weak | choni

8: "Shes Trying"

Toni practically ran through the grocery store to grab the things she and Cheryl would need to take care of the tiny bird. She'd spent a fair share of money to accommodate them both in the past few days. Not like it was much of a problem for her, though. She tapped her foot impatiently while the cashier shamelessly tried to flirt with her. When he asked for her number, she pretended not to hear him and hurried out of the store, through the parking lot, and to her car.

As soon as she opened the door to the house, Cheryl was by her side, pulling her into the kitchen.

"He just made the cutest noise, Toni, you missed it," she said, leaning over the crate and studying the small bird intently. Toni laughed and walked over to set the bags on the counter. She could feel Cheryl's eyes boring into her as she started unpacking them.

"That's a lot of food for one little bird," Cheryl said hesitantly.

"It's not all for the bird," Toni said. She walked over and set a can of cat food, a container of eggs, and a special formula she'd gotten at the pet store down in front of Cheryl. "Those are. The rest is for us."

"Wh-what?" Cheryl asked. She quickly crossed the kitchen and started looking through the bags. Her heart sped up and she looked at Toni anxiously.

Toni walked beside of Cheryl and started unloading the bags. Black beans, quinoa grain, green peppers, corn, all made their way to the counter in-between them. Toni had bought ingredients so her and Cheryl could make dinner together.

When Toni was younger, she hated onions. She'd pick them out of every meal, much to her mother's annoyance. Finally, her mother grew fed up with how picky she was, and made Toni help her prepare dinner one night. Toni had been in charge of chopping onions, and she was so proud of herself for contributing to the meal, that she didn't bother picking them out that night.

Toni had hoped this would work on Cheryl, too. That maybe if they made dinner together, Cheryl would want to try a little of something they'd worked so hard on. She also thought that if Cheryl saw exactly everything that went into making their meal, she'd realize it wasn't all that bad for her.

"I figured we'd make dinner together," Toni said, turning to Cheryl . "I got stuff for Quinoa salad. My mom used to make it a lot and it's supposed to be super healthy. Plus it tastes good," she gave Cheryl a soft smile and disposed of the grocery bags.

"B-but I..." Cheryl started but Toni took a step towards her and Cheryl quickly hushed. Toni placed a hand on her shoulder and made sure Cheryl was looking at her.

"You don't have to eat anything, okay? I'm not going to force you to. I just thought it'd be something fun to do together."

Cheryl nodded softly and swallowed, realizing how close they were to one another. She didn't like being touched. She hated physical contact.

"Awesome," Toni smiled, removing her hand from Cheryl's shoulder and grabbing a chopping board. She set it down in front of Cheryl and set a bowl in-between them.

"What a-?" Cheryl was cut off when Toni tossed an onion at her. Cheryl scrambled to catch it before it fell to the floor.

"Chop it," Toni said, digging through the doors and handing Cheryl a knife. The small girl looked at the blade like she'd never seen one before in her life. Toni grew confused.

"It's a knife," Toni giggled. Cheryl nodded quickly and started peeling the onion.

"I know. I just don't get to use one much," she shrugged, causing Toni to raise an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I mean, we weren't even allowed to have forks in rehab. And on tour I never cooked, so..." Cheryl scraped the outer layer of skin off of the onion and threw it away. Toni watched her closely.