Chapter 7: Sounds Of Someday
After Betty left Jughead began watching TV that was until Alice came home from work and found him on the couch with a laptop propped on a pillow underneath. Alice came home with grocery bags around her wrists and in the other hand Pop's. She set the bags down on the table and glanced over the coffee table where she found work that said Jughead's assignments on the top with a sticky note with a deadline.
"Jughead, what is this?" She asked casually as she picked up the binder on the table.
Jughead briefly looked away from the TV screen and said. "Oh, Betty brought them over for me. They're my school assignments and PowerPoint that I got an extension for."
Alice hummed." Hmm. That's nice of her." She would have to make a mental note for later to thank Betty. She knew her daughter had a soft spot for Jughead and would do anything for him. It still blew her away that Jughead and Betty got back together without Betty telling her. No. She had to fight about due to Jughead's car accident. "I'll have to thank her personally."
When Jughead didn't move. Alice tapped on his shoulder." What?"
"And don't you think you should be doing your school work?"
Jughead sighed. "I-I guess." He got off the couch, grabbing the remote and turned off the TV. "I'll be in my room doing my homework."
Alice smiled proudly and said." Good job, Jug. I'll call you down when Dinner is ready. I got you Pop's special burger. And maybe when you get all your work done I'll talk to FP about renting a movie for after dinner."
Jughead dashed toward the stairs. Alice watched him take off upstairs and then chuckled quietly to herself. She remembered the time during their junior year or senior year when they were all living together. Jughead didn't want to clean the room that Him and Betty shared. So she made him a deal. She told him if he cleaned the room she'd get him Pop's or whatever he wanted for dinner if he did what she told. He ran upstairs so fast he nearly knocked her down.
She headed into the kitchen, taking the bags with her and set them down on the table. After unloading the items into the fridge, Alice pulled out Jughead's burger and put it on a plate. FP was due to come home from work in twenty minutes and she knew he'd be hungry.
She picked up her cellphone and began to dial Betty's number into the keypad. She waited until she heard Betty's voice and smiled at her phone.
"Hi!"
Betty said." Hi, Mom! I just got back to my hotel room. Has Jughead started his work yet?"
Alice laughed. "He didn't until I bribed him with dinner. Just like the good old days." Betty's laughter could be heard on the other line.
"So' nothing has changed since we were teenagers huh."
"Nope still the same old Jughead Jones."
Silence hit the other side as the word caused an after wave. Once Alice realized her mistake she quickly backtracked. How stupid could she be? Of course Betty was going to be upset by the mention. Jughead wasn't the same as then. He didn't even remember much. He told her day by day his dreams were easing up on him. She guessed his therapy has really helped. It took some convincing but he finally went. The other day Veronica stopped by and she hadn't heard about Jughead's memory issue until the day she ran into him at Pop's Shopee. The Lodge woman was crushed to find out that Jughead had lost his memory. She offered to pay for his physical therapy out of the kind of her heart.
"Oh, Betty, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, mom. You didn't mean anything by it."
After they talked for an hour it was about time for dinner. FP walked in the door a few moments later and greeted her with a loving kiss on her lips.
"Hey, honey!" Alice stopped opening a bag and kissed him back. "How was your day?"
"It was long, baby. Karen annoyed the hell outta me today. That woman can drive me up the way sometimes."
FP pulled off his work jacket and plopped onto the stool in front of him. "Oh, what did she do?" He didn't really want to know but he knew she would tell him either way.
"Oh, don't even get me going! She made a remark about Jughead's brain injury. And I might have hit her…" She trailed off, catching the wide-eyed look from her husband.
"Did you get sent home?"
She shook her head. "No. My boss heard what she said and, believe me, she took my side. That bitch had the audacity to say that Jughead deserved it!" She was still fuming.
FP's eyes grew with bright hot furry." Well for one I'm glad you decked her then." He raised his hand up and she high-fived him.
He couldn't believe someone appalling said that about his son. Jughead didn't deserve to be hit by a drunk driver and lose his memory. "You're welcome, handsome." She kissed him again before pulling away.
"How was your day?"
FP sighed. "Well someone tipped off the other competing newscaster and they showed up at work. Somehow he learned that Jughead is staying with us and demanded that he get to speak with him."
"What an asshole." Alice muttered, shaking her head in disbelief.
Their misfortune wasn't for the other's benefit. Jughead almost lost his life and that damn ass just wanted the next-week news line-up for the gossip column.
"Yeah. I shut the door in his face and eventually he gave up. I hired extra security tonight to survey our house."
"Good. That's a good idea." She agreed, leaning into his arms.
Not too long after Jughead came back downstairs. FP smiled when Jughead went straight for the fridge. "That's my boy." He muttered thoughtfully to himself as a smile crossed his lips.
Alice set the food on the table and Jughead was the first one to take a bite. Alice and FP sat down next at the table. Jughead told them about his day, FP kept the story about Jughead's name from him. He didn't want Jughead to get freaked out. Jughead mentioned that Betty had brought over his class work and he failed to notice FP's sudden eye roll. He still didn't like her very much. He wasn't very fond that her and his son were back into cahoots again. But he'd just have to deal with it. There wasn't much he could do.
"Could we rent that new movie?" Jughead asked as he chewed his food.
Alice looked at FP, who nodded." Sure. I don't see why not."
Later that night after they watched the movie. Jughead said his good nights to FP and Alice. He went up the staircase leading to the upstairs. He opened the door to the room he's staying in and fell into the mattress on his back with a sigh. He had a goodnight watching that movie with FP and Alice. It was a good pick. They watched Knives Out. Jughead laid in bed with his laptop, making his presentation for Bio when he clicked on a file marked: Jason Blossom.
