capsize me and douse me in your bay

chapter twenty three

A few days after their double date with Betty and Jughead and Cheryl's confession about why she had been in such a strange mood, Cheryl still wasn't back to being the 100% happy-go-lucky soul she used to be, but she was getting there. Toni had been teaching her new things, giving her the opportunity to try them on her own before inevitably showing her the right way. It was frustrating for Cheryl, and admittedly a little bit for Toni as well. Cheryl just wanted to be able to do things, and she had a habit of getting upset and giving up not long after trying the first time. And convincing her to try again was getting repetitive for the older girl.

"What about this one?" Toni held up red dress with cream colored lace around the hem and edges of the short sleeves. She had decided that Cheryl needed some clothes for the cooler weather. All she had of her own were some shorts and t-shirts. But the leggings she was currently wearing every day around the house were Toni's.

"No thank you, Toni," Cheryl murmured as she grazed aimlessly through a display of comfortable lounge pants.

"Cher, we already have a whole bunch of pants in the cart. This dress is perfect for you. Don't you want something nice of your own to wear if we go out somewhere fancy?"

Cheryl looked over at her, eyeing the dress before turning back to the rack of pants without a word, causing Toni to sigh and put the dress in the cart anyways.

"Hey, what's going on with you?" she asked quietly, pushing the cart a little closer to where Cheryl was standing, "You didn't want to wear a dress to dinner the other night, and now you're turning down every dress and skirt I pick out."

Cheryl bit her lip and ran her hands over the fuzzy sleeves of Toni's pink cardigan that she was wearing. "I do not want people to see."

"See what?" the pinkette's brows knit together.

The taller girl looked around briefly, her lip still caught between her teeth before she leaned down to lift up the leg of the black leggings she was currently wearing, revealing what had become of the scar left on her when her parents stripped her of her tail. It looked nothing like it did when Toni had first seen it. The skin wasn't as red and irritated as it had been before. Now it was just slightly raised and discolored, and truthfully not even very noticeable unless you were really looking.

Realization struck Toni when Cheryl revealed what was bothering her. She felt like mentally kicking herself when she remembered how Cheryl had been wearing pants instead of her usual shorts ever since Toni told her that she didn't have to wear a bandage over the scar anymore. How could she have been so stupid?

"Babe, no one's gonna notice your scar. People aren't gonna make fun of you or anything for it. Everyone has scars from something," she shook her head with sympathy in her eyes when Cheryl stood back upright.

"But I will notice. And you will notice," she frowned, "It is...not beautiful."

Pursing her lips, Toni watched as Cheryl sighed and went back to looking at pants, unsure of what to do. She hated that she was starting to feel insecure. The girl who previously had no shame in herself whatsoever was now worried about something as minuscule as the appearance of a scar on her leg. But being insecure came with being human. The only problem was that Toni had no idea how to help.

"Hey, look," she muttered, taking off her own cardigan and untucking her t-shirt from her jeans before easing the waistband down a few inches to reveal a line of darkened skin on her right side. "I've got one too, see? I've got others from different things, but this was always the worst one."

Cheryl cocked her head at the sight of the scar on Toni's side, reaching out to run her fingertips delicately over it. "What was taken from you?" she whispered with worried eyes.