Chapter Twenty One
he plane ride home was a long and boring one, especially as Cheryl had fallen to sleep almost as soon as they had taken off, leaving Kimberley to twiddle her thumbs and look out of the window.
Somewhere between the tears and the goodbyes to Nadine, Cheryl had told her about their argument and the real reason why Girls Aloud were no longer together. Kimberley had tried telling her on o many occasions, feeling as though she deserved to tell one of her closest friend the truth, however each time she tried, she always bottled out at the last minute.
She had taken it better than either of them had expected and had even had a few laughs about it before they said their final goodbyes and boarded the plane.
Kimberley heaved a sigh as she thought of the long day ahead. She had been renting an apartment in Bradford, keeping her head down and trying to stay out of the public eye, which proved to be quite easy, all she had to do was sacrifice her social life for it.
Not that she ever felt the need to go out and socialize once she and Cheryl had fallen out. It felt good to think about the future for once, thinking about the arduous task of moving all her new belongings back home, it gave her something to focus on.
“you okay?”
It was Sarah’s voice that brought her out of her thoughts. She was sat on the seat in front and had craned her neck around to talk to Kimberley.
Out of instinct Kimberley immediately let go of Cheryl’s hand that she had been holding absentmindedly for the best part of the hour that they had been travelling.
Sarah rolled her eyes as she spotted the movement and Kimberley gave her an apologetic look before nodding her head.
“we haven’t really spoke much have we” Kimberley replied, realising that Cheryl had perhaps taken up a larger portion of her time than she intended on the trip.
“well you’ve been busy haven’t you” she replied in that cheeky way that always seemed to make Kimberley laugh.
“I should really have thanked you for persuading me to come you know, if you hadn’t…” Kimberley replied, shaking her head at the thought.
“and here was me thinking Cheryl was responsible for putting that smile on your face” Sarah joked playfully.
Kimberley felt herself blush a little but shrugged off the comment.
“for the first time in my life Sarah, I finally feel complete” she started, finding that tears had started to well up in her eyes.
Seeing that Kimberley was getting quite emotional, Sarah unbuckled her seatbelt and got up out of her seat, crouching down next to Kimberley to offer her some support.
“you haven’t told her yet have you?” Sarah guessed, from the look on Kimberley’s face. She nodded her head in the direction of Cheryl who was still fast asleep.
“how can I?” Kimberley asked, fighting hard to stop herself from crying louder, and running the risk of waking up the passengers on the night flight.
For once, Sarah didn’t really have an answer, and finding no words of comfort to hand, she instead embraced the girl in a tight hug and held her until she could no longer hear her sobs.
-
“see that wasn’t hard was it?” Cheryl laughed as she collapsed with exhaustion on to one of the chairs in Kimberley’s house.
“it wasn’t hard for you, you’ve only been here an hour” Kimberley joked playfully with her before walking over and sitting on her knee. She draped her legs over the side of the chair and rested her head, looking around her to admire her handy work.
“home sweet home” Cheryl smiled, taking in the new layout, even though it felt as familiar to her as her own home did. Before their argument she had spent practically half her time hear, and it felt good to be back.
She leaned her head back in the chair and closed her eyes, a smile beginning to adorn her face for no reason what so ever. She could feel the weight of the older girl on her knee, she could smell the scent from her perfume and feel her breath on her own skin…it was only now that she had time to think that she realised how much she had missed it all.
And now, not only was Kimberley back home, but she was hers, in the way that Cheryl had always wanted but could only ever imagine in her dreams.
“I’ve missed you so much” Cheryl said, breaking the silence. She brought her arms around Kimberley and held her close, before planting a soft kiss on the girls cheek.
“I’ve missed you too” Kimberley agreed, and rested her head on to Cheryl’s chest.
“should we have an early night babe?” Cheryl asked after a few moments, a cheeky smile creeping on to her face.
Kimberley laughed under her breath and lifted her head up. “but I’m not tired yet” she replied, repositioning herself on the sofa so that her legs were straddling Cheryl.
Cheryl laughed as she felt Kimberley’s soft lips on her neck, leaving little kisses in her wake.
“I never said anything about going to sleep”
