The sound of laughter and music filled the speakeasy, accompanied by the light clouds of smoke engulfing the air with the scent of alcohol and expensive perfume. The flappers on their break, stepped off the stage, mingling into the crowd and flirting easily with the wealthy bachelors who gave them the attention. Over in a corner of the open room, Alice and FP sat in a booth, laughing together while also failing to keep their hands and lips to themselves.
"Mr. Jones and Miss Smith." A familiar voice sounded nearby.
Alice and FP looked up at the couple who had come over to join them. "Mary...Fred. How are you?" FP asked his old high school buddy and his wife.
"Mind if we sit here? This place is packed tonight." Fred said in his navy blue suit, Mary's arm wrapped around his.
"Be our guest." Alice gestured toward the big space in the booth. Mary sat first, sliding close to Alice as Fred sat beside her on the outside, leaving the fiery redhead and the golden blonde ladies sandwiched between both men. "How is Archibald?" Alice asked once they were comfortable.
"He's doing well. He just added trumpet to his list of instruments." Mary said proudly, though there was a hint of reluctant concern in her voice. "Sometimes I worry he's going to tire himself out. First the guitar, then the harmonica, then the saxophone, now this? Watch him come home tomorrow night asking us for bagpipes." Mrs. Andrews joked as she pulled a slim cigarette out of her small pocket book and she placed it between her lips, allowing it to hang there while she took her lighter to it.
"Have you guys heard about what happened with Pop?" Fred wondered as he put his arm around his wife's shoulders.
"No. What happened?" FP asked, his own hand on Alice's lower back, threatening to move down even more.
"He had to sell this place." Fred said as he looked around the speakeasy, taking it all in before whoever bought it would change it.
"What? Why?" Alice asked a little sadly.
"He's going bankrupt. At least that's what we heard." Mary said before taking a drag of her cigarette.
"From who?" FP wondered.
"We overheard him talking to Nate about a new buyer and something about business not being the same since that new place opened up across town." Fred explained.
"What new place? Where? The Southside? I haven't seen or heard anything about this." FP said with a bit of uneasiness.
"Well...It opened up about a month ago. You really haven't heard anything? You live over there." Fred tilted his head a bit.
"Actually...for the past month I've been spending more time at Alice's place. And Jughead's usually with you and Archie or with his mother. So I haven't really been to the Southside that much. What's this place called?"
"The Whyte Wyrm, I guess. I can't believe you really don't know about it. It's apparently run by the Serpents." Mr. Andrews responded as he waved over a waitress who had a tray full of champagne glasses and he took one for himself and handed another to Mary who thanked him.
"There's no way that's true. The Serpents haven't been doing well financially." FP thought about it. "Unless…." He looked across the room at the bar, where Penny Peabody was flirting with a new guy and he stood. "Excuse me a moment."
"Where are you going?" Alice asked him, holding his hand so he couldn't leave and her eyes looked over at Penny with a glare.
"I just have to go ask someone something. I'll be right back." He moved to leave, but Alice didn't let go of his hand as she stood up and kissed him hotly.
When she broke the kiss, she looked him in the eyes and spoke quietly so only he could hear her. "Don't forget who your Queen is." Her deep blue eyes shifted back and forth between his brown ones as if challenging him.
FP took Alice's chin between two of his fingers and he smirked, looking down at her outfit. "I could never, baby girl." He smiled at her and winked before giving her a quick peck kiss and he went over to Penny whose eyes fell to him and she immediately rolled them.
"What now, Forsythe?" Peabody asked with a hint of attitude.
FP wasted no time in take Penny's forearm, forcibly pulling her away from the guy at the bar and he spoke quietly to her, but with authority. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm working." She said, her eyes falling to the stranger at the bar. "Why does it matter to you anyway?"
"No! I mean...what are you trying to do by buying a speakeasy for the Serpents with your sex money?" He said with certainty that it was her. "You're not rejoining us no matter what you do, Penny. Buying your trust back from all of them won't mean you've bought it back from me. I'm the king and I decide whether you come back or not. And as of right now….you're never coming back."
"Hmmm….I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Penny winked at him, patting his chest and she went back to the bar, flirting with the guy again as if nothing ever happened, though her eyes flicked to FP once more before she forced herself to forget him completely.
FP watched her for a bit, letting out an annoyed sigh and he turned to head back to Alice, Fred, and Mary, but Alice was already on her way over to him. "Was it her?" She asked him, her eyes staying fixed on Penny.
