Sick Of Losing Soulmates

Trust

On the wall next to Jughead and Betty.

"Oh my, Polly dear? Is that you? Come closer, let me get a good look at you. It's so good to see you" Nana Rose wheeled over to Betty, who stood frozen in fear.

"Play along" Jughead whispered to Betty before giving her a little shove towards the old woman.

"It's nice to see you too" Betty said warily.

"Are you wearing it? Oh of course not. That's good" Nana said as she examined Betty's hands.

"Wearing what?" Betty asked

"Well the engagement ring of course!"

Elodie's eyes widened. The ring. Where was it now?

"I gave it to Jason to give to you, but if Penelope knew you had it, she'd probably chop it right off your finger!" Nana said.

Jughead and Elodie's eyes connected, shock filled them both.

"I-I can't... I have to go" Betty stuttered before quickly exiting the room, Elodie and Jughead in tow. They stopped around the corner of the next hallway.

"Oh my god" Elodie breathed.

"I think that's an understatement" Jughead mumbled.

"We need to go. Now" Betty said, the other two nodded and they made their way downstairs, where everyone was milling around. They connected eyes one last time before splitting and heading in their respective directions.

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Elodie paced in her bedroom.

"Ellie?" River questioned from her doorway.

"Hey love" She sighed as he entered her room fully and ran over to her. He opened his arms and looked up at her, silently asking to be lifted. She scooped him up into her arms.

"Ooh! You're getting big huh?" She smiled at her little brother.

"Hell yeah!" He giggled.

"Hey! No swearing!" She scolded her brother, but she couldn't help but laugh a little. She sat him down on her bed.

"What did you do at school today?" She asked River. He ignored her.

"Why did you leave the ceremony today for JJ? What were you doing in his room?" He asked her. She sighed.

"Something really bad happened to JJ, River. Do you remember how much I loved him? How we were best friends?" She asked him looking the small boy in the eyes

"Yeah. He was like our brother" River nodded, understanding. Elodie talked slowly. 

"Exactly. He's part of my family, our family. So I'm going to do whatever I can to find out what happened to him and bring down whoever hurt him. And to do that, today, I had to go into his room. I'm sick River; not having Jason hurts my heart still, and I'm not better quite yet. Does that make sense?" She said to her little brother.

"Will you be better one day?" He asked her.

"Yeah buddy. I'll be better soon. When this is all over, I'll be okay. Don't worry about me" She kissed the top of his head.

"Okay. I love you" He smiled up at her.

She picked him up and spun him around, tossing him into the bed and tickling his stomach. He shrieked and laughed and kicked his skinny little limbs around.

"I love you too! Now go find Caspar and play!" She giggled. The boy quickly stood up, kissed his sister on the cheek and ran out of her room, still giggling, to find his brother.

"Woah there little one!" Jughead chuckled as he almost tripped over River.

"Who let you in?" Elodie asked curiously

"Nice to see you too Elodie" Jughead scoffed before replying, "Your mom did"

"What's up?" She asked, assuming he wouldn't have come unless it was something about earlier that day.

"Polly and Jason were engaged is what's up" Jughead sighed.

"I know. I need to talk to her" Elodie ran a hand through her blonde locks.

"We. We need to talk to her. We're in this together, remember?" He smirked from her doorway.

"What were you and Betty planning on doing in Jason's bedroom then?" Elodie glared at the boy.

"What?" Jughead played innocent but mentally cursed himself for agreeing to the Blue and Gold articles with Betty.

"Oh save it Jughead. Why else would Betty have gone up to his room after the ceremony?" She rolled her eyes before standing and starting to pack a bag.

"Okay. You're right. I'm sorry. It won't happen again" Jughead promised as he entered her room further.

"That's what you said last timeeee!" She sung in aggravated mockery. Jughead sighed.

"I promised Betty I'd help her find out what really happened to Jason and let the public know the truth! It's called integrity Elodie!" Jughead argued

"If you two wanna start your own journalism careers, go ahead! Fine by me! But get your information like a real journalists does: by doing your own fucking research. I'm not letting you scream to the public the horrible things that happened to Jason just for the publicity! I care about him, and you've made it abundantly obvious that you don't!" She shouted at him.

"El-"

"Please get out of my house" She sighed, stopping packing her bag. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Elle?" Jughead asked, concerned, as he approached her. Her eyes sprung open just as he went to place a hand on her shoulder. He flinched away at the sudden action. Elodie sighed and turned to the raven-haired boy, looking him dead in the eyes.

"Jughead, I can't work with someone who doesn't understand this-" Elodie was cut off unexpectedly by Jughead.

"I heard what you said to your brother Elodie. I understand" He said strongly, using a tone he hadn't used with her before.

Once again, she was distracted by the sound of her name coming out of his mouth.

"Whatever" She mumbled, slightly annoyed that he was both eavesdropping and at how easily he had managed to distract her.

"I'm going to help you. Whether you like it or not. And I'm going to tell Betty I can't work on her article. Whether she likes it or not" Jughead said to her as she threw the last few things into her bag.

"Great. You go do that while I actually do something productive" Elodie rolled her eyes, walked past the boy, and was gone.