author’s note: I guess this is my official introduction of Lennon? This is set during 2x04.
Tagging: @allie-of-asgard @sgtbuckyybarnes
It was a never-ending cycle. At least, it seemed that way. First, they acted like they couldn’t stand each other. Then, all the pent up sexual frustration gave way to a steamy hook-up. (Usually in the backroom of the Wyrm.) Cue an awkward conversation where neither of them truly let on how they felt about each other, add the smallest dash of optimism, followed thereafter by one of them somehow managing to fuck things up, and that’s basically Lennon and Sweet Pea in a nutshell.
It felt different this time though. The argument at the Wyrm felt pretty final to Lennon.
“What the hell were you thinking?” The brunette stormed into the Wyrm like a force to be reckoned with. She already knew the answer though: he hadn’t been thinking. He’d acted out of anger. There was no other explanation necessary.
“Shouldn’t you be patching up your Bulldog boyfriend, Princess?” Lennon seemed to be making a habit out of showing up when Sweet Pea was in the midst of a round of pool.
“Seriously?” Lennon couldn’t help the bitter laugh that escaped her lips. “You of all people should know that nothing is going on between Reggie Mantle and I.”
The brunette’s emerald eyes widened slightly when the tall Serpent turned around to stick her with a steely glare. “Well, it sure as hell didn’t look that way tonight. You two looked pretty damn cozy to me.” Images of Lennon placing her hand lightly on Mantle’s arm when he attempted to square up and threaten Sweet Pea flashed through the raven-haired boy’s mind.
“I can’t believe we’re having this conversation right now.” Lennon shook her head in disbelief. She thought that they were long past this. “Not that I owe you any sort of explanation, but, for your information, I was helping Amy study for the big Chemistry test we have tomorrow!”
“Oh, and I guess that Mantle and the rest of Andrews’ group of psychotic followers just happened to show up at the house tonight then?”
“Yes, Sweet Pea, that’s exactly what happened! Do you really think I would willingly hangout with Reggie after he cheated on me?” She didn’t hold grudges for long, but she wasn’t that forgiving either. The fact that he assumed that something was going on with her and Reggie again boggled her mind.
“I don’t know, Lennon,” Sweet Pea punctuated his words with a shrug of his shoulders. “maybe you would. You seemed pretty protective of him tonight, maybe you two reconciled.”
“I was trying to maintain the peace between the Northside and the Southside!” Lennon exclaimed. This was not the conversation she expected to have tonight at all.
He couldn’t help scoffing at her words. “Maintain the peace? There’s no peace left to maintain, Lennon.” There had been very little peace between the Northside and the Southside to begin with. Any peace that remained, despite FP’s arrest, dissipated the second Archie Andrews pulled a gun on him and Fangs the night prior.
“I told you that I was going to take care of it! Do you not understand what you’ve started?” She had already confronted Archie about it at school today. He just made matters worse by showing up tonight.
Sweet Pea scoffed. “What I started?” The tall Serpent punctuated his words with a shake of his head. “The Northside has had it out for us for years now, Lennon! I didn’t start anything.”
“I told you not to get involved! Starting something with Archie Andrews is only making matters worse!” She almost told him that he was just proving people like Alice Cooper right about people from the Southside, but bit her tongue. They were already arguing, things didn’t need to escalate more than they already were.
“He pulled a gun on Fangs and I, Lennon! He started this, not me.” That was a lie. Archie told her what had happened when she talked to him this morning. Sweet Pea provoked him first. He pulled a weapon first. He posed the first threat. Archie claimed it was self-defense on his part. Lennon didn’t necessarily think pulling a gun on someone was the equivalent to pulling a knife on someone, but that was a completely different issue.
“So you didn’t pull a knife on him then? Because you forgot to leave that tidbit of information out when you called me last night.” She didn’t know if he had intentionally left that part out last night, but it was too late to take it back now. She said what she said.
“I was freaking out last night!” It was Sweet Pea’s turn to look at her in disbelief. “I didn’t intentionally keep anything from you. I never have.”
