Cheradine- Lost and found

Chapter 38

“I was thinkin’,” Nadine says over breakfast the next morning, “there’s no sense in you runnin’ up massive hotel bills when you could stay here for nothin’. I mean, you’re here most of the time anyway.”

Cheryl pauses, the piece of toast in her hand hovering midway between the plate and her open mouth.

“It was just a thought,” Nadine says with a too-casual shrug, backtracking quickly when it strikes her how forward the suggestion sounds.

But Cheryl’s still staring at her, brows raised and eyes like saucers, and Nadine wishes she’d just kept that bright idea to herself.

“Are you askin’ us to move in?” the Geordie says finally, putting down the toast and swiping away the crumbs that have collected in the corner of her mouth with the tip of her tongue.

Nadine chews her lip for a moment, wondering how to propose this because she’s acutely aware that she’s falling into a well-worn lesbian cliché here. “Well, you’d have the place to yourself the majority of the time so it’s not like we’d be livin’ together. You’d be housesittin’, really.”

The argument almost sounds convincingly platonic. 

“Even if you just stay until the divorce comes through and then you could find somewhere more permanent,” she adds, realising that she should probably shut up now but babbles on regardless.

“Okay.”

“And the neighbours are great, really discrete. They wouldn’t give you any-“

“Okay,” Cheryl repeats more firmly.

“-bother.” Nadine stops, her eyebrows coming together in confusion. “What?”

“You’re such a muppet sometimes, Nadz.“ There’s no malice in Cheryl’s words, only affection. “I said okay. I’d like to stay, I mean, housesit.”

The other woman’s mocking her slightly, Nadine knows that, but it still doesn’t detract from the fact that Cheryl’s agreed – with very little persuasion – to share her flat. It can’t really be that easy, can it?

“Are you sure?”

A slow smile stretches over Cheryl’s lips, shallow dimples forming in her cheeks. “I like the idea of havin’ your things around us while you’re away.”

Nadine’s eyebrows lift. “You do?”

Cheryl nods. “I do.” Then she leans across the table on her elbows, planting a slow, soft kiss to Nadine’s mouth that, while light, still makes the hairs rise on the back of her neck. “I also like the idea of comin’ home to you when you’re here.”

“Okay, well, good,” Nadine responds after a few seconds of stunned silence, knowing that those words are woefully inadequate at expressing how she actually feels about this. “When do you want to move your stuff?”

“I just need me clothes, shoes, and things. The rest can stay in storage for now. Should only take a few hours to box everything up so how about tomorrow?”

It seems ridiculously soon and at the same time not soon enough. Nadine’s just trying to keep her cool and not lose it completely because it feels like there’s a giddy scream lodged in her throat. “Aye, that’s fine. Do you need a hand packin’?”

They make arrangements for Nadine to come over to the hotel in the afternoon, thinking (probably over-optimistically) that they can fit everything in her car.

It’s only after the Geordie leaves a few hours later that Nadine realises the fatal flaw in this arrangement.

How the hell am I goin’ to fit all Cheryl’s clothes into my wee flat?

***

As it turns out it takes five hours and two trips back and forth to get all of Cheryl’s belongings shifted.

By the time Nadine’s helped lift 10 boxes up a flight of stairs (somehow managing to do most of the heavy lifting herself while the other woman ‘supervised’) she’s in dire need of a fag and a cup of tea, so she goes back downstairs to put the kettle on while Cheryl starts sifting through the contents of the boxes.

When she returns carrying a tray with two mugs, an assortment of chocolate biscuits and an ashtray she finds the Geordie rummaging through one of the boxes.

“Look what I found,” Cheryl says, lifting up a cropped blue satin jacket that Nadine immediately recognises from the video for Jump.

“Oh my God!” Nadine shrieks, putting down the tray on the bedside table. She perches on the edge of the mattress, on the only spot that isn’t hidden by the pile of couture dresses thrown carelessly over the bed. “I can’t believe you kept that.”

“What?” Cheryl says with a laugh. “I thought I looked so fuckin’ cool at the time. Especially with me fingerless gloves.”

“Well, you did,” Nadine concedes. “I thought so anyway.”

She also remembers being fixated on Cheryl’s perfectly toned stomach but it didn’t occur to her what it meant back then, she just put it down to being vaguely envious of the other girl’s figure.

Cheryl slips on the jacket, zipping it up. It doesn’t look quite right with her perfectly coiffed hair and fitted trousers but it makes Nadine grin at the memory nonetheless.

“Remember that bit in the video with us two?” Cheryl winks at her and starts singing, only very slightly off-key. “You told me I’m the only woman for you...”

Funny how that lyric turned out to be prophetic, Nadine thinks, her smile widening. She watches as the Geordie approaches, coming to a stop in front of her. She reaches out, resting her hands on Cheryl’s hips, drawing the brunette down onto her lap.

“Nobody does it like I do,” Cheryl continues, an unmistakeable twinkle in her dark eyes as she wriggles slightly.

Nadine has to press her lips together for a moment to keep from laughing. “Then make a move before you try and go much further,” she joins in, not fully succeeding in keeping the tremor of amusement out of her singing voice.

That makes the Geordie laugh and soon enough Nadine’s helplessly giggling too. There are tears streaming from Cheryl’s eyes and Nadine thinks she’s never seen the other woman look lovelier; she wants to take a snapshot of this moment and keep it forever.

Once the laughter subsides, Cheryl cups Nadine’s face in her hands, allowing her thumbs to sweep over cheekbones. “I wish we’d done this - us - sooner.”

Nadine wraps her arms around the Geordie’s waist, hugging her closer. “I firmly believe good things come to those who wait.”

“Mmm,” Cheryl nods. “I suppose you were worth waitin’ for.”

“Excuse me?” Nadine purses her lips.

Cheryl just gives her one of those dimpled smiles then kisses her pout away.

After a few minutes of unhurried exploration, the Geordie pulls back. She rests her forehead against Nadine’s and her eyes are so close, so dark that they swallow Nadine up. “I love you,” Cheryl says simply yet the words are so profound that they leave Nadine feeling shaky and deliriously happy.

It’s never going to get tiring really, hearing Cheryl say that.