Chapter 8: Mama take this badge from me. (2/2)
After a really nice conversation about his unofficial relationship with Veronica. Both Dante and Polly layed beside each other on his bed and listened to one of Polly's favorite songs.
Mama put my guns in the ground
I can't shoot them anymore
That cold black cloud is comin' down
Feels like I'm knockin' on heaven's door
Dante moves his gaze to the left, to see Polly's face. She had her eyes close, which she often did to enjoy music.
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
Knock-knock-knockin' on heaven's door
"Oh, I needed that." Polly commented after the song ended.
"Let me guess, no good music in there?" Dante asked.
"Just the type of music you would hear on an elevator or a funeral." Polly told him in deep annoyance. "And the food..."
"I guess you're on a deep abstinence and needs you fix of Pop's food." Dante assumed.
"Oh god, yes!" She nearly screamed in joy.
"I'll text Betty to see if she can pass on Pop's on her way here." Dante told her as he picked up his phone to text Betty.
"Okay, I need to ask." Polly spoke up as Dante wrote on his phone. "When did you and Betty became friends?"
Dante looked at her and thought a bit before answering. "When... I told her about your pregnancy and she decided to help me find you." He explained. "It turns out that she is as awesome as you when she stops playing the girl next door role."
A frown appeared on Polly's face. "If you only knew how I hate that." She commented.
"Hate what?" Dante asked in confusion.
"The whole girl next door thing." Polly spoke as sat up. "I don't know why, but my parents seem to be obsessed with playing this perfect suburban family archetype."
Dante's expression remained stoic. "Ummm... I been saying that since the day I met your parents."
"And I thought you were just exaggerating." Polly replied. "Honestly, I was never up to play the perfect daughter role that my parents kept on trying to shove it on me." She then touched Dante's arm. "That's why I always looked forward to be with you and Jason, I could be whoever I wanted around you guys and you two just accepted me as I was."
Dante then grabbed Polly's hand and put it on his cheek. "You did the exact same thing for us, with Jason's family problems and my... problematic personality."
Polly just smirked. "Dante, excluding some unfiltered comments and you're tendency of brooding at times. There's nothing wrong with you're personality."
Dante chuckled a bit.
Polly then pulled her hand back and looked worried for a second. "Did you... noticed anything off about Betty while I was gone."
Dante made a confused look. "Ummmm... Excluding her worry for you... Nothing really, why?" He was now a bit worried.
Polly sighed before speaking. "Like I said, I was never up for playing perfect daughter for my parents, but Betty... she's another story."
Dante raised his right brow. "How so?"
"She... never had a problem in playing the perfect daughter with them, always doing everything to make mom and dad happy, but.." She paused for a second. "She was always pretty stressed out by that, always worried about appearing perfect, doing everything that she's "supposed to do" while doing everything to keep mom and dad satisfied with her."
"That sounds like a pretty miserable existence." Dante couldn't help but comment.
"The only time that Betty would actually let loose, was when she was around Archie Andrews."
"Her crush on him is not exactly a secret." Dante pointed out.
"Crush? Dante, it was way more than a crush." Polly spoke up. "Don't tell anyone I said this but," She seemed serious. "Betty used to be obsessed with him, she literally did everything to get his attention."
"Like what?" Dante asked in curiosity.
"Her ponytail for example." She mentioned. "She once saw Archie pulling a girl's ponytail a bunch of times, so she started to wear her hair like that in hopes of him doing the same to her."
Dante was justifiable surprised with that. "That's both cute and disturbing."
"I guess, chasing after Archie was her way of loose herself from our parents ideal of a perfect daughter, but-" Before she could finish what she was going to say.
"After he moved away, there was nothing there for her to loose herself to anymore." He concluded.
"Exactly, after Archie moved, she started to dedicate herself to be the perfect girl next door that our parents want her to be." Polly explained to him. "But, I'm worried about her. It's not healthy for her to bottle up her emotions the way she does, at least she used to let them out with Archie, but now."
Hearing that , made Dante realize three things. That there was way more about Betty Cooper that meets the eye. That Alice and Hal Cooper suck more and more each day. And that Dante really needed a cup of black coffee because he was getting sleepy.
