Spring Break for Riverdale High's teens was just around the corner, a whole week of no students, no teachers and pure relaxation and socialising, but that wasn't the only event that called for celebration in town, especially over on the Southside, as much to Toni's happiness and the surprise of others, her father was finally being released from prison, and it was Serpent tradition to celebrate the liberation of their own from the slammer, and of course it was up to Alice and FP to get the bar ready.
"Are you coming tonight honey?" Alice asked a slouching and miserable Betty as she pulled a string of tangled party banners out of the cardboard box at on top of the bar. She had snuck away during her lunch break, desperately wanting to vent to somebody, anybody about her father.
Betty calmly shook her head, glaring down at her cellphone. "I've gotta stay with Tyler haven't I?" She rhetorically answered as she leaned her face into her elbow.
"We can get a babysitter." Alice chirped. "Being a Mom, especially a teen Mom, doesn't mean you have to stop having a little fun every now and then, trust me, I know."
"I know Mom, but I'm not really in the mood." Betty grumbled. "Have you heard from Dad yet?"
Alice twisted her lips into an awkward but understanding smile as she moved her head left to right. "Sorry sweetie, I haven't."
The defeated look on Betty's face that followed couldn't have made Alice feel any worse for her daughter. She sympathised with her, she really did, but she wanted, actually needed Betty to really understand what a useless unrelaible flake her father was. She didn't want the girl to experience any more heartache or disappointment.
"Baby-" Alice softly sighed as she leaned over the bar, looking her youngest directly in the eye. "I know you're worried but I promise you, he's fine."
Betty's lips frowned at the corner of her mouth, processing what her mother has said, but not being ready to accept it. "Suppose you're right." She nonchalantly grumbled before grabbing her backpack and swinging it over her shoulder. "I'm gonna get back to school, I'll see you at home."
"Okay sweetie." Alice chirped as she watched Betty walk out the door."
As Alice continued to raid through the party favor box at the bar, she feels FP's warm, strong hands slowly wrap around her waist and tenderly pull her into his front, smoothly shifting her ink black locks over her shoulder and thirstily laying his soft and moist lips onto her porcelain neck, trailing a line of kisses up and down.
She eagerly relaxed and leaned back into his shoulder, feeling a fiery yet tingling sensation run down her spine as she embraced his passionate gesture.
She reached her hand around his heck, slowly slipping the tips of her fingers through his gelled back raven mane.
As seductive and lust filled the moment was, there was something about the way FP acted in that moment that made her feel like it was so much more. He was so gleeful about it and she could tell by the little giggles she felt from him against the skin of her neck, but she could also tell it was much more about desperate passion and thrill. With him, it was about being glad and grateful to have her on his arm, to openly show that she was his and he was proud of that despite agreeing to keep a low profile until they told their children, and God knows she needed that.
"Mmm, good afternoon to you too." Alice moaned before biting down on her lip.
Finally turning herself around in his strong grip and meeting his grinning lovestruck face, she rested her small hands around his neck, enjoying the feel of him caressing her waist. The gleaming look of love in his eye filling her with warmth and security.
"You find that banner yet?" Hog Eye excitedly calls out, forcing them to separate immediately.
"Y-yeah. It's in the back." FP stammered, running his hand through his hair, ignoring the flushed look and smirk across Alice's face.
"You seem peachy Hog Eye." Alice complimented, trying to keep on track and keep up her and FP's casual act as Hog Eye appraoched the two of them.
"It's always a joyous occasion when a serpent gets out." Hog Eye adds with a smile as he made his way past the sneaky mildly flustered pair.
The second Hog Eye was out of sight, FP placed his hands back to the position they were previously in, pulling her into him and gazing down into her sapphire eyes with a smile. "I hate having to keep us a secret." He sighs, pulling her in closer.
Alice ran her claw like fingers through his hair, softly scratching his scalp as she sympathised, feeling the exact same way. Her first decent relationship with a good, solid man and she can't even flaunt it. "It's just until we tell the kids. It's not something we wanna spring on them is it?"
FP tilted his head in thought, taking Jellybean and Jughead into consideration and how they had been through enough change in their lives, God knows how they'd react to him and Alice being a couple. "'S'pose you're right." He agreed. "These things are about timing aren't they?"
"Yeah." Alice gushed as her hands lowered to his neck, lightly stroking her nimble fingers along. "But don't worry, I'm sure we can make up for the lack of touching and affection tonight, after the party?" Her eyebrows raised up and down suggestively, forcing a gleaming smirk to appear on FP's face.
"You bet."
•••
"Put your phone away." Archie whispered in Betty's direction, his nervous eyes darting back and forth between his Maths teacher and a careless but worrisome Betty, who continued to tap her short cut fingers along the screen at record speed, completely ignoring him.
"Relax Arch." She hissed with a sour face.
"If Mrs Timms catches you-"
"Elizabeth Smith!" The older woman bellowed with a snarl, shooting a glare towards Betty. Too late.
