RETRO NIGHT
chapter nine
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Retro Night was a bust. Nobody was showing up to Pop's for the event, and the diner was only filled with River Vixens skating around on the floor and gossiping to keep themselves from getting bored. Rosemary had forgotten how much she missed skating and was spending her time skating laps around the diner while listening to music in her headphones. She had changed out of her sweater and jeans combo from earlier and into a Pop's diner T-shirt with her River Vixen uniform shorts.
Jughead was sitting on the bartop counter watching her, also wearing a uniform that Betty made him wear. Though he still wore his beanie, it didn't seem to go with his button-up white shirt and red bowtie that he wore underneath of a white waiter's apron. Rosemary knew he hated the getup but Betty was making all of the guys wear it so he didn't complain too much. Rosemary told him that he looked cute with the bowtie, though she was answered with a sarcastic eye roll from the gloomy teenage.
Betty was pacing nervously in front of Jughead, which caught Rosemary's attention and she was quick to skate over and take her spot leaning against the counter next to Jughead. He smiled down at the blonde girl, who seemed the happiest she had been in a while after the trial. Earlier she had called her aunt to give her the good news and was even able to talk on the phone for a bit with Lizzy about her finally coming home.
"No one's here," Betty whispered to her two friends as she took a seat at the bar next to Jughead. "No one's coming."
"It's still early, okay?" Jughead comforting Betty as he wrapped his arm around Rosemary's waist.
"Yeah, there's still time, Bets," Rosemary nodded, leaning against Jughead as she sent her blonde counterpart a comforting smile from Jughead's side.
The bell at the door of the diner rung loudly in everyone's ears, catching their attention. Everyone's head turned to see Alice cooper walk in, a sickly sweet smile on her face as she made her way towards Betty. At the sight of the woman, Rosemary's smile fell since she knew her intentions were anything but good.
"Mom," Betty sighed, getting up and making her way over to her mom. "What, did you come to gloat?"
"Oh, don't be so cynical, Elizabeth," Alice spoke to her daughter in her passive aggressive tone. "I came to write my next story over one last root beer float. I'm calling it Requiem for Pop's. Can I get a quote, dear?"
"I'm not waiting her," Rosemary whispered to Jughead, who quietly chuckled and nodded in agreement.
"You're a fiend, mother," Betty sighed as she made her way over to Alice, who took a seat at a booth that just so happened to be in the section of the diner Rosemary was assigned. She let out a groan, rolling her eyes as she pushed herself off of the counter. As Rosemary tied her apron around her waist she make a fake gagging motion towards Jughead, who laughed and mimicked her actions. "But this is one obituary that you're not gonna write."
Rosemary took Betty's place at the head of the booth, not bothering to fake a smile as she pulled out her notepad to take Alice's order. The Cooper woman looking up at her, looking her up and down at her outfit and scanning her skin for something.
A Southside Serpents tattoo. Of course.
"What can I get you, Alice?" Rosemary asking in a bored tone, looking back at Jughead and rolling her eyes.
"Just a root beer float," Alice answered, meeting Rosemary's eyes and looking her up and down yet again.
"One root beer float, coming up," Rosemary answered in a bored tone, writing the order on her notepad.
Rosemary quickly spun in her skates and made her way behind the counter, rolling her eyes again towards Jughead and earning a snicker from him at her expression. He spun on the counter so he was facing her with his back to the rest of the diner, watching as she made the rootbeer float. When she felt his eyes on her, she looked up at him with a small smile tugging at her features when she noticed his staring.
"What?" Rosemary let out an airy laugh as she pulled out the vanilla ice cream and scooped some into the cup. She she didn't get an answer, she looking back at Jughead who was still staring. "What, Jug?"
Jughead smiled as he hopped off the counter, making his way over to the girl and wrapping his arms around her shoulders as he hugged her from behind. The taller teen pressed a soft kiss on the side of her head, earning a wide grin on the girl's face as she spun around in his arms to face him, her own arms wrapping around his torso.
"I'm sorry," Jughead apologized to her in a soft voice so their conversation wasn't listened in on. "About the whole Penny thing. I should've listened to you or at least told you what I was doing instead of hiding it."
