Chapter Twenty Three
“it just makes more sense” Cheryl shouted from the bathroom above the noise from the running water.
She looked back in to the bedroom and seen Kimberley slump herself on to the bed, clearly unhappy.
“it wont be forever Kimberley” she said, appearing at the doorway to the bedroom and leaning against the frame whilst offering a sympathetic look to the older girl.
“but I don’t want to move to London Cheryl” Kimberley protested, folding a bath towel that she had picked up from off the bedroom floor. It wasn’t that she wanted to tidy up, but she needed something to do with her hands.
“but it means we can spend more time together” Cheryl replied, giving Kimberley a look as if to tell her she wasn’t really sure what all the fuss was about.
“but this is our home Cheryl, I don’t want to leave it” Kimberley replied, undoing the towel and refolding it.
“well you’ve done it before” Cheryl bit back, and instantly regretted it as soon as it came out of her mouth. She cringed at the look on Kimberley’s face and instantly felt ashamed.
“I didn’t mean that” she said quickly before Kimberley had time to react. Kimberley laughed, but there wasn’t anything even remotely humorous in it.
“you cant let it go can you?” Kimberley asked, her voice beginning to raise despite her efforts to remain calm.
“I just don’t understand why you wont do this for me, I’ve made loads of sacrifices for you, all I want you to do is come to London with me for a little while until work eases off” Cheryl replied, biting her tongue somewhat even though there was more she wanted to say.
She waited for Kimberley to shout back at her, sure that she had pushed the girl to her limits with what she had said, but to her surprise, she didn’t say anything.
For a few moments she just stood there and looked at Cheryl with a look that could have killed her on the spot. It seemed to cut in to her like a knife, making the guilt surge through her.
Kimberley shook her head sadly before getting up off the bed where she was sat. She swallowed hard before walking to the door of the bedroom and turned before she walked out.
“I’m sorry that being with me is such a hardship for you Cheryl, but don’t think you are the only one who has sacrificed things for this relationship…”
Cheryl walked to the door in time to hear the older girls footsteps running quickly down the stairs. Experience told her not to follow the girl, it was normally best to leave her for a while to calm down after an argument.
They seemed to be arguing all the time lately, instead of the workload getting easier on the X Factor it had doubled, which was causing Cheryl to spend even more time away from home. In fact, this was the first time in a week that she had actually spoken to Kimberley face to face and it had resulted in an argument within the first half hour.
Cheryl slumped on to the bed in to the spot where Kimberley had been sitting just moments before and held her head in her hand. She could have kicked herself for bringing up the fact that Kimberley left again, it was as if she couldn’t help herself.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if it was just the once, but in truth, she had brought it up in other little arguments they had had as well.
She sighed to herself and looked at her watch to see how long she had left before the car would be here to pick her up. She walked over to the bedroom window from where she could see quite a large stretch of the beach, her eyes landing on the figure walking slowly up it, leaving wet footprints in her wake on the untrodden sand.
If she had had an extra fifteen minutes, she would have gone down and apologised to her, however just as she was about to close the window, she heard the familiar beep of the car, and reluctantly she went down stairs without saying goodbye.
-
“I’m sorry about before babe. I just miss you that’s all, its tearing me apart not seeing you all the time. X”
She checked it over quickly before finding Kimberley’s number in her phone and sending the text. Looking around the cold, clinical dressing room, she wondered how much longer she would be stuck in there before she could go home and make it up to Kimberley.
Her phone vibrated next to her and she picked it up, wondering if the fact that it was only literally seconds since she had text Kimberley was a good or a bad thing.
“its fine, don’t worry about it. See you when you get in. X”
She read it a few times, each time seeing it in a more and more negative way. Even though it was just a text and on the surface it was saying what she wanted to hear, something told her that all wasn’t fine as Kimberley was saying.
She sighed deeply before reclining back in to her chair and staring at the four walls that had become her new best friends over the past 6 months.
-
“sorry I’m late babe” Cheryl said by way of a greeting as she walked in to the kitchen, throwing her hand bag on to the table. Kimberley was stood at the sink washing the dishes as she arrived.
“it’s okay” she replied, turning around and giving her the briefest smile before turning back to the dishes.
Cheryl walked up to her and put her arms around the girls waist, pulling herself in to the girl’s back, moulding herself in to her curves.
“I’m really sorry” Cheryl said softly, before kissing Kimberley’s neck. She felt Kimberley sigh deeply before the girl turned round in her arms, still drying her hands on the dishcloth.
“If I have to go to London to be with you…then I will…” she started, although Cheryl thought she could sense just a touch of reluctance on the girls part.
“if I had to walk to the ends of the earth to be with you…I’d do that too” she finished before putting her arms around Cheryl’s shoulders and pulling her in to a hug.
Kimberley’s phone vibrated in her pocket causing her to break away from the hug to read the text.
“Have you told her yet?”
It was from Sarah, the words jumping out of the screen to Kimberley. She cleared the screen quickly in case Cheryl could see and put the phone back in her pocket before offering Cheryl her best smile, although it was considerably weaker than it had been a few minutes previous
