Part 9
Cheryl's Point of View
I awoke the next morning, feeling Kimberley's hands brush my hair away from my face. I opened my eyes to find her kneeling on the floor beside the couch I was lying on. The blanket from last night was still wrapped around me and I wondered how Kimberley had managed to get up without waking me.
“Morning Kimba.” I smiled as I saw her. I guessed she had been up for a while now, she had been in the shower and gotten changed, she didn't have any make up on yet, but she looked perfect without it. Taking my hand from underneath the blanket, I tucked a loose strand of her damp hair behind her ear.
“Morning Chez. Hillary called this morning, she's coming round in an hour for a meeting with all the other girls. I don't know what it's about, but she said it was important.”
I sat up on the couch, pulling the blanket around my shoulders. “They're coming here.. in an hour? I need to get home and get changed, I need to have a shower too! They're gonna know I stayed here, I'm still wearing the same top as yesterday!” I started to panic, how was I supposed to explain that I stayed at Kimberley's?
“Calm down, you can take a shower here.” Kimberley replied calmly. “There's towels and everything in the bathroom, just use what you need.”
“Thanks, but that doesn't help the fact that I'm wearing yesterdays clothing!” I sighed at the thought of having to go back to the hotel to get changed and face Craig. I didn't want to talk to him because I knew we were going to have an argument. I hadn't told him that I wasn't coming home and I knew he'd be angry.
“Erm.. I still have some of your clothes upstairs.” Her face turned red and she looked away from me. “I'm guessing they'll still fit, you haven't changed much.”
“I thought you would have thrown them out.. thanks for keeping them.”
“Yeah, it's fine.” She mumbled. “They're still in the same place where you always kept them. Just go and get them and go in the shower. I'll make breakfast.” She rushed out the room before I could say anything else to her.
I sat for a moment, straining to hear what was going on in the kitchen. Over the noise of her bustling about, I could hear her soft crying. It was all my fault, I had made her cry again. I knew she needed some time on her own, so I reluctantly dragged myself up off the couch and upstairs. I hesitated before entering her room, we had so many good memories in there. Memories that I knew neither of us had forgotten. We used to spend days in her room, just lying in bed and cuddling, forgetting about everyone and everything else in the world. Life wasn't as easy as that now.
Slowly I opened the door and stepped inside. The room hadn't changed at all. It was still the same bed sheets and curtains as it was from a year ago. The room hadn't even been painted. There was some of Justin's stuff there, but it was all pushed into the corner. I walked over to the dresser and opened the second drawer. Sure enough, my clothes were lying there, side by side with hers. They had been folded neatly, Kimberley always got on at me for not folding them properly.
“CHERYL!” I groaned and rolled over in the bed as I heard Kimberley storm over to me. She had gotten up early with the intentions of getting ready and making breakfast before we had to go to work, but something I must have done had stopped her.
“What's wrong?” I grumbled. “Has someone been murdered? Because I swear, if they haven't I'm going to murder you for shouting so loud! It's like seven o'clock in the morning!”
“It's half nine actually.” I felt the bed dip and soon enough, her arms were around my waist hugging me tightly.
“What happened to you getting up early?” I giggled as I felt her lips on my neck.
“Work doesn't start 'til eleven. We still have some time...”
“Hmm.. I suppose.” I mumbled as I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of her lips against my skin. “So what have I done to annoy you?”
She stopped kissing me and turned my body so I was facing her. “You've messed up the drawers in the dressers.” She pouted. “What have I told you about leaving clothes in a messy pile?”
“I don't know...” I smirked as I moved so I was on top of her. “But, I don't think you'll be complaining when it's your clothes in the messy pile...” Slowly, my hands made their way to the bottom of her t-shirt.
“Cheryl!” She gasped, but made no attempt to stop me. I started to pull her t-shirt up, revealing her flat stomach. I watched her as she blushed under my touch, she always got embarrassed, but I had no idea why, she was beautiful.
“I love you, you're beautiful.” I whispered before puling her top off over her head.
“I love you too.” She whispered as I got to work.
After my shower, I got changed and went downstairs. Kimberley had made breakfast and was sitting at the table eating hers. I sat opposite her and picked up a slice of toast that she had made.
“Thanks.” I said before taking a bite of it. I studied her face carefully, there were still fresh tear stains on her cheeks. “You've been crying, are you ok?”
“Yeah, I was just being silly. It's just that it was like old times, you know because you stayed here and you're wearing the clothes that you always kept here for when you were staying. I miss it Cheryl, that's all.”
“You're not being silly, I'm feeling the exact same way.” I reached over the table and took her hand in mine. “When I walked into your bedroom to get my clothes, it brought back so many memories. I miss it too, I really do.”
The doorbell rang and Kimberley let go of my hand to answer it. I heard all the girls chatting happily as they made their way through to the kitchen. My stomach was in knots, I hated being around them, they hated me and it just made it awkward.
“Oh, she's already here.” I heard Nadine mutter to Sarah. None of the other girls heard it, or if they did they ignored it. Kimberley walked over to me and sat down next to me whilst all the other girls sat around the table. I could feel them looking at me, and then at Kimberley, wondering what was going on.
“You know, it's rude to eat other people's food.” Sarah commented as she looked at the cup of tea and plate of toast that was in front of me. Both Nicola and Nadine let out a stifled laugh.
“Shut up!” Kimberley snapped before I could answer for myself. Everyone turned to look at her, she never was the one to cause trouble. “The last time I checked, this was my house. Not yours, so it's really none of your business if Cheryl's eating my food or not.”
None of them said anything, they were still all in shock that Kimberley had snapped at them. I nudged her gently to get her attention, and when she looked at me I mouthed 'thanks' to her. She smiled at me and mouthed 'don't mention it' back to me.
“Right girls, this is serious and I want you all to listen.” Hillary spoke, grabbing all of our attention. Her tone of voice wasn't as friendly as it usually was, it was stern and very serious. “It's come to my attention that since Cheryl has come back, there has been problems with the band. I know she has been gone for a while, but you all need to try and make it work. If you don't, then we will have to cancel the tour. If you can't even talk to Cheryl, then how do you expect to perform with her?”
I sat there with my head down, not daring to look at anyone. I knew Hillary was doing what she thought was best, but she had singled me out, making things worse. I wanted the ground to swallow me up right there and then.
“Now, I know Nicola and Sarah both have interviews today and Nadine has to be in the studio so I don't expect you to all re-arrange your plans, but I want you all to have a girls-night in and have a catch up sometime this week.”
“How about you all come round here on Saturday?” Kimberley spoke up.
“Yeah, that's fine with me. I need to go now, or I'll be late.” Nicola stood up and quickly gave Nadine, Sarah and Kimberley hugs. “Come here then.” She said to me as she opened her arms, I got up from my seat and hugged Nicola back. “I'm still p****d off at you, but lets try and get it back to how it used to be.” She whispered so no one else heard.
“Thank you.” I whispered back before pulling away and sitting back down.
So, now I was talking to Nicola and Kimberley. Two down, two to go.