Rosemary's smile slightly fell at the mention of the snake charmer, her hazel eyes darkening. She wrapped her arms tight around Jughead and pulled him into a tight hug, hiding her fallen face against his chest.
"It's okay," Rosemary whispered. "You were just trying to help. I shouldn't have gotten so mad at you. You didn't know better. But, if she asks you for a favor back in return, or anything at all, you better tell me right away. No more hiding shit from each other, understand?"
Jughead pulled back and looked down at the blonde teen, who was looking up at him with a scolding look and a raised brow. He hesitated before nodding, placing a kiss on her forehead before she pulled away to go bring Alice her root beer.
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Within the next hour, Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe was busy with people. Groups of two to eight people were walking in every ten minutes and it was as if the entire town of Riverdale decided to show up for Retro Night out of nowhere. Of course, it was because of some encouragement by Betty who announced the Pussycats would be performing for free at the Diner on social media.
And as quickly as the town came to Pop's, two of the three Pussycats and Cheryl Blossom walked through the doors and made a beeline straight for Betty. Melody and Josie didn't look very happy while Cheryl indifferently looked at her phone as she took a seat on the bartop counter. Rosemary noticed the hostility that Josie had and quickly skated over to Betty's side, a tray of milkshakes balancing on her left hand and shoulder with ease.
"Why the Hell did you broadcast all over social media that the Pussycats would be doing a free concert here tonight?" Josie asked Betty in annoyance
"I knew that if I asked you you would have said-"
"No!" Josie shook her head, answering exactly what Betty expected. Rosemary snorted, adjusting the tray as she brought it down and placed it on the bartop counter next to her. "If my mom even hears that I step foot in the place-"
"Josie," Betty cut off the lead Pussycat. "You care about this place, I know you do. I see you in here all the time."
"And you tip well," Rosemary added, though she quickly got a look from Betty that screamed 'not helping'. She quickly held up her hands in fake surrendered with a smirk on her face, turning to pick her tray back up. Rosemary spotted a passing Vixen named Emily and asked her to take her tray to the table it was meant to go to, knowing the milkshakes would melt if that sat there for to long.
"Betty," Josie sighed. "Even if I wanted to help, I'm down a cat. Valerie as a norovirus-"
"I don't mind stepping in," Cheryl spoke up, her attention quickly shifting from her phone to the conversation. "After all, if you can be a River Vixen, Josie, I can be a Pussycat. As long as it's a cover, I'm sure I'll know the lyrics."
"I mean, you do love your cheese fries, Josie," Melody added, smiling towards friend. Rosemary pointed towards the dark skinned girl in agreement, remembering that Josie's favorite item to order at Pop's was the cheese fries.
Josie sighed, looking around at the girls to try and see if anyone would take her side about not performing. Betty gave her a pleading smile while Rosemary gave a toothy grin, already knowing deep down that Josie would agree to perform.
"Fine," Josie sighed. "Fine."
Soon, the entire diner was standing outside in the parking lot staring up at the roof of Pop's diner where the Pusycats were performing a cover of Milkshake by Kelis. Cheryl did stand out with her fire red hair and fair complexion, but Rosemary had to admit that her voice blended nicely with Josie and Melody's.
Rosemary was inside still serving customers who were listening to the performance while they ate their food. Rosemary was happily chatting to Jughead behind the bartop when the bell of the front door rang, catching their attention. Their eyes landed on Archie, who was looking around the diner with a slightly distressed look on his face.
In all honesty, Rosemary didn't expect Archie to come. She knew it was hard for him to be in the diner after Fred was shot and she herself had trouble coming to the diner her first few days of work. No one came to Pop's to eat when she first came back, but the eerie emptiness of the diner almost made her return even worse.
"Hey there, Daddy-O," Veronica called out to the ginger jock, making her way over from her spot talking to Betty to her boyfriend.
"Hey," Archie greeted, though he didn't sound very happy to be there.
"You made it," Veronica smiled as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him in a small embrace. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah," Archie nodded. "Just taking deep breaths."
Archie still looked as exhausted as he did the night before. Rosemary wondered if he had slept at all since she had visited the Andrews household, thought she knew the answer when she noticed the dark circles that were still prominent under Archie's eyes.
