a gun into Pop's had taken the wallet, but no money from the cash register.

"Hey. You kids hungry?" Pop asked, clearly wanting to forget about the blood on the floor in his diner and do what he would usually be doing.

"Now, we're good." I said while Jughead simultaneously said we were always hungry. We had managed to skip breakfast, so I knew we were, in fact, starving, but I didn't want to inconvenience Pop Tate after this morning. I glanced up at Jughead, then back to Pop who was smiling. He then disappeared to the back kitchen to begin making us a burger.

Jughead and I sat at the counter silently eating. We were stealing glances at each other, and it was just like we used to be before we were dating. The blushes returned the minute we caught each other looking. The laughter when we realised how stupid we were actually being returned.

"Jug," I asked, breaking the silence that had fallen as we ate. He turned to me, his mouth full of burger, his eyes widening in answer. After a small giggle from me, I voiced something I had been meaning to ask him since last night.

"That serpent jacket fit you perfectly, J. Do you think you'll actually join them?" He quickly swallowed the food and turned completely to me. I would accept him whether or not he chose to join. That jacket was practically an invitation with big flashing lights, but I knew Jughead didn't see it like that. But I had also made up my mind that if he chose to go with them, then I would join as well, so I could keep an eye on Jug, make sure he didn't get into too much trouble. I also hoped it would help get to know people who knew a different side to my brother.

"That might be my dad's life but it's not mine." He answered, and I knew that he had bad memories from the serpent life his dad led. It regularly ended with him in jail or coming home drunk, and I knew he blamed the serpents, partly, for his mom and Jellybean leaving.

"What about this foster family you're supposed to be living with? Are they Serpents?" His foster family was something we had never discussed. The thought of them not letting me stay with Jug was something neither of us wanted to find out about, so we never invested time into that possibility. I certainly couldn't face going home after the secrets that had been revealed about the Blossom family.

"I actually talked to them. They'll cover for me with my social worker, but i'm not staying with them. We get to stay at the trailer." I nodded. They asked him if the jacket actually meant anything to him. It seemed that after his dad went away, Jug was struggling to admit how much it was actually affecting him, and I wanted him to be able to tell me anything.

"The truth is, Thia, I think it does mean something: the bike, the jacket, even the trailer. I'm hoping it means i'll always be close to him, even if he is going to be away for a long-ass time."

My arms immediately wrapped around Jughead. I wanted, needed, him to know that I supported every decision he has made and will make. He held me just as tightly, not wanting to let me go, in fear that comfort would be lost. J would always be my source of support, just as much as I was his, and I knew that over the next week, we would need each other a little more than usual.

Pop, Jug and I decided to take three trays of food to the hospital, knowing that no one there had eaten a proper meal all day, and would be in need of a cheer up. It was Pop's idea, and I knew it was his way of helping ease his misplaced guilt for what happened in his diner to Mr Andrews.