Chapter Text
If someone had told Toni that she would be sitting at a lunch table stealing glances at Cheryl Blossom; the girl whose first words directed towards her were calling her ‘serpent scum’ and insinuating all kinds of classist bullshit about her and her crew, she would have told them to lay off the jingle jangle and stay in school, because there would be no way in hell. Yet, there she was, sitting with Jones, his lady, and that guy Kevin, who she only knew as the Sheriff’s son who Joaquin had a thing for. He wasn’t so bad, even if he did have a penchant for drama; she could appreciate that from time to time, and as long as he didn’t start it, it was all good in Toni’s book.
“What’s Bombshell’s deal?” She asked out loud suddenly, having been completely absorbed in thoughts of the crimson haired girl who sat alone a couple of tables away. For one, she didn’t have much investment in the current topic of conversation, Betty’s creepy half brother who apparently is a cam guy Keller watches (say what you want about the Southside, but Northsiders seemed to be more screwed up than she and her crew could ever even try to be). And for two, Cheryl didn’t strike her as the kind of girl who would eat alone. Toni had to admit, she couldn’t recall any other times she’d seen Cheryl at lunch because well…she never paid attention to her, why would she? The lines were drawn pretty quickly about how she felt about Toni and her friends, so as far as the Serpent was concerned, the red head was out of sight an out of mind.
There was that time at the drag race against The Ghoulies; Toni didn’t know why Cheryl was there, but her taking the honors of flag girl was no real skin off of her back, and to be honest, the way she owned the outfit she was wearing -- a simple, pristine white bralette crop top, crimson red shorts, and navy blue platform heels, Toni didn’t know if she could disagree too much when Cheryl said she was ‘born for this moment’.
Then came last week and their fateful meeting in the bathroom.
Toni Topaz was a lot of things, but afraid of Cheryl Blossom she was not, so when she heard her schoolmate talking to her boy Jug and spilling all kinds of tea about a kiss Archie had with Betty (that in itself was…something, but none of Toni’s business so not the point) in an obviously malicious manner, she saw it fitting to speak up and say something since it was apparently ‘get in other people’s business day’ anyway. Toni’s rule when dealing with people was to give as good as she got, and in any other instance she would have, but Cheryl’s little stunt was so obviously a desperate reaction to being hurt in some way, it didn’t seem right to take a shot, so instead she offered an ear and a hand, literally… it didn’t work out too well for her.
Sapphic serpent hands though? She’d never met a straight girl her age who had that particular ‘s’ word included in her vocabulary.
“Cheryl?” Jughead asked her, the suspicion in his tone evident, even before he glanced behind him to get a look at Cheryl, her head down, looking at her phone, Toni presumed.
If they were put off by Toni’s sudden inquiry cutting off their conversation they didn’t let it show much considering Betty was sporting a suspicious look on her face that could rival Jughead’s,“Why do you want to know anything about Cheryl Blossom?” The way she said it, with a barely detectable, but still there edge of disgust in her tone, a tone that made Toni want to rip that idiot goody too shoes ponytail off her head, a tone that was similar to the one she’d used when she didn’t have the ovaries enough to say that she thought the black hood was a Serpent, but felt entitled enough to imply it caused Toni to raise an eyebrow and crack her knuckles silently under the table.
Toni didn’t hate Betty, she really didn’t. She didn’t see her appeal, but she saw how happy the blonde made Jughead and how willing to stick her neck out for him she was, so Toni couldn’t have too much against her, but she (and most of Jughead’s Northside buddies) so obviously had their heads up their own asses it made them insufferable at times, most times if she was being honest.
Kevin, on the other hand was two things; intrigued and slightly giddy. The moment Cheryl’s name was mentioned he’d perked up like a dog whose master just opened the front door, “The better question is what’s the deal with you and Cheryl? When I saw you two sitting together at the theater I had to check and make sure I hadn’t had a stroke or something.”
“Wait, you went to a movie with Cheryl?” Jughead asked, a little too loudly and thoroughly confused. Regardless, Toni ignored it, but answered Kevin.
“We didn’t go out. I went to check out that Love, Simon movie with Fangs, but he matched with some girl on Bumble and bailed. I ran into Bombshell at the concession stand and—“
“And she didn’t tear your head off for breathing your air? I wonder if she’s sick? It is flu season.” Kevin interrupted and Toni fixed him with an admonishing look. To his credit, he did look sheepish afterwards, so Toni finished, “So we watched the movie and afterwards got milkshakes.” She didn’t tell them about the crying or Cheryl coming out to her, why would she?
“That doesn’t sound like the Cheryl I know.” Her fellow Serpent told her more dismissively than she cared to be talked to, and she countered almost instantly, “Well maybe you don’t know her as well as you think you do.”
“I know enough.”
Toni got up and grabbed her backpack, her grip on it loose as she left the table.
“Hey where are you going? Are we fighting?” Jughead asked, and the alarm in his voice made Toni smirk, just when you wanted to write him off as being a total ass he had to go and care about the state of your relationship.
“No, idiot we’re not fighting. You know enough, I don’t.” She told him simply, “Later.”
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Cheryl’s ears were burning.
Sure gossip about her or her family was nothing new, and after Jason’s death she’d actually become quite good at ignoring when she was being talked about regardless if the chatter was good or bad. The way she saw it, if they were talking at all then she was doing something right. So hearing that dilettante Jughead Jones shout her name like he had tourette’s or something wouldn’t have been something she gave a second thought to if not for who was among his company at his table -- Toni Topaz.
