"You didn't go through with it, did you?" Veronica said. Toni had just walked in the front door, and Veronica had immediately jumped up off the sofa she sat on in the Topaz's living room, waiting for her to get home. The two had stared at each other for a second, and then Veronica was the first to speak.
Toni's eyes widened and her mouth gaped slightly. How did Veronica always know just by looking at her?
"I really don't feel like talking to you right now." she said. She turned on her heels and instead of entering the living room, she headed to the right towards the stairwell.
"Toni wait!" Veronica hurried after her.
"I said I don't feel like talking!" Toni yelled acrimoniously over her shoulder.
Veronica grabbed her arm, and reeled her around, much harder than she would have expected. Toni burned her eyes into the spot where her hand firmly grasped her left arm.
"I don't want to talk to you." she seethed each word, dragging out her syllables in a dangerously slow and cold voice, that always sent unpleasant chills down Veronica's back.
But this time, she wasn't going to be pushed around by her bossy best friend. She needed her too much for her to let her have her way.
Fortunately, Toni's stubbornness didn't outweigh Veronica's love for her, and she grasped her firmly by the shoulders when she shouted at her, "Well you have to talk to me, goddammit, because you have to talk to somebody!"
Toni's nostrils flared, and her chin quivered, but she finally gave in and nodded, before burying her head in her best friends chest.
--
"You're going to have to tell Cheryl." Veronica said softly.
The two sat in the middle of Toni's bed, hugging each other, and cuddling.
"I know." Toni said. Veronica felt her shiver.
"Your moms home. You could-"
"No." Toni said, shaking her head rapidly, "I can't."
"You're going to have to eventually." Veronica said gently.
Toni's expression grew pained, and she bit down on the inside of her lower lip until the metallic taste of blood ran over her tongue. She needed to feel some physical pain to help her deal with her inner afflictions.
"I don't know what I'm going to do." she admitted, overwhelmed with fear and frustration, "I'm so scared."
"I know." was all Veronica said, and she pulled her closer to herself.
--
"Cheryl... It's Toni. I need to talk to you. Just, please call me back when you get this. Okay?...bye."
Cheryl tapped "7" after listening to the voicemail. She was freshly showered, and had on a clean pair of clothes, and was now about to head out of the locker room.
"Message deleted." said the robot woman who voiced all phone commands and messages.
'What a weird job to have.' Cheryl thought absentmindedly.
"Next message." the woman said.
"Cheryl, it's me again. I know you're probably at practice still. I'm sorry for calling again. Actually now I don't know what I'm doing. I thought you might be ignoring me, but didn't realize you had soccer practice until I started recording this message. So, I'm going to hang up now. But call me back. Bye."
