Joseph popped his head through the kitchen door ready to plate up a meal for the first customer that had entered since his shift began an hour ago, he was even planning on giving the person an extra portion of whatever they ordered, looking around he saw Izzy staring out the window and couldn't help but be disappointed, the bell was Jughead stepping outside..
Business had slowed down during the last couple of days but today was the worse one yet, maybe it was because it was the weekend and people had the option to just stay at home. According to the manager at the Bijou and the matron'd at the fancy Italian restaurant their taking had also gone down since Wednesday morning with residents cancelling their reservations and not going out to watch movies after news of a second shooting made it's way around town.
"Still no customers?" He asked staring at the empty diner, for the first time in his five years of employment the wasn't a single customer, it was kinda disconcerting to experience.
"Nope not yet. I'm thinking of calling Pop's to see if we could close up in the next hour or two, I know he wants this place to be open all the time but there is literally no one to serve. I know you just got here but I can get Jughead to help me close if you wanna go home early." Izzy offered.
"First of all, I ain't going no where and secondly, we both know Pop and Marie would kill me if I left you or Jug here with a shooter on the loose" Joe chuckled wryly knowing his wife would probably gut him before Pop even had the opportunity to do anything. "But if you like you can text Daisy to take the night off, I can handle this place by myself till the morning, it will save her having to do another double shift."
Joe and Marie were Izzy's idea of a perfect relationship he was a six-six tattooed former gang member and she was barely a five-three ex beauty pageant winner and somehow they managed to be a gold standard couple; they managed to evolve into a 'them' without changing who they were.
Joe could still bench pressed a truck and Marie was always judging one beauty show or another these day, she even used her expertise to coach other people and was always around trying to convince Izzy to sign up for a show... well another one.
Marie had managed to convince Izzy to try out in the local contest and Izzy had somehow won the thing but the whole pageant scene wasn't for her, the make-up, early morning exercise, the dance routine there was a lot of work that went into just a single round of audition and Izzy hadn't wanted to do it again, although she was glad about the prize money which was sitting in a savings account for her.
Izzy decided to distract herself from what was going on outside between Jughead and Tallboy and focused back on Joe "Fine you can spend all evening telling me how baby Olivia is. Is she as cute as before or has she managed to get even cuter in the last two weeks?"
"She's gotten even cuter. God knows she didn't get her looks from me, that is all Marie's doing" he replied leaning on the counter.
"You're not so bad yourself" Izzy declared "Marie just smoothed out your rough edges"
"Gee thanks" Joe deadpan not actually taking any offence, Izzy was like a little sister to him despite the twenty years age difference "so are you and Jones going to stay here all night or are you actually going to do something with your Saturday night like go on a date" Joe suggested.
"Well Jug is helping me out tonight but I'm sure he will do something with his girlfriend soon plus no one is asking me out on a date so I get to spend my Saturdays working and making money."
"I am sure that's not true" Joe knew that Izzy was one of the most beautiful girl in town and he was aware that whenever she had shifts at the diner a bunch of teen boys all suddenly got a craving to come by and eat greasy food for hours on end while shamelessly flirting with her.
Even if Joe hadn't know Izzy himself, the way in which Marie described the teen would have been enough to convince him that Izzy was a beauty; his wife wasn't one to give out needless compliments and she had been in the business long enough to know what beauty was so if Marie said Izzy was a beauty then she was, there was no two ways about it.
"Yeah it is. No one has asked me out since Reggie." Izzy said her nose scrunching up out of habit after saying her ex's name "And even if they did I am not sure I would want to, plus Jug is the only guy I can stand at the moment." She replied honestly, once bitten, twice shy and all that.
"Well there's no need to rush back into dating... I never did like that Mantle boy."
Joe had been against Izzy dating Reggie in the first place, he knew his type. Someone who couldn't see the value in a good thing just because he wanted to have the shiny one. His dad was the exact same the man would trade in a classic beauty just to be seen riding the latest BMW like the idiot he was, so when Joe had heard that Reggie had cheated he wasn't exactly surprised although he was sad for what Izzy ad to go through to learn the character of the boy.
"You have nothing to worry about on that front"
"Why don't you and Jughead leave early tonight, I am sure you can get one of your movie marathons going" Joe countered Izzy's earlier offer having being feeling guilty for the last three weeks. If he hadn't taken Pop up on his offer to go home early -that day- Izzy won't have been there trying to convince Pop to go home. She won't have had to witness a shooting, no one remained unchanged after witnessing something like that, he hadn't and no one he knew had remained the same after their first shooting.
Izzy broke Joe out of his melancholic thoughts once she started speaking again. "We can stay for another hour in case it picks up…. so if you are struggling for a Christmas gift for me and Pop I have a wonderful idea." Izzy began as a prelude to asking for a slight favour ignoring the fond exasperation on his face. "So I booked Pop into a four day fishing trip in a cabin out of town where he can be one with nature and all that and I even got Mr. Hassel and the other poker guys to go with him…. but we both know that Pop won't go anywhere if he thinks I have the house to myself so I can you please tell him that you will be checking in on me"
"Iz-zy" Joe began his voice battling between the fondness he felt for her and the exasperation he felt at being a part of her scheme. "You do know I remember what it's like to be sixteen with a house all to myself, I managed to get into a whole heap of trouble in just one afternoon let alone spending four days alone, and I don't feel comfortable lying to Pop"
"I am not saying lie to him just don't come around all the time." she begged "How many chances will I get to have the house to myself for a whole weekend plus this is me, you know I am not going to go crazy, just one party with a hand full of people and it will be peace and quiet the other three nights AND I will make sure Pop never finds out." Izzy promised; mostly by putting the fear of God into anyone that came so they didn't go blabbing and partially because she was going to only invite people who weren't stupid enough to blab.
