Choni one shots

43: The One Where Toni Moves Out

TONI POV:

I knock on her door, slightly embarrassed that I wasn't here earlier. The door swings open. "What the hell?" Cheryl ask pissed off. I bow my head not wanting to face her. "I get that you're a serpent and you have some business to take care of but you could have told me!" She yells. "It was my uncle this time." I whisper. I look up and she sees the bruise forming on my eye. She lightly touched it. "Toni, I'm sorry. But you still should've texted me." She whispers. I empty my pockets. "He took my phone and smashed it." I say very aggravated. "You need to get you and your brother out of there." She takes my hand and leads me inside. "I'm working on it." She gets me some ice. "What happened to your parents that caused you to live with your uncle?" I take a deep breath. "Unless you're not comfortable." I shake my head. "No, it's fine. I was about 6, Justin was 3. We were on driving home probably from a school recital and some drunk driver almost hit us, we skidded off and hit a telephone pole. My mom died on impact and my dad died later in the hospital. I just had a broken arm and Justin had a few cuts and bruises." She rubs my back. "I'm sorry about that." She sits down next to me. "Why? You didn't cause it." I tell her. "Oh, Toni." I let a tear fall, but I quickly wipe it away. "So, I'm going to change the subject. We still have a date." She rubs my shoulder. "Right about that..." I trail off. "What?" She looks at me. "Justin has to come with us, because I don't want him home with my uncle." I rub the back of my neck nervously. "We're going to Pops, just sit him at another booth where you can see him. It'll be ok." Cheryl grabs her jacket and we leave. I take a deep breath. "You ok?" She ask as we get into my truck. "Yeah." I drive off and go to Justin's school. I stop outside of the school. He sees us and gets in. "Hey bud." I take a deep breath. "Let me guess, I have to go on a date with you tomorrow guys because our uncle punched you and you don't want me alone with him."

"Hey I'm sorry that most of the time Justin has to tag along and be the third wheel." I apologize. Cheryl turns to face me in the booth, she reaches for her milkshake and takes a sip. "It's for his and yours safety. If you need to stay over for a little bit, both of you. You can. I have the house to myself and it gets really lonely." Cheryl whispers, she rubs my cheek. "I don't know." I tell her. "I don't want to invade on your privacy." I whisper. "Toni, I'm not hiding much from you." She smiles. "What are you hiding?" I ask. She laughs. "Family history." I take her hand and play with it. "I love you." I whisper out of know where. It just slipped out. Cheryl looks at me shocked. "What?" I cup her cheeks. "I love you Cheryl Blossom." She smiles. "I love you Toni Topaz." I pull her into a kiss. "It's about time." We pull away slowly. I look at my brother. "I'm bored." He taps the table. I turn around and back at him. "Ok, Jughead is over there so bother him." He doesn't move. "No. I want to go home." He tells me. "We're aren't going home! You know who we live with." I insist. "Than where are we going? I'm not living on the streets again!" He gets up and goes to the bathroom. I take a deep breath. "Toni..." I sit back. "We didn't have a choice." I look at her. "I don't care about that. How are you going to get your stuff?"

"He's probably passed out by now?" I look through the window. "Yeah, he's passed out." I look at Justin. "What?" He ask. "You're small." I smile. "So are you. You're also quieter." I slowly open the door. "Come on." I whisper. I go over to my uncle. I turn up the tv slightly so he doesn't here us. I walk away and go to our room. "Grab everything you can." I get a duffle bag. We grab everything we can. We sneak out quietly, I lock the door. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Justin ask as I throw the bags in the back of my truck. "No." We get in. I drive off to Cheryl's house. "Come on." We grab the bags and go to the door. Cheryl immediately opens the door. "You still don't have to do this." I whisper. "I know, but I get what you're going through. The best I can do is let you and your brother in and help you till you get your feet on the ground." Justin walks in. "Cheryl can we talk." I say seriously. She nods. "Yeah, everything ok?" I shake my head. "Not really. It has nothing to do with us though. So you don't have to worry about that." I tell her. We walk inside. "We should get you both settled first." Cheryl whispers. "Yeah."  I take a deep breath. We go upstairs. I throw my bag on the chair next to her bed. "Which room can I take?" Justin ask walking in. "You can take Jason's. It doesn't have weird girl things in it." Cheryl laughs quietly. "Ok, that's the room in blue? Right?" He ask. "Yeah." He walks out. "So what did you want to talk about?" I close the door and sit on the bed. "Cheryl, I haven't been having trouble with my sobriety." I whisper. She sits on the bed. "You, what?" She looks up. "I'm still dealing with my drug problem. Last night, I broke. Everything that has been going on at home, I broke." I hold back tears. "I'm sorry." I start to get up but she stops me. "Toni." I start crying. "I'm sorry." She pulls me into a hug. "I'm sorry." I keep saying. Some how we end up lying down and falling asleep. "Toni!" Justin comes running in. Cheryl and I sit up. "Bud." I get up and walk over to him. "Bud." He panics. "I can't sleep." We walk out and go to his room. "What's wrong?" I ask quietly. "I can't sleep." He whispers. "It's ok." We sit on his bed. "I had a nightmare." Rub his back. "It's ok." He lies his head on my shoulder. "Can you tell me what the dream was about?" He shakes his head in a panic. "Ok."

"Sorry about that." I whisper walking back into Cheryl's room. "Was everything ok?" I lie down face down. "No." I whisper. "How do people do this?" I ask quietly. "What do you mean?" Cheryl ask quietly. "How do people greave and take care of their siblings and pretend everything is ok." I ask quietly. I sit up slightly. "He was too young to remember it, but he still does. And has nightmares about that day. Our uncle doesn't make it better, he just tells him to man up. I don't think my uncle even realizes he's drinking his problems away anymore. I get why he does what he does, but it still doesn't give him the right." I whisper. Cheryl sits up and looks at me. "What do you mean?" She takes my hand. "He lost his brother and now has the responsibility to take care of us and he can't. He's been through a lot. Even before the car accident he was going through a lot, he's wasn't emotionally stable to take care of us he never will be."