Between Our Sheets | Falice

62/ Bubbly

"Hey honey," Alice greets as Betty walks in the door. "How was school?"

"It was okay, I didn't see Jughead at all which was nice."

"That's good, I was worried you two would bump into each other."

Betty joins her on the couch and raises an eyebrow at her. "What about you? Did you do anything today?"

Alice thinks for a moment. "No, not really. I came home early from work and cleaned the house a bit, read a book. Nothing too exciting." Betty nods. She left out the part about going to Pop's, which means her sitting with FP probably wasn't as innocent as Betty had hoped. "What did you and Veronica do?"

"Went to Pop's for a milkshake. Mr Jones was working." Betty studies her mother as she mentions the older Jones man.

Alice nods, faking surprise. "I forgot he worked there. Was it awkward?"

"No, I don't even think he knows." Betty shrugs. "And besides, it's not like it's his fault Juggie and I broke up."

"Well I'm glad you had an okay day." Alice smiles at her. "I bought some ice cream, thought maybe we could have a movie night?"

"Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm just going to change into something comfier."

Alice nods and Betty hurries upstairs, pulling out her phone as she walks into her room.

"Hello?" Jughead's voice speaks on the other line.

"Hi... it's me."

"I know." He's quiet for a moment and her heart starts to race. "How are you?"

"I'm alright, how are you?"

"Ok I guess." There's an awkward pause before he speaks again. "Did you need something?"

"Sort of, I need you to be honest with me about something."

"Ok?" His voice is filled with confusion.

"Did our parents have anything to do with you breaking up with me?"

He laughs and her eyebrows crinkle. "What? Why would they have anything to do with it?"

For a moment she thinks about telling him what she saw but decided against it, maybe it was innocent. "I... I don't know, I just thought maybe one of them said something that made you change your mind about me."

He sighs. "No, it wasn't anything you or anyone else did. I promise you." She smiles a little. "You'll always have a special place in my heart, Betts, even if we aren't together."

_____

After a long, late, movie marathon with Betty, Alice was more than happy to spend the day in bed with FP.

"You're so beautiful." FP tells her as he draws circles on her bare skin while she lays cuddled into his side.

She smiles up at him and presses a kiss above his heart. "I could stay here all day."

"That sounds like a dream. We need to go on another weekend getaway so we can wake up together."

"That sounds so nice. I don't know when exactly but it's a must." She leans over him to grab his discarded t-shirt from the floor and slips it over her head before straddling him.

He smirks up at her and gets a grip on her hips. "We'll figure something out, might just have to kidnap you for a couple days."

"Well I definitely won't say no to that." She pulls his face up to press a kiss to his lips and he smiles into it.

"How's Betty doing?" FP questions, knowing it was bound to be a topic of conversation sooner or later.

"So far so good, we had a movie night last night and she seemed to be doing a bit better."

"That's good, I'm glad... Jug told me last night."

"Did he say why?"

"No, he just said things weren't working out, whatever that means." He sighs. "I don't get it, they seemed so solid."

"They're kids, if we tried to understand them it would be a waste of time."

"Yeah that's for sure." He sighs, giving her hips a squeeze. "We should talk about our little argument the other day. We completely ignored it at the diner."

"We need to, but I just... I don't have an answer you want, FP. I can't say how I feel, but I know that you know."

"I know, and I get why you can't say it yet, but it's only going to get more difficult, Al. Shouldn't we just bite the bullet?"

"I don't think we should tell the kids. Not yet anyway." She tells him, distracting herself by tracing the veins in his arms. "It's too messy."

"I know, but Alice, we do have to tell them eventually."

"But not right now, we have to be absolutely sure about this... about us."

He sighs. "And you're not sure about us?"

"That's not what I'm saying, FP. I am sure about us, you know I am, I'm so incredibly happy when I'm with you, but I'm just worried that if we do tell the kids we'll crash and burn and I don't want that. I just want to live in our happy little bubble for as long as possible."

"I do love you, Alice."

"I know." she assures him with a smile, stroking his cheek with her palm.

"We can continue to live in our happy little bubble for as long as you want, just as long as you know where I stand." He gets a better grip on her and flips her onto her back, peppering her face and neck in kisses. "Now I believe we have some more time together so let's enjoy it."