Chapter 7
“It’s gorgeous!” cried Kimberley, climbing out of the car and taking in the sight before her. The villa Cheryl had chosen was situated not far from the beach, and once the car’s engine and stereo had been turned off, the waves could be heard lapping against the shore.
“You haven’t even seen the back yet – that’s where the pool is,” replied Cheryl, already out the car and leaning on the car door as she watched Kimberley’s excited expression.
“Come on – open up,” said Kimberley, looking at Cheryl and gesturing to the door.
“The cases,” replied Cheryl, popping the boot open.
“Leave the cases!” shouted Kimberley, walking quickly towards the front door, “I want to see inside”.
Cheryl raised her eyebrows, and shut the boot, locking the car with the key fob. “That’s not very practical Miss Walsh”.
“F*ck practical!” laughed Kimberley, “open the door!”
“Oooh language!” joked Cheryl, moving past Kimberley and putting the key in the door. She felt Kimberley wrap her arms round her waist as she struggled with the lock. As the door opened, Kimberley slid round in front of Cheryl and went in first, gasping as she caught her first glimpse of the inside of the villa.
The entrance was huge. Cheryl stood in the doorway and watched as Kimberley walked further inside, her hands now covering her mouth, as if somehow that could control the shock and excitement she was feeling. The floor was marble, and a wide staircase occupied most of the entrance area. A door on the right led to a large sitting room, the floor of which was also marble, and the walls all a summery shade of white. A door to the left appeared to lead to a dining room, which in turn led to the kitchen – where Kimberley was headed.
Cheryl smiled and shut the door, following Kimberley into the kitchen, and found her pulling open the French doors leading out onto the pool area. “Cheryl!” shouted Kimberley, walking out. “Cheryl, it’s just…”
“Amazing?” offered Cheryl, reaching the other girl’s side and looking at her.
Kimberley let out a huge sigh, “can we just stay here forever?”
Cheryl smiled. “Nope, but we can make the most of the next 10 days”.
Kimberley turned her face to look at Cheryl, and surprisingly Cheryl saw that she was crying. “Hey, babe, what?” she put her hands on Kimberley’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?”
Kimberley didn’t respond, instead she leaned forward, resting her hands on Cheryl’s hips and kissed her gently on the lips. Cheryl let herself enjoy the moment, but soon pulled away slightly, looking into Kimberley’s eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing”, replied Kimberley. “Look around you Cheryl – what could possibly be wrong?”
“But you…” started Cheryl.
“I’m just happy,” interrupted Kimberley, smiling. “Come on, let’s see the rest of the place”, and she took hold of Cheryl’s hand, pulling her back inside.
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“Oh my god, Cheryl!” shouted Kimberley as they walked into the master bedroom and took in the view that could be enjoyed through the French doors. There was an amazing view of the sea, but no overlooking houses, and there was a terrace outside the bedroom with a table and chairs, and a couple of bigger, more comfortable chairs.
Cheryl smiled. “I just love that the first the neighbours hear of us is you screaming that from the bedroom!” she joked, winking at Kimberley.
Kimberley laughed and walked towards Cheryl putting her arms round her waist. “They might have to get used to it – we’re here for 10 days!”
“I’ll have to make sure you have reason to shout it out then”, replied Cheryl cheekily, wrapping her arms round Kimberley and squeezing her on the bum. She leaned in and kissed Kimberley tenderly.
Kimberley pulled Cheryl in closer, raising the intensity of the kiss and Cheryl pulled away laughing. “Erm have you seen the time, little miss organised? Nadine’s coming in less than an hour and we’re still in the same clothes we had on over 12 hours ago…”
Kimberley pouted. “I’m starting to see how annoying it can be when someone is organised!”
Cheryl laughed, “it’s a constant source of annoyance I have to put up with living with you, but the positives far outweigh the negatives” and she kissed Kimberley on the cheek. Right, I’m gonna go and get the cases from the car and…” She turned and stopped talking, spotting the little surprise on the dressing table that neither of them had noticed at first.
Kimberley followed her gaze and noticed the vase of fresh flowers, with a white note leaning against it. “Aw babe”, she uttered, walking over to it.
“I really wish I could say this was a well-planned romantic gesture,” started Cheryl, “but I didn’t put them there”.
“Well I know you didn’t – you’ve been with me the whole time!” laughed Kimberley, picking up the note. “Nadine”, she said simply as Cheryl stood behind her, putting both hands on her waist and reading over her shoulder.
“Welcome to LA, lovebirds! I’m so happy you’re here. There’s water and milk in the fridge (and chocolate) and a few other things I thought you might need for breakfast tomorrow. (I was gonna leave this in the kitchen but figured you might head straight for the bedroom…
I can’t wait to spend time with you over the next few days - I’ve missed you so much.
I love you both, and I love that you’re here. See you soon.
