Strange Connection

Chapter Twelve

The bell above the door rang, letting in the four dressed-up teenagers. The place was hopping with customers, all similarly dressed for the dance. The sock hop theme drove many students to the chock-lit shoppe for their dinner beforehand, overwhelming the staff and making the place loud. Regardless, the charm of the place was not lost, with its lights bright neon and jukebox working perfectly.

They sat in Cheryl and Betty's usual booth, towards the back and near the window. Cheryl squeezed into the booth first with Toni close behind her taking the outside seat. In the van, Cheryl had missed the scent of Toni's all too familiar perfume, probably overpowered by the smell of the leather seat cleaner. Now, being so close again, she could pinpoint the notes of violet and almost some eucalyptus.

"What can I get started for some of my favorite customers?" Pop Tate said cheerfully while patting Archie on the shoulder. His forehead was beading with sweat and he leaned on the booth seats with one hand, shifting his feet and stretching his back. His cap was slightly disoriented and his apron was full of blotchy stains from the day. Nevertheless, his smile never faded.

...

Toni didn't want to make things hard on Pop after the day he'd had and continue to have. "Does cheeseburgers sound okay to everyone?" Everyone nodded and Pop wrote the order down along with the milkshake flavors he had memorized of his regulars.

"Thanks for being so easy, I'll get that started for you guys." He sauntered away, ripping the order from the pad and disappearing back into the hot kitchen.

Toni clenched her teeth slightly, suddenly feeling like she may have overstepped. She looked from Archie to Betty to Cheryl and saw no signs of resentment, yet still had to say, "Are cheeseburgers okay? I didn't mean to order for everyone, I just wanted to make it easy."

"Of course, I was going to do the same anyways, Pop deserves something simple tonight," Betty reassured her, "Besides it's all Archie eats anyways." The boy in question could only shrug and admit it was the truth. She breathed in and out, looking to her right and catching the brown eyes of the girl next to her. Cheryl smiled at her and Toni was relieved that she seemed to be salvaging her chances with her friends.

Not too long afterwards, their food arrived and silence filled the air as they ate and drank the best burgers and milkshakes Riverdale had to offer. Toni was halfway into her burger, sauce dripping onto her hands as she looked up and caught a glance of raven hair.

"Oh, shit." She said, hurriedly cleaning her hands and mouth with a ripped up napkin.

"What is it?" Cheryl said as she offered fresh napkins, her own burger having only a couple of bites missing.

Toni didn't have time to answer since the group sought them out like they were blood in shark-infested waters. Veronica stood center in her cliche poodle dog skirt and rested both of her hands on their table while she smiled like the Grinch when he came up with the plan to steal Christmas.

"Well aren't you four just my favorite homecoming group yet," She talked as if the sight was the best thing to ever happen to her, "Or is this... a double date situation?"

"Veronica please, just today, leave us alone." Toni pleaded with her, not having the energy to fight and desperately wanting to keep up her good rap with her group.

Chuck moved forward, matching Veronica, "You know Cheryl, we owe you an apology." The girl next to Toni shifted uncomfortably, so Toni squared up to the antagonists in her seat to cover her as much as possible.

"I guess you aren't too ugly for Toni to date. Either that or she's clearly lowered her standards."

Toni bristled and rose from her seat to level with them, as much as she could at her height. Her face was hot to the touch and her eyebrows narrowed, "When the hell did you tell her that? We're not even-" she faltered and looked over to Cheryl who was staring intently at her plate making herself as small as possible, "You need to get the fuck out of here and not come close to us at the dance."