Chapter Six
" DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD
HAVE A PARTY AND NOT INVITE MOI? "

"That last shot was amazing!" Sydney complimented the winning player after she and Cheryl got out of Cheryl's car. The captain was at the door welcoming guests into his house and the party was already in full swing. She saw a few people she knew, especially the Core Four that was in their own, little group huddled in the kitchen. Standing from where she was, she could tell that Archie and Veronica were obviously flirting and Betty and Jughead were making small talk. Sydney thought about her friends and how she wished they could be here.

     But she was here to have a good time and she needed to leave the house — and her comfort zone — a little more.

     Looking around, Sydney noticed that Cheryl had ditched her to mingle with a few of her own friends and left Sydney standing alone by the entrance. She heard footsteps coming down the stairs and looked up to see Sweet Pea, donned in his signature Southside Serpents leather jacket and a pair of black jeans. When she saw him, he had a passive look on his face and almost passed by her when he stopped to take in the lost expression she had. He walked up to her and said, "You look like you could use a drink."

     "Who, me?" Sydney asked. Sweet Pea nodded. She hesitated a little, contemplating whether or not this was a good idea. Then, she took hold of his hand and he led her to the kitchen. "Come here often?" he asked as he started mixing a homemade concoction.

     "Oh, so you're a part-time bartender? The more you know. But to answer your question, I don't come around these parts often."

     "How so?" He handed her the drink and she took a sip. Soda. It was all soda. And maybe a bit of the blue Powerade but she couldn't tell. "Too busy trying to avoid them," she answered. "What even is in this?"

     "Had a feeling you weren't much of a drinker so I gave you my famous house drink."

     "Thank you for at least being considerate of my drinking choices. I'll let you know if I need something stronger." Sydney raised her plastic cup to him and left the kitchen. "I believe someone's quite taken with the film club princess," Jughead observed and Sweet Pea scowled. "Hop off, Jones."

     Jughead raised his hands in mock surrender. "Hey. I'm just stating the obvious."

     Sweet Pea scoffed and left to go into the living room. Sydney saw him bound up the stairs and, the curious one she was, she followed. Creaking the door open a little, she saw him pacing and she couldn't help but say, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You're creating a draft and the house is already air-conditioned."

     "Did you follow me up here?" Sweet Pea asked, still a little pissed from Jughead's remark. "My apologies for the accidental stalking. I'll be out of your hair now." Sydney started to turn around until he caught up with her. "Hey, hey. I didn't mean to snap it's just — oh my god, you're freezing."

     "I'm fine," Sydney started to refuse but Sweet Pea was already taking off his jacket and laying it on her shoulders. "Thanks," she said softly, pushing her arms through the sleeves. "Do you want to go downstairs and talk? I'm sure it'd be better than sitting up here alone."

     "Who said anything about being alone?" Sweet Pea smirked and nudged his head into the room. "C'mon."

     Sydney walked past him and took a seat on the floor, careful not to spill her drink. "I gotta say, Syd. You look absolutely smoking in a snakeskin," Sweet Pea said who went to go sit on the bed. "Reggie would kill me if he saw me in this," Sydney chuckled. "Great brother but a little too overprotective for my taste."

     "Just another reason for you to wear it."

     "Why are you being so nice? I thought you hated the Northside and everyone in it. Especially the Riverdale residents."

     "Oh, I hate the Northside, all right. But you're an exception."

     "And why is that? You barely even know me." Sydney laughed. "From what I've seen, you really don't seem to care about this whole 'Southside-coming-to-the-Northside' ordeal. As long as someone's nice to you, you're golden. You also happen to be neutral about everything. Like Switzerland," Sweet Pea explained. Sydney nodded, understanding where he was coming from. She did come off that way and she really didn't seem to have an opinion on anything. Not that that was a bad thing, it was just that she didn't room for all of Riverdale's petty fighting.

     "Anything else?" she asked. "You're not average." He shrugged. "If you're gonna tell me that I'm 'not like other girls,' I'm gonna leave the room right now." She laughed.

     Sweet Pea shrugged again. "I mean, you really aren't like other girls."

     "Oh my god." Sydney got up from her seated position and started heading for the door. "Wait, hold on. Why is that a bad thing?" he asked. "Because," she turned around, "that's a basic move. There's nothing wrong with basic but I've been in the film club long enough to watch at least two dozen romcoms to see that happen in at least a quarter of them. So it gets pretty tiring to see. For me, at least."

   "So, you want me to tell you that you're not only special but also really intelligent and an above average student at Riverdale?" asked Sweet Pea. "Yeah. Yeah, I want you to say all those things," Sydney egged him on. He only smirked when Sydney jumped as she felt hands on her waist. "Your hands are on my waist," she said. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. Where else am I supposed to put them?" One hand slid up her higher back, resting between her shoulder blades while the other was near her hip.

     "Well, this has been fun and I don't want to take up any more of your time. So, see you around, Sweet Pea." She reluctantly stepped out of his grasp (because as much as she wanted to — and she really wanted to — she couldn't), grabbed her drink, and left, still wearing his jacket. Sweet Pea wanted to pull her back but, surprisingly, he was better than that. So he let her go, giving the bed a frustrated kick in the process.

     Sydney went to the kitchen for another drink because all the ice in her cup melted, not realizing that everyone stopped talking when she passed by. Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica were still in their corner and only stopped chatting to eye her wearing the jacket. "I can feel you staring, you know," she said as she grabbed a can of Sprite from the sink. She turned to them as she popped the can tab, taking a sip afterward. "Hey, Sydney. Uh, who's the souvenir from?" asked Jughead.

     "Sweet Pea. I got cold and he was nice enough to lend it to me. Why? Is it Serpent tradition to give the jacket to the best putter-outer? Because that is not what happened."

     "I'm not surprised," Veronica grumbled. "But hey, at least I don't have sex to keep my relationship from falling apart. Kind of ironic when you put it that way because sex complicates everything," Sydney bit before walking away. She spotted Sweet Pea on the couch with a drink in his hand. She took a swig of her Sprite and swallowed back her nerves before she marched over and took a seat on his lap. He had a devilish smirk on his face and she found the best way to wipe it off was to kiss him. She was having fun until she felt herself being ripped away. "What the hell, Syd?"

     Reggie.

     "What, Reg?" Sydney turned around to face him. "Are you kidding me right now? Really, Syd? Really?" he asked, infuriated.

    "It's a party, Reg. Ease up a little. Let me ease up a little. God, I was never invited to these things and now that I have, you won't let me have fun?"

     "I wouldn't consider your shoving your tongue down a Serpent's throat 'fun.'"

     Sydney crossed her arms as she rolled her eyes at her brother, his eyes widening when he realized that she was wearing his jacket. "Oh, don't play protective older brother on me now just because a Serpent decided I was worth their time. He may live on the other side of the tracks but he's still a person. So suck it up and deal with the fact that your sister has preferences."

     She could see Reggie's jaw visibly clench and she could see the gears turning in his head, trying to find something to say. When he couldn't, he stormed off into the kitchen and she turned to Sweet Pea with a smirk.

_____

As fun as it was to see Sydney stand up to her brother, Cheryl couldn't help but feel her heart sink when she saw Sydney move in to kiss Sweet Pea. She didn't like the feeling bubbling inside her so she grabbed the guy nearest to her and tried to push the feeling down.