Great Minds Think Alike (Jughead x OC)

Part 6

Iris was in her room to change into something a little more comfortable before going to Pop's when the familiar jingle of her phone interrupted her train of thought. It took her a good thirty seconds to shake the duvet of her bed to find her phone; it hit the floor and she picked it up, looking at the incoming message. It was Jughead's address, very factual, nothing else. The girl slipped into her shoes and grabbed her laptop before rushing downstairs. She entered the address in her GPS while walking to her car and drove there without thinking much about where the hell it was taking her.

Luckily for her, Jughead was already waiting outside, leaned against the low brick wall surrounding the property. Behind him stood a big old-looking house with a bush of roses to the left of the front porch and a rusty-looking garage door to the right. The neighborhood seemed calm, almost deserted – the house next door was empty according to the 'for sale' sign planted in the front lawn.

Without so much as a hello, Jughead jumped in Iris' pickup and merely smiled a little before she drove off. It wasn't until they were sitting at their booth and ordered their dinner that they began to talk. Jughead made a visible effort to ask Iris about her day but she remained very evasive. They talked between moments of inspiration during which the silence was only disturbed by the sound of their fingers hitting the keyboards.

"Hey, I have a question. It's stupid and I think I already know the answer but I'll still ask just to be sure," she blurted out, pushing her laptop to the right and pulling her hamburger in front of her.

His eyebrows shot up in curiosity and Iris took this as her cue.

"You aren't going to the Homecoming dance by any chance, are you?" She asked – now realizing it sounded even dumber out loud than in her head.

"You know how teachers say that there's no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers? Well you just proved them all wrong," Jughead simply said then went back to typing his novel.

"I take it it's a no?" Iris scoffed. "That's what I thought. Never mind, I guess I'll just suck it up and brood on my own when Betty and Veronica drag me there."

"Don't go."

"Come again?" Iris frowned.

"If you don't want to go, then don't," Jughead said with a little shrug. It wasn't that complicated really.

"Hey listen-" Iris began as she leaned over the table, her hands joined in front of her. "-I know you have this whole moody anti-social edgy author vibe going on, but if a girl doesn't want to fall into the dark abyss of anonymity, she's got to go out and make friends – you understand this, right?"

"Yes, thank you, I actually understand a lot of things," he fired back at her, squinting his eyes at her upon hearing her condescending tone. "Just don't see the point of it. If you don't enjoy their company why would you want to be friends with them? Besides, High School friendships don't last."

"Oh Jug," Iris laughed faintly. She saw Jughead suppress a little smile when she used the nickname. "I never said I don't enjoy their company, I said that I prefer yours. As for the High School friendships that don't last, you're just saying this to reassure yourself because you're already picturing what kind of nightmare your life could turn into if I decided to tag along after this."

"You see right through me," he snorted but looked away from her as though he had no witty come back to answer to that. "Are you going to eat this burger?"

"Of course I'm gonna eat it, that's why I ordered it! Hands off," Iris slapped away Jughead's hand before he could put it on her food and they laughed.