Prismatics (Sweet Pea x Betty)

Aureolin

Aurelian is a transparent, lightly staining, light-valued, intense medium-yellow pigment.

Betty arrived early. As in an hour before anything was supposed to happen. Luckily, Toni was emptying a bin of dirty-looking rag water outside and grabbed her to bring her in through the kitchen entrance.

"Is..." Betty paused, unsure which Serpent she wanted to inquire about first. Jughead hadn't answered her yet, which concerned her. She needed to talk to him A.S.A.P, and even though her mind told her to ask about Jug first, her lips said, "He here yet?"

Toni didn't have to ask who the 'he' was.

"No, but he will be. If he knows what's good for him." She squeezed Betty's shoulder, "He does." She promised, "Are you ready, though? It's, uhm...intense."

Intense didn't even cover what Betty was about to do. She laughed out loud at the statement, caught off guard by just how inaccurate any word to describe it would be.

"Yeah, yeah," Betty rubbed her neck, "I mean, I've faced down serial killers more than once. I shouldn't even be worried a second about this." She snorted.

"Okay, sure," Toni seemed wary of her answer, "It's okay to back out. Sweet Pea will still be around."

"No," Betty shook her head, her ponytail bouncing, "I said I would. I'm not a coward." Before Toni could reply, Betty did a full spin of the area, "Where's Jughead? I've been calling him all day."

"Well, I know where his phone is," Toni said, bringing Betty to the back of the kitchen where she revealed a phone buried in rice, "Fangs dropped it in the sink while we were getting ready. We should really call him 'butterfingers' with how often he drops things."

"Shit." Betty muttered, staring at the phone, "Okay, fine, just point me to him." He was probably hanging garlands or setting up paper cups, right?

Toni's expression was not a good one.

"He went with his dad to grab some special booze like an hour away. Some shot FP wants to take with Tall Boy and Birdie. He probably won't be back until the party's just starting. Why?" Toni asked.

Betty felt like screaming.

"I just..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, "God, nothing. Nevermind."

"Oh."

"What?" Betty said, walking away from Jughead's waterlogged phone. She was realizing, though, Toni was very observant. Almost frustratingly so.

"You were gunna try to tell him. About the colors," Toni swallowed, "Shit."

"Yeah. Shit." Betty shrugged, "I'll find the time. Before. I gotta. Uhm...is there a place for me to do my makeup?" She asked.

"No one will be in the back offices. Here." Toni fished a key from her keychain. Just before Betty disappeared, Toni leaned in, "Sweet's favorite color is gold."

Then, Toni was called away and Betty was left, surveying the bar.

Her eyes zeroed in on the pole on the far side of the stage and her breath hitched.

She screwed her eyes shut and turned sharply.

She'd done a hundred more daring things. This would be absolutely nothing.

XXX

Sweet Pea ducked into the bar once it was already in full swing.

Part of him was glad he had elected to arrive once things were underway, so he didn't have to wait anxiously and just watch Betty walk in. And truth be told, he needed the extra time.