“And I have?”
“You sure as hell didn’t mention that you were dating Mantle when we made out at the drive-in that night.”
“Why do you keep bringing up Reggie?” Lennon didn’t get it. She didn’t understand why he mattered. She had made it pretty damn clear that she wanted nothing to do with the football player anymore. “Maybe I did fail to mention that he and I were dating at the time, but that was months ago! That has nothing to do with the fact that you just started a goddamn civil war with the Northside.”
A bitter laugh escaped Sweet Pea’s lips as he shook his head. “You’re not getting it, Lennon. You’ll never get it because you relate to people like Mantle and Andrews more than you’ll ever relate to someone like me.”
Lennon was silent for a moment as she tried to process what he was saying. “I--what are you saying, Sweet Pea?”
“I’m saying that nothing is a big deal to you Northsiders, because you have everything that you could ever want. You’re always going to choose their side, and I’m always going to look like the bad guy, because you’re just a Northside Princess who felt like rebelling for a little while.”
Her heart slowly began to break as he spoke, and still she waited until he was done before speaking. “You know what? You’re right. This was a mistake. You were a mistake.” She blinked a couple of times to try to will away the tears welling up in her emerald eyes. She was pretty sure that they had an audience at this point, the last thing she wanted was to let any of them see her cry.
More importantly though, she didn’t want him to see her cry. She didn’t want him to know that he had broken her. Her attempts were futile though, the hurt apparent on her face. She noticed what appeared to be regret flash across his. “Lennon, I--”
She shook her head. “No, you’re right. I don’t get it. I’m just some Northside Princess.” Her voice betrayed her, cracking slightly as she turned on her heel and walked out.
“There are a lot of people that you have the right to be pissed off at right now, but she isn’t one of them.” Toni said from her spot behind the bar.
author’s note: Of course my muse would hit me in full force the last weekend of summer vacation. With that being said, I’m going to try to write for these two whenever I get a chance, but my life is about to be consumed by lesson planning and grading papers.
Tagging: @allie-of-asgard @sgtbuckyybarnes
Lennon’s heart stopped as she eyed the small box in her boyfriend’s hands. Given his reaction, she could only assume that he had looked at the box’s contents as well and seen the little symbol that was going to change both of their lives. She had kept it hidden at the bottom of her bag, hoping that it, along with the morning sickness, would go away if she didn’t have to look at it. “Sweet Pea…” He hadn’t spoken a word since she set foot in the camper, the silence deafening.
“How long?” He spoke, finally tearing his gaze away from the pregnancy test to look at her. The expression on his face was unreadable, and that scared the shit out of her. “Babe, I can expl--” He cut her off before she could finish her sentence. “How long have you known, Lennon?”
“Since school started. I took the test before I went to visit Joaquin.” It was the first time she had uttered her brother’s name since they found his body. She didn’t know if it was the hormones or speaking her dead brother’s name that caused the back of her throat to burn as tears welled up in her eyes, or if it was a combination of the two.
“Since school started?” Lennon flinched at the harsh tone of his voice. He had every right to be upset, but it wasn’t exactly helping the situation right now. “School started almost a month ago, Lennon! When were you planning on telling me? Were you ever going to tell me?”
“I don’t know, Sweet Pea! I was going to tell you, no time ever seemed right though! And then we lost Joaquin--” Her voice broke off, and she tried blinking back her tears. She hated crying, but that honestly seemed like the only thing she was good at lately. She definitely hadn’t been a good girlfriend, that was for sure.
What happened next was right out of one of the horrible scenarios Lennon had imagined up inside her head over the course of the last month. Sweet Pea shook his head. “I can’t--” He paused, glancing down at the test before setting it down and grabbing his jacket. “I can’t do this right now, Lennon. I’m sorry.” Without another word, he slipped on his jacket and exited the camper.
The princess had accepted her fate. She was to marry Prince Reginald in just a few months time. She understood that she would never marry for love, her mother told her that she would learn to love him for the sake of their two kingdoms. But everything changed when she met him.
