Living is always better with you by my side | Choni

Trust

Cheryl flung an arm across her face, groaning at the bright room. The sun was shining straight through the curtains onto her face. No matter how much she spent on black out curtains, they never managed to actually block out the sun.

She frowned at the nightstand from the corner of her eye and squinted at the digital clock. Two pm? Already? How on earth did she sleep that long?

She believes, she's never slept that long in her life. She would never get up after 8 am, it was always before.

Turning onto her back, she noticed the creased sheets next to her. The empty, creased sheets.

Of course.

This wasn't the first time she had woken up and found herself alone in bed. The first time was when Toni and fangs had finally broke up and her and the brunette started getting closer again which lead to them getting a little drunk one night and they ended up in bed together. That was their first time in 8 years. The next morning she woke up with a killer hangover and Toni nowhere to be seen.

It had been like that ever since. They'd spend a great night together, but as soon as morning came Toni would bolt. Not that Cheryl was ever awake during those moments, and so she couldn't say for certain that Toni bolted, but she had a pretty good feeling that's what the brunette was doing.

But it wasn't like it bothered Cheryl. It wasn't like she always looked forward to waking up and seeing Toni sleeping next to her, or wondering what it felt like to finally wake up in her arms again.

No, it didn't bother her.

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Cheryl was sitting in a booth at pops, drinking her cherry phosphate, because Tabitha had dragged her out of Thornhill to socialise. She didn't see the point of doing so as Tabitha was working and couldn't really speak to her but she appreciated the company nonetheless.

She peered out the window to watch cars and people go past out of boredom, trying to waste at least a little bit of time until Tabitha finished work and she could actually sit down with Cheryl.

Just before she was about to look back inside the diner, that's when she spotted them: Jughead and Toni walking towards pops.

Cheryl got a funny feeling in her stomach, and found herself ducking into the booth hiding away from the window.

Okay, she could admit it. She was being silly and an idiot, a big idiot who wanted to scream and hide whenever she saw Toni. There was an explanation for it.

It had nothing to do with that word that started with an 'L' and rhymed with 'Dove' because Toni, as far as Cheryl was concerned, was only using her for sex. While that assumption would've normally made her head get even bigger- in this instance- it only made the hole in her chest ache even more.

It was her own fault, really. She was the one who had asked for it to be causal because she wasn't ready to go all in yet. Her exact words were 'uncomplicated' and 'not intense'. But somehow, in an ironic twist, this casual thing between them now did become complicated and intense.

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The rain pounding on her windows woke her. She turned over to look at the time, half-past seven. That's more like it.

Stretching and rubbing her eyes to fully wake herself up. A moment later her eyes snapped open.

Someone was in Thornhill. She could hear muffled noise and, if she listened very intently, an irritated voice.

Jumping out of bed, she looked around for something to defend herself with. But there was nothing. She reached under her bed and pulled out...

'A high hell? Really? A shoe is the best thing that I have to protect myself with. Where is my bow and arrow when I need it' Her face twisted into disgust before a loud bang suddenly transformed it into fear.

Yeah, there was still the matter of Thornhill getting broken into.

Slowly walking out of the room, her heart in her throat, she gripped her Louis Vuitton high hell tightly at the bottom.

Rounding the corner of the wall, she raised her shoe and screamed, hoping the screaming would do something. Only... the intruder wasn't an intruder, it was Toni, only in lingerie with a spatula in her hand.

"What the hell are you screaming for" Toni asked, Turing back to the stove, as though it were a common occurrence for Cheryl to find her there in her kitchen- almost naked- and apparently cooking?

All of a sudden, Cheryl felt a wave of embarrassment hit her. Here she was standing in her kitchen, holding a shoe up in the air, thinking that Toni was an intruder coming to kill her or something. If she didn't feel embarrassed already about feeling like such a wimp in this relationship, this put her over the top.

Trying to regain what dignity she had left, she placed the high hell onto the floor and sat down on one of the chairs. Usually, she could read people like a book, but Toni still always surprised her. She could never really read the brunette the way Toni could easily read her.

When she thought she had Toni figured out, she'd do a 180 and leave Cheryl feeling completely flabbergasted.

"What are you doing" the redhead asked after a moment, knowing really what Toni was doing, but needing to ask the question all the same.

"Cooking some eggs and bacon"

It was weird to see her standing around Cheryl's kitchen, cooking breakfast. It felt so domestic. Not that the scene didn't create a nice picture. It was just, well, surprising and so unexpected that Cheryl couldn't help but try to question it.

"Where do you keep the maple syrup?"

"In the cupboard to your left"

Toni took the maple syrup out of the cupboard and placed it onto the kitchen island with the plates, ready to put it on the bacon when it's done.

"I don't think I've ever seen you cook" Cheryl commented with a smile. The brunette sure as hell never cooked when they were in high school.

"Well I guess someone taught me a thing or two about cooking" Toni replied with a wink towards the redhead.

Cheryl nodded with a blush and picked up the newspaper, trying to busy herself, so she didn't look at Toni for too long.

They became silent, the redhead engrossed by the fashion section of the paper, while Toni moved around the large kitchen, preparing, somehow food that smelt amazing and looked quite appealing.

When the eggs and bacon were done, Toni placed them onto Cheryl plate, and drizzled some maple syrup onto the bacon just the way she liked it, and took a seat across from the redhead. Cheryl still didn't quite understand what was going on. She desperately wanted to ask Toni what she was doing here, and what it meant because they certainly didn't have that kind a relationship, but she didn't want to jinx it or possibly humiliate herself further.

"These are really good" the redhead said in-between bits.

"Thanks"

Cheryl grinned goofily before she caught herself and changed her face into a neutral expression before Toni looked at her and thought she was crazy or something. But she honestly couldn't help feeling happy. She might not have know what it meant- if it meant anything at all- but she was willing to take whatever Toni could give her.

They were already three months into this relationship and she still felt the urge to run and scream sometimes. However most often than not, the giddiness that would wash over her at the prospect of having many more moments likes these with the woman currently sitting across for her overruled those feeling of flight.

Love was a dangerous thing, but, if she didn't risk getting hurt, she risked losing the happiness that came along with the territory. In the end, it all came down to trust: whether or not to put your own being into another person's.

And she trusted Toni with everything, so it was natural that she got Cheryl's hearts as well.