Girls and Red lipstick

first dates and surprises

Betty, Veronica and Cheryl sat in the bar with some drinks waiting for Toni. She was late which was unusual because she was never late usually. "She hasn't forgotten right?" Betty asked as she checked the time. "Well i only spoke to her about it today so i don't think so-" Cheryl started as she saw Toni walk in. "I'm so sorry i'm late i had to wait for...never mind, hi" she said with a smile as she walked over and sat down at the table. Veronica and Betty gave her a friendly smile and said Hi back. "Isn't this a blast from the past" Betty said and they all nodded. It was crazy that after all these years they were back together doing the same thing they used to. "So how have you girls been?" Toni asked intrigued.

Betty and Veronica had been together for five years now. They moved in to their own house when they graduated college about three years ago. Soon after that they got engaged. Their wedding was a summer wedding, which Cheryl planned of course. Betty has graduated with a degree in journalism and has taken over the Riverdale register from her parents. Veronica worked for her father. He was a huge businessman with many companies to his name. She managed a few of them for him. After a year of marriage they decided to extend their family. It took a while but eventually they adopted twins named Heidi and Wren. They were newborns when they adopted them but now they were almost 2 years old. They were so in love and their little family was so cute and perfect. They were so happy and both Cheryl and Toni wished they could have that one day.

They spoke for a long time about everything. They discussed college and jobs and houses and general things like that. Toni was telling the girls about her gallery. "Can you show us?" Cheryl asked with a hopeful smile. Toni nodded straight away. "Yeah let's go now" she said standing up. The girls all smiled and stood up. They walked out of the bar and onto the street. It wasn't very late so it was still quite light outside. They walked a couple of blocks and crossed a few roads until they reached the building. It was a rather large building.

Toni unlocked the door and turned on the lights. The rooms were completely white and the paintings hung on the walls with spotlights lighting them up. "Wow" Veronica said walking in and looking around. The girls walked around the huge rooms looking at all of the paintings on the walls. "This one is great" Cheryl said stopping in front of a painting. "You think?" Toni said standing next to her. "yeah who's the artist?" she asked looking for a plaque. "Me" Toni said quietly. Cheryl quickly turned to look at her and her jaw dropped. "This is so good!!" Cheryl said kind of shocked. She knew Toni was a good artist but she'd forgotten how good. "What's it called?" she asked. Toni paused. "This one belongs to a collection called the haze of a drunken hour" she said. Cheryl raised her eyebrows. "that is a very intriguing name, how did you come to with that?" Cheryl asked. Toni paused again. "Oh just came to me..." Toni replied but not convincingly. "Oh come on" Cheryl replied knowing that she was lying. "Okay. So i started this collection when i was in college. This is the first one that i did" she started pausing and not wanting to carry on. Cheryl waited for her to continue. "This was painted on september 8 2019 which was about two months after our break up. I was a complete mess. I'd started using again and drinking and smoking and my life was falling apart. One day i was in my dorm room and i was sitting on my window ledge drowning my sorrows away when i felt the sudden urge to need to paint or draw or something. So i did and this painting is the result" she said quickly. Cheryl paused and didn't really know how to reply. "Look i whilst we are on the topic of this i just want you to know that i don't take it lightly. I know that i just gave up and i know that it was my fault. That was my biggest regret and i just want to tell you that i'm sorry. Even after all of these years i'm sorry about i dealt with the situation" Toni said getting everything off her chest. Cheryl looked at her and smiled a little. "i'm sorry that you started using again and i'm sorry that you went back to that dark place. I was a mess too. I really fucking hated you you know" she said with a little laugh. "i don't blame you. I really fucking hated me too" Toni replied. "In all seriousness though, you should sell your work" Cheryl replied looking back at the painting. "Nah they are just for show" Toni replied shyly. "T, they are amazing" she said again. It has been the first time Cheryl had called Toni by a nickname since they became friends again. It kind of made her feel all weird inside, but in a good way. She smiled at her.