Chapter 23
Cheryl bent down and started fiddling with her ipod and plugged it into the speaker system, scrolling down to choose some music.
Kimberley sat down on the sofa and kicked off her shoes, looking over at Cheryl. “No hip hop, yeah?”
Cheryl laughed, without turning around. “Why not? Haha. Nah, I’m looking for a nice bit of r & b, or soul. Oooh,” and she turned around to face Kimberley and signalled for her to listen. “Alicia Keys – there, that’ll do nicely”.
Kimberley smiled. “She’ll do nicely. Now come here”, and she patted the sofa next to her.
As Cheryl moved towards the sofa the door bell chimed. “Food!” she said, beaming at Kimberley who groaned as Cheryl moved in the opposite direction.
Kimberley stood up and moved to the kitchen to get some plates and cutlery, and when she went back to the living room, Cheryl was already opening the individual containers and getting the food out.
“They’ve given us chop sticks for the noodles, babe” said Cheryl, starting to dish the food onto the plates Kimberley had brought in from the kitchen.
“Oh no!” laughed Kimberley. “Are you gonna be serious or are you gonna poke them up your nose again?!”
Cheryl pouted as she put a plate down for Kimberley. “That was an accident. I’d had a lot of wine that night, I missed my mouth”.
“It was hilarious – the waiter didn’t know whether to laugh or frown at you!” giggled Kimberley.
Cheryl smiled as she remembered. “It was a bit like Pretty Woman wasn’t it? But he wasn’t in the slightest bit amused when Sarah put them in her hair”.
“Well no,” agreed Kimberley. “I think he saw that you were embarrassed, but Sarah just sat there with them in her hair like she’d brought them with her as an accessory!”
Cheryl laughed as she poured some wine into their empty glasses. “To be fair to Sarah, that was also down to alcohol!”
Kimberley smiled as Cheryl sat down. “I wish they were here”.
Cheryl stopped and looked at Kimberley, concerned. “The girls? Why?”
“They’d rally round – get us drunk, remove all magazines and papers from the house. It’s what we do isn’t it? One goes through sh!t, the others help sort it out”. Kimberley took a drink from her wine glass.
Cheryl leaned over and took Kimberley’s hand in hers. “Babe, they’re still rallying round. On the phone to us, talking to Hilary. God, Nicola was even looking up where Ashley was. Lucky for him he’s playing in Europe or I think she’d have gone round!” Cheryl sighed. “Do you want me to ring Nadine, ask her to come round?”
Kimberley shook her head. “No – it’s fine. I just feel a bit vulnerable, being so far away from everyone. Yet at the same time I’m glad we’re not at home cos the paparazzi would be everywhere. At least it’s not that bad here”.
Cheryl nodded. “Open up,” she said, picking up some noodles with her chop sticks.
Kimberley frowned, “what?”
Cheryl smiled. “Food’s getting cold,” and she moved some noodles closer to Kimberley’s mouth. “Do I have to pretend it’s an aeroplane?”
Kimberley laughed and opened her mouth, allowing Cheryl to feed her some noodles. “No, but if them chop sticks go up my nose we’re gonna have words!”
Cheryl laughed, picking some noodles up with the chop sticks for herself. Then she looked at Kimberley. “You know I’d do anything, don’t you? Fly the others out here; fly your mam out here; call Nadine; call the agency – get us extra time here in the villa; change the flights; go home tomorrow…”
“I know you would, babe”, nodded Kimberley. “The problem is, I don’t know what I want you to do. I don’t know what to do”.
“Well, I was thinking,” started Cheryl, playing with the food on her plate. “If I had to, I mean if there was no other option, I could go to court. If that’s what you wanted”.
Kimberley sighed and shook her head. “You don’t need to do this now – we don’t need to do this now”.
“We do,” replied Cheryl sadly, reaching a hand out to touch Kimberley’s face. “Because I can’t distract you for long before your mind starts wondering. I see it in your eyes and it makes me want to just make it all go away”.
Kimberley sighed and took Cheryl’s hand in hers. “I don’t think you can, babe. Even agreeing to go to court – it doesn’t make it go away, does it? I wish it was that simple, Cheryl. But the more I go over it, the more I just think we can’t sort this – not until your divorce is over and done with and we can just move on”.
“Well no,” agreed Cheryl. “But in the short-term – we have to deal with how I get divorced. I want to know what you want to do”.
“Honestly?” asked Kimberley, observing Cheryl’s face. Cheryl nodded for Kimberley to continue. “I want you to postpone your album’s release and anything else you’ve got pending for when we go back, and I want you to rent us a gorgeous villa on a private Caribbean island, and I want to go there with you until this is all finished”.
