|| CHAPTER TWENTY ||
I woke up fairly early in the morning despite it still being the winter holidays. I guess remnants of last night still lingered in my mind and kept me awake. So what does that mean for Sweet Pea and I? Were we dating now? I hope so. I decided to drop a 'Good morning' text to him just in case.
In my inbox was a bunch of text notifications from Lzzy at 3a.m asking me to call her. It got me worried because what was so important that Lzzy had to ask me to call her at 3a.m. I decided to dial her number even though I think it was too early for her to pick up.
The line rang a few times and was quickly answered at the other end. "When-were-you-gonna-tell-me-you-and-Sweet-Pea-were-boning?" she practically screamed into the phone.
I was stunned. I decided to sit up. "We're not," I replied, "How did you know?"
"Ghost saw you two making out in the parking lot!" she continued to scream.
Of course he did.
"Why didn't you tell me you were into Sweet Pea?!" she asked.
I rubbed my eyes, it was too early for this. "Cause' it's embarrassing," I admitted, "Also, we weren't making out. We just kissed."
She screamed happily into the phone, I had to pull the phone away or I might go deaf in one ear. "I'm happy for you!" she was still screaming. "You fucking bitch!" she cursed, "Next time you have a crush, especially when it's on a Serpent, tell. Me."
Yup, this is embarrassing.
"What are you doing up so early anyways?" I changed the topic, "What time did you wake up?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, "I haven't even slept."
I quickly ended the conversation then ended the call. I was fully awake by then. I peeled away the blanket and headed downstairs to see if anyone else was awake. I found my dad at the dining table drinking some coffee and reading the morning newspaper.
"Morning, dad," I greeted.
"Good morning, Kenna," he looked over the newspaper, "What time did you come home last night?"
I poured myself a cup of coffee from the coffee pot. I replied, "Like two, three a.m?"
"Huh," he said, "Must be a great party. You didn't drink last night did you?"
I scoffed, "No dad. Here," I stood in front of him, "smell me."
"Not necessary," he put his hand up.
I laughed and took a sip of my coffee. Honestly, good on my part for not drinking last night. I wanted remember everything that happened exactly as it did. And also so I did not stink of alcohol when I kissed Sweet Pea.
He continued, "Are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?"
Oh shit, I am. I came home so late last night and was so tired that I forgot to change. At least I did not sweat so I did not smell but I should probably still go take a shower.
I sucked in air through my teeth, "Yeah? I'll go change later don't worry." I quickly drank the rest of my coffee.
"Well that's a pretty necklace, I've never seen that before," he said, looking at my outfit, "Is that a Christmas gift?"
"Yeah," I brought the necklace up to his face to read the engravings. He took the dog tag into his hands and read it.
"Hm. It's nice," he commented. "By the way," he added, "did you tell anyone about my medical bills?"
"Uh. . . Nope," I don't know why I lied. I have told Lzzy and Sweet Pea but why did that matter? "Why? What happened?" I continued to ask.
"Because it's been paid," he replied, "All $86,000 of it."
My mouth gaped open. Now how the fuck.
"S-so we're no longer in debt?" I asked.
He shook his head, "I guess not."
I did not know how to process this information. I laughed, "That's great news dad!" I went over and gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek, "It's a fucking Christmas miracle!"
"Hey, language," he commented.
"How is it possible?" I continued to ask, laughing.
My dad shrugged, "Dunno. They call it an angel donation. It's anonymous, they wouldn't tell me who paid it."
I could not stop smiling and laughing, I probably looked like an insane person. All eighty-six fucking thousand dollars gone. Holy fuck. Damn, that means I pawned that necklace for nothing. But still! Holy shit!
I went back up to my room and checked my phone for notifications. Nothing. Guess he isn't awake yet. I decided to take a shower and get changed while I wait. I came back to a missed call from Sweet Pea dated five minutes ago. I quickly called back the number.
