Heaven is a place on Earth.

Heaven is a place on Earth named Riverdale.

More specifically, heaven is a street on Riverdale that runs parallel to the Sweetwater river, on which, currently Toni happens to be driving her bike on, with Cheryl Blossom's arms wrapped around her.

Let her state that again for the record: Cheryl Blossom aka Cheryl Bombshell aka The most beautiful girl in the world has her arms around her.

If Toni could think right now (she can't) she would most likely be thanking Betty Cooper for giving her the idea that has her floating on top of the world. It basically all started with something stupid they were discussing as they all sat together in the Whyte Wyrm at night, eating burgers. One of the guys had needed advice on how to get a girl to like him back, and he was being bombarded with the worst ideas ever.

"Dude, you have to serenade her, man!" a guy had called out from somewhere beside her "Sing her an amazing song, something like….."

"Bruno Mars' Just the way you are."

"No, no. It has to be A Thousand Years by Christina Perri."

"Um, no, definitely Can't help falling in love by good old Mister Presley, y'all."

She, Betty and Jughead had given each other amused looks, while Sweet Pea looked on in increasing disgust.

"Seriously?" he'd asked them "Just ask her out, go for dinner at Pop's, if she wants to, then bone."

At her questioning look, he continued "What? Consent is sexy."

She had just thrown her hands up, and smiled.

"Probably, a lunch date in a park?" Fangs asked "Like a picnic or something. I've heard girls like that shit."

"Oh, oh," Betty had suddenly piped up from under Jughead's arm "Take her on a bike ride."

When he'd stared at her inquisitively, she had blushed "What? Guys on bikes are sexy."

And that would have been it, with Toni forgetting all about it, but the next day when she was, as usual, dragging her bike alongside Cheryl, laughing at something the redhead had said, it had suddenly occurred to her.

"Hey," she asked her, stopping the bike suddenly "Have you ever been on a picnic?"

A faraway glint of nostalgia had come in Cheryl's eyes "When I was a kid. Jason and I used to…..well, it used to mostly be his idea. He would suddenly grab my arm, and pull me along to some strange place where we could just play ball or something, and we'd have tiny picnics. It was…..nice."

"How long has it been?"

"Like, about six seven years, at least?"

"Okay," she had replied "Okay."

"What okay?" Cheryl demanded.

"Uh," she had fumbled, because this was a little awkward "Would you, like to go to a picnic right now?"

Cheryl's eyes were wide and incredulous, and okay, maybe an impulsive decision wasn't that good of an idea right now.

"Please?" she'd added.

"How?"

"Well," she had spoken, slowly, softly, trying not to startle the girl in front of her "It would involve you getting up on my bike."

"Well, then, Antoinette. I'm certainly not doing that so let us resume our walk."

"Come on, Cheryl! Where is your spirit of adventure?"

"Um, I don't know? Probably cowering in fear from that giant beast you have?" Cheryl deadpanned, eyebrows raised.

"Nothing would happen to you, I promise. You would be completely, totally safe, it's a Toni Topaz guarantee."

"Well, forgive me, but that doesn't seem like an adequate measure of safety to me."

"Please, Cheryl," Toni had begged then, looking imploringly at Cheryl, trying to get her eyes to look like Betty's when she wanted Jughead to help her with some new project "Don't you trust me?"

And Cheryl Blossom, the most stubborn person in the world, had gone a little red around the neck, and after a minute of staring into her eyes, nodded slightly.

They get off the bike after a fifteen minute ride, and she immediately misses the feel of Cheryl's arms wrapped around her midsection. It's a tiny part of the woods, and the spot Cheryl picks is just underneath a giant spruce tree, not too muddy, not too sunny. Toni sets down the blanket she had stopped her bike in the middle of the journey to get, and carefully places on top of it, all the things she had bought from a shop in the middle of the highway. Cheryl watches her curiously, quiet as she sets down a humongous bag of chips, a bunch of Mars bars, and finally a bottle of Coke. The last item earns her a raised eyebrow from the girl.

"What?" she asks, defensively.

"Expected you to be a Scotch kind of girl, to be honest," Cheryl replies, smiling a little bit.

She ducks her head, makes a show of looking right and left, then leans in, seriously "Okay, don't tell anyone, but I actually don't like alcohol that much. Coke is what gives me my kicks."

