Not once in 45 years had anyone thrown Forsythe Pendleton Jones II a surprise birthday party. Hell, he hadn't really celebrated his birthday since he was probably 16. They just weren't his style and for the most part Gladys had accepted this during their marriage.
So, needless to say, he was shocked.
It seemed like everyone who cared about him in some way, shape or form was standing in Alice Smith's living room, bedecked in party hats and tooting noisemakers. It was a lot more than he would have guessed.
"Happy birthday, dad!" There was Jughead, looking uncharacteristically cheery with his arm around Betty's shoulders.
FP was almost at a loss for words.
"Happy birthday, old man." Fred came up and slapped him on the shoulders. "Almost ready for that AARP discount."
"You wish," FP said, smiling. "Don't forget, we're the same age."
"Oh, I know. I've already got adjoining rooms at Shady Pines Assisted Living Facility lined up. Hope you don't mind sharing a bathroom."
As he looked around the room, he took a mental roll. Cheryl, appearing to be happier than ever as she canoodled with Toni in a corner. Fangs and Moose, looking equally loved up. It had taken a while after Midge's death for Moose to rejoin the living world, let alone think of dating anyone, but it seemed like he was coming out of the other side of the tunnel. Even Sweetpea was here, trying desperately to distract Toni and Cheryl enough to include him in their conversation. Unfortunately, they only had eyes for each other.
"Happy birthday, Mr. Jones! Archie and I got you a gift and I think you're going to love it," Veronica said as she dragged Archie over to pay their respects. As usual Veronica hadn't wasted an opportunity to spoil someone she cared about. FP just hoped it wasn't a day at the spa because there was no way he would be caught dead getting a mani/pedi. Archie smiled sheepishly as he shook his hand. "Happy birthday, Mr. Jones."
"Thanks, Archie. I can't believe you guys actually threw me a party."
Almost everyone was here with their significant other- which rose the question, where was his? He didn't see her anywhere in the living room but her car was in the driveway, so she had to be here somewhere.
"Come with us, dad," Jughead said, gently leading him into the dining room and making him sit down at the table.
"I don't know what you guys are planning but I can still run as fast as you, boy, just keep that in mind if I have to catch you." FP tried to give him a steely glare but failed miserably and instead broke into a smile.
Someone flipped off the lights and almost on cue Alice emerged from the attached kitchen, the candles on the cake in her hands glowing softly.
Everyone else joined in, their voices merging and filling FP with a clear and simple love for the people in his life. Maybe he wasn't much for birthdays in the past but it was never too late to start.
"Happy birthday, to you.
Happy birthday, to you.
Happy birthday, dear FP,
Happy birthday to you."
Alice placed the cake in front of him on table. It appeared to be covered in buttercream icing (his favorite) and true to form, it had "Happy Birthday FP" written on it in green icing and a cartoonish rendition of a snake wrapping its way around the sides. It was silly, light hearted and absolutely perfect.
"Make a wish, honey."
It doesn't matter if you're 4 years old or 45, when you've got birthday cake candles in front of you, you blow them out and make a wish. It was the rules and for once FP was happy to follow them.
So, FP did, squeezing his eyes shut and trying to decide what he was going to wish for. Honestly, these days life was going really well and he had most of what he used to wish for.
A good relationship with his son- check.
His sobriety- check.
A stable job at the Chock'Lit Shoppe that, while it didn't pay much, gave him some breathing room to figure out his next move.
And lastly, the one thing he had hoped above all else for over 20 years- Alice.
He never would have dreamed a few years ago that he would have such a wonderful woman in his life, and if she was getting tired of him, she hadn't begun to show it yet. She was the love of his life and if something happened to her, he didn't know how he would keep on living. In turn, she had him wrapped around her finger and he would do anything to make her happy.
Even if it meant letting her throw him a surprise birthday party.
So, what FP wished for that day as he blew out his birthday candles was to keep this moment forever unchanged in his mind, shining and perfect. It was something that he and Alice could think about as they grew old and sat in their rocking chairs, easing their aching joints over the warm fire of a memory.
