Zipping up her black velvet thigh high boots, well Polly's black velvet thigh high boots. that tenderly hugged her toned thighs, she smiled proudly as she got ready for the Taste of Riverdale event.
It may not have been a bar or a club or a regular girls night out but she wanted to go out and show Penelope she wasn't going to be intimidated or belittled by her, and that she didn't control her, and with a word of advice from Hermione, it was all she needed to fire her up.
She looks into her full length mirror with a smirk on her face, her dark hair hanging down either side of her shoulders, admiring her body, that still looked amazing even after two kids, the benefits of having them young she figured, as the dress hugged her curves and accentuated her figure in all the right places. Completing her outfit with a faux fur coat, she was ready to go and exit her bedroom.
"Why are you wearing my boots?" Polly asks as her mother comes down the stairs.
She swings around the bannister as she reaches the final stair. "Because you only have one pair of feet." She retorts back to her daughter
Polly slumped back into the couch and folded her arms in annoyance. She wasn't very much looking forward to the event and made very little effort to dress up. This was the case with Betty as well. Neither of them wanted to go and were doing their best to make it abundantly clear to their mother.
"And what's up with you two?" Alice questions as she notices the girls sour faces
"We're not interested in this lame party, that's what." Betty mumbles back. "And I had to leave Tyler with that weird babysitter."
"Well she's the only one I can afford, and I thought you both loved parties." Alice states as she fixes her lipstick in the hallway mirror
"Yeah, when there's people our age around, not when it's full of stuck up middle aged townsfolk talking about boring shit." Polly expresses
"Well Hermione's bringing Archie and Veronica along. That should be fun, right?" She informs them, trying to get them more enthusiastic.
The sound of her doorbell interrupts her. "Ooh! That's Hermione."
She makes a beeline for the door, opening it wide and letting her in with Veronica and Archie following behind her
Hermione's jaw dropped the second the door opened revealing Alice on the other side. She slowly stepped in and looked her friend up and down. "Well you look just....wow!"
Alice shrugs her shoulders with a grin. "Oh I know."
Hermione turns her head towards a miserable Betty and Polly slumped back into the couch. "Hey girls, why so glum?"
Alice scoff and rolls her eyes. "Ugh, ignore them. They're in a strop brace they don't wanna go."
"Oh. Looks like all four of you are in the same boat then. These two kick up a fuss every year." Hermione exaggerates as she points to Veronica and Archie.
"I'm sure all four of you can make your own fun." Alice suggests
A lightbulb practically appears above Betty's head, she sits up as she unfolds her arms, her eyes gleaming with slight mischief.
"Yeah. You're right Mom." She says feigning excitement and sudden interest in the event, that goes unnoticed by her mother. "Come on guys, let's go into the kitchen and get a snack before we leave." Betty suggests, with a clear hidden agenda on her mind.
The other three teens follow her into the kitchen, their faces flashing with confusion.
"That's the spirit!" Alice mentions to all of them as she and Hermione watch them all walk off.
"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?"
"What else am I supposed to think when you've been pulling away from me recently? And we both know you've got form." Penelope interrupts
Hal clenches his fists before sighing out his frustration. "How many times are we gonna go over this? She meant nothing to me! It's in the past!"
Penelope scoffed and grabbed her purse, leaving him alone in the room and making her way downstairs to the car. Was she overreacting? Probably but her gut was telling her something wasn't right.
Shortly after she entered his car, Hal came out the front door and walked towards the vehicle, slowly entering as he could sense Penelope was in a fragile mood.
"Now can you let me speak?" He pleads softly.
She shifts her eyes towards him and then shifts them back, indicating that he had the floor.
"I promise you, hand on my heart I have not been stepping out on you." He assured her before reaching for her chin tenderly, forcing her to look at him.
She smiles softly towards him, looking into his innocent appearing eyes and choosing to believe him. He had already made this mistake before and proved that he had learned from it. She didn't think there was anyway he would willingly make it again.
The car journey between them was much less tension filled after they had gotten everything out in the open. They were minutes away from the town hall as Penelope's phone began to ring.
"Nora! Hi.......Yes, we're about to pull up outside of the town hall.......Okay, see you in a minute." She says before ending the call and rolling her eyes.
"This is the first and last time we show up late for a town event."
"Copy that." He smiles before looking back out at the road again.
Not being completely focused, he's taken by surprise when he approaches a speed bump, causing them to both hit their heads against the roof and Penelope to drop her phone down the side of the passenger seat.
"Be careful honey." She advises as she reaches her hand down the leather material to the carpet. Not being able to find her phone, she decides to give up and look for it when they leave, that is until she feels something round and metal like.
Clasping it in her hands and pulling her arm out, she reveals a bent silver hoop earring.
Eyes filled with a combination of hurt and fury, she slowly turned her head towards him, not saying a word.
"I think you better start talking Harold." She said sternly, gaining his attention as she turned his head while her parked.
He gulped at the sight of the piece of jewellery and his eyes widened in fear.
"Penelope, I-" He stammers.
"Save it!" She screams in fury before slamming the earring onto the dashboard. Grabbing her purse she immediately unlocked the door and stormed out of the car, wanting to get as far away from him as possible.
Unbuckling his seatbelt in a hurry, he exit the car and followed after her frantically. "Penelope wait!"
"Who is she?!" She bellowed, demanding to know
Noticing the town goers around them entering the hall, he tried to make things as discreet as possible. "Let's not do this right now, okay?" He pleads quietly through bared teeth.
