CHAPTER FOUR
WALK OF SHAME
"slap at the face that eats me"
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Somehow, Harley was sitting in a room alongside Kevin, Cheryl, Josie, Veronica, Archie, Reggie and Betty. There was a new addition to the group, Nick St. Clair. He was apparently one of Ronnie's old time friends back in New York, and due to her father having business with his, she was on entertainment duty. Which in turn meant that the boy got the pleasure of being introduced to Veronica's new friend.
Most of them had already had something, or several somethings, to drink. Some were mildly tipsy while others barely even had any alcohol in their system. Betty being one of the few that barely had any. Harley hadn't had a lot to drink either, mainly because she despised alcohol. Her father had impacted the way she viewed it. Sure, she could at times get crazy, but she always harbored this deep feeling of resentment, regretting even going to the party in the first place when she got really drunk.
To make the small party even crazier, Nick suddenly pulled out a box with what looked like straws. If Harley hadn't known better, she'd say it was, but she did know better. That box he was clutching contained drugs. Jingle jangle. Her nose scrunched up in disgust. Not only was it a stupid idea, but it was a ridiculous name. No way was she doing something called 'jingle jangle'.
"I don't know Nick. . ." Veronica trailed off, eyeing the drugs. Sure, back in the big apple she had been quite the party girl, up for almost anything. But in Riverdale she was a different person. She didn't like the reputation her family had, and she wanted to change. Veronica wanted to do better. But with the temptations and constant reminders that Nick brought with him it was getting hard.
"Oh come on, V." Nick pestered, practically shoving the box in her face. From across the room, Archie was seated, wearing a scowl. He had decided. He did not like this St. Clair boy. "Where's the party girl I know?"
Veronica shifted uncomfortably in her seat, which the Andrews boy noticed. He decided to speak up. "Dude, we told you that we don't—"
"No offense, but you're being an epic buzzkill." Nick interrupted the ginger. Harley found his personality repulsive, but she had to admit, he was a sight for sore eyes. "Come on V. Cut loose, like back in the old days. Aren't you suppose to be showing me a good time per daddy's orders?" He cheekily asked, continuing to pressure. Finally, Veronica gave in.
"You know what Nicky? I'm just getting going, and now that you mentioned it, I wouldn't mind some sugar to spice things up." She accepted the straw, letting him continue to hand out. Though she had vowed that she was going to change, Veronica's participation wasn't exactly a shocker. Harley only hoped that this wasn't a regular thing with the girl. The drugs, the drinking, the attitudes. . . it left a sour taste in her mouth.
Hesitatedly everyone accepted a straw ( even Josie, which was odd considering the fact that her father struggled greatly with addiction ). Harley offered a friendly smile, shaking her head no. "Awh, come on." Nick playfully whined at her. She rolled her eyes.
"I'm good, thanks." Harley Byers was not about to be peer pressured into taking drugs by a big city boy. No freaking way in hell. Besides, god knows what was in the stuff he was handing out. She wasn't about to trust him.
"Fine, your loss." He continued down the line, handing one to Cheryl and Reggie. Then he reached Betty and Archie. Archie was practically the golden boy of Riverdale ( it used to be Jason, but after his murder Archie was one of the few other good guys left ). And Betty was the golden girl. The chances of any of them taking jingle jangle was low.
"No." Betty quickly refused, the stern look on her face letting the St. Clair boy know that there wasn't room for discussing. He held the box out for Archie, who shook his head. Nick sighed, a smirk still on display, before edging back closer to Veronica.
He loosely let an arm snake around her waist, pulling her closer. "Perhaps we should decamp back to the bedroom, so as to not corrupt the country mice." Harley cringed at the sentence, watching wearily as Archie glared at the boy. He jumped from his seat, snatching a straw.
"You know what? On second thoughts." A round of cheers sounded in the room as he returned to his seat. That left only Harley and Betty, both of them sharing a knowing look. Everyone knew the only reason Archie accepted was because his jealousy of Nick.
"You, pretty girl, sure you don't want any?" Nick directed his attention back to Harley, giving her a suggesting look. She politely smiled and declined.
"I'm good." She piped. Veronica looked back over at Betty, preparing to try convincing her. Harley decided she didn't want to wait for the obvious fight that was about to break out between the two girls, so she excused herself.
Exiting the hotel room and walking down the empty hallway, Harley was overly enthusiastic to finally be let out of the small space. The air was starting to feel tight. It was about time she made her escape.
She didn't feel like going home. Harley rarely did. Especially now, the clock was ticking close to four am in the morning. Besides, she knew someone who lived a hell of a lot closer to this hotel then she did. So she mindlessly started walking in the dark streets, momentarily forgetting the murderer that was on the loose.