Everyone cheered as the candles went out and he turned to Alice, who bent down to capture his lips. She was warm and soft as he wrapped his arms around her waist and even a fairly chaste kiss from her was enough to get his heart racing. He took advantage of the lights still being off to run his hand along her thigh and under the edge of her skirt. He was addicted to the feeling of her skin. She shivered slightly in response and he suddenly couldn't wait for when they were alone.
"Happy birthday, baby. I love you."
"I love you too, Al. I can't believe you pulled all of this off."
"Well, you know, all I had to do was tell Betty and it was halfway around Riverdale before she even left the house."
The lights came back on and then it was time to cut the cake and open presents.
"Here, open this one first," Alice said as she handed him a small, wrapped box. "It's from me."
FP quickly unwrapped it, revealing an elegant wristwatch with a black leather band. It was beautiful and had Alice had obviously spent a good amount of time deciding on a design that would be perfect for him.
"Flip it over," Alice said. She bit her lip in the adorable way that she sometimes did when she was nervous.
She had had the back of the watch engraved in a graceful font. For my one. Always.
It was the most thoughtful gift he had ever received.
"Thank you so much, Alice. I love it."
She bent down to kiss him again and he had to resist the urge to take her upstairs right then, party bedamned. It was a close battle. Before she rose she stilled her lips by his ear.
"Your real present comes later," she whispered with a grin and he felt the heat rise in his face.
She really didn't know what she did to him. Or, she knew and she liked watching him try to control himself. Knowing Alice, it was most likely the latter. Scratch that, he knew she knew.
The rest of the party went by in a whirl.
Jughead and Betty chipped their money together to get him a new motorcycle helmet.
Veronica and Archie didn't get him a luxurious spa getaway, thankfully, but they did get him a subscription to a meat-of-the-month club, which was more his style.
From Toni and Cheryl, a box set of all seven seasons of Sons of Anarchy on Blu-Ray, which was sort of ironic. He wasn't really sure what message they were trying to send him with that one.
Fred got him a new pair of Ray Bans, and Fangs and Moose got him a manly-themed poker set with pictures of moose and bears emblazoned on the chips. Sweet Pea rounded out the gift giving him a pair of wool lined slippers that would definitely be handy come wintertime.
They ended breaking out Cards Against Humanity for the next several hours, which left most of them in hysterics, particularly after Betty won with the card "An erection lasting for more than four hours" in response to Sweet Pea's "Daddy, why is Mommy crying?".
Finally, the festivities wound down and one by one the party goers exited. Even Betty decided to head to Pop's with Jughead, Veronica and Archie and planned to sleep over at the Pembrooke afterwards. She had a feeling that maybe her mom and FP might want a little alone time (and it spared her having to potentially hear anything that might make her want to puncture her eardrums).
Alice shut the front door with one last promise from Betty that she would text her when she got to Pop's and when she headed to Veronica's. Things had settled down in Riverdale but Alice was still a little paranoid that something would happen to her children. She didn't know if she could take any more heartbreak.
At last, Alice and FP were alone.
She rested her back on the door and gave him a wide smile. "So, Jonesy," she said, using her old nickname for him, "Are you ready to actually celebrate?"
He crossed over to the foyer and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Hmm, Ali, that really depends what you have in mind." His lips met hers and he could feel her breath quicken as his tongue delved into her mouth. His attention shifted to her neck as he interspersed his kisses with small nips and bites.
"I…"
"Have been waiting…"
"All night…"
"To have to you…
"All to myself…"
Alice could barely think straight with his mouth on her. She did her best to push him away a few inches so that she could lead him to the stairs. FP made a frustrated noise. His eyes were black with desire and she knew he was close to ripping off her clothes and taking her right there on the floor.
