Recreating History, Repairing Mistakes

Part 17

The pre homecoming dinner had beenBetty's idea and everyone involved thinks it's a bad idea. When shehad received four less than enthusiastic * I don't know *'s the girlhad poured her heart out to Veronica, about just wanting to make allof this a little more normal. The other girl had immediatelyencourage her to try again, and be more insistent. In her words, itwould do any of them some good to get out of the house and in theopen and try to be civil with each other. It's a small town, and evenwith her parents now living on opposite sites of it, they * are *bound to run into each other at some point. Clearing the air nowwould make this a whole lot less awkward.

Ever since Betty and Alice had talkedlast week the girl has been looking for a way to reach out to hermother more. She's constantly texting her, they had talked on thephone for a few minutes every day and there had even been a visit atthe trailer, but Betty still doesn't think it's enough. She's behavedlike a spoiled brat, attacked her mother in public and refused tolisten to logic and reason – just like the six year old she hasn'tbeen for the last ten years. She'd even tried to make her come toJug's birthday party two days ago, but FP had shown up alone, because* this * had been his time to make things right with his son and hehas a right to do this alone, just like Alice had with Betty.

Alice had said more than once, thatit's okay, she takes what she gets, because she knows she no saint inthis either and nothing of this would even have happened if * she *hadn't started all this.

The two of them had spent hours intheir booth at Pop's. Alice had done most of the talking, Bettylistening intently. Here and there, the girl had thrown in a questionbut for the most part, she had let her mother tell her the story ofhow she'd grown up and had fallen in love with FP Jones. It hadturned out, that teenage Alice had been involved in enough illegaland reckless activities, not all of them FP had been responsibleeither, and suddenly Betty understood why her mother had tried tokeep her and Polly from doing something stupid. But Betty had alsoseen her mother's face light up when she'd talked about her youngerself, about the times she'd spent with FP and the serpents back thenand Betty also understood, that this right here, * this * is hermother. No tailored skirts, manicured fingernails, hair appointmentsand make-up will ever be able to change that, even though Alice hadgiven it a respectable try. The fact that she'd so easily moved backinto her old life once she'd slipped has Betty believe she doesn'treally know her mother. And it makes her swear she's doing everythingshe can to change that.

Betty had also seen her mother's facecrumble when she'd talked about the last time she'd been with FP andhow they had ended. She'd gripped her mothers' hands tighter,assuring her that it's okay, that there's nothing she needs to hide,not even her tears. But Alice hadn't cried, she doesn't do that inpublic. That doesn't mean she hadn't been devastated recounting whathad happened, and in the end Betty had realized, that all this dramacould have been avoided had their teenage selves handled thesituation better. Hadn't she been such a bitch and just told himshe'll stay with him no matter what instead of accepting Hal'sinvitation just because she'd been pissed and hadn't he been such acoward and just told her he's terrified of being a father in hissituation instead of pushing her away; maybe neither of them had evermarried anybody else. Maybe they would have made it work. And maybeBetty wouldn't exist then, but she finds she wouldn't even mind if itmeant someone else had been able to see * this * side of Alice forthe last twenty years.

There'd been little to no talk at allabout her brother, and Betty hadn't dared to ask about him. Betty hadlearned that her pregnancy had ultimately been what had broken themup in High School and, that her own father had even pressured herinto terminating the pregnancy. She'd known, that her parents hadgiven the boy up for adoption, Alice had reluctantly admitted thatweeks ago when Betty had asked why exactly Alice had been soinfuriated with Hal over Polly. Not that she'd know that her fatherwasn't * his * father also, the girl had actually been able topicture Hal and the abortion. She'd understood it to some extend, butshe would never see her father in the same light anymore. No matterwho the father had been, how can you just so easily decide foranother person to abort a child? What if it had been her or Polly?For all her brave words said in anger against her father that day,she'd still been to chicken to bring it up with him yet. But she'dcalmed down at least, she would not lat any situation evolve into theone she had just started to fix.