Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

3.28

THE SECOND TIME AROUND

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

   After getting the explanation from Cheryl about what was she was talking about, Queenie ended up having to go do the delivery with her father for Penny Peabody. The father-daughter was confused when Penny didn't show up. They ended up going back to the trailer, only to find Jughead there, standing in the kitchen with a bag of Pop's takeout beside him.

  "Hey, Dad. Hey, Queenie." Jughead greeted them brightly and Queenie instantly knew something was up.

  "What's this?" Queenie questioned, pointing to the paper bag of food.

 "This is a celebratory dinner," Jughead answered as he picked up the bag and walked back into the living room, "Penny didn't show up for your pick up, did she?"

    Queenie and FP glanced each other, the same confused look on their faces, "No, she didn't. Why? Do you know something about that?" FP asked his son as he began to take off his Serpent jacket.

  Jughead turned to face his older sister and father, "She's gone, Dad," He informed them and Queenie frowned, "I rallied the younger Serpents without Queenie's knowledge, we drove her out of Riverdale. And I got my pound of flesh in the process."

   "Are you freakin' nuts, Jughead!" Queenie shouted at her brother angrily, "She will be back, you better believe it!"

  "She won't!" Jughead argued with her, "I was very persuasive. And even if she does, Queenie, we will take care of it.  You, Dad, and me, and the other Serpents. In unity, there is strength."Jughead told and Queenie scoffed at the last part of his sentence.

  "Oh, come on," FP groaned at the Jughead's mention of one of the Serpent laws. 

   "That's the sixth law. While you were in jail, I recited that every day alongside Queenie, I lived by that." Jughead explained as he looked at his father, who was now sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, "You wanna take my jacket? Relegate me to Toy for Tots? Fine, but I'm still a Serpent. And this? This life you and Queenie wanted to protect me from? I'm proud of this. I'm proud of who I am. You can't take that away from me. Neither of you." 

   Queenie began to laugh at her, causing both FP and Jughead to turn their head to look at her, "Look, you need to stop right there, Jughead. Yeah, you may be a Serpent, and yeah, you may have run the gauntlet to become one, but you can't just go around, acting like you own the younger Serpents. You've been here all of five minutes, Jughead, you don't know the half of being a Serpent. And taking down Penny? Did you do that just to prove to Dad that you can handle problems on your own? Because I sure as hell still don't believe you can." Queenie told him with attitude before she walked to the door and left the trailer.

_______

     The next morning, Queenie found herself back at her father's trailer with Hot Dog by her side and a bag of gifts in her hand. She opened the door entered the trailer with the dog, who seemed to follow her everywhere she went.

     "Queenie! Just in time!" FP greeted her before looking down at the dog who stood beside his daughter, "And you brought Hot Dog."

   "I offered to take care of him for holiday break and he can't seem to want to leave me alone. He follows me everywhere, even the bathroom," Queenie explained with a smile and Jughead, who was kneeling on the ground, laughed.

   "Oh, so it's like you having a second Sweet Pea around," Jughead added in jokingly as tossed her a wrapped gift. She quickly opened it before she began to open it. 

  Queenie laughed when she opened it to find a mug that said 'World's okayest sister', "Wow, thanks. 'World's okayest sister'. I think I like the sound of that," She told Jughead, causing both Jughead and FP to laugh.

   Queenie then opened her gift bag and took out Jughead's gift. She placed his gift before taking a seat on the couch next to her father. Hot Dog immediately, taking a seat beside her, which made the group of three to laugh. Before Jughead opened Queenie's gift, he decided to open a different one.

"Let me guess, Jug, that's from Betty," Queenie told her brother when she saw him open a box and take out a typewriter.

"It's a vintage Underwood. The typewriter of champions." Jughead replied with a bright smile.

   "You, uh, maybe wanna swing by later, say thanks in person?" FP suggested and Jughead's face dropped at the idea.

  "I'll, uh, probably just call her or text her." Jughead answered, seeming a bit sad about it. 

  "It's my turn now," Queenie stated with a smile, gesturing for Jughead to open his. Jughead unwrapped the small gift to find a rectangular box with a slide. He slid it open to find a key. He frowned as he picked it up and held them up for them to see, "What's this?" He asked confused.

  "It's a key to your new motorcycle," she answered with a bright smile, "I'm sick of you always using my bike and messing it all up, so I bought you one. And it's also an 'I'm sorry for being a mean and shitty sister lately' present."

   Jughead nodded his head, "Well, apology accepted."

 FP sighed as he got up from his seat beside Queenie and walked over to where his jacket rested. He picked up a wrapped gift that was in the shape of a guitar. He made his way back over to Queenie and smiled, "It's from both me and Jughead," He told her, still smiling.

   Queenie quickly unwrapped the gift to find a guitar that looked exactly like the one she had when she was younger, "I bought the same exact one for your birthday, but you kinda disappeared and I might have broken it," He explained and Queenie immediately looked up at him, giving her father a sad look, "Check the outer pocket. There's something in it."

   Queenie closed the guitar back up and opened the other pocket to find a house key. She frowned, holding it up, "What's this?" She asked confused.

   Jughead laughed, "Oh, nothing much, just the keys to your new house." He informed her and Queenie eyes widened in shock.

   "Wait, what?"

   FP smiled at his daughter's reaction, "Don't get mad, but I might have rented a house for you with that bank account full of money. Because you're still a minor, I'm co-owner of the account. And instead of using it all to buy Christmas gifts and bail people out of jail, I thought you might benefit from having a house. I also put all that baby stuff you got from the baby shower and the Blossoms into the house and got rid of the storage unit we had it all in." He explained and Queenie still looked completely shocked.

    All of a sudden, she jumped up with a bright smile on her face,"Come on, Hot Dog, we gotta go see Sweet Pea." She spoke up, grabbing the key, mug and the guitar before leaving with Hot Dog following close behind.

   Queenie made her way back to the trailer with a bright smile on her face. She entered the trailer, only to find Sweet Pea sitting on the couch beside some girl. The girl leaned forward and kissed Sweet Pea and from what Queenie could see, he didn't seem to stop her.

   "What the hell?" She muttered quietly and instantly caught the attention of both Sweet Pea and the girl.

    Sweet Pea quickly got up from his seat on the couch and made his way over to Queenie, "Queenie, this isn't what it looks like--" He tried to make an excuse, but Queenie shook her head and turned around, heading back outside.

AN: Oh, boy....Okay, so first of all, if you haven't noticed, Jughead and Queenie's sibling relationship is very strained atm and it technically all because FP admited his favoritism towards Queenie and not just.

   Second of all, if you look at the end, it says. 'from what Queenie could see, he didn't seem to stop her.' Keep that in mind.