Stuck With Me

16 | The Morning After

The morning had come, and FP had decided to put his feelings towards Adam aside for the time being. He had to deal with it someway if Alice was really going to date this guy. That was easier said than done though, as he was all over her, even at the breakfast table. 

''God, even in the morning you are the most gorgeous woman.'' He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on her cheek, making her giggle. 

''Hmm, you think so?'' She grinned, oblivious for the three pair of eyes on her to ask her to cut it out. 

''Oh absolutely.'' Adam winked at her and kissed her face one more. The smile on her face hadn't been there for a long time though so FP just decided to take a breath and drink his coffee. Rome wasn't build in one day and so his patience with Adam wasn't either.

''Kids in the room, watch it please.'' Betty warned them as she placed her orange juice back on the counter. She was glad that her Mom was happy now but that didn't mean she wanted to look at this when she had barely woken up. 

Adam took the hint very quickly and stepped away from her and chugged his coffee.

''I need to go anyway. It was nice meeting you all.'' He smiled at the three, which now was only returned by the two kids. 

''Will I see you soon?'' He asked her as he played with the knot in her robe, hoping that she was having just as much of a good time as he was having. Of course he needed to wait before they would go all in, but he truly liked her so that would be worth it. 

''You bet. Get your sexy ass out of here now.'' She slapped his butt as he turned around, earning a grin from him and a groan from Betty and Jughead.

''Again: Kids in the room.'' She reminded her mother, rolling her eyes a little. 

''We need to go too, Betts. Thanks for breakfast, Dad.'' Jughead tugged on his girlfriends arm and smiled to his father who truly improved himself every single day when it came to making breakfast. 

''You're welcome, Boy. Have a good day at school.'' He smiled to him as he watched him leave. 

FP poured Alice another cup of coffee as he tried to catch her eyes, trying to read how she was feeling.

''And? How was your night?'' He hinted carefully, not wanting the full details but somehow feeling like he needed to know what had happened. 

''We had fun.'' Alice smiled and gratefully took the cup of coffee. She knew he wanted to know more, but she wasn't giving that away. It felt a little uncomfortable to share something intimate as Hermione was the only person she had ever talked to when it came to these kind of things. 

''As in you used the little present I gave you kind of fun?'' He tried to get her to spill the tea, even teased her a little which was something that usually worked. 

''No, not that.'' Alice said directly, not even aware of the fact that FP thought that they had sex in the first place. That had never been her plan and she figured he knew that, but apparently the condom he had given to her was serious. 

''Why not? Does his ego overcompensate something else?'' He chuckled and gave her a playful poke in her side. 

''Very funny, FP.'' Alice rolled her eyes but couldn't fight the little grin that crept up her face. He always knew how the make light of the conversation. At least a joke like this was better than the daggers he had send him with his eyes before. 

''Don't tell me you didn't get a sneak peak.'' He teased her once again, but Alice was getting more and more uncomfortable about it. 

''Can you stop it? Or do you like shaming me for not being ready?'' She commented a little harsher than she wanted and felt sorry the second she saw his face fall. They were silent for a few seconds as the tension filled the kitchen now.

They had never snapped at each other's teasing comments before so FP knew that he had crossed a line. He dropped is knife and took a breath. 

''That's not what I meant, Alice. Of course it's okay to not be ready. I was just kidding.'' He apologized softly, hoping that he knew that he wasn't shaming her in any way. He respected her boundaries and felt like she needed to know that whatever she decided that it was okay because it was her body. 

Alice's face softened too as she knew that it wasn't his intention to maker her feel bad, he was just trying to cheer her up. Besides, he couldn't have known that she refused to sleep with him last night. 

''Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped. I know you didn't mean it that way. I am not sure I even know how to do it anymore.'' She chuckled slightly embarrassed, avoiding his eyes as she said those words out loud. 

It was one of the reasons why she didn't want to sleep with Adam yet. It had been so long that it felt like it was the first time all over again, which was something she felt a little bit ashamed about. 

''When was the last time?'' He asked her softly, not hint of judgement in his voice. FP truly wanted to get to know her better and learn what her deal was with protecting her body or what intimacy meant to her in the first place. 

''Hal and I were divorced for five years when he passed, but... Sometimes we still found comfort in each other, if you know what I mean.'' She said honestly, which was something her daughter didn't even know. Hermione had known about that, even though she wasn't the biggest fan of that arrangement. Having sex with your ex always lead to something bad.

''Got cha. It must be weird for that kind of support suddenly falling away, especially when it's the father of your child.'' He said sympathetically as he now understood more why this was such a big deal to her. The last time she was with someone it was the man she had been married with for so long and even had a child with. Not many people moved on from that very quickly. 

''It was. I haven't since...'' She didn't finish her sentence but he knew what she meant, which was enough for now. 

FP was already glad that she opened up to him and told him this in trust. He was most definitely going to support whatever she felt was right. Not that her sex life was really his business, but it sounded like she needed a friend to discuss this with, so he'd be there for her. 

''Hey, that's fine, Alice. Sex isn't everything. Especially not when it crosses a boundary you aren't ready to cross.'' He said softly and placed his hand on her shoulder, squeezing it assuringly. 

''Yeah, we'll see how it goes.'' She smiled at him, feeling grateful for his friendship and comfort. 

''I never talked with a man about my sex life.'' She laughed and grabbed herself a plate to make some breakfast too. 

''Happy to be your first.'' He teased her and gave her a wide grin as she playfully glared at him. At least he knew exactly when the make a joke now, because she truly felt better after talking to him. Guess he was the kind of friend she had been looking for a while now. 

''Thanks for the talk. I'm going to get dressed.'' She smiled and turned around. 

As she made her way up the stairs she smiled a little to herself, realizing that maybe it was time to really try it with Adam. She had been confused about FP for some time, but he was just a friend. She liked to be around him, liked to have a good talk with them but that was it. They couldn't be something more. Could they? Or would he stay in the back of her mind no matter what?