{UNFINISHED}We Won't Give Up//J.J.||Riverdale[sequel to The Diner]

Chapter 3

*Your POV*
Jughead and I go outside. We get into my car and start driving to Pop's. "Do you think it'll be there?" I ask.

"I honestly don't know," he nods. A couple minutes later, we arrive. We go inside, and there's a pool of blood on the floor.

"Oh, my God..." I say. We hear thumping in the back, and we both look to see what it is. Pop Tate is coming out with a mop and a thing of water.

"Uh, sorry kids, we're uh, we're closed today. There was uh, a shooting earlier this morning," he says.

"Yeah, we heard about what happened," Jug says.

"We just got back from the hospital," I add. "We're looking for Mr. Andrews' wallet. It's missing."

"Is he," he starts.

"He's out of surgery. We'll know more when he wakes up."

"Alright," he comes out from behind the counter. "The police have already checked, but if you want to check again, he was sitting in that booth over there," he points to the third booth from the door. I nod and go over there to look.

"So uh, what happened, Pop?" Jug asks. "From your point of view."

"Well, I wish I knew. As soon as that gun turned off me, I dove. I look on each of the seats, and under the table. There's no sign of it... "I don't even remember calling the police, but I guess I did."

"Hey, how much cash did the creep end up taking?"

"Not a penny." That makes me look up.

He snaps his fingers, "I knew it." He looks over to me, "What kind of thief shoots up a joint-" I check the booth one more time, "-but doesn't take a single dollar bill?" I look up at him and then back down.

"He wasn't a thief. Over the years, this place has been robbed many times. Bricks through the windows, even. During the riots. I've looked plenty of thugs in the eye, but this man...his goal was something else."

I walk over to Jughead, "It's not here." I whisper.

"Hey, you kids hungry?"

I'm not that hungry, but Jug and I end up saying different things at the same time... "Oh, no we don't want to cause you any trouble," and, "Oh, I'm always hungry, yeah."

I look at him and then chuckle. "Of course you are." He slightly chuckles, too. We both go sit down at the counter. Pop goes back and brings us some burgers out. I just stare at mine, meanwhile, Jug immediately starts eating. I just look over at him and he looks at me. I raise an eyebrow. "I can't believe you can be eating right now."

"In times of crisis, some people lose their appetite. But, mine increases tenfold." We both chuckle.

"So, you're not going to be going to Riverdale High anymore and...you're going to be a Serpent."

"Hey," he looks at me, "don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen to me. I'm just going to be living in my dad's trailer."

"Wait, what about your foster family?"

"Oh, yeah I already discussed that with them. They're gonna cover for me with the social worker, but I'm not going to be staying with them."

"Why?"

He doesn't say anything for a second, "I guess...I guess it's because Archie almost lost his dad, meanwhile my dad's going to be in prison for a long-ass time. And living in his trailer, wearing his coat, and riding his motorcycle-"

"Wait, you're riding motorcycles now?" I ask.

"Well, I haven't ridden it yet."

I sigh, "I know I said that I was okay about this. But, I just don't want you to get hurt. Or hurting someone else." He raises his eyebrow and chuckles, "But not because you did it on purpose, but...because that's the Serpent's world. Isn't that how they live?"

He looks down at his plate. "Don't worry, [Y/N]. I'm not going to be a Serpent like my dad is." I nod and look back down at my food. I pick up my burger and take a bite. "Finally eating, huh?"

I just chuckle, "Maybe."

We eat for a couple minutes, before he says, "We should get back. We could bring food back for everyone else."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." I nod, and Pop comes out, with bags of burgers and fries.

"Already one step ahead of you," he says. Jug and I both look at each other, and chuckle.

"Alright then," I say, and we get into my car and drive back. After a couple minutes, we get back to the hospital and walk in. I see Archie and Veronica in the room, holding each other.

"Who's hungry?" Jug says, loudly, which makes everyone look at us. "We've got burgers, fries, and onion rings."

"Nice, Jugs." A football player says and comes over to us.

Archie walks over to us. "We didn't find it," I say, quietly. He nods.

"I, need to talk to you guys. About what happened at Pop's," he says.

"Okay, let's go into another room," Veronica says.

I turn around. I grab Jug's jacket and pull him from the crowd. "What? I was giving people food." He laughs.

I laugh, too. "We have to go talk about what happened with Archie." We all walk into the room that Archie and Keller talked in earlier.

"Your dad would've been so proud of you, Arch," Betty says.

"Yeah, you've been like, a total rockstar through all of this," Jughead adds.

He doesn't say anything to us. "Archie, what is it? Talk to us. Maybe we can help," Veronica says.

He nods, and sighs. "Guys, there's something that I haven't told you, 'cause I'm so...I'm so ashamed." He looks down.

"Archie, what are you talking about?" I ask, leaning forward a little.

"After the guy fired, I should've rushed over to him, or tackled the guy, even. But I just, I just couldn't. I was paralyzed. I didn't move. I couldn't move. Not even when the guy walked up to me and he held his gun to my head. I just closed my eyes and put my hands up. I don't know how long, but long enough for the guy to have taken my dad's wallet, I guess." Jughead and I look at each other and then back at him. "But I didn't open them until I heard the bell, Pop's bell. Which meant that he was gone."

"There was...nothing else that you could've done." Betty says.

"No, that's not true, Betty. I could've done anything to comfort my dad." He nods, "I was a coward. And now me and my dad are witnesses, Pop Tate, too. This guy may have had my dad's wallet. All of his information. What if he comes back?"

"He won't," I nod.

"You don't know that."

I sigh and look down. Truth is, I didn't know that.

~

Jug and I go outside, in the rain. "Hey," I start, he looks over at me, "what you said at Pop's...I understand. Whatever, you know you have to do, or explore," I pause, and he walks close to me, "I support you." He smiles, and leans in and kisses me, and I kiss back. After a couple seconds, we pull away. "We should go," I say.

He nods, "Yeah." we both walk to my car, and I start driving. I drop him off at his trailer and then drive home. I park my car, and quickly walk inside. My phone starts ringing, and I throw my bag on the couch. I look at who's calling, and it's Archie. I answer.

"Hey," I say.

"So, my dad woke up," he says.

"Really? Archie, that's amazing."

He laughs a little, "Yeah, it is."

"I'm so happy for you, Arch. You must be, too."

"Yeah. I'm going to tell the others. You were the second person I called after Veronica."

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. See you tomorrow."

I hang up and plug my phone in by my bed, and I get changed out of my wet clothes into some sweatpants and a t-shirt. I stretch and go into the kitchen to get something to eat. I rummage around and find some bread, and I put it in my toaster. After a couple minutes, it pops out and I eat it. I go back out, with a plate and sit on my bed. I go on my laptop and just watch Netflix until I fall asleep.