A few days later, it was the day of the memorial.
Elodie was in a floor-length, black lace dress, her curly blonde locks straightened. Her lips were painted with a deep red lipstick, her skin looked paler than usual. And her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
The doorbell rang through the house. Elodie sighed as she grabbed her black clutch purse, threw her phone and her dark red lipstick in it, and headed downstairs. Jughead stared as he watched her come down the stairs. Him, Rona, Chris, Archie, Valerie, and the kids waited for her at the bottom of the steps.
"You look beautiful" Jughead mumbled.
"Shut it" She rolled her eyes and gave him a weak half-smile as she took Rosemary into her arms. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and they all left the Nova household.
Sitting and waiting was the worst part.
Penelope had asked her to deliver a eulogy.
Elodie had told them she couldn't.
As it does with everything, the tension built. Everyone unanimously settled into their spots. Silence filled the room. Finally, Elodie couldn't take it anymore.
"I have to go" She whispered before messily getting up and leaving the room.
Everyone's eyes followed her out, but they missed Jughead slipping out of the room too due to the fact that Cheryl Blossom was entering it—in the all-white dress she wore when she was found at the river.
"Elodie! Elodie!" Jughead called out once they had left the room. He caught the tail of her black dress disappearing up the staircase, and followed it.
He found her in what he could only guess was Jason's bedroom.
Funnily enough, him and Betty had planned to come here anyways, to search.
When he entered the room, she was sifting through his things.
"Elodie? What are you doing?" He asked as he approached her
"It has to be here somewhere. It has to be" She muttered.
"What does?" He asked her again. She turned to him, eyes wet and wild.
"Jughead? Elodie?" Betty asked from the doorway.
"What happened down there?" Jughead asked the blonde
"Cheryl had a breakdown, what else did you expect?" She sighed.
Elodie was still searching.
"What are you looking for?" Betty questioned.
"Elodie" Came a voice from the shadows of the room. They all gasped and backed up.
Nana Rose rolled into the light.
"Nana" Elodie breathed a sigh of relief
"Come here darling. Sit. I know how hard this must be for you" She said sympathetically. Elodie walked past the other two dumbfounded teenagers and sat on Jason's bed, opposite Nana Rose.
"Oh here now. Don't you cry. Or you'll get me started too" She wiped Elodie's eyes with an old handkerchief. "You've been so strong"
Jughead and Betty were still frozen in confusion.
"I remember you were always so strong growing up, you'd take all the boys down and beat them up for saying the silly things boys say. You were always my favorite. You knew how to put Jason in his place, but love him at the same time. You made him a better person than the rest of them" She referenced the Blossom family picture on the wall.
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.