Chapter 16
She sat back up, only to be restrained by a warm pair of hands and even through all the haziness induced by her uncomfortable sleep on the hard floor, she remained wise enough not to startle the girl and subject her to the awkardness she was already feeling by their current position. She gently removed the blonde's arms that was holding her and put a respectable distance between them.
She watched the girl stir from her sleep and a panic set within her. She tried to remember her day and her thoughts jumbled and arranged themselves into a loop of words that only said blue eyes.
She shook her head lightly as if to make sense of her thoughts and all she could remember was crashing on the dance floor studio, trying to catch up with her sleep.
She observed the girl with rising panic, her instincts demanding her to run, run from the girl who had destroyed the wall she had so carefully erected around her. She almost sprang to her feet, giving in to her instinct to run, only to regarded by sleepy eyes that stopped her in her tracks.
The singer looked away from the girlwho was carefully observing her.
'Cheryl?'
'Yes?'
Run, run. She ignored all the pleas from her mind and gazed back at the girl. The girl she had married, insulted and destroyed. Yet, she was here, taking care of her. For once, she decided to listen to her heart and sat back on the floor and looked at the mirror on the opposite wall to escape from the stunning blue that seemed to trap her.
'Thank you'
She almost scoffed.
Why was this girl thanking her, for calling her names? For making her life a living hell? For all the hurtful words she had so easily thrown at her?
'Kimberley', she sighed, chancing a glance at girl, who looked almost afraid of her response. She felt a bile rising up her throat at the realization that girl was afraid of her. Isn't that she wanted? Had she not hurt her enough with the sole purpose of keeping her at arms length? So why did she suddenly no longer liked being a monster? 'You shouldn't be thanking us'
The wary looking girl smiled at her response.
She had almost expected more insults and abuses thrown her way. Almost.
Yet deep down she knew that it was only a facade, a mask the dark hair girl wore, to protect herself, to keep everyone away from the real person beneath all the harsh words, a girl just as scared and vulnerable as her. She knew she still had a long distance to go before she forgot all the hurtful words that had so carelessly broken her, but she had already begun down that route.
'I should. I couldn't have made a hundred medals in an hour' she chuckled nervously to ease the awkard tension that appeared to envelope them.
'No. You couldn't have', she agreed throwing a genuine smile at the tanned girl, silently thanking her for easing the uncomfortableness.
'So modest'
Cheryl smiled again, as she became conscious of how easy and natural it felt to hold a conversation with her, a conversation with no hidden agenda, no personal gain and it was something she realised she had missed in her life.
She leaned back against the wall and locked eyes with the girl in the mirror.
'I have not been the best person to be around, and most of the times I am not. But..' she paused, pinching the bridge of her nose as if to make herself believe it was really her who was uttering those gentle words, 'I'll try to be' she spoke slowly and clearly leaving the 'for you' unspoken.
