Chapter 1
Cheryl looked over to the door as the studio manager called the break for lunch, and as expected, there was Kimberley standing there waiting for her. Her heart skipped a beat as their eyes met, it always did, Kimberley always had that effect on her.
“Coming for a quick fag?” asked Simon, standing up and offering her his cigarettes.
“How many times, Simon? I am not going back on them – they’re evil” she replied, rolling her eyes but smiling at him.
“Lunch then?” he asked, waiting next to the desk as she stood up.
“Oh I would, but I’m meeting Kimberley,” and she looked back over to the door, a feeling of pride coming over her that her girlfriend had come all the way to the other side of London to meet her in her lunch break, just for half an hour.
“I’ll go with the others then,” Simon conceded, rolling his eyes. “I don’t know what you two find to talk about, you’re always together. She’s taken the kid off me – you hardly have lunch with us anymore”, he pretended to be hurt, but she could see the glint in his eye.
“Oh stop it,” she laughed, playfully hitting him on the arm. “You’re glad when I’m not there – all I do is take the p*ss”.
“Yes well, you can be a pain, but I wouldn’t have you any other way”, he said, squeezing her arm. “Tell Kimberley we’re keeping you to ourselves for lunch tomorrow”, and with that he was gone, putting an arm on Dannii’s back and guiding her out the side door towards the canteen.
Cheryl laughed and picked up her bag, momentarily wishing she’d had chance to reapply her lip gloss as she made her way towards Kimberley.
“Hey babe,” she greeted Kimberley, putting her arms round her neck and planting a kiss on her cheek. Kimberley responded, putting her arms round her waist and squeezing her tightly.
“Long morning?” she asked, as she pulled away, leaving one arm round Cheryl’s waist and heading for the door.
“Yeah, very. But it just got a lot better”, smiled Cheryl, putting an arm round Kimberley’s waist. “You hungry?”
“Starving, where are we going?” Kimberley asked.
“Well, I thought the coffee shop on the ground floor, because everyone’s gonna be in the canteen, and I kind of wanted you to myself,” smiled Cheryl, putting her free hand on Kimberley’s stomach and resting her head on her shoulder”.
“Sounds good,” replied Kimberley, bringing her arm up to rest around Cheryl’s shoulder as they made their way down the corridor towards the lifts.
Several months had passed since the girls had revealed their relationship to the other 3 girls, and Hilary. The band were on a break, although they were in regular touch. Cheryl had made a start on her solo album over the summer, and had also been involved with the X Factor which was now almost at the live show stage.
After the tour had ended in June, she had moved in with Kimberley, her separation with Ashley was received well by the press, and the divorce was well on its way to being finalised. Officially, she was single, as was Kimberley, and nobody thought it strange that they were living together. To the outside world it had looked like two friends helping each other through their relationship break ups. In reality, the girls had embarked on the relationship they had dreamt of since they first met.
Kimberley was using the break to study musical theatre – going to classes during the day, and having Cheryl’s dinner on the table when she was back from a long day’s work, either in the recording studio, or at the X Factor studios. She enjoyed looking after Cheryl, and often turned up at the studios for the half hour lunch break Cheryl had, so that they could have lunch together. Cheryl worked such long hours, she was grateful to steal some time with her during the day, just to be with her.
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