Thank you for your reviews, they mean a lot!
Also, to those of you commenting that the ship of Betty and FP is gross, lol I get it, I really do and to each his own, but from a personal stand point: I'm a married woman (very recently) and my husband is actually 19 years older than me. He doesn't look it, by any stretch, but the truth is that age gap relationships do work 😊 So take it from a happily married woman, even if you still think it's gross, the story line is completely plausible.
Alice Cooper was nothing if not determined and resilient. She stalked back into the Whyte Wyrm, shouldering past the current object of her daughter's heart, only to stumble into the past object of hers.
FP Jones. Still strikingly handsome, even after all these years, but there was a sour taste in her mouth and a curdled resentment in her heart every time she thought of him.
"Sorry, Alice, I'm just trying to have a word with Jug. Are you enjoying being back?" he questioned, as his eyes darted to the door his wayward son had just blown out of.
"Oh, I'm just thrilled FP, glad to see this place hasn't been cleaned in 20 years, I'd hate to have to look back fondly on the days it reeked of stale beer and man sweat," I quipped, a smirk gracing my lips.
He looked startled to have some of the patented Alice venom hurled his way, as if I actually enjoyed being back in this cesspool of a garbage heap.
"Pity you still have that stick up your ass Ally, it's good to know the younger generation hasn't been spoiled by your acerbic wit and open hostility," he replied while tilting his head in the direction our children were "maybe Betty will prove to be the fresh blood I've been looking to inject this place with."
I could feel my blood boiling as he spoke about my daughter, like hell I was going to let him take her away from me. Not her too.
"My Elizabeth will NOT be joining this hoodlums outreach society, Forsyth, not so long as she lives under MY roof" I spat, giving him my best withering glare, "So you just tell your son and your gang busters that my daughter is off limits." With that I turned on my heel and marched across the bar, pushing my way through the crowd until I could breathe again, calm myself down enough to say my goodbyes and get my daughter away from here for good.
(FP POV)
FP's smirk widened as Alice left to collect herself. He also turned around and headed towards his previous destination, the door that barred him from his son.
His goal had been to speak to Jughead about how prospecting worked around here, make sure he didn't say anything to Betty until he understood the rules, but Ally's little power play had taken a bit more time than he thought.
Should teach me to underestimate a Cooper woman, he thought, pushing his way out the back, now hopefully Jug hasn't done the same.
He should have known that his son's pigheadedness and his knowledge gaps about the Serpents wouldn't be working in his favour tonight. He just caught the tail end of Jughead's speech and watched him peel off.
Maybe Betty should have a moment to collect herself, he thought.
A smoke in the shadowed corner of the lot should be enough time for her to pull herself together before he broached the topic of prospecting.
He should have known that nothing about tonight was going to go according to plan.
(Betty)
I had only a few minutes to spare before my mother, looking madder than a wet hen, pushed through that back door again. How she could have possibly picked up that much steam was beyond me, but honestly, I should have guessed. Nothing gets Alice more riled up than being challenged, whether she was in the wrong, or not.
"Look, mom, before you say anyth-"
"Elizabeth Cooper you get in the station wagon right now, we are leaving this place and you are never, never, coming back here, I don't care if I have to ground you for the rest of your life!" She screamed, cutting me off mid-sentence.
Jesus, she must have been working herself up the whole time she was in there, I thought, mentally cringing at the shrill tone escaping my mother's mouth.
I had expected some back-lash, sure, but not the creature of wrath and rage that was impersonating my parental figure. My eyes widened as more and more heated vitriol dripped from her poison-apple lips.
The club was going to turn me into a harlot, they sling hard drugs to keep their empire running, no one was going to treat me with love and respect if I came back to this den of sin and iniquity…
That last one had my eyebrows raised but honestly, I'd heard enough.
The love and acceptance I saw in that bar were more than anything my parents had ever shown me. Those people clearly supported and cared for each other, not to mention if they were slinging hard drugs couldn't they all afford to live somewhere nicer than Sunnyside? I decided that now was the time to interrupt and send Alice packing, hopefully for the last time. Knowing her, however, it would only be the smallest reprieve…
"Alice Cooper, shut your mouth and listen to me for ONCE in your pathetic excuse for a life," I seethed, straightening my spine, hardening myself with every harsh word that was spoken to me in my 17 years. "This club is where I am choosing to spend the rest of my days and you don't have any more say in my life."
Those words seemed to take her off guard for a moment, before her mouth twitched up in a laugh.
"You are 17 years old Elizabeth and I am your legal guardian. You could no sooner leave as I would let you. You have no money, no support system and nowhere else to turn. Those grease monkeys couldn't afford to take you in even if you begged them. Even if you whored yourself out."
"Actually, mother, it turns out that I own my own little place on the Southside, you can thank your parents for that, for the money they left me in their will. Now, it wasn't much, but it was enough to convince Mayor McCoy that I was within my rights to be legally emancipated, and enough to purchase an old trailer in Sunnyside Trailer Park." I smiled, I was FINALLY doing this. Finally throwing something in my family's face that they couldn't take away from me.
I watched her mouth open and close. The formidable Alice Cooper, at a loss for words. If I'd had a camera this would be the only picture of my mother I would want to keep.
"I have lived under your roof, done everything you asked, taken all your criticisms and abuse...but tonight that ends. I am officially on my own and I will sink or swim on my own. On my own terms. Now shut your vile, poison-filled mouth, turn around, and go home to the only person that can put up with your bullshit."
I smirked as she glared at me, wiggling my fingers in a farewell as she slammed the door to the station wagon. Watching her speed out of the lot like the last person that confronted me felt less painful somehow. Both liberating and terrifying. Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and smiled. A full, crazy, show all your teeth like a deranged coyote smile. It was so peaceful, listening to the muted bass from the bar and my own breathing, that i nearly had a heart attack when he spoke.
"You're wrong you know," he said, lighting a cigarette as he approached.
I wracked my brain trying to figure out how anything of what I said could have been wrong, but FP spoke before I could get a word out.
"You do belong here, contrary to what my son and Alice think, and you're not going to do this on your own. You did the dance. You're Alice's daughter and as unfortunate as that may seem it actually comes as a bit of a mixed blessing. You're a legacy, therefore you have a bid as a prospect without there needing to be a full vote. You are one of us until the day you die, Betty Cooper."
I could not have been more happy than I was in that moment. I flung my arms around FP and cried happy tears. I had finally found my home and I was leaving them over my dead body.
I was finally FREE.