Moving On

C h a p t e r 1 6

Then, I woke up. I still walk with light limp but, I can barley feel it anymore. Alice had already taken Julie to school by the time I got up. She was at work. She told me to take a break for a couple weeks considering the recent events that had occurred. Since the investigation had closed, I started to get my window repaired in my office. Sweet Pea had been taking care of Hot Dog. We would probably still wait about a month or so until we move back in. At least until things started to cool down. Today, I would begin my search for Chic. That's when I called Hermosa.
"Hermosa's pi service how may I help you?"
"Can you transfer me to Hermosa, please?"
"Who may I ask is calling?"
"Jughead Jones. Believe me, she'll know who I am.
"Alrighty then, please hold."
"Okay." The pleasant hold music annoyed me. I rolled my eyes.
"Jughead."
"So we meet again."
"Yup. What do you need now?"
"I need you to find me a man named Chic."
"That's it? That's the only info you have on him?"
"Um, tall, sandy blonde hair, green eyes I think. Generally creepy looking. He was in jail in your father's prison?"
"Now that I can work with."
"Thanks, Hermosa."
"I only work for the paycheck."
"Yeah, I figured."
"It better be a big, fat check."
"Trust me, it will be. So do a good job."
"Uh-Huh."
"Bye, now."
"Bye." I hadn't seen him since that one night during the end of junior year. When he revealed himself to be "the gargoyle king". God, what a load of crap. That's when I called Hermosa back to clarify his hair could possibly be red. Since Penelope had him dye it. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, I picked up Julie, we had dinner, worked on homework, watched cartoons, played, read a story, then, went to sleep. Today was pretty mediocre for me. I woke up the next morning pretty early. Archie called and asked me to go on a run with him. It was good for me to blow off steam by doing something like that. Then, I got home around 7:00. I woke Julie up, made breakfast, and got her ready for school. Archie picked us up. He drove her and Tommy to school. I sat in the passenger seat next to him.
"Bye, baby. I love you."
"I love you too, daddy."
"Give daddy a kiss before you go."
"M-wah!!" She kissed me on the cheek. She would always still be that little baby girl in my eyes.
"I have to go to work. Do you wanna meet for lunch at 1 at the site?"
"Sure. Just drop me at my house. I want to see if they finished the window."
"Alright." He dropped me at my house. The window was just about done. I let them finish it up. Then, I moved my desk and everything else out of the way. I began to vacuum up all of the little glass shards. I was careful but, Julie isn't always cautious. So, I made sure I got every last piece of it out of the carpet. Then, I went next door to go see V. I knocked on the door.
"Jughead."
"Hey, V. Can I come in?"
"Sure." Veronica was always exhausted nowadays. She did a lot of her work from home because she had two toddlers at home.
"Can I make you some coffee or tea or something?"
"No, that's alright."
"Good." She whispered in relief and fell back into the couch.
"No offense V, but, you look terrible."
"Excuse me?"
"Veronica, you look exhausted. It looks like you haven't slept in days."
"What do you expect, Jughead? I have two toddlers, a six year old boy, a full time business owing husband, and my social life completely died when Betty did." She gasped at the last part.
"I'm sorry Jug-"
"V, your fine. It honestly doesn't even bother me anymore. I could cry but, I'm too tired for that. I'm so tired of fighting this for so long. Maybe one day she'll come back. Who knows? If there's nothing on Chic, I think that'll be my dead end."
"Really? You'll stop?"
"Mhm."
"Wow."
"I know. Veronica, I have nothing to do. Do you want me to help you today?"
"Please."
"Alright. What first?"
"Um.. Theo loft upstairs, it's a disaster."
"Okay, so I'll start with that." I cleaned that house for a couple of hours until I met up with Archie at the construction site for lunch. Then, I went back and cleaned knew more. When I finished, I played with Daisy. I missed having a baby girl to play with, honestly. Now Julie was in school so, I got pretty bored some days.
"Thank you so much, Jughead."
"Yeah, I mean, it's as kind of therapeutic to clean all of that up and just not think."
"I get that. Thanks again." She hugged me. Veronica is like a sister to me. We're super good friends. As I was leaving, I got a call. I immediately assumed since I didn't recognize the number, it's as Hermosa. When I answered it, I heard "This is Riverdale Elementary calling for Jughead Jones."
"This is he?" I said confused on why Julie's school was calling me.
"So your Julie's father?"
"Yes."
"Juliet's teacher would like to set up a conference to talk about Julie."
"Alright."
"Does today after school at four work?"
"Sure."
"Thank you."
"Mhm." I hung up the phone still puzzled. This would mean I have to see Tabitha. Then, my phone rang once more. It said Hermosa private pi service. I let out a sigh of relief.
"Jughead."
"Yeah?"
"Chic isn't dead. He's in solitary confinement in a high-facility prison on an island in seaside."
"Thank you so much, Hermosa."
"Of course. I'll send you the locations."
"Thanks, again."
"Mhm." We hung up the phone. That's when I decided to take matters into my own hands. I still had three more suspects to look into. After that, that's when I'd get the real answers.