There is a moment of silence, and then Cheryl suddenly bursts out laughing, and it is, without doubt, the most beautiful sound Toni has ever heard. It is a high, clear sound that rings in the trees and even the small sliver of light has been sneaking in through the leaves looks brighter by its sheer radiance. She has never heard the girl laugh before, and this small display of joy lightens up her heart, brings her the peace she hasn't felt in ages. She kind of wants to hear it forever.

Cheryl finally stops laughing after a minute though her eyes still sparkle with mirth, and Toni feigns offence "You weren't supposed to laugh at me."

"You're so cute," Cheryl says, and it's quiet, and Toni knows she did not mean to say it out loud, knows it just came out of mouth because her usual filter was down, knows that if her knowledge of Cheryl Blossom is anything to go by, the girl will probably panic now. So, she pretends like she hasn't heard it, and starts a new topic of conversation. Cheryl seems relieved, and they move on to other, lighter matters.

If she were being completely honest, then Toni would say that she doesn't like this feeling very much at times. It's strange, and though she has liked other guys and girls before, it has never felt like this. It's never been this intense before, this need to see and be around Cheryl all the time, to a point where she keeps making up ridiculous excuses to go and talk to her. Fangs and Sweet Pea may laugh, but it scares her. This craving terrifies her, because she isn't used to feeling this vulnerable. Isn't used to second-guessing everything she does or says. Isn't used to having her smiles depend on the presence of this girl, this girl, this mere mortal who has so many issues she makes the rest of the population of Riverdale seem positively joyful by comparison.

And usually Toni wouldn't touch issues with a barge pole. Usually she would get it on with a stranger in the bathroom at the Whyte Wyrm, and forget about them, and not get attached, because her life has too many problems for her to have to worry about extra ones. But with Cheryl, it's different. With Cheryl, everything is different. She looks at her and she wants her to be happy. She sees her sad, and she wants to take her pain away. She wants to help her deal with the demons that haunt her, to stand beside her when there's a storm coming.

"What are you thinking?" Cheryl's voice floats from somewhere to her right, breaking her out of her train of thought. They'd been talking for about an hour, and when music came up suddenly, they'd gotten into an argument about the merits of their favorite songs, and so, in an attempt to "Enlighten the shit out of your Northside damaged hearing", Toni had put on music and just spaced out for a bit.

The opening bars of Simple Song starts playing, when Toni shakes her head, and shrugs "Nothing in particular. I just…..oh, I like this song."

Cheryl squints at her in the "I know what you're doing kind of way", but she just gets up, and starts swaying to the music slowly.

"What are you…doing?" her companion looks adorably confused, as if she has never heard of the concept of dancing before in her life.

"It's called dancing, you peasant," she teases, and Cheryl rolls her eyes at her.

"That's not dancing," she says, nose turned up.

"Sure it is," Toni retorts, arms up in the air like she's holding an invisible partner in her arms, and makes exaggerated movements, looking carefully at Cheryl as she does so. Sure enough, the redhead looks physically pained. One minute of her ridiculous dance and she's getting up.

"Ugh," she mutters, before she stands up right in front of Toni, and stills her. The movement brings them right up close, close enough that Toni can see the tiny freckles on Cheryl's nose, can see her face in extra focus.

"Okay," Cheryl continues, directing her. She maneuvers Toni's hand so it is on her waist, and the other hand is in hers "Now you move like this," she gently guides her feet in rhythm to the music, and that is when it suddenly hits Toni that they're dancing. They're dancing. Cheryl Blossom is right in front of her, chest to chest, eyes staring into her own, hand in hers, and they're dancing.

"You're dancing with me, Cheryl," Toni whispers to her in the middle of the song.

"Thank you for pointing that out, Captain Obvious," the girl in her arms snarks "By the way, you're really not as sneaky as you like to think you are, Toni Topaz."

"What sneaky plan are you talking about?" she asks, smug smile in place "You mean the one where I pretended to dance horribly so you would show me how it's done, thus resulting in us dancing together?"

"Yes," Cheryl replies, primly "And I saw through it. So it failed. Ha."

"Um, Cheryl?"

"Yes?"

"You're still dancing with me."

"Oh, shut up."