Hermione turns her nose up at the two jack o'lanterns on the front stoop of Pops, as if the smell of hollowed out gourd might follow them inside. Penelope lets her white tennis shoe brush past one as she takes the door from Hermione's grip. It moves ever so slightly from her touch, but doesn't collapse in on itself. November 1st but the magic of Halloween always sticks around for at least the extra day.
Just for her.
"I'm not saying the cornucopia should be out already, but at least toss the rotten pumpkins on your front steps." She puts a hand in front of her mouth and side-eyes Pop Tate at the counter. "Bad for business."
Penelope just nods and follows the other girl to a booth, afraid anything she says may ruin this moment. Hermione tosses her jacket on a seat and turns to her with a hand out. "Coat off."
Penelope glances down at her outfit. For a moment, she almost catches a glimpse of sparkles from last night's shoes, but writes it off as lack of sleep. The ruby red shoes are safely tucked in the back of her closet, probably never to see daylight again. Just a sad reminder of the dullest Halloween she's ever had in Riverdale.
"I'm cold." She tries to slide into the booth, but Hermione grabs her elbow. "Really, Hermione. I'm -"
"Embarrassed to wear that uniform in public or something?" Hermione lets go of her arm and slowly crosses her own, lips tilting into a sideways frown. "Penelope, I didn't make you assistant cheer captain for no reason. I thought you'd wear that uniform with pride. Don't you want to match with me?"
She does a quick scan of the diner. The chance of Rose being there are astronomical, but she can never shake the feeling that she's always being watched. "Rose," she begins, "mother, you know, she - she really wouldn't consider this," she gestures down to her, "proper outerwear, even for a brunch at the Chock'Lit Shoppe. I should have just brought a change of clothes to practice but I was running late and -"
"You were the first one there."
"Late for you, I mean." She licks her lips. "I know how much you hate when people are late for practice and since we were doing it at your house I knew it would be important to get there early to help you set up so everything could go smoothly and -"
Hermione takes her by either shoulder and her mouth snaps shut. She didn't realize how fast she had been talking.
"Penelope," she sounds out all four syllables. "Take a deep breath, take off that jacket, and relax." She squeezes her before letting go. "It's your birthday. Stop worrying about your stupid family and don't you ever be embarrassed to be seen in that uniform." She slides into the booth. "Not proper outerwear? Oh please. Your mother probably wears white after Labor Day and fur in the summer. She's hardly one to pass out unwarranted fashion advice."
Penelope finally slips out of the knee length jacket it was still too warm for and takes a seat. She knows Roseanne Blossom wouldn't be caught dead wearing white - holiday be damned - but she keeps her mouth shut and offers Hermione a quick smile.
The guilt of even being there bubbles up inside of her. Pop's Choco'lit Shoppe was her introduction to Riverdale. The first place she ever step foot in this town, even before Thornhill. Her home away from home.
No. More than a home. A safe haven.
And birthday meals with her best friend had been tradition since the seventh grade when they were finally old enough to walk there without supervision. It didn't feel right to be there on this day of all days without him.
"I'm thinking milkshakes," Hermione's voice pulls her out of her thoughts, "and a huge order of fries. Extra crispy. We deserve a calorie fest."
Penelope tugs at the hem of her skirt, a little part in the back of her brain already dreading the way her waistband might feel too snug on the way home. The final game of the season - the all or nothing match against Baxter High - was this Friday and Hermione wanted them in full uniform all week, convinced they were always peppier in their skirts than in their practice clothes. What she would give to be in those elastic-waisted shorts now.
"Oh I couldn't possibly." She picks up a menu even though she's had the whole thing memorized since she was nine. "Maybe I'll get a club salad, hold the bacon."
"Awful." Hermione smacks the menu down so she can look her in the eye. "It's your birthday."
"Exactly." She moves the menu back up but keeps it tilted enough so Hermione can just see her eyes pretending to skim the page. "I'm going to have cake with my family -"
"What we have here will be oodles better than whatever maple glazed nightmare the Blossoms have waiting for you at home." Hermione flags down a waitress and starts ordering before she's even in front of them. "One chocolate shake with extra whipped cream, one strawberry, and a platter of fries." Hermione gives the waitress an award winning grin. "To start."
