"Can you watch over him?"
✿
"I can't believe you're wasting one of your favors with me to have me restock." Mickey looks down at Tabitha with a smirk, "I can be useful in so many other ways."
Tabitha continues to hold the ladder steady. "Is your mind ever out of the gutter?" She looks up to watch Mickey reach up on a shelf. When the back of Mickey's shirt lifts, she sees the tattoo. "You were a Serpent?"
Mickey glances over her should to see Tabitha's eyeing her tramp stamp. "In high school."
"Is that why you and the Serpents stayed friends all these years?"
"I'm close with them because they're my friends—my family," she corrects herself. "They've always been there for me and I'll always be there for them. Some of my best memories have been with them."
Tabitha waits until Mickey's off of the ladder to ask, "Were you and Jughead friends?" She's never made the connection until now because of their tattoos. They never talk about each other except when Mickey vouched for him to work at the diner. They never talk to each other as far as Tabitha's concerned. And ever since she kissed Jughead, she's been thinking about him nonstop.
"We were more than that. We were in love."
"You were?" Her face drains of warmth and her eyes widen. "I-I didn't know that."
Mickey shrugs, "No big deal."
Tabitha scratches the back of her neck nervously. "Uh, I don't want to step on any toes, but Jughead and I kissed last night. Well, I kissed him and—"
"It's fine, Tabitha," she assures her. "Don't worry about it." In reality, she's not sure how she feels about Jughead and Tabitha kissing, but she remains cool.
"I mean, I know you and I have been flirting. Or was I reading into things?"
"No. Flirting is an accurate description of what we've been doing." Mickey dusts off her hands and says, "I guess it doesn't matter anymore."
✿
Toni smiles gratefully when Mickey comes into the apartment. "You're a god send, hun!" She reaches for the bag of takeout.
Mickey gives Toni the greasy bag. "Anything for baby boy," she rubs Toni's belly like it's good luck. "Plus, I know how cravings can get really crazy, so I'm not judging you for putting ketchup and mustard on your tacos." When Toni texted the group chateo them two and Fangs asking for company, Mickey agreed to come by during her lunch period.
"Are you coming back after the school day?" Toni unwraps the first taco and takes a big bite. She moans in pleasure. "Best taco ever," she mumbles with food in her mouth.
"Actually, Jughead asked me to meet after school."
"Ooh!"
Mickey rolls her eyes. "It's not like that. Trust me." She is thinking about his kiss with Tabitha. "I'll try to come back after, but if you need anything else, call me or send me an SOS text."
"Love you!" Toni calls out to her friend and reaches for the remote.
✿
Mickey slides into the seat across from Jughead at the diner. She looks at the food that's already at the table. "You ordered for me?"
Jughead says, "This used to be your favorite thing to order here."
"Thank you." She dips a Fry into BBQ sauce and eats it. "Well..."
"I have a favor to ask you." He's desperate. He's desperate enough to reveal himself to get what he needs to be done. "You know how the maple shrooms helped me write before, right? Well, I would like it if you watched over me while I tripped. I need to write an excerpt for Pop Culture Weekly and—"
"Why would you think you could ask me something like that?" Her eyebrows knit together. "I'm not interested in aiding your habit."
"I'm not asking you to get high with me."
"You shouldn't be getting high at all. This is the reason we broke up."
Jughead rolls his eyes, raking his hand through his hair. "Really? I think it's a little deeper than that, like you not being able to look at me after Christian."
Her brown eyes double in size before narrowing to glare at him. "I can't believe you'd say that."
"You hated me so much after what happened," he huffs.
"I needed you after that!" she explodes. "I wanted for us to be able to lean on each other during that time, but I was too worried about triggering you." She doesn't realize she's crying until she tastes the salt on her lips. "None of it mattered though because you always found a reason to get high or drunk or to shut me out."
"You just wanted to go back to normal. I was hurting!"
"And I wasn't?! Screw you!"
The entire diner overhears their argument, including Tabitha. She watches the scene. She watches Jughead bury his face in his hands. She watches Mickey storm out of the diner.
Mickey turns around when she hears the bells jingle when the diner door opens. "I don't want to talk anymore!" It's not until she sees that it's Tabitha that she tries to compose herself, "I'm so sorry. I did not mean for that to get so explosive."
"It's fine. Are you okay?"
"I just need to get out of here," Mickey wipes the tears from her face. It's pointless because the tears keep spilling. "Can you watch over him? Once he gets like that, he is relentless. I don't want anything bad to happen to him, but I can't be the one that's there."
"I'll take care of him."