Hurt

14

''I can't believe I have to wear a dress," Toni said, scowling into the mirror, "and heels!"

"Toni, you aren't going to my best friend's wedding wearing jeans and a hoody," Cheryl said, standing behind her, wrapping her arms around the smaller girl's waist. "Besides, you look hot."

"I'd look hotter in jeans," She mumbled, moving away from the mirror so she could drop on the bed.

"Don't crease that!" Cheryl warned. "In fact, just take it off and hang it up."

"Bossy," Toni said, smirking as she pulled the dress off. "What time do you have to be at Betty's for?" She asked, pulling on her jeans and a t-shirt.

"Uh, soon," Cheryl said, glancing at the clock.

"I wish you didn't have to go," Toni said pulling the redhead so she was lying beside her.

"It's only one night, Becs," Chloe said. She knew why the brunette was worried. It would be their first night apart since she had gotten out of the hospital almost a year ago. "And I'll see you bright and early tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Toni said, sighing.

"I still can't believe they're getting married tomorrow," Cheryl said.

"It's crazy," Toni agreed. Cheryl checked her watch.

"I gotta go, baby," Cheryl said, rolling over and kissing Toni quickly before sitting up. Toni's hand closed around the redhead's wrist. She pulled her back and kissed her again. "Betty will kill me if I'm late."

"She won't kill her maid of honour on the night before her wedding," Toni reasoned. "It'd be a pain in the ass to replace you."

"True as that may be, I still have to go. I'll see you in the morning," Cheryl said, grabbing a bag and heading towards the door, Toni close behind her. "I love you." She pressed their lips together a third time.

"Love you too," Toni said, a sulking expression on her face. Toni dropped on the sofa and flicked on the TV, at a loss of what to do. Her mind wandered back to a conversation she had had with Katherine at her last session.

________________________

"So, are you excited for the big wedding?" Katherine asked, nearing the end of their time.

"Kind of," Toni said. "Veronica's hired me as their band so that's pretty exciting."

"But...?" Katherine said, sensing there was more.

"But, Cheryl's spending the night before it at Betty's. Which I know is totally fine and everything and I want her to go and have fun. It's just that..." Toni hesitated, unable to find the words.

"That it'll be your first night apart from her?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah," Toni said. "I'm just a bit nervous."

"Nights can still be hard for you, right?"

"I still get nightmares sometimes," Toni said, nodding. "Most of the time I can just go right back to sleep."

"What about the other times?" Katherine asked.

"The other times are when they've been so bad that they'll wake Cheryl up. And it can take me a long time to calm down, even when Cheryl's there. I know it's only one night but... I'm scared," she said, her voice quiet.

"Well it's perfectly natural to feel scared and nervous about the prospect of sleeping alone for the first time in almost a year," Katherine said, "but the more you stress about it, the more likely you are to have a bad night. My advice would be to do something to distract yourself once Cheryl's gone. Preferably something fun."