Chim - Turn To Stone

Chapter 49

Forty - Nine

The flashes from all of the camera’s lit up the dark sky as I closed the door on them, thankful to be in the house.

“I think you need to go to bed” I sighed to Cheryl who was giggling about a joke that I wasn’t privy to. “come on then” she slurred, with a lopsided smile. I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, knowing that she wouldn’t remember a thing tomorrow morning.

I watched her climb the stairs with that swagger that only drunken people seem to posses, the sight bringing a smile to my face. She turned round and smiled too me, a smile which, had she been sober would have been a ‘come to bed’ smile.

“I will be up in a minute” I told her, before locking the front door and checking that the security alarm was on. The familiar chirp of Cheryl’s mobile phone came from the table in the hallway where she had dumped her bag.

I picked it up with a frown, it was nearly 4am and I wasn’t expecting anyone to phone either of us. It was a withheld number. Normally I wouldn’t answer withheld numbers because it was quite common for people to get our phone numbers and ring us up, but I figured that it must have been important because of the time.

“Hello” I answered.

Whoever it was on the other end put the phone down. I put the phone back in her bag and rolled my eyes again when I heard Cheryl calling my name.

I went up stairs, but by the time I walked in to the bedroom she was already fast asleep. I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at her for a while, seeing her so calm and peaceful.

-

I woke up the next morning to the sound of Cheryl groaning loudly. I turned around and looked at her cradling her head in her hands, obviously hung over.

“how much did I drink last night?” she asked, lying back down on top f the bed.

“too much” I replied sarcastically before turning round to check the clock. “I feel like death” she mumbled, pulling a pillow over her face.

“well you might feel a little bit worse when you see the paper” I told her, wondering if my little hint would jolt her memory. It clearly didn’t.
“what did I do” she asked, the look of horror descending slowly on to her face. I laughed at the certainly in her voice that she had actually done something, she just didn’t know what.

“what, apart from asking the whole of the table we were sat at if they thought I was sexy” I asked her, sitting up in the bed and raising my eyebrow to her questioningly.

“oh god” she moaned, pulling the pillow in tighter to herself the way you do when you have done something embarrassing and you want to try and make it go away.

“or are you talking about when you practically jumped me on the doorstep in front of all the paparazzi” I asked, pulling the pillow off her face so that I could see her reaction.

It was classic.

-

“why didn’t you stop us” she asked, her face still blushing with embarrassment.

“I tried Cheryl, but you know what you are like when you set your heart on something” I told her.

We sat in the garden, although it wasn’t particularly sunny, it wasn’t cold either. Cheryl had her laptop on her knee, looking at destinations for a holiday we were going to book.

“should I have a look” she asked after a moment, meaning, should she look at the newspaper websites to see the photo’s from last night.

“go on then” I replied cautiously, knowing that her curiosity would mean she would look whether I said yes or know.

My heart was in my mouth a little as the photo came up on to the screen. We both looked at it in silence for much longer than was necessary.

“its not that bad” I said after a while, although it really was. She looked at me as if I were stupid, or at least lying. As kisses go, it wasn’t the most romantic or sexy, and I dreaded what our parents would think when they got the papers.

“it’s not that good either” she replied, clicking off it quickly so that we didn’t have to sit and look at it any more.

-

“sun, sea, sangria and lots of dirty sex…what’s not to like?” she laughed, trying to convince me of her choice of holiday destination. The sun had tried its best to come out of the clouds and apart from the little set back with the photo, it was turning in to quite a good day.

“whatever you want Cheryl” I gave in, as I usually did. I wanted to go somewhere a bit more private, but I knew Cheryl wasn’t keen on the idea of shutting ourselves away, any more than we already had.

Her phone started vibrating in her pocket which made her jump. She looked at the screen and sighed loudly before getting up. “business” she replied to my questioning look before walking in to the house.

Business!

I didn’t say anything, but inside I felt as though I had taken about ten steps backwards.