"Geez dad, this house ricks! What happened here? World war three? Jughead complained. He had just returned from school, and there were empty can beers all over the trailer, the place looked like trash. A man was rambling in the couch, and the beanie wearing boy approched him.
"Have you been drinking? Again? It's 4pm dad! Seriously how drunk are you?"
FP ignored him, he could tell his son was pissed at him, but he was way too intoxicated to actually care. Truth to be told, he always had a drinking problem, and latetly it's been pretty bad. Maybe it all had to with the fact that the Serpent Charmer managed to blackmail him do to do hotjobs, or maybe the actual reason was that Gladys had left him and took his little girl with her. Honestly, he didn't really cared about his wife at this point but his daughter meant the world to him.
Jughead had been quite worried about his old man but there's nothing he could say or do that would change the fact that his dad is an alcoholic. The only person who would manage to make him stop drinking was himself.
"Eventually, you will have to put your shit back togheter" the teenage boy sighed and FP rolled his eyes at his words. He knew his son was right but he was too hurt, the day the Jones women left that house, broke his heart into a million pieces.
Everybody grieves in different ways... unfortunately, his way wasn't the very best but all that alchool helped him numb the pain.
The next day, FP woke up with the sound of his phone ringing, he had a huge headche and a sore back from sleeping in the hard couch.
"Hello?" he said in his morning raspy voice.
"Hm... hi dad, how are you feeli..."
"I'm so sorry Jughead" a tear threatening to escape his eyes, as he interrupted his son before he could even finish the sentece. FP felt so ashamed, he really does want to be a good parent for Jug, but everything is so... ugh.
"It's ok, dad. I guess I'm used to it by this point..." FP's stomach twirled at those words "listen... I have to ask you something..." his son continued.
"Anything"
And maybe that was his guilt talking right this moment but he does love his son, and would do anything for him.
"Well... hm... you see... haven't told you about this girl and... we're kinda together together and I want to introduce her to you. I mean she wants to meet you, I'm not so sure it's a good ideia because you know... could you?... Just promise me you won't drink today..."
He managed to get up and went straight to the kitchen for a glass of water and an aspirin. He really had to make the very best of himself presentable for his son's girlfriend. He deserved a better father and FP was willing to do whatever it takes to make his boy, the happiest of boys. So he cleaned the entire mess in his home, and took a bath before grabbing milkshakes from Pop's.
Later that day
"Hi dad" two teenagers had just entered the trailer. Jughead was actually quite impressed at how cleaned everything was, there wasn't a single thing outta place and it smelled really good, some kind of lavanda spray, he thoutgh. "This is Betty, Betty this is my dad" a smile crossed his face.
"I'm very happy to meet you, Mr Jones" the blonde girl smiled.
"Oh please, call me FP" he replyied and pointed to the kitchen "I got milkshakes for you guys".
Jughead's eyes widended "Dad... that's way too many milkshakes" and FP blushed.
"Oh... uhm I didn't know which flavor was Betty's favourite... so uhm... I guess I bought one of each" he let out a small laugh, while his fingers runned through his hair.
"Oh Mr Jones, you really didn't have to do all this" she smiled, overwhelmed at how much he wanted to please her "but thank you, it was very nice of you".
FP could see the happiness in his son's eyes, and it warmed his heart.
"So... which one it will be? Chocolate flavoured?"
"I'm more of a vanilla girl" Betty answered him and looked at his boyfriend with grin. It showed how much she loved him, and that's when FP was taken aback. A memory flowed his mind. Alice. She reminded him of Alice! The way she moves, the way she talks, hell even the milkshake flavour. It was all Alice. His heart skipped a beat while he replayed all the moments they had together. How could that women still have this effect on him? After so many years? God, and why the hell does this girl looks so much like her?
"Betty, it's a really pretty name" FP said trying to figure somethings out, hopefully she would start talking.
"Well, it's short for Elizabeth, Elizabeth Cooper"
And his heart sank to the ground "Cooper? A-as in... Hal and Alice Cooper?" he couldn't believe this was actually the daughter of the woman he loved the most in this world. "No way".
"Way...uhm, do you know my parents?"
"Yes. I mean, no... we went to the same high school, that's it" he was obviously lying but the kids didn't seem to notice and so, they little milkshake meeting continued.
After his son left to take the girl home, FP layed in the couch, thinking. Did he really just met Alice's kid? How come his son is dating his ex's daughter?