"But -"
"No buts." Hermione runs her finger across the table before planting her elbows down. "Extra whipped cream on the strawberry too, come to think of it. It's her birthday. Oh, and don't forget the cherry on top."
"I will be sick to my stomach." She can feel the guilt brewing in her belly. "Do you have any idea how many fun sized candy bars I ate at that party last night?"
Hermione rolls her eyes. "Three. I was watching you."
Three sounds exactly right but she doesn't admit it. "Well I may have had more, but I knew we had practice this morning. Did not want to over do it."
"Three tiny candy bars. Wow. I probably ate a dozen myself." Hermione takes a paper napkin and lays it next to her place setting. "Thank you, by the way. For being such a good sport about it."
"About what?"
"Me calling emergency cheer practice on a Sunday morning. On the day after Halloween nonetheless, right after a huge party." She purses her lips and regards Penelope with a tilted head. "Does that make me awful, doing stuff like that?"
Despite Hermione's soft tone, she can never tell if the girl is baiting her. Always best to play it safe. "You just want us to be the best, to cheer on the Bulldogs this week. A win for the Bulldogs is a win for River Vixens, isn't it? A win for Riverdale?"
"Uh huh." Hermione nods but stares at her placemat, her fingers running over an advertisement for the carwash on Spruce and Main. "Pamela told me. About how you rallied the whole squad together when they started complaining about practice. Why?"
"Well, you're the captain. Whatever you say goes."
"Well it's your birthday. It's your day. I know you didn't want to wake up early for me." Hermione scratches the placemat with her fingernails, still painted yellow from her costume the night before. "And you were at Hiram's big Halloween party last night so I know you're just as tired as the rest of us. You should have been the last person who wanted practice this morning."
"I thought about not going to the party, so I could be well rested." A lie. The only reason she considered not going was because she didn't want to go alone. "But when I heard you were going too, I figured why the heck not?"
"You are such a pushover, Pen." Hermione's lips are pursed tightly. "You should have rallied the troops against me, not backed me up."
"That would be mutiny."
"So declare mutiny! Steal the squad from me! Why do you care? What favors have I ever done you?"
"I," she swallows the lump in her throat. "I would never do that. I am assistant cheer captain. I could never go against you."
The waitress comes back and places two frosted milkshake glasses on the table. "Fries will be out in a sec, girls," she says as she drops two striped straws on the table.
"You're doing me a favor right now." Penelope sticks a straw in her milkshake, careful not to ruin the perfect peak of whipped cream or the cherry on top. "You brought me to Pops for my birthday. You didn't have to do that."
"Maybe," Hermione pops the cherry from her own shake in her mouth and rips the stem off, "maybe I'm trying to break away from the mean girl persona, you know?"
Penelope bites the inside of her cheek. "It's working."
"I know what you're thinking. 'Hermione being nice is a riot and all.'" She jabs her straw into her chocolate shake without care and takes a long sip. "Laugh it up, but who else would you be here with on your birthday if not me?" Her teeth bite into the straw. "Oh shit. That was mean, wasn't it? I didn't -"
"It's fine, it's fine," Penelope insists. The waitress walks by and drops a platter of fries in the middle of the table. "You're right, I wouldn't have done anything today if you didn't ask me to come to Pops."
Hermione nods quickly as she dumps ketchup on the side of the plate. Penelope cringes and makes mental note to only eat from the other side.
"Which begs the question," Hermione picks up a fry with her bare hand and waves it towards Penelope, "why are you doing everything alone these days?"
Penelope stabs a fry with a fork. "Am I? I haven't noticed."
"You went to the party alone last night."
"Well I couldn't turn down a chance to see Madonna make out with Bruce Springsteen." She takes another slow sip of her milkshake, hoping the cool glass will calm the red rising in her face. "Your costume was really great. Fred's too, of course. You two looked straight out of an MTV music video."
