Falice 2

Letter

Charles lead his family down the row. Jellybean flopped down beside him. FP and Alice staggered behind. He was holding onto Alice from behind and trying to pecker her with kisses while she giggled.

"Could they be any more gross?" Charles groaned.

"Hey, they're your parents." Jellybean teased. "Besides, weren't you made here."

"Don't remind me." He quipped up a smile and nudged her side.

FP took the seat next to his daughter and helped Alice into hers. He draped his arm on her chair. Alice looked ahead at the platform. "You nervous for your song?" FP asked as he followed where her eyes went.

"I was but I think I'm going to be okay," Alice put her hand on his knee and smiled.

"You'll be great."

"Too bad I couldn't convince you to tag along."

"It was always a one time thing."

"Daddy, you sing?" Jellybean looked at her father surprised.

"Tell her about the musical, dad." Jughead appeared in the aisle with Betty.

"Your dad was in a musical?" Betty was just as shocked. She handed her mother her purse and FP Jughead's jacket.

"Indeed he was," Alice was more than happy to confirm. "Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie. Junior year."

"There's so many layers to you, Mr. Jones."

"It was one time," FP glanced at Alice. "For your mother."

"See he does it for her," Betty looked at Jughead.

"Did you not drag me on stage last year's play?" Jughead shot back.

"You actually had a nice voice, Jug." FP complimented him. "Knock 'em dead tonight, alright, boy?"

"We have to go ready backstage now," Betty excused Jughead and herself. "Save us seats, please. We'll be back after our set."

"Good luck, honey." Alice watched Betty lead Jughead away. In the distance she could see that came Pop Tate came in. "Is that Pop?" She asked FP.

"Yeah, it is." FP had turned to see. "Looks like he brought along a lady friend."

Pop took the seats behind the happy couple. FP and Alice didn't hesitate to turn around to greet him. "It's nice to see you, Pop."

"Lovely to see you and your wonderful children," He waved at Jellybean and Charles. The two kindly waved back at the nice man.

"Date night?" FP smiled.

"You bet," Pop smiled at his date. "Even closed the diner early tonight. Didn't want to miss the variety show. You know how it is, there's always something magical about these kinds of things."

"Yeah..." FP's smile flatlined. He was thinking about what he was told two years ago. He gazed at Alice, who was talking to the pair behind them. It reminded him of how he had hurt her that one night and how hurt he was to see that he drove her back into her then husband's arms.

"Testing, testing." Kevin tapped on the microphone. "Can you hear me out there?" Cheers answered the question for him. "I'll take that as a yes. We'll get started very shortly." He looked down at the clipboard in his hand. "We will open with a song by a new musical group, The Archies."

"Red is just as big headed as Fred was," FP whispered to Alice, referring to the Fred Heads. He looked up. "He's making his old man proud."

In a matter of minutes Archie was introducing the band. Jughead was on drums. Archie was on his guitar upfront. Betty and Veronica shared a mic, but Betty had a tambourine in her hand. Kevin set himself up next to Jughead on the keyboards.