When I say I love you, its not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I'm in love with what you are, what you do and how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of y...
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The bonfire blazes strong in the middle of the trailer park. Pink Floyd is playing loudly through some semi decent speakers as beers are tossed around. FP is indulging in a drink while laughing with some of his friends as they share a toast in front of the flames. It is in the moments like these, surrounded by Serpents, that he feels an inkling of belonging. Jughead Jones the Third is aware that he is being celebrated, but he cannot find it within himself to be in a celebratory mood. He feels displaced sitting on his bike surrounded by what feels like everyone in their shitty part of town and it's jarring. He's been gone for a month, but it only feels like a day has passed. The absence of memory as to the last time he left the trailer haunts him, but he tries not to dwell on it. However he can tell the weather is bleaker and the cold nips a little harder as time has slipped deeper into winter. The grass is a lot more dead and the want-to-be shrubbery has been neglected a lot more than usual. It is most likely a by-product of Toni, who manages the upkeep of Sunny Side, spending the last month wasting away at his bedside. He feels a tinge of guilt at that thought as Fangs passes him another beer. Jughead looks around the group of Serpents mixed in with regular Southsiders who have showed out in support. Jughead hates that he spent so much of his life running from them all, his tribe. He spent his whole childhood trying to fit in where he never could instead of embracing the people who were always willing to accept him as their own. He grew up hating the Southside because he blamed their poverty and their troubles on his father's alcoholism and his mother's departure. He's learned better.
The mixture of hops, yeast, and oxycodone do absolutely nothing to slow down the torture of his inner voices. The voices blur loudly and pound at his skull. They tell him that Hiram Lodge is going to take all of this away. Hiram is going to take away Ms. Tilly with the seven cats and the small garden on the windowsill of her trailer Ms. Tilly who always has a warm meal for him in exchange for bathing her cats and watering her plants every once in a while. Hiram is going to take away Old man Bluegrass with his conspiracy theories and old war stories. Hiram is going to rip apart the Topaz and the Fogarty families who are already struggling so much with their finances and livelihoods. Mr. Topaz is retired and disabled trying to take care of his granddaughter to the best of his ability when in actuality she is taking care of him. Meanwhile Jughead is vaguely aware something is wrong with Ms. Fogarty, but Fangs and his brothers are always so tight lipped about it. None of the Southsiders can afford the damage about to be done to their home. Everyone thinks he is crazy or overreacting, but Jughead knows it in his soul that this fight is coming. This fight will determine the fate of the soul of the Southside.
Sweet Pea chugs two beers simultaneously while some of the other Serpents cheer him on before tossing his cans into the fire. He shares a rare light-hearted smile with Jughead that Jughead returns. Jughead feels the weight on his shoulders lighten minutely. Pea is so strong and so hot headed, yet in this moment Jughead feels the strongest instinct to be the one that protects him this time. Toni sits on the bike next to Jughead and leans against him resting her head on his shoulder the smell of grape and marijuana filling his nostrils.
