i just want you to know who i am

Chapter 16

"My parents are gonna kill me," Cheryl was pacing back and forth in Toni's bedroom dressed in one of her large t-shirts that came down to her mid-thighs. Her contacts had been replaced by her glasses and her hair was up in a high ponytail, a few loose strands surrounding her face. Toni just watched as she paced around her small bedroom, unsure of how to calm her down. She had been fine for the first hour after she had picked her up from the restaurant. And now all of a sudden, she was in full panic mode.

"They're not gonna kill you, Cher," she leaned back on her hands, bare legs dangling off the edge of the bed from under her own large t-shirt.

"Toni, I walked out of a date with their business partner's son! Their business partners that, if they're not happy, won't invest their time or money in my grandfather's company," Cheryl started to bite at her nails nervously, wondering what she should do. She should go home, just claim that she didn't feel well, and take whatever punishment they gave her. But that wouldn't excuse her being so rude as to leave Nick hanging at the restaurant. "My father's seriously going to kill me," she hid her face in her hands, her body starting to tremble in fear.

"Hey, c'mere," Toni leaned forward, reaching for Cheryl's shirt to tug her in towards her, not stopping until her girlfriend was sitting with her knees on either side of her lap on the edge of the bed, "I don't know your parents. They sound like assholes, no offense. But they can't force you into anything with that guy. That's just...fucked up."

"I can't stand up to them, TT. I don't know what would happen," Cheryl bit her lip, shaking her head sadly. Toni brought a hand up to stroke her slightly bruised cheek gently, making her lean instinctively into her touch. The bruise was finally starting to fade, but what if she was left with more to cover by Sunday night?

"Well, you know you can always come here, babe. There might be a weekend every now and then when my uncle's back in town, but in that case, we'd find somewhere else to go." Cheryl just sniffled, nodding against the palm of her hand before leaning in to hug her tightly.

"It's all gonna be okay," Toni whispered, rubbing her back slowly. She really didn't know what to do. She didn't know if it was all gonna be okay or not. But she'd found herself so protective over Cheryl lately. Even at school, she'd been trying to distract her friends from targeting her so much. In subtle ways, of course. As horrible as she felt about it, she wasn't ready for whatever backlash she would face if she stood up to them in Cheryl's defense. She'd been the queen bee pretty much since elementary school. People feared her and worshipped her at the same time. But she was finally starting to realize that hurting Cheryl wasn't worth all the praise and adoration.

"Thank you," Cheryl whispered, pulling back to look at her as she wiped stray tears from her cheeks, "Sorry you have to put up with me and all my drama."

"I don't have to, I get to," the brunette smirked, kissing her lips gently, making Cheryl giggle before a yawn took over. "Did you wanna do something tomorrow?" she asked, laying back against the pillows. She pulled Cheryl down with her so she was hovering over her, still straddling her lap as red hair from her ponytail draped down to tickle the sides of her face.

"I think I should go home at some point. But only after I spend the day with you like I wanted," she bit her lip shyly, leaning down to kiss her again. She wasn't exactly scantily clad,
but she was remembering that this was the least dressed she'd ever been with Toni. At least in private. Something about that made a blush come up to her cheeks as she thought about what would have happened if she hadn't stopped Toni from going too far with her last weekend. The thought excited her, but she had no idea what to expect.

"Just let me know," Toni mumbled, running her hands up and down her girlfriend's sides over her large maroon t-shirt. "We should sleep now, though," she sighed, looking over at her alarm clock. It was getting close to midnight.