diamond //sweet pea//

//fourteen//

"So we're throwing him a- what?"

"Retirement party," Jughead said, but it was hard to tell how he felt about it. 

"Right, so he gets out of jail and then wants to quit his gang? That doesn't seem to make much sense," Dallas muttered, wiping down the bar counter.

After Dallas had been initiated, she and Toni had approached Hogeye with job aspirations. He was more then welcoming to Dallas and allowed her and Toni to work side by side.

"Yeah, it's probably good thing. Taking a back seat I mean," Jughead continued sipping on a soda.

"You would know better than me. I just met the man. But I think it's sweet, Betty helping and everything."

Jughead threw the remainder of his drink back, "She'll be here to help set up. You wouldn't mind helping her out. I have a thing I need to attend to."

"Yeah, no problem. Have a good time with your thing," Dallas snickered giving him a good whack with her rag.

She went to work stacking glasses that Toni had washed at her shift earlier in the day. The clink of the cups masked the sound of a presence entering the Wyrm. Her back was turned, unaware of the pink figure walking toward her.

"Dallas?"

Dallas jumped nearly flinging the glass in her hand. She spun quickly, relieved to see it was only Betty. "Hi, sorry didn't hear you come in."

She hid her laugh out of politeness, "No problem. Say, why is it so empty. I thought more people would want to help out for FP."

Dallas shelved the last cup and came around the front of the bar, joining Betty. "We closed down for a little while to get things in order. It's be chaos trying to do that without it being empty. I love the Serpents but they aren't exactly very accommodating," Dallas explained.

"Ah! I see. Well, I know Jug told you I was here to help, which I am, but I also needed help on something," Betty said. Dallas rose an eyebrow and leaned back onto the counter.

"Shoot."

"I wanna be a Serpent. Be a part of his world," Betty confessed. Dallas nearly laughed right in her perfectly pleasant face.

"I see. Are you sure. Because that dance can be daunting." Dallas truthfully didn't think she could talk her out of it. And if she went through with it, would Jughead be mad?

'I'm sure. My mother was a Serpent and I think that to prove to Jug that I can be with him, I need to do this," Betty said, hooping onto the barstool next to Dallas.

Dallas sighed, "I can't find it in me to tell you no. My own friends, hell my boyfriend told me it was a bad idea. But it was the best thing I could've done. So it would be wrong to tell you otherwise."

Betty's face lit up. "You know you're not as scary as you appear."

"Thanks, I think." Dallas laughed.

The space between them grew silent, Dallas searched frantically for something to say. "Did it hurt?" Betty chimed in, coming to Dallas' aide.

"What this?" She pointed to the bit of green showing just above her waist line, and just below her gray tank top that was riding up. "Yeah, like hell. I'm kind of bony. But Sweets held my hand and I got through it."

"Can I see the whole thing?" Betty inquired.

"Sure!" Dallas said, lifting up the hem of her shirt. Betty's hand instinctively reached out for it, completely hypnotized.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me. It's really cool." She drew her hand away quickly and blushed profusely.

"Don't worry about it. I get that. Sweet Pea's is on his neck. Not easy to focus sometimes." Dallas giggled. "Now follow me Princess Sugar Pop, we have a lot of work to do."