Collateral Damage ▻ Riverdale [1]

2.16

THE AFTERMATH
CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Later on that night in Archie's garage, FP, Archie, and Queenie all played on their guitars as Jughead just watched. After the song was over, FP smiled at Archie, "Damn, hoss, you are good, way better than your dad." FP complimented Archie as he placed down the guitar at the same time as Queenie.

"Well, I've actually gotten better because I've been taking lessons with Queenie," Archie informed him and Jughead frowned at this, not knowing anything about this.

"Wait, Queenie, you've been hanging out with Archie?" Jughead asked his sister and Queenie furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering what was so bad about it.

"Why, is there a problem with that?' She asked him defensively and Jughead quickly shook his head in response.

"Hey, does Fred keep any beer in there?" FP asked curiously, pointing over at the mini fridge that was a few feet away from them. Jughead and Queenie turned to face each other, both of them sharing a worried look as they turned to Archie, wondering how he was going to respond to the question FP asked.

"Uh, uh..." Archie began to answer, but Queenie cut him off.

"Hey, dad, don't you think it's a little late? Wanna..." Queenie spoke up, trailing off as she pointed to the door.

"Oh, yeah. No, it's alright, I got a big day tomorrow anyway." FP replied, agreeing with his daughter.

Archie looked up for a moment before he placed the guitar that was in his hands down and got up, "Hey, Mr. Jones, before you go, can I ask you a question?' Archie spoke up, causing Queenie to become confused.

"Yeah," FP replied without hesitation.

"Earlier tonight, you said my dad owed you. What do you mean by that?" Archie questioned him.

FP began to put his flannel jacket on as Jughead walked over to Archie and placed a hand on his shoulder. He began to whisper something to the redhead that Queenie was unable to hear it. Archie practically ignored whatever he said and looked over at FP, "No, it's just--I mean, it's just a question." Archie commented and Queenie sighed, rolling her eyes, "Did something happen between you two?"

FP was quiet for a long moment before he spoke up, "It's ancient history, but your dad and I, we-uh- we started Andrews construction together." FP informed her and Archie's eyes widened in shock.

"You and my dad were partners?" Archie asked him in disbelief.

FP chuckled at his question, "He wouldn't call us that," He remarked before be continued the story, "Anway, we, uh...we struggled at first. Fred, he just had you and your mom to provide for, I had Jughead, Jellybean, their mom, Queenie, and hospital bills. So I took some odd jobs, not exactly on the level. Sure enough, one of them landed me in some hot water, and your dad was...he was good enough to bail me out. Then, he said we should part ways, that I was a liability, made me sign a paper saying that the bail money was buying me out of the company. Never mind that my share of the business was probably ten times that, easy. And that was that." FP explained and clapped his hands together as he finished the story, getting up from his chair, "He went his way, and I went mine." FP sighed as he bent down to take a flask full of alcohol from his jacket, causing Queenie to look up and frown, "You know, I think something a little harder than beer." FP uncapped the metal flash before taking a sip of it.

_____

Just a few moments after, Jughead sat on a stool in the garage as Queenie stood near him while Archie put his garage away, "Jughead, Queenie, what your dad told us, I had no idea." Archie told them.

Jughead sighed as he looked down at the ground, "Me neither. illuminating, isn't it?' Jughead added in.

Queenie crossed her arms as she stared both of them, "I did." She replied and they both were shocked by her revelation, "What? He told me the story a couple years back."

Archie sighed deeply as he pinched the bridge of his nose, "My dad must have had a good reason." Archie defended his father.

"What? For screwing over our dad?" Jughead questioned his friend.

Suddenly, FP was heard arriving back, clearly drunk, "You ready to roll, guys?" FP spoke up, referring to both Queenie and Jughead.

Queenie glanced down at her father's jacket before she quickly went over to it and took out the flash and placed it in her jacket pocket. She then picked up her father's jacket and gestured for Jughead to follow her out. FP entered the garage, stumbling a bit as he tossed his keys to his daughter. She quickly caught them before Jughead and herself followed their father out.

"See you later," Jughead told his best friend before FP wrapped an around both of his kids as they walked toward the drunk, Queenie appointed as her father's designated driver.

_____

Once arriving back at the Jones family trailer, Jughead helped his father take a seat on the couch beside him. FP laughed as he patted the couch with his hand, "I'll sleep right here, on this couch. You two can have the bedroom." FP told his two eldest children.

"We're not going to take your bed, Dad." Queenie declined his offer and Jughead agreed with her with a nod of his head.

Jughead began to help take his father's shoes off as FP spoke up, "Wouldn't be the first time I crashed on this thing. Uh, thank you." FP sighed out as Jughead placed his shoes on the ground after he helped him take them off, "If the two of you stay, are you? You going to stay?" FP asked the two teenagers.

"Sure, I'll stay," Queenie replied with a small smile, but Jughead didn't answer, indicating that he probably wasn't staying, unlike his sister.

"Yeah, don't be late for school," FP reminded them.

"No, it's alright. I'm already way ahead of my classes," Queenie replied, "Mr. Phillips, my English teacher, he ends up just giving me extra work to do."

"I talked to mom," Jughead added in his own comment, "She got a job at a call center so she could pay for online classes, guess she's finally going after her GED. Jellybean is helping her study. By the way, Jellybean wants to go by 'JB' now. She thinks it sounds cooler. She's ten years old and listens to Pink Floyd on vinyl, I don't she can get any cooler." Jughead explained, only to turn his head to look at his father and see that he was out cold.

Queenie gave her brother a sad look as Jughead got up from his seat and made his way over to the door, "You're going to leave?" She asked him quietly.

Jughead turned his body around to face her with his hand still on the doorknob of the trailer door, ready to open it, "Yeah, I am. Why? Are you actually staying with him?" Jughead replied and Queenie frowned.

"Jughead, I literally just told him that I was staying. Of course, I am. If I say I'm staying, it means I'm staying." She argued calmly.

Jughead scoffed at this, "Well, I don't know with you anymore, Queenie. You lie all the time, I don't even know when I can or can't believe you."

"What the hell are you talking about, Jug?" She questioned and Jughead rolled his eyes.

Jughead was about to start arguing with her, but decided not to and shook his head, "You know what? Nevermind, I have to go." He replied before he left the trailer without another word say.

Queenie sighed as she looked around at all of the beer bottles everywhere. She stared at them for a moment before she suddenly began to clean it all up, wanting to help out a bit. After doing that, she did the dishes and cleaned up the rest of the trailer as much as possible without having to worry about her dad waking up. Once doing so, she felt tired and decided to head to bed. Queenie walked into the bedroom and took off her shoes and jacket before got into bed. As she laid there, she began to feel like she had missed living at home. She loved living with Sweet Pea, but she also missed living with her dad. Queenie pulled out her phone and texted Sweet Pea that she was staying at FP's. He didn't answer for a few moments until finally, he did, replying with a small okay.

Soon enough, she dozed off, not even thinking about what was yet to come in the next few days.