Light in the darkness

9. Decision

Fred closed the door behind his back, once he finally crammed FP into the house. How could he forget, that Mary was watching Charles during Alice's job interview? It was pretty obvious, that she will come to pick him up, wasn't it? He raised his sight and received a cold glance from Mary, who was clenching her fists. It wasn't the way FP was supposed to find out about Alice's comeback after five years of being apart.

FP stood speechless in the small hallway, his eyes hard to read. His blind spot started to show up. He had been working so hard to move on, to finally set himself free. And now? Now everything fell apart in the worst possible moment.

No matter how badly he wanted to forget about Alice, the past finally caught up with him. Something, he was hell afraid of, finally became true. Something, he wished wouldn't happen ever again.

But it happened. He was forced to finally face her, whether he liked it or not.

For the past five years, he had pictured this moment way too many times. He tried to prepare himself for the possibility of running on her somewhere far away from Riverdale. He expected everything, but bumping into her on his best friend's porch in the middle of the hot Friday afternoon.

Truthfully, it wouldn't be that hard for FP if only he had truly moved on. Apparently, he hadn't. No matter how many times he had been thinking 'that's it. I moved on.', it was a freaking lie.

Because how could he possibly move on, when he had been still thinking about her?

Whenever he went to Pop's, he saw Alice wiping the whipped cream from the corners of her lips. Whenever he was strolling along Sweetwater River, he saw Alice dancing on the shore. Whenever he walked past Trailer Park, he saw Alice smoking cigarettes on the doorstep. And whenever he opened his eyes in the morning, he wished it was Alice sleeping next to him.

But it was only in his head. She wasn't sitting at Pop's, dancing at the River, smoking cigarettes, sleeping on the other side of his bed. It was his past. The past, that will never come back.

"How long do you know?" FP broke the silence and blinked his eyes a few times to stop the tears from falling down his cheeks.

"FP, you are still in shock." Fred reached for his arm, but as soon as FP felt his touch on his skin, he stepped back.

"Cut the crap, Fred! How long?" He yelled. The blood was boiling inside him. He took a few deep breaths as he waited for Fred to finally answer the question. His eyes told him enough, but still, FP wanted to hear him saying it.

"A few weeks." Fred's voice was nothing more than a faint whisper when he watched FP running his fingers through his hair, shaking his head in disbelief.

He knew about Alice's comeback for couple damn weeks and didn't think that it was worth mentioning it to him after everything this goddamn girl put him through? After he started to drink and drowning in his sorrow?

"You knew, that Alice came back and didn't even bother to tell me about it?" He hissed through the teeth. Undoubtedly anger took over him and on the one hand, he had the reasons to be furious, but from the other, he had no idea about the whole story.

"It wasn't the way you were supposed to find out, FP." Mary tried to lighten up the mood a little. When she felt FP's eyes on her, the shiver went down her spine. She had never felt so much anger and hurt in the air.

"Maybe I wasn't supposed to find out at all, since it wasn't worth mentioning about it, huh?" FP spat back and watched her leave the room. He didn't want to hurt her, not intentionally. But he scared her.