Hey im back. hows life for you guys? id love to know since mines the most boring its ever been lol.
yeah right - Joji
The rain seemed to get heavier with each new road they took and Cheryl absolutely relished it. She had dreamed of just being outside during the rain but her mother had always locked the doors to the house or ended up striking her if she came back home soaked, and so she stopped enjoying it. Until today that is.
Toni remained silent during the ride, not once stopping and moving so smoothly through the roads which Cheryl had never been on. The slight bumps causing her to hold onto Toni tighter and she could practically feel Toni chuckle.
As Cheryl felt the rain continue to poor onto her skin and down her neck she never felt more at peace. They ended up slowing down and coming to the outside of what looked like an abandoned building. She got off the motorbike, removing the helmet and looking around confused.
"Where are we? This is literally an abandoned building."
Toni began walking towards it gesturing for Cheryl to follow her who silently did so. Toni knocked on the door and a large muscular tanned boy walked out, a snake tattoo clearly visible on his neck.
"Yo Toni what's up your shift isn't till night what are you doing here." He said with a deep voice.
"Hey Sweet Pea, I thought you wouldn't mind if Cheryl and I went up to the top and sat down for a bit? Oh yeah this is Sweet Pea my brother." she said as she looked towards Cheryl with a smile.
"Oh hello."
"Hi Cheryl what's up?" he said with a grin.
"Okay that's enough getting to know each other we're gonna go." She said as she walked past him with Cheryl following.
It wasn't an abandoned building after all. It was a large space with at least 50 men sitting down on different chairs and near a bar drinking, laughing and watching a baseball game on TV occasionally giving shouts of cheers or moans. Cheryl looked around and then looked back at Toni; the small girl looked so out of place but so at home at the same time. She jumped over the bar towards the bartender and grabbed two red bulls out of the bottom cooler. And jumping back over with agility came to stop near Cheryl once more.
"Come on there's a place up top we can sit and chill for a bit. That is if you want to?" she said with slight concern.
"Yeah sure that's fine." Cheryl mumbled, still slightly intimidated by her surroundings.
They went towards a small flight of stairs that creaked with every step they took. Opening the door Toni took her over to a small couch where they both sat down as Toni opened the can for Cheryl.
"So this is where you work?" Cheryl asked.
"Yeah. It looks like a dump but this place and the people here are my home. They're my family honestly and I can't think of my life without them there. I was in a pretty dark place for a long time and they helped me escape."
"Must be nice to have so many people care about you." She whispered to herself.
Toni looked towards her, as if she was trying to read through her.
"Cheryl can you at least tell me if that happened at school?" she said gesturing towards her cheek.
Cheryl felt her brain go into overdrive. She didn't want to dump all her problems onto someone and so she decided to keep it short and sweet. She started fiddling with her can as Toni stayed silent.
"Was it some dick at school?"
"No I just- I fell okay can we please not talk about this anymore?" she spat.
"Hey okay okay I won't talk about it anymore just know that you can tell me anything. I'm a pretty non-judgemental person shockingly enough." She said softly.
Cheryl stayed quiet trying to control her breathing as much as she could. She reached into her pocket and realised that she left her cigarettes in her car. Panicking she put her head in her hands feeling the itch of her addiction come on once again.
"Everything okay?"
"I forgot my cigarettes in the damn car." She groaned.
"Hang on a sec Sweet Pea must have some lying around here relax okay? I'll go get them."
Cheryl nodded, her head still in her hands.
Toni walked towards a corner and looked around eventually finding a pack of shitty branded cigarettes and walked back, taking one out of the packet and lighting it before inhaling once and giving it to the redhead. She muttered thanks and leaned her head back to rest on the torn up couch as she took a deep inhale closing her eyes as she felt herself relax. She continued to smoke with her eyes closed before she looked up and saw Toni staring at her. Toni realised shed been caught and coughed slightly as she took a cigarette out of the packet and lit one up, walking towards the small window staring out at the cloudy sky.
"So what's your story Cheryl? Where are you from, what do your parents do? Any siblings?" She said.
Cheryl faulted slightly. Not sure how much information she should give the pink-haired girl. But she decided it didn't really matter anymore.
"Well, born and raised in this precious dump," she said as Toni scoffed and chuckled slightly nodding her head. "And my parents own the maple business that practically runs this town."
"Funny, never liked maple syrup that much." Toni whispered as she glanced towards Cheryl who smiled and nodded.
"And yeah I have, well had a twin brother. Umm, he just uh went missing last year and his body was found floating on Sweetwater river. He was shot in the head and they ruled it a suicide."
