NOTHING
chapter five
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Rosemary didn't go to Archie's house with Jughead later that night. Instead she went to her mom's trailer and locked herself away. Rosemary spent her time trying to process her emotions that were flashing through her mind after hearing the deal the lawyer threw onto the table.
When she first got to the trailer, a fury burned in her chest. Her own mother had tried to keep the lawyer's deal away from her and it left Rosemary feeling sick. The only family she had left in the cursed town of Riverdale was facing twenty to forty years in prison and she felt like there was nothing she could do about it. Rosemary, in her anger, had torn apart the living room of the trailer as her eyes flashed red. The coffee table was flipped, bottles thrown against the wall and shattered on the ground, couch cushions viciously torn apart.
After her fit of rage, Rosemary felt tears begin streaming down her face as she laid in the middle of the living room floor. Loud music blasted from her speaker as cigarette smoke pooled from her lips and bottles of alcohol littered the floor around her. She had been stuck with such intense grief that it left her feeling empty.
She felt like nothing.
So the next morning, Rosemary woke up still in the center of her living room floor, the bright sunlight from the windows raining down at her and causing her to squint. A headache pounded against the inside of her skull as Rosemary let out a soft groan, pushing herself up so she was now sitting. The blonde girl reeked of alcohol and smoke from the night before and decided a shower would do her good.
Rosemary made her way into the bathroom, pulling out her phone from her back pocket and seeing dozens of calls and texts from Betty and Jughead. She noticed they were from an hour earlier and shrugged, tossing her phone on the sink counter before stripping herself of her clothes and climbing into the hot shower.
After scrubbing her skin of any stench of alcohol and smoke, Rosemary found herself sitting on the floor of her bathroom with her knees pulled up to her chest and her eyes unfocused as they locked on the tile beneath her. Her hangover was leaving her fatigued and sore, but it wasn't the worst pain she had ever felt.
The emptiness that Rosemary was feeling from the night before was being filled with any feeling she could grasp, which in that moment happened to be her hangover. Her body replaced emotions with physical pain that it was leaving her distant from the world around her. It was a usual thing for her to do, but she hadn't dove down this rabbit hole since the death of her brother. Now, everything was starting to hit her all at once all over again and it was leaving her a shell of her usual self.
Cameron's death, her father leaving, having to send away her sister, her mother's arrest, the Black Hood, loosing her job, and now the deal. To was all too much.
Rosemary climbed out of the shower after the water had run ice cold and made her way into the bedroom with a towel wrapped tightly around her frame. In the silence of the morning she searched through her mothers dresser and closet for any clothes that would fit her and that didn't smell of alcohol.
Eventually, she landed on a navy blue long-sleeve and a black pair of jeans. Rosemary tied the top so her lower stomach could be seen and tightened the pants around her waist with an old belt that she had to punch a new hole into with an old pair of scissors. Tied to her feet was a simple pair of black boots and, to keep herself looking somewhat presentable, Rosemary tied her hair back in a messy ponytail and tried to fix her bangs from their frizzy and knotted state. Eventually she gave up after trying to brush her hair out with her fingers and left her hair in knots as she made her way out of the trailer.
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"Sorry, I'm late," Rosemary gasped as she rushed into the Blue and Gold office.
Betty had called a meeting earlier that morning and had sent Rosemary a quick text only five minutes ahead of time. Inside sat Veronica and Kevin, who both eyed Rosemary's disheveled appearance as the blonde girl took her seat at the end of the table with her iced coffee in her hand.
"You okay, Rosie?" Veronica asked, taking in Rosemary's makeup free face. She could see the dark, sunken, circles beneath her hazel eyes, which were out of place since the girl, most of the time, got at least eight hours of sleep in a night.
"Fine, I'm fine," Rosemary stammered, hanging her white backpack on the back of her chair and looking up at Betty. "What's the meeting about?"
Betty, Veronica, and Kevin all sent each other worried looks before hesitantly going back to what they were discussing before. Though they were concerned for their blonde friend, Pop's was the main focus at the moment.
"We can't let the terrorists win," Betty sighed, her cashmere wrapped arms crossed over her chest as she stood in front of the small group. "We need to host an event at Pop's that reminds the town of simpler times. Like, a throwback to when the shoppe first opened its doors."
Veronica and Keven sent each other skeptical looks and looked back at Rosemary, to see if she was on the same page, only to see her zoned out as she sipped at her coffee, her tired eyes locked on the table.
"Betty," Veronica sighed, turning her attention to her preppy blonde best friend. "I like a good milkshake as much as any girl, and Pop's puts Serendipity 3's to shame. But, why this hill to die on?"
Betty took a breath, a small chuckle leaving her lips as she took a moment to think to herself. Rosemary's attention was shaken by Kevin, who tapped her shoulder and sent her a confused look. The blonde teenager just waved off her obvious concern and turned her attention to Betty.
"Orange freezes with my mom and Polly after ballet," Betty sighed as she thought back on old memories from Pop's. "Chicken noodle soup with my dad after ice-skating. Grilled cheeses with Archie on the last day of summer vacation. It's where I met you for the first time, Vee." Betty turned her attention to Kevin. "It's were I met you for the first time." Betty then turned to Rosemary, who had a tired smile on her face as she remembered all the memories with her family and friends in the diner. "Rose, think of all the fun memories you have with Jughead when he visits you on your long night shifts."
