You Can't Hurry Love

16| The Hots For Blondie

FP roams down the hall after coming back from grocery shopping. Now that he was feeling a lot better he pushed himself to run errands.

He sets down the bags in his hands to unlock his door. He still needs to loop back to the car to grab the rest of the bags.

"Need a hand?"

FP turns to the sound of Gladys's voice. "Please? I underestimated how annoying it would be to go back and forth."

"Tell me about it."

"Just give me a sec," FP opens the door and carries in what he already brought with him.

Gladys follows FP's lead back to the car. Together they grab everything they both can to not make another trip back to the car.

She enters his apartment and sets everything down in the kitchen. "So no little guy today?"

"No, he's with his mom. I didn't want to get him sick." FP explains as he opens the pantry to restock.

"You must be his favorite uncle if he loves spending time with you that much."

"He's my son." FP casually corrects her.

"Son?" Gladys looks at him weird. "Is this like a...family thing?"

"Huh?" FP whips his head. He realizes what she's thinking. "Oh, no, no. I'm no way his uncle. I'm just his dad. It's complicated."

Gladys nods. "Does he know that? Sorry, probably shouldn't ask."

"It's fine," He shrugs. "Yeah, he knows now. We cleared it all up with him."

"How come he didn't know?"

"It's complicated."

"Again, probably shouldn't be asking. My apologies."

"Eh, this is the least complicated part of it all. But I mean as long as I'm cool with his mom again, it's all good."

"Blondie?" Gladys has wondered who the woman from the other day was. "I'm assuming."

"Yeah."

"Are you two like giving it another try?" She takes the opportunity to drop the question.

"I don't know," FP shrugs. "Right now we've just been trying to be civil for Charles's sake."

"So you're telling me you don't have the hots for blondie?"

"I don't know. Maybe? I mean we have a kid. Of course there are some mixed feelings in there somewhere."

"You have a past, I get that, but you don't see anything more, do you?"

"Why?"

"I don't know," She shrugs, but she does know. "I'm not saying to take my advice, but rekindling something when there's a kid in the middle of it isn't the best thing in the world."

"You don't think it would work?" FP frowns.

"For the kid's sake, play it safe. I'm assuming things are good between you two now, why risk anything more? It's good that you're civil. Like, I mean the kid didn't know who you really were to him. Isn't that like some kind of sign from the world?"

FP ponders on what she said. Is she right? Should he even risk telling Alice that he sees more of a future with her? He's given it some thought before, but is what Gladys is pointing out something to consider?

"I'm not sure."

"I'm certain you want to put the kid first. Maybe this is your way of ensuring that."

FP reflects on it further. He does want Charles to be happy. What if he and Alice have another falling out? He doesn't want Charles to go through that. He wants him to have two happy parents, even if that means not being together.

+++

Alice comes out from the kitchen when she hears the bell above the door ring. "Welcome in, how may I-" Alice notices it's FP. "Oh, FP it's you. No more sick days I see."

"No, I woke up refreshed this morning." FP takes a seat on one of the stools. "I was up and going doing stuff I've put off. I should be back in the office tomorrow morning."

"That's good. Sickness aside, it must have been nice to take time to rest without worrying about anything."

"It gave me a lot of time to think about a couple of things."

"Like what?"

"That's actually why I'm here. Can I steal you away for a few minutes?"

"I have a break in five. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, I'll save us a booth."

"Do you want anything to eat? Drink?"

"I'm good for now, thanks."

FP parts to look for a booth in the corner. Alice joins him a few minutes later with a side of fries.

"Brought us something to munch on." Alice slides into the seat across from him. "So, what's up?"

"I've been thinking about Charles."

"What about him?"

"Is he happy?"

Alice looks at him confused. "Yeah, why would you think he isn't?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just worried this all has been confusing for him. I just want to make sure I'm doing my part to keep him happy."

"You have been. What's the issue?"

"I'm scared to screw it all up. We're doing so great right now, I think, and I don't know, I'd like to keep it like that forever."

"What are you saying?"

"If I'm going to be quite honest with you, I still have feelings for you," FP confesses; Alice's heart races. "But when thinking about our son, I don't want him to get stuck dealing with our fighting. I know maybe these feelings are probably just coming from me, I acknowledge that, but I felt like I had to be honest about how I felt before explaining myself any further. Like I said, I did a lot of thinking and though I know there probably wasn't any hope for us to give us another try, I wanted to stick to co-parenting. The way it is now. It seems to work and maybe it's the best for all of us."

"Oh," That's a lot for Alice to take in. She'd be lying if she didn't think it did sting a bit to know FP thinks they may not work out in the long run. "I didn't know you felt this way."

"I know it's not fair for me to still hold on to these feelings when you moved on years ago, but since we're honest with each other I did have to tell you."

She wants to tell him that she never moved on, but what if that ruined their friendship? Would it be worth the risk?

"I appreciate the honesty. You're right Charles does come first."

"So we're good?" FP questions.

"We're okay," Alice sadly nods.

"You're the best. Take care, Al-" He stands up. "-ice. Is it cool with you if I stop by later and take Charles out to a movie or something?"

"You know you always can. He's your son, too."

FP nods. "I'll catch you later then."

Alice watches him leave and if it weren't for the fact that she's at work maybe she would sob. FP, on the other hand, lets a tear escape when he is back in his car. He takes his time to drive back home.