New Beginnings

It All Falls Down

"Okay Betty, what are you up to?" Veronica asks as they all round the kitchen island.

Betty gives her a mischievous smirk before reaching down to her mothers liquor cabinet.

"Now why didn't I think of that?" Polly exasperates.

"Think of what?" Archie asks naively, earning a smile from Polly as she looks in his direction.

Betty comes back up with a bottle of vodka in her hands and waves it to the teens, each them their faces begin beaming with happiness. "Like Mom said, we'll make our own fun." Betty recalls as she sneaks the bottle under her coat.

"So is Fred coming with us?" Alice innocently questions.

Hermione pokes her tongue in her cheek before speaking. "No. He's, he's working late. He said he'll be coming by later."

Alice notices the defeated and questioning look set upon Hermione's face. "Okay, don't even allow your head to go there alright?" Alice advices as she rests her hands on Hermione's shoulders.

The brunette sighs deeply before running her hands down her face. "Fine. Come on, let's just get go."

Alice smiles softly at her before watching her walk out the door. "Kids! We're leaving!"

•••

"Besides the anniversary, this is certainly the most important night of the year." Penelope informs Hal, sat at her dressing table and digging through her jewellery box and glaring at him through her mirror.

As she observed him, sat on the edge of their Kingsized four poster bed, adjusting his collar and practically staring into space, she couldn't help but wonder if he was actually listening to her.

He couldn't have looked more unbothered if he tried and it was written all over his face and his aura for weeks. She knew there was something going on with and she was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"At the risk of sounding like I'm making wild assumptions, you've been rather distant lately." She states before spinning around on her stool. "Is something bothering you?"

Hal glances towards her, a micro flash of guilt appearing over his face before Penelope had a chance to notice it. "No. Of course not." He lies, swiftly moving on to fix his shoes.

Penelope nodded to herself, pursing her lips in acceptance but then refusing to let this go.

She stands up from the stool and slowly wanders towards him. "It's just that, you've been going to more meetings than usual, remaining closed off, behaving shifty, I feel like you're here physically but mentally you're elsewhere, you brush off almost everything I say." She leans against one of the four bed posts and folds her arms against her chest, titling her head as she looked down at him. "Something you need to tell me dear?"

"Maybe you just have a wild imagination, dear." He retorts, refusing to look up at her.

The air around them remained tense. They both knew this discussion was going to end in tears but they were too far gone to just brush it off now.

As Penelope recalled his behaviour over the past few weeks and everything she had just listed prior, she was beginning to connect the dots, and it all lead to one conclusion.

"Is there someone else?" She asked sternly, her face as cold as ice and her eyes gleaming with anger.

Cocking his head up snappily, he glared at her with brows knitted in a mixture of frustration and confusion. "What?!" He bellows. "How can you even think that?"