"I'm proud of you," Veronica whispered to Archie, placing a soft kiss on his lips. "Come on, you take a booth and I'll get you a shake."
Ask Veronica walked away from Archie's booth, she was stopped at the sight of her parents walking in. Rosemary quickly pulled her ears away from their conversation and pressed a kiss on Jughead's cheek before making her way to Archie's booth. The blonde didn't waste any time to slide into the seat across from him, quickly catching his dazed-off attention from the table. She sent him a tight lipped smile and tapped her fingers to the beat of the song the Pussycats sang outside.
"Listen, Rose, about last night-"
"It's fine, Arch," Rosemary cut off Archie's apology. "You didn't do anything wrong. Just promise me you'll try and get some sleep tonight."
He hesitated, his eyes flickering away from hers for a moment as he nodded. Rosemary knew Archie wasn't going to make a promise to her he couldn't keep, but as long as he was acknowledging that his lack of sleep was something that needed to change, she was happy.
Before they could talk anymore, the front door of the diner rang and in walked a group of Southside Serpents being led by Tallboy. The tall Serpent man noticed Rosemary and sent her a short nod before leading his group to a table in the back corner. Behind them was another group of Serpents, which held much more friendly faces then the group before. Toni, Fangs, and Sweet Pea were quick to spot their blonde friend, sending her small smiles as greeting before finding a booth, which was thankfully in her section of the diner.
"That's my cue," Rosemary stood up, rubbing Archie's shoulder comfortingly as she made her way over to the table.
"Hey, Ro," Toni greeted her blonde friend with a smile, scooting over so she could sit in the booth with them.
"What brings you guys to Pop's?" Rosemary asked, untying her apron and laying it on the table. She pulled out her tips she had made so far through the night and began counting it. "I thought you guys hated the North Side."
"We do," Sweet Pea agreed, snorting at her words. "But, we knew you'd probably be working and Toni misses you so we decided to drop by and check it out."
"So only Toni misses me?" Rosemary questioned with a raised eyebrow. At her words, Sweet Pea grew pale and went to fix his mistake but was cut off by Rosemary laughing. "Calm down, Sweets. I'm just messing with you. And don't worry, I'm starting at Southside High tomorrow so you'll see plenty of me in school.
"Thank God," Fangs sighed from his spot next to Sweet Pea across the table. "I feel like we haven't seen you in forever."
"Yeah, well," Rosemary shrugged as she stood up and tied her apron back around her waist. "Life's been really shitty to me lately. But, sadly, Betty is giving me the side eye to get back to work so let me actually do my job and ask you guys what you want to order."
Before any of them could order, Pop Tate stood at the center of the diner and asked if everyone could quiet down. Rosemary motioned for her friends to wait a moment and made her way over to Jughead, who was standing behind the bartop counter like he had been all night. She stood at his side and leaned into him as his arm wrapped around her shoulders.
"I gotta put her on the spot," Pop Tate spoke loudly to entire diner, a wide grin on his face. He motioned towards Betty, who was standing next to Kevin. "It's thanks to this young lady here that Pop's gets to stay open tonight, tomorrow... As long as you folks keep coming!"
The diner broke into an applause, which caused Betty to blush at the large amount of attention and shyly smile at the crowd. People held up their milkshakes in a toast to the preppy blonde and some even cheered loudly for her.
"Thanks, also," Pop Tate added, motioning towards the booth where Veronica's mom and dad sat. "To the Lodge family for a donation they just made that gives us a little cushion to weather any storm that might come up."
Another round of applause rang through the diner, though Rosemary was less ecstatic as she frowned at Pop Tate's announcement. She knew Veronica's dad's history and had a gut feeling that his donation wasn't out of the goodness of his own heart. Still, she clapped after seeing how happy Veronica seemed at the news of her family donating to Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe.
Rosemary rushed over to Betty after Pop Tate was done with his speech, pulling her into a tight hug. Both girls were smiling ear to ear as they rocked back and forth, pulling apart when Veronica came over and did the same with Betty that Rosemary had just done. Archie and Jughead were next to come over, both hugging their friend just not as tightly as the girls had done before.
