Little Sis [Riverdale]

Chapter 1 - "Welcome Back, J.B."

*RIVERDALE SEASON 1 SPOILERS, IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED SEASON 1 READ WITH CAUTION*

It'd been what, four, maybe five, years since she'd been back? God, how amazing it had felt to Jellybean to step off the bus, back home. "Welcome back, J.B.." The girl muttered to herself as she stepped into the cold winter. She walked into a rusty, but nicely cleaned, telephone booth and dialed the only number she ever bothered to memorize. The phone rang, but nobody answered, so she left a message: "Hey, Dad... It's me, J.B... Uhm, I came to visit, Mom was going to come too but something came up so she couldn't... I'm using a phone booth, so don't call this number back. I'll be there soon. Love you, miss you." She hung up. The girl sighed, paid for the call, and left the booth. She walked passed the station and onto the sidewalk, well, where the sidewalk should've been. It was covered in snow. It would be a long walk, but she knew it would be worth it.

Worth all the years of waiting.

***

Jellybean finally reached the trailer, the one she'd remembered her mother complaining about. Her mom had said that it looked ridiculous and that he should've kept the house; that way if they ever came back, they'd have something called home.

Jellybean liked the trailer, though. She thought it looked cool. She knew she would be able to call it home, but another part of her knew she never would.

A part of her knew that when Mom and she left, they'd never come home. Toledo would become home, that's what was supposed to happen. But Toledo always felt wrong, it was like New York City ate itself then threw up in Ohio. Bad comparison, Jellybean thought, walking up the steps to the door of the trailer.

She knocked three times and waited. When nobody answered, she knocked three more times. This time, a tired and messy haired Jughead opened the door.

"Juggie... You look so different!" Jellybean was mostly talking to herself at the end, but Jughead still heard it.

"Jellybean?... You're supposed to be in Toledo!"

"Mom and I were coming to visit, but something came up. I left a message for Dad's landline, didn't you get it?" Jughead seemed to tense at the mention of their dad, but Jelly didn't notice.

"No... I was out."

"Doing what?"

"Things."

"What kind of things?"

"Just.. things, Jellybean, don't ask so many times. Come in before you get sick." He pushed the door aside, and Jellybean walked in. It looked... cleaner than she remembered from the pictures Jughead had sent their mom. "Dad finally knocked some sense into himself and cleaned?" Jellybean laughed a little, looking over her shoulder at the boy. "Yeah.. he did.." Jughead said, in his mysterious boy who probably owns a Tumblr aesthetics blog voice; at least, that's what Jelly called it. She thought the title was so funny that it cracked her up for months. Jug, on the other hand, thought it made him sound like somebody who wore too much eyeliner and listened to Panic! At the Disco while crying at night.

He'd never admit that he actually listened to Panic! to Jellybean, as to not provoke her "emo boy" jokes.

"Jellybean, what are you actually doing here?" Jellybean took notice that he wasn't calling her J.B. but ignored it. "What do you mean?"

"We both know Mom would never come back here... She made that very clear when she grabbed your hand and ran off to Toledo."

"Maybe she changed her mind?"

"We both know she wouldn't do that either."

"What would you do if theoretically, I told you that I came back on my own?"