The day Sweet Pea got his wisdom teeth out, Cheryl and Toni drove the boys over to the dentist. Fangs insisted on waiting during the procedure, but the girls decided to go grab some food from Pop's to take back, and a milkshake for Sweet Pea. They sat with Fangs for five minutes before a dental assistant came in with a clipboard. "Okay, you can come see him now. He's still pretty loopy, though."
Toni came in first, recording on her phone. "Hey, Sweets. How are you feeling?"
"I'm tired," he mumbled. He had gauze stuffed on both sides of his mouth.
Cheryl walked in shyly. "Hi," she waved at Sweet Pea. He drowsily waved back. Then Fangs came in.
"Oh, see, here's my boyfriend," he pointed at Fangs, who stood frozen in the doorway.
"I see," the dentist chuckled. "He told me all about you."
Fangs turned bright red. Everyone was staring at him, except for Sweet Pea, who was inspecting his hands. It was quiet, until Sweet Pea slowly whispered, "I can't feel my face."
"Yeah, it'll wear off. Don't worry," Fangs reassured him. "Oh jeez, it's gonna hurt when that medicine wears off."
"What?" Sweet Pea was a bit worried. "I don't want it to hurt," he mumbled. He was still clearly out of it.
They stayed for ten minutes and then came the hard part: getting Sweet Pea out to the car in one piece. It was manageable, but a bit difficult. He finally slumped down in the passenger seat, next to Cheryl. He immediately spotted the bag from Pop's. "I want a burger," he whined.
"You can't, only soft foods. We brought you a shake, do you want that?" Cheryl handed him a to-go cup with a vanilla milkshake in it.
"No, I like chocolate," Sweet Pea grumbled.
"Okay then," Cheryl shook her head and pulled out of the parking lot.
The car was silent besides the radio, until yet again the loopy Serpent broke the silence. "Fangs, kiss me," he said. Everyone laughed. "What? Fangs! Kiss me now!"
Fangs leaned over from the back and kissed Sweet Pea's cheek. "No, not like that!"
"I'm not gonna kiss you while you have bloody gauze in your mouth." Fangs just looked very, very embarrassed.
Cheryl was cracking up, while Toni was at least trying not to laugh. Sweet Pea crossed his arms and sighed. The car stopped in front of the trailer, and Fangs hopped out and opened the door for Sweet Pea. He flopped on the couch. "OW!" He yelled.
"Oh, did you hit your face?" Fangs put a hand on Sweet Pea's shoulder.
"Yeah," Sweet Pea mumbled.
"Hey, you can take the gauze out now," Toni looked at her phone, which displayed the time. "It's been a half hour."
Sweet Pea rolled over on his side. The medicine was starting to wear off. "My face hurts," Sweet Pea groaned miserably.
Fangs climbed onto the arm of the sofa and ran his fingers through Sweet Pea's hair. "It's okay," he consoled him.
"Dude, I have no idea how you dealt with being shot when this mouth pain is almost unbearable," Sweet Pea smiled.
"Yeah, well, it did hurt a lot, but it was a bit better because you were always by my side." Fangs pushed Sweet Pea's ridiculously long legs off the couch and sat down next to him.
"Can you kiss me now?" Sweet Pea asked impatiently.
"Fine, but gently, since five seconds ago you were whining about how much your mouth hurt."
Their lips brushed together and Fangs' fingers traced along Sweet Pea's jawline.
Cheryl and Toni were sitting on the armchair in the corner. There wasn't enough room for them both, and Toni was too stubborn to sit on the floor, so she just sat on Cheryl. Frankly, they were both pretty bored. "Uh, guys, we're gonna head home. Just call us if you need anything." Toni waved and left.
Cheryl followed her. "We'll send the videos Toni took." she smiled as she shut the door behind her and ventured out into the cold northeast air.
"Okay, so Thanksgiving's in a week, so we need to find outfits, and figure out what food we're gonna bring, and-" Cheryl ranted before Toni cut her off.
"Calm down, girl. I'll ask Betty if we need to bring anything."
"Maybe a souffle?"
"Cheryl!" Toni laughed. She grabbed her phone off of the counter and texted Betty. "Cheryl wants to know if we should bring anything." she texted.
"I think we're good food-wise. Maybe bring Fangs and Sweet Pea? (per Jug's request)"
"I'll invite them, although Sweet Pea's gonna have to stick to mashed potatoes. He just got his wisdom teeth out. BTW, there's some really funny videos of him."
"Ouch! But seriously, I need to see those videos."
Toni laughed. "What's so funny?" Cheryl slid over next to Toni.
"Well, we might be bringing a few more guests over to the Jones' place."
"Should be fun watching Sweet Pea try and eat anything." Cheryl giggled.
The evening concluded with Cheryl and Toni snuggled up on the sofa, desperate to finish season 3 of Game of Thrones. Cheryl wasn't really paying attention to the TV so much as Toni. The small girl's face was contorted, deep in thought. Her chin was resting on her fist and her other hand was gripping Cheryl's thigh tightly. "Baby, is there something wrong?" Cheryl paused the show.
"What? No, nothing's wrong." Toni's blank stare turned into worried, wrinkled eyes.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Cheryl turned the TV off. "I"m gonna ask again. Is there something wrong?"
"No! I was just thinking about my grandpa, but he's not worth my time anymore. You make it seem so easy, Cheryl. To just erase all the hate." Toni finally spat.
Cheryl extended her arms out. Toni fell into them and they stayed pressed together, listening to each others' heartbeats. "I'm sorry that you had to go through this, Toni. I know it's not easy." Cheryl stroked her girlfriend's pink hair.
"It's okay. We're gonna make it." Toni confirmed.
"I love you," Cheryl buried her face in Toni's shoulder.
"Love you too."
Cheryl picked up Toni, wrapped her legs around her waist, and carried her into the kitchen on her back. Toni sat on the counter while Cheryl dug around in a bag until she pulled out a record. It was a Beatles record, one of Toni's favorites. "If I remember correctly, your favorite is Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, right?"
"You got it," Toni grinned.
Cheryl put the record on, and the song started playing. "Be right back, T." she ran into the bedroom and returned with a book with a picture of them on the front. Toni opened it, and inside were pictures of them throughout the years. A picture of them posing with their high school mascot at a football game, a picture of them in the gym, in their matching cheer uniforms, a picture of Cheryl in her brand-new Southside Serpents jacket. There were photos from every event, from the junior year pool party, graduation, they day they moved into the apartment, Toni's birthday last year down at the river, and some more recent ones, like Cheryl holding Toni, with her giant arm cast. The last page was a picture Toni had taken at the record shop. Tucked in a pocket, was a pendant with a ruby and an opal. "Oh, Cheryl! This is..." Toni gasped. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Tears streamed from her eyes, taking black streaks with them.
Cheryl helped her put it on, and then pulled an identical necklace from her back pocket. Toni blinked away the tears and wrapped her arms around her amazing girlfriend. They pulled away for a second, gazing into each others eyes, and then kissed. It was like their first kiss, except so much more familiar. And so much warmer. It was a pretty harsh contrast in setting and mood, but it was the same feeling of happiness. Still the same sense of Familiarity.
I know this chapter was so, so short and I do apologize for that, but I promise next chapter will be extra long to make up for it! I honestly can't believe how far this story is coming along, originally I planned that it would have 5 chapters, but here we are at the big ten! Yay!
-PeachyyyyBombshell