Dolores Ayorinde and Richard Jerimovich had grown up together.

Saving him from getting jumped, the two quickly became friends. Sure, Richie was an asshole and he got on Dolores' nerves a lot (even giving her that stupid nickname, Dolly, which made everyone else they knew call her that) but she loved him. He was a lot like her brother from another mother... and father. He was always there for her when she needed him the most, supporting her when she went to culinary school and started her very own bakery years later. And Richie was her most loyal taste tester whenever she brought out something new.

Everyone assumed the both of them would get married and live happily ever after. I mean, they were that close. But they didn't.

Richie got married and had a daughter with another woman, and Dolores ended up getting married to another man but she wasn't lucky to have a child. Her husband, Anthony, had started out as being kind and loving and everything Dolores could've ever asked for. But over the years, he had grown jealous of Dolores' success and tried to control her. He barely let her hang out with her friends or family, especially Richie. As you probably guessed, Dolores endured six years of a terrible marriage before she finally left Anthony and divorced him. Richie's own marriage to Tiffany fell apart and they got divorced afterwards.

Now on their own all over again, the two best friends rely on each other. Especially after their close friend, Mikey Berzatto, kills himself. And as the two of them try to grapple with the loss and the arrival of his younger brother, Carmy, who decides to take over The Beef, they begin to wonder if the answers to their questions has been within them all along.

Anna Diop ✷ Dolores 'Dolly' Ayorinde

colman domingo anthony richards / teyonah parris claire knight / sarah shahi rayna namazi / caitlin fitzgerald penelope 'penny' hoffman / karrueche tran valerie luong / adria arjona lucia 'lucy' martinez / mimi keene abigail 'abby' clearwater / jesse williams saul ambrose / paul pescal quentin valentine

final notes...

✷ i've been wanting to do a richie fic for the longest and i finally have a plot, thank you god. and also thanks to the movie brown sugar for giving me a little inspo lmao

✷ anna diop is DROP DEAD GORGEOUS and i need to see her used more on this hellsite

✷ dolly and richie are a mix of a slow burn and fast burn so kind of like... a medium burn. they love each other but they're both dealing with a lot, both of them have been divorced, and both of them are scared to ruin the friendship

✷ this won't follow the show very much since realistically, dolly has her own bakery and she won't be involved with the crew. but she'll make appearances here and there. this fic is solely based on dolly and richie

✷ but will dolly also help out marcus and be like a mentor to him at times? hell yeah

✷ y'all... be prepared to hate anthony. he seriously sucks ass.

✷ richie's character development tho... *chef's kiss*

✷ this story belongs to me and only me so please do not steal and plagiarize it or else i'll be very pissed but also very sad, so just be kind please.

✷ this story contains mentions of sexual content (there's not gonna be any smut whatsoever but it will be mentioned), violence, discussions of mental illness, emotional abuse, shitty families, etc.