"Thank you." Hermione drowns a fry in ketchup as she speaks. "Your Dorothy costume was cute. I particularly loved the little stuffed Toto you carried around. However I can't help but feel you were missing a certain," she pops the fry in her mouth, "Cowardly Lion to go along with you?"
Penelope forces a tight lipped smile. "I have no time in my life for cowards. Or brainless boys. Or," she stabs another fry so hard the plate shakes, "heartless idiots."
"Right." Hermione's pouts. "So you're not going to tell me why you didn't have plans on your birthday with your best friend?"
"Who?" She spins the fork around in her fingers, wishing she had asked the waitress for some honey mustard to jazz up the grease. "I don't believe I have a best friend anymore."
"I'm kind of worried about him."
Hal, Hal, Hal. "Who?"
"You know who, Pen."
She shrugs her tightened shoulders and Hermione rolls her eyes.
"You know I'm talking about Hal."
"Oh." She pulls her milkshake closer and pulls the straw out to scoop some whipped cream into her mouth. "Hal doesn't seem to have time for me anymore, so I certainly don't have time for him."
"He seems depressed."
She takes a larger, messier scoop than she intended and tries to sound nonchalant. "Haven't noticed."
"Do you know what happened between them?" Hermione leans over the table. "Where Alice is?"
Penelope swallows the lump in her throat and blinks back the tears building up. The ice cream runs down her throat and it takes everything in her power not to press the cold glass to her cheeks.
"I do not -" her voice cracks and all at once the tears come, "I don't know what's going on with them and I don't care. Alice could have ran off and joined the damn circus, heaven knows I'm not important enough to tell!" She ends on a louder note than she intended and the family finishing their late breakfast a few tables down all turn and stare at her. The mother opens her mouth but Hermione sends her a glare that could freeze time itself.
"Mind your own business!" she snaps as she slides into the booth next to Penelope. Before she can protest, she feels arms come around her. The hug feels foreign coming from Hermione, almost like the head cheerleader is unpracticed in doling out affection, but it's comforting nonetheless.
She wants to shove her off, but instead a whine comes out of her mouth and tears make her mascara run. "You don't care that it's my birthday. You just want gossip about Hal and Alice from me."
"That's not true!" Hermione pulls her a little away so she can look her in the eye. "I invited you out because being alone on your birthday sounds like the most pathetic thing in the world. Okay?" She presses her lips together. "Even too pathetic for you."
Penelope lets out a laugh that turns into a hiccup. "That's not funny."
"Yes, it is." Hermione takes her hands off and Penelope feels the cool October - no, November - air sweep across when another customer opens the door. "And I won't lie to you. I do want to know what happened to Alice and Hal. And with you. Alice is MIA and Hal looks like he's about to off himself and if I am being quite frank," she reaches across the table and drags her milkshake closer, "you don't look like you're doing much better. But I swear, I don't want to know so I can pump info into the rumor mill. My concern is legitimate. Other people have noticed it too. Mary said Hal is trying to push off editorial duties of the Blue and Gold to some sophomore and come on." She glances over her shoulder and lowers her voice. "Alice just disappeared and no one wants to talk about it? It's weird, that's weird, right? And you, missy. You haven't been yourself in ages."
Penelope stirs some of her whipped cream into her shake, careful not to drown the cherry still in the glass. "I honestly do not know what happened with Alice. All I know is she stopped coming to school a few weeks ago and the moment that happened, Hal dropped me." She takes another sip, resisting the urge to down the rest. "We are best friends. Were best friends at least. If something happens to your girlfriend, your best friend should be the one you turn to to talk about it, right? Instead he just kept blowing me off. Ignoring me. Not returning my calls." She sighs. "On Friday I asked him if we were still on for Sunday at Pops, he just gave me the most peculiar look and said he didn't feel like dressing up for Halloween."
"He forgot your birthday?" Hermione asks through a mouthful of fry. "Like all together? That pig."
Penelope shrugs. "I spent all day yesterday thinking about what to do. What does a good friend do? Do I go to his house and tell him he forgot my birthday and demand we go to the Halloween party together? Or do I give it up and accept that, sadly," she combs a piece of hair out of her face, still stiff from last night's hairspray, "our friendship was always one sided?"