"You know the rules about phones in class." The short grey haired hag like woman stormed over to Betty's desk in a fury, her untrimmed brows were scrunched up and her prune like lips remained tightly shut as she approached the young blondes desk. "Hand it over this instant." She demanded in a menacing manor.
Much like her mother, Betty didn't take too kindly to authority of any kind, and getting a hold of her father was much more important to her than algebraic equations she'd never use in her life once she graduated, so she responded the only way she knew how.
"Fuck off." The teen angrily spat as the sounds of gasps, horror and shock from other students roared through the room.
And with that, Betty grabbed her backpack and swung it over her shoulder before making her way to the door to storm out without even waiting to be told to do so. Her timing couldn't have been any worse though, as she bumped into Weatherbee making his way down the hall, just as Miss Timms followed her out, and informed him of her behaviour, escorting her to his office immediately as the class watched on from the windows.
She didn't really take in much of the telling off she received from Weatherbee as she sat slouched in the beat up couch in his office, the only words he managed to pick up were littler duty and detention, being more familiar with on than the other, but right now that was the least of her worries.
Once Weatherbee's ear bashing was over with, she carelessly exit the office, finding Archie waiting out in the hallway.
"What's the damage?"
The young blondes eyes rolled upwards as she threw her bag over her shoulder and strolled towards Archie. "Litter duty and a weeks detention." Betty grumbled as she walked by his side down the busy hallway.
"Yikes!" Archie hissed bared teeth.
"It's such bullshit but I don't even care!" Betty snapped desperately. "All I can think about is Brody." Betty reveals in frustration, holding her head in her hands.
She felt completely alone in her concerns for Brody's whereabouts, as if nobody understood what she was going through and while she could understand her mother and sisters lack of care due to his unreliability, there was just something telling her deep in her gut that his disappearance this time around wasn't a coincidence.
Alice had told him to leave, and Betty had finally grew to accept that. However, she knew this time around he would have at least called, text or emailed. It wasn't like she was a kid anymore, affordable smartphones and internet were much more accessible these days. He was ecstatic when he found out he was a grandfather and would've loved to spend as much time with Tyler as possible, she knew he wouldn't have let anything get in the way of that, so she just couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. It was the only explanation to him being completely MIA.
"I've called, like fifty times. I've sent him a bunch of texts-" Betty's eyes began to glisten slowly as a light sniffle escaped her. "I just don't know what else to do." She croaked in a hoarse tone on the verge of tears.
Archie hated seeing his best friend in this current state, and did the only thing he knew would give her the slightest bit of comfort. He reached his arm around her shoulder, and slowly pulled her into his chest, which she gladly accepted and was highly grateful for, trying to hide the tears building in her eyes and stopping them from landing into his shirt.
Based on the gossip he had heard from Alice and Hermione, Brody wasn't exactly the solid and loyal type, but he was still Betty's father, and he couldn't imagine being without Fred, so he could relate.
Betty slowly lifted her head off of Archie's chest, glaring down at the ground to hide her wet reddened eyes and sneakily wiping a few stray tears away. She had a reputation to keep up at school after all.
"You know what you need? A distraction." Archie recommends with slight chirpy voice.
"What kinda distraction?" Betty pondered wearily with furrowed brows as the two walked down the concrete steps.
"Okay, I know I'm kinda springing this onto you but it never felt like the right time to do so, but I don't think there'll ever be a right time-"
"Archie!" Betty yells, cutting off his rambling. "Just spit it out."
"This weekend, Jughead, V and I are gonna compete in battle of the bands up in Rockland County, and we need a singer, so I was thinking-"
"Me?" Betty interrupts as her brows crinkle in confusion, pondering if Archie was serious or not.
"Did I mention there's a cash prize of $5000?"
Her eyes bulged open with a slight glimmer, raising her eyebrows in surprise at the mention of the large sum. That certainly got her attention.
"C'mon Betty! I've heard you sing." Archie confirms with a gleaming smile
"Bullshit! No you haven't."
"The distance between my room and yours isn't that far." Archie adds. "And besides, you shouldn't be embarrassed if that's what you're worried about, you have a lovely voice."
Betty's cheeks fell rosy shade of red upon hearing the compliment. Singing was a hobby of hers, one she wasn't as open about so hearing somebody confirm her skills just made her feel so much better about it.
"Fine, but only for the cash. So what's this band called then?"
Archie's lips parted slightly, bowing his head in embarrassment as a grin danced across his hidden face. "The....Archies." He stammered.
"What?!" Betty yelped our with a giggle upon hearing the ridiculous name.
"We were like five, okay?" Archie innocently defends.
"And you couldn't think of anything other than your name?"
"My Dad and Hermione say we can go, but we need a driver. Any ideas?"
Pursing her lips in thought as she ran through all the people she knew that could drive, her lips curled into a pride filled smirk as she finally thought of the perfect candidate. "I think I can help with that."