"She didn't confirm or deny it." He said with a sigh.
Alice sighed as well and turned to say something to FP when everyone in the room began to murmur and whisper to each other for the second time that night. FP and Alice looked around, trying to figure out what everyone must've been looking at and they saw the newly arriving couple making their way down the last two steps together.
"Hiram?" FP whispered.
"Hermione?" Alice whispered at the exact same time.
Without even hesitating, FP and Alice stepped over to the other couple to greet them. "Hey, you two." Alice said when they made it to the Lodges. "It's been almost ten years. What happened? Did you two get sick of New York?" Though Alice was pretending to be nice, she looked Hermione up and down, silently judging her in her super expensive champagne colored gown that was elegantly designed with black and silver rhinestones.
"FP and Alice..I thought you two were married." Hermione gave Alice the same condescending smile. "To other people."
Alice let out a small chuckle, showing Hermione her empty ring finger. "We're both divorced now." She said with a large grin on her face as she rested her arm up on FP's shoulder, sticking a hip out and smirking at Hiram. "I heard you two were getting one as well."
"Oh, Alice….Nothing seems to get passed you intrusive journalists, huh?" Hiram said with a snarky tone. "We changed our minds, giving this a second chance. Why would you want to know anyway?"
"Oh, come on, Mr. Lodge." The blonde said with smug smile. "The whole world heard about your affair with that Ms. Maria Mulwray. It made all the papers in America." Alice's eyes fell to Hermione, though her smile never faded and she looked down at Hermione's hand on her hip, seeing the giant diamond ring she wore on her finger. "Minnie, I admire your commitment to your marriage, even though Hiram here never did." She glared at Hiram.
"And Alice, I've always admired your commitment to shame other people rather than focusing on your own wrongdoings." Hermione said, giving Alice the same smug grin.
"Oh, I never said you did anything wrong, Hermione." Alice replied. "I'm just a little surprised that such a strong and independent woman like you would stay in a relationship with someone like Hiram."
"You have no room to speak." Hermione grabbed a glass of champagne from the tray a passing waiter held up on his shoulder. The Hispanic woman took a small sip of her drink before glaring even harder at Alice. "How's Hal?" She smirked immediately, knowing Alice would not enjoy the knowledge that everyone in America had also heard of her own husband's wrongdoings. "I hear prison is great this time of year." Hermione added one more dig to her statement, hoping Alice would finally get the point and shut up.
But of course, she did not.
Alice's smile faded at the mention of Hal's name and it came back immediately as she spoke. "At least I actually divorced such a disgusting slime ball and didn't stay with him for his money." Her eyes flicked to Hiram again.
FP rolled his eyes. "Alright...enough. What are you two doing back in Riverdale?"
"Oh, we've moved back….Permanently." Hiram grinned, taking Hermione's glass from her to have a sip of the champagne himself and he handed it back to her, their dangerous eyes locking for a moment, the extreme sexual tension they've had since high school, still clearly present.
Alice rolled her eyes this time, confused at how they could still be together after all of the scandals she read about in the New York Times. First, there were rumors of abuse between the both of them. Then...there were rumors of Hiram laundering money from the company they ran together and Hermione was not getting her cut of the finances because of him. Then..there were the rumors that Veronica, their daughter, was in fact...not Hiram's daughter after all. Alice even remembered the rumors of Hermione owning a mansion of her own in the Hamptons where she met with mistresses of her own. That's right….Mistresses. The blonde Serpent Queen studied Hermione in that moment down in Pop's speakeasy, trying to figure out if any of those rumors could've been true, but she had lost her touch with her old high school friend. She could no longer read Hermione like she used to.
"Why would you move back to this small town, Hiram? We have nothing so great to offer to you and your wealth" FP pointed out.
"Oh, this town has a lot more potential than you realize, FP Jones." Hiram said with a grin and he looked over, seeing Penelope Blossom speaking to Michael Minetta, an old friend of his. "Excuse us. We'd rather not spend our entire night catching up with only the two of you." Hiram sent Alice and FP one last pompous grin and he and Hermione both stepped around them, heading over to Penelope and Minetta.
"Wow." Alice said under her breath, watching them move away from them.
"They haven't changed a bit." FP said with a hint of annoyance.
"No….No, they haven't." Alice said, though in her mind, she was thinking differently. She had noticed a bit of a change in Hermione. Though she couldn't pinpoint to what it was so she kept it to herself. For now.