Braking Hard (Riverdale-Jughead Jones)

12

A knock sounded at my door and I grabbed my top and pulled it on as a I walked over to the door, toothbrush dangling from my mouth.

I opened the door and the toothbrush instantly dropped to the floor.

"FP! Wow, are you ok?" I asked, stepping over the forgotten toothbrush.

"I'm fine, I'm out! I came to deliver a message from your mom. She wants you to visit, and to know that she didn't do what they think she did." He said solemnly.

"Great." I rolled my eyes, sarcasm flowing from my tongue.

"I hear you and Jughead have been pretty close?" He raised his eyebrows and I rolled my eyes in reply.

"A little. It's not like we're exclusive or anything." I mocked, only kidding. FP reached out and messed up my hair slightly, me whacking his hand away in annoyance. "I'm glad you're out." I smiled, grabbing the toothbrush and chucking it over towards my sink.

"I am too. And Alison, please just hear her out. It's worth it trust me." FP waved and turned to walk back over to his trailer, where I could see Jughead sat outside on his laptop. I waved and grinned from the doorway before turning and heading back in, grabbing some clothes from my closet.

"You even wear plaid pajamas?" I heard Jughead speak from the door I had left open. I grinned and turned to him, the clothes dangling from my fingers.

"Well, people do always say checks look good on me." I joked, whacking him slightly with the sweats in my hand.

"What are you doing today?" He asked, leaning against the doorframe whilst crossing his arms.

I sighed and turned toward the table, grabbing my phone.

"Well first I'm going out. I have work to do, deliveries and such." I got bad for lying to him, but I figured it was for the best. "And then. Guess what incredible thought crossed my drunk mind last night?" I said sarcastically flicking through my messages to the one Cheryl had sent earlier that morning.

"What?"

"To invite Cheryl to stay with me whenever she wants. She's coming over later with some clothes and belongings and stuff,then staying for a few nights." I told him, rolling my eyes and showing him the messages.

"Wow. I never thought you and Cheryl would become friends." He said in shock, taking the phone off me to flick through.

"Me neither, but once you get to know her she's actually not that bad." I shrugged, my eyes avoiding Jughead's. "Anyways, I gotta get dressed and ready for work, shove off!" I shooed him out of the trailer, grabbing my home back and waved as I slammed the door shut.

Once dressed I grabbed my bike and it roared to life, the vibrations through my body making me feel at home.

I travelled along the road until I reached my destination, and hopped off the bike, leaving it in a parking space outside.

I reached the doors and paused. This probably wasn't a good idea. I stood in front of the prison, my hands trembling and a thousand different thoughts running through my brain.

At the last minute I snapped and turned around, grabbing hold of my bike and driving away, leaving visiting hours and whatever my mother wanted to tell me behind in the dust.

My hair whipped around my shoulders and I sighed as I reached the yard, seeing Mary bustling about between the office and the garage.

"Hey Mare!" I shouted as I drove into the yard and parked my bike next to the office, where people could see it wasn't for sale.

"Hello Ali. How have you been?" She asked, pulling a folder from the table in the garage and flicking through it as she spoke.

"Fine. Anyways, I have a lot of engines to do and I'm getting backed up, reckon you could hold off on new intake for the day?" I asked, my eyes resting on the folder, which I could see was for the Kia Sedona inside my garage.

"Sure. As long as we can get back to business tomorrow, we have a lot of people with engine trouble this week." She sighed, closing the folder and looking me in the eyes.

"Of course. If I don't have new intake I could probably clear us out today, unless any unnoticed problems pop up." I told her confidently, my eyes travelling to land on the many bikes filling up the garage.

By the time the day had ended, the garage was basically empty and several cars and bikes were pushed to the side, ready for collection. I put down the phone in the office after ringing my final customer to let them know their car was ready for pick up, and turned to Mary.

"So that's it. You're done. I'll start seeing if any customers will be coming in tomorrow." She smiled, flicking through the phone book.

I heard the sound of engine and looked outside to see two people on bikes and clicked the door open to greet them.

"Hey. You got here at a good time, I just managed to clear out the shop. What seems to be the problem?" I asked cheerfully, locking my gaze into the two harleys that sat in front of me.

"I need a new alternator." One of the two stepped off the bike and towards me. "We were travelling through and my bike basically decided 'screw you'. The guy at the gas station said to come here." The guy had a long beard and tattoos up his arm, whilst the other cyclist was female, with a seemingly pin up based style of clothes and makeup.

"No problem, I can get the parts for tomorrow and fix it in the morning." I offered. I pointed to the garage and continued speaking. "You can go ahead and put the bikes in there for tonight if you want, and if you need a place to stay we have rooms upstairs. Come on through to the office and Mary will sort you out."

Just before I took them through the man laid eyes on my bike next to the door and grinned widely.

"Incredible. Yours or for sale?" He asked, looking it over.

"Mine, I've been taking best care of it." I answered as I lead them through. Mary smiled widely at them before grabbing some room keys and showing the two to a room. As they left I heard a sliver of their conversation.

"She's pretty young-"

"She's the owner. Trust me if anyone can fix your bike, she can. She's incredible."

I smiled and headed out, grabbing my keys and hopping on my bike, starting it up and heading towards my trailer. As I reached the park I saw Cheryl's car pull up and I waved loosely as I parked outside my home.

Cheryl pulled a couple bags from her trunk and hauled them over to me, smiling widely with her trademark red lips.

"Welcome to The Beautiful Life!" I introduced.

"La Bella Vita. I see." She raised her eyebrow and I unlocked the door for her, pushing it wide and grabbing one of her bags to help.

As we got inside I put her bag down on the table and flopped down.

"Obviously you know how the bed works and where everything is and can be put." I finished. "Go on and get settled in. We'll have a girls night. I have work tomorrow early though, so I most likely won't be here when you wake up for school."