TONI POV:
"So, Cheryl and Fangs are like best friends now?" Veronica ask quietly. "Apparently. I think she feels the same about us being friends. Not saying I hated you or anything in high school. It's just I only talked to you when I had to." She smiles. "Quiet in my class!" Our professor yells. I look down. My phone starts buzzing and I look to see it's Cheryl. I decline the call with a text saying I'm in class. Our professor dismisses us and I call Cheryl. "I'm sorry about that my phone is a few minutes ahead." I smile. "Oh it's fine luckily it was the one time my phone was on silent." She chuckles quietly. "How was class?" She ask quietly. "I don't really know, I wasn't paying attention." She sighs. "Toni... we've talked about this." Cheryl whispers. "I know but I have turkey brain." She laughs quietly. "You have someone taking notes for you right?" She ask. "Yeah! He smells weird though." I whisper. "Why are you like this?" She ask quietly. "Because if I wasn't, I would have too much time on my hands." I walk out of class with Veronica. "I'm gonna go to the longe to study do you want to go?" She ask. "Sure." We walk to the longe. "Hey, I have to go. I'll call you later." I say quietly. "Ok. Love you." I smile. "I love you too." I hang up. I sit down. "You guys are so gross." Veronica whispers. "So are you and Archie! I do you know how many times I've had to sit down here until you and Archie are done fucking each other?" I ask quietly so no one here's our conversation. "Sorry." She blushes. I pull out my notes. We work on our homework, well Veronica spends an hour reteaching me what I learned in class. "I'm tired." I whisper. "We have practice after this." She whispers. I groan. "I don't want to go!" I whine. "How old are you?" She ask slightly pissed. "18." I whisper. "Grow up! Go back to the dorm and take a nap we don't have practice until 9." I sigh. "But I need to study." I whisper. "You need to sleep more." She tells me. "Fine mom!" I pack my shit and leave. I go to my dorm and pass out on my bed. I don't really know how long I was asleep for but I wake up to Veronica making a ruckus. I look at the time. "Why didn't you wake me up?! It's almost 8! We have practice in an hour." I sit up. "Because we still have a while." She goes through the closet. "Looking for your sexuality?" I ask jokingly. "Fuck you." She whispers. "I have a f- girlfriend." She looks at me. "What?" She ask. "What?" I ask pretending not to know what I almost said. "You almost called Cheryl your fiancé!" I shake my head. "No." I sit there awkwardly. "Who asked who?" She smile. "I proposed after Thanksgiving dinner." I say quietly. "Aw! Was it big?" I shake my head. "No. We were up in my room talking and I popped the question. Noting crazy. I did forget how to function as a human for a minute but that's normal for me when I'm around her." I smile. "Did you tell her that?" I think for a second. "N-no." I whisper. "I should have." I say quietly. "Come on! Let's get some food in you and we can talk and stuff." I smile. "I'm still full from Thursday." I whisper. "Yeah! But you still need to eat." I nod. "Fine."
VERONICA POV:
It's been a few days and practice has been going on for a hour or so. "Topaz!" I look over at Toni. Coach motions for her to come over. After a few minutes of talking Toni goes to the locker room. "Lodge! Get back to work!" I get yelled at. Toni walks out with her bag. After a while practice is over I go back to my dorm and you can tell Toni packed some of her stuff and left. I text her, she's probably going back to Riverdale so I'm not expecting her to text back immediately. I lie down and go to sleep.
TONI POV:
I walk into the hospital and see Cheryl. "How is she?" I ask quietly. She just shakes her head. I kneel in front of her. "Cheryl..." I take her hands and she starts crying. "They don't think she's gonna make it." I look at her and take a deep breath. "What happened? I was just told there was an emergency with Nana." I ask quietly. "She had a stroke." She whispers. I take a deep breath. "She's going to be ok." I whisper not really knowing what is going to happen. I sit next to her. I rub her back as she lies into me. "She's still in surgery." She whispers. "Aren't you suppose to be in school?" She ask quietly. "Yeah, but this is more important right now." I whisper. I struggle to keep my eyes open. "What time is it?" She ask quietly. "I don't know my phone died about an hour into the drive last time I checked it was almost 12. That was 20 minutes into the drive." I whisper. "You smell." She whispers. "I was at practice, I didn't have time to shower. I came here as soon as possible." A nurse comes out. "Blossom?" Cheryl stands up. "She's in her room, we don't know how long she's gonna live but it's unfortunately not long. If you want to take her home to pass away you can." Cheryl look at at me. "It's your choice." I whisper. "We'll take her home."
