Chim - Turn To Stone

Chapter 50

Fifty

She walked back in to the garden and sat on a blanket that I had put on the grass for us to sunbathe on. I didn’t say anything to her, but I think the look on my face spoke volumes.

“sorry about that” she replied sheepishly, “it was just someone letting me know about a photo shoot for the X Factor” she told me before lying flat on the blanket. I looked over at her and wondered weather it was wise to say anything or if it was best to just leave it.

“I didn’t realise we took private calls these days” I replied, making my mind up on the spot that I couldn’t just leave it.

“what do you mean?” she asked defensively.

“somebody called you last night at 4 o clock, they put the phone down when I answered” I told her calmly, although inside I was screaming with anger, and maybe a little bit of jealousy, although I didn’t know why I was jealous.

“maybe it was a wrong number” she suggested with a shrug of her shoulders. It could have been, but I didn’t want to admit to her that I thought there was a chance she could have been right.

I stared at her for a while but didn’t say anything. She looked back at me but broke off the eye contact first.

-

“I’m taking you out to dinner tomorrow” she told me as she absently flicked through the countless channels on the tv.

“okay” I replied, hoping it came out as light and breezy as I was trying to make it sound.

It could have been a wrong number. But who phones somebody at 4 in the morning unless its really important. The thing that was grating on me most was the fact that she went in to the kitchen to answer her phone because she couldn’t answer it in front of me. That’s the only reason why she would have gone in to the kitchen, and normally anything about schedules and the X Factor gets passed on to Hilary, not straight on to Cheryl.

I didn’t want to make it a big deal, I knew that the way I was feeling I could see the bad in any situation. Maybe I had to give her the benefit of the doubt, I wanted to trust her, I really did. But she wasn’t making it easy for me.

The rest of the day passed by uneventfully. We sat on the couch and watched sh!t television, commenting on how bad it was and generally having mundane conversations. I put the phone calls to the back of my mind, or at least I tried. Sometimes I found myself looking at her out of the corner of my eye and prayed that she wasn’t lying to me again.

I couldn’t take it if she was.

-

“what should I wear?” I asked her, looking at my wardrobe as though it were something alien to me.

“whatever you want babe” she replied unhelpfully. She had bought a new dress and shoes so I knew it probably wasn’t wise to turn up for dinner in jeans and a t-shirt.

“it would help if you told me where we’re going” I replied, hoping she might give in and tell me so I knew how well to dress.

“whatever you wear will be fine babe” she said simply before going out of the bedroom and in to the main bathroom so that I could use the en suite room.

Cheryl’s dress was gorgeous and I knew it was designed for maximum impact so I though I might as well at least make the effort if I was going to be on her arm. I chose a short, tight white dress with black heels. Cheryl had bought it for me about 6 months ago so I knew that she liked it, and it had a bit of a large price tag with it so at least I wouldn’t feel guilty for only wearing it once.

I ended up waiting about 45 minutes for Cheryl, even after the hour and a half it had taken me to get ready. I stood at the bottom of the stairs as she walked down so that we could go straight to the car that had been waiting for us for a while.

“wow” she said, letting her eyes rest on me. “you like?” I asked her, turning round to show her the full effect, eve though I could tell by her face that she was impressed.

“a lot” she replied, her eyes deepening with desire. “you look beautiful too” I told her before holding my hand out and helping her down the remaining few stairs in her killer heels. She put her arm around my waist as we walked outside, and flanked by the security guards, I felt her hand squeezing my a*** firmly as we got in the car.

-

“I feel stupid” I told her, sat in the back of the car with a blindfold on. “don’t worry we are nearly there now” she said to me, squeezing my hand.

“I don’t like this” I told her, pointing to my face. I didn’t like not knowing where I was going.

The next thing I felt was the familiar feeling of Cheryl’s soft lips on mine. I moaned a little at the touch, mostly because I couldn’t see her. She put her hands on my neck and let them intertwine in my hair as she deepened the kiss. I wasn’t sure if the driver could see, but I trusted Cheryl to be, at least a little bit discreet.

“do you like it now?” she asked, breaking away from the kiss. 

-

Everything was more bright and vivid than it normally was as Cheryl undone the blindfold and let me see where I was. The frown must have been evident on my face as she laughed at my reaction.

“I don’t understand” I told her, looking up the gated driveway to Sarah’s house in the country. I could hear the feint sounds of music coming from the house that was just visible through the tree’s and shrubbery.

We walked precariously up the gravel path, gravel and high heels being no easy bed fellows. She linked my arm as we got closer to the house and I seen all the balloon’s lining the entrance to Sarah’s house.

“happy anniversary baby” she whispered in to my ear as about ten people came out of the house, some f whom I knew and some I didn’t. I turned to look at Cheryl, still a bit shocked. She just smiled at me and stood back to let Sarah come over and give me a hug.

I felt the guilt wash over me, realising that with everything that had gone on over the past few months, I had completely forgotten. Sarah took me by the hand and led me in to the house and through to her large reception room which was filled with people.

Everybody was here, I was a little bit taken aback as I seen Nadine at the chocolate fountain with Nicola. She waved to me before coming over. “surprise” she said, holding her hands out to hug me.

“I thought you were in LA” I told her before embracing Nicola briefly. “I was, I got a flight early yesterday morning. I though I gave the game away when I phoned Cheryl and you answered” she laughed.

I smiled and nodded along with her, but inside I felt terrible. All this time I spent not trusting Cheryl, and it was Nadine who had phoned all along.

I turned around to seek her out in the crowd, finding her talking to Tommy and one of Nicola’s friends. She smiled to me through the mass of people which made my heart melt, and break at the same time because I knew that I shouldn’t have suspected the worst from her.