Sugar • Hiram Lodge

Kissing In The Dark

The taste of cherry on your lips

Kissing you is nice
The rest of you is paradise

   When Mira was led underground into the speakeasy through a secret passageway, she had to wonder if what she was experiencing was real life. This wasn't normal, at least not from where she was from. Girls from high school didn't just open up illegal, underground businesses.  

   Everything felt even more surreal after she'd laid eyes on the place. Rows and rows of dimly lit tables lined the underground room and around them sat people of all types. Waiters and waitresses ran around in decorative clothing serving alcohol as fast as they could, all coming from a bar so busy it was hard to see through the mass of bodies that surrounded it. The music blared so loud it was almost painful to the ear, but somehow the conversations in the room were even louder. And tying it all together from the center of the stage, singing her heart out was Veronica. 

   What was this town even? 

   Although highly overwhelmed by everything, Mira was just glad she had dressed for the occasion. Even though her dress was a bit on the sluttier side, it still managed to fit perfectly with the theme of the place. It wasn't a classy place like Veronica made it out to be, Valerie had made sure to warn Mira about that, and judging from all the people making out and going into dark corners, she was right. However, Mira didn't care. 

   Maybe she'd find a person of her own to hook up with. She'd never actually hooked up with a stranger at a club, but it seemed to be a pretty normal thing to do. Who knew, maybe tonight would be her night.

   "Mira!" Betty exclaimed, running to give her hug. "I'm so happy you're here," she said, her breath smelling heavily of alcohol. 

   Seriously, how was a place that served alcohol around minors still running?

   "You look great, Betty," Mira said with a friendly smile. 

   "There's someone I want you to meet," Betty said, dragging her to a table where two guys sat. One of them had bright red hair and the other wore a beanie. "Mira, this is Jughead, my boyfriend," Betty said, gesturing to the one with the beanie.

   "Hey, I have a friend named Zack who looks a lot like you," Mira said. 

   "I'm better looking," Jughead said as Betty took a seat on his lap. 

   "I'm Archie," the redhead waved.

   "Oh, you're Veronica's boyfriend," Mira said and took a seat next to him on an empty chair. He was very hot, Veronica hadn't been lying about that. Still, Mira wondered how long he must have been held back in school. There was no way someone who looked well into their twenties like him could be in high school.