It took painfully longer than the pink haired woman had predicted to walk the whole trek to her friends trailer park. If it weren't for the couple of breathers she was forced to take, Toni was almost certain she would've had a heat stroke. Her caramel skin would no doubt have darkened in the blinding heat pouring down onto their small town of Riverdale.
In Toni's opinion, it should be illegal to walk so far in a heat that could fry an egg. As the rustic metal of SweetPea's caravan came into view, the door appeared to be held ajar, her friend nowhere in sight. As she approached her eyes travelled around curious as to whether Fangs was lingering somewhere nearby.
"Sweets?"
Toni's meloncany voice bounced around the steel of the trailer, her question remaining unanswered. With a huff, she swung herself around in the doorway, brown eyes searching the plains before her. SweetPea wouldn't have left his home unattended and as the thought crossed her mind, the rev of an engine ripped through the silence.
With a wide grin, and a slight sparkle in her eyes the younger woman took a step down to greet her oldest friend. It had only been a handful of days since the pair had interacted with one another, their previous encounter had been slightly heavy handed. The tension between the two uncertain, but seeing her friend now, sweat beading along his forehead from the tightness of his helmet. Toni had missed him, and from the mirrored expression she could see he felt the same.
Despite the conflict that may occur between them every once in a while, their bond always remained strong. It was hard to find someone as loyal as one another, and in this town, they knew to stick beside the ones who defended your name when your back was turned.
"I can't remember the last time I've seen you with your hair braided like that," Sweet Pea chuckled lightly, hanging his helmet on the handle of his motorcycle. The vehicle was as gleaming as ever.
"Well, I felt like making an effort for once." The petite girl retorted, brushing a braid to trail down her back. "What's with the trailer being left unlocked? Is there a Rottweiler hiding somewhere in there?"
"I was just dropping some wild shit to a customer for old Fitzberg over there," Toni watched her friend gesture to the ancient drug dealer who lived in the trailer across, the man lying in a baseball cap, pipe cradled loosely in his mouth. The sight made the woman cringe, "Said he'd watch out for me whilst I was gone. Only took ten minutes, but never mind that, you're practically glowing."
"Oh Sweets, you know the agreement, no flirting." The student smirked softly, a playful look dancing along her expression. Basking in the sight of watching him squirm, a look of disgust forming shortly after her words.
"It was an observation, idiot. You look happy, I can only assume someone got laid last night?" With a wiggle of his bushy eyebrows, his eyes crinkled in a smile as Toni's cheeks blushed a furious pink. A part of her wondered if this was really how she acted after she'd slept with someone, surely the only time she felt giddy wasn't purely because of a session of good sex.
"No, actually, I'm just in a good mood."
"Well that's a first."
"Shove off, I'm not always so miserable, you know." Taking a long stride towards Sweet Peas' ride, Toni plonked herself on the cushioned seat. The need to rest after her ten mile walk is stronger than ever. "You wouldn't believe how long it took me to walk here, dude. I'm exhausted."
If Sweet Pea knew she'd tell him the truth, he'd have asked where she could possibly have come from to have taken so long. But in this moment, her happiness was all that mattered, not questioning it. The Serpent shrugged his leather jacket from his shoulders, the sheer sound of leather against sweat lathered skin caused them both to fake a heave. It was crazy how the weather could change overnight, from pouring in rain the night before, to scolding heat the next day.
"Since you're here, I've got enough weed here for two spliffs, are you interested?"
Like someone had lit a fire beneath her, Toni was practically leaping from her seat. It had been weeks since her last high, partially due to being preoccupied with her professor. But the idea of taking the edge off a little sparked her interest. Besides, she needed to kill time and being high took away her concept of time for a short while.
"I'll take that reaction as a yes, you'd think you were hooked on the stuff." SweetPea chuckled wholeheartedly, twisting on his heel to head into the caravan to find his set up.
It had become a challenge for him a couple years before, to roll a spliff in under a minute. Something that the brown eyed girl knew she could never accomplish - but with a vision set ahead for himself, the tousled haired boy somehow managed it. With a grin as he settled down at his counter, Toni a couple steps behind him. In just over a minute, she was handed her own joint, the earthy smell like heaven to her senses.
"God, it's been weeks since I've taken a hit. I'm ashamed to say I've not even noticed its absence." The brunette admitted sheepishly, there had been a time where she'd all but relied on the plant to be the source of her peace.
A simple flick of her thumb over the coils of her lighter, a flame ignited and in no time she was inhaling the extracts of the burning cannabis between her fingers.
SweetPea followed not soon after, the taller man slumping down in the corner of his couch relaxing into the drug. The humid air seeped into the old camper home, the pair hardly taking notice as sweat began to seep from their bodies once more. Toni pulled up a chair from the desk and spun it to sit upon it, facing her friend, resting her head upon her arms as she watched him in intrigue.
"When are you going to get out of this dump? I know you've got more than enough money too," The brunette wondered in curiosity. The money he earned from his little "side hustles" was sitting somewhere in a crack in the flooring.
With a short inhale, and a long puff outwards, he shrugged as usual not liking the topic of speaking about his personal life. Not even with one of his best friends.
"Let's talk about you for a moment," His eyes averted from the water stained ceiling of his trailer, down to his ever so high best friend. An eyebrow cocked in amusement as he knew she was partial to spilling the beans when she was high, "It's term break, is it not?"
Toni knew where this was leading, shuffling uncomfortably and twisting the blunt between her fingers. Taking a long inhale to avoid speaking momentarily, offered a curt nod as a response.
"Where are you staying? You usually spend your first week with us during that time."
