Chapter Text
“It’s game time at Chez Blossom, kiddos.” Clifford brandished an empty bottle and twirled it in his hand. “And we’re playing everyone’s favorite game tonight.”
“Spin the Bottle?” Hermione asked. She sat on a loveseat, sandwiched tightly between Fred and Hiram.
“No.” Clifford’s face fell as he placed the bottle in the middle of the coffee table. “Seven Minutes in Heaven.”
“This looks like Spin the Bottle.” FP kicked the table from where he sat on the floor and the bottle moved. “I mean there’s literally a -”
“We’re playing Seven Minutes in Heaven!” Clifford snapped, grabbing up the bottle before it could roll away. “The closet of love for the lucky couples will be that one right there.”
“Clifford!” Penelope hissed, stomping up to him. She tried to pull the bottle from his hand, but he didn’t let go. “That is our game closet! I refuse to let any debauchery happen in the same place we store Monopoly.”
“If you don’t want to join just grab a board game and go play upstairs.” He raised an eyebrow and Penelope backed down, huffing back to the red velvet couch and sitting smack dab between Alice and Hal. Alice scowled and slide down so she was leaning against the arm.
Clifford brandished the bottle again and turned around the crowd. “Who wants to tryst in the Closet of Love first? My vote is A is Alice.”
Alice scowled deeply. “No thanks. I’m an observer. How about, I don’t know, Hermione?”
Hermione smirked and crossed her arms over her chest - no easy feat with the boys on either side of her. “Gee, Alice. A tryst in a closet is probably a step up from your normal spots. Back seat of a car, a bathroom, backroom of a -”
Alice flipped her off. “Why don’t you go -”
“Jealous that I have two dates tonight and your pity-date ditched you already?”
Alice drained the plastic cup in her hand and thrust it into Penelope’s lap. She stood up and snatched the bottle. “Fine. I will go first, but don’t cry if I end up with one of your dates.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and spun. “And trust me, I know how to show a boy a good time.”
The bottle went round and round and round. It slowed to a near stop as it passed Penelope and almost landed perfectly on Hal when Clifford gave the leg of the table light kick with his loafer. It passed FP on the floor, landing right on -
“Fred Andrews!” Clifford grinned wickedly, eyes darting to Hal. “Wow, you really called it, Alice. Nabbing one of Hermione’s dates.”
“I -” Fred let out a nervous laugh, looking sideways at Hermione. “I’m here with someone else. I can’t.”
“You know what?” Hiram laughed, his eyes darting to Hal as he tried to lean over Hermione. “I actually think it’s pointing to me. And god knows I’d never so why don’t we just give her another spin?”
“It is clearly pointing at Fred.” Penelope clicked her teeth. “Are you blind? It would have to pass over Hermione before it was anywhere near you. Honestly, Hiram.”
“House rules decree if anyone forfeits their turn,” Clifford interrupted, “the host gets to stand in for them.” He extended his arm to Alice and she took a step towards Fred.
“Come on,” she hissed. “It’s not a big deal.”
“Alice!” He nodded towards Hermione. “I can’t exactly -”
“It’s just a game, Fred.” Hermione gave him a shove off the couch with a giggle, the two shots of rum she’d taken clearly already getting to her head. “Just do it.”
Fred landed with a soft thud on the carpet next to FP. The other boy dug his nails into his forearm. “Fred, I swear,” he whispered under his breath, “just don’t -”
“Fred!” Alice extended her arm and gave him a pleading look. “I am not going into an enclosed space with Clifford Blossom so get the hell up before my shoe finds a new home in your -”
“Okay, okay!” He let Alice pull him to his feet but FP tugged him right back down to the floor.
FP gulped. “Just don’t do it, okay?”
“Do we have a problem?” Clifford asked. He took Fred’s other arm and pulled him to his feet with one tug, nearly sending him flying into the coffee table.
“Lets just get this over with.” Alice steadied Fred out and pulled him towards the closet. A few people whooped as the door slammed shut and Clifford took note of the time on his watch.
There were a few moments of silence, followed by the sound of soft voices coming from the closet and a few people shuffling with their drinks. Hermione whispered something into Hiram’s ear and he gave her a nervous smile.
“We should have taken the egg timer out of Scattergories.” Penelope looked around the crowd. “It would be much easier keeping time that way.”
“Fuck this,” FP decreed, causing Penelope to gasp. “I’m out of here.” He dropped his half empty cup on the table and walked towards the door.
“Hey, FP,” Mary grabbed his arm. “You don’t need to -”
A crashing sound came from inside the closet, breaking the tension in the room. Marty Mantle yelled out, “Way to go, Andrews!” as a few people started laughing.