"I think this calls for a celebration," Veronica smiled at her friends. "Milkshakes. On me."
"Ronnie, you don't have to-"
"I want to," Veronica cut off Archie, sending him a toothy grin. "It's a special occasion. You guys grab a booth I'll get the shakes."
"Coffee for me, please," Jughead told Veronica, who sent him a playful wink as she stepped away.
"I have one more table to wait on," Rosemary told her friends, pulling her notebook out of the pocket of her apron. "I'll be right back."
Rosemary rushed over to her Serpent friend's table, smiling down at them. She quickly took their orders, which was milkshakes and fries for each of them, and rushed them out so she could join the celebration of Betty saving Pop's. She got back to the booth with Betty, Archie, and Jughead just when Veronica was walking over with four milkshakes and a coffee.
"Ronnie," Archie spoke as Veronica sat down and passed Jughead his coffee and everyone else their milkshakes . "Should I introduce myself to your dad?"
"You've face enough dragons for one night," Veronica shook her head, smiling up at him. "Next time, Archiekins."
Rosemary leaned against Jughead from her spot between him and Betty, her head resting on his chest as she drank her milkshake. His arm was wrapped around her shoulders and his hand rubbed her arm soothingly, the feeling bringing a soft smile to her face.
"So," Betty spoke up. "I guess tonight is a win for the good guys."
"A rare win," Jughead nodded. "But, yes."
"Thanks to you, Betty," Rosemary smiled, leaning away from Jughead so she could pull Betty into another hug. To two girls squeezed each other tightly for a quick moment before pulling away, both reaching back for their milkshakes.
"You okay?" Veronica sked Jughead, snapping him out of his daydream state as he stared out the window.
"I'm here with you guys," Archie nodded as he looked around at his friends. His eyes lingered on Rosemary for a moment, who sent him an encouraging nod from her spot leaned against Jughead's side. "So, yeah. I think so."
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Rosemary had asked Betty if she wanted her to stay behind and clean the diner, but Betty had told her to go home and rest. So, Rosemary went home with Jughead and decided to spend the night at his dad's trailer so they could spend some much needed quality time together after not really speaking to one another for the past few days.
The first thing Rosemary did when she got inside was rush to the bedroom where Jughead's clothes were and changed out of the tight shorts and tight T-shirt, instead opting for one of Jughead's 'S' T-shirts and a pair of his sweats. When she stepped outside of the bedroom, she giggled and told Jughead they were twinning since he was wearing a matching 'S' long-sleeve.
"Hungry?" Jughead asked as he took out some food from the fridge.
Rosemary hopped on the kitchen counter and shook her head, decided to just sit and watch as he put together a sandwich. She hummed to the faint music that played from her phone, her legs softly swaying as they hung above the floor. Jughead looked over and smiled at Rosemary, humming along to the song with her and swaying slightly where he stood.
The comfortable silence was broken by Jughead's phone ringing on the counter. He frowned as he picked it up and saw it was coming from an unknown number. It was too late in the night for anyone to just call up Jughead, especially a number he didn't know. He looked up at Rosemary who also had a frown and just shrugged.
"Hello?" Jughead asked as he held the phone of to his ear.
"You went to see Penny Peabody?" FP's voice echoed quietly from the phone. "You asked her for help?"
Jughead looked over his shoulder at Rosemary, who hopped off the counter and made her way over to him. He switched the phone onto speaker so both of them could hear FP through the phone clearly.
"Dad, hey," Jughead spoke into the phone, making his way into the living room with Rosemary hot on his tail. "Uh, yeah, well, we didn't have a choice. Why, is something wrong?"
"Is Ro with you?" Amelia Holland's voice came from the phone, causing Jughead to look at Rosemary in confusion.
"Yeah, mom," Rosemary spoke up, softly taking the phone from Jughead. "I'm here."
Rosemary knew why Amelia and FP sounded so distressed. Going to Penny Peabody was bad news and any long term Serpent knew that. You only went to her if you felt like you had no other choice, but the favors she asked in return were never good. Amelia had warned Rosemary of the snake charmer as soon as she joined the Serpents and made her promise she would never go to Penny for a favor no matter what it was.
