Chim - Turn To Stone

Chapter 44

Forty- Four

Me and Cheryl were a bit worried about how the fans would react to the news of our relationship, it didn’t help that it was the last night of the tour either, which made us doubly nervous.

We didn’t need to be though, the night went without a hitch and we left the arena on a high. There was always a mixture of feelings when the tours came to an end. On the one hand we were sad because we loved doing it but on the other hand, we looked forwards to our three weeks off.

The paparazzi were waiting for us at the gates, but thankfully we were already in our car and drove straight past them. It was at times like this that I was thankful for blacked-out windows.

We had said our goodbyes to Nicola, Nadine and Sarah in the dressing rooms to make it easier for us to get away quickly. It was only going to be three weeks until we were all back together in London, rehearsing again, but it always filled me with a bit of sadness. We worked so closely with each other for so many months, often living out of each others pockets, that sometimes it was hard to say goodbye.

“we’re being followed” Cheryl sighed, looking out of the back window at three vans who had been with us since we left the arena.

I didn’t even bother to look back at them, I was far too exhausted from the show. It was almost midnight, it would be at least 1 in the morning before I got to see my bed.

“you look knackered” she said to me, fixing her attention on me as we sat together in the back seat of the car.

“thanks” I replied rather indignantly, although it was true. I caught a glimpse of myself in the reflection of the window when I got in the car, and for a fleeting minute I thought about putting on a bit of make up to make myself look half decent, but then I decided against it. Cheryl had seen me looking much worse than this.

“I’ll be glad when I get to bed that’s for sure” I carried on, hoping it wouldn’t take long to make our way down the motorway and back to our little house in the country.

“oh yeah” she joked, raising her eyebrow to me. She moved her hand over to my thigh and squeezed it tightly before leaving her hand resting on it. My natural instinct was to look around to see if anyone was watching, before It dawned on me that it didn’t actually matter anymore.

People knew about us now, so if we wanted to hold hands or show a bit of affection we could. Even so, I still put my bag on my lap so that the driver couldn’t see us.

Old habits die hard.

-

I breathed a huge sigh of relief as Cheryl shut the front door and we were safely inside. It was a bit daunting, having to get security guards to usher us from our driveway to our front door, but if they hadn’t have been there, we would probably have been mobbed.

“this is ridiculous” I sighed, more to myself than to Cheryl as I dumped my bag on the table in the hallway and slumped down on the first chair I came to in the living room.

Cheryl walked in after me and sat on the couch. “maybe we should go away for a bit…just until the dust settles” she suggested, lifting her legs up so that she was lying down the full length of the couch.

I nodded but knew there was no hope of that ever happening, not with Cheryl’s schedule for the X Factor. She would be lucky if she got a few days off together over the next few weeks, let alone enough time to go on holiday.

“don’t tempt me” I smiled, closing my eyes and leaning my head back in the chair.

“can I at least tempt you up to bed” she joked as she got up off the couch and held her hand out to me. She pulled me up off the chair and walked me over to the stairs.

“you always do” I replied, trying my best to at least sound as though I was flirting, even though all I really wanted to do was go to bed and sleep. My legs were aching from all the dancing and I was physically exhausted from the intense tour routines.

She smiled sweetly, but I could tell by her eyes that she was going to give me a reprieve and let me sleep.

“go on…before I change my mind” she laughed, pointing her head to the stairs before slapping my a*** firmly.

-

I woke up suddenly. The room was pitch black so I knew it was still very early in the morning.

I shook Cheryl on her arm to wake her up. She groaned a bit before rubbing her eyes and reluctantly opening them. “what’s up?” she grumbled.

“I think I heard a noise downstairs” I whispered to her. Our last house had security gates which meant that anyone wanting to gain access to the property had to buzz in, we hadn’t quite got around to getting any fitted at this house yet.

“Its probably the wind” she replied grumpily, before turning over in the bed.

“what if it’s not” I replied quickly.

She sighed deeply to show me that she wasn’t very happy but got out of bed anyway. She put some shoes on and threw a cardigan around her before going in to the hall way and down the stairs.

I waited for her to come back, my stomach in my mouth. I wasn’t usually a worrier, but it scared e to think that somebody could be in our house, even though I wasn’t really sure if I had heard anything or whether it was just a dream.

I was just about to get out of bed and see where she was when she came back in, her face like thunder. “f****** paparazzi” she mumbled angrily before throwing herself in to bed.

She turned over in the bed, away from me. I didn’t say anything to her, there wasn’t much use in talking to her when she was in a mood, instead I turned around as well and wondered how long it would be until she started resenting me for wanting to go public.