weak | choni

14: "You've Changed"

The day passed by rather quickly. Toni was almost positive Cheryl hadn't moved from her spot on the roof. She'd even texted Toni, asking her to bring an extension cord and her phone charger.

In the meantime, Toni had gone grocery shopping. As she was carrying the groceries back to her car, she paused to appreciate just how nice it was outside. While driving home, an idea crossed her mind and she smiled softly.

—

"What are you doing?" Cheryl scooted down to the edge of the roof, watching as Toni spread a large blanket over the grass in their backyard. Toni looked up, wincing when she saw how close Cheryl was to the edge of the roof.

"Scoot back, Cher!" she called, flicking her wrist to try and get Cheryl to find a safer spot on the roof. Cheryl, of course, didn't listen. Instead, she hung her legs over the edge of the roof and swung them back and forth while she watched Toni.

"What's the blanket for?" Cheryl asked, ignoring Toni's orders.

Toni realized Cheryl wouldn't listen to her and sighed, smoothing out the edges of the blanket. "I figured we'd have a picnic outside, since it's so nice out." She walked over to the edge of the yard, searching for rocks to weigh down the blanket and prevent it from blowing away.

"A picnic?" Cheryl asked, grabbing her guitar and lowering it down gently by the strap, letting go once it was positioned on the deck below her. She swung her legs down and carefully dropped down next to her instrument. The idea of a picnic excited her. She hadn't even considered the fact that most picnics involved food, which meant eating.

"Yeah, why not?" Toni shrugged. Cheryl descended the stairs into the backyard and watched as Toni stretched out the blanket and placed a rock on each corner.

"I think it's a good idea," Cheryl bit her lip, kicking a patch of grass by her feet. This seemed like a date to her. She knew it wasn't, but she also knew it would sure feel like one. Cheryl wondered if Toni felt the same way.

"Awesome," Toni laughed. "Well, I guess you can sit down then. I've got everything ready inside." She motioned to the blanket.

Cheryl swallowed hard and kicked off her shoes. Of course Toni had made food. For the sake of their date—no, for the sake of their ... friendly dinner, she decided she could muster up the strength to eat a little bit. Sitting down, she crossed her legs underneath her and gave Toni a soft smile as the girl turned and disappeared back into the house.

A few minutes later, Toni reemerged, struggling with a basket in each hand. Cheryl quickly ran over to help her, grabbing one of the baskets out of her arms.

"Thanks," Toni laughed. She adjusted the basket in her arms and looked over at Cheryl.

"You could've told me you needed help," Cheryl giggled. She set the basket down in the middle of the blanket and waited for Toni to do the same before they both sat down.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to do this for you," Toni shrugged. Before Cheryl could question her, Toni started grabbing things out of the basket and setting them up around the girls. She handed Cheryl a plate and opened the plastic containers she'd brought out.

"I made a bunch of little cute picnic foods," Toni laughed. "Those are mini cucumber sandwiches," she pointed to one of the containers. "There's also grapes and carrots, cheese and crackers, these chocolate covered banana things, and pretzels."

"It's like we're feeding the entire neighborhood," Cheryl laughed nervously.

"I went a little overboard, I guess," Toni shrugged and grabbed a cracker. "Eat what you can, no pressure."