We Can Start Again

10

Being able to see the goosebumps sprinkled across Cheryl's skin, Toni shed her jacket and wrapped it around the redhead's shoulders. Cheryl wasn't sure if it was the cold that made her shiver or if it was the rush that came with kissing Toni, most likely a combination of both.

"Thanks, Tee-Tee." She loosely gripped the lapels of the leather, she couldn't help but smile as she was enveloped with the scent of Toni's perfume.

The rain had now come to a stop, droplets of water gliding from leaves onto the forest floor.

"What are you smiling so big for?" The Serpent chuckled. Feeling awkward without her jacket, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her now soaking jeans.

Cheryl sighed as she stepped over a fallen log, relieved she didn't trip over it when she was running to find Toni. "Just happy this finally happened, never thought something good would come out of this."

Slick mud and leaves across the small hill made the girls more cautious of where they were stepping. "So you never expected us to end up together?" Toni teased.

"At some point, yes. But not on this road trip."

"Wait, you really thought we'd end up being together?" Toni removed her hands from her pockets to brush aside hanging branches.

"I mean, maybe the correct word is fantasized. But I've always just had this gut feeling it would happen."

"Me too." The car came into view as they got over the hill, Fangs and Kevin very aggressively making out in the front seats. Toni quickly grabbed Cheryl's arm pulling her in the direction of the road they drove over. "Maybe we should go on a walk for a little bit," a shocked Toni sputtered out.

"Yeah, I think so. Wouldn't want to interrupt what they had going on in there," Cheryl giggled.

Even though Cheryl was her girlfriend, Toni suddenly realized she didn't know much about the girl's home life. "I know this is really random, but could you tell me more about your family I guess?" She found herself struggling to put together the right words.

"Random indeed, Topaz." She glanced toward the smaller girl, the cloudless-covered sun reflecting off the brown in her eyes. "What exactly do you want to know?"

She kicked a pebble that rested in the drying mud, it skipping in front of them. "Anything honestly."

"Well for a rough start, my father passed away with the rest of Thornhill. You probably already knew that though." The pink-haired girl nodded, waiting for her girlfriend to continue. "Things at home are alright, aside from Jason being way too overprotective. It becomes too much sometimes. I understand that he wants the best for me, but he just doesn't seem to realize that it's my life to live." She sighed thinking about the reaction her brother was going to have when she told him she was dating none other than Toni Topaz.

"I think he lets your sexuality get in the way of it all. If you liked a guy he probably wouldn't act like that. Maybe, I'm not sure."

"He's not homophobic at all though." The damp material against her skin made her uncomfortable, her bones aching from how much she wanted to tear it off.

"I didn't mean it like that," her eyes followed a passing car. "He just knows that there are homophobic people out there, so he has to keep his guard up when it comes to you liking girls. I wish I had someone to do that for me," her sentence drifted off into a whisper as she looked down at the imprints her shoes made in the mud.