The whole time she had mentioned this, Toni had looked towards her in complete shock.
"I'm so sorry Cheryl. I don't even know what to say. Everything I could say just seems so trivial in the long run."
"Don't be sorry for something that wasn't your fault."
"Do you think it was a suicide?"
"No. but no one will believe the psycho twin sister."
"I believe you."
Cheryl looked up at her in disbelief. "Seriously?"
"Heck yeah. Riverdale is a fucked up town and anything is possible. There's definitely something more sinister that must have been involved."
"That's exactly what I've been saying! I was at the forest almost every night trying to see if I could find anyth-"
"Cheryl what the fuck? That is literally the centre of Ghoulies territory and you're telling me you were out there searching for information at night?" Toni practically screeched. She walked towards Cheryl standing above her. Cheryl got up staring her right in the eyes. Toni was shorter than her but her presence was more overpowering, even while Cheryl was towering over her; it was obvious that she was more intimidating.
"Toni I'm alive aren't I? A bunch of shitty pathetic excuses of human beings won't be able to intimidate me. I've been through too much fucked up things I don't fucking care what happens to me anymore I just want to get to the bottom of this shit." She said angrily.
Toni sighed staring at her worriedly.
"Cheryl I am in a literal gang and I'm afraid of going to the edge of the forest without backup. This isn't a joke. I get that you want to know what actually went down but getting yourself potentially killed in the process really won't help either." She said softly.
Cheryl sighed sitting back down and flicking her cigarette on the small ashtray beside her. Toni went to sit beside her, resting her elbow on the sofa as she took a drag of her cigarette, staring at Cheryl as if anticipating her next move.
How do I even begin to explain my situation to her?
Cheryl's phone began to vibrate lightly in her pocket. She reached out from under herself and grabbed it. She sighed frustratingly as she read veronica's message. She would be spending the night at Archie's. Cheryl scoffed. Of course she would get back with him, not knowing what's good for her and what wasn't.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah its fine my friends ditching me to spend time with a stupid boy."
"That sucks. Well you can spend time with me today so stop stressing." She said with a smile.
"Yeah you're right. When do you have to start your shift?"
"I still have a couple of hours. What do you want to do?"
Cheryl just shrugged her shoulders staring at the smoke floating around her.
"Well we could always hang out at my place a bit if you don't like it here? But my place isn't any better."
Maybe she doesn't want to hang out with you. Hell she would probably get rid of you if she didn't have so much pity on you. She thought to herself.
Before she could overthink any further, Toni grabbed her hand resting on her leg causing her to look towards her.
"Hey. You really do space out sometimes don't you." She said, smiling softly.
Cheryl scoffed. "Bad habit I guess."
"Come on, let's go to mine. We can just listen to music and chill if you want? That is of course if you want to. Fuck I've just been leading you around and haven't even asked if you want to actually hang out with me. I'm sorry." She said shaking her head and getting up.
"What? No of course not! This has honestly been great and I – uh really enjoy spending time with you I guess." Cheryl said as she got up to, rubbing her hands nervously together.
Toni smirked slightly, and for some reason Cheryl just stared at her. Her gaze flicking to the slight curl of her lips. "Well in that case, your carriage awaits." She said bowing slightly causing Cheryl to giggle and shake her head.
She had never felt so at ease. And the thought scared her. How was it possible to feel so comfortable around someone who was practically a stranger?
Suddenly they heard loud footsteps walking up the stairs. Cheryl looked at Toni in confusion. And before she could comprehend her reaction, Sweet Pea came tumbling in with wide eyes.
"Toni! Please don't do something stupid. It's your uncle. He's here with a bunch of ghoulies and he's asking for you. We told him you weren't here and hid your bike. Just don't come down whatever happens okay?" he said frantically before shutting the door as he thumped back down the stairs.
Cheryl felt her heart beat increase as she looked towards Toni. She was fuming. Her nostrils flared slightly as she stared at the door, practically battling with herself.
"Toni?"
Toni whipped her head towards Cheryl as realization dawned her. "Fuck Cheryl I have to get you out of here it's not safe."
"What? Why what's wrong? Why are ghoulies in this area?" she said hurriedly as Toni took her hand leading her towards the door. Cheryl stopped in her tracks pulling on Toni's hand causing her to turn around.
"We are not going out there! He literally just said we should stay here!" She hissed.
"I have get you out I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to you. Fuck I shouldn't have brought you here Cheryl. I'm so so sorry. Now we have to go. It's gonna be fine you just have to stay quiet."
Cheryl let out a shaky breath before she nodded. What had she gotten herself into?