It rang once and was swiftly picked up at the other end.
"Hey Kenna!" Somebody screamed into the phone. It was not Sweet Pea, sounded like Fangs.
"Hi Fangs," I answered.
There was some shuffling noises coming from the other end as if they were passing the phone around.
"Hey Kenna," there was the familiar voice, sweet and gravely as though they just woke up.
"Hi Sweet Pea," I replied. Gosh, I was twiddling my fingers like I was a middle school girl talking to their crush. "So Fangs is there?" I continued to ask.
"Yeah," he replied, "He came over early in the morning and woke me up."
"Your boyfriend's a sleepyhead!" I heard Fangs shout in the background on the other end of the line. It was then proceeded with Sweet Pea shouting back, "Bro, shut the fuck up," and some shuffling noises and laughter.
I chuckled and shook my head even though they could not see it. These boys. So Ghost went ahead and told the entire village about us, love it.
"Sorry, ignore him," said Sweet Pea.
"So Ghost saw us last night," I told him.
"Yup, I figured," he replied, "Fangs came over all excited. Guess we're not low-key."
"I don't mind it," I admitted.
"Oh, well that's great! I don't either. Hey, I was just wondering if maybe- hold on." There was silence on the other end then the sound of a door opening, then fangs in the background saying, "Where you going?"
I heard the door swing shut and Sweet Pea continued, "I was wondering if maybe you'd wanna go out with me?"
I chuckled. "Of course."
"Great!" I could hear him smile through the phone, "Um, how about tomorrow night? I'll come pick you up at like seven?"
"Yeah, sure," I replied. Not like I had any plans for the rest of the winter holidays.
"Great, see you tomorrow then. Bye."
"Goodbye."
Before I ended the call, I could hear Fangs in the background going, "Ooo someone is going on a date," and Sweet Pea going, "Shut up, man!" before the phone beeped.
Forgot to ask him where we were going but I guess it is going to be a surprise.
▬ι═ﺤ
I started getting ready a few hours before seven o'clock. I wondered where he would be taking me. Out to a nice dinner? That seemed too classy for a guy like him. To the arcade? Maybe, but we would get bored real quick. I kept racking my brain the entire evening.
I eventually settled on a black dress with long sleeves that was accompanied with a thick brown belt around my waist. I wore tights underneath, it was winter, I was not about to go out with my bare legs. I stole a flannel from my dad's closet and paired it with an additional layer of dark grey jacket. Of course, I also wore the dog tag Sweet Pea gave me. I even did up my hair hours before and even put on a little makeup. I felt a bit ridiculous for dressing up so much for this little date.
I did not know whether Sweet Pea was the type to be on time but when I looked out the window at seven o'clock, lo and behold the man of the hour has arrived. He was leaned up against his parked bike looking back up at me. I didn't hear the engine so he must have pushed it here from a few blocks down.
I eagerly headed downstairs to greet him. He was just as excited to see me when I burst out the front door and a smile graced his face. He was wearing his usual flannel paired with the Southside Serpent jacket and jeans. However, he looked like he was dressed up a bit. Maybe it was the hair, he greased it up nicer today.
I ran over to him and fell into his arms and he reciprocated the hug. I pulled away and looked up at him.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," he said it back, "You look great."
I was still being held in his arms.
"You look good too," I complimented, "even though you're still just wearing your usual flannel and leather jacket. Seriously, how much flannel do you own?"
"Speak for yourself, Andrews," he held the collar of my flannel between his fingers.
"I stole it from my dad, shut up. You're the one with the flannel problem," I teased. "Also, you would not believe it," I changed the topic, I was eager to tell him the good news, "My dad's hospital bill has been paid off completely. It's a fucking Christmas miracle."
He stared at me wide eyed and mouth agape, "Seriously? How?"
I shrugged, "Don't know. It was anonymously paid off. They call it an angel donation. We're no longer in debt!" I was smiling like a crazy person again.
