Falice

Fred Andrews

Dedicated to Luke Perry
•••

Fred has always been known to be an all around people's man. He was as charismatic as he was colossally genuine. He lit up every room he walked into, even dating back to his high school days. The Fred Heads rocked every gig with Fred as the frontman. Everyone danced around to the sound of his voice blended with his guitar. He was the kind of guy you never got tired of being around.

Alice stood in front of her car trying to get the stupid engine to work so she could go to work. "Howdy, neighbor." She turned around to the sound of her neighbor's voice. He was holding a hard hat in his hand and a smile on his face. "Having trouble this morning?"

"Yes," Alice sighed. "My car decided to act out today of all days."

"Let me take a look at it," Fred jogged up to the hood. He set down his hat on the floor and examined the car. "I see the problem." He reached in and turned something for her. "Turn the engine on for me, please." Alice climbed into her car and did as told. Like he said, the car turned on. "You are an angel."

"No problem, Alice." He chuckled. He walked on over to his truck as she drove away. She waved at him as she passed by.

Fred arrived to the construction site and spotted FP in the distance. He was struggling to carry stacks of wood in his arms. Fred ran up to him to help. The wood was tipping over in his hands. "Got it. Got it." Fred gave him a hand. FP rebalanced the material thanks to Fred. "What would I do without ya?" FP chuckled. "Thanks, man."

"Don't sweat it," Fred walked with him. "Come on, let's get er done before break."

After a long shift at work FP accompanied Fred to the diner before going to The Register to visit Alice. He couldn't stop laughing with him. He kept reminding him of the good 'ol days. "I'm telling you," He laughed. "Remember how Thornhill was the only house in Riverdale with a pool?"

"Yeah," FP knew where this story was going.

"There we were, drunk, dumb, teenagers, looking for somewhere to cool off."

"You didn't want to go to the quarry or Sweetwater."

"From what I remember Hermione and Mary stole the school's van-"

"No, that was Alice." FP corrected him.

"Funny, Hermione said the same thing." Fred remembered his dinner with the Lodges. "How are you so sure it was her?"

"I just know," FP was there with her. They snuck off together.

Fred opened the door to the diner, letting FP in before him. "Well we were all wild back then." Archie was in a booth with his friends. He smiled and waved at him. FP did the same with Jughead. "Speaking of Alice, there she is." FP walked over to the counter to take a seat next to her. Fred followed behind.

Pop pushed through the kitchen door with milkshakes in hand. "Hello, guys."

"Hey," FP smiled.

"Hey Pop," Fred was about to take a seat. "Need a hand?"

"Only if you'd like to deliver these to your son."

"Even better," Fred grabbed them from him. "I'll be right back." Fred walked over to his son's booth and Pop went to go take an order. After Fred walked away, FP turned to face Alice. He quickly pecked a kiss on her lips. "Hi, baby. I was just about to go down to The Register to see you. How was your day?"

"Pretty good, thanks to Frederick over there," Alice chuckled. "If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have made it to my meeting on time."

"I could say the same. He watched over me at the site. I almost had planks smack me upside the head. Fortunately he pulled me back just on time."

"Just look at him," Alice and FP turned to look at him. "Where would we be without him?" He cracked a joke and made the teenagers laugh. They watched as he leaned down so Archie could whisper something in his ear. He chuckled and ruffled his hair. He excused himself from the table and walked over to the jukebox. He searched the machine for a specific song in mind. He hit play and Elvis's voice blared through the diner while a joyful Fred smirked. He twist and turned to the beat.

Archie shook his head along to the rhythm. "Your dad is an actual gem," Veronica told him as she watched the man light up the room.

"Dance it up, Mr. A!" Jughead cheered him on.

"Get your Elvis on!" Betty added in.

Fred caught a look at his friends on the other side of the room. He pointed finger guns at them and on cue he goes, "Everybody let's rock." People slowly started to slip out of their seats to join in. FP took the opportunity to offer Alice a hand, inviting her to dance. Fred danced down the aisle, making his way to them. The diner was full of energy thanks to Fred. At the end of the song Pop walked up to Fred and put a hand on his shoulder. He gave him a milkshake to quench the thirst he built up, dancing and singing around. "Fred Andrews is the heart of Riverdale."