The Beauty of Hunger

ONE

              Hello all! Welcome to my Sweet Pea Fic for those of you here because Serpents End is on hold thanks a bunch for coming! And for those of you who just happened to stumble over this, welcome and thank you for reading! Let's begin. . .shall we?

          I peep at my brother who's driving next to me, it's kinda hard to see his car in the dead of night. He drives a black 69' Mustang while I ride my Triumph Bonneville. We've been driving for a while now and we're almost to our destination. Our Grandfather isn't doing too well these days, everything's just been extra hard for him lately, and the only family he has in Riverdale is my cousin, Toni and my uncle John, but John wouldn't help Granddad in a million years.
      And Toni, she can't do it all by herself, so my mom sent us to Riverdale to help out. We drive past a sign that reads;
Riverdale! The town with pep!
We drive twenty more minutes before I finally see it, a diner. Stomach growling, I turn into the parking lot. I don't look back to make sure my brother is following, I know he is. I park my bike and hop off. I wait for my brother to park his car.
     The sign above the diner reads Pop's Chocolate Shoppe. When my brother's by my side we make our way into the diner. The walls are lined up with booths, a few tables here and there, there's a counter that separates the kitchen from the rest of the place, and behind it stands a friendly looking man, one who looks like he's never been one to frown. He looks up when he hears the sound of the bell. "Hey there folks , what can I do for you." I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Out of the corner of my eye I see a trace of an amused smirk come across my brother's face, as if he knows what I'm thinking.
         "Could we see a menu?" I ask. "You two are new around here aren't you?" He asks. My brother nods his head, serious again. "Well, I'm Pop Tate, but you can call me Pops, welcome to my diner."
      "I'm Makeda but my friends call me Duchess, and this is Mansa, otherwise known as Lion."  I point to Mansa.
      I go to sit on one of the stools in front of the counter, and Pops hands me a  menu.
    I look over it once before I say to Pops, "Could I have a double cheeseburger, actually make that two, a side of fries, a chocolate milk shake and. . .maybe a slice of apple pie." Pops raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything, just takes my order. Mansa orders the same as me except he gets a strawberry and chocolate mixed milkshake, and two slices of apple pie. When our food is set down in front of us we dig in. "You never were one for female etiquette, Makeda." Mansa says to me.
     He points to his chin causing me to wipe mine, when my fingers come away covered in mustard I give my brother a toothy smile, showing off the food in my mouth. "Oh come on, Makeda, what would Ma say?" He asks, a smile on his face. "Ma ain't here." I say this with more force than I intended. We go silent after this, I'd like to say it's because we were enjoying the wonderful food set before us, but we both knew the silence came from the mention of my mother.
    I wipe my face with a napkin. When we finish our meal, Mansa checks his pockets for his wallet. "Don't worry, I'll pay." I pull a red leather wallet from my back pocket. "Is that my wallet, where's yours?" He asks, a small grin on his face. "I left mine back in Chicago, guess I gotta get a job." I sigh. Mansa shakes his head. I pull a couple of bills from the wallet making sure to leave a huge tip for Pops. I'm still a bit annoyed at Mansa for the mention of our mother.
            After a quick goodbye to Pops I hop off of my stool and exit the diner with my brother behind me. Walking through the diner doors, I bump into someone. I stumble back a little. When I look up it's a guy. He's good looking, I think he knows this too, because a cocky grin spreads across his face. "Hey." he says. I roll my eyes. "Watch were you're going." I spit out. I look to my left and see Mansa leaning against the wall next to the entrance to the diner.
           He knows I can handle myself when push comes to shove.  The boy smiles, as if he's amused by my comment. "I believe it was you who bumped into me, what's your name anyway?" he asks.
     I fold my arms across my chest, suspicious. "Duchess."
    "Well, Duchess, how about you come hang out with me and my friends?"
    "I don't even know your name." I take a step closer to him. "It's Reggie." He looks me up and down, practically undressing me with his eyes. I look behind this Reggie guy to see a group of guys all wearing letterman jackets standing behind him. I feel a wicked grin spread across my face. I grab his chin in a gentle way.
      "Well in that case, not even in your wet dreams, Little Reggie." I pat him on the cheek before walking away.
    I swing my leg over my bike, positioning myself onto it comfortably. I hear the engine of Mansa's Mustang rev, and I watch him pull out of the parking lot.  I rev my bike too, when I look back at the diner Little Reggie, and his group of friends watch me. I smile, wiggling my fingers at them. I can see  Little Reggie scowling. With that, I'm off.
        
                         
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