Luckily, Betty solved his coffee problem when she brought some food from Pop's. He felt bad for asking her to bring him some, but she said that it was no trouble. She also brought Polly's favorite hot dog and some cherry pie, alongside some onion rings that Dante eat.
"So, how are things at home?" Polly asked Betty .
"Mom and Dad are desperately searching for you but for some reason they refuse to tell the police." Betty explained.
"That's because they answer to a higher authority than God." Dante pointed out as he eat some of the onion rings. "The Blossoms." He drank a bit of coffee. "They're the first people who would be informed about it."
"They'd twist it around and go after Polly out of spite." Betty added.
"Yes, though..." Dante tried to find the right words to use.
"What?" Polly asked in confusion.
"They are your baby's grandparents and I highly doubt that they'll allow your parents to put the baby up for adoption if..." Dante explained.
"What are you suggesting, Dan?" Betty asked him.
"That... Maybe we should, inform the Blossoms of..." He pointed at Polly's belly. "At least let them know in case of your parents managing to caught Polly."
Polly didn't seen to like that plan very much. "Dante, I don't like that idea. The Blossoms hate me, they'll want to keep the baby for themselves." She told him.
"I am aware of that, but Polly, if they catch you. God knows what they'll do to you and your baby." Dante informed her. "But if they know about it, at least, your baby won't be at the risk of being sent far away."
Polly looked down at her belly, seriously considering what Dante just say, looking really upset as she did. Betty touched her shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. Dante touched her leg and spoke. "It's up to you, I won't to do anything you don't wanna do." He assured her.
"Thank you," She told him with a smile while touching his cheek.
Suddenly, Betty's phone started to vibrate on top of the bed. She quickly picked up to check."It's Veronica, she asking if we wanna go party with her."
"What is she celebrating?" Polly asked in curiosity.
"Nothing that I know of." Betty replied. "I prefer to stay here with you, so I gonna say no." She added. "What about you Dante?"
"Oh, he's going." Polly responded for him.
"No, I'm not." He spoke up in confusion.
"Yes, you are." Polly then stood up from the bed and opened his wardrobe. "Something casual-formal will work." She spoke as she started to search clothes for him to wear.
"Polly!" Dante tried to protest.
Betty just sat there, not really understanding what was going on.
"You don't have a say in this, Dark Gentleman." Polly humorously told him.
Dante honestly forgot that Polly had an habit of bossing him and Jason around, on of the effects of being older than the two of them. Though, Jason was the one that got the worse of Polly's habit, and now a genuine fear came to Dante, that he's going to be the one that will get the worse of Polly's habit now.
"Why the insistence?" Dante asked.
"So you can spend some time with this Veronica that you told me so much about, so you better do as I say or you'll face severe consequences, Dante Rembrandt Parker." She spoke in a semi-joking tone.
"Rembrandt?" Betty noticed and asked about it.
"It's my middle name and it used my late grandfather's name, Rembrandt Parker." His grandfather passed away when he was twelve years old, Dante misses him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." Betty apologized for asking. "What did he died from?"
"Lung cancer, he was heavy smoker." Dante remembered the visits that he and his father made him before he passed. "He was that taught me how to play guitar." He mentioned while looking down sadly.
"He was a great teacher," Betty told him. "People are still talking about your performance with V."
"A performance that I'm yet to see." Polly commented as she puts a shirt on top of the bed.
"Kevin sent me a video of it, you can watch it on the laptop." Dante mentioned.
"Alright! Now put this on."
After being forced to put on some clothes that Polly picked for him, a black button shirt, black jeans and some black brogue shoes. Dante Parker was pretty kicked out from his own house to go out with Veronica. To his surprise, she appeared on his home alongside Kevin, Josie and, to his misfortune, Reggie. They were all sitting on car being driven by someone that Dante has no idea who it is. There's also a bit of awkwardness in the air, mainly from Reggie, who probably didn't forgot their little argument and Josie, who probably still a annoyed that her father enjoyed Dante's performance while not exactly approving hers.
Dante still had no idea where they were going, so he decided to ask Kevin. "Ummm... Where exactly are we going?" He asked his friend whispering.
"Veronica needed to blow off some steam," He whispered back on Dante's ear. "She's having some problems with her mother and wants her to apologize for something and she's trying to force her hand."