"This is the universe playing with me" he bursted out laughing and opened a beer, not being able to control himself from how much he was missing her. It hurted a lot, knowing that she wasn't his anymore. But now their kids were reliving their history and he felt like crap "I lost her, forever" a tear slipped his eyes and he chugged the whole damn bottle down his throat.
At the Cooper house
"Mom? Are you home?" she yelled.
"I'm in the kitchen honey!"
The young couple made their way to find her, with her pink apron on, making a peach pie.
"It smells soooooo good Ms Coo-SMITH, I mean" he slighty blushed. "It's ok. You guys arrived right on time" she said and hugged the boy tightly, and he hugged her back "I made pie!"
Jughead's mother had never been a good mom to him, and since the day he met Alice, something just clicked. It was almost like she had adopted him. She became very protective of him, and maybe the real reason was because she had lost a son of her own, but that beanie wearing kid just melted her heart. If someone tried to hurt him, that very same person had to pass over her dead body first.
"Hi to you too, mom" Betty crossed her arms, pretending to be jealous, and Alice hugged her daughter "I love you, sweetheart"
"And yet, she made YOUR favourite pie" she whispered to her boyfriend and he let out a chuckle.
Luckily, when Jughead got home, his dad had already doozed off in the couch, so he went to bed. At least, this way he didn't saw just how drunk he got, but what they didn't know, it was that their night was far from over...
3 am
"NO-NOOOOOO" a loud scream "Al...NO PLEASE LET HER GO" it sounded almost like a cry "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Jughead got up from bed fast as he could and ran towards the noise, his dad was having an awful nightmare, "Dad! Wake up! It's just a nightmare, wake up!"
FP was sweating, when he finally openned his eyes. "You're ok" Jug held him close "you're ok... what was the dream about? It seemed pretty scary..."
"N-nothing" he tried his best to cover the fear that was still running through his body "Just go back to bed, boy. I'm fine" he faked a smile.
"Alright, dad, you need to rest. Good night"
"Good night, son"
There was no way in hell that FP could just go back to sleep, not after having the most horrible dream of his life. Alice was there. And suddently, she wasn't. Penny Peabody had kidnaped her, tortured her and ended her life. He was still trembling at that thought, he couldn't bare to even think about her getting hurt. His chest was aching badly, and he felt like crying, so he decided to open another bottle...
One can of beer, turned to ten, he was trying to numb whatever feeling that was keeping him awake. However, all the alchool in the world could not erase her image out of his mind. He had to go see her, he had to make sure she was ok.
He grabbed his car keys, but accidently let them fall in the hallway. Driving wasn't probably a great idea in his state, so he called a cab. Fifteen minutes later and he was outside the Cooper's house.
A loud banging on the door woke up Alice from her sleep, and she rushed downstairs. Before she openned the door, she grabbed a baseball bat, just for precaution, of course.
Her mouth dropped with surprise "FP? It's the middle of the night, what the hell are you doing here?" she blinked her big blue eyes, repeatedly.
"I-I just had to make sure you're ok" he stumbled inside and almost fell by her feet but she helped him get his balance up.
"Are you drunk FP? Seriously? What's gotten into you?" but before she could get her answer he kissed her, passionatly.
He grabbed her tiny waist and pulled her closer to him. She kissed him back for a moment, but before her hands could travel to the back if his neck, she pushed him away. Her heart was pounding heavily in her chest.
"You're definitely drunk" she sighed, knowing he probably won't remember a thing tomorrow "but I can't just let you go, walking around intoxicated at 4 am in the damn morning. Get your ass inside" she dragged him into her living room.
"Kiss me, Alice" she rolled her eyes at him, but couldn't help to let out a smile.
"Sit down, and be quiet! My daughter is asleep" and he fell to the soft couch. "I'm going to grab you a glass of water".
She was about to leave the room when he grabbed her wrist.
"Don't go" he looked up at her with tears on his eyes "please".
"Wha-a FP are you... crying?" she sat down to wipe his wet face.
"I-I miss you, Alice, I miss you so much" he was sobbing "I know, I know you hate me, and I'm sorry... I tried, oh God, I tried so damn hard to stop loving you, Alice, but I... I just couldn't. I love you" and with that he fell asleep.
Her eyes were drowned in tears. "FP?" she softly stroked his beard, and took a deep breath before leaning in closer to his ear, and whisper "I love you too".
This was so fun to write, sorry it took so long.
Hope you guys like this!
Love, Winter.