Broken Home

16 | Lips of an Angel

FP wound up at Alice's house after the Serpent meeting. He needed to talk to Charles. Alice sent the girls to bed and sat in on their conversation.

"What do you know about the Ghoulies?" That is the big question his parents, especially FP want to know. Charles never answered him before.

"They sell somebody on the team Jingle Jangle. He used to go to Greendale but they suddenly moved here. That's all I know on that."

"How does your teammate know about the Ghoulies? Who is he?" Alice asks.

"He's a good guy. I swear. He only buys and sells to the team to fit in with the guys."

"Who is he?" FP asks too. "If I can get answers from him, I may be able to figure out what to do with the Ghoulies by handing it over to Sheriff Keller to handle instead, keeping the Serpents out of it."

"I don't want him to get in trouble," Charles hesitates. He's not naming him for a reason.

"We understand that you're trying to protect your best friend but-" FP gets cut off.

"No." Charles is firm with it.

Alice's face softens. "We know you're trying to protect him from getting in trouble, but we need to protect you. You've snuck out twice to protect this boy already."

"What?" FP looks at Alice confused. It had happened again?

Alice places a hand on his shoulder as to show they can talk about it later. "Who is he?"

Charles shakes his head. There are tears in his eyes. He doesn't want to budge.

FP can't blame him for wanting to protect his best friend. He would do the same for Fred. But he needs answers. This is a serious situation. "What is his name? I only want to ask him about the Ghoulies. I will keep his name out of the conversation when I talk to Keller. You do understand that I'm only trying to help keep you both safe, right?"

Charles nods.

"So...can you tell me?"

Charles visibly shakes. "There's a reason I can't and if you knew I'm scared Hal would have been right."

"Oh honey, Hal is a liar." Alice soothes her son. "Whatever he told you can't be true. You can tell us anything."

"He...he's my boyfriend." Charles doesn't look up at them in fear of seeing their reaction.

"You really like this boy," Alice can see that. "Baby, it doesn't matter if you like a girl or a boy. The only thing that matters is that you're happy and they are a good person."

"Is this why Hal hurt you?" FP frowns.

"He said you wouldn't want a sinner for a son. I was already a bastard. Why burden you any more with shame?"

"We love you, Charles. We don't love you any differently because of this." Alice can speak for both of them. "You shouldn't be afraid to like a boy."

"I was so scared to tell you about Hal because that meant having to come out and I wasn't ready for that yet." Charles admits. "It's no surprise he didn't spill my secret. He was ashamed of me. He was trying to get it out of me."