Cheryl smiled as her feet padded across the stone floor of her bedroom. She pulled the crisp covers back onto her bed to make it look more presentable before embarking on her duties for the day. Her tanned legs glistened in the morning sun that seeped through the open windows and Cheryl stood by them and watched the sea as it danced across the golden beach. She pushed the glass open and breathed in the familiar smell of sea air mixed with the fresh food she could see being sold at the market down below. The bustle of the small town always made her smile and feel like she belonged, no one had a bad word to say to her and they all respected her privacy and never ran to the papers with a story about her.
She pulled at the short white dress she had slipped over her bikini when she ventured into the front room. Even though there was no one watching her she still felt self conscious about the amount of skin she was showing, she thought that if her tattoo was visible then she needed to cover up some more. However this was only the case when she was having personal time with her family and friends, if she was out working then it was deemed the less clothes the better. Even though Cheryl knew she had a figure to be envious of, she always found it slightly embarrassing to be parading around with hardly any clothes on.
She marvelled at the contrast to her life here than to the life she had left behind in London. Here she was able to live as a normal person despite being one of the biggest selling artists in the world, she could live her life how she wanted which she had been unable to do so previously. She brushed a curl out of her face and momentarily twisted her brunette locks, amazed that she could wander around in her natural state without someone trying to take a picture of her. Her hair shimmered like gold in the sunlight and Cheryl smiled at the gorgeous colour that the sun had created and no hairdresser could. Such small things warmed her heart and nothing would ever change that about her, no matter how famous she was.
Cheryl laughed as she wandered through her apartment, she was watching her daughter jumping up and down to try and get her attention by waving her hands around in front of her mother's face. "Lola what do you want?" Cheryl asked her seven year old when she wrapped her arms around her mother's legs and refused to let go until she was spoken to. "Can I go to the beach please?" she asked sweetly.
"Only if you ask in French" Cheryl told her with a cheeky wink as Lola grumbled, "But Mam! Je voudrais aller à la plage s'il vous plaît" she asked. "Oui mais seulement pour une heure avant l'école" Cheryl replied as she ruffled her daughters long brown curls before the youngster skipped off out of their apartment shouting "Merci" to Cheryl.
Cheryl stood out on the balcony as she watched Lola running towards the shore with her friends. Mother and daughter were identical, they both possessed lovely long brown curls and massive chocolate eyes with luscious lashes. It was these features that helped the girls get lost in the crowd, they were often easily mistaken for local French girls and after living in the country for close to eight years Cheryl felt like France was her second home. The girls fitted in, they spoke fluent French as well as English and they both loved the traditional French culture that was on offer to them. The only thing that separated them from others was the heavy Geordie accent Cheryl still spoke with and that Lola had also inherited slightly.
Cheryl's heart was bursting with pride as she watched her little angel cart wheeling across the golden sand, she could hear her giggles echoing around the beach and she felt at ease knowing her baby was happy. She felt privileged that she was able to carry on her life as a popstar without Lola being brought into the spotlight; in fact hardly anyone knew she had a child. It wasn't public knowledge that Cheryl had a daughter and she intended to keep it that was for as long as possible to give Lola a fair chance at having a normal upbringing.
Lola turned around to face the apartment complex where she had grown up and she saw her mother watching her from their balcony. The little girl jumped up and down waving and shouting to her. She loved Cheryl more than anything in the world, she was proud that her mum was a popstar and each time Cheryl was on stage Lola begged to be allowed to come and watch.
Cheryl waved back at her daughter and smiled, she knew she had made the right choice in moving away from London but part of her felt awful for taking Lola away from her father. The little girl had never set eyes on him and didn't even know who he was, she had never questioned Cheryl but she knew that one day she would. Cheryl smiled at the memories of her relationship with Lola's father. They were happy memories and she never once regretted what they had.
Her mind raced back to their time together, they were blissfully happy and Cheryl had fallen fast for him. They were perfect for each other, they completed each other and Cheryl felt like she had finally found the man she was destined to be with. He made her laugh, he brightened her day and he made her happy. He was older than Cheryl, much older, but that didn't stop either of them; they knew they loved each other and that was more than enough. Everything had been going well between them until he left for his annual six months in America for his work, he had asked Cheryl to go with him but she wasn't ready for the world to know about them. She had stayed at home in London and was miserable without him, but as time went by she managed to cope on her own. She remembered the morning she found out she was pregnant, she was overjoyed, ecstatic to be truthful, but then she realised he didn't want children. He never had done. He was the eternal bachelor. Cheryl moved out of their home before he returned from America and she never set eyes on him again. She quit the job she had once shared with him and once Lola had been born she moved to the sunny south of France in a bid to escape the pressure she felt.
She always hoped hers and Lola's lives would turn out like they had, without a care in the world. They were constantly flying around the world, visiting the most beautiful places and meeting such powerful people. They loved it and Cheryl was shocked that no one had written about her daughter in the press. They had spent numerous weeks away from home whilst Cheryl was on her world tour and they made it into a game. Each night was a new adventure, one night they would be chasing teddy bears in a forest and the next they would be swimming in the sea with dolphins, Lola loved her mum's vivid imagination as it never left her bored no matter how far away from home they were.
Now that Lola had started school Cheryl was more aware that she couldn't just hop on a plane and jet set around the world anymore when she felt like it. She wanted her daughter to have the education she had never achieved and if that meant compromising her passion to benefit her child then that was what she would do. It was times like these she wished she had stayed with Lola's father. These were the times when she needed him, she needed him to help her look after their daughter and to give her a break every now and then. She always wondered what he was doing, she always wanted to know how he was and what was happening in his life and that made her regret leaving him constantly.
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Je voudrais aller à la plage s'il vous plaît. - I would like to go to the beach please.
Oui mais seulement pour une heure avant l'école - Yes but only for an hour before school.
Merci - Thankyou
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