Chapter 13
The three girls spent a few hours eating a long relaxed lunch on the beach front while Cheryl told them how one of the record executives was an old friend of Simon’s and had basically taken advice from Simon on how to deal with things.
His colleague hadn’t been so convinced. He was genuinely worried that they were attempting to trick him into believing that the British public were supporting Cheryl’s relationship with Kimberley.
Hillary and the lawyer had been worried that Cheryl’s blunt comments about Simon may have been damaging, and having asked her to speak as little as possible inside, they were not amused. But Charles, the older guy, had liked Cheryl’s honesty and decided she was an asset to the label.
The record label had eventually come to the decision that they would leave things as they were, trusting Hillary’s judgement that the press and public in the UK were, in the most part, behind Cheryl and her new relationship, and that there was no reason why her solo career would suddenly suffer when the band’s image and success hadn’t suffered at all.
“You two are a bad influence on me,” declared Nadine, after ordering a jug of still water. “I can’t believe I just had 3 cocktails over lunch – and 2 at your place yesterday!”
Kimberley appeared shocked. “Excuse me? I’m not drinking a drop!”
“Only cos you’ve got the car,” pointed out Nadine.
Cheryl smiled. “Nadine, you’re helping me celebrate – there’s no shame in that!”
Nadine appeared unconvinced as she pushed the empty cocktail glass away from her. “I was supposed to be recording this afternoon”.
Cheryl put her glass down and looked at Nadine, frowning. “Oh babe, did you cancel because of me?”
“Well of course!” exclaimed Nadine loudly. “I wasn’t gonna go “call me – let me know how you get on, was I?”
“Awww, I had totally forgot you had a recording session after lunch,” admitted Cheryl, putting a hand on Nadine’s hand which was resting next to the empty cocktail glass.
“Well, you had other things on your mind…” reasoned Nadine, squeezing her fingers. “It’s fine – I rescheduled. This way I can have a rest this afternoon before dinner tonight and hitting the clubs”.
“Dancing?” asked Cheryl with a hint of hope.
“Well, seeing as we’re celebrating I suppose I could be persuaded… but of course, only a little bit – I’ll have to keep Jason company,” and the relief was evident in her voice.
“Nice excuse,” smiled Kimberley, and she giggled as Nadine rolled her eyes at her.
Cheryl’s phone started to ring and she took her hand off Kimberley’s knee, pulling the phone out of her handbag and spotting Simon’s name on the screen. “Afternoon Superman” she greeted him, with a glint in her eye. Nadine and Kimberley laughed and Cheryl smiled at them.
“I was in a meeting, I’ve just noticed your missed call,” replied Simon. “I trust you’ve had a good day?”
“Thanks to you” Cheryl said simply.
“Well, let’s face it – you needed all the help you could get, they were clearly going to hate you when they met you, I thought the only thing I could do was ring Charles and offer him a substantial sum of money…”
Cheryl interrupted before he’d finished. “Oh you did not!”
Simon’s laugh could be heard by Nadine and Kimberley. “You’re right – I just told him he’d be a fool if he did anything other than keep hold of you”.
“Well, thank you. I’m very grateful,” replied Cheryl, taking a sip of her cocktail.
“You’re very welcome,” came Simon’s response. “You can take me to dinner when you’re back”.
“I’ll do better than that – I’ll have Kimberley cook for you!” exclaimed Cheryl, dropping a hand onto Kimberley’s thigh and squeezing it.
Kimberley smiled and rested her hand on top of Cheryl’s.
“Well, you’ve done enough bragging about Kimberley’s cooking that I’m actually going to hold you to that!” promised Simon. “I have to go - call me when you’re back”.
“I will,” promised Cheryl. “Thank you”.
“Bye,” came Simon’s reply as he disconnected the call.
“Supercowell!” joked Nadine.
Cheryl looked up at her as she put her phone back in her bag. She laughed then poured Nadine some water. “Babe, I think you’ve definitely had enough!”
“What?” asked Nadine. “I thought it was funny”.
“It was, babe,” agreed Kimberley. “But I think I should get you both back home,” and she stood up, pulling Cheryl with her. “Come on – there’s time for a nap before dinner if we leave now”.
Cheryl raised her eyebrows playfully. “Oh I see – ordering me to bed now?”
“Okay!” laughed Nadine, “we’re going – I’ve heard enough!”
Cheryl and Kimberley laughed as Nadine stood up, a little less than steady on her feet, and pulled her purse out of her bag. “Let’s pay and get out of here”.
