Public Knowledge (Sweet Pea x Reader)

The C

Sweet Pea was late. Twenty minutes late. And if it wasn't for the fact that you seriously doubted Sweet Pea had ever forgotten anything in his life, you would have left already, sure he wasn't coming.

Sure, you'd moved todays meeting to a Wednesday instead of the usual Tuesday/Thursday pattern. That was weird. It was last minute. The switch up could easily slip someone's mind.

But not Sweet Pea's. He wouldn't have forgotten.

And that thought ate at you. It ate at you more than the thought of what waited for you at home. Because you knew what was waiting for you at home. You didn't know what happened to Sweet Pea. What if one of the Bulldogs had jumped him between your last class and him getting here? Wait, was he even in your last class? Your mind spun as you quick racked your brain trying to remember if you'd seen him in his regular spot today. Usually you were careful to ignore Sweet Pea because you were certain if you looked at him, it'd be obvious to everyone that you knew him. That you two talked. That you were slowly but surely becoming cool with each other. It would be all over your face.

But still, something could have happened.

What if Weatherbee had targeted him for a random search or some other bullshit infraction? What if he was in jail and no one knew because Sheriff Minetta didn't seem the type to give out phone calls.

You grabbed your bag and started towards the door at a sprint, almost smashing into Sweet Pea. "Hey!" he exclaimed, twisting his body away as you skidded to a halt, putting your hands out to catch onto the door frame and stop yourself.

"Sweet Pea!" you gasped. "You're late!"

"Yeah, sorry, there was a wait," he said, turning back to face you, two milkshakes and a to-go bag from Pop's dangling in his hand. He brushed past you into the classroom, heading for your usual spots and ignoring the fact that you still stood at the door, facing where he'd been. You felt like your mind had raced out ahead of you and now you had to wait for it to come back to the classroom so you could process exactly what was happening.

"You got–I thought–You didn't have to—" you started, spinning to face him.

"I meant to bring it last time but then I got caught up with the...you know," he said, pulling out two wrapped burgers and setting one on each desk. "But, I thought if the only thing you wanted for saving my ass was a milkshake, the least I could do was figure out how to get you one."

"I–I can't believe—Is this why—Did you—" You made a helpless sound at the end of the stuttering, and Sweet Pea shot you an amused look.

"Thank you," he supplied.

"Thank you," you echoed.

There was a pause.

"So, are you going to come eat or are you going to stay over there?" Sweet Pea asked, picking up a fry and dropping it into his mouth. "Because I'm not going to save you any fries."

..............

"Thanks for the Pop's, by the way," you said as the two of you walked down the deserted hallway. "It's probably going to be the best thing that happens to me all day."

"Sounds like there's more to that statement," Sweet Pea said, holding the door open for you.

"Not really," you shook your head. "I just...I don't want to go home," you admitted, looking away from him and out into the almost empty Riverdale High parking lot.

"Having such a blast with me?" he drawled, and you could tell by the way he said it that his eyebrows were raised and he had that small smirk kind of thing going on, the same way he always did whenever he was making fun of you.