Falice 2

House

He turned his head to where a pool table found its place as the dining table replacement. He ran his fingers across the edge. He once argued with Alice, who sat where he was now standing. It was hard to see her put up an act and having Hal only a seat away from him. The tension in the room was obvious.

His attention turned to the living room. Just a couple of months ago he and Alice were cuddled up on that very couch. Their kids would be out and they would get to spend that time together. They didn't care what they would do in that time as long as they did it together. His arms would be wrapped around her as she laid on top of him.

Jughead watched as his father stood blankly in the living room. He could see that he was thinking hard. He couldn't help but wonder if he had suspicions of his own, too. His mother wasn't back because of their family. He had already found that out. She was only back to take over Hiram's drug trade. He hasn't said a word about this to his father though, much to his mother's behest. He wasn't doing it for her. He was doing it for him. He feared about the possibility of breaking his father again. The very last time led him to a very low point in his life. He didn't want to risk a relapse. His mother got that into his head.

"Jug?" Jellybean snapped him back to reality. He turned away from the house to look at her. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah," Jughead shut her door and looped around the truck. He glanced back at the house to see his father one more time. The man had forced his eyes shut and pinched the arch of his nose to keep his emotions intact. Jughead knew something was wrong. Did he know?

*

Jughead returned to the house after school. This time he had Betty with him. "Dad, you home?" He entered the house. Jellybean went around them and straight up to her room.

Gladys came out of the other room. "He's still working. What do you need?" She looked at both him and Betty. Betty tried to avoid looking at her stare. She knew the truth about her presence.

"Betty's play's later and I need to borrow something nice to wear. I was going to ask him if I could-"

Gladys shrugged and gestured for him to go on up. "Maybe now is a good time to mention that you're on at the end." Betty whispered to Jughead as they walked on up.

"What?" He looked at her mortified.

They entered the master bedroom. Jughead went straight to the closet. Betty looked around by the door. This didn't look like her mother's room anymore. She wasn't surprised, but it was strange to see the sudden change. Jughead moved hangers around until he landed on a black jacket in the back. It was familiar. He remembered his father wore it when they went to the play last school year. He didn't see much of him there after they went in. He carefully pulled it out to try on. He looked himself in the mirror and smiled. It looked great. He felt like his father and he was proud to. He stuffed his hands into the pockets. Unexpectedly, he found a pink envelope in one of the pockets. He flipped it over and saw Alice written on the front in his father's handwriting. He glanced at Betty. She was busy pondering to notice. He stuffed the tiny envelope into another jacket of his father's.

Jellybean walked in and went straight to the dresser. Jughead looked at her confused. "What are you doing?"

"Dad needs a change of clothes," Jellybean explained as she rummaged through his drawer for a shirt. "He's dripping blood onto his uniform."

Jughead and Betty looked at each other. They exited the room to go downstairs. Jughead could see his father avoiding Gladys as she tried to help clean up the scratches on his face. "Geez, dad. What happened?" He asked concerned.

"There was an idiot on the street. I had to swerve to miss running into him." FP looked up to recognize him in his jacket. He thought it looked nice on him. "He was high on Fizzle Rocks for sure."