Hermione shakes her head fiercely, a frown playing on her lips. "I'm going to kick Hal's ass."
"No, please. It's stupid really. I'll just - I will just forget his birthday too when the time comes around."
"That's the most pathetic thing I ever heard. Revenge served ice cold? You think he's going to care by the time his birthday rolls around?"
"Wouldn't you be hurt if someone forgot your birthday?"
"He already forgot yours, Penelope! We should go egg his car or something." She takes a long sip off her milkshake and nearly finishes it. "We'll get a few cartons from -"
Penelope grabs her arm before she can get up. "Didn't you just say you were worried about him? How is egging his car going to help?"
"I am worried about him, but that was before I realized what he did." Hermione purses her lips. "Like, he loses Alice and how he's just like dumping you too?" Her jaw drops. "Metaphorically I mean. Just because some shit went down with your girlfriend does not mean you get to burn bridges with all of your friends."
"Uh huh." Penelope swallows the lump in her throat that just won't quit. "So does that mean you don't know what happened to Alice either?"
Hermione regards her coolly. "I thought you didn't want to talk about Alice."
"I don't." And the flush returns to her face once more. "But of course it's crossed my mind. Is she okay? Is she gone for good? In trouble? Does Hal even know -"
"No." Hermione puts her hands up to silence her. "You said you don't want to talk about Alice so let's not talk about Alice. It's your birthday, you don't even like her, and the subject obviously gets you all bothered. How did you put it? She might as well have joined the circus? So lets stick with exactly that. Here's a headline for the Riverdale Register." She holds her hands out in front of her. "'Local Southside Teen Joins Circus and Breaks the Heart of Town Idiot.' The Coopers'll sell every copy and make a fortune."
She smiles again in spite of herself. "As if the Coopers would ever call their son the town idiot. Hal is smart."
"Hal is a moron." Hermione stresses each word. "He doesn't deserve the likes of you as a friend and I am letting him have it on my way home. I'm going to stop by and shove my tennis shoe so far up -"
"Don't -"
"You're right. Sunday is a day of rest and worship." She sighs. "It can wait until homeroom tomorrow. I'll rip him a new one."
The smile fades from Penelope's face when she realizes the other girl isn't making a joke. "Hermione, you - you don't have to do that for me. That is insane."
"Insane?" Hermione pulls a face and sets it straight by sticking another fry in her mouth. "This is just what friends do. Like the time Mary nearly ran over Fred with her mom's minivan for double booking dates with me and his penpal from Seaside." Her face softens. "This is what friends are for, Pen."
"Friends." The lump in her throat comes back, but it's different this time. From a place of warmth rather than achiness. She pulls the cherry out of her milkshake and pops the entire thing, stem and all, into her mouth just to have something to distract her from Hermione's gaze.
"Yes friends." Hermione bites her lip. "I know I'm hard on you, okay? I'm hard on a lot of people. But believe it or not, I only do it to break you out of that shell you're stuck in. To get you out of your comfort zone."
Penelope's jaw is sore from talking too much - it's been weeks since she's held a conversation this long - so she just nods and works her tongue around the cherry stem in her mouth.
"If I'm mean to you," she runs her finger around the rim of her almost empty glass, "just call me out on it. Challenge me. It's good for both of us. It's - oh what the hell." Hermione face fills with delight. "Did you just tie that with your tongue?"
Penelope holds the tied up cherry stem between her two fingers. Hermione plucks it from her, seemingly uncaring that it just came out of her mouth.
"Teach me," she insists. "That was the coolest thing I -"
"I don't know if it's something that can be -"
"Hey, Pop!" Hermione calls. She holds the stem above her head. "Penelope and I aren't leaving until I can do this too. Can we please get a bowl of maraschino cherries? And keep them coming."
Penelope smiles. A smile that's true and real with no grit teeth and no worrisome thoughts about former best friends or horrible families or college worries. She knows that tomorrow she and Hermione will fall back into the same high school hierarchy they've been slaves to these past three years. But for today, even if just for a few hours, they're friends. She could make due with that.