SNAKES
chapter two
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"He was maybe five ten," Archie described the hooded man to Sheriff Keller. "A hundred and sixty pounds or so.
Rosemary sat at Archie's side while Jughead was at the vending machine getting a snack. He came back with a chocolate bar, splitting it in half after opening it and giving half to Rosemary. She sent him a thankful smile before taking a small bite out of the bar.
"And he was wearing dark pants and a dark jacket," Sheriff Keller read off the information he had already gathered from the teens. "Anything on the jacket? Symbol or insignia?"
"You mean like a snake?" Jughead asked with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Rosemary shook her head. "It was just a jacket. No snake."
"And the ski mask that he had on-"
"No," Archie cut off the sheriff. "It's not a ski mask. It's a hood, a black hood. Homemade, like he'd cut the eyes out himself. And the guy's eyes were green."
Rosemary remembered the look of the green eyes from the man. Through the slits he had cute from the hood were a pair of green eyes that had no look of good in them. Rosemary could tell with one look that the man did not care how young she was or if she was a female. He had no remorse when she cried as he held a clump of her hair and ripped upwards. He didn't care about her pleas as he held the gun to her head.
"Now," Sheriff Keller brought Rosemary out of her trance. "Pop Tate had a fairly good idea of what happened up until when your father was shot. And then, well there are some gaps. And I need you two to help me foll those. What did he do, our masked man?"
"After he shot my dad?" Archie asked, stiffening up. "He..."
Rosemary could see the look of distress in Archie's eyes. Like he was brought back to that moment with just a simple question. He looked between Jughead and Rosemary with a dazed off look. Rosemary wondered if he even really saw her or if he was stuck in his own mind. Instead of sitting in silence, she gave Archie a moment by speaking up herself.
"He went at me," Rosemary spoke up, drifting the Sheriff's attention off of Archie and onto herself. "He, uh, he came at me with the gun and grabbed me by my hair. He put the gun to my head like he was, um, gonna shoot me. Then, uh, he hit my head on the counter and everything went black."
"Then he ran out of the diner," Archie continued for Rosemary, sending her a thankful look. "Who did this, Sheriff?"
"Archie," Sheriff Keller sighed, shaking his head slightly. "It's just... It's too early to speculate. But this guy, he was probably out of his head on meth or the jingle jangle, some Southside lowlife that was just looking for a cash grab."
"How much did he get?" Jughead asked. "How much cash?"
Rosemary frowned. Now that she thought about it, she didn't remember the man ever taking any money out of the register. Sure, he was yelling about a safe and wanting money, but she knew that if it was a lowlife looking for a cash grab, they wouldn't go for the safe. They would go for the easy money in the register.
"We're waiting to head about that from Pop Tate," The Sheriff assured.
"Since this is Riverdale," Jughead sighed. "I have to ask. What if robbery wasn't the motive? What else could it be?"
"Well," Sheriff Keller shrugged. "I suppose it could be someone who has a grudge against your dad. Wanted to make it look like a robbery. But I mean, it's just too early to tell."
Rosemary, Archie, and Jughead all looked at each other with wide eyed and raised brows. Had there been a motive besides money? Was Fred Andrews a target of something much bigger than any of them could imagine?
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"I got nervous," Tallboy said as he hopped off his bike in the alley beside the Hospital. "When you said to meet at the hospital."
Rosemary stood to the side with Jughead's jacket still tightly wrapped around her. Her face had been wiped of all blood, a bandage from the hospital over the scrape on her head. She was checked and they made sure she didn't have a concussion. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, a few red strands hanging down to frame her face.
"I was wondering about when you said the Serpents had my back," Jughead stepped towards Tallboy, leaving Rosemary to lean against the wall. "Does that courtesy extend to a guy who's like my brother, and a man who's like a second father to me?"
Tallboy looked over Jughead's shoulder at Rosemary, taking in her bloody appearance. He raised an eyebrow towards the teenage girl who sent him a nod with pleading eyes. She knew some Serpents weren't as keen on helping Jughead as others so she just hoped Tallboy was one of the good ones.
"What do you need?" Tallboy asked Jughead, making Rosemary send him a thankful look.
"Fred Andrews," Jughead stepped forwards. "My buddy's dad, was just shot, during a robbery at Pop's. The guy was in a black hood."
"Serpents don't wear masks," A young serpent Rosemary didn't know the name of spoke up from behind Tallboy.
"Yeah, I get it," Jughead nodded. "But some of those Serpents were working for Fred Andrews when, for reasons of his own, he decided to let them go suddenly. Maybe someone took it personally and went rogue. You guys know every hidey-hole in town. Someone has to have heard something about what went down at Pop's."
"All right, we'll knock some heads. Let you know," Tallboy nodded down at Jughead before looking back over at Rosemary. "You good, Blondie?"
Rosemary sent the tall serpent a soft not and reassuring smile before looking over at Jughead and nodding towards the Hospital, motioning for them to head back inside. Jughead said one last goodbye to Tallboy before rushing over to his girlfriend, taking her hand in his and making their way towards the front of the hospital.
