The Sun and Her Moon | CHONI |

Nine

They got outside they went around the back to the parking lot. 'Cheryl wanna take your car?' Veronica asked. 'Sure' she said leading the little boy and the women to her car. 'This is your car?' Toni asked 'it's impressive'. 'It was my Nanas, us Blossoms have a thing for Red' she said opening the door so Tommy and Toni could climb in the back while her and Veronica sat in the front. Once everyone was buckled in Cheryl started the engine and put the car in drive. The zoo was a thirty minute drive from Pops and Tommy didn't stop staring out of the window. Everything was so new to him, so big and busy, he's never been to a zoo before so the excitement was buzzing through his body. 'What animal are you looking forward to seeing the most Tommy?' Veronica asked turning around in her seat. He brought his finger to his chin in thought. 'Hmm a crocodile! Snap snap snap' he shouted. 'A crocodile? That's a good choice' Veronica smiled. 'Cheryl what's your favourite?' the little boy smiled. 'A lion because they have red hair like me' Cheryl smiled looking in the rear view mirror. 'Wow a lion?' Tommy smiled as Cheryl nodded. 'Ver... Veron...' Tommy started but quickly got frustrated as he couldn't pronounce Veronicas name. 'Veronica' Toni tried to encourage him but he still couldn't get it out. 'Just call me Ronnie' the brunette smiled. The small boy smiled and nodded. 'What's your favourite animal Ronnie?'. The woman pretended to think about it before answering. 'I like the butterfly exhibit, there's lots of pretty butterflies'. Tommy chuckled 'Mommy's scared of butterflies'. 'What? Why?' Cheryl moved her eyes to Toni through the mirror as she laughed. Toni could listen to that laugh all day. 'They creep me out okay?' Toni grumbled as she turned to tickle the little boy.

Soon enough Cheryl pulled the car into the parking lot while Toni turned to Tommy. 'Okay listen before we get out you stay close to Mommy, Cheryl or Ronnie okay? You must always be holding a hand and you don't run off'. He nodded 'okay Mommy'. Cheryl and Veronica got out first, Cheryl opening the door for Tommy and Toni to climb out. Of course Tommy grabbed Cheryl's hand. 'Looks like Tommy's picked his zoo partner' Toni laughed. 'Guess it's me and you T' Veronica smiled. 'Yeah it's a good job you're here or I'd be third wheeling' Toni laughed. Toni felt like her and Veronica had known each other forever, she was positive they'd be good friends. Veronica made her way to the ticket stand leaving Toni, Cheryl and Tommy. 'Thank you for letting us join' Toni smiled. 'It's my pleasure' Cheryl smiled genuinely this time, trying to relax a little bit. For some reason Toni made Cheryl feel on edge, not in a bad way but she didn't want to make a fool of herself.

'Okay we're set' Veronica said holding up the tickets 'and look at this' she looked at Tommy holding up a badge with a crocodile on it. 'Woooow thank you Ronnie!' he said excitedly as Veronica clipped it on to his t-shirt. 'Okay let's go' Veronica said leading the way through the gates. The zoo was huge and they had a lot of animals to explore through the day. The first lot of animals they saw were small, such as meerkats and tortoises. Tommy spent an even amount of time at each enclosure as he listen intensely to Cheryl who was reading the information to him from the boards. Toni thought it was the cutest thing and so did Veronica. While Cheryl was distracted with Tommy Veronica decided to get to know Toni better. 'So Toni?' Veronica said pulling Toni's attention from Cheryl who was explaining the animals to her son 'tell me something about you'. 'Not really much to tell, Tommy and I have just moved here from an abusive relationship. Finally we've found a place where we can be happy' she smiled. 'I'm glad to hear you're happy, so I guess you're just finding your feet then'. 'Yeah everything's working out for the better. It's nice to have met new people already though, being a single parent can be lonely sometimes' Toni shrugged. 'I get that but you've got new friends now' Veronica smiled 'here put your number in' the brunette passed over her phone so Toni could enter her number before handing it back. 'I've sent you a text so now you have my number too'. 'Thanks Veronica' Toni said pulling out her phone before sliding it back in her pocket.

'What's going on?' Cheryl eyed Veronica warily. 'Toni and I are just exchanging phone numbers so we can stay in touch' Veronica shrugged. 'Oh okay, be careful Toni it's hard to get her to shut up once she's started talking' Cheryl smirked. 'Shut up, don't worry I'm not gonna steal your girl, come on Tommy' Veronica said taking Tommy's hand leaving Cheryl and Toni stunned at what she had just said. Cheryl was going to kill her later. 'Sorry about her' Cheryl said looking anywhere but Toni 'she likes to push my buttons by saying the first thing that comes to her mind'. 'No problem' Toni said awkwardly. 'Shall we?' Cheryl gestured to following Veronica. 'Yeah' Toni nodded not saying another word. 'Mommy look' Tommy said pointing at the monkeys. 'Oh yeah little monkeys just like you' she grabbed hold of her son and threw him in the air as she tickled him. He giggled shouting for help from Cheryl and Veronica, when she placed him back down on the ground he wrapped his arms around his moms legs in a hug before pulling away and looking back up at the monkeys.