Enjoy
After spending almost a full school year climbing back to her status as queen of Riverdale High, Cheryl was exhausted. She had dealt with more drama than most of the other students combined, and while she was partly to blame, most of it was unnecessary and had merely drained her of whatever remaining joy of living she had previously possessed.
But all of the petty high school drama, the love triangles and drug scandals, were nothing compared to the torture she endured in her own home. She was sick and tired of being used and pushed around by her mother, the woman who was supposed to love her unconditionally.
In fact, there was nothing Cheryl Blossom wanted more than to just run away and leave Riverdale behind.
Feeling frustrated, Cheryl found herself heading for the one place she knew her parents would never come looking for her. The southside.
To her surprise, no one at the Whyte Wyrm spared her a second thought. The patrons went about their business, only a few of the rougher looking men daring to look twice. No doubt they all knew of her family history. The only positive aspect of being a Blossom seemed to be the fear it could instill in even the toughest of men, and that mere thought was heartbreaking to Cheryl. She had once been so proud of her family name, and now it was tainted with the blood of generations past and present, and the bitter taste that filled her mouth whenever she spoke it made no indication that it would be fading soon.
These thoughts swirled around her mind as she stared into the glass of cherry coke that was placed on the bar in front of her. She only looked away when she felt the presence of another person uncomfortably close to her, lifting her tear-filled gaze to face the intruder.
“Toni,” the simple statement rolled off her lips before she could stop herself.
And that’s where everything began.
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Toni was mourning the loss of one of her best friends, and the fact that she had lost contact with Cheryl soon after their brief encounter at the Bijou didn’t deter her from letting Cheryl know.
Without the redhead probing too deeply, she revealed every twisted thought and emotion that had passed through her body in the days following Fangs death, and how she hadn’t slept properly since that night. How she kept seeing his face contorting in pain on the inside of her eyelids. It was burned into her memory.
She wanted to move on, she insisted. Wanted to go out and get justice, because Fangs deserved as much. Yet she couldn’t, because what would she possibly do? She wasn’t one for violence if it could be avoided, she had said. And Midge’s mother hadn’t known any better.
Toni talked and Cheryl listened. She couldn’t help but compare this encounter with the one they had shared so many weeks earlier. Only this time, Toni was the one sharing, and Cheryl was doing her best to be the support she needed her to be.