He was smiling for me too, "That's great, Kenna!"
"I mean, it also means I pawned off that necklace for nothing."
His expression switched to worry, "Do you want to get it back?"
"Nah," I quickly replied, "I mean we can use that cash for something else. . . like tonight? So where we going?"
He smiled. "It's a surprise but it's somewhere out of Riverdale."
He still had his hands around my waist.
"Oh?" I was intrigued, "Well let's get out of here before my dad sees me being felt up by a greaser."
He laughs. That sweet laughter. And that smile.
We get on his bike and headed towards the secondary location. He rode slowly since it was winter and we didn't want to skid. It was freezing cold despite the layers of clothing that I wore and the wind blowing back at us as we rode through the winter did not help.
It was dark out and solitary. There was not much cars on the road. Guess we were the only ones crazy enough to still ride in the winter. But it was good, it was peaceful. Just me and him against the world.
I watched as we drove over Sweetwater River. The waters below us was calm as opposed to its usual crashing waves. The night was beautiful as the moon was reflected on the surface of the waters. We drove past it quickly and soon I saw the sign welcoming us into Greendale.
We entered the town and parked the bike by the side of the road outside a store called 'Cerberus Books.' It looked like a Halloween store opened in the middle of Christmas season. Definitely did not fit the festive vibes.
Sweet Pea wrapped his arm around my shoulders and guided me in. I was greeted with a sweet smell of pastry and coffee in the air. It became apparent that this was both a bookstore and a cafe with a monster mash vibe thrown into it. This would have totally been cool if it was Halloween.
We took the seats by the counter. The server was dressed up as Dracula like it was Halloween. I loved the commitment. I took the menu into my hands.
"How did you even find a place like this?" I asked Sweet Pea with amazement.
"The boys and I like coming to Greendale every so often," he explained, "There are cool places like this all over town. But obviously this joint is no better than pop's."
"Better not be," I chuckled in response.
I looked at the menu in my hands and to nobody's surprise, the food were all spooky themed. I ordered a burger with a side of fries and a cappuccino while Sweets ordered a burger and a shake.
I glanced around the restaurant, taking in the atmosphere. It also had a retro theme added to it, there was a jukebox and booth counters, similarly to Pop's. The bookstore section was in the back. I glanced to my left and there was another couple at the counter, a boy and a girl. The boy. . . he looked eerily, no, he looked exactly like ghost. Except he had dark brown hair.
I leaned in and whispered to Sweet Pea, "Sweets, turn slowly but that guy looks exactly like Ghost." I subtly pointed to the left.
He proceeded to glance at the boy not so subtly.
"Holy shit he does," he whispers back.
I could see it in his eyes, we were both freaking out and very taken aback. It was crazy, the boy could not be Ghost, obviously, right?
I decided to be a busybody. "Hey," I called out to the boy, who turned to me warily, unsure if I was talking to him, "sorry to bother you but you look really familiar. What's your name?"
"Uh, it's Harvey Kinkle," he says.
Both Sweet Pea and I kind of caroled out a 'Oh' in unison. "Sorry," I continued, "my mistake but you looked like a friend of mine."
He smiled, "No worries."
"Are you two from Riverdale?" A voice chimed in. It came from the girl with Harvey. She had short blonde hair and wore a black headband. She looked really pretty.
"How could you tell?" I asked.
"The jacket, we don't see those much around here," she referred to the Southside Serpent jacket Sweet Pea was wearing. "Nice to meet you, I'm Sarbina by the way, Spellman."
Aww, she is really sweet.
"Kenna Andrews," I introduced. "This is Sweet Pea," I nodded my head towards him. "I love your hairstyle by the way."
"Thank you!" she beamed. "You wouldn't happen to be related to Archie Andrews would you?"
Well that is surprising. "He's my brother. How'd you know him?"
"We met once during summer break," she replied. "Does he still play the guitar?"
I thought about it for a moment. "Barely."
