Pleather || A Sweet Pea Romance (Riverdale)

chapter 18|| valentine's

"FP, I can't go to school today," I tell him. 

"What's wrong?"He feels my forehead. "You feel really hot."

"No, I'm freezing." On cue, I start shivering. I can't control it. I've never felt this cold. 

"You must have a cold. Go pack to bed and I'll bring you some oatmeal and some water."

"Thanks."

I walk back to bed and before I get to my room Jughead emerges from the bathroom.

"Wow, you look dead."

I roll my eyes and go back to bed.

When FP comes in with the food, I take a bite, but realize I have no appetite. In fact, the oatmeal makes my stomach uneasy, which I though was impossible for a food as bland as oatmeal.

I curl up in a ball under my blanket, but I still can't get warm. I pull the hood of my jacket around me.

Maybe thirty minutes later I hear voices in the living room and then the door to my room opens and I see Sweet Pea.

"Reagan, what's wrong?" Sweet Pea asks. He takes two steps and kneels down so he's closer to me.

"I think I just have a head cold. I'll be okay in a few hours," I say, but I can't keep my teeth from chattering.

He feels my forehead. "What can I get for you? Are you hungry?"

I shake my head. I reach out and grab his hand.

"Your skin is hot, but you look really cold. What can I get you? Some more blankets? An ice pack."

"No, I'll be okay. I'll see you after school."

"No, I'm not going to school with you like this."

"Steven, you have a math test. We studied for it for two hours last night. You can't miss it."

"I'm not leaving."

"Steven. Go to school. I'll stay here and sleep it off and I'll see you after school."

He seems hesitant. 

"FP was going to drive us, you can get a ride with him. I'll be okay."

He kisses my hand.

"I'll see you in a few hours."

"Mm, hmm," I respond, too tired to open my mouth.

"And you'll text me or call if you need me."

"I promise."

"Okay." He kisses my forehead, tucks my blankets a little tighter around me, and leaves.

 ° º ° ° º ° ° º ° ° º ° ° º ° 

I doze in and out of sleep. It's hard to tell how long I am asleep for and once I'm awake it's hard to ignore the cold and fall back asleep. 

Sweet Pea texts me lunch and I respond with a heart and nothing else. I don't have the heart to tell him that I feel even worse.

My sleep is interrupted when I feel the weight of my bed move. I open my eyes and see Sweet Pea.

"How do you feel?" he asks.

"How was your test?" I ask.

"I nailed it," he smiles and it makes me feel better.

"How do you feel?" he asks.

"I just feel really cold."

He grabs my hand from under the blanket.

"You feel like ice. Are you hungry? Thirsty?" he asks.

I shake my head. "I'm just really cold and really tired."

"Okay," he says. He takes off his Serpent jacket and moves himself so he's behind me in my twin sized bed. He lifts up the blanket and sneaks underneath it so that his chest is against my back. He wraps his arms around me.

 ° º ° ° º ° ° º ° ° º ° ° º ° 

I wake up when my alarm goes off. I take a second to take in the situation. I'm warm. Really warm. I try to move to take the blanket off me, but I can't. Then I realize Sweet Pea has his arm around me.

"Turn that off," he says groggily. He adjusts himself so now he's laying on his back and I can move without his arm on me.

It takes me a second to remember why Sweet Pea is here. It's not the first time he's been in my room, but it's the first time he's slept over. FP made it a strict rule that Betty and Sweet Pea aren't allowed to spend the night...

"You're still here?" I ask. I start taking off my socks, I am burning up.

"Yeah. You were freezing last night. It took almost an hour for you to not feel like an ice sculpture."

"FP is going to murder you," I say. My voice is still tired. Once my socks are off I feel better.

"No, I don't think so. We left your door open and when he asked what the hell was going on I had him feel your face and he agreed it was okay to stay."

I look back at Sweet Pea who is still behind me laying on his back.

"I wonder if he'd agree that that was okay," I say with a giggle pointing to what's happening in Sweet Pea's pants.

"Spooning with my girlfriend all night? It was bound to happen," he says nonchalantly. 

"Fair enough."

"How do you feel?" he asks.

"Better. Normal," I answer. "Thanks for staying last night." I lean over and kiss him on the cheek.

"How else was I going to spend Valentine's day?" he asks.

"Oh shit. Yesterday was Valentine's day! I completely forgot! I'm so sorry, we were going to go out to dinner."

"Reagan, don't worry about it."

"No, I feel so bad."

He sits up beside me and kisses my cheek. "We can go to dinner any day we want. It didn't have to be yesterday."

"I'm just so sorry. I have your present in my locker."

Sweet Pea reaches over and grabs his Serpent Jacket that's at the foot of my bed. He reaches in the pocket and hands me a box.

"Steven, you didn't have to get me this," I say before opening it. I can already tell it's jewelry.

"Just open it."

I open it and see that it's a charm. I can't tell what it is.

"It's two peas in a pod..." he trails. "For your necklace."

Toni and Cheryl gave me a necklace that has a Serpent on it. I always wear it under my shirt.

"Sweet Pea," I say. My heart is so happy. I kiss him on the cheek. "Thank you so much. It's perfect," I laugh with a smile. I take off my necklace to put the charm on.

"I thought it was stupid, but I know you like stupid stuff like that," he jokes.

I laugh. "Six months ago you would have thought this was the stupidest thing. But you knew I'd like it. That's how I know you love me." My tone is lighthearted, but I realize immediately the gravity of what I said. I just said the L-Word.

"I do," he says without skipping a beat. He moves the hair away from my neck to put my necklace back on.

"Steven." My tone has changed. We're both serious now. We make eye contact again and I reach up to feel the charm against my chest. He smiles and I smile back before kissing him on the corner of his mouth.