Moving On

C h a p t e r 2

The alarm buzzed at 6:45, am on Monday morning.
"Ugh." I said drowsily. I put my hand over my eyes as the sun was directly facing my window and in my face. My eyes almost directly. I turned off the alarm because it was going to to wake Juliet. I rolled over and saw that beautiful picture of Betty. And I just remembered waking up every morning next to her. She usually said something like
"Good morning, handsome." or,
"I love waking up next to you." I had to snap out of this though. I had to get ready. I showered first. Then I got dressed and did everything else. I made the bed and went downstairs. It was 7:00 by then. I fed Hot Dog and then I started the coffee maker. I put on the tv just so it wasn't dead silent in the house. I put it on low enough so it doesn't wake Julie. Then, I had my coffee as I watched the news and Hot Dog laid his head in my lap. At 7:30 I woke Julie up. She was a little whiny so, I tired tickling her. She started laughing so hard. Her laugh sounds just like her mother's. I carried her downstairs and placed her on the couch next to hot dog. I put out cereal on the kitchen counter.
"Bug! Breakfast!" I yelled across the room but not in a mean way.
"Coming daddy!" She said as she hopped up from the couch. She ate her cereal as I packed her lunch. Honestly, I never usually pack her lunches but, she always says my lunch looks good so, I try. I get out her clothes for the day upstairs. Veronica, Alice, and JB help me with stuff like that. Veronica is a fashion designer so, she has pretty good taste in clothing, so, I just let her get Julie what she needs. She organized the dresser and put all the items that go together in certain spots. Because, let's face it. After all, I am a guy. How you even seen my trailer? That place was pretty messy. Anyways, Julie got dressed. I made sure she had everything she needed in her bag. Then, at 8:20, there was a knock at the door.
"Hey, Jughead!" Veronica said trying to sound positive.
"Hi." I said plainly.
"Hey, Julie!" Veronica said in such excitement.
"Hi, Auntie V." Julie said shyly.
"Come here, you!" She said as Julie leaped into her arms.
"Ready to curl your hair?!" She said so full of life.
"Yeah!" Julie said now excited. Honestly, I think Veronica was Julie's women role model. Because, Julie never had that. That's one of the most heart-wrenching to see as a father. To see her suffer because she doesn't have a mother. That's why I think her and I are close. We kind of have a similar situation if you think about it. But, then again, not. Because I don't drink. I've seen the kind of negative effect happen on my family. It's not a good outcome. Especially when your the one who gets left behind with the drunk. I told myself when Julie was born, I wouldn't be like my father before he joined AA. And my grandfather. I really tried my best to not give her a crap childhood like mine. I mean, it had its kinks. Back to the present, Julie spring out of V's arms and grabbed her hand. Roni curled Julie's hair for about 10 minutes. I can tell when Julie loves it. She's so happy every time Veronica is around. Considering she's the only female-figure Julie has ever had. V finished curling her hair and then brought Julie downstairs. Julie jumped out of Veronica's arms with a giant smile on her face.
"Are you ready for school baby?"
"Yeah!" She said energetically.
"Alrighty little lady, let's go then!" I said as she took my hand.
"Bye bye, Julie!" V said as walked out the door.
"Bye bye Auntie Veronica!" She said happily. I grabbed her lunch bag and handed her her backpack and we walked out the front door and we got in the car. I waved at Archie as he was putting Tommy in his truck. Tommy and Julie waved at eachother as the were getting out in their car seats. Veronica kissed Archie as she walked in the house. I love my best friends but, every time I see them together, I think of Betty. How we all hung out together, we were married too. We were the core four. And now she's just gone. I needed to stop thinking about it. But I couldn't. I snapped out of my stroll down memory lane as I placed Juliet in her car seat and buckled her in.
"Ready to go, princess?"
"Yeah!" She said happily and energetically.
"Alright, then. Let's go!" I kissed her on the head then shut the door. I got in the drivers seat and we were off. I could see Archie and Tommy in their truck in my rear view mirror. Julie and tommy couldn't stop waving back at each other. Julie was giggling as they kept looking back at each other. Then, we had arrived at Riverdale Elementary. We parked and we got to the classroom. We were all waiting for the door to open and there they all were. Kevin and Fangs, Cheryl and Toni, Archie, and now, me. There were only a few first grade classes, so, it was bound to happen.
"Hey, guys!" I said putting in a brave face. Juliet let go of my hand and ran over to Tommy and they hugged. Honestly, their relationship makes me a little worried sometimes. All of the kids huddled up together. Cheryl and Toni just came around to say hi because their two girls were in kindergarten. They had two girls, Cheryl's was Scarlett, and Toni's was Kiara. (They both went to donors to have babies). The two also recently adopted a baby boy named Elijah. Eli for short. Anyways, Cheryl and Toni left with their girls and went to the kindergarten classrooms. One of the reasons I loved Alice's house was because it was on elm street. Which, more than qualified for Riverdale Elementary. That was an important thing to me. That Julie gets at least a good education. The teacher greeted us as I walked her in.