"Think about the time I dumped two trays of food and two milkshakes on Reggie Mantle's head," Rosemary chuckled softly, earning laughs from her friends around her.
"Speaking of Jug and Rose," Betty sighed. "He might loose his dad and you might loose your mom, Rose. But maybe I can save this one place for you two. For all of us."
Before Betty could continue, there was a knock on the door that caught the four teen's attention. All of them turned to see a man in a suit walk in. He had a tan complexion and nicely gelled black hair. In his arms was a small white box and a large bouquet of yellow roses.
"Hey, Veronica," The man spoke, his eyes taking in all the teenagers before landing on the Latina. "May I speak to you?"
"Daddy?" Veronica asked in shock, causing Betty and Kevin to gasp while Rosemary choked on her drink, breaking into a coughing fit.
"Daddy?"
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Rosemary leaned against the dirty brick wall at her and Jughead waited for Tall Boy to meet them after school on the South Side. Their bikes sat parked next to each other while Jughead paced in place, nervously waiting for Tall Boy.
His nerves raked through him as his eyes kept flashing to Rosemary, who had been silent the entire time. He knew something was wrong the previous night when she went to her mom's trailer instead of going with him to Archie's. She avoided him the entire day at school and she had ignored all of his texts except for the one asking her to come with him to meet up with Tall Boy. Now that they were alone, he couldn't stop himself from trying to catch her eye, however, instead of looking at him her eyes were on her phone as she texted Toni.
The loud roar of a motorcycle caught the two teens attention. Rosemary stayed silent as she slid her phone in her back pocket and pushed herself off the wall with her foot. Her eyes were locked with Tall Boy as he pulled up and hopped off of his bike. He sent her a simple nod as a greeting before turning his attention to Jughead, who was the one to call him there in the first place.
"Why'd you call me here, Jones?" Tallboy asked, standing above the two teenagers.
"It's about my dad," Jughead sighed, his arms crossing over his chest. "I tried going the legit route. I even talked to the mayor. It's just... It feels like the whole system's rigged against us."
"When did you go see McCoy?" Rosemary whispered, a frown forming on her face as she turned her attention to Jughead.
"This morning with Betty."
Rosemary felt her frown deepen as she just nodded, her eyes drifting down her her feet. Yes, she had been fine before with Jughead and Betty being close, but sneaking off together to see the mayor without telling Rosemary wasn't something she was very fond of. She knew it wasn't her place to get mad since Jughead and Betty were friends, yet a small ball of annoyance was beginning to build up in her chest.
"What's FP and Amelia saying?" Tallboy asked, crossing his arms over his chest also. "Are they taking this deal?"
"Not if I can help it," Jughead muttered.
Rosemary just simple nodded in agreement. Though she was still angry with her mom for trying to keep her out of the negotiation, she wasn't going to sit back and let the only family she had left be sent away to prison for twenty, or forty, years.
"Tall Boy," Jughead spoke up after a small moment of silence between the three. "What if we bust them out of jail before they get transferred to state?"
"Are you crazy?" Rosemary hissed to her boyfriend as Tall Boy scoffed. The smaller blonde grabbed Jughead's arm and spun him so he faced her, her face going red as her patience grew thin with the dark haired boy.
"It's totally doable," Jughead shook his arm out of Rosemary's grasp as turned back to face Tallboy. "The sheriff's station has worse security than Riverdale High. And once the two of them are out, it's just a straight shot right up Sweetwater River until the Canadian border."
"You've seen Escape From Alcatraz a few too many times, kid," Tall Boy joked through a small chuckled. "Your dad need a snake-handler. Someone whose livelihood depends on snakes. Who's used to dealing with them. I got someone you should meet."
"Tall Boy," Rosemary warned the taller Serpent, a glare in her eyes. "You're not saying we should make a deal wi-"
"That's exactly what I'm saying," Tall Boy cut off Rosemary, meeting her glare. "Now I'm going to leave you two to think about it. Call me up when you decide what you're going to do."
Without another word, Tall Boy climbed on his bike and sent a salute to the teenagers before riding away on his roaring motorcycle. Rosemary let out a sigh as she stepped away from Jughead, running her hands through her thick blonde hair as she tried to calm herself down. She knew what Tall Boy was suggesting them to do but Rosemary knew better than to work with a snake-handler. Her only worry was that Jughead didn't know better and seemed desperate to get his dad out of jail.
Her pocket buzzed from her phone and she pulled it out, seeing a text from Cheryl asking her why she wasn't at the River Vixens practice. Rosemary let out a sigh and sent Cheryl a quick text that she was on her way before turning around and making her way to her bike.
"Where are you going?" Jughead asked as he watched his girlfriend place her helmet on her head. "We need to talk about this deal."
"I'm not making any deals with a snake-handler, Jug," Rosemary sighed as she climbed onto her bike. Jughead made his way over and stood at her side. "And if you're smart you wont either, you hear me?"
Jughead was quiet for a moment, his mind whirling as he met Rosemary's eyes. He could tell she was mad and didn't want to upset her more. So, with a sigh and a small nod, Jughead wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pressed a soft kiss on her cheek as a small goodbye. He watched as she revved her bike and shot off, leaving him alone to think.