"How is this forcing her hand?" Dante asked in curiosity.
"She said that back in New York, whenever she needed to blow off some steam or force her mother's hand, she'd go out on a bender." Kevin explained on Dante's ear. "Dancing with her fave celebrity gal pal,her best gay and some dim-witted, sexy, disposable arm candy."
"You're the gay friend, Josie is the celebrity gal pal and Reggie is the arm candy." Dante pointed out, with Kevin nodding in response. "But... why am I here?" He asked in wonder as he doesn't really know how he fits on that picture.
"You're her bad boy love interest." Kevin pointed out.
Dante just raised a brow, he was not sure about the bad boy part but he really liked the love interest part.
"What are you two talking about?" Veronica asked both Dante and Kevin.
"Ummm... About... Where are we going." Dante quickly made excuse. "Where are we going? " He asked while looking at Kevin. Since he still had not idea where exactly were they taking him.
Dante's question would not be answered however, as the car suddenly stopped as they have arrived at their destination. Reggie and Josie exited the car first, Kevin followed behind them. "Ladies first." Dante told Veronica.
Veronica just smiled at him. "Thanks, Dark Gentleman."
Dante followed behind her as she exited the car, only for him to see where exactly they were. The night club, Roving Eye. Dante never went there before, but he heard from Polly that it was a nice place. The Dark Gentleman just followed behind everyone else as they made their way inside. The first thing that happened was Veronica attempting to pull him into the dance floor in order for him to dance with her, which he tried to refuse but Kevin just helped her pull him. Before he knew it, he was in the middle of the dance floor dancing very awkwardly with his friends, but to his relief, neither Kevin or Reggie were not good dancers. As much as he hated to admit, he was having fun, especially with Veronica dancing so close to him. The music that was playing, was Moments from Tove Lo Seeb.
After sometime, they were all exhausted and decided to find a booth to seat.
"Mmm-mmm, girl." Josie spoke to Veronica as she drank something. "You better hydrate." She pushed the cup for Veronica to deink. "You practically left your body on the dance floor." She commented.
Veronica sighed. "I wish, Josie." She replied. "I wish I could leave my body sometimes." She sounds really frustrated. "Leave Riverdale, leave everything."
Dante couldn't help but notice what she said. He was sitting besides Kevin gulping down a colorful drink that he had absolutely no idea what it was.
"Is any of this helping?" Kevin asked. "Going out, going Black Swan, any of it?"
Dante never saw Black Swan, so he was clueless on what Kevin meant.
Veronica puts her glass in the table in the middle of them. "When my dad got arrested, the police, the lawyers, the judge, the courts, they took everything from us." She told all of them. "Our houses, our cars, our club membership, our yacht,even, I'm not kidding, the clothes off our backs.
Josie gazed at her disbelievingly.
"Anyway, my mom sat me down on the edge of my canoby bed and she told me not to cry." Veronica explained. "Because there was one thing in this world that no one could ever take from me." She made it clear. "Not ever."
"Your trust fund?" If looks could kill, Reggie would have already be decomposing by now due to the way that Dante was starring at him.
Veronica also glares at Reggie. "My name, Reggie." She clarified for the dumbass. "Which, after telling me no one would ever take it, that is exactly what she did." She paused for a second. "Like it meant nothing." She paused again. "Like it was nothing." She paused a third time. "Like I was nothing." Veronica stares somberly, before picking up her drink.
Dante just sat there quiet after hearing what Veronica said, he looked at her sympathetically as he he finished his drink. He really wanted to say something but didn't know what. Mostly because he doesn't really know what it going on between her and her mother. But he then realizes that Kevin probably knows. So the green-eyed boy decided to poke Kevin's shoulder in order to call his attention. "Come with me to the bathroom." He whispered on his ear.
Kevin looked a bit confused but Dante made a signal that he needed to talk to him in private.
"I'm going to the bathroom." Dante announced as he stood up.
"I... Need to go too." Kevin awkwardly spoke but luckily, it didn't attracted any attention.
Both guys made their way to the night club's bathroom, and as soon as they entered, Dante asked. "Okay, what exactly is going on between Veronica and her mom?" He asked as he approached the sink to watch his hands.