"You ok?" I ask quietly. Cheryl looks at me. "I don't really know." She whispers. "I just want this to all be over." I look at her. "I know." I take a deep breath. "Can you leave us alone for a minute?" She ask quietly. I nod. "I'll be in the living room." I kiss her cheek and walk out. I can hear her talking to Nana Rose for a bit. I go to check on her and realize she's fallen asleep. I take a deep breath. I keep an eye on Nana Rose and sit next to Cheryl on the small couch we put in her room. I pull Cheryl into me and kiss her head.
"I'll be back on Saturday for the funeral." I tell Cheryl. "It's just since we aren't married I can't stay since it's not a family emergency apparently." She smiles sadly. "My mom will come over to check on you and you have her number if you need anything. Also Fangs is a great gay best friend!" She smiles. "I'll call you when I get there." I whisper. I kiss her. "I love you." I tell her. "I love you too." She kisses me. "Do you want to go Pops first?" She ask quietly. I nod. "Ok." We go to Pops and have a small lunch. "I was thinking that since Christmas is coming up that we should take a vacation." I suggest taking her hands. "Where?" She ask. "I don't know, we can just go on a road trip or something. I bet you probably don't want to be home for the holidays." She nods. "I have now inherited a cabin in Maine." She whispers. "I can't remember the last time anyone was actually there, so we might spend the first day getting rid of about 10 years of dust and cobwebs." I smile. "If I'm spending time with you than it's ok." I tell her quietly. "I should get on the road." I get up. "I'll see you later." I whisper. I kiss her and I go to my truck. I take a deep breath and go back to school. There was a lot of traffic so it takes me about 4 hours. I don't get back until after any of the cafés and cafeteria are closed. I walk into the dorm. "Hey." I say like I haven't been gone for the past 3 days. I place my bag on my bed. "Where the hell where you?!" She ask slightly pissed off. "Riverdale." I whisper. "There was an emergency." I say unpacking. "Are your parents ok?" She ask quietly. "I don't know I was with Cheryl the whole time. It was her Nana. I don't want to talk about it." I explain. "Is she ok?" I look at Veronica. "What does 'I don't want to talk about it' mean?!" I yell. "Sorry." I take a deep breath. "It's just been a stressful couple of days. I haven't gotten much sleep either." I whisper. "Have you eaten?" She ask quietly. "Yeah, I had lunch." She takes a deep breath. "You want to go eat? I haven't eaten much tonight." I nod. "Not that dinner though, it's not Pops." Veronica laughs. "Of course." She smiles. We leave and go to a small bar that was still serving food. "Now that you have food in your system are you going to tell me what happened?" She ask quietly. I take a deep breath. "We were at practice when our coach got a call from Cheryl saying something happened with Nana Rose, I packed my bags and went to Riverdale. Cheryl said that Nana had a stroke. The doctors didn't know how long she had so Cheryl chose to bring her home and Nana died the next day. I'm going back on Saturday for the funeral on Sunday." I explain. "I didn't want to leave her but I needed to come back for school." I whisper. "How's Cheryl doing?" Veronica ask quietly. "She's dealing. She's doing a lot better than when Jason died. Only because she knew this was going to happen." I tell her. "Do you know who's going?" I shrug. "I think it's gonna be small. Obviously me and I think my parents will be there because they were actually close, I think Fangs going to be there. Some family that she had to invite. I don't really know." I whisper. "Have you talked to your mom?" I ask quietly. "No." She whispers.
