Chapter Text
Day One
Toni doesn’t think she can avoid it much longer. It had started with a downpour about a month ago - an April shower that started in the early hours of the morning and didn’t let up until the ground was sodden and the early morning sunrise brought with it a rainbow.
Ordinarily, it would have been something beautiful to behold but, unfortunately for Toni, she had been sleeping in the bed of the old, bricked-up truck belonging to her mother which had sat for years at the Stella Mare RV Park as if waiting for its owners return.
Toni had been sleeping when the rain started, and it had come down so thick and fast that by the time she had managed to scramble out from under her blankets and into the front seat, she - and everything she owned - was soaked through. Toni had no mode of transport, no source of heat, no dry towel, and no fresh clothes, and thus had to sit and slowly freeze for hours until the sun came up and she could finally walk to school and slip into the gym for a hot shower.
She hadn’t dared tell Martha, who believed Toni was staying with her latest round of foster parents, so she had just had to grin and bear it as the cold seeped right through to her bones and settled on her chest; slowly getting worse and worse until Toni couldn’t ignore it any longer.
The whole week had been particularly difficult if she was being honest, bad enough that her classmates had started to notice and it was getting harder to brush things off as just a bad cold. Ordinarily, Toni was pretty adept at hiding any signs of physical discomfort or pain; learning early on that just because she cried didn’t mean her mom would come back, and just because she said she was sick it didn’t mean anybody would try to help her. Now, though, Toni’s coughing is getting worse and it’s more difficult than ever to breathe normally.
Toni slinks into homeroom early Thursday morning, leaning back on her chair trying to take slow, shallow breaths that won’t hurt. She closes her eyes in the hopes that the other students filtering in will just think she was asleep, and for the most part, they do, with the exception of Fort Travis’ resident Princess, and long-time pain-in-her-ass, Shelby Goodkind - who stops at her desk just in front of Toni’s and says with concern “Hey, Toni, are you doin’ alright? You look kind of… sweaty.”
Toni cracks one eye open and her vision is blurred but she can make out Shelby’s green eyes and furrowed brow, and when she opens her mouth to tell Shelby to mind her own fucking business, no words come out but instead she splutters twice - her lungs burning - before devolving into a coughing fit she can’t stop no matter how hard she tries.
She’s gasping for air, and the last thing she hears is the panic in Shelby’s voice as she shouts “Oh my Lord. Can somebody call the nurse? Can somebody come and help her?!”
Toni passes out.
Day Two
Toni hates hospitals. Hospitals remind her of her mom; strung out and talking nonsense whilst she grips her teddy bear and tries to remember what she’s supposed to say when the social workers come.
To make things worse, she’s been stuck in the children’s ward despite practically being 18, so not only did she have to lie in bed attached to a cannula for God knows how long, she had to do it all whilst staring at a cartoon under-the-sea mural with a rather threatening looking shark staring at her.
Marty had visited earlier in the afternoon and practically thrown herself onto the bed and cried “Oh, Toni !” as though Toni had a terminal illness instead of the bad bout of pneumonia she actually had. After she had calmed down, Martha had given Toni a semi-serious clap on the shoulder and scolded her; “ Why didn’t you tell anybody you were sick?! You told me you had a cold, Toni! I don’t understand how things got so bad.”
Toni had avoided her gaze, ducking her head and making some excuse about how it had started as a cold and she just… hadn’t thought to mention it. Luckily, Martha didn’t press - sensing Toni’s discomfort - so her most recent four-wheeled (or four-bricked) living situation, thankfully, remained a secret.
Her stuff was a concern, though, and Toni felt mildly panicked thinking about how most of her worldly possessions were currently tucked in the floor well of the truck. It wasn’t even that her foster parents were bad - Toni had definitely had worse - but they were in it for the money above anything else and that meant the small house was stuffed with as many children as they could get away with. Toni had become so sick of finding her things missing, or waking up to a toddler's foot on her head, that she’d packed her gym bag and split. Toni figured that her foster parents assumed she was with a girlfriend or something but, with the cheques still coming in, they were content just to let Toni disappear where she pleased. Toni wrestled with coming clean to Martha as she had sat there, perched on Toni’s hospital bed with her eyes all wide with concern, but Toni knew how guilty Martha would feel and how upset she would be that Toni hadn’t just gone to the Blackburn’s in the first place, and she just couldn’t bring herself to tell her.