"Well that sucks. He's good at it. A great singer too." At that moment our drinks arrived before us and so did their takeout. She thanked the server then turned to us, "Nice meeting you Kenna Andrews! By the way, you should stir your coffee clockwise for good luck. See you around!"
With that, she left the store with Harvey.
I turned to Sweet Pea, "Well she was really nice." I took the teaspoon and stirred my coffee, I think I stirred it anti-clockwise, oops. "That guy though. Are we sure Ghost doesn't have a long lost twin?"
"Yeah, that was definitely freaky. He looked exactly like him," he added.
"Right? This town is absolutely creepy. We're in the twilight zone."
A few moments later, our food arrived and we chowed down on it as 'Right Here In My Arms' by HIM played on the jukebox. After that, we took some time to check out the books at the back. I told Sweet Pea about how I received two books for Christmas already. We then left the store without buying anything else.
"Are we going anywhere else?" I asked him as I got on the back of his motorcycle.
He scoffs, "Of course. The night's still young." He revs the engine loudly, catching the attention of several onlookers before driving off. I playfully smacked his head in return.
He drove us over deeper into the town where we stopped by a winter carnival. It was bustling and crowded despite it being late in the evening. The field was decorated with an array of white lights and winter decorations. There were so many carnival games and rides that I did not know where to begin.
I ran from carnival game to carnival game, trying my luck at each of them but to no avail. Sweet Pea tried to help at a few of them but also failed. We considered just being a menace and stealing the stuffed toy or rigging the game but chose not to.
Since we were still full from the meal earlier, we did not want to get onto any of the exhilarating rides, so we got onto the Ferris wheel. We got a single cabin for just the two of us. Sweet Pea had his arm around me as the cabin went round and round, and we watched the people below us scurry around like ants in a hurry.
Time passed us by real quick but luckily we did not have a curfew. Neither of us wanted it to end but the night was calling us home. We dragged out the time as much as possible before the carnival closed and we were forced to leave.
While on the way out, we encountered a couple of teens about our age by the entrance playing with some firecrackers. They were dressed up like greasers with the plaid flannel and leather jackets over it but they were not sporting the Southside Serpent patch. They could have easily been a couple of delinquents or from a rival gang. There was no way of avoiding them and they easily spotted us.
"Hey look," one of them called out to their comrades, "a lone Serpent." The others stopped with their shenanigans and turned their attention to us. "You should know well enough not to enter our turf," they continued. The four of them approached us and blocked our way.
Sweet Pea simply sighed. He still had an arm wrapped around my shoulder and was relaxed and casual and never let go.
"Don't you have better things to do?" I countered. I really didn't want to fight. Not tonight. It was late and I just wanted to get home.
The leader, I assume, shook his index finger in front of our faces. "Nah ah," he said, "You gotta pay some taxes before we can let you leave."
"How about I pay you with my fist in your face if you don't get out of the way," Sweet Pea finally spoke up. He was still relaxed with an arm around me.
"Oh, c'mon pretty boy," the leader flashed his switchblade, "You haven't even heard our offer yet!" He laughed with his other gang members. "I know you serpents are very strict with your laws. So how about we let you go when you shed your skin," he stepped forward and pressed the blade against Sweet Pea's jacket, "and burn it."
Sweet Pea glance over at me and gave me that look, the 'we can take them' look. I looked over at the lot, there were four of them, three dudes and one girl. They were relatively skinny and small built, Sweet Pea towered over them. I turned back and gave him a reluctant nod.
"Fine," said Sweet Pea, finally taking his arm off of me. He took a step back and imitated taking off his jacket but instead he reached into his pocket and took out the balisong I gave him for Christmas. He swung it open and brandished the blade.
I took a step forward and kicked the leader in the balls. He drops the switchblade and bends over groaning as he groped his groin. I kicked away the blade and the others started coming after us.