Toni made Cheryl feel uneasy, mostly because she made Cheryl feel anything at all. This girl, this gang member from the Southside quite literally just walked into her life and instantly captured her attention. Of course, Cheryl and denial were well acquainted, so ‘wow, that girl is kind of gorgeous’ in her head was quickly converted into ‘Southside scum’ coming out of her mouth.
Cheryl couldn’t recall a single nice thing she’d ever said to Toni, and yet that day in the bathroom for some reason, the Serpent chose to of all things offer Cheryl an ear to listen. Now, with Jughead shouting her name as if he’d been scandalized, panic quickly had risen in Cheryl’s chest. Had Toni only pretended to care about her to get her to open up and divulge something gossip worthy that she and Jughead could spread around? Had she really been that naive?
“Hey.” Toni told Cheryl casually as she tossed her bag on to the table before she sat on top of it, close enough to Cheryl that the shorter girl was able to open her legs only slightly to nudge Cheryl’s upper arm with her knee.
“Is for horses, Cha Cha. Have a nice conversation about me?”
Toni raised a questioning eyebrow at Cheryl, wondering how she knew she was the topic of conversation, “For an investigative reporter, Jughead is shitty at being conspicuous.” She waited a beat. “So should I be preparing myself for my sexuality to be the splashed on the front page of the next issue of the blue and gold?” Cheryl asked her, eyes forward, not looking at Toni.
“What? No. Cheryl, I didn’t tell them about that.” Toni told her immediately and tried to maneuver herself enough to get Cheryl to look at her. “I would never out someone. I just asked about you. Kevin mentioned seeing us at the movies so I told him the truth: we ran into each other and got some shakes, end of.”
“End of?” Cheryl asked, and actually looked at Toni now, something that relieved the Serpent, hoping Cheryl could see in her eyes that she was telling the truth, “End of.”
Cheryl looked to be debating on if she should take her word for it, but really what else could she do? Even if she did think she was lying it wasn’t like she could un-divulge the secret from Jughead. She just had to trust that Toni was telling her the truth, and found that she wanted to.
“What about me did you ask?”
“What your deal is. But then I decided to come straight to the source, I’m kind of impatient like that.” Toni told her, relaxing again as it seemed Cheryl’s question meant that she’d believed her, which was a good choice on her part considering she was telling the truth after all.
“It’s cute how you think finding out is as simple as asking a question. But I suppose I can live with letting you attempt, if you can manage to get down from the table, and sit like a normal person.” Cheryl smiled, faintly, a sort of smile you’d miss if you weren’t close the way Toni was, and the Serpent complied, sliding down from the table to the bench, “Done. Where’s your lunch?” She asked, noticing that Cheryl didn’t have a lunch bag or a tray on the table,
“Oh, I don’t eat in public. I don’t want people judging me by what I eat, it gives them ammo and the only one who gets to have ammo is me.” Cheryl wanted to laugh out loud at Toni’s stunned face, the darker girl didn’t have to say a thing, her opinion on the matter was written all over her face, but she continued on anyway, “Food is cool, you need it to live. But the mere act of eating invokes thoughts of digestion, flatulation, defecation, even shall I say, complexion defection.” Cheryl shivered for added effect so Toni knew just how horrid the notion was.
“Are you serious?” Was all Toni could muster, she knew the girl was one to care about outward appearances but that was a lot, and she couldn’t hide it, regardless of how the red head had piqued her interest.
“No.” Cheryl smirked, quite proud of herself, “Do you think king of the hobos is the only person in Riverdale who can quote a classic film? ‘Jawbreaker’, 1999.”
“Okay you got me, that was clever. You got me. I’ve never seen it.” Toni told her, and could only laugh at herself slightly, and thought to herself, ‘so this is Cheryl’s sense of humor’.
“No? I have it on Blu-Ray, you could come over to my place tonight. Thistle house hasn’t seen a proper movie night since we moved in anyway.” Cheryl asked, trying to come off more casual than she felt. Toni wanted to know her, to know ‘her deal’ as she’d put it, and while Cheryl wasn’t eager to spill her deep dark secrets, she meant what she’d told Toni at Pop’s, that she’s not some loveless monster, and she wanted to show someone that. On top of that, she and Toni had something in common -- she was fairly impatient herself.
“Tonight? I can’t. I have a job bartending at the Whyte Worm.” Toni told her, she would love to hang out with Cheryl, but she needed the money so she couldn’t bail.
“Oh, I see.” Cheryl sat up straighter, bumming Toni out because she could see as clear as day that Cheryl was going into protection mode from what she saw as a rejection.
“Look it’s no movie night at a house so fancy it has it’s own proper noun---” Toni started and picked up Cheryl’s phone, not bothering to ask and sent herself a text so she’d have the girl’s number. “--But I’m going to be there until around 9 tonight if you wanted to stop by or something.” She told her and sent Cheryl the address.
“Probably not. I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s a school night, and you’d think that would lighten the load that is my social calendar a bit, but no such luck.” The pale beauty told her, speaking a mile a minute as she gathered her things and got up from the table. It wasn’t that she was upset with Toni, she had a job, she understood that, but she attempted to put herself out there and regardless of the reason, it was a no, so she wanted a few moments alone to lick her wounds from shooting her shot. “Some other time, perhaps, ‘Ta.”
Heels clicked against the gravel and Toni watched Cheryl Blossom retreat. She wasn’t left completely dejected; the red head left her with the knowledge that she was a pretty good troll, that she didn’t take hearing ‘no’ very well (but really, she could have guessed that one) and best of all her number. It wasn’t a perfect encounter by any stretch of the imagination, but it was something. And Toni could work with something.