"Hi, what's your name?"  The teacher said upbeatly  to Julie.
"My name is Juliet!" She said happily.
"That's such a great name! I'm Ms. Tate." She looked up and shook my hand.
"You can call me Tabitha."
"Jughead." She almost smirked but then realized something.
"Wait a minute."
"What?"
"Your that author!" She said almost shrieking in excitement.
"That would be me, yes." I said almost annoyed. I was annoyed because I wrote that book for Betty. My pride and joy. My first love. Actually, my only love.
"I'm sorry if I looked annoyed. I just have an emotional attachment from that book that I don't have anymore."
"Oh wait I remember. At the end. That picture."
"Yup. That was my wife."
"Oh, I am so sorry, jughead."
"It's alright. It's been almost 5 years."
"Well, there's more kids that need to go to class so I better get going."
"Ok. But, I would like to talk about the book if your open to it."
"Maybe." I said. She was a little attractive. It had been 5 years since I have looked at anybody in that way, I thought to myself. I snapped out of it.
"Come give Daddy a kiss, baby."
"Okay!" Julie said happily. She jumped into my arms and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
"Love you, baby."
"Love you too, daddy." I said goodbye and Archie and I walked out together.
"Brunch at 11?" Archie said.
"Haha, sure, Archie." I said chuckling and patting him on the back. We walked out to our cars and went our separate ways. I drove to the office to work on writing for the register. Alice owned it now, so my schedule was pretty flexible. I got out of the car with coffee in hand. I sat at the computer. I gathered information, did research. Stuff like that. Then, I call Archie. I moved our brunch to 11:30 because I was on a roll. Then, at 11:20, I got in the car. I arrived at Pop's as Archie waved at me through the window. He was alone, surprisingly. Usually, he has the girls with him.
"Hey."
"Hey, Jug."
"Where's Cece and Daisy?" I said sitting down and folding my hands.
"Hermione agreed to watch them today."
"Well, that's good." I said lost in thought.
"Your distracted."
"No.." I said hesitating.
"I haven't seen you this skittish since Betty and you.. oh."
"I met the kids teacher today."
"Did you, now?"
"Yes.. is that a bad thing?"
"No, man. Your moving on."
"And that's a good thing."
"It is?"
"Yes."
"Okay, then."
"How's your family, arch?"
"Well, considering you see us everyday, I think you know, we're good." He said chuckling. I laughed as well.
"We ordered our food and we talked and laughed for a while. It was almost 12:30.
"Well, I better get going, then."
"Yeah, same. My dad doesn't even own the company anymore, I do. And he's the one holding down the the fort Archie said laughing. I laughed as I signed off my part of the check. We quickly hugged and both got in our cars. I was smiling as I got in the car with a bit of happiness for a second. Then, I thought of Betty again. I drove back to the register. There was traffic, so, it took almost 15 minutes until I got to the register. It was 12:45.
"Got my food?" Alice said.
"Yes, Alice, I have your food." I said rolling my eyes jokingly. I gave her a bag from Pop's with a Diet Coke.
"Thanks. Your a great son-in-law, you know that?"
"I think." I said sarcastically. I sat back down at my desk. Then, when I looked at the calendar, I was reminded of something. It was almost the anniversary of Betty's disappearance. I immediately broke down.
"Jughead! What happened?!" I could barely talk so I pointed at the calendar. She hugged me closely as she began to break down slowly.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."
"For what?"
"It's my fault she's gone. I should have told you sooner."
"No, Jughead, none of this is your fault."
"Yes, it is. I could've asked for help but, I didn't."
"Jughead, this self-blaming needs to stop. You need to stop putting everybody else's happiness first. You deserve happiness. Not just Julie. Not just Betty. Jughead, you deserve true happiness. Got that?"
"Yes, ma'am." I said sniffling and trying to laugh it off. After a while, we stopped crying. We hugged and then tried to get back to work. It was 1:15. I finished the article. Alice proof-read it.
"Alright. Let's go print." We started to print for tomorrow's paper. We printed, then, I took them over to the mayor's office. We headed over to the mayor's office.
"Hey, Fred." I said walking in with a copy of the paper.
"Hey, Jughead. What have you got for me?"
"The paper."
