We All Go A Little Mad

Late Night

FP and I sat in silence for a little bit, just listening to the music and both of us debating on what we would talk about next.

"You never did answer why Riverdale." FP finally spoke up. I looked up at him again and shrugged.

"Kinda just picked the first place on the map if I'm being honest. Wasn't really any rhyme or reason to it." I brushed it off. FP nodded again and seemed to be debating on asking something. "Whatever it is you want to ask go ahead." I waved my hand at him and waited for him to finally ask what I knew was coming all night.

"The panic attack in the parking lot earlier. What caused it?" FP seemed to be carefully picking his words. He noticed my gaze drop to the table between us and quick reached over the table to grab my hand. "If it's a touchy subject you don't have to answer. I was just a little confused and if I'm honest worried. You just froze and it was a little scary." I took a deep breath.

"Just the amount of people in here. The fact that I had to actually deal with them and somehow serve them food and take orders and make sure I did it all right." I shrugged and finally looked up at FP. "I mean anything can actually trigger them. It's just a question of catching it before it gets out of hand." FP nodded slowly.

"What do you normally do when someone isn't there to help ground you?" It took me a second to think about it.

"Listen to music." I looked over at FP again. "Or if I'm at home and have access to the internet I watch videos of my favorite actors or musicians.Normally calms me down pretty quickly." I bit my lip and thought about it some more.

"Sounds like you know what you're doing." FP gave me a look that said he knew this had been going on for a long time. I swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah." I admitted. "When you dorm alone at college and get panic attacks from basically leaving the building you have to learn fairly quickly." FP squeezed my hand. "I got pretty good at being able to use a picture or say a hoodie to calm myself down." I shrugged nonchalantly. "But it definitely helps to have someone there to help ground me."

"Like I said earlier, I'm here if you ever need me." FP gave me a small smile. The night wore on and FP and I only stopped talking to serve the few customers that came in. It wasn't as bad as it had been earlier. It was mainly late night carry outs that only of us needed to take of. FP taught me how to work the register and how to deal with a take out order. I got to learn who some of the regulars were and spent a good portion of the night joking around with FP. At some point the music had stopped and it got quiet. FP had put more money into the jukebox and picked a new round of songs as the last of the customers left for the night. I finished wiping down the counter when I heard a new set of songs start.

"Tell me you aren't taking from Pop to play music." I joked at FP who shook his head with a chuckle.

"Pop leaves some money out for me to use." FP pointed to the stack of coins sitting next to the register. "It can get pretty quiet here at night and he knows I can't stand the quiet."

"I can't stand the quiet either. Something just isn't right about it."

"Mmmhmmm." FP nodded and looked out the front window before looking back at me. "What kind of music are you into (Y/N)?" I shrugged.

"Classic rock. Punk. Soundtracks. Basic stuff I guess." I shrugged and FP nodded. I went to take a seat back at the booth we had claimed as ours when FP stopped me.

"Wanna dance?" He asked. He stood at one end of the counter and watched me carefully, trying to see if he had crossed a line. I stood at the other end of the counter and tried to find the right words to tell him I would want nothing more to dance with him but I just couldn't find the words. I kept opening my mouth but no words would come out. In the end I just nodded. FP smiled and started to walk over to me.

As I took his hand, the song changed to a slower song. FP's hand laid gently on my waist and I put my free hand on his shoulder. I gripped his hand and let him lead. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as we gently swayed back and forth. His smile had fallen and it seemed like he was deep in thought. I started to blush under his gaze and moved a little closer to him. FP moved closer to me and moved his hand to the small of my back. His touch was light against me and his grip on my hand tightened. I moved my hand to lie across his shoulders and kept my gaze on his eyes. For the first time, I seemed to realize how much taller he was than me. I barely came up to his chin and had to tilt my head back to look up at him. Time seemed to stop again as we slowly danced around the diner. I was sure it must have been a sight from the highway if you looked in. Two employees dancing in the middle of an empty diner without a care in the world.

"This is nice." FP whispered, sounding a little scared to break the trance we seemed to have fallen into. I nodded slowly and let out a small sigh.

"This is really nice." I whispered back. FP smiled down at me and drew me a little closer as the song changed (). I laid my head on his chest and smiled as I felt his chin on the top of my head. This was the happiest that I had been in a long time. I couldn't remember the last time I felt so carefree. FP slowly moved us around the diner, somehow ending up just moving in a circle in the same spot. We both had fallen into our own thoughts and I couldn't help but wonder if he had started to feel the same way about me that I felt about him. The almost kiss earlier in the day ran through my head. The way that he was concerned about me when I had had a panic attack. How we were dancing in the middle of an empty diner right now. I had just met the guy, but I knew that there was a connection there that I couldn't resist.

Then I remembered the last time i had felt this way about a guy and how terribly that had ended up. In that moment, I decided I wasn't going to do anything about what I was feeling. Not unless FP did something first. I hadn't even noticed that we had stopped moving until FP gently pushed me away from his chest. He was looking down at me with a determined look.

"What's wrong FP?" I asked, my hands moving to rest on his forearms instead of around his neck. He bit his lip and looked over at the jukebox before looking at me again.

"Is it weird that I like you already?" He finally asked. I cocked my head in confusion.

"Not really? I like you too." I didn't understand what he was getting at. He shook his head. "It's good to have a friend in a new town FP and I'm glad that I got to have a friend like you."

"That's not what I mean (Y/N)." He said. I looked up at him confused.

"It's not?" He shook his head again. "I don't understand." FP looked down at me and shook his head.

"I don't understand either. I just met you. You shouldn't have this much control over me already." My eyes widened in realization. I had just been thinking of the same thing and here he was, trying to spill his feelings and finding it as difficult as I would. I noticed FP was moving closer to me and had started to sway again. "But you do." We were inches away from each other and I could see just how brown his eyes were. I swallowed and let out a shaky breath. "And I don't know what to do."

As the song changed again (), FP pressed his lips to mine and I made sure to put as much behind the kiss as he did to let him know I felt the same. We broke away a few seconds later and just looked at each other as we kept swaying. I bit my lip before leaning up and kissing him again. FP held onto my waist tightly and I was holding onto the straps of the apron that he wore. I was sure that I would fall over if either one of us let go and I was sure FP thought the same thing.

We were so caught up in each other that we didn't even hear the bell above the door ring. Or the slight cough of the customer. FP jumped back when he heard the person speak.

"Dad?"