dollhouse [jughead jones]

when she was looking for betty

She walked out of her house feeling nothing but panic. After the "dreadful events" that had taken place there, in Riverdale, about a week earlier, the thought of her little sister going missing for almost 24 hours had her almost going mental.

She had asked literally everyone she knew in town if they had seen her, but the very few people who had answered had no clue of where she could have gone. Of course, as expected, her parents didn't even notice that their youngest daughter was nowhere to be seen, and ended up putting the blame on her, nothing new.

So her strategy was to go to the place where most of the teens in Riverdale spent their afternoons during the summer, for the unlucky ones who didn't leave the town for the holiday. The Riverdale community offering little to no entertainement or touristic interest, Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe was unquestioniably her last hope to find any clue concerning where and with whom Betty Cooper could be.

Though, entering the diner, she soon regretted her decision. Not that it was a bad idea, many people found the place charming and might have seen her sister, but the thing is, once you entered Pop's, it was a whole another story regarding getting out of the .

The cheerful atmosphere, the delightful smell of junk food, the simple sound of people casually sipping their milkshakes, those were the details that made her want to just sit in a booth and stay there forever.

But again, now was definitely not the time.

So she went straight to the owner, not even bothering to look at the clients who were indifferently enjoying their afternoon snacks. Leaning slightly against the counter, Pop Tate greeted her with his usual grin, but it almost instantaneously worn out when he peeked at the ugly contusion on her face. Urgently, she brushed a strand of her platinum blonde hair to try and hide it –unsuccessfully-, as if to say that it didn't matter at the moment.

"Hey Pop." She awkwardly stated, shifting from one foot to the other.

"What's up Miss? Anything I can do for you?" Pop Tate answered while cleaning up a few glasses, glancing at her agitated state with an ounce of worry in his eyes.

"In fact, yeah, there's something." She exhaled.
As she noticed he was about to offer her something to drink, probably her usual order, she quickly carried on. "Actually, I'm looking for Betty. I haven't seen her since yesterday afternoon and she hasn't answered any of my calls, and I keep asking if someone's seen her but it seems like she just disappeared!"

Her words were rushed and shaky, and she was fiddling with the silvery ring that she was wearing on her right forefinger while looking anxiously at the floor, a sign that she was beyond upset.

"I'm sorry; I did see her a couple days ago, but nothing since yesterday, Lily." He answered with a sympathetic glance, while she just shook her head, biting her lip in concern.

"You could ask to your buddy over there though." He suggested, pointing at a more isolated spot in the diner.

Following his gaze, her eyes met the familiar beanie of someone she didn't think would be here at all.

"Jughead?"