If We Had 5 More Minutes

Would You Do Me The Honor?

       Toni stood outside of Veronica’s waiting on Cheryl, after Thistlehouse collapsed, Veronica agreed to let Cheryl stay for a while. Toni’s palms were sweaty and she was anxious, and she felt like she was in highschool again, pondering the thought of approaching the redhead at the theater that night. One of the best decisions she ever made. The door opened and Toni smiled brightly, but eased up after she saw that it was only Veronica.

“Sorry to disappoint Topaz.” Veronica said as she put her hands up, noticing Toni’s slight disappointment.

“No, no- I didn’t-”

“It's fine Toni really.” Veronica said, letting out a chuckle. “So. What’s the special occasion?” Veronica asked, as she cocked an eyebrow, giving Toni a mischievous look.

“We're just discussing the adoption with Britta.” Toni reassured the raven haired girl, not wanting to make anything public, at least not until everything has been made official.

“Right.” Veronica said slowly as she nodded her head, and as if on cue, Cheryl made her entrance. She wore the same dress from the night she scouted the speakeasy. Toni wasn’t sure how long her jaw was on the floor, but it was long enough for Veronica to notice and let out a subtle cough.

“You two ladies, have a wonderful and hopefully eventful night.” Veronica announced, cutting through the tension in the room. “Go get em tiger.” Toni heard Veronica whisper to Cheryl as she made her way over to Toni.

    Toni held the door open for Cheryl and signaled her to walk in, once inside Cheryl took a seat at their designated booth, and Toni slid in across from her.

“The usual ladies.” Jughead asked, approaching the table ready to take their order. Cheryl watched as he winked at Toni and gave her a sly smile, to which Toni tried to act oblivious to.

“Yeah hobo the usual.” Cheryl answered, not appreciative of his secretive behavior.

“Coming right up.” He answered and scurried back off to Tabitha behind the counter, who was smiling ear to ear. Cheryl squinted her eyes, weary to their unusual behavior, however it was quickly dismissed when Toni reached for her hands over the table.

“So about Britta.” Toni smiled as she squeezed Cheryl’s hands gently. “You're officially her adoptive parent, and once you get settled into your new place and fill out some paperwork she’s all yours.” Cheryl noticed that Toni was extremely excited to deliver this news to her, and while Cheryl was exhilarated to hear, admittedly she was extremely nervous. She was afraid to say it, but she was experiencing cold feet, and now she could somewhat understand what Kevin was going through. However she couldn't imagine making the decision he did, she wants to be a parent to Britta, she just wasn’t confident enough in herself that she would be a good one.

“You're going to be a great parent Cheryl, I promise.” Toni assured Cheryl, as if she were reading her mind, or perhaps Cheryl simply had it written all over her face. Tabitha interrupted their moment as she brought the food out, Toni unlatched her hands from Cheryl’s so that Tabitha could sit the food on the table along with the milkshakes.

“You ladies enjoy your meal.” Tabitha said, clasping her hands together as she lingered at the table a bit, until Jughead came to pull her away. Toni gave them both a look as the couple escaped to the back of the kitchen, Cheryl thought their behavior was questionable, and noticed that the diner was empty as well aside from her and Toni. Then again it was pretty late in the night.

“So Cheryl.” Toni said as she took a bite of her food. “Fangs gave me the divorce papers yesterday.” Cheryl raised her eyebrows at this in shock, and quietly waited for Toni to finish.

“I know I should be giving it more time and be sympathetic towards Fangs but.” Toni rambled on not making eye contact with Cheryl. “I was thinking now since everything is moving along, that maybe if you wanted to.” Toni continued to ramble, and Cheryl was growing impatient with her.

“Tt, mon amour.” Cheryl said, giving her a smirk. “Spit it out.”

“I was wondering if you’d like to be my date to Sweet pea and Josies’ wedding.” Toni finished quickly, rushing the words out a bit, with her eyes squeezed shut.  Cheryl couldn’t help but smile at the request, and while she tried to contain herself, a few tears slipped past before she could stop them. Toni quickly took notice of this and reached out to wipe them, but Cheryl knocked her hand away gently.

“No no, Tt, these are tears of happiness.” Cheryl stated as she wiped them away, careful to ruin her makeup. “I can’t help but feel as if this is all a fever dream.” Cheryl said as she looked at Toni with adoration and pure joy. “Of course I'll attend the wedding with you.” Toni smiled at her response and looked over and winked at Jughead and Tabitha who were eavesdropping through the small kitchen door window. Both of them stumbled through the doors, trying to play it off as if they hadn’t just been snooping. Jughead made his way to the entrance door and flipped the open sign over to close, and Tabitha collected her coat as hse turned off the diner lights, leaving the faintest red glow to light up the diner from the sign outside.

“Make sure to lock up Toni.” Jughead said as he tossed her the keys with his hand on the door. “Oh and no speakeasy repeat.” He squinted his eyes and pointed a finger at her before exiting the diner.

“At least not the tables, counters, or any of the top surfaces really.” Tabtitha reaffirmed before following Jughead out the door. Cheryl looked at Toni with Confusion, however Toni had already started running around the diner lighting a bunch of candles that Cheryl hadn’t noticed when they first walked in. She then put a few quarters in the jukebox and music started playing in the background, and turned around to face Cheryl.

“Would you do me the honor of dancing with me Cheryl Blossom?” Toni asked a little out of breath from all the running, Cheryl would have laughed, however she was very emotional and trying her hardest not to cry again. Unable to say anything she simply got up from the booth and took the hand Toni offered her. Toni draped both her hands over Cheryl’s neck, and Cheryl placed her hands around Toni’s waist as they pulled each other closer and swayed to the music. They both fell into it naturally, their hand placements, their foot movement, down to the way their bodies fit like a puzzle against each other. You and Toni are forever soulmates. Heather’s words echoed in Cheryl’s mind, as she placed her chin on top of Toni’s head. She’d have to thank her later on for letting Cheryl go, other than Toni, she never really had someone put her wellbeing before themselves, she really was grateful to Heather.

“Cheryl, do you ever think about the life we could have had, had we not broken up.” Toni asked quietly.

“With every passing day.” Cheryl answered earnestly. “But now I get to think about what life we are going to have.” Toni looked up at her, placing her hand behind Cheryl’s head, pulling her in for a kiss. Cheryl stumbled a bit and lost her balance, resulting in her back up against one of the tables and Toni catching herself on said table with her hands on each side of Cheryl. They stared at each other for a bit until Toni cleared her throat.

“Yeah, no, Jughead actually made me promise we wouldn’t have a repeat of the speakeasy.” Toni said as she stood up and straightened out her clothes, and they both giggled.

“Then perhaps we should-” Cheryl started but in all honesty couldn’t think of a place, she sure as hell wasn’t going back to Toni and Fangs’ house, and they couldn’t exactly go back to Veronica’s. “Call it a night. A wonderful night might I add.”