How it Began

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"Thanks for the ride, Hal."

"Yeah of course. You alright? You didn't tell me what happened." He seems concerned and she squeezes his hand gently.

"Hermione just said some really nasty things, that's all. They got to me."

"Well I don't know what she said but I know for a fact none of them are true."

"You're sweet." She leans close enough to him to wrap her arms around him.

"I care about you, Alice, I wanna make sure everything alright." He tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. "You sure you don't want any company?"

"No it's alright, I'm exhausted, I just want to have a nap."

"Ok. Call me later?"

"Sure." She smiles sweetly and pecks a kiss to his lips before heading inside.

___

Her nap is interrupted as her bedroom door opens. She expects it to be one of her parents or Hal but instead she opens her eyes to see Fred standing in her doorway with a box of tissues in his hands.

"Hey." She greets him, groggily.

"Hi." He greets sadly. "Hermione and I broke up."

She frowns and gestures for him to join her in her bed. He lays down beside her and curls up in her blankets.

"I'm sorry, I feel like this is all my fault. Just because my relationship is broken doesn't mean I had to go and fuck up yours." She wraps an arm around, running her fingers through his hair.

"No, I'm glad you told me. It's better that I ended things before it got any more serious between us."

"Wasn't it already pretty serious between you two?"

"Well yeah. I was going to propose at graduation."

Her eyes grow wide. "What? Fred that's huge! Why didn't you tell me?"

"I don't know, I didn't want to jinx it. I guess I didn't have to worry, she's the one who fucked it up."

"Well now I feel even worse. She was just being such a bitch, I wanted to make her feel bad. In the process I hurt you and I'm sorry."

"No really, I'm glad you told me. She would've turned down my proposal and then I would've looked like an idiot. Hell I looked like an idiot just being with someone who's cheating on me."

"You didn't know, you're not an idiot."

"Maybe not but even still, I feel pretty dumb. I mean I suppose I get it, the guy is rich, Hermione's pretty materialistic. Perfect match, I guess."

"That doesn't give her an excuse to cheat on you."

"He's a Lodge. You heard about them?"

Alice scoffs. "Yeah. They're one of the the richest families in Riverdale."

"Guess I can't blame her."

"She's a bitch. You deserve better."

"How about you? How are you feeling about everything?"

"Horrible. FP hates me, guess I can't blame him but I just feel fucking terrible for hurting him."

He looks up at her and watches as she swallows hard. "Tissue?" He holds the box up to her and she laughs as she takes one, wiping a tear from her eye. "Can we watch a movie?"

"Yeah that sounds nice. What movie?"

"The Way We Were?"

"I thought we were going to watch a happy movie to brighten our days?"

"I want to sulk."

"Fine. But afterwards we're watching Caddyshack to cheer up."