Truth was, Toni herself was now debating why she’d let her pride get the better of her, again, and not just let herself be scooped up by the Blackburns and taken care of. She was just so sick of feeling like a burden, and even if Martha didn’t see her that way, the thought of showing up on her doorstep again, unwanted and unmissed, had been too much to stand. As it was, Toni just stayed silent and hoped her stuff would stay un-fucked with until she could get it, and when Martha had asked if she needed her to bring any clothes or supplies, Toni had managed to squeak out that her foster mom was bringing something down and not to worry about it.
After Martha left, Toni found herself suddenly exhausted. Her chest was still impossibly tight and painful, and the coughing was so bad it would make her dry heave until her eyes watered and all her body wanted was rest so she soon fell into a fitful sleep and when she wakes up, the sky outside her window has gone from light blue and cloudless to the just-purple hue of late afternoon.
She instantly notices three things; the first is that she feels like shit, the second is that someone in the hall is singing Jesus Bids Us Shine, the third is that Toni thinks she knows that voice, and as she listens as it gets closer, all she can do is close her eyes and pray that it’s not heading in her direction. In a panic, Toni finds herself looking wildly around the small room for an escape, but as the voice reaches its crescendo on He looks down from heaven to see us shiiine, she knows there is no way out as the door swings open and there stands Shelby Goodkind, pushing a little caterers cart and beaming at her from the doorway. Her blonde hair is pulled up in an irritatingly perfect high ponytail, and she’s wearing fitted light blue jeans paired with a dark green collared polo, which Toni vaguely registers as being not Shelby’s usual style before shaking the thought out of her head because; a) who the fuck cares, and b) why would she know what Shelby’s usual style is anyway.
Toni meets Shelby’s smile with her own look of undisguised alarm and for a second she thinks she sees Shelby’s shiny, confident veneer falter but she mustn’t dwell on it because she presses right on into Toni’s room anyway, cart first, with a breezy “Good Evenin’, Toni!”
“Is it?” Toni says, and she means it to be cutting but it actually comes out as a wheeze, which then develops into a coughing fit and she’s too overcome to even try and shrug her off when Shelby abandons the cart to rush over to her bedside and gently place a cool hand between Toni’s shoulder blades. When Toni’s coughing finally subsides, Shelby doesn’t take her hand away and she’s momentarily relieved that she’s been able to keep on the vest and sweatpants she’d worn to school the day before instead of being forced in one of those backless hospital gowns. Shelby’s thumb is kind of rubbing her soothingly, and Toni’s fever must be peaking or something, because it feels kind of nice instead of horrifying and for a single, terrible, second her eyes actually flutter closed before she comes to her senses and does shrug Shelby off her.
Shelby hovers for a second as though she’s been chastised but she recovers quickly and bustles back over to her cart, removing a tray and says “I’ve brought your supper. Chilli, a roll, and some sheet cake for after. I don’t think you’re a vegetarian but tell me if you are, and I can go change this for somethin’ else.”
Toni stares at her.
“I’m not a vegetarian” she eventually says, carefully, and Shelby visibly relaxes and grins “Well alright then!” as she brings the tray over to Toni’s bedside and places it softly on her lap, removing the plastic cloche with a flourish. Toni stares at the food in mild disbelief and, despite the roiling in her stomach at even the thought of food, she can’t help but blurt “I’m sorry but what the fuck is happening here?”
Shelby blinks at her “I’m bringing you your supper…”
“I see that Shelby, but why? Are you like… visiting me?”
Shelby pauses, and Toni thinks for a second that it looks like she’s considering lying, but then she says “Oh. Well. Kinda? I’m a youth volunteer. For the hospital. Like a candy striper? I bring people their food, and get them magazines, and refill waters and… stuff.”
Well now this is humiliating and Toni can feel herself redden because, duh, why the fuck would Shelby be there to visit her, and why the fuck would she be there wheeling a cart around. Shelby seems to sense immediately that she’s embarrassed because she starts trying to backtrack saying “Not that I wouldn’t visit you! Because I would, of course! I even asked the other candy striper to switch wards with me so I could come to see you, and I’ve been totally rattled since homeroom yesterday, so I guess it’s kind of killin’ two birds with one stone so…” she trails off awkwardly. The pair kind of observe each other in silence for a second, as Toni tries to work out if the assertion that Shelby had purposefully switched her rounds in order to seek Toni out was true, or if she was just trying to make her feel better. Eventually, Toni just grabs her spoon and forces herself to take a massive mouthful of chili, mumbling out “I thought candy stripers had to wear those… outfits.”