"Hey, Ro," Jughead whispered, lightly tugging Rosemary to a stop and turning her to face him. "How about we get you changed? Archie and Veronica left to get Archie cleaned up and there's gonna be some time before Fred is out of Surgery."
Rosemary didn't argue. She just softly nodded to Jughead and the two walked over towards Fp Jones' old bike Jughead had ridden. After sending a text to Betty about where the two were going, Jughead's helmet was placed on Rosemary's head. Rosemary thought the helmet was cute. It was a plain black helmet with a white crown outline painted in the front of it. She thought it was very fitting for Jughead and sent him a smile before climbing on the back of the bike so he could drive. Rosemary's arms tightly snaked around Jughead's waist as the two raced off towards the empty Holland household.
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The two teenagers stepped into the silent house that stood directly next door to the house of Archie and Fred Andrews. Rosemary placed Jughead's helmet and jacket on a chair in the living room before muttering to Jughead that she was going to go and take a shower. Jughead watched Rosemary climb up the stairs and frowned.
Jughead was usually good with comforting Rosemary. In the past he noticed she liked to just be held until her emotions calmed down. No words exchanged or asking if she was alright. Just a tight, comforting hold around her and time to let her get her emotions out. But today, Jughead didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do as Rosemary's boyfriend. Was he expected to do better now that the two were dating? Did she expect anything more from him when she was sad like flowers and chocolates? With a huff, the confused boy sat down on the living room couch and thought of what to do.
Upstairs in the bathroom, the mirror steamed from the hot shower Rosemary stood in. She had peeled the sticky yellow dress off of her body and left it sitting in the sink along with her undergarments, socks, and even her shoes. She didn't know if the blood would even wash off of her clothes. At least not that much.
Hot water ran down her pale skin and she stared at her feet as she watched a red stream of blood drag along the white tile floor beneath her feet. With a shaky breath, Rosemary rubbed her face to wipe off any remaining blood.
The echos of the man's screaming and the loud gunshot wrapped around Rosemary's mind. The feeling of the man grabbing the crown of her head and pulling upwards came back along with the cold chill of the end of the barrel of his gun pressing against her forehead. Quickly, Rosemary switched off the water and climbed out of the shower. She was nearly positive all the blood wasn't off of her but she didn't care. Her body was shaking and she needed to lay down.
Wrapped in her towel, Rosemary swung open the door of her bathroom to come face to face with Jughead Jones who was standing there with his one hand raised in a fist to knock and the other wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. Rosemary and him locked eyes and she looked down at the mug in his hand. The hot chocolate was from her kitchen. It was one of the quick mix packets, small marshmallows scattered on the top along with small chunks of unmixed chocolate powder. It was steaming and probably was burning Jughead's hand slightly.
"Thought you would want this," Jughead sent the blonde girl a soft smile. "I can, uh, put it in your room if you want."
Rosemary looked up at the dark haired boy and nodded, leading the way into her room without a word. The two walked past three bedrooms before making it to her room. All three bedrooms were closed and locked from the outside, making Jughead wonder if the rooms belongs to her siblings and parents.
As the two walked into Rosemary's room, Jughead looked around at the decorations. The walls were painted a light grey with a dark grey carpet. The room was small, possible an old office space but now turned into a bedroom. Pushed in the far corner was a full bed with off white sheets in front of a window, soft sheer curtains letting in sunshine. Along the top of the walls hung white string lights that Jughead remembered Rosemary telling him about because she was ecstatic when she got them. At the foot of the bed was ottoman like chest with soft blue cushion around it and Rosemary's many shoes inside. To his right was a full length mirror next to a desk with papers scattered all across it. Above the desk was a cork board filled with pictures of her and her loved ones and sketches she had done. Next to her bed was her nightstand with a small ceramic lamp on and underneath, tucked away, Rosemary's white roller blades that Jughead hadn't seen since probably late September.
Jughead's attention was drawn away from the decor of the room to Rosemary, who was sitting on the bed with her towel still wrapped around her and her wet hair sticking to her back. Jughead frowned when he saw a red smear still on the girl's neck and sighed, placing down the mug of hot chocolate on her desk and going out to the bathroom to grab a towel and wet it. One glance at the sink and Jughead's stomach flipped. Sitting there was just a pile of sticky, bloody clothes that were left untouched. He quickly wet a towel and walked over to Rosemary, who was in her same position as before.
Jughead carefully sat next to the small girl and cupped her face with one hand so she faced him and rubbed at the red smear on her neck with the towel. The two sat in comforting silence as Jughead cleaned away any blood she missed. Soon, the towel was slightly bloodstained and Rosemary's porcelain skin was left spotless. The two looked into each other's eyes and without a single word spoken, Jughead cupped the other side of Rosemary's face and pulled her into a warm kiss.
There the two sat, lips pressed together as they slid down onto the bed in the dark silent house of the Hollands.