Enlightened

Chapter Thirteen: Flawless

Since the Sheriff's encounter with her angelic Cheryl, things between them had been better than ever.  There were no more doubts or fears between them.  They'd gone weeks without any extraordinary changes or catastrophes. That is, until one fateful night between the secretary and the Mayor that put a... fork in the road.  

It was a Saturday night in early August and, after a long day of work, Toni was driving Cheryl back to Thistlehouse.  

"So, do you want to come over tonight?"  The Sheriff said, placing her hand on Cheryl's inner thigh.   

"As much as I'd love to, I actually have plans with Veronica tonight,"  The redhead said, apprehensively.  Toni felt something shift inside her at the mention of the Latina's name.  Even though the Sheriff knew that her secretary loved her, Veronica still peeved her.  The fact that Cheryl was so quick to accept Veronica back into her life was scary to Toni.  She ignored her feelings though and didn't give it another thought.  That was her biggest mistake.

"Okay, that sounds cool."  Toni pulled into the driveway of Cheryl's house and looked over at her, smiling wildly.  "I'll see you tomorrow then?"  The redhead nodded in response, returning the smile.  The Sheriff kissed her girlfriend passionately, showing her love and waited until the redhead got inside to pull out of the driveway.  Toni pressed play on her 'The Neighbourhood' playlist and the song that popped up was "Flawless".  Despite the somber attitude of the song, Toni was beaming.  Although when she heard one of the lyrics, it brought a sickening feeling to her stomach, she just didn't know why.  She dismissed the feeling and drove home pretending to be unbothered.  

"The only flaw is you're flawless, But I just can't wait for love to destroy us."

~

Cheryl walked into Thistlehouse, nervous of what would happen with Veronica.  Besides a few lunches and coffees together, they really hadn't talked much since Archie's arrest.  Veronica would be over in an hour, so the redhead had some time to herself.  After not being able to decide what to do, she decided on nothing.  Cheryl put some music on and sat on her couch, staring at the ceiling and thinking about everything she had.  Recently Cheryl had taken a liking to listening to orchestral music, as per request of Toni.  She used it whenever she wanted or needed to think.  The redhead was looking for something calming and methodic, so she settled on Sanctuary by Frank Ticheli.  It was one of her favourite works by him.  

As the ping of xylophones and soft sounds of trumpets filled the room, she began to think about her girlfriend.  The name of the composition suited her train of thought, as Toni was her sanctuary.  The pink haired girl was always there for her and did whatever Cheryl needed when she needed it done.  Sometimes she even did things she didn't need to, just to please the younger girl.  From elaborate dates to things as little as getting her coffee just the way she liked it and kissing her on the forehead in the morning.  The only thing Toni had yet to do was... well, Cheryl.  After almost a month, there'd been nothing past kissing with the two.  The redhead was totally fine with waiting for her girlfriend, but she craved Toni endlessly.  She just wanted to love every part of the younger girl as fully as she could.  

After the piece had finished, her favourite "happy piece" as she called it came on.  Winds of Change by Randall. D Standridge.  She got up off of the couch and walked into the kitchen, grabbing herself a glass of water.  The light sparkling sound of wind chimes and delicate notes of the clarinet accompanied by booming tubas and the ever-present oboe ripping through the band's common sound soothed her.  As the trumpets began playing their encouraging sixteenth notes in a major chord, Cheryl really began to comprehend the blessings she had in her life.