Living Next Door To Alice

10/ A Good Day

**

After a quick knock on the door, Alice paused reading her book and stood up to see who was on the other side.

"Hey, FP! What's up?" She smiled and looked at the sparkling brown eyes of her neighbor.

"You won't believe it, my son is here, Al!" FP walked in, a big grin plastered over his face. Alice had never seen him like this before. She could feel that this was a big deal to him.

"Wait, seriously? That's amazing! You're glowing." She said happily, making FP blush slightly.

He figured that not everyone would be this kind of ecstatic when your kids visit, but to him it meant the world.

"It's his 18th birthday, so we want to throw him a little party. I'd love it if you'd be there." He invited them, looking at Betty and Polly as well.

"Absolutely. You like that too, right?" Alice eyed her daughters now as well.

"I didn't know you had a son, Mr. Jones." Betty perked up, smiling at the man.

"He's your age, actually. But he lives with his mother in Toledo, we don't see each other often." FP explained.

"Count us in." Betty promised to be there.

"Should we bring something? I think I could whip up a cake in no time." Alice offered politely, as she wanted to contribute something since she didn't have a present.

"Yeah, that be good. Please invite Hermione and Veronica too. The more the merrier. That'd be nice for Fred." FP impulsively added, recalling their most recent conversation.

He was sure that Fred didn't mind seeing Hermione again, and since they had so much fun at Pizza Night it seemed nice to have them over again.

"Don't worry, got it." Alice winked and watched as he left back to his own apartment again.

"I've never seen him look that happy." Betty noticed, chuckling a little. It was nice seeing him like that.

"Me neither." Alice mumbled, smiling a little to herself.

**

The party had been going on for an hour now and Jughead seemed to mingle pretty well with everyone. He only knew his Dad, Fred and Archie but so far everyone else had been very kind. It mostly comforted him to know that his father had more friends around him than before.

"I don't think you understand how happy I am that you're here." FP stood next to his son and smiled softly. He had said it a thousand times already, but he just couldn't stop.

"I've got a feeling." Jughead grinned, pulling his arm around his Dad.

"How is Jellybelly doing?" FP asked curiously, as he finally felt ready to open up that conversation.

It sucked that she wasn't there, but considering his past he could understand why Gladys wouldn't want that.

"She's growing in front of my eyes, it's insane. You'd be surprised by how smart she is, it's almost intimidating." Jughead told him, a smile plastered over his face. He was so proud of his sister and the woman she was becoming.

"You miss her, don't you?" Jughead said quietly, seeing the sad twinkle in his father's eyes.

"I miss both of you like crazy. You're my pride and joy." FP smiled, but the sad look in his eyes couldn't be missed by anyone. He was hurting, but couldn't say it out loud.

"Look Dad, I am really trying to talk some sense into Mom to convince her you're better. She just won't budge." Jughead had been fighting with Gladys about FP's progress for a while now, but she kept on saying that things hadn't changed.