Adoration || Sweet Pea [2] [DISCONTINUED]

||SIXTEEN - TOLEDO||

Jayda's POV

"Why haven't you called me?" Sweet Pea asks me. I decided to call him, because the road to Toledo would be a while, and I hadn't called him in a while.

"I'm sorry, okay. There was no signal in the last place we were, and I tried to call you, but I couldn't." I explain.

"It's okay." he sighs. "Where are you guys heading now?"

"Toledo. We're gonna go and see my mom and sister." I tell him.

"And, are you excited to see them again?" He asks me.

"I'm excited to see Jellybean, I haven't seen her for like, three years. My mom, however..." I trail off. "You've been my best friend since we were like 6, you know what I'm talking about with her."

"Yeah, I know. It'll be okay, just trust me." He says.

"Jay! Come on!" Jughead yells at me.

"Jug and Archie are waiting for me, I gotta go now." I explain. "I love you."

"I love you too." He responds, and then the call ends. I put my backpack on, and walked over to the boys.

"You ready to go?" The older man asks. He'd offered us a ride to Toledo, after he'd seen us on the side of the road. He seemed pretty nice.

I nod my head, and we all climb in the back part of his truck.

-----

The ride wasn't that long, and a lot shorter than if we had walked there. We were in silence for the majority of the ride, just thinking about stuff. 

I didn't know how my mom was going to react when she sees me. She hasn't said it aloud, but, it's obvious who her favourite is. Her favourite is obviously Jellybean, because she was the only one she took to Toledo. Her second favourite was Jughead, obviously, and then I was her least favourite.

I was snapped out of my thoughts as we pulled up to a junkyard which read Jones Yard  in makeshift letters.

We hopped out of the truck, and banged on the back, signalling that we were out. The truck drove away, and we walked towards the junkyard.

"Well, this is definitely the place." Jughead says.

"You guys lost?" A teenage boy asks. "Or are you looking to pick up some merch?"

"We're looking for Gladys Jones." I tell him, and lift up my shirt a bit, showing my Serpent tattoo on my ribs. "We're family. We need a place to stay."

"Jayda?" I hear a familiar voice. "Jughead?"

"Jellybean?" We both say at the same time, going up to the fence.

"Thought I smelled something rotten." Jellybean comments.

"That's Jughead. 100%." I tell her.

"You heard them. Open the damn gate." Jellybean tells the boy. He pulls the gate open, and Jughead and I immediately run to our sister, pulling her into a huge hug, and dropping our bags on the way.

"Where's Mom?" Jughead asks her, after we broke the hug.

"She out back, working on a car. I'll show you, come on." Jellybean says, the smile wide on her face.

I pick up my bag again, and we all, including Archie, follow her through the junkyard.

"Jughead?" I hear Mom's voice. Of course she notices him first.

"Hey, Mom." Jughead greets her. She takes her helmet off, and envelops Jughead into a hug.

"You feel like a bag of tire irons." She says. "Are you eating? Ugh, you're not a vegetarian now, are you?"

"You wound me, mother." Jughead replies, making Mom laugh. She then looks at me.

"Jayda?" She questions.

"Hi, Mom." I greet her. Surprisingly, she pulls me into a hug. She soon breaks away, and looks at Archie.

"Oh." She laughs. "I recognize that Rooster Top. Archie Andrews?" Archie smiles at her, then Mom hugs him.

"Gosh, you sure grew up." She comments, then eyes us both. "You two dating?"

"Hell no. We're just friends." I answer. "I hated him until four months ago."

"I know you didn't come to Toledo for the weather. What's going on? Why didn't you call me, tell me you were coming?" Mom asks, playfully hitting Jughead's arm.

"Last time I called, you said that Jay and I couldn't come." Jughead answers. Jellybean looks at her confused.

"Well, that was a different time." Mom says. "Hey. I got my GED now. Hmm? I started this whole place up. I am a legit businesswoman now."

"Hey, Gladys." The boy from before says, coming up to us. "Tailpipe just came in with these. Where do you want them?" He was holding two car radios.

"Yeah, yeah, not now, Lugnut." She says. He starts to leave, then she stops him. "Oh, hey, hold up. Get the crew together, huh? Tell them my twins have come home. Their best pal, too. Tonight, we are going to feast."

"Woah! Yeah!" Lugnut cheers, before leaving. Mom turns to look at us.

"Mom, how about we show them where they can sleep?" Jellybean suggests. 

"Sure, why not." Mom says. Jellybean shows us to an empty room, which looks like it used to be a room where they would fix up old parts carefully.

"We got a few camp beds in the closet. You can set them up, get settled." Mom says.

"That'll be great, Mom." Jughead says.

We get our beds set up, and unpacked our stuff. I sat on the edge of my camp bed, and saw that I had a message from dad.

From: Dad

You kids doing okay? You haven't messaged in a while.

To: Dad

We're fine, Dad, don't worry about us. We've found somewhere to crash for a bit.

I put my phone in my pocket, and leave the small room, going out to where I knew Jughead would be talking with Mom and Jellybean.

I sit down next to Jellybean, and listen in to their conversation. 

"So, Jayda, how have you been in Riverdale?" Mom asks me.

"Oh, where do I start?" I question. "I got out of jail, dated this guy for a bit, turns out that this guy was a psychopath and he kidnapped me and tried to kill me. You knew all about that because Jughead called you. I got shot for my best friend, died on the table, and recently I found out that my kidnapper-ex-boyfriend broke out of jail. I've been good, Mom." I fake smiled at her.

She was silent. Jellybean was silent. And Jughead just looked uncomfortable in this whole situation.

"That's just the bad stuff." I tell her. 

"Okay, well, tell me something good." She says.

"Well, I fell in love, and have a Serpent boyfriend back home. And, I'm also the Serpent Queen." I explain.

There is a silence over everyone. And then my phone starts to ring. I pull it out my pocket, and notice that it's Sweet Pea.

"Speaking of my boyfriend, I gotta take this." I say, and walk away from the group.

Wow. That was awkward.