"Did you pay her?" FP asked.
"No," Jughead took the phone from Rosemary, standing in front of her so the phone was between them. "She said it was a favor."
"Jughead, Rosemary, listen to me," FP sighed. "Do not contact her again. If she reaches out, don't respond. You do not want to be in bed with a snake charmer."
"But I didn't make a deal with her," Rosemary quickly spoke into the phone. "She shouldn't contact me."
"Her favor helped out me and FP, Ro," Amelia's voice came from the speaker. "Which means it helped you too. That deal falls over you now as well. You should know better."
"Yeah, but, mom-"
Rosemary's voice stopped when the sound of the phone hanging up came through the speaker, the call abruptly ending. The blonde felt her anger flare in her and let out a groan, sitting down on the living room couch and letting her head fall into her hands as she took deep, calming breaths.
"Ro," Jughead sighed as he cautiously sat next to Rosemary on the couch. "I never wanted you to get involved in this."
"Well I am, Jughead," Rosemary snapped, her head quickly turning as she glared at him. "Penny doesn't care. This is exactly why I told you not to go to her!"
"I thought we talked this out back at the diner," Jughead frowned as he watched Rosemary stand up and start pacing in the living room.
Occasionally, her hands would run through her hair, forgetting that she had a ponytail in. After the third time of her fingers getting stuck, she hastily ripped the hair tie out and put it on her wrist. Jughead watched as her eyes darted around, her mind whirling as she tried to think of a way out of the deal with Penny.
"I finally get Penny off my ass and I get dragged right back in," Rosemary rambled, her voice shaky as her pace quickened. "M-Maybe we can skip down for a few days?"
"Ro, w-what?"
"Penny has to forget about it eventually, right?" Rosemary continued as if she didn't even hear him. "W-We can go stay with my aunt in Greendale for a while and once things die down with FP and my mom we can come back and she'll probably forget about the whole thing. We'll take our bikes and leave our phones so no one knows where we are a-and-"
"Ro!"
Jughead quickly stood up, his sudden movement snapped Rosemary out of her pace as she froze and stared at him. He made his way over to her and pulled her into a tight embrace, pulling her close against his chest as he stood there in a chilling silence. The only noise in the whole trailer was the soft music still playing from her phone on the kitchen counter and the hum of the trailer's radiator.
"We're not skipping town," Jughead reassured Rosemary, his hand running through her knotted blonde hair. "We'll be fine. Let's just lay low for a while and I'm sure Penny will forget all about it."
Rosemary knew Jughead was just trying to make her feel better, but he had no idea what he was talking about. She had done favors for Penny before and they were anything but pleasant. Her and Sweet Pea had once been out of town for days doing one of Penny's "favors", though they just told everyone they were going on a summer road trip.
"Promise me something," Rosemary finally spoke, her voice just above a whisper. "If Penny contacts you and asks you for a favor, you tell her I'll do it."
"What?" Jughead asked, pulling back so he could looked down to see if Rosemary was kidding. When he saw the seriousness in her face, his features tugged into a frown. "No, Ro. We're in this together, go it? If Penny contacts me about a favor, or contacts you about a favor, we do it together."
Rosemary hesitated, her eyes meeting Jugheads as she thought about what to say. When no words came to mind, she finally gave him a small nod in agreement. This seemed to be what Jughead was looking for because his frown melted away to relief and he leaned down, pressed a soft and gentle kiss on her lips.
"No more arguing," Jughead whispered as he pressed another kiss on Rosemary's lips. "Now come on. I'm hungry and I didn't finish making my sandwich."
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This is a long one but I wanted Retro Night to be its own chapter because I feel like it's a very important episode that sets up a lot for the rest of season two.
Also I'm brainstorming some ideas for an Archie story but I don't know if I want to start another story on top of this one cause I feel like I'll just overwhelm myself with work and I won't be motivated to do either stories because it'll be so much Riverdale I'd have to watch and write but I don't know.
I have a basic idea of who the character would be but I don't have any storyline ideas or how I'd fit her in so if there are things you've always wanted to see in a Archie story then lmk.
:/