Shelby instantly blushes, as though Toni has said something obscene, and - if she’s being honest - Toni feels a little shy about it herself because as soon as the words leave her mouth her mind instantly conjures up an image of that scene in Glee where Santana wears that crazy hot… Anyway. It’s conjured up some suggestive imagery that Toni is now regretting. Avoiding Shelby’s eyes, she shoves the bread roll into her mouth before she can say anything else stupid, and stares at the tray in her lap like it’s the most interesting thing she’s ever witnessed. Shelby stands there, one hand on her catering cart like she’s debating whether just to leave, but she seems to change her mind because instead, she walks over to Toni’s bed again almost nervously, and kind of fiddles with the cannula line that has been pumping Toni with massive doses of antibiotics.
“I really am glad you’re okay, Toni,” Shelby says, impossibly gently, “you really scared me yesterday. I thought… Well. I’ve just been real worried, and I’d really hate not seein’ you around so you just focus on getting better, now. Alright?”
Toni is kind of confused because she and Shelby aren’t friends. Not by a long shot. If anything, Toni can be openly hostile to her at times; like when Shelby badgers her about doing a Meet Our Star Basketball Captain! spread in the school newspaper, or condescendingly offers up half her lunch when she sees Toni doesn’t have anything or tries to convert Marty into joining her lame-ass social circle by asking if she and Becca can join Toni’s table at lunch. For a second, Toni thinks she’s being baited - like if she replies with any sincerity Shelby will turn around and say Psych! School is so much better without you, please never come back. But then again, Shelby is looking at her with such earnestness, with a gaze that is bordering on fond, and so Toni’s automatic proclivity toward brashness just kind of dies in her throat.
“Alright.” She says instead, and Shelby breaks out into a sort of relieved smile as her hand leaves the cannula line and veers toward Toni as though she’s going to touch her. She doesn’t though, letting her hand hang in mid-air for a moment before hastily bringing it toward her own face and tugging on her earlobe like she’s embarrassed.
“Alright,” Shelby echos, “well I should…” she gestures to the cart, already moving away, “I put myself down for extra shifts, by the way, so if you need anythin’ just tell me, and I’ll try to get it for you.”
“Thanks,” Toni mutters, looking back down at the chili and digging her spoon through it for something to do. She doesn’t look up again, not until Shelby leaves with a soft “bye, Toni” and after she’s gone, Toni thinks about the way she had looked at her for a long, long, time.
Day Three
As far as shitty days go, the day is pretty fucking shitty. Toni wakes up with her lungs burning, feeling like she’s been roundhouse kicked in the chest. She coughs until she throws up, and the throwing up makes her throw up more until her eyes are streaming and she feels like she’s underwater. The cannula is still in her hand and she guesses that maybe she’s tugged it in the night because it hurts and there are spots of blood under the tape holding it in place. She’s also exhausted and she’s not quite sure how antibiotics are supposed to work but, if anything, she feels like her fever has gotten worse because she can’t stop sweating but she feels so freezing cold and so weak that the thought of hauling her ass up and dragging herself and her IV into the shower is too much to consider.
She’s also been prodded and poked and bothered from the second she opened her eyes; a rushed doctor presses the cold plate of a stethoscope to her back and tells her to breathe deeply as though breathing deeply was just that easy. The nurse that’s accompanying him also tells her that her foster parents had been called by the school the moment she had been brought in on Thursday, in case Toni had been wondering, and Toni knew that the ‘ so why haven’t they come yet?’ is unspoken and she hates the stab of shame she feels when she looks at the pity in the nurse’s eyes.
The foster parent thing is going to be a problem, Toni can tell. So far, she figures the hospital is kind of letting her lack of supervision slide on account of the persona non grata status afforded to her by being just another number in the system, but she knows it won't last forever and that eventually someone will start poking around. There is also the not-so-small matter of her things, or lack thereof because Toni has been in these clothes for three days now; three days of fever sweats and puking, and she’s been in some pretty dicey situations before but she thinks this might be the most physically uncomfortable she’s ever felt.
Sighing, she grabs her phone and groans when she sees the 11% battery warning. She has a few text notifications and DMs on Insta which she assumes are either from friends wishing her well or random classmates hunting for gossip about why she passed out in homeroom. She ignores all but a message from Marty;
Marty B
[08:23 AM]
have 2 go grocery shopping w/ mom and see my uncle today 🙄 but will come see u asap okay? Love u, be nice to the nurses 🍭💫🐻😷😸🫁🧚♀️🐰
Toni smiles, despite herself, and considers trying to decipher whatever the fuck Marty means in emoji-language but decides it’s probably just Marty being Marty and fires off a quick reply.
