Falice: From A to Z

Seasons: Summer

~~Summer~~

~~Chapter 4: Summer~~

FP falling asleep on her couch while binging Netflix shows has become such a regular occurrence that Betty never questions his presence at the breakfast table. The first and only time it came up was when Betty came home from the bookstore to find her boyfriend's dad/ her mom's new best friend snoring on the couch.

She examines the situation with a slight furrow to her brow. Her mother was nowhere to be found.

"Oh there you are, Betty," Alice breezes into the living room holding a cup of tea. "How was work?"

"Good," Betty blinks. "What's FP doing on our couch?"

"We were watching a movie and he fell asleep," Alice explains. "I tried to wake him up, but poor FP is so exhausted. I won't allow him to drive back to Riverdale in this condition. Fatigue is as bad - if not worse- than drunk driving."

"Good call. Wouldn't want him hitting a deer."

Alice will never admit it but she is incredibly relieved that Betty didn't push the issue. That she didn't wonder why Taco Tuesdays are escalating into sleepovers, or why she's finding it harder and harder to part with him at the end of the day.

-

The days are at their longest and FP, Betty and Alice are eating breakfast as they normally do.

"So what did you get up to last night?" Betty asks innocently in between sips of orange juice. "How was - what did you call it? - Freedom Fest ?"

Alice cringes. "I never called it that. That was all FP."

"What?" FP looks up, feigning hurt, as he douses his waffles in maple syrup. "You've been divorced for a few weeks now, and mine has finally gone through. F reedom Fest is an accurate name."

Alice ignores him and turns to her daughter. "To answer your question, Elizabeth, we watched The First Wives Club and fell asleep by 10. The sun was still up."

She leaves out the part where they paused the movie three times because they kept getting distracted .

"Are you serious? That's what you did the night FP's divorce was finalized?" Betty laughs. "You guys are wild."

"Your mom hasn't had a wild night out since before you were born," FP chuckles between bites.

"Shut up, FP."

Betty giggles. "Oh, do go on."

"The stories I can tell..."

"Don't you dare!" she warns.

"She had a studded belt and these fingerless gloves-"

"FP!" Alice snaps before shoving a waffle in his mouth with a triumphant smirk. "That's enough. You don't want to take advantage of my hospitality, otherwise you might find yourself in the doghouse ."

-

It's the height of construction season and FP is working insane hours. She sees him when he can, but most of the time they end up doing nothing together. She takes what she can get.

Sometimes they cuddle in bed without having had sex first and she has to shut down the part of her brain that's screaming at her that friends don't do what they're doing.

-

Betty manages to get a week off from her internship, so Alice and her daughters and grandbabies cross the border into Canada. It was Polly's idea to go camping.