Sweet Pea swung the blade at the ones coming and they stepped back to avoid the attack. I took the opportunity to punch the leader across the face while he was still bent over in pain. He fell onto the ground, incapacitating him.
One of the guys came after me and swung an arm at me which I dodged. He had a brass knuckle on his right hand. I punched him in the guts but that had little effect on him. I was a smaller target compared to him, I would not be able to do much damage if I started punching. Lost in my thoughts for a moment, I did not anticipate his second attack and his right fist landed square on my face.
I fell over and there was a stinging pain on the left side of my face. Ow. No time to think. I quickly kicked him hard in the shin, he lost his balance and fell over. Now the playing field was even. But I had no time to land another attack because I could hear the police sirens.
I tried my best to ignore the pain and got myself up. Sweet Pea had a similar idea, he had stopped swinging and I watched as he tossed the balisong into the bushes nearby. We bolted together and ran straight to the bike. We never looked back, if the others were smart, they would choose to flee instead of chase after us. The sirens were crescendoing, they were nearing us. Sweet Pea started the bike and immediately fled.
He was riding fast.
My face hurts like fuck.
We were speeding.
In the winter.
On icy roads.
I watched as he drove us back into town, passing by Cerberus Books then to the bridge, crossing over Sweetwater River and into Riverdale. I think we lost them. I smacked his shoulder to get his attention.
"You can slow down now!" I shouted over the wind blowing back at us.
He did what I said and slowed down. Thank God we did not skid. We quickly made it back to a few blocks down my place.
God my face hurts like hell. I got off the bike and instinctively bent down and grabbed a handful of snow from the ground and cupped it onto the left side of my face. Sweet relief from the pain.
"Are you okay?" Sweet Pea asked with concern in his voice as he switched off the bike. He got off and came over to me, cupping my face in his hands. "Let me see."
I moved the snow away from my face and let it fall onto the ground. Sweet Pea sucked in air through his teeth. I guess I must have looked bad.
"The guy had brass knuckles," I told him.
He bent down to the ground and grabbed a handful of fresh snow then held it to my face. "You have a cut but it isn't deep so you don't need stitches," he said, "but your face is definitely gonna swell."
"Are you speaking from experience?"
He smiled, "Yeah, my face swelled up to the size of a baseball." Yikes. "Don't worry, I'll still like you even when your face has swelled up ten times it's size."
"Gee thanks, that's reassuring." I playfully punched him in the stomach. "Why'd you throw away the knife earlier?" I continued to ask.
"Sorry Ken, if we were caught I would've been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon."
"You really know a lot about the charges for violence."
He chuckled, "Yeah, sorry. I'll get it back."
He was still holding snow up to my face. I was already feeling intolerant to the coldness, how has his hand not given up yet? I pushed his arm aside and let the snow fall to the ground.
"Thanks for today, Sweets." I tiptoed to reach him and kissed his lips and he kissed me back. I pulled away, "Get home safely, okay."
"Of course," he replied.
We walked the rest of the way back to my house with him pushing the bike. He watched as I walked up to my front porch before he continued to push the bike a few blocks down. I could hear the revving of his bike from a distance as he drove off.
I peered at the window and noticed that the lights were off, I must be in the clear. So I entered through the front door. My dad was in the living room watching the tv with the lights off. Crap, did not expect him to still be up. He took one glance at me and immediately got worried.
"My God, Kenna what happened?" He came rushing over to me.
"It's nothing, dad," I said. Quick, think of something. "I went to the amusement park over at Greendale with a couple of friends. . . And we went to a haunted house and I ran straight into a dead end." Smart.
He scanned my face. I don't think he bought it. It was a stupid excuse anyways. He looked at me for a really long time, trying to think of something to say.
"You should really be more careful, Kenna," he finally says.
"Yup," I dismissed myself up to my room.
He definitely did not buy it. I felt bad for lying to my dad. He did not protest anyways so I was good, I guess. Why didn't he say anything?