Strawberries and Cigarettes | A Choni Fanfiction|

Eight

I'm working on a new fic already, and I'm just getting some chapters pre-written before I publish the first chapter. I want to wait to publish it until I've finished Fixer Upper. Get this fic to 15k and Fixer Upper to 45k by December, and I'll publish the new, sexy story on the second of December. Enjoy ;)

"A-are you sure this is a good idea?" Cheryl asked as we pulled up to the Whyte Wyrm, and I chuckled.

"You've already met everyone, Cheryl. It's just a different place with the same people." I assured, "You're gonna be fine." Cheryl gulped as we got out of her car, before locking her doors. We walked in, and it was a normal scene, music playing in the dimly lit bar that smelled like booze and cigarette smoke.

"Topaz, you're late!" Grunted Tall Boy from the bar, and I shook my head as we sat at the bar.

"I don't have a shift tonight. The boys are working on Fridays now."

"Oh yeah, it's cuz you and Lulu have girlfriends now, huh?" He assumed, and I shrugged.

"Cheryl likes to keep her grades up, so we reserve weekends of fun." I said, gesturing to the girl beside me, who blushed slightly.

"And what about you? FP said you've been spending your breaks with your nose in a book." He teased, "Are you trying to do better for her or for you?" He asked, eying Cheryl, who seemed to adore the fact that I was doing better. I blushed this time at the fact that someone dare think I have motives and aspirations.

"I just don't wanna look stupid standing next to my Oxford Graduate of a girlfriend." I smiled corner of my eye.

"I'm not even upset," shrugged Tall Boy, "Nobody is. The Serpents think it's good that you're doing well. Maybe it'll rub off on the rest of you." He smiled, elbowing me playfully.

"How cute is that?" Cheryl grinned from beside me before leaning up to kiss my cheek. "I like smart girls." She whispered, and I smiled bashfully.

"What can I get ya?" Asked Fangs from behind the counter, wiping the counter like some movie Bartender.

"Just some water." I said, looking to my innocent girlfriend, who rose a brow at me.

"What if I wanted a shot?" She asked, and I rose a brow back.

"Do you even know what's in a shot?" I asked, and she looked back and forth between Fangs and I before giving out an unsure answer.

"Beer..?" She asked, causing Fangs and I to laugh.

"Do you actually want alcohol, Cheryl?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"It's Friday, my mom let me spend the night with you, why not?" She asked, and I sighed.

"Let's start with a wine cooler, Fangs. Just one." I suggested, and he nodded before walking to the back.

"What's that?" She asked in hesitancy.

"A sweet drink with twelve percent alcohol in it." I shrugged, and she scoffed. '

"I can handle more than that." She said stubbornly.

"How much alcohol have you had in your life?" I asked, and she hesitated again.

"Does mouthwash count?" She asked, and I dropped my forehead in my palm.

"Fuzzy Navel." Fangs offered as he set the bottle in front of me.

"Like peach?" She asked, and I nodded.

"If you don't want it, you don't have to have it." I assured, "I don't want to pressure you into it."

"I asked for it, unprovoked by you, Toni. I know what I'm doing." She assured before picking up the bottle to take a drink, her eye twitching when the alcohol set in on her tongue. "Oh." She mumbled as she set it down. I laughed and shook my head at her.

...

"You're corrupting her, Tiny." Sweetpea laughed as we watched Cheryl hugging herself, swaying from side to side with her eyes closed, slowly to the raging medal music playing through the speakers of the bar.

"I didn't even put the idea in her mind," I shrugged, "I ordered water, and she asked for alcohol." I assured.

"How many did she have?" He asked, and I rose a brow.

"Four." I said, and his eyes went wide.

"Four shots?"

"Four sips of a wine cooler."

"Oh my God." He laughed, doubling over with his hands on his knees. "Red is literally so innocent." He laughed, and I shrugged as I looked on at the dancing girl with adoration. She really was adorable, she stuck out like a sore thumb, her bright yellow sweater and red vest amongst a sea of black and gray, her eyes closed calmly, lips quirked up peacefully while she swayed carelessly. She was in her own world, and it made my heart catch in my throat.

"I think it's one of the best things about her." I admitted, "Along with her smile, and her laugh, and the way she never fails to surprise you, and the way her nose scrunches up when she's confused. Or the way she pushes her glasses up her nose."

"Wow, you're in love with Red." He scoffed, and I rose a brow.

"Am not." I countered, and he shrugged before crossing his arms in front of him, walking back behind the counter.

"Alright babe," I sighed as I walked up to her and pressed my hand against her arm. Her movements stopped, then her eyes opened, and when she processed that I was looking at her, her soft smile brightened into a big, goofy grin. "It's late, let's go home." I suggested, and she hummed before allowing me to pull her out by the hand. She waved goodbye to all the serpents, who looked on at us in amusement, soft smiles on many faces.

"Why do you smoke cigarettes?" Cheryl asked from beside me in the car, and I rose a brow. "I read that cigarettes don't do anything. They don't make you high, all they do is increase dopamine and taint your lungs." She rambled, "Smoking weed is scientifically better for you, it doesn't give you cancer as easily, and it alters your state of mind."

"Have you ever smoked weed before, Cheryl?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"But it's a science. I learned about it in Forensics last year."

"Yeah, but if you aren't careful, weed makes it harder to function." I assured, "I get stuck, and it takes hours to do tasks that have to do with your mind. Your brain is harder to work, and your thoughts come and go quickly."

"Sounds nice, not being able to make sense of everything." She sighed, and I shrugged.

"Sometimes. Sometimes it's just what you need to get through hard times." I spoke from experience.

"Could we do it, sometime?" She asked, and I rose a brow.

"Why are you suddenly so dead set on doing these things you'd never otherwise do?" I asked, and she shrugged back at me.

"I trust you." She said simply. "I know you'd never do anything to put mein danger, and you know what to limit me at." She said, referring to tonight with the alcohol.

"Sure." I assured, "But we'll need a solid two days where you don't have to see your mom, because you'll probably be high the day after too." I conditioned, and she nodded.

"Okay," she shrugged. "My mom's annual business trip is coming up, so you could come over that weekend." She smiled at me softly, and my eyes softened at the corner when they looked away from the road for a moment.

When we got to the treehouse, we climbed the tree and bunched together some of the beanbag chairs so we could lay down, covered by several blankets. She curled into me and laid her head on my chest before falling sound asleep. I curled around her and revelled in the feeling of her against me. I felt like, here, with her in my embrace, I could take on the world.

She gave me that kind of strength.

The strength to take on the world.