Suddenly Jughead was hit with a flashback. He was in the diner, the one he visited on his first couple days back or so he thought, typing on his computer.
… by morning, everyone would be talking,
texting, and posting about it... We'd all be feeling it. That the world around us had changed, forever… anymore. That if we'd ever been innocent, we weren't anymore… On Monday, the autopsy would take place. And on Tuesday, halfway through fifth- period, the first arrest would be made, shaking the very foundation of Riverdale High.
I think many of us, maybe the entire town, had been hoping against hope that somehow Jason Blossom hadn't drowned on July 4th. That we'd come to school Monday morning, and there Jason would be. Or that we'd see him and Cheryl in a booth at Pop's. But that was before the undeniable, irrevocable fact of his bloated, water-logged body, a corpse with a bullet hole in its forehead, and terrible secrets that could only be revealed by the cold, steel blade of a coroner's autopsy scalpel, or the telltale beating of a guilty heart.
The flashback turned into a different scene. Jughead, himself and Archie? walk into Pop's, Betty asked them to join them at the booth and the rest all falls into one moment. Normal-ness, maybe?
To someone on the outside, peering in, it would've looked like there were four people in that booth. But I was there, and I can tell you. Really, there were only three. A blonde girl, a raven-haired girl, and the luckiest red-headed boy in the tin universe. For one shining moment, we were just kids. Those bright neon lights of Pop's keeping the darkness at bay. Giving way, as all nights must, to a morning of reckonings.
Jughead blinked his eyes and muttered, "Oh, shit…" For some reason he started writing this about Jason. He started to remember he wanted the truth and maybe even justice for the Redhead. "Who killed him?"
The dark, edgy thought crossed his mind. He was determined to connect the pieces together and find out who killed that boy and why was he so important to the story. He knew that he, himself, had a big part in the story. But the question remained unanswered. Why?
As shocking as those three words were, they were nothing compared to the secrets that Jason's body had given up during its autopsy. That Jason didn't die on July 4th, as we believed, but over a week later.
What was he missing? Why did all these flashbacks have a meaning to his memory? Jughead couldn't put the pieces together just yet. He needed more before it would all start to interconnect in some count the counts game.
—xxx—
The next morning, FP knocked on Jughead's bedroom door. He heard low moaning coming from the tired man's mouth. He shook his head, stifling the memory that tried to break into his mind when he thought of waking Jughead up for school. He used to have to drag the boy out of his bed in the mornings. To think it was basically the same as when his kid was little made his chest flutter with memories.
"Jughead, time to wake up." He didn't hear a response so he knocked again," Wake up, sleepy head."
On the other side of the door, the man who was sleeping thought he heard someone. He wiggled his toes but didn't open his eyes. "Juggie, it's time to get up we have a doctor's appointment in thirty minutes." The voice sounded familiar to him, but who was it? "We're going to be late!"
The voice made him slowly smile and blink his eyes. Then he heard the door handle turning and a flash of air flew into his face. "Dad?"
FP's eyes widened as hope slowly crept into his chest. Did Jughead remember? He watched as Jughead slowly raised his hand to his eye and rubbed away the sand dust. The man's eyes opened and then he felt his heart pound in his chest.
"FP?" Jughead cleared his throat," Why did you wake me?"
It took a few moments to recover from the blow and hurt. Jughead noticed the look on FP's face and looked at him concernedly. "Did I say something?"
FP's mask fell back into place and he shook his head." No. I woke you because you have your doctor's appointment today."
"Oh, that's right!" He said finally putting it all together, still confused by FP's reaction from earlier.
While at the doctor's appointment, FP crossed his legs over the others. He was anxious for what's going to happen. What if they tell him he can resume his life in New Hampshire. He would be crushed if Jughead got leave again. It hurt him the last time. His son stopped coming around after he moved away. Jughead didn't want him to come in this time. He understood but it still hurt to be rejected.
After Jughead finished, the two decided to get a quick bite to eat at Pop's. FP watched as Jughead ordered his usual with the unknown realization that he used to have it all the time.
"So… what did your doctor say?"
Jughead stopped his burger mid-bite from getting into his mouth and set it down. "Uh, Dr. Nicky said that my memory is slowly getting better. I have a question."
"Shoot."
Jughead noticed FP's eyes on him and cleared his throat." I've been having flashbacks since you and Alice brought me here — to Riverdale."
FP's heart swelled with hope. Is Jughead starting to remember what his life was like before the accident? FP didn't know what the flashbacks were about. But it brought him some hope either way and FP was okay with that.
"May I ask what the flashbacks are about?"
Jughead nodded. "Yeah, that's fine."
FP seemed to really be interested in him. He could tell by the look and focus he was given. Jughead sipped his milkshake while FP ate some French fries off his plate.
"Lately, I keep having either dreams or flashbacks about some previous life. The faces don't show up in my dreams, but I do recognize their names. But one in particular stuck out to me." FP noticed the frustration on the man's face and felt the father in him want to hug Jughead.
But he had to keep his cool, so all he did was offer," I understand it's frustrating not knowing what life was before an injury that took your memory. Sure I haven't lost my memory, but I once had my career ended by a blow-out to my arm."
Jughead sensed something else was the reason why FP didn't further his career. "I was in high-school, playing football for the Riverdale High Bulldogs."
"I just want to remember." Me too, FP thought. You have no idea.
"I understand, Jughead. It will come back."
Jughead popped a cherry into his mouth and continued." Anyways, I would like to ask you if you knew anything that might trigger my memory. I-I Uh because from what I've heard around town is that you know a lot of people."
"I do. How can I help you?" FP said kindly, ignoring Jughead's stumbled words.
"Who's Jason Blossom and why was I writing about his death?"