A few days passed with Bethany and Belle alternating with helping me sleep. We didn't mention it outside of that. On the inside I felt ashamed that I was relying on them like this. Like I was a baby or something. However, I realized that I was getting some much-needed sleep with their help. Having one of them near me while in bed just told me that the world was alright. That everything was okay and things hadn't gone to shit. That I hadn't lost everything.
I forced myself away from those thoughts and looked out the window and at the street. I was expecting Toon to show up soon. I wished she'd hurry up and arrive since it had been so long since I had seen her. Well it had only been a week or so. But she was my best friend. I needed her around. I continued to watch the street for her since I had nothing better to do. And eventually I saw her Corolla crawl slowly through the street. She was probably trying to read each house number. When she reached the right house, she pulled over to the sidewalk and parked. Toon was out of the car seconds later, her short black hair popping up over the top. She looked up at the window - knowing from my texts which room I had - and waved excitedly. I waved back and went downstairs to open the door.
"Toon is here." I called to Bethany in the living room.
"Alright. I'll leave you two alone." Bethany smirked. "Let me know if you want me to run to the store and grab condoms."
"Gross." I made a face. On the inside, however, I was not completely opposed to what Bethany was suggesting. Toon's an incredibly beautiful girl. Black hair that she kept in a pixie cut. Pale skin that would make Snow White envious and green eyes that looked like emeralds. She was also small enough where she could pull off a Tinkerbell cosplay if she dyed her hair blonde. Her breasts were small- big or small, I love them all - as her figure would suggest but her ass more than made up for it. They were just the right amount of jiggly and when she wore yoga pants or leggings I would bless their inventor from the bottom of my heart.
I opened the door. "Hey."
"Rye!" She hugged me, being as animated as her nickname would suggest. As small as her breasts were, they were still breasts and they pressed pleasantly against me. "How are you?"
"Good! You?"
"Dead inside as always." She grinned and leaned her head to the side. "Hey Beth!"
"Hey Toon!" Bethany called from the sofa without getting up.
"Let's head up." I turned and led Toon to my room. I just knew that Bethany was smirking downstairs.
"Looks like you're all settled in." Toon hopped onto my bed and grabbed the pillow. She put it on her lap then rested her elbow on it. "This house is gorgeous by the way."
I took a seat at my desk. "There's a pool too."
"You're shitting me."
"Nope." I chuckled. "There is in fact a pool back there."
"Ughhh you're so luckyyyy." She then realized what she just said and turned red. "I mean. I. Fuck. Rye I didn't mean..."
"You're good Toon. I know what you meant." I smiled to show her that it was alright. "You're welcome to use it whenever you want."
"I wish I could. Mom and Dad are driving me insane." Toon moaned. "And I swear to god if I have to deal with another party of 20 that doesn't tip, you'll have to make a trip to the local prison twice a month. I'll be in there for a robbery followed by a murderous rampage."
For as tiny as Toon was, she was bloodthirsty. We had first met in kindergarten but didn't really play together since I liked keeping to myself. Until a giant lump of lard (no kindergartener should be that big) tried to pick on me. Toon had showed up out of nowhere and socked him right in the nose. After she had gotten back from her time-out, I gave her my brownie. We had been best friends since. "Only twice a month?"
"I think that's all they allow." She frowned.
"Why do you know this?"
"I looked it up. I was very angry." She smiled wickedly. Then she wrinkled her face up. "There was a toddler whose personality matched the rotten cunt it had popped out of. Little fucker shat on the floor underneath the table. My Mom had to clean it up."
"Rotten cunt? Really, Toon?"
"What? The bitch called me the 'help'." She growled. "Oh I'll
help
her alright. I'll help her eat the steak that wasn't "medium-rare" enough by shoving it down her giraffe throat. Seriously. Her neck was loooong."
I sat quietly and occasionally smiled as Toon launched into a long rant about her various customers this past week. I knew she'd calm down considerably once she got it out of her system. While she did that, I gazed at her. The faces she made. How red she got when she got angry. The way her teeth flashed when she smiled. I knew that I wouldn't be looking at her like this if I didn't have a crush on her. But we were best friends and I didn't want to risk losing that. Besides. She deserved so much better.
"Hey Rye?"
I popped out of my daydreaming. "Hmm?"
She was looking at me with a lot of hesitation and concern. Her previous rage was completely gone. After curling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, she spoke up. "Are you okay?"
I stiffened. Why does everyone keep asking me that? Of course I'm okay. If I wasn't okay would I be sitting here talking like this? Would I be daydreaming about how gorgeous Toon was? Would I have fantasized about my sisters? "I'm fine, Toon."
She continued to stare at me, looking deep into my eyes. I was blushing from the intensity of her gaze but she didn't seem to notice. "Alright. You're fine."
"Yes. I'm fine." I smiled.
She got up abruptly. "Gotta pee."
"My bathroom isn't fixed yet. Use the one downstairs. Bethany will show ya."
"Thanks!"
***
Toon returned to the living room after using the restroom and sat on the couch on the other end from where Bethany was sitting. "Rye lied right to my face. He's never done that before. Not for anything important."
"What?" Bethany put her book to the side. "What'd he lie about?"
"He said he's fine. He looked me right in the eye and said he's fine." Toon's eyebrows were furrowed with worry. "He even smiled at me while saying it."
"Yea." Bethany nodded. "We've been having the same problem. He refuses to talk about it. But we were thinking that you'd be able to get it out of him."
"Why would you think that? You guys are his family." Toon said. "He talks about you and Belle constantly. Bethany does this... Belle can draw that... One time they did this... On and on and on." She smiled. "He adores you two. You guys will have more luck than me."
Bethany just shrugged while thinking to herself that it was funny that Toon hadn't noticed at all how Rye felt about her. "You'd be surprised, Toon. At least try okay?"
"Of course I will." Toon smiled. "How about you two? Are you and Belle okay?"
"More than Rye, that's for sure. We talked about it and cried and we still talk about it and cry. But we're doing okay."
"That's good." Toon thought about it for a bit. Then scooted over to Bethany and gave her a hug. "I'm so sorry for what happened Beth."