"Guess who I've just bumped into?" Nadine smiled, placing her bag down on the kitchen table.
Holding my hand out infront of me, I examined my freshly painted nails. "Who?" I asked, before lifting it to my mouth and blowing.
"Sarah and Nicola. They were just heading out for a night on the tiles."
I rolled my eyes. "When do they not go out on a Saturday?" I laughed.
She poured herself a drink as she continued. "Well... next Sunday they are goin' on holiday for a fortnight and I asked them to come over on the Friday for a few drinks. They said that would be great. Do you mind?"
"Of course I don't," I smiled. "It'll be fun. We should make it into a little party type thing. You should invite Jason."
"That would be nice. You haven't really met him," she told me. "Should I say to Nicola and Sarah? I'm sure they've mentioned to me that they both had boyfriends."
"Yeah babe. I'm sure Jason would be grateful with some male company." I went back to examining my nails.
"Would you be ok with that?" I heard her ask.
I looked at her. She has a sad smile on her face. "Course babe. Why?"
"You won't have a man there. And that's..."
"Ok," I smiled cutting her off. Just then my phone went. Looking down at the screen I saw it was Bert. "I'll be right back," I said. Getting up I went to my room.
"Hello," I said, answering it.
"Hi Kimberley...it's Bert."
"Hey Bert."
"I'm just calling to inform you about a story we will be running tomorrow."
"What's it about?" I asked, curiously.
"Do you remember that story a couple of months ago about Ashley talking to the girl in the club? It was before he got arrested."
"Yeah...?"
"Well... someone has sold us pictures they took of him all over her. It took some convincing, but after some money talk we managed to get them off of him."
Ooh god!
"So... this story you are getting is now a big deal. It goes without saying that she will be crushed when she sees these pictures. They are quite full on. Hand on arse, whispering in ear... all that kind of stuff. Have you got anything yet?"
"No. We're not that close." I replied, gazing down to my lap, the enormity of the situation truly setting down.
"Yes... I didn't think you would have. Well, it doesn't matter because you can be her shoulder to cry on. Are you that close?"
"I think so. I dunno."
"Well... get that close. I'm sure it won't be hard. She'll be vulnerable, ok?"
"Ok," I agreed, a tear falling from my eye and running down my cheek.
"Good work Kimberley. I'll phone you in a few days. Bye."
"Bye."
As soon as I had hung up, I burst into tears. What was I doing!?
* * * * *
It was cold outside, the only light coming from a large lamp-post a few metres away. It was late. I looked out to the grass infront of me, memories of me and Cheryl throwing the small rubber ball to each other flooding my mind. I was on the verge of tears. She was going get hurt again, not only by Ashley, but by me too.
Does she like me enough for it to hurt her?
I kept asking myself that, praying that she didn't. But, I knew she did. I could see she liked me. She had told me she did. I shut my eyes, pulling Pixie, who was sitting on my lap, closer to my shivering body.
"Ashley!"
At the sound of this I turned. I could see Cheryl and Ashley walking, hand in hand, towards me. He was leaning into her, kissing playfully at her neck. B*stard! I turned back around, hoping she wouldn't notice me.
"Kimberley!?"
I rolled my eyes. She obvious had. I once again turned to face them, her hair and make up was just as I had saw it hours earlier on tv.
"Babe, you must be freezing," she said, leaving Ashley's side and rushing over to me. She sat down beside me and wrapped her arms around my cold body, Pixie jumping about on my lap. She gave her a quick clap before looking me in the eye. "What's wrong?" she asked, noticing my tears.
I meekly shook my head and turned away. I couldn't look her in the eye.
As I done this, she got up and walked back over to Ashley. I could see her kissing him out the corner of my eye. She whispered something into his ear after and then came back over to me. How could he be like that with her!? How could he even look at other girl when he has a woman like Cheryl!? He made me feel sick.
I kept my gaze fixed firmly on Pixie as she sat back down beside me. I still couldn't look at her.
"Come here," she said, pulling me into a hug. I fell into her embrace, willingly. "Shh..." she soothed, rubbing my back as I cried. I bet if she knew what I was crying about she wouldn't be holding me.
Pixie was lodged between us, her little tail wagging.
"What's wrong babe?" she asked once more. I could hear the worried tone in her voice.
I felt selfish. How dare I cry on her comforting shoulder. I didn't deserve her. I didn't deserve her sympathy.
"I don't want to talk about it," I said. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't tell her anyway.
"That's ok," I heard her whisper. She kissed the side of my head and pulled me closer. "You can tell me when you're ready."
We sat like that for a while until she took her jacket off and wrapped it around me. "Come on babe, let's get you back up to your flat," she said, taking Pixie from me and pulling me up. We walked back in silence, her comforting arm still wrapped around me. "Will you be ok?" she asked once we had reached my door. She still looked worried.
"I'll be fine," I told her, taking Pixie back. I had stopped crying, but I could feel myself welling up again as I looked at her.
"Are you sure?"
"I'll be ok Cheryl," I sniffed. "I just need some time alone."
"Is Nadine in?"
"No. She's out with Jason." I really wanted to go inside. "I'm goin' to go now," I said, tears spilling from my eyes.
"Kimber..."
She didn't get time to finish as I didn't stay long enough to listen. I quickly opened the door and ran inside, shutting it behind me. "I'm a bad person," I wept to myself, leaning against it, my sobs growing heavier.
