the closest to heaven that i'll ever be

marriage

"Hey, don't worry, we'll find a place," Toni squeezed Cheryl's hand reassuringly over the center console. The redhead was curled into herself in the passenger seat, a bit shaken and worn out from the small emotional breakdown she had less than an hour ago. They'd been touring around Riverdale and the cities surrounding it for weeks, trying to find the perfect spot for the wedding. Now that Cheryl was finally warmed up to the idea of it actually happening, the two had decided that they wanted the wedding to be held where they grew up, where they met, where they fell in love. Plus, both their careers allowed them to travel freely, a luxury some of their friends didn't have. It wouldn't be fair to make everyone travel to Los Angeles. Though, their west coast home did have a much better selection of wedding venues.

"Cher, look at me," Toni sighed as she parked in the Thornhill driveway, "Baby..." She frowned when her fiancée glanced over at her, the look of exhaustion and defeat still evident on her face. "We'll find a place, okay? I promise."

"We're leaving Riverdale in two weeks, Toni," Cheryl shook her head and rubbed her tired, swollen eyes under the lenses of her glasses, "We'll never find a place in time."

"Cheryl, the wedding's not til next summer, we have plenty of time. We'll just...have to stick to online research until we come back."

"Or we could just go to town hall and skip the wh-"

"No. Stop suggesting that. I know it looks hopeless right now, but I'm not giving up on finding a place."

"TT, the whole big white wedding thing was just a silly childhood fantasy of mine. I really don't mind just going with a couple of witnesses to town hall and having a little get-together or something."

"You told me what you wanted our wedding to be like," Toni turned in the driver's seat to face her properly.

Toni rasped out a chuckle, trying to pry her inebriated girlfriend's arms from around her neck as she escorted her back into her dorm room. Cheryl had never been big on partying. Ever since her encounter with Moose Mason back in high school at their winter formal, the redhead hadn't felt very comfortable with the idea of relinquishing control of herself and waking up with no recollection of the night before. But it was their senior year of college. They were graduating soon, about to be propelled into the real world, and Cheryl decided that one night of fun wouldn't hurt. Especially since Toni had promised to stay sober enough to look out for her.

The brunette had stopped partying so much after their short breakup back in freshman year. She still got drunk every now and again at parties, but never like she used to. Thankfully she had gotten the wake-up call she needed and now she had one of the highest GPAs in the visual arts program.

"You're suffocating me, babe," Toni gagged playfully as Cheryl tightened her grip around her neck, not letting go even after being flopped down on the twin bed.

"Cause I love you," she slurred with a giggle, pulling Toni's face towards hers to place sloppy kisses around her face, muttering drunken confessions of love and adoration between each one.

"I love you too, but if you choke me to death then we're both screwed," Toni managed to pry her arms from around her neck, lacing their fingers together gently as her girlfriend nuzzled her nose against her cheek.

"Y'know when we were little, I used to make Jay Jay play wedding with me," Cheryl started, humming contently at the memory that came to her seemingly out of nowhere, "I would put on the white dress I had to wear for my first communion, and we would make a train out of paper towels that Betty would carry for me. I always had a bouquet of dandelions. The fluffy ones, not the yellow ones. We didn't really know how it worked. We just gave each other pipe cleaner rings and hugged before having our first dance to whatever song Betty decided to sing."