capsize me and douse me in your bay

chapter eight

"Would you hold still?" Toni giggled at the squirming redhead sitting in front of her. It was a few hours after Betty had arrived at her apartment to take Cheryl back to Riverdale. And after Cheryl's breakdown and a chat with her blonde best friend, Toni had decided that regardless of what happened, she wasn't going to leave Cheryl behind or send her away. Even if she wasn't 'attached', as Betty put it, she wasn't heartless.

Next step was breaking the news to Veronica. She had gotten her to agree to meet her and Betty for dinner. And the heiress insisted on them going to one of her father's restaurants in Times Square. However, Toni didn't exactly mention that Cheryl would be joining them. She had a feeling that if she had, Veronica wouldn't have agreed to meet up with her at all.

So now, while Betty was getting ready in her bedroom, Toni was attempting to put some makeup on Cheryl. The girl had naturally gorgeous features. Long eyelashes, plump pink lips, and a clear, nearly flawless pale complexion. She didn't need makeup at all, but she had insisted on wearing some after watching Toni put hers on in the mirror.

"I'm almost done, stop squirming," she chuckled, pulling the eyeshadow brush back from Cheryl's face until she stopped moving. She wad glad that Cheryl was in a better mood than before. Aside from being a little extra clingy, she acted as if the incident a few hours ago had never even happened, and Toni wasn't about to be the one to bring it up and risk upsetting her again. So for now, she finished covering Cheryl's eyelids with a subtle bit of color while the redhead played with the hem of the red dress Toni had let her borrow.

"There, all done," Toni used her thumb to blend in a bit of blush she had put on her cheeks before putting the eyeshadow brush down, "Now just a little lipstick..." She searched through the colors she had, deciding that a deep shade of red would go well with the short red dress Cheryl had picked out of her closet. She had wanted to go in the sparkly leggings she seemed to love so much, but Toni helped her pick out something more presentable for a five star restaurant.

Helping Cheryl blot her lips on a tissue, Toni smiled at her handiwork and helped her stand up from the toilet seat lid so she could see herself in the mirror. "What do you think?" She watched as Cheryl just stared curiously at her reflection with a smile, "I think you look pretty."

"You think I am pretty?" her voice was quiet, just barely louder than a whisper. But she seemed happy with Toni's words as she caught her eyes in the mirror.

The shorter girl seemed caught off guard by her question, her jaw slacking a bit as she thought of an answer. She had literally just said that she thought she looked pretty, so why was she struggling to find something to say now? "Yeah, I um...I do," she nodded with a bit of a nervous smile before starting to clean up the brushes and products around the counter surrounding the sink.

"I am pretty like Toni," she heard Cheryl say softly to herself, glancing over to see her playing with the ends of her curled hair.

Biting her lip, the pink haired girl held her glance on her new friend from the corner of her eye, watching as she toyed with her hair and smiled at her own reflection. For some reason those words that were uttered with Cheryl's usual blissful ignorance, were making Toni's heart beat ten times faster. It wasn't like Cheryl was looking for a response. She was apparently just making an observation.

Toni wasn't used to being nervous around girls. If anything, she was usually the one to make the first move. But Cheryl made her feel so oddly intimidated. Something about the way she flirted so effortlessly caught Toni completely off guard every time. And even stranger, was the fact that Cheryl probably had no idea what the effects of her words were. She just said whatever came to mind.

But Cheryl didn't like her like that. She couldn't. The girl didn't even know how to properly use a fork, how was she supposed to understand the concept of romance? Toni didn't even completely understand what it meant to be in love. There was no way that Cheryl could.