Cheryl looked down at her plate, not for any particular reason, just to avoid Kimberley’s stare. Then she swallowed hard, looking up at Kimberley again, and her voice came out quiet, much quieter than she intended. “If that’s what you want. I’ll call Hilary tomorrow”.
Kimberley shook her head and brought her hands up to her head. “F*ck, no Cheryl. That’s not what I want”. She rubbed her eyes.
Cheryl frowned. She opened her mouth to speak but changed her mind and waited for Kimberley to continue.
Kimberley ran her hands through her hair and left her hands on top of her head. Then she looked at Cheryl, who was still waiting for her to speak. “That’s what I want in my head. In an ideal world we would just disappear together and wait for it to be okay again. But that’s not gonna work in the real world, babe”.
Cheryl stared at Kimberley for a bit, thinking about what she had said. Kimberley stared back for a few seconds then looked down at the plates. “We should eat more before it goes cold”, and she started eating.
Cheryl mirrored Kimberley, eating some noodles, some of the soup, both of them trying to enjoy the food. After a while Cheryl put her fork down. “Babe, I just want to be with you. You matter more than work, more than what people think, more than anything. You know that don’t you?” and she moved her head forward, prompting Kimberley to look into her eyes.
Kimberley nodded shyly.
“But we both have a responsibility to the girls and to the band, and if we get negative press, it will affect them. So we need to be very sure about how much we’re prepared to let Ashley hurt us, and those that we care about,” Cheryl reached over and put her hand over Kimberley’s.
Kimberley squeezed Cheryl’s fingers and attempted to smile. “I don’t want to let him hurt you or the girls”.
Cheryl nodded and smiled back. “And I would rather hurt him, than have you and the girls hurt. So I will stand up in court and tell a judge how our relationship began if that’s what I have to do”.
Kimberley nodded. “We both will”.
Cheryl picked up her fork again and began to play with her food, still holding onto Kimberley’s hand until Kimberley’s voice sounded out quietly but clear, making Cheryl look up with a frown.
“But we’ll make sure people know the truth long before then”.
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Chapter 24
Cheryl stared at Kimberley, unsure whether she had understood her or not. “The truth?”
Kimberley nodded slowly. “The magazine thing Hilary wants – we have to do it, we don’t have a choice”.
“Babe, of course we have a choice…” Cheryl started, but Kimberley interrupted before she could finish.
“What? Choose to let this hurt the girls? The band? That’s not something I can choose to do, Cheryl”.
Cheryl fell silent and Kimberley chewed her lip as she realised she’d raised her voice unintentionally.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered quietly, running both hands through her hair. “I know what you mean, babe. But it’s not much of a choice is it? Because the alternative is worse”.
Cheryl nodded slowly, picking up her glass and taking a sip of wine. “I know. I’ll call Hilary tomorrow – tell her to arrange something for when we’re back. She knows my schedule”.
Kimberley sat observing Cheryl for a few seconds then spoke up. “I think we should do it now”.
Cheryl frowned back at her. “Now? Have you lost the plot? We can’t do it now”.
Kimberley shook her head. “No, I don’t mean right now. I mean here – before we go back. I don’t want them in the house, Cheryl”.
Cheryl continued to frown but nodded her head slowly. “Ok, we we’ll tell them we want to do it in a hotel room or something – get a suite”.
Kimberley shook her head. “And have us looking like we’re having a seedy affair? How bad will that look?”
Cheryl held up her hands. “Ok, we’ll do it here – I’ll call Hilary. They can fly someone out here. But that means it’ll be soon – cos we should really be getting back…” her voice trailed off.
Kimberley smiled sadly. “I know – you have to work. It’s fine. I don’t want you to cancel stuff.”
Cheryl stood up, taking hold of Kimberley’s hands and pulling her towards the sofa. “Come here”.
She sat down, guiding Kimberley gently next to her and then pulling her in so she could wrap her arms around her. Kimberley rested her head on Cheryl’s chest and slid an arm round her waist as Cheryl started to speak.
“We can talk it through with Hillary – get her to explain to the journalist why we’re doing this. The press were supportive, remember? They’re not gonna be looking to portray us as cheats, they’ll be happy to report that we’re happy, well, were happy until pr*ck features started a*sing around”.
Kimberley nodded. “I suppose I can live with people knowing when we, you know – got together. And talking about you won’t be hard…”
“Well no,” agreed Cheryl cheekily. “Your favourite subject”.
Kimberley looked up at her and rolled her eyes. “Oh god, this is gonna be all about you, isn’t it?”
Cheryl giggled. “It’s gonna be just how you want it – you’re in charge. Boss away, babe. They’re not gonna publish anything you don’t want them to – I’m gonna make that very clear”.
Kimberley sighed. “We’ll get through this, won’t we?”
