What's Love Got To Do With It?

5.

The next morning FP had just cleared all the files from his at home desk, pushing himself to take a moment off this weekend. There had been enough of sleepless nights and giving himself a headache after focussing on the case over and over again wasn't going to help.

Just when he made himself a cup of coffee he heard a knock on his door, assuming it was Alice. Just the thought alone was making him happy. Though, when he opened the door of his trailer he looked into the face of his latest ex-girlfriend.

"Gladys?" He asked confused, after not seeing her in almost two years. What the hell was she doing on his front porch?

"Missed me?" She smirked, as if they visited each other on a weekly basis. He was a little caught of guard, but he took a step aside for her to enter nontheless.

"What are you doing here? We haven't seen each other in two years." He was a little suspicious of why she came to him. Their break-up hadn't exactly been a good one. Why did she act like nothing had happend?

"I was around and thought... I could stop by, you know?" She shuffled around a little awkward. FP suddenly felt like a stranger in his own home. She had been here before, of course. Technically, she had been in his house a lot. Even to the point where he asked her to move in with him. But she never wanted to move to Riverdale, which is why they broke up eventually.

"Yeah, it's good to see you. How have you been?" He asked her a little apprehensive, not sure what else to say.

"Good, I've been good. Though, I have been thinking about you the past few months." She confessed with a little smirk on her face. Did she expect him to have waited for her? That everything would be okay again?

His face stayed serious. This wasn't a game he wanted to play. But then he saw it in her eyes. Loneliness. She was here because she was lonely. And he was available. Or... at least he thought he was.

Gladys knew her eyes were betraying her true emotions. And maybe she did indeed confuse loneliness with feelings. But she needed to try.

"I regret how we broke-up, FP. I know that wasn't right. I should have stayed. We were a good team." She pleaded, while sitting down on one of the chairs by his dinner table. He followed her, sitting at the opposite side.

What was he supposed to say? Sure, she was right. They were a good team. They had fun. But that was temporarily. Though, in the end neither of them wanted to compromise for their relationship. And FP knew why he couldn't. He didn't love her the way he was supposed to. Which is why he knew that she didn't love him, either.

"Gladys, we only dated for a year. You were clear, you didn't want to live in Riverdale. Sometimes things just don't work out. And that's okay." He tried to let her recall why they ended things, for her to realize that this was a lost cause.

"I know that, but..." She sputtered, looking for the right words.

"What I am trying to say is that I made a mistake." Her hand landed above his own, making him look down at her touch in an instant.

Gladys wasn't sure what this was, but she needed to know. What if she had thrown away a good relationship just because she didn't like Riverdale? What if he was the one and she had messed it up before even trying?

Before FP could say anything, his front door opened.

"FP? Are you home?" Alice poked her head into the living room, expecting to find FP. Which she did, only he had a guest. He had always said he didn't really have friends or family around, so he must have hidden from her whoever this woman was.

"Oh. I am interrupting." She noticed the hand of the strange woman on top of his. Did he have a girlfriend? And since when? Was this how she was going to find out?