Chapter 11
Kimberley shot a look at Cheryl as the other girl fiddled with the car radio. She had changed station 3 times in a row, despite some of her favourite music blasting out of the car stereo.
“Are you gonna made your mind up or are we gonna listen to the sound of that tuning in ‘till we get there?” asked Kimberley, but with a gentle tone.
Cheryl looked up at Kimberley. “Sorry,” and she left the radio tuned into the current station. “I just feel like I need to be doing something.”
Kimberley took one hand off the steering wheel and placed it on Cheryl’s knee, squeezing it without taking her eyes off the road. “Try and calm down, babe, we’ve still got a good 15 minutes till we get there”.
Cheryl let out a deep sigh and drummed the fingers of one hand on the arm rest of the door, while letting her other hand fall to rest on top of Kimberley’s. “Why is this happening? I mean, this was meant to be our break away from everything. It started off so well… and now look – I feel like I’m about to face a firing squad, and I should be sat by our pool, drinking cocktails with you”.
Kimberley quickly looked at Cheryl then returned her attention to the road ahead. She had persuaded Cheryl that it would be best to drive into town themselves in the hope that it would attract less attention. Although they had pretty much been left alone, Hillary had mentioned on the phone that the press might have received inside information and be on the look out for the usual drivers that Nadine used.
She took Cheryl’s hand in her free hand. “Tomorrow we’ll be by the pool, maybe even this afternoon. This will be over and done with soon and we can get back to enjoying ourselves.”
Cheryl sighed again and brought her other hand down to take Kimberley’s hand in both of her own. She intertwined their fingers then brought Kimberley’s hand to her lips and kissed it tenderly.
“I love you”, she said simply.
Kimberley felt her heart melt and turned to look at the younger girl, before quickly checking the road ahead. She squeezed Cheryl’s fingers. “I love you”.
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“I don’t like him,” said Cheryl, giving the lawyer an evil stare as he walked away from them on his way to the toilet.
“He’s just doing his job,” argued Kimberley quietly, finishing off her coffee.
“He’s being an a*se”, shot back Cheryl.
Kimberley laughed. “Well, that too. But he knows what he’s doing, babe. Just follow his lead in there, and let Hillary do most of the talking”.
“Are you gonna stay here?” asked Cheryl, taking a mirror out of her bag and checking her make up.
Kimberley nodded and took some money out of her purse to cover the bill. “Or if we go somewhere else it won’t be far. Just call me as soon as you’re out and we’ll meet you”.
Cheryl shut the mirror with one hand and ran her other hand through her hair. “Do you promise me it’ll be okay?” and she turned to look at Kimberley.
Kimberley put the purse back in her bag and zipped it shut, turning to meet Cheryl’s gaze. “It’s gonna be fine, babe,” she assured the younger girl, and she leaned forward, kissing her forehead.
“And if it’s not, I can recommend your cosmos to dull the pain!” chirped Nadine, sitting herself down next to Cheryl and squeezing her hand.
“Is it that time already?” asked Cheryl, checking her watch. She looked back up at Kimberley.
Kimberley grinned back at her confidently and winked. “Show me that Tweedy Charm!”
Cheryl grinned back, “I’ll make sure I sashay into the room and show them my dimples!”
“God,” laughed Nadine, “you’ll walk out of that room President of the US!”
“Are we ready?” came the unfamiliar voice of Cheryl’s appointed lawyer.
Kimberley took Cheryl’s hands and pulled her to her feet. “Knock ‘em dead Tweedy” and she pulled Cheryl into a tight hug. Nadine stroked Cheryl’s arm from behind Kimberley and smiled at Cheryl over Kimberley’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine – call us when you’re done”.
Nadine put an arm round Kimberley’s shoulders as they both watched Cheryl teeter out of the coffee shop on her high heels, following the lawyer out the door and round the corner.
“It’s not gonna be ok, is it Nadine?” asked Kimberley, resting her head on Nadine’s shoulder.
Nadine sighed. “Well, technically she has breached her contract, however absurd that may sound, and they can be sticklers for things like that over here… but Cheryl could charm the birds from the trees, be positive”.
Kimberley lifted her head up and smiled sadly at Nadine.
“Come on,” encouraged Nadine. “There’s a gorgeous boutique round the corner that sells the most beautiful bags – we can’t drink coffee all morning – let’s go for a stroll”.
“Handbags?” replied Kimberley, her smile widening ever so slightly. “Let’s go and buy one for Cheryl – cheer her up later”.
Nadine nodded and the two of them walked out the coffee shop arm in arm.
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Cheryl fiddled with the water bottle lid in front of her – glad of the distraction while Hillary’s voice sounded out from the screen, calmly and convincingly to the suited men opposite Cheryl.
Most of the legal talk at the start of the meeting had completely confused her, and even if she didn’t like him much, she was starting to feel increasingly grateful that the annoying lawyer was with her. In fact, up to now, she hadn’t had to do much talking and had spent most of the meeting either fiddling with her pen or smiling at the men she hardly knew.
