You Shine (Choni)

5- The Favour

Toni's POV

Cheryl's mother was a nightmare. I understood Cheryl's coldness now. She'd clearly never gotten any love from her mom. To be fair, neither had I, and perhaps that was why I kept pushing her. I wish someone had done that to me, and they never had, so I understood Cheryl far better than anyone else. 

She sat opposite me, sipping her coffee and casting quick, worried looks at the door every so often.

"Cheryl, we probably should talk about us too, at some point," I said, biting my lip. I was praying she was going to be easier to uncover now that I'd gotten past the surface, but I had the feeling it would take a while to get her to open up. 

"Can we do it after school?" She asked. "We've probably got to leave about now if we want to make it on time."

Crap. I'd totally forgotten about school. With the rescue and having her over at my home, I'd assumed it was at least the weekend. 

I nodded, and left money for both our meals on the table. 

"You're not paying," Cheryl argued, stopping me from getting up.

I smiled. "As if you have any money on you right now, doll. Let me do something nice for you. I promise you don't have to do anything for it."

Grudgingly, she let me up. 

"Wait, one last thing," she protested as I stood opposite her. "I have a favour to ask. I'm not exactly out to anyone yet, and the only people who know about us right now are Veronica and Kevin. I've already asked them not to tell anyone, and I would really appreciate it if we could pretend for now that we're just friends."

I sucked in a deep breath. "You don't do things small, do you Blossom?"

She looked at me with desperation in her eyes. "Please, Toni."

I nodded slowly. "Fine. We're friends. Nothing more. Also, when did you find the time to talk to Kevin and Veronica?"

"I texted them from your phone last night," she replied, flipping her hair over my shoulder.

"Er, babe, how did you get into my phone?" I asked, suspiciously.

She bit her lip and smiled. "Hard to believe, but your passcode is in the same direction as my passcode, so I guessed quite easily."

"My passcode is..."

"...my birthday," she finished. "And mine is yours. We are disgusting."

I smiled, blushing a little. "Let's do it. It might be good fun sneaking around for a while."

Outside, we hopped back onto my motorbike, Cheryl's hands tightly around my waist. Definitely tighter than last time. I rode us to school, just about in time before the bell could ring. She looked around to check nobody was watching before kissing me tenderly, pulling me in close to her. I breathed in in her scent, her hair, holding her as tightly as I could. I could feel her own heart beating against her chest, in time with the fast rhythm of mine. 

It ended too soon. She pulled away, about to flounce off, before I stopped her.

"Not that I don't love it on you, baby, but you might want to lose the jacket."

She looked down, and quickly pulled off the jacket, wrapping it around my shoulders. She squeezed my hand one last time, before disappearing into the school, her red hair bouncing about her shoulders. I smiled to myself, and locked up my bike. Not that anyone would try to steal that heap of dust anyway. I walked into the building after her, but a couple of minutes late. Not that anyone would care. 

In the common room, I plunked myself down next to her. Everyone knew we were friends, and that she was staying at my trailer, but Cheryl wasn't out to anybody, and even I had only really told Jughead and Betty so far. As far as anyone but Veronica and Kevin knew, we were just close friends.

The day passed uneventfully. I spent the whole day doing what I'd been doing for the past few weeks. Staring at Cheryl. In a non creepy way. She was just stunningly attractive to look at, especially when concentrating. Her head bent down, loose ginger curls falling down beside her face, her thick eyelashes catching the light. Every now and again, she caught me looking and stuck out her tongue at me across the room, while I winked back. 

On the way back to the common room during lunch, Veronica grabbed me and pulled me aside.

"What's going on with you and Cheryl?" She whispered. "I got a message from her begging not to tell anyone about the kiss. Are you two just gonna be friends?"

I sighed. "Honestly, I don't know. I know Cheryl's reputation is strictly anti-Southside, and she's definitely not out to anyone yet, so maybe she wants to keep it on the down low while we figure out what we want."

She looked at me suspiciously. "Do you know what you want?" she asked.

"Yeah. But I'm not sure if she does, which might just break my heart. We're having the talk tonight."

She smiled supportively. "I'm sure you'll find a way. From what I saw at the nunnery, she's definitely into you. A lot."

I grinned. "She better be."

Veronica looped her arm around mine, and led me back into the common room. Cheryl looked up at us suspiciously. Veronica jumped onto Archie's lap, while I gingerly sat down next to Cheryl, trying not to tremble from butterflies too much. She turned to me.

"Have you figured out what to do about the family situation?" I asked her, making sure nobody was watching before gently resting my hand over hers. 

"Well, Toni, If revenge is a dish best served cold, my mother and uncle Claudius better prepare themselves for a polar vortex," she replied, glaring into the space in front of her. I smiled at her bloodlust. A woman after my own heart. Then she caught sight of Kevin across the room, and pulled herself out of her thoughts of vengeance. 

"But, there's something even more pressing than that," she said, jumping up hurriedly. I let my eyes follow her as she strode over to Kevin. From where I was, I could hear her talking about Carrie the musical. I sighed and fell back into the sofa, smiling.