weak | choni

21: "Exit Wounds"

a/n: i just wanna say thank you to @EvelynPina783 for the meaningful message, sorry i can't write back to you, i have to change my email but it isn't working :( enjoy the chapter.

Four weeks.

Four weeks since Toni had seen Cheryl. A month since she'd had any type of contact with the younger girl. Twenty eight days since she drove Cheryl to the hospital and watched her disappear down the hallway with tears streaming down her face.

Toni had tried contacting her multiple times, but to no avail. She'd even considered catching the next flight to Missouri and barging her way into the center, but her mates had convinced her otherwise.

Getting this attached to Cheryl had never been her plan. It had just ... happened.

Toni couldn't sleep. She'd lay awake wondering what Cheryl was doing at that very moment. She'd wonder what the younger girl had eaten today. She wondered if Cheryl missed her.

Suddenly, light flooded into her bedroom and the brown eyed girl groaned in annoyance. She rolled over on her back, rubbing her eyes and glaring at the brown-skinned girl that stood in the doorway.

"Get up," Josie said firmly, walking over to the windows and drawing the curtains aside.

"Go away," Toni muttered, covering her head with her pillow and sighing heavily. Moments later, the blankets were tugged from her. Toni groaned and pulled her legs up to her chest.

"Toni, it's already 1 o'clock," Josie crossed her arms and gave her cheer mate a look that meant business. "You have to get out of bed eventually."

"Who says?" Toni mumbled from under the pillow. She groaned when two strong hands flipped her over, off of the bed, and onto the floor. She landed with a thud and glared at Josie in annoyance. "What do you want?"

"Get dressed. We're meeting the girls for lunch," Josie nodded once, leaning against the doorway.

"I never agreed to this," Toni huffed, standing up and brushing herself off.

"You've barley left the house in weeks, T, you're going," Josie raised an incriminating eyebrow at her friend. "No ifs, ands, or buts about it."

Toni rolled her eyes, but knew better than to argue with Josie. She shooed the girl out of her room before digging around in her dresser and finding something comfortable to wear. Trudging into the bathroom, she winced when she saw herself in the mirror. She looked horrible.

The bags in her eyes were highlighted by her smudged makeup, which ran down her face. Toni splashed water on her face to try and wake herself up.

Okay, so she hadn't exactly been taking Cheryl's disappearance too well. She couldn't help but blame herself, and her bandmate's attempts to comfort her had only caused arguments between them. What Toni needed was Cheryl, and that was the one thing she couldn't have.

After feeling so protective over Cheryl for so long, Toni felt completely useless when the girl was taken away from her. She'd put so much effort into taking care of her friend that she'd completely forgotten to take care of herself. So when Cheryl left, Toni felt empty.

She glanced over at her makeup bag on the counter, debating with herself for a moment before rolling her eyes and deciding she didn't feel like it. It's not like she had anyone to impress, anyway. She brushed through her hair and changed into a pair of loose fitting jeans and her favorite band t-shirt.

"You look better," Josie commented when Toni trudged downstairs, grabbing an apple from the counter and biting into it.

"I still look like shit," Toni mumbled. Josie didn't disagree with her, and Toni knew it was the truth. She felt like shit, and she looked like shit. She was well aware.