Soon enough she was standing infront of the door, all in one piece. She lifted her fist and knocked, but entered without waiting for an answer. Luckily the door was unlocked. Harley dropped her heels and purse on the small couch in the cramped space, pulling her hair out of the ponytail it had been forced into. She then proceeded to make herself at home by grabbing some midnight snacks from the fridge.
Jughead was awoken by the noises suddenly erupting into his small trailer. He shot up in his bed, quickly gripping the baseball bat he had placed on the far end of his bed. With his beanie secured ontop of his head, he tip toed into the living room, eyes narrowed at the figure eating his food in the kitchen.
Harley turned around, almost jumping out of her skin when she spotted Jughead standing behind her. She slapped a hand across her heart, breathing heavily. "Fuck, Jug. I almost had a heart attack." She chuckled, mouth full of food.
"Harley?" He said once he could see her face. The somewhat scared look on his face quickly morphed into a scowl. "Fucking hell, you almost had a heart attack? What do you think I had! Are you trying to kill me or something?"
She shrugged her shoulders, finishing the granola bar she had been snacking on. "Are you eating my food?" He asked, snatching the wrap from the bar out of her grip. "Harley!"
"What? I was hungry, and you barely have any food here. Like, do you ever even eat? Geez. No wonder you're hungry all the time." He eyed her outfit, one brow arched. She was dressed in a tight and revealing black dress. Had she been on a party?
"Yeah well it doesn't help having you eat it all." Jughead followed her into his room. "Why are you here anyways? I'm not sure Betty would appreciate me having another girl sleep in my trailer."
Harley threw herself on the bed, almost groaning at the relaxing feeling it was to lay ontop of a matress. This had been one long night.
"Betty knows I'd never go for such a loser like you." She joked.
"That doesn't answer my other question. Where have you been? Did you walk all the way across town here? In the middle of the night?" Worry was evident in his voice as he questioned Harley. She offered him a nonchalant shoulder shrug, finding is parental lecture amusing.
"I was at this party with a friend of Veronica and stuff started getting weird. Like, he had jingle jangle and everyone was taking it so I bailed." She explained. "And no, I didn't walk across town. It was at that hotel just by the tracks."
A look of surprise washed over his face. "Betty took jingle jangle?"
"No, her and I were the only ones who didn't. I'm pretty sure she left after me." Harley assured. "Now can we please stop talking and sleep?" She asked, yawning loudly. He nodded. "Do you have some clothes I can borrow? This dress ain't is really not comfortable."
Jughead dug through his closet, chucking a oversized gray tee shirt at her. She thanked him, escaped into the bathroom and reentered with the shirt hanging loosely on her body. It reached just about her mid thigh. She quickly slipped into the warm covers, Jughead following suit.
"Goodnight Jug." She whispered, closing her eyes.
"Goodnight Har."
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The next morning wasn't as peaceful as Harley had hoped for it to be.
She'd woken up to Jughead practically throwing himself out of bed, neverminding the fact that he was interrupting her beauty sleep. He rummaged around his trailer, mumbling stuff under his breath that Harley couldn't decipher. When a second tee shirt hit her head as he searched around for clothes to wear, she had enough.
"It's freaking eight in the morning, what the fuck are you having your panties in a twist for?" She groaned, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
"You need to leave." He instructed, throwing the dress and heels at her. She ducked before the shoes could hit her head. The girl stared wide eyed at her friend, wondering why he was suddenly giving her the boot.
"Are you trying to give me a concussion? And why do I have to leave? I said yesterday I'm sure Betty won't-"
"This isn't about Betty." He rushed out, already pulling her out of his bed. Harley barley managed to stabilize herself on her feet, heels in one hand and dress and purse in the other, before she was forcefully shoved out of his trailer.
Much to her surprise, she was shoved directly into a familiar redhead. Archie stared at her with just as much suprise as she did at him.
"Archie?"
"Harley?"
Jughead stepped out of his trailer himself, eyes widning at the sight of his friend. "Archie?" Panick settled in Jughead. "You can't be here. Both of you need to leave."
Harley furrowed her brows, confusion written on her face. Why was he in such a rush to get them out of there?
"We need to talk." Archie said, ignoring Jughead's demands for them to leave.
"No, you need to leave." Urgency was evident in his voice as he tried his best on making his two best friends get the hell out of there.
Harley's confusion was answered by a loud voice sounding behind them. "What the hell do we have here?" A tall boy sporting a large bruise on his nose stepped into view, cladded in a black Serpent leather jacket along with the guys behind him. Fuck me, Harley internally groaned. This was not the way she wanted her morning to go.