Nadine xxx”
“How sweet is that?” asked Kimberley, turned to look at Cheryl over her shoulder.
Cheryl kissed her cheek. “Very,” she replied simply. “She’s adorable”.
“This holiday, it’s just…” Kimberley sighed, struggling to put her thoughts into words.
“Just what we needed,” finished Cheryl. “And it’s going to be everything you wanted, babe”, and she kissed her again on the cheek.
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Kimberley leaned over and kissed Nadine on the cheek. “Thank you – it was so thoughtful”.
“Found the flowers?” asked Nadine, stroking Kimberley’s arm.
“And the water, and the milk, and the chocolate, and the champagne, and the croissants…” added Kimberley, squeezing Nadine’s arm as she pulled away.
Cheryl stood up and leaned over the table, grabbing Nadine’s face and kissing her noisily on the cheek. “Thank you, it was a lovely thing to do”.
Nadine winked, smiling at both of them as Cheryl sat back down opposite Nadine. “I just wanted to do something nice for you both, I’m so happy you’re here. And I’m so happy for you – we’ve hardly spent time together since… well, you know – since the bombshell”.
“By that I assume you mean Kimberley accosting me in my dressing room and it ending up in the papers?!” joked Cheryl.
Kimberley raised her eyebrows at Cheryl playfully. “Accosting? You make it sound like you weren’t enjoying it”.
“Oh well I definitely didn’t mean that!” laughed Cheryl, winking at Kimberley and picking up her wine glass. Kimberley had sat next to Nadine, who in turn was opposite Cheryl. It had seemed a good idea a few minutes ago when they arrived at the table, so as to not leave Nadine sat alone in the absence of Jason, but it now meant Kimberley wasn’t close enough to touch Cheryl, and she desperately wanted to hold her hand, or put a hand on her leg, or just smell her perfume, but she wasn’t close enough for any of that.
“So Nadine, how’s the album going?” asked Cheryl, taking another sip of her wine.
“Great,” answered Nadine. “I’m so glad I took some time off before starting on it. I feel refreshed, relaxed and… I don’t know, just kind of hungry to sing. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes,” replied Kimberley, without hesitation.
Both Cheryl and Nadine looked at her. Kimberley felt compelled to explain. “I miss it”, she said, shrugging. “It’s amazing to have time to do stuff – but this one here never has the time to do stuff with me,” and she rolled her eyes at Cheryl. “Then the theatre stuff is so exciting, but I miss that buzz I get when we’re working on an album together”.
“I miss it too,” agreed Cheryl, nodding. “I mean, recording mine was amazing, and I fell in love with every song they came up with – it was my kind of style, it was all so exciting. But it wasn’t the same as sharing it with the rest of you”.
“Can you imagine touring alone?” asked Nadine, looking into the distance. “Weird”.
Cheryl felt Kimberley looking at her. “What, babe?”
“When will you be touring?” Kimberley asked, as if the thought hadn’t even occurred to her.
“Ladies” announced the waiter, arriving with a large tray of food, and he set about serving what they had ordered. All 3 girls sat in silence, watching him place each of the dishes down before they continued their conversation.
Cheryl shrugged. “I don’t even know if I will tour, babe. I guess we see how successful the album is first. But if I do, it won’t be as long as ours are” and she smiled at Kimberley, reaching over and grabbing her fingers, “and I won’t be leaving you for long, I wouldn’t be able to”.
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Chapter 8
Kimberley turned to lock the front door as Cheryl hung up their coats in the hallway and put her handbag on the table. Kimberley had hardly turned round to enter the hallway when she felt Cheryl’s hands on her waist and felt herself being pushed against the front door.
She put her hands behind her to steady herself. “Cheryl,” she managed to utter before she felt Cheryl’s lips on hers, silencing whatever she was about to say. Whatever it was, it didn’t matter.
She ran her fingers through Cheryl’s hair and kissed Cheryl back, as Cheryl ran her hands up the length of Kimberley’s body and rested them on her shoulders, slipping the straps of Kimberley’s dress down her arms and then pulling away from their kiss to begin kissing Kimberley’s exposed neckline.
Kimberley leaned her head back, closing her eyes and let out a little moan, causing Cheryl to stop and look up into her face. “Come on,” she said, taking Kimberley’s hand in hers and pulling her towards the stairs.
Kimberley opened her eyes, and allowed herself to be lead towards the stairway. As they came level with the living room door she stopped and pulled on Cheryl’s hand. Cheryl turned and looked at Kimberley who took a step forward and grabbed Cheryl’s neck, kissing her passionately on the lips and pulling her in close.
Cheryl responded, wrapping her arms around Kimberley’s waist and pulling herself in as close as she could. After a few seconds Cheryl started to push Kimberley gently backwards, still locked in their passionate kiss, until they reached the living room door. Kimberley stopped and started pulling at Cheryl’s dress, effortlessly pulling it over the younger girl’s head and leaving her standing there in her underwear.
