Words Are Hard

#5 - A Non-Traditional Christmas - Choni

After becoming a regular at the bar Toni Topaz works at, Cheryl Blossom invites her over to her penthouse. What Cheryl doesn't expect is to instead be invited over to Toni's house for Christmas, where she meets her very non-traditional family.

Prompt: Holiday Quotes
"Where's all of your holiday spirit, you Scrooge?"
"There's no way I'm letting you spend Christmas alone."
"You don't put marshmallows in your hot chocolate?! YOU HEATHEN!"
"Your welcome to kiss whomever you wa-"

** For any confusion, Toni is in a poly relationship with Fangs. **

(This can also be found in my Choni One Shots collection)

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Toni was wiping down the bar, thankful that she didn't have very many customers. It was Christmas Eve, after all. She had every notion to shut down early, as long as there weren't too many sad people wanting drinks because their family disowned them, or because they disowned their family.

That's the usual story she was told around every holiday. Of course, Toni was extremely empathetic, and sometimes she really hated that trait. She grew tired of hearing Bob's sad story about his dad every holiday. Or about Jake and his ex wife. Or Barbra and her kids who didn't talk to her.

The bell above the bar door jingled and Toni expected it to be Daryl, here to give his sob story, but she was pleasantly surprised to see her new favorite customer.

"Hey, Red," Toni smiled as the woman took a seat on her usual bar stool. "You want your usual?"

"Make it a double."

Toni raised an eyebrow. "Rough day?"

"Something like that."

Toni turned her back to make the woman's drink. She grabbed a shaker and combined the whiskey, bitters and ice before shaking it all together. She poured everything into a glass and topped it with three maraschino cherries, with some of the juice for flavor.

"Here ya go," Toni placed the glass in front of the redhead, receiving a raised eyebrow in return.

"Three cherries instead of the usual two?"

Toni shrugged and tossed her hand towel onto her shoulder. "You're having a bad day. Thought it might cheer you up." She didn't know much about the woman sitting across from her, other than she was a business owner. Toni didn't know what kind of business, or even the woman's name.

The redhead let out a sad laugh before looking at Toni with glossy eyes. "How awful is it that I'm in a bar to drink away my sorrows on Christmas Eve? Shouldn't I be at home, by a warm fire, doing whatever people do on the holidays?"

Toni sighed and rested her hands on the bar. "Well, you're not alone here. You've got me, Bob, Jake and Barbara." She hoped the slight teasing would lighten the mood.

"How comforting," the redhead said with a roll of her eyes. She had finished eating the cherries and brought the glass up to her beautiful red lips.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it. I'm here if you wanna talk. I'm basically a cheap therapist. People talk to me about their problems all the time."

"I just hate this time of year."

"Hey, where's all of your holiday spirit, you Scrooge?" Toni lifted an eyebrow with a smirk on her face, getting a playful eye roll from the redhead.

"If you must know, it's probably somewhere in the year 2000 when I was still young enough to enjoy Christmas." She took another sip of her drink and stirred it with the little straw Toni had placed in it.