Chapter Twenty
They walked down the road that lead back in to the hotel complex, the only sound being the gentle swishing of the waves from the ocean and Kimberley’s high heels clicking against the concrete.
Cheryl let her hand rest on the small of the older girls back, although ideally she would have liked to drop her hand just that bit lower.
It was tempting, she honestly wasn’t sure if she had seen the girl looking better than she was that afternoon. In fact, she felt rather underdressed by comparison in her beach dress and flip flops.
They strolled slowly, feeling at ease in each others company, neither of them feeling the need to rush or fill the silence with mundane chatter.
Cheryl was the first one to break the silence “did you mean what you said the other day?” she asked, stopping just before they came to the entrance to the hotel.
“about what?” Kimberley asked, her face falling in to a natural smile.
“you said you wanted to come home” Cheryl reminded her, reluctantly taking her hand from where it was resting on her lower back.
“I still do” Kimberley said to her simply. She slid her hand in to Cheryl’s arm to link her as they made their way up the path to the hotel.
-
They crossed the foyer and got in to the lift to take them back up to the hotel room.
“My place or yours?” Cheryl asked with a little laugh, letting her fingers hover over the buttons, since they were on different floors.
Kimberley laughed before putting her finger over Cheryl’s and pressing her own floor number.
It was Cheryl who crossed the floor of the elevator first, she walked over to where Kimberley was standing and let her hands rest on the hand railing on either side of the girls waist.
“Cheryl….” Kimberley laughed playfully, but put her hand up quickly to stop Cheryl from going any further.
“camera’s” Kimberley said, rolling her eyes before she pointed to the ceiling of the elevator.
Cheryl laughed cheekily before taking her hands off the railing reluctantly and standing beside Kimberley.
She guided the older girl out of the lift when the doors opened and dropped back a little as she walked up the corridor to her hotel room door.
“changed your mind?” Kimberley asked with a little frown, turning round to find Cheryl wasn’t by her side as she had been before.
Cheryl shook her head determinedly, “just enjoying the view” she replied with a wink as she let her eyes drop to the hem of Kimberley’s dress.
“and…” Kimberley started, opening the door and walking in to the darkened room. “do you like what you see?” she asked with a laugh as Cheryl closed the door behind her.
“I’m not sure…I think I need a closer look” Cheryl replied cheekily as she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around Kimberley’s waist.
-
It was the middle of the night when Cheryl woke up, she didn’t know how long she had been asleep but she didn’t feel at all tired. She sat up in the bed and watched Kimberley sleeping for a few minutes.
She only had another two days left in LA before she was due to fly back home, and although Kimberley had said she wanted to go back, Cheryl still felt a bit apprehensive about it all.
What if there were too many bad memories there for Kimberley? What if she changed her mind and Cheryl went back, but Kimberley didn’t?
She tried to shake the feelings of apprehension out of her head, finding that watching Kimberley was helping to calm the worry she was feeling.
Eventually she lay back down in the bed and turned on her side, letting her head lay lightly on Kimberley’s chest.
She breathed in deeply as her nose was filled with the familiar scent of Kimberley’s perfume and let her hand rest on the girl’s toned stomach, finding the rhythmic movement of her breathing to be quite soothing.
After a few moments she propped her head up using her arm for comfort, but found that she just couldn’t seem to take her gaze off of the girl lay asleep beside her.
How long had she waited for this moment?
She smiled to herself as Kimberley murmured in her sleep.
“I love you” she whispered to the girl, although she knew her words couldn’t be heard.
She closed her eyes and promised herself that everything was going to be okay, and the fears she was feeling were totally unfounded, and with that weight off her mind, finally drifted back off to sleep.
