"Why're you looking at me like that?" Cheryl asks after a moment, turning around and leaning against her vanity. The corner of it digs into her ass but it's whatever. She's got cushion.
"Like what?"
She rolls her eyes. "Like you were a second ago."
Toni seems to actually mull it over, biting her bottom lip. Cheryl feels the overwhelming need to do that to her.
"Cause you're beautiful," Toni answers after a moment, earnest, "and sometimes I don't see you for a few days and I forget just how beautiful you are — and then I see you, now, and it's overwhelming sometimes."
"My beauty is overwhelming?" Cheryl frowns, "what'd I tell you about cheesy lines not working on me?"
"Yes but– no," Toni is looking at her with this intensity that makes Cheryl's entire body ache, that makes her stomach want to cave in on itself, "it overwhelms me, sometimes, how crazy I am about you."
Cheryl lets Toni's words sink into the deepest part of her heart, of her soul, and she'll keep them there for lives to come.
She doesn't know how to respond to that, opening and closing her mouth a few times but nothing comes out — Toni understands and she just smiles like she's proud of the effect she has on Cheryl and switches topics as if they'd been talking about ice cream flavors and how rocky road is definitely the superior one.
"So– are we watching a movie, or what?"
"Yeah. Yes," Cheryl moves from the vanity, towards her television and the cabinets under it that hold an extensive DVD collection that's a combination of Jason and her's favourite movies, "you're the guest so... you pick."
Toni joins Cheryl on the floor. Cheryl watches her run a finger over the spines of the movies, reading each title and reacting to each on accordingly, like how many Disney movies do you own, Cheryl? and have you seriously seen all these musicals? Cheryl takes each jab in stride, enjoying Toni's critique knowing damn well that if it came from any other person, Cheryl would've kicked them out of their house hours ago.
They end up watching Charlie's Angels because it's a classic, duh, and also Toni says that Lucy Liu is an icon and the redhead is hot, pointedly looking at Cheryl when she says so. It's odd, at first, as they settle into Cheryl's bed. They obviously want to be comfortable and give each other space but at the same time they just want to be cuddling already.
They don't say that, though.
Instead, the whole movie passes with Cheryl lying on her side and Toni on her belly near the front. Cheryl's not even concentrating on the movie because she's just formulating ways to get closer to Toni, to touch her, and, well, Toni's doing much of the same, really. It's not until the second movie is popped in, one called Ten Things I Hate About You, that Toni clambers back on the bed and Cheryl gives up on trying to be subtle.
"I want to be close to you."
Toni freezes, one leg on the bed. She hadn't expected that and, honestly, neither had Cheryl.
"Okay."
So, Toni crawls over to where Cheryl's head is on a pillow and sits against the headboard, waiting for Cheryl to settle wherever she feels comfortable.
Cheryl's head ends up on Toni's lap; Toni's left hand is resting on Cheryl's side, right where the silk blouse has ridden up to reveal soft, creamy skin. It burns, the small contact and the fact that Toni can't just touch because Cheryl isn't really hers to touch like that. Her right hand is on Cheryl's head and she doesn't even realize she's been doing scratching motions until Cheryl lets out a breathless little sound that, honestly, makes her want to kiss Cheryl senseless so she makes more sounds like that.
"Keep doing that," Cheryl mumbles after a moment, after Toni's stopped, "please."
"You'll fall asleep if I keep doing it."
Cheryl hums in response, shifting her head a little to get more comfortable. Toni studies the side of her face for a while, noticing the eyelashes and the eyebrows and the dark circles under her eyes. Toni wonders if Cheryl sleeps at night — or if she gets a good rest, at least. Maybe this is the first time in a while she's slept peacefully and the thought makes Toni ache, so she keeps scratching, massaging, and twirling strands of bright red hair in her fingers. And, oh — Cheryl snores.
It's not like, loud and annoying or anything. It's soft, quiet, and Toni can't stop herself from kissing her cheek because oh come on. She thinks about poking fun at Cheryl in the morning, teasing her about it, but then she realizes that maybe Toni's the first person to hear her snore like this, to hold her and soothe her and watch her sleep in a long while.
She wishes it could be like this every night so that Cheryl falls asleep feeling safe and calm. She wishes, and this is always where her mind ends up at these hours of the night — she wishes that she was Cheryl's soulmate. Maybe she is, who fucking knows, but Toni wishes it was sure so that she didn't feel uncertain about everything. So she didn't feel so bad about staring at Cheryl or wanting to touch her so bad or wanting to kiss her or wanting to hug her so tight Cheryl never feels alone or empty ever again. But every time she finds herself surrounded with these thoughts which, again, is a common thing for Toni, she has to push them away, bury them deep down because maybe Cheryl isn't yours. She reminds herself once a day, chants it repeatedly until she doesn't feel butterflies in her stomach when she and Cheryl linger in the locker rooms after practice to be alone for a little while. It's just... it's unfair. It's unfair that Toni's tattoo, right under her left breast, burns when she's around Cheryl, reminding her again that Toni belongs wholeheartedly to Cheryl but not the other way around.
It's unfair to whoever's name is written on Cheryl's skin, too, in a way.
Toni's tempted for a long minute to pull back the flimsy kimono-type thing Cheryl's wearing to inspect her back because of course it's there. She's seen Cheryl at practice in shorts and crop tops but, as Toni realized late one night, she's never seen Cheryl's back. She's so careful about that, about being covered properly there, and Toni felt stupid for not realizing it until now.
She doesn't, though. She doesn't check, because that'd be an invasion of privacy and rude and kind of like, creepy. Instead, once the movie is over, Toni kisses Cheryl on the cheek again, this time waking her up.
"Movie's over," Toni mumbles, brushing hair away from Cheryl's face and tucking it behind her ears, "let me pull the covers back."
Cheryl's got her eyes closed but she frowns nonetheless, pouting as she sits upright and lets Toni start tugging at the sheets. Cheryl crawls under them easily enough, pulling the sheets up and over her chin like a little baby. Toni moves to get off the bed but Cheryl's voice stops her, hoarse and scratchy from having woken up.
"Stay."
Toni thinks she didn't hear that properly, is Cheryl Blossom asking her to stay in bed with her?
"What?"
"Stay in bed with me."
"Are you sure?" Toni doesn't move off the bed.
Cheryl nods, decidedly too tired to carry on with the converstation, and Toni doesn't wait any longer. She slips under the covers, the silk feeling incredibly smooth against her recently shaved legs. The bed is fucking huge so they aren't touching, per se, but Toni can feel Cheryl inches away from her, still and warm. Toni falls asleep fifteen minutes later, thinking about ways to scoot closer to Cheryl and hold her without coming off like a creeper.
YOU ARE READING
Sick of losing soulmates (Cheryl Blossom & Toni Topaz)
Fanfiction"Toni looks at her - like, really looks at her - long and hard and then she nods as if she understands, as if all of Cheryl's secrets are written all over her face and it just took someone to look closer than usual to discover them all." Or; you hav...
