Pleather || A Sweet Pea Romance (Riverdale)

chapter 22|| date night

   "I said better late than never"
  "Just don't make me wait forever"

"Reagan, Steven's here," Jughead calls to me. I hear someone fall to the couch and I imagine Sweet Pea pushed him for calling him Steven. 

I'm in my room with Betty. She did my makeup, which I think it a little over the top, and she's giving me final approval on my outfit. I'm wearing a black dress with a pair of tights. The dress stops a few inches above my knee and I'm not sure if it's 100% appropriate for dinner. Betty assures me that it's cute and she tells me she won't let me change. I have a feeling I'm dealing with a different side of Betty right now, but she's right. I do look cute.

I walk out into the living room and I'm in shock when I see Sweet Pea. He's wearing a pair of nice dark jeans that I haven't seen him wear before and he is wearing a dark grey button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up so I can see his forearms. I don't think I've ever seen him not wearing his jacket ... besides when he's naked.

"That dress is a little short don't you think?" Jughead comments as though he's my older brother. 

Normally Sweet Pea would comment back to defend me, but he's too distracted to acknowledge Jug's comment.

"Oh shush," Betty tells Jughead. She joins him on the couch.

"Should we get going?" I ask.

"Yeah," Sweet Pea smiles. He takes my hand and leads me out of the trailer.

"Where are you taking me?" I ask.

We're finally doing our Valentine's dinner two and a half weeks later. Things have settled down a little bit at his home. His mom seems to be doing a little better. And it's been a week since Malachai chased me. I'm not as shaken up about it, especially because Sweet Pea has made sure I wasn't alone since that happened. 

He mentioned to me that he wanted to take me somewhere nice to dinner, but since he had to help his mom with the electricity bill he was short on cash. I reminded him I really don't care where we go as long as we're together and he told me he'd think of something.

"I can't tell you. That'd ruin the surprise."

We get on his bike and I sit close to him to avoid my dress from flying up. He doesn't protest the lack of personal space. He starts his bike and drives off.

It only takes me one minute to figure out where we're going because I find myself going down this road a few times a week.

He pulls into the parking lot a few minutes later.

"You're taking me to the library for Valentine's day?" I ask, but my smile gives me away.

"It was our first date," he shrugs. "Plus, we'll be the only ones here. Who else would go to the library on a Friday night. Well, besides maybe you."

"I don't remember it being a date," I respond.

"I bought you food, so it was definitely a date."

I giggle and he grabs my hand.

We order a coffee and a muffin and then find a seat in a secluded part of the library. We sit on the same side of the couch. I curl up my legs beneath me and face my body towards him.

"So if this was our first date, what would you call the time you stood me up at the school library?" I ask, jokingly.

He chuckles. "I think I was too scared to show up."

"You, scared? Why?" I ask.

"At the bonfire that first night I saw you, I was so pissed at myself to think some girl from Greendale was that beautiful. I didn't want to like you. And then we got paired on the project and I was so scared you were going to think I was stupid. I was too scared to show up."