The petite girl had already attempted to think up an answer before he'd even asked it, she could lie easily. But she hated it. Especially lying to him. So in reluctance, she uttered her words just loud enough for him to hear,
"If you must know, I'm staying at someone's place at the moment."
That one sentence was enough to peak SweetPeas interest enough to sit up, slightly reddened eyes now fully focused on his braided haired friend.
"Who?"
The question was short, but Toni wasn't sure whether or not it was safe to divulge that information yet. As much as she trusted SweetPea, she knew instantly he'd be put off with the fact that Cheryl was her professor. Alongside the fact she'd threatened to inform the school of her situation, he wouldn't think of it as her 'taking her in'. Instead, she played it off as though it were a guessing game.
"Wouldn't you like to know?"
"Please don't tell me it's Donna Sweett, I know you two are close, but come on, T. You've got better taste than that." SweetPea was quick to assume, and quick to judge and that was what kept her from being honest.
With a frown at his mildly offensive words, she huffed, "I'd be lucky to be living with someone as unintentionally caring as Donna, but no, SweetPea - its not Donna. I don't care to inform you of who it is, right now. All you need to know is I have a roof over my head, and that I'm happy."
"Okay, okay, I won't ask again. But I'm slightly hurt you rarely took up our offers to shelter you, but one word from this mystery person and you happily up and go." SweetPea said, creating small hoops with the smoke escaping his lips, "Kind of cold, Topaz."
"It wasn't that simple, I did refuse at first, but sometimes it's better not to put up a fight." Was all Toni bothered to explain, knowing she wouldn't be able to discuss that moment in time without slipping up.
"Well that sounds inviting." The tousled haired man muttered entirely to himself, his voice low enough for Toni to not acknowledge it.
As a silence settled between the pair, the two fell faintly into their thoughts. The faint echo of a voice in the back of Toni's mind called to her to steal a glance at the antique wall clock, she had half an hour remaining until seven. The way the hours faded into what felt like one when she was high, was something she'd never be able to explain. A grunt slipped from her lips as she hauled herself out of the desk chair, pins and needles suddenly rushing to her feet.
The first step whipped her out instantly, her friend being too high and too far to catch her. In an attempt to save herself, Toni grappled ridiculously for the counter top to stabilise herself. But in doing so, the pink haired girl had caught her forearm on a loose screw. It took a moment for the two to realise what had happened, before they began to fixate their attention on the sudden ooze of blood leaving the wound.
A beat passed by, neither saying a word as their doe eyes watched the torn fabric of Toni's crop top smear with a thick red liquid. It doesn't look too bad on the surface, but what lay beneath her top would've sent anyone to the bathroom to hurl.
Where the screw had made contact with her arm, a layer of her skin had peeled upwards revealing the raw meat below. Thankfully it was merely the width of a pencil, nothing too wide. But as her mind began to sober, she was suddenly feeling the throbbing rush of blood racing to the exit. The pain soon began to settle in. Worried eyes connected with SweetPea, a breath she didn't know she'd been holding escaping past her plump lips,
"Shit."
"Fuck, uh—we need a cloth, or-or I can tear my shirt if you need me to." The brown eyed boy rushed to assist her, practically tumbling into a frenzy. Too high to function in a calm manner.
"Save that masculinity for a straight woman to ogle over, just I don't know - grab me whatever you can find." Toni urged, doing her best not to focus on the wound that felt as though it was getting worse with every passing minute.
"Right, uh, fuck Toni. I'm not good under pressure," The brunette knew he wasn't specifically talking to her, more so trying to steady his mind enough to think straight. "You don't think you'll bleed out right? That's a lot of blood."
As Toni rested her head against the drawers, elevating her arm she shook her head, "No, Sweets. But I might just pass out if you don't hurry."
With a grumble, he'd leapt over her legs and scrambled towards his bedroom, returning shortly with a flannel shirt grasped in hand, extending his cloth towards her.
"Here, use that."
"Thanks," Toni breathed through the pain, taking up an arm of the shirt into her mouth and wrapping the rest around her wound. With a quick loose knot, she yanked on the piece in her mouth and tightened it as much as possible.
Sweet Pea had paled at the sight, a sickening feeling bubbling in his stomach.
"Maybe we should take you to a doctor?"
Toni chuckled at his unusually oblivious self, "You know I can't do that, it'll be fine. I've endured worse injuries than this, remember?"
With a concerned look, and an urge to argue with her, Sweet Pea knew she was right.
"You've got some balls, Toni, man." He uttered, his hand coming to rub the nape of his neck. "How are you going to clean that up? Usually I have alcohol lying around, but I've been trying to cut back."
At that question, her dark hues found the clock again. Ten to seven. With her good arm, she used it against the drawers to pull herself safely to her feet this time. Testing the waters with a short walk to the door, her feet somehow now coming back to life. A sigh heaved from her body, the ache of pain taking its toll on her left side.
"My friend will have a first aid kit, I'm sure that'll have everything I need in it. You need to drink some water," Toni spoke in confidence, Cheryl seemed like just the type to have a first aid kit. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I think I might've." The poor boy breathed out, mentally noting to repair the counter before anyone else was to fall and open more wounds. "I can't let you walk there alone, T. Take this, get a cab, at least. For my sake more than yours."
In a typical visit, she'd refuse the money unless she earned it herself. But knowing it was walk ten miles whilst heavily bleeding from her forearm, or hitch a cab and get there within fifteen minutes. The answer was obvious.
The petite woman forced herself onto her tiptoes, placing a light, friendly kiss to her friends cheek as she took ahold of the money.
"Thank you, I promise I'll let you know when I get back. Who knew high you had such a fear of blood?"