After 25 years, Alice moves back to the town she had to leave behind.
In those 25 years, her husband died and her three kids have grown into three amazing young adults.
But Alice has kept a secret in those 25 years and suddenly it's about to get re...
"I really don't understand how you're alright with this, Jug! Our parents are dating, they've been lying to us!" It was pointless to talk to Jughead about this. He didn't seem to see the issue but I did. No way I would let my mother date his father. Jughead and I were together first and they knew we were, yet they are fucking eachother. The anger in me was fueling even more with Jughead's words. "Come on, Betty. They're happy together, my dad is finally happy again. He hasn't drunk a drop of alcohol since they started dating again. Sure it'll be awkward but we can overcome that." "Dating again? So they dated before? Oh God this just makes my whole body cringe. No, Jug, theey better break up or I'm out." I stood up and walked out of the diner. Jughead would never understand it. Sure, my mom deserved happiness but what about my own happiness? If they dated before well then they had their chance, now it was Jughead and I not them. I walked around town until I bumped into someone. Without looking up I mumbled a sorry. "No problem. Wait aren't you Juggie's girl?" I looked up, right in the face of Jughead's mom. "I am. You're his mom, right?" She nodded. "Gladys Jones, nice to meet you." I shook her extended hand and smiled. "Are you alright? You seem a bit off." I sighed. "Just had a fight with Jughead." "Do you want to talk about it?" She led me to a bench and we sat down. "What was the fight about?" I shrugged. "Jughead doesn't see a problem in the relationship of my mom and his father. He thinks they deserve happiness but what about our happiness?" Gladys smirked. "You don't want your mother and FP to be together and Jug does? Why am I not surprised." I turned to her and she leaned back. "Jug was always a papa's boy. Look, FP is still married to me." Gladys showed her wedding ring to me. "And I am not planning on divorcing anytime soon." I raised an eyebrow. "But Jug told me you two are in the process of getting a divorce." "We were, but I cancelled earlier today. And FP doesn't have the money to get a fancy lawyer to continue the process so he'll have to call it quits with Alice sooner or later anyway. I know your mother, she will never be the other woman." Impressed I smiled at Gladys. "So they'll have to break up if you two don't get a divorce?" She nodded and my smiled grew wider. "Have I told you what an amazing mom Jughead has." Gladys laughed. "You haven't but I already knew that. Look, I have to go, Betty, but in case you want to talk again or maybe do something together with Jughead too, here's my number." She handed me a piece of paper with her number on and I accepted it. "Thank you, misses Jones." "You can call me Gladys, Betty." I nodded smiling and we stood up. We hugged goodbye and I walked back home.
I opened the door and heard laughing from the dining room. I peeked around the corner and saw Polly, Charles, my mom and FP laughing at the kitchen table. I rolled my eyes and walked up to my room to get changed.
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I heard steps going up and I pulled out a book to read. There was a knock on my door but I ignored it. "It's Charles, Betty. Can I come in?" I rolled my eyes and said he could. "I saw you entering so I thought to come and check up on you." He said as he sat down next to me. "Well here I am, still in one piece so you can go back down." I replied annoyed and looked back at my page. "I just want to talk, Betty. You're my sister, we should be able to talk to each other." "Well I'm not in the mood to talk, Charles." "Fine, then don't talk but listen." He grabbed my book and I crossed my arms angry. "Very mature, Charles." He rolled his eyes and looked at me. "Look, Betty, I know this is probably very unexpected and I understand you're angry but you don't even know the whole story. You really should try and listen to them. If after that you still feel the same, I won't bug you about it anymore, no one will but you have to get the full story first. They're truly in love and they don't want you and Jughead to break up over them being together. Just promise me you will listen to them. That's all I'm asking." He stood up leaving me behind with a knot in my stomach. He just knew how to make me doubt my own thoughts. But there was some stubborn feeling that didn't want me to talk to my mom. I honestly didn't want to see them all being in love together. I guess deep down, it hurted to see my mom together with someone else than dad. It's been quite some months now but I guess I still wasn't over my dad's death. I missed him still so much and I guess I was scared FP would be my "new dad" and I wasn't ready for that. Tears appeared but I just let them fall down. I curled up on my bed and kept sobbing. It just was too much right now.
In the middle of the night I woke up a bit disorientated. My eyes were dry and it hurted a bit to open them. I stoop up and changed into my pyjamas. I walked down the stairs to the kitchen and poured a glass of water. I stared through the window at the garden. A bit later I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and surprised I saw FP appear in the kitchen. "Betty, I eh...I just came to get something to drink. But eh, I..." I sighed and held up my hand so he'd stop stumbling over his words. "Water?" I asked and picked a glass from the shelf. He nodded and I handed him a full glass of water. "Can we talk, FP?" Unsure he nodded and he followed me to the kitchen table. "I want you to answer three questions truthfully." FP frowned but nodded. "Do you really love my mom or is this just some sort of fling?" FP looked slightly offended but quickly got his act back together. "I never stopped loving your mother, Betty. We dated for three years in high school and breaking up with her was and still is one of the biggest regrets I have. I can assure you, your mother is not a fling." I nodded slowly and asked my next question. "How will this affect Jughead and I because if this means we have to break up, well, that's not going to happen." I crossed my arms as I stared him in the eye. "Alice and I don't want you to break up because of us. Will it be easy, probably not, will it we awkward, most definitely but we both believe both our relationships are strong enough to overcome that. We would never make you break up because of us. I swear to God." I pouted and took a deep breath for my last question. "Do you want to be my dad?" I asked. FP raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "You already have a dad, Betty, he might have passed away but he will always be your father and I'm not planning on trying to take his place. Do I want to be there for you in case you need it, yes I do, I do want to be a part of your life but only if you want that. I won't make you call me dad or push myself into that position. I'll be there if you want to talk but I won't be your dad. Your dad is Harold Cooper and that will never change. I promise you that." I sighed and looked at him. "Tell me everything, I mean about you and mom, from how you met, got together, why you broke up, how you ended up marrying Gladys and everything. I want to know it all before I decide." FP nodded and started to tell me everything.
After the whole story I realized the sun was coming up and that we had talked for five hours straight. We looked at the stairs as we heard footsteps. Charles appeared and looked surprised as he saw me and FP sitting at the kitchen table. He scratched his head before walking into the kitchen to make coffee. "Morning, Charles." I said as he came back with two cups of coffee, placing on in front of FP and sipping from the other one himself. "Morning, Betty. Morning, dad." Then he realized what he said and looked at me but I nodded. "FP told me everything. So yes I know you're my half-brother, Charles." "So you talked?" "We did." FP answered and smiled at me. "And I'm good. It's going to be a big adjustment but they got my support, as Jughead and I got theirs." Charles smiled and pulled me in a hug. "Thanks for making me talk, Charles." I whispered. "No problem, sis." I looked at Charles for a bit who frowned. "What? Did I get coffee in my shirt?" He looked at his shirt but I chuckled. "No, I was just trying to find the resemblances between you and FP." FP and Charles laughed while my mom came downstairs with Polly. "Betty, eh...good morning." She said softly and I stood up and walked over to her. "It's okay, mom. FP and I had a good talk." "One of five hours." FP added and I chuckled. Mom raised an eyebrow but then smiled. She pulled me in a tight hug. "I'm sorry for everything, Betty. I never meant to hurt you like that but I guess love makes you do crazy things." She whispered and I nodded. "Believe me, I know, mom. Just let's promise we will be honest to each other from now on." She nodded and wiped away some tears. "About telling the truth, I talked to Gladys and she isn't planning on giving you up, mister Jones. But I think I may have an idea."
