Rejecting The Crimson Goddess' Riches

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Riverdale, nor the characters in it. I do not make money from the writing of this story.

Toni Topaz stood up, stretching her arms as she took a step away from Cheryl's bed. She could not quite call it her bed yet. Cheryl had only invited her to move in with her a few days ago after the pink-haired vixen had a seizure at Riverdale High. For the last few mornings, she would take a few minutes to survey her surroundings after her girlfriend left the room. The crimson and velvet colors sang sweet songs that reminded Toni that this was the redhead's sacred territory, her ruby temple, her Holy of Holies where only the chosen ones were allowed to enter and worship the goddess that is Cheryl Blossom. Toni was grateful for the privilege to live with her lover but there was something that made the poor girl feel uneasy.

When Toni was a young girl, she would borrow their neighbor's old Disney VHS tapes and watch the Disney Princess movies in her grandpa's living room. She remembered the nights when the two would make jokes about the poorly drawn women on screen and mock how these women needed a relationship to change their economic situation. She used to wonder if something like that could happen in real life. Her grandfather would later point out it did for Alice Smith when she married Hal Cooper after high school. Of course, it would happen for a pretty blonde heterosexual woman. He told her that could never happen for someone like Toni and in a way, she did not want it to.

Now everyone morning she was waking up next to the most beautiful girl in the world. It was an amazing feeling to open her eyes and her first sight of the day was Cheryl. Seeing the way the redhead's eyelashes fluttered as she slept was one of the most adorable things the pink-haired Vixen ever seen. Sometimes Toni wondered what would happen if the two women were waking up in a trailer instead of the Thistle manor. The idea of waking up with Cheryl in her arms with no space between them (because the bed in her mobile home was very small) seemed nice to Toni. That's how she always imagined it. Holding the girl or guy she loved in their small little trailer. There was nothing wrong with lying in a huge, red draped California King bed with the woman in red but Toni had to admit that was a huge bed just for two teenagers.

She remembered when she would jump off the couch in her grandpa's trailer, walk barefoot on the hard pavement to grab the local newspaper from her neighbor's mailbox before one of the neighborhood boys beat her to it. The young Toni would run back to the trailer, wait for her grandfather to wake up and then spend the morning on his lap as he criticized how Hal and Alice Cooper crafted articles to demonize the Southside. The bond between Toni and her grandfather established the foundation of her morals especially since one of her parents had died and the other was rarely in her life. The one thing her grandpa taught her was how to live without money, how to cut corners when the funds weren't there and how to appreciate the little trinkets she could afford. Everyone around the Southside seemed to share that mindset. Maybe that's why it was odd to see Cheryl recklessly spend her money (or at least reckless to Toni). The two had a vastly different upbringing.

Toni stretched her arms out as she heard a familiar voice call her name. She turned around and smiled as she watched Cheryl enter the bedroom in the short silk crimson nightgown that accentuated her supple bosoms, small waist, and curvy hips. The ginger placed a hand on a hip while playfully waving a finger at her girlfriend.

"Good morning sleepyhead," she said. "Aren't you a little autumn flower?"

"Not everyone can blossom as early as you," Toni joked.

Cheryl smirked before she walked over to her vanity. She sat at the stool, before pushing her hair away from her porcelain face. Toni could see her girlfriend looking at her in the mirror.

"Mon amour," Cheryl began as she reached for one of the makeup bottles in front of her. "I do wish you would wake earlier for me. Oh, how I miss the times JJ and I would sneak out our rooms and watch the sunrise together."