Two Pink Lines

7

"Hey honey, how was your day?" Alice asks as Betty walks inside. She had texted her and told her she was going over to Jughead's after school.

"Interesting." Betty says quietly, hanging up her jacket.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, um... the reason I had to go over to Jug's was because Mr Jones was arrested today."

Alice freezes. "What?"

"Jughead texted me and told me to come over after school, and he filled me in on everything he knew. It was the last thing I expected to hear."

Alice swallows hard. "So? Give me details. What happened?" She tries to play it off as just her normal, nosy self, but inside her heart is racing.

Betty rolls her eyes. "Mom, I'm not going to give you the details just so you can go exploit Jughead's dad in the paper."

"That's not why I'm asking, Elizabeth, I won't write about it in the paper, the last thing I want to do is hurt Jughead or his sister by writing about their father. I'm sure this hard enough on them as is."

Betty joins her on the couch with a huff. "Jug said he doesn't really know many details yet but from what he does know, some drug called Jingle Jangle was found in Mr Jones' truck. The cops confiscated it and took him into custody."

"Jingle Jangle? Isn't that the stuff that was floating around town last year? The one that all of the kids were trying."

"Yeah, that's the one. I don't know how it's gotten back to town, and I don't know why Mr Jones had some." She sighs. "You should've seen how upset Jughead was, it broke my heart seeing him like that."

"I'm glad you were there to comfort him, I'm sure he and his sister could use the extra support right now, I can't imagine something like this is easy to go through."

"I told him I'd come over again tomorrow after school, that's okay right?"

"Yeah of course, honey. That's fine." Alice gives her a smile.

"Well I'm exhausted, I'm going to go shower and then I'm going to bed." Betty tells her. "Night mom."

"Goodnight sweetheart."

Alice nervously chews on her fingernails, thinking over everything that Betty told her. As much as she wants to believe FP has nothing to do with it, there's no reason why he should have Jingle Jangle in his possession. The drug was banned the year prior, and while FP may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, he's not stupid.

She hears the shower turn on and walks over to the house phone, dialling the number to the Andrews.

"Hello?" Fred answers.

"Fred, it's Alice."

"Hey, is everything alright?"

"Yes. Well, no... sort of." She sighs. "God, I don't know."

"What's going on, Alice?"

She can feel a lump gather in her throat and her voice breaks as she speaks again. "FP's in jail."

"What? Are you sure?"