She stopped for a moment, taking in the sight before her, then pulled Cheryl back in and started kissing her neck.
Cheryl groaned quietly, resting her hands on Kimberley’s waist and slowly lowering them to her ass. She pulled at Kimberley’s dress as Kimberley gently started kissing her on the lips, and she felt Kimberley slowly pushing her backwards into the living room. She put a hand out behind her and soon felt the table behind her.
They stopped and Kimberley pulled away momentarily to help Cheryl get her dress over her head, which she had been struggling to do for a few minutes. Their eyes met briefly and Cheryl smiled as she slid her hands round Kimberley’s waist onto her back and unfastened her bra, immediately bringing her hands up to Kimberley’s shoulder and slipping the straps off over her shoulders, the bra falling to the floor.
She put her hands on Kimberley’s shoulders and turned so that Kimberley was now backing onto the table, and immediately began paying attention to Kimberley’s breasts. Kimberley was leaning backwards onto the table and gasped as Cheryl slowly started licking her nipple. “Cheryl”, she groaned quietly, causing Cheryl to look up as she heard her name. She smiled wickedly, and put her hands under Kimberley’s thighs, pushing her upwards and backwards onto the table.
Kimberley put her hands out behind her, suddenly feeling quite vulnerable as Cheryl hoisted her onto the table, but she smiled and wrapped her legs round Cheryl’s waist and began running her hands through Cheryl’s hair.
Cheryl moved in as close as she could and leaned over Kimberley, using her own bodyweight to force her downwards, and kissing her on the lips. She ran her hands slowly up the length of Kimberley’s body then back down to her hips, pulling herself in closer.
Kimberley brought her hands round over Cheryl’s shoulders and down to her breasts, running her fingers slowly over them and hearing Cheryl groan quietly in response. She reached down with one hand and put it over Cheryl’s hand, guiding it towards the elastic on her knickers. Cheryl pulled away from the kiss and smiled, sliding down the table, disappearing from view. Kimberley felt Cheryl’s hands on her knees and let out a loud groan as she felt the other girl’s tongue between her legs.
She leant back on the table and put her hands out behind her to steady herself, gasping as she suddenly realised that Cheryl had been totally serious about disturbing the neighbours that night.
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“The little perv got hauled away about an hour after you left” Nadine announced, with a satisfied look on her face. “They finally served him with the order. If he comes near my house, he goes to jail, simple as. So hopefully that’s the end of his little visits to Chez Coyle”, and she rolled her eyes. It was the following morning, and Nadine had turned up as planned to sunbathe with them at their villa.
“Well, let’s hope he didn’t follow you here!” laughed Cheryl, standing up.
“Oh no, the order refers to me as well as the house. He can’t come near me, thank God,” replied Nadine, putting a hand on her chest as she said it to emphasise her relief.
“Well, I’m keeping an eye on the bushes anyway, just in case!” joked Cheryl, laughing again. “Right, cocktails ladies?”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon,” observed Kimberley, sitting up on her lounger.
“And we’re on holiday,” answered Cheryl. “So what’s the problem?” and she smiled at Kimberley from behind Nadine’s sun lounger.
Kimberley smiled back, defeated. “I guess there isn’t one. I’ll have a cosmo”.
“Same for you, Nadine?” asked Cheryl, already on her way inside.
“Oh god,” said Nadine, momentarily feeling it might be wrong to drink a cocktail before dinner, especially one made by Cheryl.
“Three cosmos coming up”, interrupted Cheryl, sliding open the doors and disappearing into the kitchen.
“I guess that means I’m having one too,” concluded Nadine, lying back down and looking across at Kimberley who had also reclined back onto the lounger.
“The mood Cheryl’s in, you’ll be having more than one, Nadine,” mumbled Kimberley from her lounger, turning her face to look at Nadine.
“I can almost feel the hangover starting now!” laughed Nadine. “Sea air?”
Kimberley frowned. “What about it?”
“Cheryl’s mood,” replied Nadine. “She’s…” she searched for the right word, “chirpy”.
Kimberley smiled. “It’s just being here, Nadine. It’s doing us both the world of good. Since we got together, things have been so hectic and we’ve had to search for time together. This is bliss – do you know how long it’s been since we’ve just had a lie-in together and not had to get up for anything? I mean, when I went with her to France for the X Factor, yeah we had time together, but there was a film crew, we had a schedule… this is just… us. No meetings, no schedule, no filming, just ‘us time’. It’s just what we needed.”
Nadine nodded slowly, “I get it. It’s totally understandable. When Cheryl called to say she was organising it, I was just so pleased, Kimberley. I knew it was exactly what you’d both need”.