FP pulled his arm out of Mary’s grip. “Yeah, I do need to leave.”
“No loss there,” Clifford muttered. He walked over to the stereo and turned on some music, earning an “About time!” from someone in the next room. Penelope put a hand on Hal’s knee as he stared intently at the closet. He jumped and slid away from her.
“This is boring, right?” She straightened out her dress. “We can go watch some television or play a board game.” She winced. “I mean, once we can get one out of the closet.”
“Maybe I should go too.” His eyes stayed glued to the door as he stood up. “I’ll see you at school, Pen.”
Hiram waved him goodbye, but Hal didn’t even look his way. He sighed and muttered to Hermione, “I know his brother disappeared or died or whatever, but Clifford Blossom is truly the antichrist.”
“You have something to share with the crowd, Lodge?” Clifford called out. “By all means, don’t keep us in suspense.”
Hiram stood to his full height in front of Clifford, despite falling a few inches short of the redhead. “You’re shady asshole, Cliff. You planned this whole thing out like you were doing me a favor but it was all to what? Mess with Hal?”
“Excuse me.” Penelope poked the boys apart with her index fingers. “Hiram, you are new in town so I will forgive you for that outburst, but my brother would never do something like that. Right, Clifford?” She readjusted her glasses as she waited for Clifford to answer. “Clifford?”
“I was doing you a favor, Penelope.” His eyes looked to the ceiling. “I know you hate Hal looking after that Southside -”
“Shut up!” She gave her brother a hard shove in the shoulder and glanced sideways to where Mary was now leaning over Hermione on the loveseat. “I do not care if Hal has poor taste in girls. If you did that to be mean to him just admit it. Do not pretend for a moment you did that for me!”
Hermione gasped. “Are we getting into a full blown Secrets and Sins game? Because I have some hot gossip that Sierra Samuels is dating -” Mary covered Hermione’s mouth before she could get another word out.
Clifford finally looked away from his disappointed sister and smirked. “Secrets and Sins would pass the seven minutes quicker.”
“What the hell,” Hiram looked between all the other teens, “is Secrets and Sins?”
“It’s Riverdale’s answer to Truth or Dare,” Mary called, letting go of Hermione. “Only more chaotic and normally just ends in everyone yelling out each other’s dirt.”
“Why can’t anything in this town just be normal?” he groaned. “If my friends back in New York could see me now.”
“Well, they can’t.” Clifford clapped him on the back. “But lucky for you, time’s up!” Without even checking the time, Clifford yanked open the door of the closet. “Well gee, Andrews.” He gave them a smug grin as he took in the slightly disheveled pair. “Guess you can add Alice here to your list of conquests.”
Fred cracked the gum in his mouth as he looked around frantically. “Shit. Where’s FP?”
“Oh, he left.” Penelope pursed her lips as she watched Alice wipe the smudged lipstick from the corner of her mouth. “Forsythe is much more high strung than I thought. This whole game really seemed to upset him.”
“You’re one to talk.” Alice rolled her eyes until they landed on the empty sofa next to Penelope. “Uh, and what happened to Hal?”
“Do you care?” she asked simply. Alice scoffed and grabbed Fred’s arm to pull him out of the room. Neither spoke until they were walking out the front door.
“Okay, it’s a Friday night,” Alice said as Fred pulled out of her grip. “He’s probably upset. Where would he go?” She bit her lip as she followed Fred down the walkway of Thornhill. “Fred, wait up! Let me go with you.”
“No, Al.” He stopped in his tracks. “I messed up tonight. We messed up tonight. I should have just let Hiram take Hermione to the dance and -” He tugged at his hair. “Trust me, the last thing FP wants is the two of us to track him down together.” He took off at a run. “I’ll see you at school on Monday!”
“But Fred!” she yelled but he was already fading in the distance past the gates. She groaned and took a seat on the steps, hunching over to fix her shoes. It’d be a long, lonely walk to the Southside by herself.
“Do you need a ride?” She jumped at the voice. Hal was standing in the doorway of Thornhill, nervously shuffling his feet. “I was about to call -”
“Your mommy?” Hal winced at her sharp words. “You’re leaving early.”
He shrugged. “So are you.”
“Not by choice. I need to go find someone.”
“FP?” Hal’s lips pursed together in a way that reminded Alice far too much of Penelope. She searched for the right words.
“Yeah, but trust me. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s not that.” She finally stood up. “I just need to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid tonight.”
“Right.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “So you and Fred?”
