She felt lazy and content, the proverbial cat that got the cream, as she snuggled in deeper to the warm body beside her.
It was summer, the morning air was already close and static, the open window affording little respite as a trail of muted taxi horns and car radios danced lightly across the space between.
They were cocooned in a hotel in the heart of the capital, three million people bustling around them, making ends meet, making a billion, shifting and hurrying and yelling at their subordinates down excessively priced smart phones that they would trade in as soon as the latest model became available.
The working day was still hours from beginning, but nobody slept in London. Especially given the remorseless heat.
Kimberley and Cheryl had been no exception. They lay entangled with the twisted designer sheets, surrounded by expansive paintings and Fendi furniture. Kimberley glanced at the alarm clock that she had been watching more or less since dawn. More or less since Cheryl had shuddered and cried out and collapsed onto her in contented exhaustion.
The alarm would penetrate their sanctuary in less than a minute. She waited for the seconds to tick down and the digits to morph and suddenly her hours of restlessness, trapped under Cheryl's delicate slumbering form, seemed to disintegrate into no time at all, and she was back to watching Cheryl's eyelids flutter shut; wishing she had the rest of the morning to remain just as they were.
But the alarm was unbending to such desires and Kimberley could only hold the moment for a few precious seconds before their reality seeped back in with an unrelenting robotic bleeping.
She felt the sigh along her naked shoulder, cool fingers brushing along her collarbone, before sliding down and away as the mattress dipped and Cheryl turned and swatted absently at her alarm.
"I have to get up," she murmured, her voice like a purr, as she rolled back over, stretching along Kimberley's side, hooking her leg over Kimberley's and closing her eyes once more.
"You do."
"Mmmm, ten more minutes."
"You always say that," she was smiling, they both were.
"It's too hot," Cheryl continued, kicking off the last bit of sheet that still clung to them. "Bloody heatwave."
"It's gonna be hotter where you're going, if you think this is bad."
Cheryl whimpered at the prospect, burying her head further into the nook of Kimberly's neck.
"Don't say that, Kimba," she grumbled, reflexively running her hand down Kimberley's chest before reaching and palming her breast.
"Besides, nowhere's as hot as you."
This had the desired effect as Kimberley scoffed and nudged against her, scolding her in that way that usually spurred her on.
"Listen, smoothie, you don't have time for this," she gently removed Cheryl's hand before giving her bum an affectionate pat.
"I have ten minutes," Cheryl corrected her.
"Since when has anything you've done taken ten minutes?"
Cheryl made a fruitless attempt to engage Kimberley once more, but her usually swift fingers were no match for a wide awake and alert Kimberley, who captured her wrists all too easily.
"I'm going to choose to take that last remark as a compliment," she huffed eventually, hauling herself up onto her knees and scraping her tangled mess of hair out of her eyes.
She glanced at the bedside clock once more with a frown, triggering something within Kimberley to give way. She didn't want reality anymore than Cheryl did.
"Do you think I should take me strappy sandals too? You know, me Loubtins, as well as me boots, the bikery ones?"
"I don't think you'll be needing boots at all if the weather's anything like this," Kimberley remarked as she resettled herself amongst the pillows.
"Hm," Cheryl mused, sifting amongst her discarded jewellery that was spilled across the nightstand, her cigarette packet and lighter buried somewhere within.
"God, but then I'll need to pack more dresses for those sandals..." she continued, padding around the bedroom as her search widened.
Kimberley feigned interest as her body began to relent against the now empty expanse of mattress.
"Which have you packed so far?"
"Huh? None yet."
"But, what have - hang on. Cheryl, you have started packing, haven't you?"
"When was I supposed to have packed? You were here the whole time, did you see me packing?"
"Cheryl!"
"It's fine, Kimba," Cheryl said dismissively, totally at odds with Kimberley's rising agitation.
Kimberley liked order. She was good at order. She knew where Cheryl's passport and ticket were. She knew the time of departure and arrival. She knew things about Cheryl's itinerary that Cheryl herself had not yet bothered to read. But on occasion, she would have liked to not have to know any of these things.
"It's not fine," Kimberley countered, her weariness now completely abandoned as she leapt from the bed. "Pat will be here in half an hour. You have to be at the airport in less than two-"
"That's loadsa time-"
"You still have to get there, Cheryl. In morning traffic."
"Kimba," Cheryl shushed her, moving in dangerously close, knowing that sometimes distraction really was the only way to temper the overly logical side of Kimberley's brain. Which, of course, she loved. But she did enough of her own panicking; she'd rather Kimberley relaxed when it came to the more inconsequential details of how her suitcase would come to be packed on time.
"I pretty much know what I'm taking, alright? So don't worry, babe." She gave her a chaste kiss on the lips and a begrudging calm descended.
"I suppose you'll want some help," Kimberley muttered as Cheryl pulled her closer and proffered one of her most winning smiles.
"I love you, Kimberley," she said simply, before pressing a slightly longer kiss against her quirking mouth.
"You really know how to get your way," she replied, trying to temper her amusement.
"Years and years of practice. Now, me big suitcase is next door, I'm just gonna smoke this out there."
And with barely a second glance Cheryl was pulling open the glass doors onto the balcony while Kimberley sighed in acceptance.
She threw a dressing gown in Cheryl's direction on her way past. "Here, don't scare the pigeons."
* * * * *
