Chim - Make You Stay

Chapter 19

Cheryl

I stare out of the window, my stomach feeling like there's a million butterflies trying to escape. The world looks so tiny beneath us and with every second I know that I'm closer to a place I desperately tried to escape.

Kim places her hand on my thigh, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"I just realised, I haven't taken you out yet!"

"What?"

"I haven't taken you out on a romantic date yet! We'll have to arrange it when we get back" she smiles, looking excited.

My mind drifts away as I realise I've never seen her all dressed up before. I close my eyes as I imagine her in a short, tight dress that accentuates her curves. Her makeup done to perfection, her hair gorgeously curled..

I wake with a start and Kimba's shaking me.

"Babe, we've landed"

I realise in a sudden panic that I'd fallen asleep, and it dawns on me. This is it. We're in London.

We get off of the plane and go and sit at the baggage reclaim. I watch all of the suitcases go round and round, keeping a look out for ours. I'm quite surprised that there aren't any paparazzi yet, and nobody has stopped me, but they'll probably be waiting outside.

Half an hour later, we leave the airport, exhausted. As soon as we step out of the doors, we're met by the blinding flashes of a tonne of cameras as we try to make our way to the cab.

"Cheryl, have you come back to make up with Ashley?"

"Cheryl how are you after your breakdown?"

"Is this your therapist with you?"

"Cheryl, who's your new friend?"

"Are you trying to run from yourself Cheryl?"

I try to ignore the questions as we struggle into the cab, quickly putting out suitcases into the boot and slamming the doors shut.

I turn to Kim as we drive away, feeling bad that I didn't warn her.

"I'm so sorry about that, I should have told you it was probably going to be that bad. I forgot you're not used to it"

"It's fine. You're pretty famous over here aren't you!"

"Mmm" I mumble, desperately wishing I wasn't.

****

Kimberley

We spend the whole journey in silence. I'm completely exhausted from our flight; I stayed up and kept an eye on Chez, wanting to be awake in case she woke up panicking. If I would have known she was going to sleep through it, I would have had a nap myself! Finally, we arrive at the hotel, and Cheryl gets out of the car as soon as it's stopped, suddenly eager to check in. Luckily there are no paparazzi here, so I quickly pay the driver and drag both of our suitcases inside. Trust her to give me the hard job!

"Room 304" she says coming over and taking her suitcase from me.

We go and get into the elevator, going up to our room, and as soon as we get in I flop on the bed, letting out a sigh.

"Tired?"

"Exhausted" I reply, ready to sleep at that very moment.

"Kimba I'm hungry" Cheryl whines to me, giving me the puppy dog eyes she knows I can't refuse.

I sigh and order us both egg and chips through room service.

"Babe?" she says as she crawls on to the bed and lays next to me.

"Kimba I'm scared" she whispers in my ear, and it takes me by surprise, she's not normally this open about how she feels.

"You don't need to be, I'm right here" I remind her, holding on to her hand to reassure her.

"I'm so glad I found you"

"And I'm glad I found you"

She smiles and blushes slightly, her dimples on full show, and leans forward, quickly closing the gap between us and joining our lips softly.

Our room service comes and we eat it quickly, realising we hadn't eaten since breakfast. After we've eaten our dinner, I look at the time, realising it's now past 11pm at night and yawning.

"Can we go to bed now?" I whine, taking off my clothes and pulling a hoodie on over my underwear.

"Yes, you little whiner" she says teasingly, walking past me and slapping my bum. I gasp jokingly and she giggles, going into the bathroom to brush her teeth.

I get into bed, snuggling under the duvet, and it finally begins to sink in where we are and what we're doing. In 2 days I'm going to finally see my Mum and Sister after so long, and I'm not sure how I feel. Nervous? Excited? Terrified? All three. Part of me hopes it goes well, it would be amazing to have them in my life again. But there's a part of me that's scared they'll want me to move back in with them or stay in Bradford with them, and I know I could never do that. I couldn't do it to Cheryl.

She comes out of the bathroom, taking me out of my thoughts, and joins me in bed, switching the light off as she does so.

She snuggles her body close to mine and faces away from me so I'm spooning her from behind, my arms around her protectively.

"Thank you for making us do this" she says quietly.

"And thank you for doing this" I reply sleepily.

"But I haven't done anything?"

"You're right here beside me, and that's all I need"