“It’s scary though, Nadine” said Kimberley, still looking across at Nadine.
Nadine sat up. “What is?”
Kimberley sat up to be on Nadine’s eye level. “Well, this is so amazing, and it was such a surprise too, but when we go back, Cheryl’s gonna be promoting all the time – tv work, radio work, interviews… I’ll probably have to book an appointment to see her.” Kimberley shrugged and let out a long sigh.
“I don’t think it has to be like that, Kimberley,” said Nadine, standing up and making her way over to Kimberley’s lounger and sitting next to her. “When you got together, Cheryl already had commitments – her time on the X Factor was all worked out months in advance. You just had to roll with it, didn’t you? And you did – you met her for lunch, you travelled with her sometimes if she was staying overnight for auditions – you did what you could to spend precious time together and it worked”.
Kimberley nodded slowly, running a hand through her hair and pulling it up into a ponytail, using the hairband she had been wearing on her wrist. “So you’re saying we have to do the same…”
“It wasn’t that bad was it?” asked Nadine. “I mean, think back to the live show stages - you were meeting for lunch most days, and even if it was late you had dinner together, right?”
Kimberley nodded. “She’d find me asleep on the sofa at times, but yeah, we did eat together in the evenings too. And it was kind of nice meeting her at work for lunch – almost like a date…”
Nadine gave Kimberley a satisfied smile. “You see? The worst is over – when she was recording and doing the auditions – from here on in it’s peachy!” and she squeezed Kimberley’s arm.
Kimberley put a hand on Nadine’s and squeezed her fingers. “And like Cheryl said – we make the most of when we’re alone. Like now for example”.
“I’ll get my coat shall I?” joked Nadine.
“No!” replied Kimberley, grabbing Nadine’s arm. “I didn’t mean that, Nadine! I just mean, make the most of these 10 days because there are no interruptions here – only nice ones like dinner and pool time with you” and she smiled.
“Right, I’ve made yours extra strong, Nadine, just because I know you’re gonna moan it’s too strong anyway, so at least now your complaint is valid”, and Cheryl appeared with a tray of drinks, smiling at Nadine.
“I swear to God if I can’t walk later you’ll pay for it, Cheryl” replied Nadine, eyeing up the cocktail glass being passed to her.
“Oh shush, we’re on holiday, you have to join in. Right, are we all cosying on your lounger, babe, or am I ok to sit on mine?” asked Cheryl, referring to the fact that the two girls were cramped together on Kimberley’s, and handing Kimberley her drink from the tray.
The other two girls smiled and Nadine stood up, walking past Cheryl to her own lounger. “Jealous?” she asked huskily, raising her eyebrows at Cheryl.
“Haha!” laughed Cheryl. “Actually, I think it’s sweet. In fact, what are you doing tomorrow, Nadine?”
“I’m in the studio after lunch, I was thinking of just chilling in the morning, but if you’ve got a better idea…” Nadine replied, settling herself down on her lounger.
“Well,” started Cheryl, turning to look at Kimberley and gauge her reaction. “I was thinking of tickets to a matinee – there must be something good on at the theatre… then lunch?”
Kimberley’s face lit up. “A show? Yeah, great idea. Will you come with us Nadine?”
As Nadine nodded her agreement, Cheryl pulled a slight face. “Actually, babe, it’ll just be you and Nadine”, and she searched Kimberley’s face for her reaction, even though she already knew what it would be.
“Why? What’s wrong?” asked Kimberley, already concerned.
Cheryl hesitated. She had gone over what she was going to say in her head while she was making the drinks. Suddenly though, she wasn’t in the slightest bit confident that Kimberley would be ok with the reason why, even though she had sugar coated it with a theatre visit. After a few seconds, she decided to just be honest with Kimberley, like she’d planned.
“I’ve got to go to a meeting,” she blurted out. “At the record label, in the morning, but I’ll be done by lunch so I can meet you guys and then that’s it – I’m all yours”, and she smiled at Kimberley, hoping that would be enough.
Kimberley stared back at Cheryl. “A meeting?” she repeated back quietly. “Cheryl, we’re on holiday”.
“I know,” nodded Cheryl. “I know, babe, and after tomorrow we are gonna chill for the whole of the time we’re here.” Cheryl was still standing, and she was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable under Kimberley’s gaze.
She stood for a while, waiting for a response from Kimberley, but none came. Cheryl glanced quickly at Nadine, although she wasn’t sure why – Nadine couldn’t help. But Cheryl was unnerved by Kimberley’s silence.
“Babe,” she started. “It’s just for a couple of hours…”
Kimberley slammed her drink down on the table next to her and stood up, causing Cheryl to stop mid-sentence. Without saying a word she walked towards the kitchen and disappeared inside, slamming the door behind her, leaving Cheryl stood rooted to the spot with the empty tray in her hand.