“God, no.” She rubbed her temples. “I just drank too much and did something stupid, okay? Don’t rub salt in the wound.”
Hal bit his lip. “You and FP?”
She opened her eyes. “Absolutely not. Like I said, I just need to go make sure he doesn’t toss himself in the river or something, okay?” Words came out of her mouth before she even realized what she was saying. “Come with me. Keep me company. Please?”
Hal’s mouth dropped open, but he nodded quickly. “Yeah, sure. I mean I -” he shook his head. “He went that way.”
Instead of pointing towards the front gates, Hal pointed to the side of the house where there was a small enclosed area. Alice couldn’t tell in the low light, but it almost looked like a graveyard. She broke into a grin.
“Freak. He definitely went that way.” She took Hal’s hand. ‘Lets go.”
“All by yourself tonight?” Pop Tate asked as the bell rang over FP’s head. The teen was such a permanent fixture in the diner, Pop could recognize his footsteps and growling stomach from down the road.
“Yup. Just us nighthawks tonight, Pop.” He spun a stool around. “Chocolate milkshake and keep ‘em coming. It’s been a rough day.”
He looked around the nearly empty diner as Pop made his shake. A table of giggling freshman sat near the door, still in their formal clothes from the dance. The only other patron was a dark haired girl in the far corner with her feet up on the booth and a book balanced on the table. FP thanked Pop for the drink and approached her.
“Can I sit, Gladys?”
Her eyes stayed glued to the book. “If you want.”
He took a sip from his milkshake. Gladys had a steaming cup of coffee and half a sandwich in front of her. The pile of empty half and half containers and sugar packets told him she’d probably been here a while.
“What’re you reading?”
She raised an eyebrow as she finally met his eyes. Despite her icy attitude, there was a softness to them. “Don’t patronize me. You can read the cover of a book.”
He smiled. She always had a way of making him forget about everything else. “You know that book was made into a movie like ten years ago, right? You could just watch it.”
“That’s not the same thing at all.” She rolled her eyes. “Movies are great and all, but you’ll never get the full story.”
“I never took you for such a nerd, Gladys.”
She flipped him off but there was a smile on her face. “Cram it, FP. Knowing how to read doesn’t make me a nerd.”
He reached over and stole a cold fry from her plate. “How come you weren’t at the dance tonight? Not your scene?”
“I was at the dance tonight actually.” She took a sip of her coffee as FP’s mouth went slack. “That is until Alice ditched me to go to some hoity toity after party. Now that wouldn’t be my scene.”
FP swallowed. “You didn’t miss anything. It sucked.”
“Yeah, I’m not really one to rub elbows with Riverdale High’s elite.” She tilted her head. “Like you. Varsity football, I heard. What, does that make you Mr. Popular Football God now?”
“No.” He stared down into his milkshake, the mountain of whipped cream on top already melting. “I’m still just some Jones kid from the Southside. Nothing is ever going to change that.”
“You say that, but once you slide that blue and gold jacket on,” she clicked her teeth, “it’s all over. You’ll probably start lying and telling everyone you’re from -”
“Can you cut me some slack?” he snapped. Gladys’ eyes widened. “Sorry, sorry. I just think I might have lost my best friend tonight.”
“Fred?” she questioned. She reached over the table and took his hand, gently giving it a squeeze. “Just go talk to him. It could go a long way.” She let go of his hand. “If you ever opened your mouth at the right time, you might actually do some good in the world. Like, I don’t know, defending your friend when she gets ripped apart by a cheerleader.”
He took a long pull off his milkshake, nearly polishing it off. “Alice isn’t mad at me -”
“Well I still am.” She sighed. “But one thing at a time. Go find Fred. If you ran away from the party, he’s probably looking for you.”
“Maybe.” FP scraped the side of his glass with his straw. “After he’s made out with everyone at that party and their sister.”
“Your story with Fred isn't over.” She raised her book again. “Not get out of here before he walks through the door.”
“Thanks.” He cracked his knuckles. “You know I’m still the same old FP, right? I’m still Southside. Still me. A stupid letterman isn’t going to change that.”
Her lips went off to the side, but she nodded. “Sure, FP.”
“You okay?” Hermione asked. The party was winding down but she and Hiram still sat on the loveseat in the Blossom’s parlor. “Don’t you want to ask me some deep, probing questions while you’ve got me alone?”
“Coming here, starting at Riverdale High, it was all supposed to be a fresh start for me.” He swirled his drink around in his plastic cup. “But now I’m just back to being the shallow, toxic asshole who ruins everything.”
“What? Just because Hal stormed off?” Hermione laughed. “He’s just being dramatic. He’ll be fine. That wasn’t your fault.”