Kevin on the other hand went to one of the toilets. "Short version; Veronica's mother forged her signature to give a construction contract to Mr. Andrews.
Dante turned around in confusion before remembering the dinner that he was present with Mr. Andrews and Mrs. Lodge. That was about a contract that would help Mr. Andrews financial problems. But he couldn't understand how could that be... Unless... Veronica's father was the buyer. The dirty blond haired boy came to that conclusion. "Oh, shit." That was his response. "That's why Ronnie is so upset."
"Apparently, Veronica's form of revenge is exorbitant online shopping and clubbing, to work enough damage on V's mom to force her to negotiate terms." Kevin explained as he went to wash his hands.
Dante raised his eyebrows in wonder. As he was curious about this "terms". Suddenly, Dante feels his phone vibrate, he quickly grabbed it to check. it was a message from Betty.
Betty: Poll here, how it going?
Dante noticed that it was Polly sending him a message.
Dante: Dancing, drinking and talking about mommy issues.
Dante: You?
Betty: Betts and I are watching some videos on your Laptop.
Betty: You look so cute in that Karate outfit.
Dante: WTF! That's private.
Dante then followed Kevin out of the bathroom and back to the booth.
Betty: I don't care.
He put his phone back on his pocket before they arrived on the booth and sat back down. Where he grabbed another drink that was on top of the table. But suddenly, a man approaches the table.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Lodge, but your card's been declined." The man told them while holding a credit card on his hand.
"Really? And let me guess, it's been reported stolen." Veronica replied not sounding very surprised .
"It has, in fact." He told her. "We're supposed to call the cops."
"Yeah, sure." Reggie spoke up arrogantly. "Call the cops. We'll be happy to tell them how old we are."
"Or I could call my mom, the mayor." Josie spoke up, even more arrogantly than Reggie.
But suddenly Veronica reached her purse and grabbed some cash. "This should cover it. " She handed over and grabbed the car back.
Josie laughed at that.
"Veronica, did your mom cut you off?" Kevin asked her.
"She did." She replied happily.
"And that's a good thing?" Reggie asked confused.
"Oh, Reggie. This is how we Lodge women roll. We feint, we parry, we approach, we retreat. We're like a cobra and a mongoose dancing. She blinked, which means, I suspect, that Hermione Lodge is ready to negotiate." Veronica explained as she grabbed her purse and stood up, then she approached the boy dressed fully in black that has been quiet the whole time. "Walk me home, Danticho?" She asked him with a smile before extending her hand for him to take.
Dante was a little surprised by that, because he assumed that she was going to have a important conversation with her mother. "Ummm... Sure, but... I thought you were going to negotiate with your mom?"
"I will, but I brought you something and didn't had the chance to give it to you yet," She answered him.
"Wait, what? You didn't have to get me anything." Dante was quick to argue.
"Well, it's too late now, so either you accept it or I'll give it to Reggie." Reggie smirked after she said that , which caused Dante to give him another death glare.
"Alright, I'll take it." Dante quickly replied.
"Great, not come on." She grabbed his hand and pull him away from the booth, leaving the others behind.
Veronica pretty much dragged Dante to the same car that they came from. Which Dante was quick to try to speak to her about the contract but she just put her finger on his lips and told him not to spoil the ride, something that Dante ended up complying. The quiet ride didn't last very long though, as they arrived fairly quickly at the The Pembrooke.
They arrived at the room and entered, only to encounter Mrs. Lodge sitting on the couch drinking something.
"Reporting my American Excess card as stolen, well-played." That was Veronica's first response to her mother.
"I thought you might appreciate that." She replied as she took a sip of her drink, before smiling at Dante. "Good to see you, Dante."
"Likewise, Mrs. Lodge." Dante replied politely.
"Hold up just a second." Veronica told him as she made her way to a room.
Dante obeyed and waited there with Mrs. Lodge for a bit until Veronica came back with a box. "So, I was joking about giving it to Reggie, because there's no way this would fit him." She told him before handing him the gift.
He grabbed the box from her, still wondering what it was. He opened only to see that there was a really nice looking black hoodie inside.
"It's designer, I brought it alongside some other things." She explained. Dante opened his mouth to try to refuse it, but Veronica interrupted. "Don't even think about refusing it, now put it on." She ordered him.
