The Restaurant - A Bughead Story

Part Eight - The Booth

           

Come Friday, Jughead was just happy school was over for the weekend so he could shut his brain. He had a migraine for days now and he really felt like shit. He was tired of seeing Betty smile in the hallways knowing he messed up his only chance to ever be with her. 

Sitting in his usual booth with a hot cup of coffee and his laptop, he was tapping away his frustration through a new short story named The Hunger. He had created two dumb male characters and he had what may be considered as too much fun writing the scene where they were both eaten by an enormous beast. 

Someone cleared their throat right beside him, making him jump, too engrossed in the description of the blood to hear their steps. 

He looked over to the origin of the sound. 

"Betty!" came a very strangled noise from the deep of his throat. 

He closed his laptop soundly. She had her hair up in her usual ponytail. Her lips were darker than ordinary – maybe she was experiencing with a new lipstick. She had a determined expression on her face. 

"Can I sit?" she asked, motioning to the other side of the booth. 

"Su... sure!" Jughead was so surprised he stuttered. 'What is she doing here?'

She sat in front of him. "Hi, Juggie." 

'Juggie. Juggie!' "Hi, Bets." 

"What are you doing?" 

"I'm just... writing." 

"A new short story?" 

"Yes." 

"Still into your gothic horror phase?" 

"Err, yeah." He cleared his throat. "What are you doing here?" He coughed. "Not that I don't want you here, but you made it pretty clear last Tuesday that you didn't want to keep... trying." 

"I did. I really meant what I said." She sighed, and looked at his half empty coffee cup. "Our date was horrible. What happened, Juggie?" 

He melted. She was looking straight into his soul, with those deep blue eyes. "I..." He closed his eyes. "I was so nervous. I couldn't talk, or I would have said the wrong thing, and Archie and Kevin gave me those lessons..." 

Her left eyebrow peaked. "Lessons?" 

"Yeah... Since it was my first date, they got into their heads to make me the perfect gentleman. It was horrible." 

A small bubbly laugh escaped her. "I can imagine. What did they say?" 

"Just... stuff. But I kept getting mixed up between that advice and that other advice until I couldn't think properly." 

"So that was why you were so quiet? You were mixed up?" 

"And nervous." 

"It wasn't because you didn't want to be there?" 

"God no!" He sighed. "I'd been waiting for that date for months." 

She smiled shyly. "Really?" 

He scratched his neck, uncomfortable. "Yeah..." 

Fortunately, Pop walked by the table precisely at that moment. "Hey kiddos! Do you want something to eat?" 

Betty smiled. "Yes, actually, Pop. Can I have the turkey sandwich with gravy?" 

"One turkey sandwich, gravy. Jug?" 

"My usual." 

"Two double burgers, no mustard, side of fries, side of onion rings, and a cola." 

"Perfect." 

"Good! I'll be right back." 

Before walking back to the kitchen, Jughead caught him winking at him. He shuffled in his seat. Pop was reading way too much into their casual, friendly conversation. 

"So, what did you think of Miss Martha's physic lecture?" Betty asked. Jughead smiled. 'She doesn't want the conversation to stop.'

"The one about the gravity and stuff?" 

"Yeah." 

"I didn't understand one thing." 

"Me too!" She laughed. "I mean, what's the deal about Newtons and kilograms..."