Darlin' ~ FP Jones

Million Dollar Man

Harper sat in Pop's, staring out at the rainy weather. Her hot coffee steamed against her skin. She looked up when the bell on the door ringed and a young boy came in. His hands shoved in his pockets and hat pulled low on his head. Black hair poked out around the edges of the hat as he walked in, bag over his shoulder. He gave her a familiar look as he passed her. She frowned and looked away, feeling suddenly like she knew him somehow, in some way. Another boy came in now, this one she recognized. Archie Andrews.

"Hey Harper." He smiled down at her as he passed. She gave him a little wave and listened for him to speak to the other boy.

"Hey Arch." The boy said as they sat down.

"What's up," Archie said, "Jug." Harper covered up a gasp with pretending to cough. Jughead, FP's son. She had to resist the urge to turn around and stare at the boy she knew so much about. He and his father shared the same eyes that engulfed you just by looking into them, and hair dark and wavy. She couldn't help but wonder if they spoke if they would have anything in common. She sat in the booth, looking down at her coffee which got colder and colder. She thought about FP, where he was, what he was doing, and why he wasn't home with her. She then thought about Jughead, the boy sitting three booth away from a girl who knew him very well. She thought about the hurt he may be feeling, he was left alone too. Harper thought about her own life, the father that abandoned her and the mother that treated her like trash.

"Hey Harper!" She heard Archie call her name, she turned around and saw him beckoning her over. She slid out of the booth with her coffee in hand and walked over to the boys, scooting in next to Archie.

"What's up Arch?" She smiled, glancing at Jughead whose eyes were trained on the laptop in front of him.

"Did you hear what happened?" He frowned at Harper who shook her head.

"No what happened?" She asked.

"Jason Blossom, he drowned on July Fourth." Jughead spoke now, and her eyes went wide. "Or he was murdered depends on what angle you look at it." He said, so nonchalantly like his father. Harper couldn't speak, her mouth was dry as she remembered what she had seen and heard on the morning of July Fourth. She remembered FP's reaction. She remembered Jason's shaking voice. She thought of Polly, pregnant and alone.

"Oh." Is all she said, she just kept looking for Archie, to Jughead, to Archie again. She was unable to cope with the news that she was receiving.

"Well Harper, aren't you friends with Polly? You should check on her! I'm sure she's destroyed." Archie says, always Mr. Fix It. Harper could imagine it, after weeks of not speaking to Polly, 'Hey there remember me? Your best friend? Yeah I heard your boyfriend died and you're pregnant with his baby. Really sucks.' She shuddered at the thought.

"Yeah it's pretty... chilling." Jughead muttered sarcastically, referring to Harper's reaction. Harper rolled her eyes.

"Archie you're friends with Betty why don't you talk to her and then tell her to talk to Polly. It should be easy for you, you live right across the street from the Coopers." Harper suggested, referring to Polly's younger sister. She along with everyone else, on the exception of Archie, knew that Betty was hopelessly in love with Archie Andrews.

"Yeah that sounds really simplified. Plus Betty is at an internship." Jughead said sarcastically, his mouth full of a burger. Harper looked at him and almost laughed.

"Why are you laughing?" Jughead frowned at her. She saw the same frown on FP's face all the time.

"Oh nothing just that you eat just like..." She cut herself off, shifting uncomfortably in her seat she realized what she was about to say.

"Eat just like what." Jughead glared at her, swallowing the food in his mouth. Harper had to think fast.

"Just like it's your last meal." She muttered and he gave her an odd look until Archi butted in.

"Wait Betty is at an internship? Huh who knew." Arch mumbled taking a sip of his chocolate milkshake. Boys are always clueless. Harper stayed silent as the boys spoke softly about Betty and the death of Jason Blossom.

"They haven't found the body either." She heard Archie say to Jughead and she snapped out of her thoughtful state.

"Wait, what do you mean they haven't found a body?" She griped her hand on the table and looked at the two boys wide eyed. Jughead just rolled his eyes at the poor girl.

"It means exactly what it sounds like. There is no body. Wow you're new at this." He sighs glancing back at Archie and shaking his head disappointedly. Archie abruptly changed the subject, sensing the growing annoyance between Jughead and Harper.

"So Jughead, how's your dad doing?" Archie asked. Harper tensed up at the mention of FP. Jughead shrugged.

"I don't know, lazy and drunk as usual. Probably working odd jobs and wasting all his money on liquor. You know since your dad fired him." Archie's brow knit together at the words of his best friend. Harper sat back in the booth, wondering if Jug knew what his dad truly did for a living. 

"He was stealing from the jobsite Jug." Archie rose his voice slightly only to hush it again, gripping the table slightly, "There was nothing else my dad could do." Harper shot a glance at Archie slyly, no one talked poorly about FP in front of Harper. But Harper wasn't at the Wyrm surrounded by her South Side friends on a Saturday night. She was at Pop's on a rainy late summer afternoon with two young boys who knew nothing of her trists with a Serpent.

"Nothing else your dad could do? What about my dad. My dad who lost everything including his wife and daughter. He did what he had to do." Jughead defended him, which surprised Harper. She knew Jughead loved his father as much as FP loved his son.

"Look Jug, I have to go. Harper if you would excuse me." Archie slides out of the booth and begins to walk out the door when Jughead shouted, "Are you going the same place you ditched me for on July Fourth? Tell me Archie where were you! You seem to be the only one without an aliby. You always did want football captain, the job that was once Jason Blossom's." Archie looked hurt at Jughead his eyes going glassy, he turned away and hurried out the door.

"Was that too much?" Jughead asked the girl sitting in front of him, slightly shocked at his words.

"A little." She said and Jug nodded.

"So are you from North Riverdale, or the South Side." He said, suddenly serious.

"Right on the edge of the South Side. So technically not." Jughead nodded thoughtfully.

"Spend a lot of time over there?" He asked and she shook her head, lying.

"Yeah you seem like a goody-goody." He sighed, beginning to pack up his laptop.

"I'm not a goody-goody." She felt sick.

"We'll see."