“How would you describe your relationship with Simon Cowell?” asked one of the men, directing his question at Cheryl.
“I’m not sleeping with Simon,” Cheryl answered honestly.
The man smiled, and Cheryl instantly warmed to him, his smile seemed genuine. He was by far the oldest of the 3 men representing the record label. “I wasn’t suggesting you were,” he grinned. “Your professional relationship I meant”.
Cheryl shrugged. “He can be annoying but we get on fine. He’s easy to work with – you know where you are with him, and I respect that - his honesty”.
“Do you respect his opinion?” asked the man, taking a sip of water.
Cheryl frowned. “Yes…” she hesitated, unsure as to why she was being asked, and not wanting to say the wrong thing.
The lawyer shot her a glance.
The suited man raised his eyebrows. “Do I sense hesitation?”
Cheryl bit her lip. “I respect his opinion at work – although he can appear arrogant to those that don’t know him, he only does that when he’s sure of what he’s saying – I trust him when he’s sure of something.”
“But…” the man probed. “There are occasions when you don’t respect his opinion?”
Cheryl shifted in her seat. “I wouldn’t take fashion advice from him”, she replied honestly.
The lawyer cleared his throat and Cheryl immediately felt like she had said something wrong. She moved to pick up her glass of water but noticed her hand shaking and changed her mind, picking up her pen and fiddling again.
“Me and Simon go a long back – old friends,” the man started, sitting forward in his chair. “We spoke last night as a matter of fact”.
Cheryl glanced at the screen and saw Hillary was frowning angrily back at her. She looked back at the man, attempting to maintain the smile she had worn since she entered the room, but she felt a sinking feeling in her stomach, and a feeling of nausea began to take over.
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Chapter 12
“He was talking about you. Seems he thinks a lot of you”, revealed the man in the suit.
Cheryl felt herself blush and shifted in her chair. The man carried on.
“He said you are honest and passionate – both in, and outside work, does that sound like an accurate description of you?”
Cheryl nodded slowly, and cleared her throat nervously. “I think so”.
“He also said you are extremely talented and that we’d be fools to even think of letting someone else snap you up” added the man, smiling.
Cheryl’s face turned a deeper shade of red. “That’s kind of Simon to say”.
“You agreed with me that he’s an honest and knowledgeable man – in everything but fashion sense,” pointed out the man grinning.
Cheryl smiled back nervously.
“What exactly are we achieving with this?” asked the man sitting to the left, sighing impatiently.
The older man frowned for the first time and turned to look at his colleague. “We’re discovering that what we have here is a very honest, talented member of our label – and that we should think very carefully before letting a rival snap her up and make money out of her, when we’ve done all the groundwork”, and he turned back and winked at Cheryl.
“And the breach of contract?” reminded the younger guy, clearly annoyed by the way the meeting was going.
“A mistake,” concluded the older guy.
Cheryl cleared her throat and interrupted him, holding up a hand. “Erm, sorry, a mistake – what was a mistake?”
The lawyer shifted in his chair and nudged Cheryl, prompting her to shoot him a look.
The older guy smiled. “The reports in the press – messy stuff”.
“The later stuff yes, that was messy,” agreed Cheryl, suddenly confident. “All lies of course, invented by some overpaid journalist back home. But the earlier stuff – the reports of my relationship with Kimberley – that was because we made a conscious decision to go public…”
The younger guy cut her off. “Like Charles said – a messy mistake”.
Cheryl shot him a look. “Sorry, I’m not following. I tell the world I’m in a happy, loving relationship and that’s a messy mistake?”
Charles interjected before Cheryl had chance to continue. “I think the way the press reacted was a bit messy – varying reports on how long it was going on, and of course the business with your contestant…”
“All lies,” nodded Cheryl.
He nodded back. “But I can accept that if you’re happy you’d want it known.”
The younger guy interrupted, his impatience growing. “But what we seem to be forgetting here is that you have an obligation to protect your image – this is not the image we signed up to the label”.
“When you signed me up, I was in an unhappy marriage and fully aware that my husband was cheating on me. I had started to lose weight – was accused of being a bad influence on children because of my weight loss, and I was constantly being photographed looking at my worst”, Cheryl pointed out, her confidence growing now she had an ally in Charles. “Now I’m happy, the band are doing amazing, the press – for the most part - are being really kind and positive about me, and my relationship with Kimberley hasn’t caused problems with my image. People are really behind us, and happy for us”.
Charles smiled back at her but the other guy’s face was giving nothing away.
Cheryl smiled at the serious one, “I feel really good about this album, and about my public image at the moment – I think things are going really well. When I get back home I can’t wait to start promoting it…” her voice trailed off and she glanced at the screen.
Hillary smiled back at her. “I just hope you can see how determined Cheryl is to make this album a success” she added.
“I think Hillary made some interesting points earlier about how Cheryl’s public image has never been better,” offered the lawyer. “As for breach of contract – yes there was a breach – but only if you find that it was damaging, and I’m sure you’ll agree that it hasn’t been damaging – and that is the most important factor here”.