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“Cheryl!” shouted Kimberley from the bottom of the stairs and looking at her watch. “The driver’s gonna be here soon. How much longer are you gonna be?”
“Two minutes, babe” shouted Cheryl from upstairs.
Kimberley rolled her eyes and went back into the kitchen where she had just prepared two cocktails for herself and for Cheryl. How many times had she heard Cheryl say she’d be 2 minutes more, then waited another half an hour for the other girl to actually be ready? More times than she cared to remember, but she couldn’t bring herself to be annoyed at Cheryl. She rarely could. Cheryl would always appear looking so amazing that she would take Kimberley’s breath away – and every ounce of impatience would disappear.
The girls had driven Nadine home that afternoon after lunch then fallen asleep as soon as they had got back to their villa. Kimberley had set her mobile alarm which meant they still had plenty of time to get ready in time for their dinner reservations with Nadine and Jason that evening.
Kimberley took a sip of her cocktail and picked up her mobile from the kitchen counter to call Nadine. She had only started scrolling down her contact list when she heard a noise coming from the stairs that made her look up.
Cheryl was at the top of the stairs, with one hand gently resting on the handrail.
“Will I do?” she asked, smiling widely at Kimberley as she started to make her way slowly down the stairs.
Kimberley stared as Cheryl descended the marble stairs, trying to come up with a response, any response. She shook her head. “Will you do? Babe, you look amazing, how am I gonna concentrate on anything Nadine and Jason say?”
Cheryl laughed as she reached the bottom of the stairs and made her way towards Kimberley. “Do you like my bag?”
Kimberley laughed. “Gorgeous. Whoever chose that has great taste”.
“Well,” said Cheryl. “She’s dating me, so I guess we can say she has impeccable taste”, and she finally reached the spot where Kimberley was stood by the cocktails. She carried on walking though, until she was pressed up against Kimberley and leaned forward to whisper in her ear. “You, look breathtaking”, and she picked up one of the glasses and took a sip from her cocktail, still pressed up against Kimberley.
Kimberley took a deep breath and cleared her throat. “Ok, the driver’s gonna be here any minute now, this is just cruel”.
Cheryl smiled cheekily. “What? You made me a drink”.
Kimberley rolled her eyes at her. “You know exactly what I mean”.
“Oh!” said Cheryl, backing away slightly and pointing first at herself then at Kimberley. “Oh you mean this? Sorry, I was just reaching over for my drink”, and she smiled cheekily at Kimberley.
Kimberley shook her head in disbelief and grabbed hold of Cheryl’s waist, pulling her back in close. She leaned in, kissing Cheryl on the lips, immediately feeling Cheryl’s hands in her hair.
After a few seconds a car’s horn could be heard outside and Cheryl pulled away, smiling. She cupped Kimberley’s face in her hand and kissed her on the lips, pulling away to speak. “To be continued…”. She took one last sip of her cocktail, placed it back on the counter, and winked at Kimberley, before turning and walking towards the front door, picking her bag up on the way.
Kimberley picked her own cocktail up without taking her eyes off Cheryl and finished it in one go, screwing up her eyes as the last bit went down, and slamming the glass down on the counter. She went after Cheryl, smoothing her own dress down and letting out a long sigh. “I’m gonna hold you to that”.
Cheryl turned as she opened the front door. “Babe, when we get back, hold me to whatever you want”.
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Chapter 14
“I am not dancing to this! It’s embarrassing!” shouted Nadine, as she pulled away from Cheryl and Kimberley and tried to make her way back to Jason who was sat laughing at their table.
Cheryl grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her back onto the dance floor, struggling not to fall over as she did. “Oh yes you are, Coyley baby!” and she started swinging her hips along to ‘Single Ladies’ by Beyonce. “You remember the dance – we did it on tour”, and she and Kimberley started dancing in unison.
“Oh god, shoot me now,” complained Nadine, mortified that people were watching.
Cheryl ran behind Nadine and started moving her arms for her, in time to the music. “Cheryl!” screamed Nadine, to Kimberley’s amusement.
Nadine looked helplessly at Kimberley, who was sober enough to take pity, and she moved in to help, grabbing Cheryl by the waist and pulling her in close. Cheryl immediately responded, gyrating her hips in time with Kimberley’s, and Nadine’s escape went totally unnoticed by Cheryl, as she ran, ungracefully back to their table.