Dante looked at Mrs. Lodge, who just gave him a small nod of approvement. Having no choice, Dante decided to put on the hoodie, which to his surprised, fit perfectly.
"Designer clothes really suit you, Danticho." Veronica complimented him.
"I wouldn't know, most of my clothes are cheap." He replied.
"Yet, you wear everything with such a grace." Mrs. Lodge spoke up. "Fred mentioned that your mother was model, so you probably got that from her."
Unknowingly to Mrs. Lodge, saying that made Dante really angry. He closed down his hand on a fist very hard and grinned his teeth very hard.
"Really?" Veronica asked her. "A model?" She asked him.
"Why would anyone consider that woman beautiful is beyond me." Dante answered which surprised both Veronica and her mother. "Thank you very much for the gift, but I have to go now." She told them both while still grinding his teeth in anger as he made his way to the door.
Dante harshly left the The Pembrooke and made his way home. Huffing with rage as he walks by himself on the street at night. Suddenly the huffing just got worse and worse, until Dante's rage completely took over him. He sees a bunch of dumpsters on the streets and in his rage, grabs them and starts to toss them around. "AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He yelled loudly as he knocked the dumpsters around. He did that repeatedly, before tossing one of the dumpsters on a car that was parked on the street. In his rage, Dante ended up going to the car and started to thrash it by climb on it and stomp on the windshield with his foot.
As he did it, several things passed through his mind. Thoughts of Jason's killer, of the the Coopers, and his fucking mother. "Fuck you! Fuck you! Fuck you!" He yelled very loud in rage. "Why the fuck did you do this to me, you fucking whore!" He yelled out loud in pure hatred.
But unfortunately for the Dark Gentleman, his rage would soon come to an end as he heard police sirens approach him. Suddenly, the police car was close enough, and a police officer came out of the car. "Get down from the vehicle, now!" The cop ordered him.
"Shit." Dante spoke in a low voice after calming down and realizing that he was in deep shit right now.
A several hours later:
"You're lucky that car was abandoned, you would have been in deep trouble if the owner had pressed charges." Sheriff Keller told Dante.
After Dante thrashed that car in rage, the police officer that apprehend him took him to the station. Luckily, Sheriff Keller was there and took Dante over. He had to wait there for a few hours, until Sheriff Keller informed him that the car was abandoned. So he would just have to pay a fine for car vandalism. Sheriff Keller was kind enough to drive Dante home.
"Thank you very much for your help, I'm really sorry for this... Horrendous inconvenience." Dante apologized.
"It's fine." He reassured him. "Did something happened to make you do something like this?"
Dante paused for a second before responding to Mr. Keller. "I... Everything just bottled up, and them... It just exploded." He tried to explain. "Out of nowhere."
"We all explode from time to time, it happens to the best of us." Mr. Keller told him. "I know you didn't do that on purpose."
"I didn't, but... When I came through, the car was destroyed." He explained.
Suddenly, Dante felt his phone vibrate. He picked up to check. There were several unread messages on it from Betty, which was probably Polly writing him.
Betty: Where the hell are you?
Dante: Is this B or P?
Betty: Both. Veronica called me and asked if you were okay, but you didn't come back.
Dante: I was arrested for vandalizing a car, Mr. Keller is driving me home.
Betty: WHAT?!
Dante: I will explain later.
Betty: Listen, Polly and I talked and we decided to inform the Blossoms.
Dante: Okay, leave it to me.
Betty: It's better that Polly stays hidden for now, so don't tell them that she's in your house. I talked to Veronica and she agreed to help, in case of something going wrong.
Dante: Awesome.
Betty: I need you to arrange a meeting for me, I wanna speak with them to be certain.
Dante: I'll tell them to meet you at Pop's.
"Mr. Keller, do you mind changing the location."
Sheriff Keller had no problem in driving Dante to the Blossoms home after Dante explained that he needed to tell them something about Jason. He had to make an excuse to Mr. Keller by telling him that it was something trivial that wouldn't really help his investigation. He dropped Dante at Thornhill and left him there to go back to the station.
He had to ask Kevin for Cheryl's number, not exactly knowing why he has it in the first place. He texted her to let him in because he had something very important to tell her family. Luckily, it worked and they let him in. Dante was currently sitting on the main hall with Jason's parents sitting in front of him.
