Chapter 5- Beginnings of a Friendship.
Robyn knocked on the door heavily.
"Em, I'm heading out for breakfast. You need to be up when you get back. Becky and her mum will be here at 10 to pick you up." She smiled as she got a series of grunts from her sister within the bedroom.
She hurried down the stairs and made her way over to Pop's, it was only a few minutes walk and the diner was quiet as she arrived. She smiled at Pop as he came forward to take her order.
"Usual breakfast for me and Emma please, Pop." He nodded lightly to her as he wrote down the order on a slip of paper.
"Off out today then?"
"Emma is off to a friends for the weekend, birthday party."
"Ah, you going to the school dance then?" She couldn't help but chuckle lightly at that and recieved a small one in return from Pop, both of them knowing she had never gone to a school dance and had no intention of doing so. "If you're not busy...?" He gave her a look she had seen only a few times in the last year or so, she quirked her eyebrow in slightly.
"What do you need?" That earned another light chuckle from him.
"My waitress for tonight called in to say she couldn't come in." She sighed heavily, but smiled up at him. "Breakfast on the house and a couple of burgers tonight?"
"I'll be here." He smiled brightly at her.
"You are my saviour. It shouldn't be too busy with the dance going on anyway." She nodded to his remark, knowing it to be true. "And you can just sit and relax when there's not much to do." He turned then to get her breakfast sorted.
"I always do." She raised her voice and heard the chuckle that meant Pop had heard her statement.
"Is that food?" Robyn laughed at her sisters welcome as she walked into the house.
"Yes it's food." Emma took the bag from her hand and walked back to the kitchen, Robyn followed slightly behind.
As she entered the kitchen she saw her sister already putting the breakfasts onto plates for them.
"You excited for the party?" Her sister smiled over to her.
"Yeah, it should be great."
"Might give you some ideas for you own." She laughed as Emma rolled her eyes, she had been asking her to make a decision on her party for weeks, it was now only a week away.
"What are you doing with your time free of me?"
"Pop's needs a waitress for the evening, thought I'd help out." She looked up at the sounds of her sister laughing lightly.
"You have no idea what to do with a day off." She laughed back and couldn't help but see the truth in her sisters words.
They finished off eating their breakfasts before Robyn began clearing away the dishes.
"You'd best get ready, Becky and her mum will be here within the hour. Make sure you have everything you need for the night and morning." Emma just nodded slightly through her speech before taking off upstairs.
"Becky, Mrs Davies. Would you like to come in for a minute." She smiled brightly at both of them in her doorway, Becky was a short blonde girl, the same age as her sister and they had been friends since their first day in Riverdale.
"Sorry, we are in a little bit of a hurry. I've left Mr Davies to greet anyone who turns up while we are here." She joins in the laughter with Becky's mum, just a taller older version of the girl next to her, both set of brown eyes always alive with laughter.
"Oh, I'd best let you get back then. Here's Emma now." She turned round to see Emma approaching her with a bag on her back and the present under her arm, she gave her a quick hug before releasing her. "Call if you need me, any time." Emma nodded to her before she turned back to Becky and her mum. "Happy birthday for tomorrow, I hope you enjoy your party and your presents." Becky gave her bright smile in return before the three of them turned from the house and began walking away, she stayed there until they were all in the car and the car was out of sight before going back indoors.
Robyn had commandeered a booth so she had a place to sit when it was quiet. After a small dinner rush shortly after she has arrived, it had gotten quiet and she could hear Pop whistling away in the kitchen while he cleaned his cooking area. As she was cleaning the empty booths, all but two booths with patrons still sitting in, she heard his voice get louder and turned to talk to him.
"Getting quiter now, do you want to sit and eat?" She had been expecting the question and already had herself nodding the question.
"Thanks Pop." She made her way over to the table she had taken as her own and sat heavily.
She was facing away from the door and she gave a small chuckle as the bell rang to indicate a customer coming in just moments after she had sat down for her break. She heard Pop greet them and relaxed back into her seat, hoping it would be a take away order. She started slightly when she heard the voice answering, recognising it immediately and unable to stop herself from turning towards it. Even from the back it wasn't hard to see who it was, his signature beanie perched on his head. She turned quickly back away, hoping that he wouldn't see her there or approach her.
"Is that me?" She realised with a groan what she had in front of her, a notebook with some artwork she had been working on recently, on the top page a profile view of Jugheads face. She looked up to see him looking over her shoulder at it.
"Uhmm." She couldn't put together a coherent answer, not very many people had seen her artwork before.
"It's really good." He walked around the table and took the seat opposite her, causing her to raise an eyebrow at him. "May I?" He reached forward and took the notepad from before her without waiting for an answer and started flipping the pages, she watched as he looked at the sketches, he stopped, smiling at one in particular. He turned it to face her and she saw the image of her stood next to her sister, arms around each other and smiling. "Your sister?"
"Yeah, I give her one for every birthday. She always says she loves getting them."
"She lookes a lot like you." She shook her head lightly.
"She has more of her dad in her than me, I'm the spitting image of my mum." He looked at her oddly as she said that.
"Are you half or step siblings?" She was a little confused at the question.
"No, we're full siblings, why?" He let out a small chuckle.
"You said her dad and your mum, as if they weren't both of your parents." She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head softly.
"I didn't even realise." She let out a small chuckle and smile when he did the same from across the booth.
"So, about the another night." She dipped her head slightly, she'd felt bad about the way she had reacted to him. "Maybe intrigued was the wrong word choice." He smiled over at her.
"Maybe I over reacted slightly." He was already shaking his head at her words.
"No, you were right, those weren't words you use to describe someone you want to be friends with. I didn't mean it the way it sounded though, I just meant that I found you interesting, that I wanted to get to know you better. To be friends." She smiled at his slight rambling.
"Ok, let's forget about that night then. Friends?" She extended her hand over the table and smiled as he took it in one of his.
"Friends." They shook once before letting go. Just then Pops came over with two orders of burgers and fries and placed them on front of the two of them.