"Let's go upstairs, honey, I've got one more surprise for you," Alice said. She took his hand and led him up to what she had begun to think as "their" bedroom rather than just hers. He slept here almost every night. She had a wicked look on her face and FP thought, not for the first time, that he had truly hit the lottery. What did he do to deserve someone like Alice in his life?
She led him to their bed and made him sit down on the edge.
"I'll be right back," Alice said seductively as she disappeared into the bathroom.
FP took advantage of her absence to shed the rest of his clothes. Fuck the formalities, the sooner they were both naked and wrapped around each other the better. And FP wasn't feeling like a patient man right now.
A few minutes passed and he was about to go see what was taking Alice so long when the bathroom door opened and a vision emerged.
Alice was wearing possibly the sexiest piece of lingerie that he had ever seen. A small piece of green fabric was all that covered the apex of her thighs and a black corset pushed up her bosom enticingly. Her tits looked amazing, even more than they usually did. He could also see the serpent tattoo on her hip, which seemed to perfectly compliment the negligee.
FP's mouth was practically watering and she knew it.
She had swiped her eyelids with black shadow and applied blood red lipstick, possibly the same lipstick that she had worn on that day when she showed up to his trailer and screwed him silly.
She was his serpent queen and if he had anything to say about it she always would be.
"See anything you like?" Alice said teasingly.
His only response was to cross the room in seconds and practically throw her on the bed. Their mouths fused together as his hands sought out every inch of her skin.
"Baby, I know you spent a lot of time picking this outfit but I need to get you out of it," FP gasped when they broke for air.
"I'm waiting on you, Mr. Jones." Devil woman, he thought.
FP made quick work of her panties (if you could even call them that). They certainly didn't cover anything and he could see even before he removed them how ready she was for him.
He licked and bit his way up her thighs, eliciting soft moans from Alice as her hands wound through his hair and pulled him closer. The friction of his beard was pleasing and she knew she'd have marks from his teeth the next day but she didn't care.
Finally, his mouth met where she so desperately wanted him to go. He teased her clit with his teeth and Alice rewarded him with a loud exclamation. "Fuck, FP. God, baby." He loved when she said his name. It was a reminder that he was the one making her feel so good. It gave him a surge of territorial pleasure.
It might be his birthday but he was determined to give her as much pleasure as possible. He had a lot of making up to do for what he missed over the past 25 years.
He inserted a finger and then two, feeling her tense around him as he curled them, looking for the spot that would make her lose control.
It wasn't long before her moans grew frantic and he knew that she was close. He kept working with his tongue and his fingers, trying to bring her closer to the edge. He watched her face contort with pleasure and he thought that she looked the most beautiful when she was about to fall apart.
She was saying his name over and over and her nails scratched painfully into his scalp as she came. FP didn't mind. She tasted amazing, just like she did when they were teenagers.
Alice gasped, trying to catch her breath as the last waves of her orgasm rolled through her. FP rose above her to kiss her, letting her taste herself on his lips.
"Have I ever told you how lucky I am to have you?" Alice said with a contented sigh.
"Maybe a couple times but it's always nice to hear."
She reached down and began massaging his cock but he stopped her hand. "Baby, if you do that I'm not going to last very long." He wasn't lying, she could already see him starting to leak.
Alice responded by wrapping her legs around his waist and drawing him in closer while she kissed him fiercely. He slowly entered her, savoring every sensation, relishing in every sound that she made. She was tight, hot and wet around him and he tried every trick in the book to make himself last.
Baseball stats? He didn't know any.
Politics? He didn't follow that either.
She got to him in every sense of the word and he quickly came to his own edge, spilling himself inside of her with a groan.
FP collapsed beside her on the bed, completely spent. Alice went to the bathroom for a few minutes to clean up and then returned to his side, pulling the covers over them as she cuddled up next to him.
They were silent for a few minutes, basking in the afterglow while Alice lazily traced shapes on his chest.
Finally, Alice spoke.
"FP?" She wasn't sure if he was still awake.
"Hmm," he said, on the edge of sleep.
"Did you have a good birthday?"
"The best one I've ever had."
And it was.