Here & There - Riverdale

Chapter Nine - Her true side

        Pop's wasn't hard to find, it was the first thing that came up on her phone's GPS when she typed the letter 'P' into it. Great, it's popular, Katherine thought to herself, but if it's popular, why would Jughead hang out there? She shook her head, did it really matter? She came to get answers, nothing else.

As soon as she walked in, she felt happier, and she couldn't explain why. Maybe it was because of how welcoming the diner was, or maybe it was because it wasn't full of people her age, actually, it wasn't full at all, only a couple of people were spread out throughout the diner. Her eyes scanned the walls trying to soak up everything. Katherine almost slapped herself whenever she realized, how was she going to know who was Jughead? She didn't know what he looked like. All she knew was that he should be drinking coffee, alone, with a laptop. At least those clues could narrow down her search.

"May I help you?" A voice boomed at her, the voice wasn't even loud, nor did it get anyone else's attention but her own, but she was still frightened by it. She looked up at who was speaking, a rather large, mid-aged African-American man was watching her, he was standing behind the counter waiting for her to answer.

Thankfully, Mrs. Anderson always had Katherine carry around money with her no matter where she went. So Katherine nodded her head slowly, "I'd just like a milkshake," she squeaked, she didn't know why she suddenly felt so small. She thought it was because of how official he seemed, and how confused she was, she was just taken by surprise. The worker nodded, taking her cash, and told her it would be out soon, and to seat herself.

Katherine felt out of place, sure the diner was lovely, but back when she lived in Chicago with both of her parents she'd only ever eat out at fancy locations. Her parents thought it would look bad if one day someone spotted Mr. and Mrs. Anderson's daughter at a McDonald's. This was all new to her.

Her eyes scanned over the few people in the diner until she saw who she was looking for. Jughead was sitting at one of the tables that was right beside the giant windows, his fingers typing away on the small keyboard of his laptop. Kevin was right, he was a lone wolf, there was no one around him, and no one seemed to want to bother him. Katherine could see the steam coming out of his coffee mug, she figured he was the type to drink coffee black.

Off we go, Katherine told herself, forcing her legs to move towards his table, once she stopped right in front of his table, his eyes went away from the laptop screen and to her. "Can I help you?" He didn't sound thrilled to be interrupted by a stranger.

There is no going back now, talk to the kid, Katherine ordered, she nodded her head, she realized she probably looked stupid, but then again he did just ask her someone. She was quick, she took a seat across from the boy, and looked at him. The two for silent for a moment, both of them seemed surprised by what she just did.

"Well?" He asked, clearly unamused by Katherine's lack of communication.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Katherine chuckled, looking away from him, she took a moment to continue, thinking of the best way to get answers out of someone like him. "You are Jughead, correct?" She asked, looking back at him, she mentally thanked herself for not sounding creeping.

He studied her before answering, "correct, and you are?" He hardly had any emotions on his face, she was almost sure that this kid was a rock or something. Yet, there was something about him, coming claiming, she didn't feel like she had to be someone else around him.

At least she found who she was looking for, "you know Archie Andrews, right?" She blurted, there we go, just what I expected, he's going to think you're some stalker, you idiot, Katherine knew she shouldn't have done that. She didn't want to sound creepy, but here she was, showing him that she knew more about him than he thought she did.