Martha gets sick the next Friday night with some sort of stomach bug and spends a lot of time kneeling by the toilet, and Toni's a little tired the next day from staying up with her until three o'clock in the morning, but Martha's mom has had a rough week at work so Toni wakes up early to bring Martha some soup for breakfast.
"Are you going to the mall with Fatin and Dot today?" Martha asks her while she eats. "I know they were wanting to go."
Toni shakes her head. "Nah, I'll just hang with you. We can binge the last Schitt's Creek season; I know you haven't seen it yet."
"Toni," Martha complains at her. "You don't have to take care of me all day like we're little kids again. Go do something fun."
Toni stays with her until she falls asleep anyway and is just considering whether to text Fatin back or to just go take a nap of her own when the doorbell rings. Toni's still in her pajamas, but she goes to answer it and sees blonde hair through the glass. "Jesus fucking Christ," Toni mutters, because she's really not trying to deal with Shelby today; they've spent a little too much time together lately, and she's been really hoping for some distance because things were starting to get weird.
Shelby looks a little amused by Toni's pajamas—namely the reindeer pattern on the bottoms Toni got from Martha's mom last Christmas, and Toni immediately regrets answering the door at all when Shelby says, "Cute pants. Real festive."
"Martha's sick," Toni deadpans, and Shelby's smile falls.
"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." Shelby bites her lip, looks past Toni almost suggestively, like she wants to be invited inside, and when Toni just blinks at her, she says, "Well, we were supposed to drive out to this fair today, just outside of Austin. It's just under a couple of hours away. I guess I don't have anyone to go with now."
"Bummer," Toni says.
"Yeah, it's a real shame. I don't really see the point in goin' alone..." Shelby looks off up into the air with a heavy sigh, leadingly.
"You could go with your boyfriend," Toni suggests, a little amused by this game they're playing.
"Andrew's busy with his family," Shelby explains.
"Becca?"
"Chemistry project."
Toni's eyes narrow. "You have other friends."
"Yeah, but I'm already right here with you."
"Hmm." Toni tries to think up an excuse and comes up empty. "Well, I'm busy too, so I guess life just be that way sometimes."
"Toni," Shelby groans, and Toni rolls her eyes and folds her arms across her chest.
"Shelby, if we have to spend a whole day hanging out one of us is coming home in a body bag. I'm not going to the fair with you."
She goes to the fair with Shelby.
She tells herself it's because Shelby made, like, a dozen promises to her in exchange for her company—Toni gets radio control the entire drive there and back so that she doesn't have to listen to Luke Bryan or Tim McGraw or whatever the hell Shelby would put on, and Shelby also has to buy her lunch and one cotton candy, and Toni gets veto privileges on all fair rides, plus gets to decide when they go home as long as they stay for a minimum of four hours. Toni thinks cotton candy is the shit so that's the real kicker; all she has to do is put up with Shelby's personality for a few hours, and Shelby's at least been annoying her considerably less lately—it's probably the sex—so honestly, the whole deal feels like kind of a steal in Toni's mind.
Shelby tries valiantly to hold a conversation with her on the way there, but Toni turns up the music to drown her out and ignores her offended look, then eventually passes out and gets some well-needed sleep.
