Living Next Door To Alice

12/ Falling For The Blondes

FP stumbled out of his bedroom and was met by Archie and Fred who had already started breakfast. They hadn't seem him yesterday, and were glad to see him out of bed.

"Hey bud, you feeling better?" Fred smiled sympathetically and grabbed an extra plate to put some toast on.

"Yeah, a lot. Thanks." FP smiled weakly before he yawned and took place at the kitchen counter.

"Alice stopped by yesterday, to bring me some soup." He mentioned casually, knowing that she had talked to Fred about him being sick.

Fred immediately know what had happend as he was the one that came up with the little white lie. He hadn't expected for her to do something like that.

"She kept asking why you weren't at breakfast. I told her you were under the weather." Fred told him, the guilt noticeable in his voice.

However, FP didn't mind. He understood that it was hard to cover for him if people had no idea what was going on.

"I uh— I decided to be honest to her. So, she knows everything." FP told them with a blush on his cheeks, so they'd know that the cat was out of the bag too. Both men knew that this was a huge step for him.

"I'm proud of you for doing that." Fred patted his friend's shoulder with a sweet smile on his face. FP smiled back. His support was everything to him.

Although, that wasn't all he had to share with them. Something big happend. It had kept him up all night.

"We uh— we kinda kissed." FP confessed suddenly, and directly focused on his toast of jam on his plate that was still left untouched.

Archie almost choked on his milk and Fred dropped his sandwich just when he was about to take a bite.

"Wait, you kinda kissed?" Fred spat out in pure disbelief.

He had a feeling his best friend had been crushing on her, but this wasn't something he had expected so quickly.

"Why are you so casual about it? You kissed Alice!" Fred started to grin like a fool and slapped his chest.

"Just a peck or like with tongue?" Archie asked serious, a curious frown on his face with a hint of a smirk.

"Archie! That is inappropriate to ask someone." Fred corrected him with a stern look, before turning to FP again.

"So, with tongue or not?" He asked, wanting to know the juicy details as much as his son did.

"I regret telling you this already." FP shook his head in disapproval, but had to grin nonetheless.

"Looks like two out of three fall for the blondes next door." Fred said smugly, eyeing his son who pretended he had no idea what they were talking about.

"Are you talking about me?" Archie asked confused, though he knew perfectly well what his father was referring to.

"All you need is eyes to see what has been going on with you and Betty." Fred pointed out, which was true.

It was obvious that his son had a crush on the girl next door. His best friend could be added to the same list.

"Let's focus back on FP here. Alright?" Archie grinned while pointing at him.

"Do you like her?" Fred asked genuinely, as in their prior conversations he had never understood where FP had been standing with his feelings towards Alice, except for the fact that there was clearly more than just a platonic connection.

"I don't know? She's amazing but..." FP putted down his mug and shook his head a little confused. He clearly felt something, but what was he supposed to call that?