❝We are the poisoned youth...❞
☽ ---------------- 𓆙𓆙𓆙 ---------------- ☾
SUNNYSIDE TRAILER PARK stretched out in the windshield of the 1967 Oldsmobile Cutlass as it drove over the rough, gravel roads. The car, much like the girl behind the wheel, wasn't used to venturing this far into the Southside. Their escapades over the tracks rarely went further than the empty and boarded up walls of Cohen's Auto Shop.
Theo pulled the Cutlass to a stop in front of the rickety wooden steps of a trailer she hadn't stepped foot into in years. From her spot behind the wheel she could see the bike parked next to her, helmet hanging off the handlebar with a crown sticker slapped on the side. If her mother could see her now.
Killing the engine Theo grasped the keys in one hand and a tray with to go cups and a white paper bag from Pop's in the other as she climbed out of the car. The door squeaked and groaned in protest as she slammed it shut, and the commotion caused the front door of the trailer to open.
Jughead Jones looked about as good as Theo had expected him to after Fangs had informed her that he had completed his Serpents initiation; like he had seen better days.
He quirked his eyebrow at her, "Theo?"
"Hey Jug." He turns and watches as she waltz' past him and into the trailer as if she owned the place and Jughead is reminded of a very similar scene from the last time Theo was at his trailer.
They couldn't have been more than six or seven, and not unlike every other time in his memory Theo had ignored him completely and strutted her way into the trailer to a waiting FP Jones in the kitchen. That was probably the last time they had actually seen each other outside of school and awkward run ins at Pop Tate's diner.
The only real difference between this time and last was that it was just Jughead in the trailer.
So he asked her, "What are you doing here?"
Theo sets the tray and bag from Pop's down on the kitchen table and her eyes wander around the kitchen, a soft smile appearing on her face. Not a thing had changed, and she didn't know if she found that comforting or sad but she didn't dwell that long.
She pulled a bag of ice from the freezer and tossed it in his direction and Jughead caught it, wincing and groaning as he pressed it against his face. She told him, "Fangs may have mentioned your initiation."
"So what, you're here to check up on me? Or lecture me?" Jughead inquired with snark.
Theo's eyes rolled, "I'm not gonna explain myself to you Jughead. We made very different decisions about self preservation on the Northside. I don't bother you about yours, and I'm not gonna say anything about you patching in."
"So you're just here to be nice?" People like them would never not be suspicious about others motives, that much was clear by the way Jughead eyed her wearily.
"Family is family Jug, so ice your face and eat a damn burger. I paid a small fortune for them." Theo instructed, not giving him an option.
Jughead peaked into the bag on the table, which held at least half a dozen burgers in it and smiled. He could easily oblige her demand.
Half an hour and a handful of crumpled up foil wrappers on the coffee table across from them Jughead and Theo sat side by side on the couch. Theo was sipping her milkshake from a straw when Jughead asked, "Can I ask a question?"
"If you must."
"I just... I keep thinking about something that I think is a memory but I'm honestly not even sure whether or not it actually happened." Jughead told her, and when Theo raised her brow at him he explained, "Do you ever remember our dad's bringing us Pop's to the garage when we were kids? You know... before..."
"Before my dad went to prison?" Theo asked, and he nodded his head slowly.
Ben was a sore subject for Theo, and Jughead tried hard to understand why but there were limitations, certain circumstances that made their situations vastly different and he couldn't ignore those. Jughead had a rocky relationship at best with FP prior to him being locked up, but inserting himself into his fathers world had seemingly repaired that relationship. Theo on the other hand had grown up without Ben, she had no real idea who he was, she barely even had any memories of him that didn't include a plexiglass partition between them.
So yes, they could bond over their fathers being in prison, but that was as far as the similarities went for them.
"I don't really remember anything in specific, but I know I have a picture somewhere at home of us sharing a container of fries sitting on the hood of the Cutlass with Ben and FP." Theo told him, and when Jughead nodded his head slowly she inquired, "Why?"
He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know, I guess with joining the Serpents I've been... reminiscing? I wish I would have known what it was like with my dad and Ben leading, you know?"
"No, I can't say I do." Thinking about her dad being FP's second in command once upon a time only made Theo angry. Not that she would say that to Jughead.
"You know what's a weird thought?" Jughead asked her, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. Theo didn't ask him to continue, she just let him, "In another world you and I could have done initiation together. A Jones and a Cohen, leading the Serpents... how it was always supposed to be."
Theo didn't say anything right away, what could she say? She couldn't imagine in any scenario being a Serpent, let alone stepping into her dad's shoes and leading. And yet she knew Jughead was right, a few different choices eleven years ago and that would have been the path the two teens would have been on.
"It's crazy how much a few decisions can change everything." Theo agreed, and Jughead nodded his head as he propped his head up with his hands on his chin. He wasn't surprised when Theo spoke again, her voice cautious and docile as she reminded him, "But we aren't kids anymore Jughead... we're the ones making decisions now and we're the ones who have to face the consequences of them."
They had both seen how the weight of the Serpent mantle had changed his own father, and Jughead was aware of the way he had so willingly jumped into that pathway without much thought and what that said about his current state. Heavy is the head, his father would say and the two teens sat side by side in silence, aware of that weight looming over him.
After her afternoon spent in Sunnyside Trailer Park on the couch in the Jones' trailer Theo found herself unable to sleep. She and Jughead's conversation played on repeat each and every time she closed her eyes in an attempt to find sleep, and she was allowing herself to indulge in the what ifs.
What if her father hadn't been arrested?
What if he had broken tradition and hadn't joined the Serpents like his father, and his father's father?
What if the Cohen's had left Riverdale shortly after their wedding day like they had planned?
If her father had been around to raise her would her life look that much different? Would she have joined the Serpents with Jughead? This version of Theo couldn't ever imagine getting up on a stage and stripping out of her clothes in front of a bunch of men, including her own father... but would the Theo who had been raised by Ben have even questioned it?
Would she be attending Southside High with Fangs and Sweet Pea and not having to keep this huge secret from everyone in her life? And would her life be any better for it?
Unable to turn her brain off Theo rolled onto her stomach and pulled her phone from the charger. The screen lit up her bedroom and she had to squint her eyes until they adjusted to the brightness, and her fingers did all the thinking for her as she opened up her messages and typed a new one out.
Across town in a dark bedroom of an unkempt trailer at the back of Sunnyside Trailer Park a teenage boy laid on his back on a mattress on the floor and stared at the ceiling, also grappling with insomnia. With the heavy sheet tacked up over the bedroom window the notification of a new text message on his phone lit up the room for a moment and Sweet Pea's attention was pulled from the ceiling.
Waiting for him was a message from an unknown phone number, one he knew belonged to Theo. And so, for close to two hours the two bickered and shared animal meme's back and forth through text message under the protection that the early morning provided them, a time when the only people in their worlds awake were the two of them.