He tries to take a hold of her arm to pull her to the side but pulls out of his grasp, pushing him away from her and setting a distance between the two.
Narrowing her eyes in rage towards him, she angrily placed her hands on her hips before calming herself down. "Who is she?" She inquires, refusing to look up at him as she does
Hal sighs anxiously before stepping closer towards her, his face in deep regret. "Penelope, I don't think-"
"If you want any chance of us fixing this, tell me who she is now!" She interrupts
"Does it matter?! I promise you, it was just sex. It meant nothing, you're who I love!" He explains frantically as he takes a hold of her shoulders.
"It does matter!" She yells. "Because I want to know who you thought was so much more thrilling than me that you had to break our vows." She cried
Closing his eyes and running his hands over his face, he breathed deeply. Knowing that this was going to end terribly but he couldn't take the risk of losing Penelope.
"Alice Smith." He finally mumbled.
Penelope's mouth dropped open and she gasped in horror. Plain disgust and fury flashing over her face as she took in what he said. Alice Smith, of all people, was his mistress.
She calmly walked over to the Hall entrance, shock still all over her face and pushing past Hal as she did.
"Where are you going?" Hal asked concerned
Without missing a beat, she turned quick on her heels and faced him. "You were right. We can't do this right now, there are people in there waiting on us, and relying on us, but I promise you, we are not, done yet." She informed him sternly before moving closer the door.
Hearing all the guests in chatter on the other side helped her calm herself a little quicker. She couldn't go right in with the state that she was in and gathered herself together, drying her tears, fixing her mascara and trying her best to let her hurt go.
She grabbed a hold of the handles and strolled right in with her head held high, smiling widely at everyone that looked her way, she was doing a great job at forgetting that her husband had been cheating on her with an ex prostitute, until she laid her eyes upon the woman in question herself, laughing up a storm and engaging in shallow conversation with her friends as if she hadn't been having an affair with a married man for weeks.
Storming over to her, she was ready to give her a piece of her mind. She didn't care one bit about making a scene. "How dare you even show your face here?!" Penelope roared.
Gaining the attention of Alice, Hermione and FP, they all turned in confusion to see the livid redhead standing before them.
Alice scoffed in annoyance. "It's a free country Penelope, I don't have to explain myself to-"
"Look at you. Stood here like nothings happened, dressed like you should be working a comer on the Southside-"
"Excuse me? I suggest you watch your mouth right now before-" Alice warns
"Okay that's enough Penelope." Hermione snaps.
"Like you haven't been sleeping with my husband for weeks!" Penelope finishes, causing the entire room to fall silent.
"Penelope what are you talking about?" FP wonders, his face filled with annoyance
"She's been sleeping with Hal, behind my back." She answers sternly, glaring directly at FP. "Do you honestly have no shame? Like it wasn't bad enough that you already sold yourself, you had to lead my husband astray as well."
Upon Penelope revealing this, all that was heard in the room were gasps. All eyes were on a very shook up Alice as she felt her heart beat rapidly increase and a lump in her throat she desperately couldn't swallow. The judgemental looks from everybody present was too much for her to handle.
Penelope looked around at the stunned faces of the townsfolk and chuckled lightly. "Oh yes that's right everyone. Miss Alice Smith here, is a prostitute."
Anxiously approaching Penelope with worry on her face, she attempts to plead her case. "Penelope, I swear this isn't what it seems-"
Suddenly, Penelope's sharp hand being smacked right across Alices face cuts her off before she can continue. "You liar!"
She watched as Alice clutched onto her reddening cheek, wanting to embarrass the woman further but deciding she wasn't worth it, and immediately running off back stage.
Alice could barely move. Her hand still on her cheek, she slowly removed it and glanced up to see Hermione and FP staring at her in confusion.
"Alice? What the hell is going on? You and Hal Cooper? I don't understand this." Hermione wondered.
Alice blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall as she turned around, laying eyes on Hermione and FP and preparing for their disappointment and shock. "I- have to go." She whispered before running towards the main entrance, wading through the busy crowds and sneaky whispers as she did.
Entering the car park, she noticed a figure, who she was pretty sure was Hal, in the distance.
"You motherfucker!" Alice screamed as she stormed over to Hal in the desolate and dark car park, hitting him with her fist as she got to him and eventually giving up when he managed to get away, setting a distance between them both.
"You said you weren't married you lying sack of shit! Do you realise what I've just been through?" She cried.
Hal reaches his hands out to steady her. "I- I messed up, I know I did, just let me explain-"
Clasping her fists, she attempts to attack him again before feeling two hands wrap around her waist from behind and pulling her off him. "Alice stop! He's not worth it!" FP advices.
Being free from Alice's wrath, Hal took the opportunity to make an embarrassed run for it to avoid any further confrontation. He had screwed up royally and didn't want to be reminded of it any longer.
"You better run you lying bastard!" She cried out.
Panting heavily in FP's grasp, she removed herself from him and ran her hands through her hair, clenching her eyes shut to avoid any more tears.
FP calmly stepped towards her, placing his soft hand upon her shoulder, expecting her brush him off but she warmly accepted it.
"Are you okay?"
She shook her head angrily before turning around, seeing his soft and innocent chestnut eyes as they gazed into hers.
"Honestly? No." She chuckled. "But I will be. I always am."