“It was though. He didn’t want to come to this party tonight and I pushed him to. I pushed him because,” he gestured to the closet, “Alice would be here and I thought - I don’t know what I thought.” He put his thumb in his mouth on chewed on his nail. “Even though I just met Hal, I feel like we were meant to be best friends. It was our destiny. And now it’s like there’s this train heading for the rest of my life and I missed it.”
Hermione smiled and placed a hand on Hiram’s arm. “I’ve known Hal a long time. We’ve been neighbors since we were little kids. Trust me, Hiram. He’s not going to be mad at you over tonight. You’re going to be okay.”
Fred thought his eyes were playing tricks on him when he looked up and saw FP walking up his driveway. He jumped up from his seat on the front porch.
“F -” he started, but FP held a hand up to stop him.
“I’m not going to ask what you did with Alice in that closet,” he scoffed, but hurt was written all over his face. “But I’m going to ask you, right here, right now, what’s between us?”
A million thoughts ran through Fred’s head at once but nothing seemed to be able to make its way out of his mouth. “You’re my best friend, FP,” he finally stammered. “My best friend.”
“Right.” FP took a few steps forward. “But that’s it? This summer with Hermione gone and just the two of us? That was nothing? ”
“You’re the one who always made excuses.” Fred shook his head sadly. “Your dad can’t find out, my dad can’t find out. Everything has to stay on the hush hush. You’re my best friend and I love you more than you can even imagine, but -”
“But! There is always a but.” FP’s lip quivered. “I love you too, Freddie, but I guess I just don’t live up to your expectations.”
“Where is all of this coming from?” Fred tried putting a hand on his shoulder but FP shrugged him off. “You were the one who said a million times that we could never -”
“I can’t share you forever, Fred.” He took a few steps away, arms still crossed protectively over his chest. “When I think of the place I feel safest and most myself, well it used to be the two of us at a booth at Pops.”
“Me too!” Fred reached out, but FP kept taking steps backwards. They were nearly at the end of the driveway now.
“But that’s not true anymore.” He sighed. “I thought we could pretend this summer didn’t happen, but I can’t.”
“I care about you, FP.” Fred took a few quick steps until he could place a hand on either of FP’s shoulders. “I do.”
“Stab in the dark?” FP shoved him off hard. “You care more about yourself.”
“God, FP. Can’t we just talk?” Fred balls his hands into fists to stop them from shaking. “All that talking you didn’t want to do this summer? Always leaving it as, ‘I’m on the football team, I can’t be -’”
FP covered Fred’s mouth before another word came out. “Shut the hell up. Your neighbors might hear.”
Fred licked FP’s palm until he let go. “Fine. Then lets go somewhere no one will hear.”
“Like?”
He shrugged, his eyes looking to the star-filled sky. “Sweetwater River?”
FP caught his breath. Their spot from this summer. “Yeah, sure.”
“Thank you for walking me home.” Alice’s hand was still clasped tightly with Hal’s as they walked along the bank of Sweetwater River. “I know this seems like a silly shortcut to the Southside, but trust me.”
“It’s nothing,” Hal insisted, but she felt his grip tighten with each noise coming from the woods. “I couldn’t let you go all the way home alone.” He glanced across the river. “I’m just sorry we didn’t find FP.”
“Screw him. Maybe he drowned himself after all.”
“What I don’t get is,” Hal screwed up his face, “if there isn’t anything between you two, why was he so upset about you and -”
“Hey, what were you saying your sister told you about the forest?” Alice tried desperately to steer the conversation away from anything that might incriminate her friends. “It’s haunted or something?”
“Oh, well after Claudius Blossom disappeared, everyone used to say he was living in Evergreen Forest trying to scare away anyone looking for him. You know there were all these search parties going out day after day when it first happened. My parents even joined in.” He laughed. “I mean, it was more so to keep tabs on the Blossoms than out of actual concern. But they never found anything of Claudius’ besides some pocket watch near the bank of the river.”
“Spooky.” Alice she looked at him sideways and dropped her voice. “You think Clifford killed him?”
“What?” Hal coughed. “I mean, maybe. But - crap.” He stopped suddenly, pulling Alice in front of him. “What’s that?”
“Are you using me as a human shield?” she laughed. “These woods aren’t haunted, Hal.”
He pointed to the riverbank. “Is that - oh.” He loosened his grip on her and averted his gaze. “I think we found FP.”
She looked to where Hal was pointing. Two unmistakable teen boys were laying on the ground in various states of undress, completely obviously to the pair standing twenty feet away.
“Shit.”