"As much as it's a pleasant surprise to have your presence in our home again, you said you had something important to tell us." Mrs. Blossom was the first one to speak to him.
Dante took a deep breath before speaking. "Okay, there is no easy way to say this, so I'll just be direct." He spoke. "The reason that Jason wanted to run away, was because Polly was pregnant with his baby."
That, obviously surprised the two red heads who looked at one another in disbelief.
"What?!" That was the reaction of the third red head that entered the room. She approached Dante, with a deep frustrated face. "Jason didn't told me anything about that."
"He also didn't told you that he was running away with Polly, and I don't really think that he told me everything either." Dante replied to Cheryl.
"Dante, where is Polly?" Jason's father asked.
"That's why I came here." Dante decided to explain. "The day that Jason was suppose to leave, Polly was supposed to meet him but her mother had Polly admitted facility called Sisters of Quiet Mercy," Saying that name made Jason's mom a little uncomfortable. "Polly was there this whole time, she didn't even knew about what happened to Jason."
"Is she still with the Sisters of Quiet Mercy?" Mrs. Blossom asked him.
"No... She... Ran away after I told her about what happened to Jason." Dante responded. "I think... Her parents were planning to give her baby up for adoption against her will."
"The hell they will." Cheryl instantly responded.
"Quiet." Her mom ordered. "Dante, do you know where she is?"
"Not exactly," He lied. "But her sister wants to talk with you two." Dante explained. "She asked the two of you to meet her at Pop's to discuss Polly situation."
"When exactly?" Jason's father.
"I could text her and she'll meet the two of you right now." Dante informed them.
"Do that, we would like to meet with her as soon as possible."
Thanks everyone who followed and favorited my story.
Again, sorry for the delay.
To be honest, I don't think this chapter came out well and I apologize for it.
To answer some questions:
Ok the story is interesting HOWEVER just WTF is that "Danticho" shit you said something like it's Spanish or something amd that can't be further from the truth it's just dumb and cringeworthy AF trust me I'm a native Spanish speaking so please just please find another nickname if you want just please change that stupid "nickname"
LOL.
I speak Spanish man, I know that Danticho isn't Spanish or anything.
I just wanted some dumb and cringe nickname for Dante. (I always thought Archiekins was dumb.)
Sorry if it bothers you but, I can't exactly change it now. I already used on several chapters.
Pls don't stop updating, this is what I want since I've been searching for a few months now.
Like how you sent Archie away, hope he never show up. Both Veronica Betty are being developped properly, so I think Cheryl need some developpments too.
I honestly wanted both Betty Veronica to accompany him to the party instead of coming separatly but since they didn't know each other back then I accepted it.
Just curious how you will make his relationship with all three of them successful, and when I say relationship I mean by Dante dating all three of them without hiding it from each other so to say him being their official boyfriend and them being his official girlfriends.
Its so damn good, I was searching for something like this. But all I got is Jughead x Betty Archie x Veronica or Betty x Veronica or even Veronica x Archie x Betty, and honestly I do not like Archie at all.
The best I could as for
[OC, Veronica, Betty, Cheryl] pairing, hope their relationship became official soon, so to say them being his girlfriends and him being their boyfriend.
Hope Polly won't leave to the farm stay, I think Dante will take responsability for his friend and as her bestfriend and godfather of the child, I am sure he will do his best for both Polly her child. (I AM NOT SAYING HE SHOULD MAKE HER HIS GF OF WIFE, JUST TAKE CARE OF THEM AND PROBABLY HELP PROTECT POLLY AND THE CHILD)
Cheryl will get her development in the next few chapters.
It's hard to explain how their relationship will work, I'm basically putting my own unique take on the classic love triangle. (Cheryl will be a different story though.)
Dante would never leave Polly with a bunch of unknowns. He and Betty will help Polly in whatever way they can as the baby's godparents.
Glad we got a new chapter and that Polly is sticking with Dante like I said hope Dante helps her out in that she doesn't end up at the farm and she sticks with him
Who knows after some times past she might be apart of the group of woman that have fallen for Dante
Nah, Dante and Polly are just BFFs.