“Yes,” replied Cheryl, “no question. I love you. If all else fails, we’ll go to that Caribbean Island you mentioned and grow old there”.
Kimberley laughed, burying her head in Cheryl’s shoulder. “Good to have a back up plan”.
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Cheryl carefully opened the bedroom door, trying to make as little noise as possible, and she stopped in the doorway. Kimberley was fast asleep and Cheryl sighed sadly as she watched her for a few seconds.
Her eyes fell onto the clock on the bedside table, and she raised her eyebrows, making her way over to the bed. 5:30am.
Slowly she slid under the duvet and moved over to Kimberley, wrapping an arm round her waist and snuggling up close into her back.
Kimberley woke up and placed an arm over Cheryl’s. She cleared her throat and spoke quietly. “Where’ve you been?”
Cheryl kissed the back of her shoulder. “Nowhere”.
“You’re cold,” pointed out Kimberley.
“I couldn’t sleep”, replied Cheryl, snuggling in closer.
Kimberley turned slightly so she was on her back and put an arm round Cheryl as the younger girl rested her head on her chest.
Cheryl relaxed into her and felt Kimberley kiss the top of her head. “It’s ok,” said Kimberley. “We can just have a nap later in the afternoon if we’re tired. Just try and relax for a bit”.
Cheryl nodded in agreement, and they both lay there in silence, listening to the sound of the clock ticking and the sound of the distant waves coming in through the open window. Eventually, they both fell asleep.
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The sun was glaring through the bedroom window when both girls woke up suddenly with a start.
“What the f*ck?” mumbled Cheryl, referring to the banging downstairs.
Kimberley rolled over onto her side and glanced at the clock. “Oh my god, Cheryl, it’s nearly one in the afternoon”.
Cheryl groaned. “Is that why my head hurts so much?”
They both climbed out of bed and reached for their bath robes, Kimberley reaching the bedroom door first. “Are we expecting anyone?” she asked, referring to the banging at the door.
Cheryl shook her head as she quickly tied her hair up loosely.
Kimberley called out as she carefully went down the marble stairs. “I’m coming”.
“Finally,” called back Nadine’s familiar voice through the door.
Kimberley turned round and frowned at Cheryl as she unlocked the door, and was met by a shrug of the shoulders from Cheryl as she slowly and sleepily followed Kimberley.
As the door opened, Nadine slid round it and shut it behind her. “There’s a pap out there,” she said, quickly putting two paper bags down on the floor. She observed both girls with a quizzical expression on her face. “Have you just got up?”
Both girls nodded back at her and looked down at the bags on the floor.
“Lunch,” Nadine pointed out. “You said one o’clock,” she said, looking at Cheryl.
Cheryl stared back at her, confused. “Oh god,” she said, suddenly remembering her early morning text. “I did”.
Kimberley looked from Cheryl to Nadine, and back to Cheryl. “What?”
Cheryl picked up the bags and walked into the kitchen, looking over her shoulder at Kimberley. “When I couldn’t sleep last night, I texted Nadine and invited her over for lunch – I thought it’d be nice”.
Kimberley and Nadine followed her. “You invited her to lunch and you asked her to bring it?” asked Kimberley.
“No,” interrupted Nadine. “She said something about making it herself. So you know - I brought some with me, just in case,” and she grinned at Cheryl.
Cheryl laughed. “Good job really isn’t it?”
Kimberley pulled the orange juice out of the fridge and started to pour some into 3 glasses, holding an empty one up to Nadine and being met with a nod. “And then you didn’t set the alarm”, she said to Cheryl.
“Well, no,” agreed Cheryl. “But I didn’t think we’d sleep till one!”
“Maybe you both needed it,” suggested Nadine, taking a glass from Kimberley and walking over to the oven. “It’s not like you had to be up for work or anything. Only one of your best friends”, and she turned on the oven.
“Oh shush!” laughed Cheryl. “I was sleep deprived”, and she finished her glass of orange juice.
“Nadine, as grateful as I am that you’re sorting lunch, do you mind if I just grab a quick shower while you’re heating it up?” asked Kimberley, pointing upstairs.
Nadine nodded. “Sure, this’ll be about half an hour. You’ve got plenty of time”.
Kimberley smiled. “I won’t be long”, and she left her glass on the counter and made her way upstairs.
Cheryl watched her go then turned to Nadine. “Babe, do you mind if I just go and talk to Kimberley a minute?”
Nadine raised an eyebrow. “In the shower?”
Cheryl frowned. “Seriously, Nadine. Before she gets in the shower I need to talk to her. She doesn’t know yet - you woke us up. I haven’t had the chance to tell her”.
Nadine frowned. “Well then you’d best get yourself up there”.