“They’re mad,” declared Nadine, settling herself in next to Jason and taking a sip of her drink. He nodded, still watching Cheryl and Kimberley who by this time had fallen apart and were giggling to some private joke nobody else was privy to.
They had all enjoyed a lovely meal at Nadine’s favourite Italian restaurant, and had since moved on to a club. Kimberley and Cheryl had hardly sat down, leaving Nadine and Jason with time to themselves – most of it spent laughing at the two girls as they danced non-stop to their favourite tracks.
“Isn’t it weird?” asked Jason, not taking his eyes off them.
Nadine turned to look at him. “Isn’t what weird?”
“Them,” he replied, pointing at Cheryl and Kimberley, who had taken up the dancing again and were doing their best impression of Beyonce.
“Well, the thought of it mortifies me,” admitted Nadine. “But it makes them happy”.
“Oh I’m glad you said that,” admitted Jason, taking a sip of his drink. “For a second I thought you were gonna get mad on me”.
“Mad?” repeated Nadine, confused. “Why would I get mad about that?”
“Well, they’re your friends,” Jason explained. “I thought you were gonna start saying you were ok with their relationship and defend them”.
Nadine’s mouth opened slowly in shock as she realised what Jason meant. “You’re not ok with it?”
Jason shrugged. “Hey – they’re not my friends.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“If you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it” sang Cheryl, sitting down and pulling Kimberley onto her knee as Kimberley finished off the line, “Oh oh oh!” and they burst into giggles as they reached for their drinks.
“Having fun?” asked Cheryl, resting her head on Kimberley’s shoulder as the older girl leaned back into her.
“Enjoying the show!” laughed Nadine, picking up her drink and looking nervously at Jason.
“Not much of a dancer, Jason?” asked Cheryl, following Nadine’s gaze.
“Nah, more of a drinker,” he laughed.
“Oh my god!” shouted Cheryl, trying to push Kimberley off. “The Walrus!”
Jason looked at Nadine as she started cringing and laughing. “Walrus?”
“Of love,” replied Nadine. “Barry White” and she gestured towards the speakers to indicate that Cheryl was excited about the song.
By this point, Kimberley had managed to get up at Cheryl’s insistence, and Cheryl was struggling to her feet. “We’ve shared love and made love – it doesn’t seem to me like it’s enough”, sang Cheryl in a deliberately husky voice, pulling Kimberley onto the dance floor as the older girl giggled uncontrollably.
They reached the middle of the dance floor and Cheryl put her hands on Kimberley’s waist, staring into her eyes as the other girls continued to giggle. “My darling I, can’t get enough of your love baby…” she carried on singing in the comical husky voice and Kimberley put her hands on her waist, smiling widely as she stared back at her and took over the singing, in an even huskier voice than Cheryl’s, “girl I don’t know, I don’t know why, I can’t get enough of your love, babe”.
The two of them started giggling again and stopped singing, preferring to dance instead, and Nadine smiled as she watched them. She turned to look at Jason.
“You think that’s weird? Look at them – they’re happy”, she said, pointing at the two girls in the middle of the dance floor, laughing happily as they danced, never taking their eyes off each other.
Jason shrugged. “Last time I saw them, one was married and the other was talking about getting married to her long-term boyfriend.” He turned to face Nadine. “And now they’re dating each other. I’m just a bit shocked, that’s all”.
“They’re happy,” said Nadine simply, shrugging. “And they’re my friends, so that’s all that matters”.
Jason nodded, putting an arm round her shoulder and pulling her to him. He kissed her head. “Ok, I get it. I didn’t mean to upset you – I was thinking out loud”.
“But you have a problem with it?” asked Nadine, pulling away and looking at him. “Because I want you to be honest with me”.
“I am being honest with you, honey – I find it a little weird”, he admitted, looking over at Kimberley and Cheryl who were now dancing along to a 1970s disco song. “But it’s not a problem, I’m not prehistoric or anything”.
Nadine nodded slowly and smiled. “Good, because I want us to have dinner again or something before they go back next week, and if it’s gonna be weird for you…”
Jason shook his head as he reached for his drink. “Nah – it’ll be fine. I’ll have gotten used to it by then. And they are kinda funny”.
Nadine laughed as she rested her head on his shoulder. “They’re mad, that’s what they are!”
“Who wouldn’t be mad about her?” asked Cheryl, sitting herself down but somehow still managing to watch Kimberley as she made her way to the toilet. “She’s just…” she struggled to find the right word and gestured with her hand as if Nadine and Jason would know what she meant. “She’s Kimberley”.