Joe walked over to the record player in his office and selected the song he knew that fit best with the rage coursing through his veins. Without a word he went to sit behind the drum set in his office beside his desk and pulled out the drumsticks as the opening bars of the song began to play.
The back room of the store was suddenly consumed with the amazing sounds of "If You Want Blood (You Got It) by AC/DC. Lucas hopped up from the couch, pressed the code for the intercom into the landline and hung the phone cord off of Joe's office door knob.
He turned around to stand on the top step and found A.J. right next to him, who immediately started head banging and playing air guitar alongside the riffs, while Lucas mimed holding a microphone. Joe continued banging away at the drums as the first lyrics came on.
It's criminal
There ought to be a law
Lucas lip synced into his hand mic, swinging his hips to the beat as he moved around A.J. intense movements.
Criminal
There ought to be a whole lot more
Lucas continued to sing, as Lucas suddenly jumped up from the couch as well and began jumping around the room and screaming at the top of his lungs.
You get nothin' for nothin'
Tell me who can you trust?
We got what you want
And you got the lust
If you want blood, you got it
If you want blood, you got it
Lucas lip synced to the beat as the trio continued to dance around the back room, and even Betty and Jughead got into it. They moved to the beat from their spot on the carpet, happy smiles on both their faces, before leaning in to kiss in between laughs.
Blood on the streets
Blood on the rocks
Blood in the gutter
Every last drop
You want blood
You got it
As the song continued, the employees kept rocking out with great abandon, the while the store carried on as normal, with Archie signing for the waiting customers. The listening booths were filled with customers trying out albums from classical piano pieces to metal.
It's animal
Livin' in the human zoo
If you want blood, you got it
Corey and Gina were dancing wildly at the cash registers, the Archie Andrews fans that were waiting were indeed browsing the shelves and making purchases, so the girls were busy. Suddenly, a fiery red-headed woman in the blood red cocktail dress and matching stilettoes blew in through the front doors.
"Excuse me ladies! Less dancing, more selling," she yelled at them with a fake polite smile on her face. "Thank you," she muttered as she passed them with a small shoulder shrug. Corey immediately use the loudspeaker to announce the woman's presence and warn Joe.
"Guess whose here?" she quipped cheekily over the loudspeaker. The music quickly cut out as the woman made a beeline for the back room. However, she did move to the front of the waiting line and thrust out her hand to Archie Andrews.
"Hello there. I'm Cheryl Blossom. I own this establishment," Cheryl spoke proudly, gesturing around the store while she tossed her fiery locks over her shoulder.
Archie took her waiting hand, gave it a weak shake, and flashing a small smile. "Nice to meet you. You have a nice store," Archie replied, turning on the charm again.
"Thanks," Cheryl smirked. "You should have seen it in the good old days though. It was the premiere maple syrup distribution warehouse for the Mid-Atlantic region," she continued, providing way more detail than Archie wanted, and he quickly lost interest. "It was my father's business originally. Then my older brother decided to rebel from the family and turned it into this and tried the hippie lifestyle with his little family for a while," Cheryl finished with a sigh.
Cheryl's rant about her family ended just as soon as it began, when Joe came nearly running out of the back room. "Joe," Cheryl turned to greet him, a coy smile on her ruby lips. "Wait, why are you sweaty? You are supposed to be working!" Cheryl hissed through gritted teeth, managing to keep the fake smile on her lips.
"Double checking that the A/C is working with all these customers in here, Cheryl," Joe answered in a whisper.
"Joe, is this the way we treat Mr. Andrews? Where is the fresh fruit? Where is-" Cheryl's rant was interrupted by Archie himself, who shrugged off any extra attention in a bid to appear to be more accommodating.
"You know what, I'll see what we have for him in the back," Joe offered, heading back to the store room, as Cheryl followed, not sparing Archie another glance.
"Oh, and I'm going by the bank, so why don't you give me last night's deposit. I'll make sure it gets there this time," Cheryl added condescendingly as she followed Joe through the room.
"It's okay, I'll take care of it," Joe said quietly, hoping Cheryl would drop it.
"No, no. I insist. You're busy," Cheryl continued, examining her red nail polish as they walked towards the safe in the store room. At this point, Lucas had overheard them from his spot on the couch and was wearing as close to a look of alarm on his face as he seemed capable of. Warren was playing with a GameBoy, A.J. was back to drawing, and Betty and Jughead had gone off to a listening booth to continue making out to their favorite music.
"Hey Cheryl!" Lucas yelled to get her attention. The owner merely stopped walking and turned her head to give the employee an exasperated look. He needed to buy Joe some time to fool Cheryl and keep up the ruse that the money wasn't missing, or Lucas would be joining Warren when the police arrived for him.
"Cheryl, have you met Warren?" Lucas asked innocently, gesturing with one hand to the boy on the couch to his left, fully consumed with his game. Cheryl just stepped closer to them slowly, narrowing her eyes and giving Lucas a confused look.
"Who are you?" Cheryl asked incredulously.
"I'm Lucas. I work here," Lucas stated simply. "So, I wanted you to meet Warren here. Now you see, Warren came into the store today and did a demonstration for all the Archie Andrews fans and it was very motivational. Well he made quite an impression on everybody," Lucas rambled convincingly.
"I'm intrigued," Cheryl stated. "No, I'm not," she quipped after a beat of silence, and a small laugh.
Meanwhile in the store room, Joe quietly grabbed the empty money bag from the safe and stuffed some blank cut out pieces of paper into the bag, to make it appear to be full of money. Joe hastily removed the key from the lock after sealing the bag. Joe then walked back out into the back room and handed the bag off to Cheryl with a tight smile.
"Now that wasn't so hard, was it? Thank you," Cheryl said sweetly, tilting her head and giving Joe a look of pity as she secured the money bag in her hands and walked away. Warren flipped her off as soon as her back was turned and Lucas was staring at Joe with an unreadable expression. Joe turned to stare at Lucas, a rather blank look on his face, which made Lucas smile a bit, that Joe didn't give him up and continued the money ruse.
In a quiet corner of the store, Deb was hunched over an overflowing stack of records, carefully taking inventory. She was leaning in so close to the paper attached to the clipboard her nose was nearly brushing it, as she watched her fingers furiously writing down the album information. She did not hear him approach.
"I like your hair," came the soft voice of her boyfriend Birko. He squatted down next to her and leaned in close. "Are you okay?" he asked softly.
"Why do you care you didn't care last night," Deb snapped back angrily, not looking at him.
"Yes I did," he replied quietly.
Deb sighed and turned her head away from the records in front of her. "Look, this isn't about you okay? I got home last night and I thought about everything that had happened, that the week before that, and the year before that, and the only thing that was different has there was someone else who has making me feel shitty," Deb explained in a low voice, not making eye contact.
"I'm trying to say I'm sorry," Birko added, attempting to rub Deb's back but she flinched away.
"I just said this wasn't about you," Deb snapped again. "Look you didn't do anything wrong. I'm screwed up okay? I just want you to get up and I want you to walk away," Deb said in a harsh but calm tone. Birko sighed loudly but did as she asked. Deb returned to taking inventory without another word.