Chapter Twenty Seven
Cheryl rushed around the room, lighting the candles with a lighter. Everything was ready, she had set the table, lit the candles, chilled the wine, now all she needed was for Kimberley to come home from her mother’s so she could surprise her.
She wasn’t really sure why she was doing it, Kimberley had been feeling pretty low in the past day or two since she had been to the doctors, and if Cheryl was truthful, it was the only thing she could think of to put a smile on the girls face.
She pulled her dress down a little bit which had been riding up on her all night and looked around the room to admire her efforts. Nodding to herself that she had done an adequate job, she walked over to the cd player and stuck one of Kimberley’s cd’s on.
She sat on one of the dining room chairs at the table that she had set and drummed her fingers against the surface.
Over the past two days she had been trying to keep herself strong for the both of them, if she found herself dwelling on the fact that Kimberley could possibly have an illness, she would get up and do something to take her mind off it. In her mind however, she did start to wish that she had done things like this more often, not just to try and make the girl feel better despite the circumstances.
She felt her stomach begin to tighten again as she thought about Kimberley’s lump. What would she do if it was bad news? How would she cope? How would Kimberley cope?
She jumped up from the table and walked over to the cd player again, needing something to concentrate on, before she had too much time to think about the awful truth.
The awful truth…
She pulled out a cd randomly and opened the case, sticking it in to the cd player. It was one of Kimberley’s favourites, and one that Cheryl used to get sick of her playing all the time, but now, she suddenly felt the need to listen to it.
She suddenly felt the need to do a lot of things. She felt the need to apologise to Kimberley for wasting the whole of the previous year over a silly argument, she wanted to tell her that she loved her even though Kimberley already knew, she wanted to hold her and never let her go…but instead she closed the cd case and put it back in the cd stand, and turned the music up.
She picked up her phone and was just about to dial the number when the front door opened.
“Cheryl?” Kimberley called from the hallway, taking off her coat and hanging it up. She had been caught in the rain without her umbrella which had drenched her hair and wet the bottom of her jeans.
“in here babe” Cheryl replied, using the back of her hand to wipe a tear from her eye. She yanked her dress down a bit more and waited for Kimberley to come in.
“I’ve had a f****** awful…” she stopped mid sentence as she walked in the dining room and seen the set table and the candles.
“oh” she exclaimed, lifting her eyes from the table to Cheryl. Cheryl smiled as she watched Kimberley look her up and down before smiling back at her.
“I took the afternoon off, I thought we could spend a bit of time together” Cheryl said, pulling out a chair at the table and indicating to Kimberley to sit on it.
Kimberley dropped her bag on to the floor and sat at the table, noticing the effort that Cheryl had gone to in setting it and arranging the candles.
“you didn’t have to do all this” Kimberley started, gesturing with her hand towards the table.
“I wanted too” Cheryl interjected. She picked up a dishcloth from the table that she had brought in with her.
“You’ve cooked as well?” Kimberley asked, a little smile adorning her face. Cheryl laughed as well, realising that it was, in fact a novelty for her to be in the kitchen cooking a meal.
She walked in to the kitchen, making a particular effort to emphasize the swaying of her hips for Kimberley’s benefit. She turned round as she reached the kitchen door to check whether Kimberley was looking at her or not, and smiled inwardly when she realised she was.
“I’ve been thinking as well” Cheryl started, holding the two plates awkwardly as she walked back in to the dining room and placed them on the table.
“oh god!” Kimberley remarked sarcastically, rolling her eyes to the ceiling. Cheryl pretended to be offended but couldn’t help but break in to a little smile.
“I’m going to take some time off work, I’ll speak to Simon tomorrow and see what he can swing for me” she said, putting the plates down. She watched with an amused look on her face as Kimberley struggled to uncork the bottle of wine that she had left on the table.
“you don’t have to do that” Kimberley answered, still trying to get to grips with the wine bottle. She let Cheryl take over and watched as the girl effortlessly uncorked the bottle.
“I must have loosened it” Kimberley replied jokingly.
“I want to spend more time with you” Cheryl replied to Kimberley’s earlier comment.
“I know you do, but really Cheryl, everything’s going to be fine. You worry too much” Kimberley laughed, although Cheryl could tell it was just a front.
Kimberley didn’t believe her words any more than Cheryl did, but it was a defence mechanism and Cheryl decided it was best to let it drop, at least for the time being.
“right, lets see what the damage is” Kimberley laughed, picking up her fork and pointing to the plate. Cheryl laughed, it had been an in joke with them for a while about the terrible state of Cheryl’s cooking.
Cheryl was just about to tuck in to her food when she noticed Kimberley putting her hand to her head in pain. “What’s wrong?” she asked, shooting up out of her chair.
“just a headache” Kimberley replied, playing down the ain in her head. Cheryl hovered at her side for a few moments, not really knowing whether to believe her or not.
“I’m fine Cheryl” Kimberley went on, she put her hand on to Cheryl’s to show her that she was okay which seemed to settle Cheryl’s nerves.
The younger girl sat down tentatively, keeping her eyes on Kimberley the whole time. It was just a headache, yet it had scared her so much she didn’t know what to do. Kimberley offered her a reassuring smile before breaking off the eye contact to eat her food.
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“why don’t you go and lie down for a bit” Cheryl offered, seeing that Kimberley was holding her head again. They had just finished dinner and were debating whether to have dessert or not.
“it’s just a bit of a headache Cheryl” Kimberley replied, dropping her hand to prove that she really was as fine as she was saying she was.
“I know but you need to take it easy” Cheryl replied. She got out of her chair to clear the plates away.
“stop it Cheryl” Kimberley sighed, before looking up, sadly at her.
“Stop what?” Cheryl frowned, not knowing what she had done. She stopped what she was doing so that she could listen to Kimberley.
“stop treating me like I’m going to break” Kimberley replied simply. She kept her tone light so that Cheryl wouldn’t take what she was saying the wrong way.
Cheryl considered what she was saying before sighing deeply. She dragged the chair around the table, closer to Kimberley and sat down, letting her hand rest on the older girls.
“I just…I don’t know what to do Kimberley”
