AN: Hi, just another rusty author getting back into the swing of things. Or in other words the words, the Idea Pixies made me do it! Anyway, please read and review, and I hope you like it.
Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe
"So, why Pop's?" was always the third question Terry "Pop" Tate was asked, in between mouthfuls of fries and slurps of milkshake. Normally the two preceding questions would be, why a "Chocklit shop?" and "do you still serve a Pop's special?". The answers to which being, "why not?", and of course, Ms. Lodge, coming up right up; respectively. In his younger days Pop would've laughed and smiled to the third question, and said it was due to his love of soda, but that wasn't completely true. Truthfully, it had been Jenny's fault, she had been the one to coined it, after watching him guzzle enough soda that he looked ready to pop. But then again, it had also been her love and kindness, which had drawn the shy, sweet-toothed Pop and subsequently many like him, out of their shell.
Together they'd run Pop's; Jenny covering the front and Pop, with his sweet-toothed knowledge cooking up a storm from the kitchen. In all their years of running Pop's, they'd shut twice, for their wedding day and then again, for Jenny's funeral. It was this steadfast commitment to Riverdale which turned Pop's from a cosy restaurant into a Riverdale staple; one not even Mayor Givens could touch. A commitment not easily forgot; when the residents of Riverdale had needed someone to talk to, to listen or just a milkshake, Pop and Jenny had been there and when Pop needed them they'd been there too. Pop didn't notice at first, beyond the oh, so unsubtle visits "just for a milkshake" and the sad smiles, but then it had crept up on him like it had all of Riverdale. Everyone had felt Jenny's love, even those too young to have known her, and so they kept coming back, visit after visit, after visit.
Jenny had been there to welcome them in, both the Lodges and the Blossoms alike. It had been her, with her easy smile and plate of fries, which had broken the tension of many a first date or cut pre-exam jitters. Skills which she'd passed onto Pop almost without him noticing, almost, during times when she called him out of the kitchen, "to lend a hand" or "say hi little Fred Andrews" who wasn't so little anymore. Ultimately, this was why he was Pop, though she'd hadn't had the chance to give him a family, instead Jenny had given him a town. After all, it wasn't Pop's love of soda or nostalgia, which drew Riverdale's residents back again and again. No, it was Pop, he was the one now to welcome them home, regardless of what scrapes or mischief they'd got into, welcomed home with a milkshake and an easy smile. After all, he was Pop, he was their Pop.
