TONI POV:
I get out of my truck and see Cheryl sitting on the front steps of my trailer. "Hi!" She says standing up. "What's up?" I ask her. "I had a horrible childhood." She tells me. I nod. "I know." I tell her. "What do you mean?" She asks me. "Look at you!" I tell her. "What do you mean look at me?" She asks confused. "Cheryl, you self destructed when your brother died! Your dad killed Jason because he was ready to tell everyone how horrible your family actually was! Your dad was selling drugs and using maple syrup as a front! Your mom sent you to a conversion therapy because you were showing interest in me! Your mom paid Heather's family to leave town because she didn't want you to be gay! As soon as your father hanged himself, your mom had a different man over every night! All of those except one was all in one year!" I explain. "Come on! Lets go get a beer." I tell her. "I don't drink beer." She says walking over to me. "I thought you had a bad childhood? How can you have a bad childhood and not drink beer?" I ask her. She looks at me annoyed. "Why do I put up with you?" She asks me. "Because you love me!"
I put a margarita in front of Cheryl and sit down at the booth and put my beer down. "So you had a bad childhood and it took you 23 years to realize it." I tell her. "Welcome to the club." I say quietly. She looks at me. "What about you?" She asks quietly. "Well, I lived with my uncle and I couch surfed, what do you think?" I ask her. "What actually happened with your parents?" She asks me. "My dad did the stereotypical thing where he walked out on my mom and I! But I don't blame him my mom is batshit crazy!" I explain. "Why didn't he take you?" She asks before drinking. "He did, he kinda kidnapped me in the middle of the night and brought me to Chicago and kept me there with him until he got arrested for killing a cop!" I tell her. She looks at me. "They took me back here to my mom, she kicked me out at 13 because I had joined the serpents and I was turning into my father. My uncle took me in but he's bipolar and unmedicated, so he would lock me out of the house like once a month for about 2 weeks until he remembered I wasn't an intruder trying to steal his money." I explain to her. "Why did you join the serpents at 13?" She asks quietly. "To piss my mom off. I admit that." I take a deep breath. "Oh! My mom shot at me! She missed but she shot at me!" I add. "When she found out you joined the serpents or different time?" I nod. "Yeah!" I say quietly. She looks at me. "Multiple occasions." I tell her. "This is the most bonding we've done." She tells me. "Yeah! Guess we're in the sharing trauma part of our relationship." I tell her. "Besides what I said earlier! What else happened?" I ask her drinking my beer. She sighs. "I've suppressed most of it."