"Ah. Looks good." Fred says as he barely glances at it. I laughed at his quick response. He laughed it off as well. He was so kind to everyone. He made a big part of my childhood. He usually responded to the paper this way. He always thought my writing was good so, he didn't understand the need to proof-read it. You know, he was actually the on who walked Betty down the aisle at our wedding. Because her dad sure as hell couldn't be in there. We'll get into that later. I sat down with Fred for a while. We talked about life. Julie. My writing. JB. My Dad. That's probably why Fred became mayor he's a talker. He can talk you up and, bam. Your sold. We talked until about 2:00. I headed back to the office to pick up my computer. I said goodbye to Alice, then, I went home. It was almost about 2:30, so, I took hot dog on a walk. Then, hot dog and I got in the car to go pick up Juliet. I rolled down the windows so hot dog could stay in the car. I walked up to the school as the teacher walked the children out.
"Juliet, do you see your daddy?"
"Yeah!" She said smiling from ear-to-ear and running up to me. She leaped into my arms.
"Hey, baby girl! How was your day?"
"It was great! Look at the drawing I made!"
"That's very good, Juliet! I love it!" I said kissing her on the cheek.
"She's a very bright little girl, Mr. Jones.
"Well, thank you." I said politely. Archie began to tease me from behind her about 100 feet away.
"What is uncle Archie doing?" Juliet questioned. Tabitha turned around in confusion.
"Improvement!" I yelled to get her attention before she could see the ridiculous faces Archie was making.
"What?" Julie said.
"What?" I said nervously. Tabitha looked back at me in confusion.
"Improvement, that's right. What can Julie improve on?"
"Um.. Well.. she's only been my student for one day but, from what I understand, she needs to work on reading comprehension. Just reading out loud as well. Just work on those simple things."
"Alright, well, thank you. You have a good day."
"You too, Mr. Jones."
"Hot dog's in that car."
"Yay, hot dog!" Juliet cheered as we walked across the street. As we approached the car, Hot Dog poked up and began to bark. I put Juliet in her car seat and buckled her in. Hot Dog sat in the front seat with me. I asked Juliet about her day until we got home. Julie began to wave at Tommy as he walked into his house with Archie. Archie and I smiled as we walked into our houses. I helped Julie get her shoes off and she didn't have any homework so I let her go play with Tommy next door. At 4:00, I picked her up to take her to Sweet Pea's trailer. We go to see him about once or twice a month. He's the bartender at the whyte wyrm now. I dropped her off at his trailer. I trust sweet pea enough to protect Julie on the south side. After all, she is an honorary serpent by blood. I eventually gave up my spot as serpent king since I didn't have time anymore. After I was working, married, had Julie, I just ran out of time. And the serpents were okay with that. Because, I didn't leave abruptly. I left on a good note. Anyways, I dropped Julie off at sweet pea's and I went home to work on my book in complete and total silence. No distractions. Just focus. I put hot dog outside to focus. I zoned out for a while. Lost in thought. About Betty. Juliet. About Life in general. I waited for a while. Nothing to write about. Sweet Pea brought Julie home around 6:00.
"You have fun, princess?"
"She sure did. We played games and had root beers."
"Yeah!"
"You guys have dinner?"
"Yeah, we went to Pop's."
"Well, that's good. Thanks again Sweet Pea."
"No problem, Jones. You have a good night."
"Yeah, you too." The dog was barking like crazy the whole time I was sitting at my desk. I tried to tune it out.
"You damn dog, what are you barking at?!" I said rather loudly.
"It's something in the tree, Daddy." Juliet said calmly as she pointed to something bouncing off of the light. The sun was setting, so, it was barely showing. But, it twinkled. Then, that's when I recognized it. That was definitely Betty's wedding ring. I then looked down at Julie and got an idea. 
"Hey, Julie, if I lift you up, can you get that shiny thing for me?"
"Sure!" She said excitedly. I didn't really want to tell Julie it was her mother's ring. She had been through enough. Now, she barely asked any questions about her. It was sad, but, it was also hard to answer them. Like, for example, where's mommy? Why did she leave? What happened to her? Did you love mommy? These kind of quest almost broke me sometimes. Back to the present.. Julie grabbed the ring. It had something attached to it. A note.
"What is it, daddy?" Julie asked with curiosity.
"I don't know, baby." I told her as I kissed her on the head and put her on the ground.
"Go play with hot dog, okay, baby?"
"Ok!" She skipped away happily into the backyard with hot dog. I went inside to get some privacy for seeing what the note said. Well, after taking a close look at it, it was definitely Betty's ring. God. I just couldn't believe it. What does this even mean? I thought to myself. I walked in inside and sat down at my desk. I was too afraid of what the note would read. If I read this note, the life I spent so long rebuilding, would come crashing down. I sat there with my eyes closed. Note in hand. Ring in the other. I still don't know why, but, I began to cry. I began to read the note and what I read was beyond anything I could've imagined. I couldn't believe what I had just read. The note read,"You have something I want, and I have something you want. You know what you want and I know what I want. How about an exchange?"