[09:05 AM]
i’m always nice. c u tomorrow.
[09:05 AM]
🥸👹🤡✌️🐸🏀
[09:07]
love u 2
Throwing her head back against the pillow, Toni suppresses a cough as she tentatively lifts her top up to her nose and sniffs. She’s unsurprisingly disgusting and curses under her breath as she realizes she’s going to have to force herself to get up and shower before Martha comes to visit. As for the clothes, she half-wonders if she could ask a nurse or someone to see if there is anything lying around she could borrow but that would surely lead to some pretty interesting questions and Toni honestly doesn’t think she has the strength.
Just as she’s resigning herself to just coming clean to Martha about the fact she’s not been “home” in about a month the door swings open, and there stands Shelby Goodkind. Toni thinks that her fever must now have reached the point of genuine hallucination because her first thought, inexplicably, is that she looks like an angel. Her blonde hair is tied up like yesterday, and she’s wearing the same fitted jeans and polo combo that Toni now figures must be a uniform of sorts, but everything looks clean and pressed, and her face is almost make-up free save for a little mascara and maybe a touch of blush considering the gentle flush across her cheeks. In short, Shelby looks lovely and Toni is suddenly overwhelmingly aware of the fact that she looks basically like she died a week ago and has simply been propped up by a kindly nurse like Weekend at Bernie's.
She knows she must look as bad as she feels, too, because Shelby’s bright smile immediately gives way to a look of such concern that it could almost be mistaken as fear. Toni hears her give a quiet gasp and then she crosses the room in about 4 strides and sits right down on Toni’s bed by her side and there’s that cool hand again as she presses the back of it against Toni’s burning forehead. Toni is a little bit in shock if she’s honest, so just kind of lets her do it, and when Shelby gasps “Toni, you’re really burnin’ up, I think maybe I should get a nurse or-” Toni just murmurs a quiet “nuh uh” and leans, actually leans, further into Shelby’s touch.
She feels Shelby kind of hesitate, but she doesn’t move her hand right away, and when she finally does it’s to place it on top of Toni’s, her thumb moving in the most featherlight touch over where her cannula is sticking painfully in the back of her hand. “Toni,” she says placatingly, “I really think I should call someone…”
“They’ve been here all morning,” Toni wheezes, mouth dry, “seriously, I’m fine. Just a fever. It’ll break soon.”
Shelby bites her lip as though she’s considering just calling someone anyway and Toni realizes with some surprise that as much as she doesn’t want to be fussed around with again by doctors, she also just doesn’t want Shelby to leave so she tries quietly, “please, Shelby.” She listens, then, and gives a tiny nod before just reaching over Toni’s body to grab the glass of old water on the bedside table. Toni gives a grimace which Shelby understands right away, getting up and moving to the small adjacent bathroom where Toni hears her rinsing out the glass a couple of times before returning with a fresh cup of water. Toni glugs it down gratefully, but doing so also spurs on another coughing fit and she thinks for a second that she tastes blood but Shelby is right by her ear saying “it’s alright. You’ll be alright” so Toni doesn’t mention it when she finally stops.
Toni leans back against the pillow, trying to catch her breath and ignoring the pain in her chest. Shelby kind of watches her for a moment, still chewing on her bottom lip with worry, and Toni isn’t really used to being treated with such reverent concern so the fact she’s being looked at like this, and the fact it’s coming from Shelby Goodkind is kind of tripping her out. Toni chalks it down to Shelby just taking her role as candy striper really, really seriously and so forces herself to crack a smile and jokes “guess you’re, like, taking my breath away or some shit.”
Shelby freezes, and Toni feels kind of mortified because she had intended to sound sardonic and breezy but it had actually come out as sincere and unintentionally charming. She opens her mouth, considering trying to backtrack but Shelby gets there first, saying gently “you know, you’re actually kinda sweet when you’re not being frickin’ grouchy at me for somethin’.”
Toni huffs out a laugh “I’m too weak to be grouchy at you. You’ve caught me in a heightened state of vulnerability, I know not what I do.” Shelby makes a little hum of contentment in the back of her throat but lets Toni off the hook anyway by going back to business. “I don’t technically start for another hour or so,” she says, “I just wanted to see if I could get you anythin’ before I have to go clock in?”
