BAD LIAR ✪ FP JONES

Ｆｏｕｒ

A/N: wowowow double update in the same week? Aren't you guys spoiled by me? I find the present-day chapters kinda hard to write so I'm sorry but heyo enjoy

Riverdale

Present day

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Jughead visited regularly after that day. He would often come over after school just before work and talk to Maria. He would drink tea, ask her about her day and then leave promptly but not before helping her clear up. He knew that she was sick. Not the kind of sick where your mum would make you stay in bed and have some warm soup. No, this sickness was sinister. It was something that consumed her every single moment of her day.

He could see her eyes get darker with each passing week and he noticed she seemed to forget a lot of things. Occasionally, she would forget who Jughead was. Yes, he knew that she was suffering from dementia. He thought it was odd that she was still quite young and suffering from a sickness. Once he had confirmation that she indeed did have dementia he set aside more time for her. He came to visit on weekends with a batch of biscuits and cookies, while they shared several cups of tea he started cleaning the house. Jughead started to dust and fix broken shelves, he started to repaint the rooms and eventually after three months of visiting and looking after the house, it looked beautiful. 

Maria didn't understand why he was doing this for her. She admitted that having Jughead around gave her some happiness, she enjoyed listening to him talk and sometimes he would read his stories to her and she loved them. She loved how talented he was and how kind he was towards her. She felt very protective over her young friend who spent most of his time with her nowadays and with the school over for the summer he spent almost all his time with her. The unlikely friendship had formed beautifully. 

She slowly poured the boy a cold drink of lemonade as he finished clearing the garden, it was mowed and the flowers were trimmed to make them tidy and neat. She gave Jughead a warm smile as she handed him his well-earned drink. 

"The garden looks beautifully Jughead." she commented with a fond smile as she looked at the garden and then at the boy. 

"Thank you, Ms Reynolds," he sipped his drink before turning to talk to her about something very important, he felt nervous, almost nauseous as he spoke to the aged brunette "I'm going away for this coming 4th July with my friend Archie, is that okay?" 

Maria smiled before nodding "Of course dear, why wouldn't it be? You've done so much for me and I'm so thankful. Go and have fun, take pictures and tell me all about it when you get back." Jughead seemed to relax knowing that it was okay to leave Maria Reynolds for his road trip. He did everything for her, he helped her with her shopping and he took her out for walks in the woods near her house and sometimes they would have a picnic together. He felt that this woman was almost like a mother figure in his life that he had to look after. Since his own mother was away and he couldn't look after her so he helped the lonely woman. 

When Jughead left that day Maria felt the loneliness crawl in. She enjoyed his company and always dreaded his leave every day. She had often wondered where his parents were but the brunette knew better than to pry into his life. The woman sat in her chair in the garden, her head resting on the palm of her hand as she slowly closed her eyes. She could feel the breeze pass through her hair as she sat comfortably in her chair, the summer air made her feel safe for the first time in a long time. She could remember what her friend Gatsby would say if he saw her now 'Geez doll, you settled for such a boring life.' but she wouldn't of minded. 

A sudden twinge of sadness settled in her stomach as she thought about Gatsby. Her friend from long ago that she could barely remember. She could remember his dark eyes and the way he held her close, he was just someone passing through her life but he got her away from Riverdale. She travelled America with him until-

There was a sudden crash that made Maria jump from her chair. She turned to see a ginger cat sitting on the table, it had knocked off a glass and then proceeded to stare at her. Cursing the cat, she slowly began clearing up the mess. Although deep down she thanked the cat for breaking her out of her trance, there was a reason she didn't want to remember Gatsby. It haunted her at night. Night time was always the worse for her, she could remember details of people but never anything with great importance. She couldn't remember the reason she left Riverdale in the first place. It frustrated the aged woman.

Once the mess was cleared up she stood and stared at the cat. It wasn't hers. The cat seemed to like her very much so sometimes she would feed it meat or fish just to make sure it came back to visit. 

Yes, she hated being alone.