The Quiet Kid: (choni)

21: Bellyache

TONI POV:

I walk into the house after a long night and early morning. "Hey, I'm home." I walk into her office. "Hey." I whisper. "Sit down. We should talk." I sit down and my heart drops. "You're not in trouble." She closes her book. "Why don't you consider me your mom?" She ask. "Honestly. I want to know what I can do..." she trails off. "I can't. And you can't do anything to change my mind. I'm sorry." I take a deep breath. "Legally you are my mother but, I can't. I don't really have a excuse I just can't." I tell her quietly. "I'm sorry." I whisper. I get up and slowly walk out. Before I go up to me room I turn around to her. "But I do love you and I'm sorry I have a hard time telling you that." I walk upstairs to my room. I rip my shirt off, lie on my bed, turn on the TV and go to sleep.

"You told Cheryl." I walk down the stairs to the Speakeasy. "I'm sorry I had to." I shake my head. "It's ok." We both sit down at the bar. "Are me and Cheryl the only people who know?" I ask quietly. "No, I told Archie. He's going to pretend that we are in a loving relationship until I'm ready to come out to more people." And on cue Archie comes in and goes behind the bar. "Hey, I'm sorry about the football team. I wish I could stop them." I shrug. "It's fine, it's not your fault." I reassure him. "I'll be back in a minute, you guys talk among yourself's." Veronica gets up and goes off somewhere. "I'm throwing a party and I'm inviting you and Cheryl. I already talked to Cheryl. She said she'll be there. You can come if you want. I'll leave the garage open for you and I'll have some soda and water. I'll also have my guitar and drums set in there is you don't want to." Archie suggest. He hands me a drink. "Oh, I don't drink." I say quietly. "It's nonalcoholic." He tells me. "Do I trust you?" I ask concerned. He nods. "You watched me make it." I take a sip. "I'll go to the party, but the football team has terrorized me." I tell him. "I'll keep an eye on them."

CHERYL POV:

"Hey, Where's Toni?" I ask Archie quietly. "He's probably, in my garage." I nod and go into the garage. I walk into him slamming on the drums. "Toni!" I yell. He looks up. "What?" He ask frustrated. "What are you doing?" I ask quietly. "I'm high." He says bluntly. He gets up and stumbles around. "Do you want me to take you home?" I ask quietly. "I don't want to go home, I can't go home high." He whispers. "Ok, we can go to my house." He nods. I help him walk out. "Come on." I whisper. We get to his truck. I help him get in and drive off. "I'm sorry, I know I said I would be sober for now on." He says quietly. "Honestly I rather see you high. Than drunk. Because you don't know what you're doing when you're drunk." He rubs his hair. "I know, I know. I just-." He groans in frustration. I stop at Pops. "Come on. You need food." We get out and he stumbles around. "I'm sorry." Toni continues to whisper. "Hey V. We're going to sit in the back." She nods. "Ok, I'll bring you guys your regular." We go to the back of the diner, we sit there quietly with our backs to everyone. "Hey, I'm not mad at you." He lies his head on my shoulder. "I'm sorry though I usually do this before I go to bed, because I tend to get myself into some weird shit, and I usually take this to sleep." He whispers, as he plays with my hair. "Than why have I never seen you take them?" I ask quietly. "Because I usually wait for you to be asleep." Veronica comes over with our food. Toni sits up slowly and starts to eat.