Just Friends ▻ Jughead Jones

9

Victoria sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose as she sat in the booth at Pop's with Betty, Jughead, Kevin, and Veronica. Veronica and Kevin were sitting on one side of the booth while Jughead and Victoria on the other, Betty stuck in between them.

"The drive-in closing is just one more nail in the coffin that is Riverdale," Jughead ranted to them, "No, no, forget Riverdale. In the coffin of the American Dream. As the Godfather of...of Indie Cinema, Quinten Terrentino likes to say--" Jughead started, but Victoria held out her hand, getting sick of Jughead's unnecessary.

"Please! God, no! Jug,you're my best friend and I love you, but if I hear one more Quinten Terrentino references, I won't hesitate to beat your movie buff ass to a freakin' pulp," She cut him off and Kevin gave her a smile, knowing that she had beat him to it. He was about to say that same exact thing. Well, not with all of the insulting threats.

"What, Tor? I'm pissed," Jughead complained, "And not just about losing my job. The Twilight Drive-In should mean something to us. People should be trying to save it."

Veronica forward in her seat as she began to speak to Jughead, "People in this age of Netflix and BOD, do people really want to sit and watch a movie in a car? I mean, who even goes there?" Veronica asked him, not knowing how much the Drive-In meant to Jughead.

"People who want to buy crack," Kevin informed her and Victoria began to quietly laugh at this, seeing that he wasn't all wrong.

"And cinephiles. And car enthusiasts," Jughead argued before turning his head to look at the blonde who was sitting in between him and Victoria, "Right, Bets?" He questioned.

   Betty seemed to be completely zoned out until hearing her name being called be Jughead. She slowly looked up with wide eyes and nodded her head, "Totally." She agreed with him.

    There was a moment of silence between the five before Jughead spoke up, "Anyways, it's closing because the town owns it and didn't invest in it. So when an anonymous buyer made Mayor McCoy an offer she couldn't refuse."

"Anonymous buyer?" Veronica asked amused, "What do they have to hide? No one cares."

"I do!" Jughead and Victoria argued at the same time and it became utterly silent, mostly because Victoria had sounded as if she didn't care the whole night until Veronica told her opinion.

"Oh, and you should all come to closing night. I'm thinking 'American Graffiti', or as that too obvious." Jughead added in, "Tori, we're still watching it together. Just like old times, right?"

  "Right." Tori smiled brightly.

"I vote for anything starring Audrey Hepburn or Cate Blanchett," Veronica told them with a smile.

"Or the talented Mr. Rippley." Kevin added in with a nod before looking over at Betty, "Betty, your choices?"

Betty was quiet for a moment and Victoria could tell something was wrong with her friend, "Everything okay, B?" She asked her concerned and Betty nodded her head as a form of saying 'yes'. 

"Yeah, I'm just thinking, umm...maybe...Rebel Without a Cause?" Betty suggested with a small smile. It was clear to Victoria that Betty's mind was somewhere, but she didn't want to be the one to say anything.

Jughead smiled as he turned his head to stare at the Cooper girl, which caused Betty to smile back at him. 

  Victoria watched closely and could instantly tell there was something going on between her best friend and her other friend. Victoria sighed when noticed this and couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. She knew that nothing would be more than friends with her and Jughead, though. Jughead saw her as nothing more than his friend and that would never change.

  Hermione Lodge, Veronica's mother walked over with there order, "Here you go, Kids." She told them with a smile.

"Thanks, Mom." Veronica told her mother.

At Cheryl's table, Hermione went to grab the Cheryl's paid bill when Cheryl stopped her and placed her hand over Hermione's, "Be sure to put all of that cash in the register. You are a Lodge, after all. And Lodges are known to have sticky fingers." Cheryl snapped at her.

By the end of her sentence, Veronica already took it upon herself to walk over to Cheryl to tell her to back off, "Cheryl," Veronica spoke up, only to have Hermione hold up her right index finger as a way of saying to stop where she was.

"Honey, I got this," She told her daughter before she began to speak to Cheryl, "Cheryl, I went to school with your mother. She didn't know the difference between having money and having class either." She told her off before walking away.

    Victoria was impressed by this and had to try to stop herself from smiling after watching the scene unfold from her seat at the booth with the rest of her friends. Veronica walked back to the booth and took a seat.

 The bell attached to the door rang and Kevin and Victoria seemed to be the only two to look up. A frown appeared on Victoria's face when she saw Archie and his father enter alongside Mrs. Grundy, "What the fuck is this trickery?" She muttered quietly.

"Well, that's an odd combo of people," Kevin remarked, gaining the attention of the group of friends.

"I'll be right back," Betty spoke up, getting ready to go and confront them.

"Betty--" Jughead protested, trying to stop the girl from going.

  "No, don't!" Victoria also tried to stop the blonde but it was too late.

"Wait, what's happening?" Kevin asked, sounding almost as confused as Victoria was.

   Soon enough, Betty went over to Archie's booth and then went outside with him soon after. As they made their way outside, Archie looked over at Victoria and Jughead for an answer, but they just shrugged in response.

  Through the window, the four teenagers watched as Archie and Betty talked outside. Well, it looked more like arguing to Victoria, but she could have been wrong.

"What's happening out there?" Veronica asked curiously, "Is it about me?"

  

 Both Jughead and Victoria made a face as they tried to hide their faces away from the window as they watched the scene unfold, "I have a strong feeling that the answer's no." Victoria answered, "Also I'd let it go if I were you."

   "Yes, but you're you and I'm me, Tori," Veronica told her as she got ready to get up from her seat, "You do you, girl. I'll be back."

  Jughead rolled his eyes in annoyance as Veronica walked off to go confront Betty and Archie. Kevin smiled as he leaned forward in his seat to talk to both Tori and Jughead, "What was it like before she got here?" He questioned, "I honestly cannot remember."