𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 ➶ 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐢

t w e n t y - o n e

It might've been the deathly paleness that stretched across Toni's expression - or the fact she had an oversized shirt now attached over the majority of her arm - but the second her professor's eyes fell on her, she was on her feet and whomever she'd been talking to on the phone had been cut off.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Cheryl's voice was stern, eyes surveying her in bafflement. It had only been two hours since the pair had last seen one another, how it was possible for Toni to come back with more than a scratch to her threw her into confusion.

"I didn't expect you to go out and start a brawl."

Toni allowed her a moment to react, she knew she had no chance of getting a single sentence out before Cheryl interrupted her. As expected at the sight of the wet blood scattered on the shirt, her professor had vanished into her bathroom emerging with a small utility bag in hand. The student couldn't help but crack a smile at the corner of her lips.

"I don't know why you're smirking," Cheryl grumbled in annoyance, reaching gently for her student's cradled arm.

"Because I knew you'd had a first-aid kit, it's funny." The brunette's eyes flickered towards their touching skin, burying the rise of nerves as the redhead peeled the flannel from her wound. A hiss escaped her mouth, the younger woman sucking in a sharp breath. "Okay, it didn't hurt this bad before."

With a shake of her head, and her perfectly shaped eyebrows knitted together, Cheryl glared at her. "What do you mean? How long have you had this wound, Toni? It definitely wasn't there this morning."

"Only thirty minutes or so now, I fell. On a nail - well, a screw. I went to visit a friend since you practically threw me out." The brunette babbled to describe her scene of events, attempting to ignore how much agony her forearm was now in. "And I smoked a little cannabis, got up to leave and my feet were too numb to stand on and I fell. It's not a big deal really. Accidents happen."

As she rambled on, nervous laughing here and there, brushing off her injury as though it were a graze - Cheryl examined the wound within the fabric. She was far from a doctor, she'd barely passed her first-aid class a couple years ago. But eyeing the wound before her, the way the clothes were clinging tightly to Toni's skin, she knew she'd have to cut around it.

"Listen, Antoinette, I need to cut off the fabric around the wound, and I wouldn't ask permission but I am still your professor and I'm not exactly trained for things like this, so is that okay with you?" Cheryl treaded lightly, wary of the fact that her professor asking her to remove a piece of her clothing was most likely frowned upon.

"If you wanted to see my chest again, Ms Blossom. All you have to do is say." The student tossed a flirtatious wink towards her professor, instantly regretting it when all she received was a glare.

"Please be serious, Toni. You look as though you've lost a lot of blood, you're going to need stitches." Cheryl sighed, but this time the look in her eyes wasn't anger. It almost looked as though she were truly concerned, "As soon as I've cleaned up, we're going to the hospital."

All humour had dropped from the students' phisade at her words. The once curve of a smile playing on her lips, now fallen. An urge to retract her arm from Cheryl's care flooded through her body.

"No. No hospitals."

This only seemed to rile her professor up more, "I don't think you realise that this an open wound, Toni. It has to be treated and closed, who knows what you could've picked up."

"I don't care, I don't do hospitals, Cheryl. I've stitched myself up before, it's nothing I need a hospital to help with." Toni fought, her dark eyes somehow managing to blacken under the light shining above them. "I just need you to clean it, and I'll do the hard part."