"Mmm, I like the sound of that." Alice purrs into the phone. "Then what?"
"Well-" the sound of her doorbell cuts FP's impending sentence short.
"I have to get that, but we are resuming this conversation as soon as possible."
FP laughs on the other line. "Deal."
She hangs up the phone and heads downstairs to answer the door, finding Hermione on her doorstep. "Hey, I didn't know you were coming over."
"Well, I was coming by to visit Fred but I wanted to ask you something. Or, I suppose, we want to ask you something."
Alice smirks. "You and Fred are a we now? Go on."
"We wanted to invite you and FP to dinner with us on Friday."
Alice is quick to shut that idea down. "Yeah, no. Absolutely not."
"Come on, Alice, it'll be fun!"
"I told you Hermione, FP and I, we don't do dates. It's a strictly sexual thing, in fact you interrupted a very steamy phone call."
Hermione cringes. "Gross." Alice smiles in amusement. "Please? You don't have to call it a date, just think of it as a dinner that leads up to sex when you two get back home. Please, Alice?"
Alice groans. "Sit down."
"What?"
"I have something to tell you about FP." Hermione follows her over to the couch. "You know how I told you things between him and I are complicated?" Hermione nods. "Well the reason things are complicated is because FP is Jughead's dad."
Hermione's eyebrows raise. "Jughead? As in, Betty's boyfriend, Jughead?" Alice nods embarrassedly. "Oh my God!"
"I know."
"How did that even happen? Did you know who he was when you two slept together the first time?"
"No, of course not. I told you, I met him at the bar, at that point I didn't even know Betty had a boyfriend. We started up our little friends with benefits arrangement and it was good for a little while until Betty wanted to have a dinner with Jughead and his dad. That's how we found out."
"Holy shit." It's all that she can manage to say, the whole thing just seems so bizarre.
"We ended it that night but then he showed up at my house a few days later and we both agreed that we didn't want to let go of what we have." Alice sniffles, letting her suppressed guilt make a reappearance.
Hermione hands her a tissue. "What are you going to do?"
"I don't know. I just know that what we have right now is good, and I like being with him. I just don't want to hurt Betty."
"You won't. You can have your fun, no one says you have to quit having fun." Alice turns to her. "You're a single woman, you deserve to do something for yourself."
"Are you just saying all of that so I'll agree to dinner with you and Fred?"
"Well sort of, but also because it's true. You deserve to be happy, Alice. After years of being in a boring marriage, you deserve to have some fun."
Alice smiles. "Dinner sounds nice."
_____
She left the front door unlocked for him so he could just walk right in when he arrived. She hears the door open as she's finishing up her makeup and glances at the clock, he's right on time.
His footsteps come walking up the stairs and a low whistle comes from the doorway. She turns to look at him and he smiles, looking her up and down. "You look so good. Holy shit."
"So do you." She walks over to him and straightens the tie around his neck. "You should dress up more often, it's sexy."
"Glad you approve." He gives her a kiss and she giggles afterwards as she wipes her lipstick off of his lips.
"I'm sorry you got roped into this."
"It's alright, I like spending time with you."
"There's one other thing that I should tell you."
"Okay?"
She bites at her bottom lip nervously. "I told Hermione that you're Jughead's dad."
FP's eyes grow wide. "You did?" She nods. "It's just... the last thing I wanted was for her to accidentally mention a double date to Betty and then spill your name. She has a big mouth so it wouldn't exactly shock me. Now that she knows about us and our little situation she won't say a word." He nods and she strokes his cheek. "I'm sorry, I should have told you sooner, I know we didn't talk about it but I-"
He silenced her with a kiss. "I'm not mad." He promises. "Lets go have dinner, then we're going home and I'm having you for dessert." Alice laughs and pecks another kiss to his lips before they leave.