“VIP treatment, nice,” Toni grins, meaning it. She briefly entertains asking Shelby for a phone charger, or a magazine, or something to entertain her until Marty arrives the next day, but the thought of Marty suddenly reminds her of the more pressing matter concerning her lack of things and lack of foster parents. She looks at Shelby looking at her, all eager-eyed like she’s willing to do whatever Toni asks of her, and Toni knows it’s a risk because - let’s face it - she doesn’t exactly trust Shelby. But she couldn’t deny that Shelby has been unexpectedly caring with her, and not even in a way that feels like she wants something in return or like she’s going to use it to lord something over Toni later. It’s kind of a risk, but her only other option is to alarm and upset Marty, and Toni is nothing if not protective so maybe she needs to try putting her faith into Shelby and this weird circumstantial truce they’ve found themselves in.
Fuck it, she thinks, steeling herself before saying “actually, Shelby. There is something. Do you have your car?”
Shelby raises an eyebrow “my car? Yeah, I have it… but Toni…” she lowers her voice to a whisper, “you’re not gonna ask me to bust you our of here, are you?”
Toni gives a short laugh, “no, nothing like that. I just need… Do you know that place off Stella Mare Lane?”
“The trailer park?” Shelby asks, causing Toni’s jaw to tick slightly in annoyance
“It’s an RV park, but sure,” she corrects, “anyway, I need you to drive over there and head right to the back, to the left. You should see an old dark blue Ford Courier, you know, with a flatbed? It’s from 1972 and doesn’t have any wheels, so you seriously won’t be able to miss it.”
Shelby is looking at her now like she’s gone slightly insane, but she’s not giving Toni the sense that she’s necessarily out either, so Toni presses on; “if you hand me my backpack over there I can get you the key - there’s a bunch of shit in the flat bed but you can ignore it, I just need you to bring me the gym bag that’s tucked in the well on the passenger side.”
Shelby leans forward, eyes wide, and actually glances from left to right before whispering “what’s in the bag, Toni?” like Toni is trying to recruit her into being a drug mule or something. Toni should be annoyed, offended, or both, but Shelby still looks like she’s considering just going along with this anyway so Toni just gives her a look and says, “clothes, Shelby.” “Oh,” Shelby says “oh, yeah. Of course.”
Toni rolls her eyes, “so can you get it? I just really need my stuff, and to shower, preferably before Marty gets here.”
Shelby nods, “yeah. Sure. I can get it for you. I can go right now.”
Toni breathes a sigh of relief as Shelby moves to bring Toni her school bag right away. Digging through it, she pulls out the loose car key and places it in Shelby’s hand; forcing her to look at her. “Shelby,” Toni says “you can’t tell anybody, I’m serious.” Shelby falters, and for a second Toni thinks she’s about to be asked a ton of invasive questions but, instead, Shelby just gives a tiny nod and says “okay, Toni,” and that’s that.
_ _ _ _
Toni feels sick and anxious and she’s not really sure why but she thinks it might be the thought of Shelby suddenly knowing her in a way she’d never expected. One glance at the truck and everything in it would tell her, beyond a doubt, that Toni’s been sleeping in there - at least temporarily - and for a fleeting moment, Toni almost just hopes that all her bedding and blankets have been jacked so Shelby won’t see it. Only Marty and Regan knew about the truck, well, and her mom she guesses but that hardly counts now. For Regan, it had been a sign of something romantic. A nest to hide away in; a secret place all their own where they could share secrets, hook up, and hide away. For Martha, she figures it’s likely a symbol of Toni fucking up somehow. Somewhere she’d go running to, tail between her legs, waiting for Marty to come to pick up the pieces. She spends half of the next hour wondering about what Shelby must think about it all, and the other half kicking herself for apparently caring what Shelby thinks.
After what feels like forever, the door swings open and Shelby hastily bustles inside with Toni’s gym bag looking like she’s just robbed a bank. She drops the bag at the foot of Toni’s bed, slightly out of breath, and Toni has to bite back a laugh because, like, she’s really leaned into this whole secret mission thing. “Found it okay?” Toni asks casually and watches as Shelby measuredly, consciously, poorly , holds back the look of sadness threatening to expose her true feelings.
“Easy peasy,” she says instead, “it’s a nice truck. Cozy.”
“Sure,” Toni says evenly, sitting herself up a little straighter and wincing at the pain in her chest, “well, thanks. You’ve done me a solid.” They observe each other for a second, and because Toni really needs Shelby to get it, she says “if anybody asks, just go along with saying my foster mom brought it” right at the exact moment Shelby apparently can’t hold it in, and blurts “Toni, are you living there?”