Cheryl looked from the lawyer, to Charles, to the serious one whose name she still hadn’t been told. Charles was smiling but the other one was putting his papers into his briefcase. “If you’ll excuse us,” he said, standing up. “We have things to discuss”, and he waited for Charles to stand up too, then they both made their way to the door.
Once at the door, he exited but Charles turned back around. “We won’t be long – help yourselves to coffee”, and he smiled again at Cheryl before following his colleague out the boardroom.
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“It means so much to her,” Kimberley said to Nadine as they strolled arm in arm up the boulevard.
“I know,” agreed Nadine. “But if this does turn sour, it’s not the end is it? I mean, I wasn’t lying when I said I fully believed she’d be inundated with more offers”.
“It’s all because of me though, Nadine. I didn’t even think about her record deal, did I? I just went ahead and made it obvious we were together,” Kimberley sighed sadly.
“Hey, stop that – this isn’t your fault”, replied Nadine, putting her free hand on Kimberley’s which was linking her own arm.
“I didn’t talk it through with her. I knew she wanted people to know, but I didn’t discuss it – I just went ahead and did it. What if I’ve ruined her solo career?” Kimberley stopped walking and turned to look at Nadine. “What if she blames me?”
“Oh stop it,” ordered Nadine, letting go of Kimberley’s hands and turning to look at her. “She loves you. She hangs off every word you say, and she doesn’t stop watching you when you’re not even looking. She was so relieved and happy when you decided you were ready to go public – she would never have thought about her contract even if you had discussed it with her”.
“It’s so unfair that she’s getting punished for being with me”, sighed Kimberley, looking into the distance.
“I know, it sucks,” agreed Nadine. “But like I said before – if anyone can charm her way out of it, it’s Cheryl”.
Kimberley smiled and linked Nadine’s arm. “She’s pretty persuasive when she wants to be”.
“I’m sure she is,” said Nadine, laughing, but her laughter was interrupted by the sound of Kimberley’s phone ringing.
Kimberley fished it quickly out of her bag and glanced at the screen, glancing worriedly up at Nadine as she accepted the call. “Babe?” she answered.
“Can you come now?” asked Cheryl.
“I’m round the corner, we’re on our way now,” replied Kimberley, pulling Nadine in the direction of the offices. “Are you ok?”
She heard an audible sigh from Cheryl and could instinctively tell she was happy. “I’m fine – it’s all fine” came Cheryl’s voice over the phone. “Now get your ass here quickly – I want a cuddle!”
Kimberley smiled and looked up at Nadine to let her know it was good news. “I’m coming” she replied down the phone, quickening up her pace as she and Nadine turned the corner and could see Cheryl standing outside the offices, about 100 metres ahead of them, putting her mobile into her handbag.
She looked up and caught sight of them heading her way and beamed at them, starting to walk in their direction. “You’ve been shopping without me,” she observed, spotting the plastic bag in Kimberley’s hand. “Charming!”
“I had to distract the worrier!” replied Nadine, winking at Cheryl as the three of them finally caught up with each other.
Kimberley threw her arms round Cheryl’s neck and squeezed her tight. Nadine smiled widely as she watched Cheryl close her eyes and wrap her arms tightly round Kimberley’s waist. After a few seconds Cheryl pulled away, kissing Kimberley on the cheek. “Have you bought me something?” she asked cheekily, eyeing up the bag again and turning to hug Nadine.
“Cheeky!” laughed Kimberley.
“Well, let’s face it – we all thought I’d be getting bad news. I figure you bought me something to cheer me up”, and she smiled adoringly at Kimberley.
Kimberley shook her head, smiling back. “It was meant to be a surprise”.
“Well it was – till I saw the boutique bag,” joked Cheryl, winking at Kimberley.
“I decided you’re wearing that yellow dress you bought with you tonight – and we’re going out with Nadine,” said Kimberley, handing the bag over to Cheryl.
“And Jason” added Nadine.
“Good good,” agreed Cheryl, pulling her present out of the bag. “Oh my god, it’s gorgeous,” she beamed, observing the tan leather handbag Kimberley had carefully picked out for her, with small lines of yellow fabric running down one side. “It’ll go perfect with that dress”, she agreed, leaning forward and kissing Kimberley on the lips. “I love it, thank you”.
“You’re welcome,” replied Kimberley, beaming back at her, as Nadine cleared her throat.
“Ok, we’re still standing in the middle of the street,” she observed, looking around for signs of photographers.
Cheryl laughed as she rested her head on Kimberley’s shoulder, immediately feeling Kimberley’s arm slipping round her waist. “Let’s go get some lunch then, and I’ll explain how Simon saved the day”.
Both Kimberley and Nadine turned to look at her, confused frowns adorning both their faces, and Cheryl laughed, intertwining her fingers with Kimberley’s. “All will be revealed” she promised, and blushed as she spotted Kimberley raise her eyebrows at her suggestively.