"I'm not sure."
"Please, come on I need this, the entire school needs this, just a teeny tiny small act of rebellion where we can all relax and have fun and be kids for a night and whenever you say the word I will shut it down, Scouts honour"
"So when is this fishing trip" Joe sighed knowing Izzy had already convinced him to get onboard with her plans.
"The nineteenth till the twenty-second" Izzy squealed jumping to give Joe a hug.
x.x
Just then Alice Cooper walked in, to the displeasure of both Joe and Izzy, Joe knew Alice to be a turncoat from back in the day and while Izzy didn't mind her too much, Alice's 'brand' of journalism left a bad taste in Izzy's mouth half the time. Alice was the type of person who obviously judged someone by what side of the tracks they lived in, so someone like Jug wasn't good enough for her daughter. It was this type of prejudiced that Izzy hated the most, the pointlessness of it all.
"Mrs Cooper what can we get you?" Izzy asked plastering a smile on her face if nothing else the woman was their first customer since it had gotten dark.
"I was wondering if I could talk to you for just a moment" Alice tried making nice.
"What about?" Izzy questioned staring back at Alice.
"The Register is planning on doing a series in-depth articles about the recent shooting in town and we were wondering if we could interview you"
"Why me?" Izzy wondered aloud genuinely confused.
"Well you were here at the sight of Fred shooting and according to my sources you were also one of the first people at the hospital when the Mason boy was shot, what you saw, how you felt can really be helpful."
Izzy stopped listening to the spiel Alice had obviously prepared for her, she had already spent the last three weeks being stared at by kids in school and people around town so the idea of doing an interview for the town newspaper and gaining even more attention wasn't something she planned to do not to mention the fact that she was worried about the mystery man who may or may not be the shooter coming to the diner so it was a bad idea overall to have herself plastered in the papers. "No thank you" Izzy interrupted half way through Alice telling her that she would be paid for the interviews.
"Now if it's the amount we are willing to negotiate on it."
"It's not the amount, I just don't think I should be doing interviews right now, I don't want the public attention."
"No, yours will be one of many stories to be released over the next few weeks, Archie Andrews has just agreed to be the first to be interviewed" Alice offered up now trying to down play the situation. "His will be about what it was like as a son to witness such a horrific act and how he and his family have moved on from the act."
"So what will her's be about?" Joe asked, there was always a catch when it came to Alice, even Jughead had to learn his lesson regarding this woman as a simple dinner invitation was only made under the guise to get him out of the trailer and get Archie and Veronica to break in.
"It can be about how a modern woman can do it all from being in the spot light saving -Fred's- life one week to taking the back seat and providing a comforting shoulder for a friend to cry on"
"Is this article even about the shooting or are you just trying to strong arm Izzy into something she doesn't want to do. You have other people and she said no so move on" Joe glared towering over the pushy 'journalist'.
"This town is facing a crisis and people are scared, look at this place" Alice stated pointing to the empty diner "It's a Saturday night and not a single person is in here, everyone is too scared to leave their house but if they read about how a father got shot in front of his own son or the bravery of one of our own who shows no fear in living her day to day life and going back to work in the very same place she witness this horror it might just give people the courage to leave their house and not cower in fear. This is only the second shooting and if we don't counter act this fear mongering now very soon people will start selling their houses and business and move out of Riverdale."
Ignoring all the dramatisation and hand waving going on Mrs. Cooper did have a point, if peopled already stopped coming to Pop and once the got stuck in the pattern of just staying home all the time they might not be a diner for Izzy to inherit.
"But why is it up to her to give you an interview?" Joseph questioned.
"It's not just Izzy, like I have already said it will be a series of interviews, she will be one of many people that I talk to." Alice replied not even flinching at the look Joe was giving her, maybe if he was still living the gang life she might have been worried but right now she was dealing with 'Joe the cook' and the worse he could do was give her an undercooked burger. "And to be completely honest with the original story published after Fred's shooting about Izzy's heroics-"
"Yeah the story you wrote" Joe muttered under his breath not letting Alice distance herself from the hassle she caused.
"- with that story already being out I feel like people will respond more to Isabelle's interview than anyone else I have lined up, that first article generated a lot of buzz both online and in the street. Plus we can shine a light back on Pop and remind everyone the significance of this place, get people back in here. We will even give Pop a week of free advertising in the papers and I will thrown in the next ten ads after at half price."
Damn it.
That was a really good bribe and judging by the look on Alice's face she knew Izzy was now tempted to agree to do the interview.
"Take your time, read my article with Archie first before committing to a decision but I honestly think the interview would be just the thing Riverdale needs to bounce back and get our fighting spirit instead of cowering at home." Alice stated before leaving the restaurant as Jughead entered.
x.x.
Writer's note:
So should Izzy do the interview or not? Moreover lzzy planning to have the house to herself for four days, 'what could go wrong?' This was more of a filler chapter for the future but i do still want to kwon your thoughts about it.