Toni feels a spark of anger; at Shelby for being so incapable of holding back her self-righteous shock for more than 45 seconds, and at herself for ever believing she would or could react any differently. It’s actually kind of a dilemma because what she wants to do is tell Shelby to leave her alone and stay the fuck out of it, but Toni owes her now. And she also knows - begrudgingly admires even - that Shelby, despite her rainbows and sunshine schtick, can actually be kind of vindictive when really backed into a corner.
Toni grimaces, every fiber of her being screaming at her to go straight in on the defensive, but Shelby actually looks so legitimately upset and there was that shame again like Toni had felt with the nurse earlier that morning. She takes a wheezy sort of breath and tries to calm herself before saying “it’s really no big deal. It’s just a get-away sometimes.” Shelby still looks unsure, so she decides to really shut it down by making her uncomfortable, and finishes with “great hook-up spot. Under the stars, you know? Regan went crazy for it, so…”
It works. Shelby colors instantly, breaking her gaze, and Toni thinks she sees something like hurt flash across her face but as soon as it’s there it’s gone, and Shelby is squaring her shoulders and saying “well… I’ll let you get changed then. Bye, Toni.” And then she’s gone and Toni feels sick and anxious all over again but this time she can’t quite rationalize why.
For a long time throughout High School, she had basically just assumed that Shelby was homophobic. She knew her dad taught it, and had borne the brunt of how Andrew practiced it, but nothing used to sting quite as much as Shelby’s silent compliance. She was never overt with it, not really, and sometimes when Andrew would level some kind of abhorrent slur at her and she would see Shelby flinch - but even so, Toni had heard hate the sin, not the sinner enough to know where Shelby’s alliances lie. Or lay. Toni wasn’t sure these days, if she was being honest, Shelby had stepped into Senior year freshly single and with a renewed attitude toward her. Gone was the nervous, uncomfortable way Shelby used to look at her and in its place had come Shelby giving tentative, careful extensions of friendship which Toni assumes is all some kind of atonement for the shitty behavior before.
Ugh. The whole thing is just massively confusing at the best of times, and now they had found themselves in this weird situation; as though Toni’s hospital room was some deserted island free from all the expectations that had been placed on them by the outside world and like they could just… get along.
Toni thinks about it all through her (super awkward and physically uncomfortable shower) unable to get that weird look of hurt on Shelby’s face out of her head. She knows that Shelby is around somewhere, and when she changes into fresh sweats and a t-shirt she ponders attempting to go to find her, but the 10 or so minutes it had taken her of standing in the shower had left her breathless and worn out and Toni genuinely doesn’t think she could walk any further if she tried. Sighing, she gets back into bed and pulls out her phone, opens Instagram, and searches for Shelby’s name only to find a follow request from months ago that Toni had obviously ignored. She accepts quickly and is kind of furtive as she scrolls through Shelby’s feed. There are pageant photos, of course, as well as a couple of filtered selfies and Shelby looks characteristically gorgeous in all of them, but Toni finds herself drawn to her tagged photos - the ones where Shelby isn’t quite expecting it and is caught in a laugh or a moment. There’s one in particular, with Becca, they’re in a bowling alley and Becca must have snapped it just after Shelby had taken a shot because she’s walking back from the lane with her hands up in good-natured defeat, all toothy smile, and laughter, and the sight of her makes Toni’s mouth go dry.
She navigates to Shelby’s DMs and writes several drafts before firing off a message.
shalifoe.t.#3
hey can u come back 2 my room?
Toni thinks she’ll have to wait a while, but to her surprise, she gets a response almost right away.
Shelby.F.Goodkind
Sorry, I’m home now.
shalifoe.t.#3
i thought u just started?
Shelby.F.Goodkind
I came home. I wasn’t feeling well.
There’s the anxiety again. Shelby hadn’t seemed sick, not at all. Toni vaguely considers sending a message apologizing but she isn’t quite sure what she would be apologizing for. She lies in bed thinking about it, her chest is killing and her stomach twists thinking about how sad Shelby had looked when she had brought her the bag, but just as she grabs her phone again to send off something, anything, it dings.
Shelby.F.Goodkind
I’ll come back tomorrow, after Church? I’m not volunteering that day so maybe we could just hang out a while?
shalifoe.t.#3
i’m not going anywhere
that was a joke
sounds good
🙂
Toni puts her phone away, hands shaking, as she closes her eyes and allows her body to send her into a fitful sleep; a vision of blonde hair and green eyes dancing behind her eyes as she drifts off.