New Girl In Town

Chapter 13

After about an hour of walking around, I finally found myself in a familiar place: Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe. Before entering, I pulled out my phone to check the time. 3:27. School's been out for almost a half an hour already. My phone screen also displayed multiple text notifications. Two were from Betty; she was probably asking where I was and why I'd left school. All of the rest were from Sweet Pea. God, I felt awful, but I just put my phone away and headed into Pop's.

When I entered, I was pleasantly surprised to see Toni and Jughead sitting at one of the booths. Jughead's back was to me, but Toni saw me and smiled as she motioned for me to come over to her.

"Hey California!" Toni said, as I approached the table. 'California' was what most of the Serpents referred to me as now. Jughead smiled at me and moved over to make room for me, so I took a seat next to him.

"We missed you and Sweet Pea during free hour today" she continued with a smirk. I stiffened at the mention of his name.

"Yeah" I replied awkwardly, and then quickly attempted to change the subject by saying, "So, what are you guys up to?"

"Writing" Jughead responded flatly, not even looking up from the laptop he was vigorously typing on.

"I'm just grabbing a bite to eat before work" Toni chirped as she nibbled on a few fries.

"I've been meaning to ask you about that," I said to Toni "I've been looking for work, and I was considering the Whyte Wyrm. Are there any jobs available there?"

"We're always looking for servers" she answered as a huge smile spread across her face. "You should definitely apply! It'd be fun to have a friend to work with." We agreed that I'd go to work with her that night to talk to her boss about me working there, but she didn't have to be there for another hour, so we just hung out. I ordered myself one of Pop's famous milkshakes, and the three of us continued chatting and hanging out.

"I have to go to the bathroom" Jughead announced abruptly after about twenty minutes. I slid out of the booth, making room for Jughead to escape, and sat back down.

"Okay seriously, what's the deal with you and Sweet Pea?" Toni inquired with a grin once Juggie was out of earshot.

"What?" I exclaimed, taken aback by both her bluntness and her mention of his name.

"You and Sweet Pea" she repeated, rolling her eyes as at my response. "You two obviously like each other, and you both skipped out on the entire second half of the day. Did you really think I wouldn't ask?" A small smile made its way onto my lips when she confirmed what I already knew. He likes me I thought as I felt a blush begin to rise on my cheeks; my smile slowly faded, however, when I recalled what had happened just an hour ago.

"I don't know. Things are kind of complicated, I guess." I replied somberly.

"What do you mean by 'complicated'? What happened?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes at me from across the table.

"Well, we went over by that old campground next to Sweetwater River and walked on one of the paths there" I explained timidly as Toni nodded her head to express that she knew where I was talking about. "And, I don't know, we were just talking and hanging out, but then when he kissed me —"

"What!" Toni interrupted me loudly, causing a few heads to turn due to the sudden burst of sound.

"Shut up" I hushed her as I began to blush harder.

"What else happened?" she whisper-yelled excitedly.

"I messed up big time" I groaned as I shrunk into the booth, embarrassed just by thinking about what happened. "I kind of freaked out and left him in the dust. I literally ran away from him without any explanation. I feel like such an idiot."

"Why did you freak out?" Toni questioned, a confused look covering her face.

"It's just— he touched my neck when we were kissing, and it made me think about what happened with Jax, and I freaked out and I couldn't breathe, and I just feel awful—"

"Oh, honey" Toni cut me off sweetly, trying to calm me down before I got worked up. Her expression was soft as she reached across the table and held my hand comfortingly. I felt like crying.

"Listen, I'm sure he'll be at the Whyte Wyrm tonight, talk to him then and just explain what happened. I'm sure he'll understand. And if he doesn't, I'll beat the shit out of him until he does." I laughed at her last statement, thankful for her successful attempt at cheering me up. However, she was right; I needed to talk to him. I was so embarrassed about what had happened though, I was nervous to face him.

"What'd I miss?" Jughead butted in, finally returning from the bathroom.

"Oh, nothing" Toni replied smiling at me. He narrowed his eyes at us, but didn't ask any further questions as he squeezed back into the booth. I gave Toni a small smile, thankful that she didn't tell Jughead about Sweet Pea and I. I needed to sort things out with him before everyone found out about us. Whatever we were.

A few more minutes passed before Toni declared that she needed to head out for work. I followed her to the front counter to pay, and then we made our way to the Whyte Wyrm. I was anxious, not only for the job interview, but for talking to Sweet Pea as well. This was going to be a long night.