Speak To Me

A Nice Little Gift

Betty Cooper stared out the passenger side window of FP Jones' pickup truck, watching unrecognizable trees and farms pass by. She looked around, wondering where her mother could possibly be headed now. Biting her lower lip, she turned to look ahead of her, concentrating on her mother's vehicle, hoping not to lose it so far in front of them. Her nerves eventually got the best of her and she finally spoke. "Juggy? Do you know where we're going?" 

"To be honest right now, Betty, I don't even know where we are." He held onto her hand in between the two seats while her heart began to beat faster and harder. "I've never even been this way before." Betty swallowed, unaware if they should continue on in case they lost Alice and got lost themselves in the middle of nowhere. When Jughead saw the anxious look on her face, he thought hard about something to make her feel better. "You know...that was really really sweet of your mom back there."

"What?" Apprehensive Betty snapped out of her own thoughts when he spoke. 

"For your, usually supercilious, mom to do what she did back there for Polly was kind of somewhat of a miracle to witness." He admitted, resting his left wrist over the top of the steering wheel, almost like he'd had a driver's license for years. "I'm even a bit impressed with Penelope Blossom as well." He smiled at her, hoping the clutter of negativity in her head was disappearing, even a little. "I never thought I'd see the day when the two prima donnas of the Blossom and Cooper households would cooperate with one another." Jug smirked at his girlfriend beside him. "We must be in an alternate universe or something." 

Finally, Betty let out a small laugh, just what Jughead wanted and he proudly smiled to himself, looking back at the road in front of him. They drove on for a little while longer before their journey had begun to come to an end. 

"What's going on?" Betty wondered as the truck began to jerk.

"Oh, no, no, no! Not now!" Jughead tried to re-shift the gears as the truck continued to putter. "Shit!" He yelled, slamming both hands on the steering wheel when they came to a full stop. "We're out of gas."

The blonde in the passenger seat lulled her head back in annoyance as she let out an irritated sigh. "Great!" She looked through the back window of the truck, realizing just how alone they were on this road. "The only person close enough to come help us is my mom and if she finds out about us skipping school together to spy on her-"

"Don't worry about that." Jughead said with his cell phone already up to his ear. "I know who can help us."

"What? Who?" She asked, but he didn't answer as he waited for someone on the other end of the phone to pick up.

Twenty minutes had passed since Jughead hung up the phone with their mysterious helper and they stood outside of the truck, leaning against it in the bright, warm sun. Betty put her hand over her eyes to block out the light when they saw the, obviously used, vehicle pulling up behind them. "There they are." Jughead moved away from the truck, stepping toward them.

The driver's side door opened just seconds before the passenger side door did and out stepped a tall kid with dark hair and a nice black and blue shiner over his left eye. He shut the driver's side door and walked around to the trunk of his car. The girl that exited the passenger side shut her door and walked over to Jughead. She had dark skin and long, wavy hair with a smirk plastered on her face as if she would laugh at Jughead's position at any moment. "Well, Jones." She began while the other stranger to Betty opened his trunk, pulling out a full gas can. "I never expected you to be a car thief OR an illegal driver." She crossed her arms over her chest, never warping the smirk upon her lips.

"Save it, Toni." He chuckled before looking to the teen shutting the trunk door tight. "Thanks, Sweet Pea."

The tall kid made his way passed Betty and Jughead, filling the truck with the gas can immediately.