Getting closer.
"I have never seen anyone drink the 'Dirty Yard' that fast. Especially without throwing it back up!" Jughead lauded, placing his empty beer bottle in the sink and hooking an arm around Toni's shoulder in congratulations. She returned the hug eagerly.
Cheryl had never wanted to be Jughead Jones until this very moment.
"Did you see it, Bombshell?" Toni beamed, looking to Cheryl expectantly with unfocused eyes. Adorable.
"I saw it." Cheryl smirked, nodding her head and leaning against the kitchen counter to stop herself from swaying. "I do not impress easily but I must say, Topaz, you seem to do nothing but."
Where had that come from? She decided to go with it, her Dutch courage working in her favour, evidently, scanning her eyes over Toni's face.
"Wow, now that's high praise coming from Cheryl 'Bombshell' Blossom." Jughead smirked, eyebrows rising on his baby face. Why was he still here?
"Jones, more drinks? Chop, chop. We can toast to JJ's memory, yes?" Cheryl ordered. He couldn't refuse that.
And he didn't, nodding understandingly and disappearing into the crowd.
When Cheryl turned back to Toni she almost didn't catch it. Had it not been for Toni's inebriation and her slower reactions Cheryl wouldn't have seen it at all. A look. A lingering look. Of want. Interest. She knew she'd seen it in the gym those few days ago.
Control yourself, Cheryl.
The beer and the noise and the heat from all the bodies and that look. Cheryl could barely think.
"Do I really impress you?" Toni smirked, reaching out to run the buttery leather of Cheryl's jacket between her thumb and finger. It was worth more than everything Toni had ever owned. Had it have been anyone else touching her, Cheryl would have divulged that fact and swatted their filthy hands away. But it was Toni. So Cheryl refrained. Opting instead to glance down at the slim fingers, the ones she'd imagine in place of hers night after night. She felt a blush heat her face.
"Yes." She replied matter-of-factly. "You do. People often think I have nothing nice to say, but the truth of the matter is I have no problem giving praise when it's merited. It just so rarely is."
She looked to Toni with a proud smirk, pleased when big brown eyes immediately dropped to her red lips.
"You're pretty articulate for a drunk girl." Toni murmured distantly, a confused frown kinking her brow as she continued to stare at Cheryl's mouth. Cheryl ran her tongue over her lower lip, watching Toni bite her own in response.
It felt nice to be on the other side of the want. Of the lusting. To know the playing field was levelled and the attraction was mutual, even if the words had yet to be uttered. It felt right. Nice. Peace. Control.
Cheryl didn't know what time it was, nor how many people were now filling Archie's house to capacity, nor, where she'd found the bottle of Fireball. All she did know was that her knee was touching Toni's as they sat on a step in the back yard together and she could taste the girl's lip gloss on the rim of the bottle as they passed it back and forth. Her underwear was utterly sodden. If she had been at all shocked at herself she might have managed to feel embarrassed.
"You're so pretty, Cheryl."
Toni had said it so casually. So easily. As if she'd merely asked the time. Cheryl had been festering away in a pool of pent up arousal for weeks over how pretty this girl in front of her was and yet here Toni sat, tossing out compliments like confetti. She was so comfortable in herself. So in control.
"So are you." Cheryl knew her words carried more weight. Any compliment from Cheryl Blossom was a rarity. She saw the millisecond of surprise wash over Toni's face before she smirked, tipping the whiskey past her lips and plopping the bottle into Cheryl's lap.
"Hell of a body too, Bombshell." She chuckled, lingering her eyes over Cheryl for just long enough to make her bristle.
So do you. Cheryl wanted to scream, licking her lip lightly and taking a drink as she looked over Toni. So do you. My God. You're so gorgeous. I want you so badly. I think about you when I fucking masturbate for God's sake. You're so goddamn pretty. I want to put my head between your legs and hear you moan like that day in the cafeteria. I want to taste you and feel you and touch you and bite you and grab you and fuck you and have you. I crave it. I crave you.
She swallowed the alcohol thickly and was about to open her mouth when Toni spoke up again, glancing around at the complete strangers inhabiting the outside space with them.
"You know I don't understand why everyone thinks this high-school initiation is so hard-core." She slurred, shrugging. "I mean, I got into a fucking gang. You think I can't handle drinking at a party?"
Cheryl let a chuckle slip from her lips. She'd never thought about it like that. Toni looked at her, a smile breaking onto her face.
"You're absolutely right." Cheryl nodded, her chest bouncing with another laugh. She saw Toni's attention drop there for a moment before meeting her eyes. "What did you have to do for that anyway? Kill someone?" She teased wryly.
"Nah, everyone does certain stages, recounting the rules, this thing with a snake..." Toni rattled off, waving her hand dismissively. "But then after that, the guys get the shit beat out of them with brass knuckles and the girls do a lap dance. Well, more like a pole dance. I mean, either way, I'm trying to get it banned, fucking sexist bullshit."
Cheryl was frozen to her seat. Her lips were parted in disbelief and her cloudy eyes were now wide and attentive. She let out a shuddered breath, gripping the neck of the bottle harder and squeezing her legs together. What kind of fucking wet-dream theatrics were her ears playing on her.
"Yes. Male gaze. So damaging. I... me and Josie... I told a janitor once about it. I was.... You did a lap dance?" She breathed out finally, less smoothly than she'd have liked but still charmingly Blossom. The images in her head. No internet video could ever compare.
"Yeah, it was whatever. Hey, did you fall on the way back from the bathroom?" Toni asked distractedly, pointing to Cheryl's foot, "Your boot, you've got a scuff."
Cheryl dropped her eyes to follow Toni's. There it was.
A scuff.
She didn't feel guilt or fear or shame. She didn't dread the implications. In fact, she quite liked it. It added something, she thought. Flicking her eyes over to Toni's boots she smiled, biting on her lip to keep from grinning too widely.
"Well look at that," she purred, "so do you."
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