Archie looked between the Serpents and Jug, slowly piecing two and two together. "Wait, you're friends with these thugs?" He spat, glaring at the gang members. Harley cringed at his choice of words, awkwardly edged closer to Jughead, standing behind him in an attempt to cover her barely clothed self up. If she didn't look like the definition of walk of shame right now, she didn't know what did.
"It's not what you think." Jughead quickly rushed out, frantically looking between them and the Serpents.
Archie stared at him in disbelief. "Are you joining the Serpents?" Harley's eyes widened. Hadn't Jughead already told Archie? She thought he would've, seeing as besides her Archie and Betty were his best friends.
"If he survives." The tall guy growled, making an attempt to step closer to the Andrews boy. "And go ahead and try calling us thugs one more time."
Jughead put a hand in his chest, preventing him from lunging at Archie. Harley wasn't sure if any of them had spotted her yet, but she remained in her spot behind Jug. If there was ever a moment Harley prayed she would just melt through the ground and disappear, this would be it.
"Jug, these are the guys who attacked me! Who attacked Reggie, and Veronica, and Dilton and even Harley!" Archie exclaimed, pointing at the Byers girl when he said her name. Suddenly everyone's attention shifted over at the girl. She mentally scoffed. If they hadn't seen her before they sure as hell did now. The girl's face heated up, eyes blaring at the Andrews' boy.
"Is that why you're here? To warn me?" Jughead questioned, eyes screwed onto the red head. Harley shifted uncomfortably on her feet, glancing at the Serpents. A chill ran down her spine when she realized that the tall one was staring directly at her. The very obvious bruise he was sporting was glaring at her, reminding her that she was the one who put it there. A mixture of regret and pride swirled in her. She was happy she had stood up for her friends, but right about now she wished she hadn't.
"No. I'm here to tell you to stay away from Betty. She doesn't want to see you anymore." Archie spat, disgusted by what his best friend was turning into. Jughead's face fell at it words, while Harley peered over Jug's shoulder at Archie in suprise, mouth almost falling open.
The Serpents shared a look while watching the scene unfold. "Screw you! I just saw Betty yesterday. Sh-she was fine."
"No, dude. She's been wanting to break up with you for weeks! She's been agonizing over it since you crossed over to the dark side. She couldn't bring herself to do it." Archie informed, venom laced in his words as he spoke. Harley shook her head in disbelief. The dark side? What was this, Star Wars?
Jughead shook his head in disbelief. "So she sent you? Betty would never do that." His tone faltered slightly. Harley wasn't sure if he was trying to convince them, or himself of the fact.
"If you don't believe me then feel free to call her. Oh, and go ahead and tell her how you're becoming a Serpent. Bet she'll love that. She saw where you were headed, we all did! She knows you can't be with her and them at the same time. And you know it too!" Jughead's shoulders slumped at Archie's words. "And while you're at it, might as well tell her how you've been slumming it with this bitch behind her back as well." He didn't mean to call her that, or to even bring her into this, but his anger got the best of him.
Harley shoved Jughead aside, preparing to lunge at Archie. "What the fuck did you just say?" Jughead quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her back as she tried throwing punches. The tall Serpent watched with amusement. "You know what Andrews? You think you're so much better then Jug? Because you have a fine house, on this fine street with a fine girlfriend? Yeah, well before you start assuming things about other people's business, how about to double check that friend of Veronica's? What makes you think she's not hitting it with him? I mean, if I was dating dickhead like you, I sure wouldn't mind doing him."
Archie glared at the girl, but restrained himself from doing something he knew he'd come to regret. "Tell Betty I got the message." Jughead grumbled, dropping his arms from around Harley.
"Yeah." Archie turned on his heel to leave when Harley realized he was her ticket home.
"You know what? You owe me for saving your ass! You're driving me home, and I don't give a shit if I'm angry at you right now, I'm not walking." She said, grabbing the keys out of his hands, marching past him and to the car he borrowed from his dad. Archie didn't say anything, simply following after the girl.
The tall Serpent tore his eyes from Harley, one arched brow in Jughead's direction. "What? Did you enjoy the show?" Jughead yelled at them. The Serpent smirked, chuckling lowly.
With a menacing look in his eyes, he opened his mouth. "The show hasn't even started."
word count; 2886
a/n
archie was so annoying in that scene like fuck. i'm trying to fit harley into different scenes with sweet pea, but at the same time i don't want to do it in all the same ways everyone else has done it. i am trying to make this book less. . . basic? i feel like a lot of these books are very repetitive so please let me know what u think. sorry for sloppy writing btw.
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