THREE
After three hours of gruelling torture, dance rehearsal was now over. Learning the new choreography was what Kimberley hated the most about the music business. She wasn’t a natural dancer, she thought, so it was hard work keeping up.
She shakily walked over to the benches on the far side of the room and grabbed her flask. After a quick sip, she spun around and sat down. A bark of laughter caught her attention and she looked up.
It was Cheryl, clearly humoured by a story Nicola was telling her. They were both stood in the corner of the room, stretching their already aching muscles. Cheryl had her hands clasped above her head as she bent backwards, which caused her t-shirt to ride further up her stomach.
Kimberley sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down gently. The stirring sensation in the pit of her stomach was something Kimberley was now used to feeling whenever she was around her best friend; however it still sometimes scared her.
After a couple of seconds, she finally snapped to her senses and looked away. Her staring hadn’t gone unnoticed by Cheryl though, who was now looking at her with an odd expression on her face. Damn, caught. A blush crept over Kimberley’s cheeks and she hurriedly started to gather her belongings.
“Kimba,” Cheryl half-squealed as she jumped onto her friend’s back. “Carry us back to the coach please.”
Kimberley groaned under the weight of her friend. She might look small but she definitely weighed a tonne. She shrugged the Geordie off and laughed sarcastically.
“I don’t think so,” she scoffed, “You have legs.”
Cheryl rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, “So if a man with stumpy legs comes along and asks for help, you wouldn’t give him a lift ‘cause he,” she formed quotation marks with her fingers, “‘has legs’?”
“I hardly think that’s the same, Chez.”
When they finally made it back to the tour bus, they were both surprised to find it empty. Kimberley walked down the aisle until she was in the ‘living area’. There was a note tucked underneath a used coffee mug in the middle of the table. She quickly read it and then shouted back to Cheryl.
“They’ve gone for something to eat. Apparently we took too long.”
Cheryl dropped down onto the couch and shrugged her shoulders. She was clearly unfazed unlike Kimberley, who was absolutely famished. She rubbed at her stomach until she remembered that she had a half-eaten bag of cheese and onion crisps in her bag. As she rummaged around for them, Cheryl lifted her feet onto the couch and yawned noisily.
“You can’t be that tired,” Kimberley said absent-mindedly, “You went to bed early last night.”
She sat down beside Cheryl and unravelled her bag of crisps.
“Aye but I had a lot on my mind. I couldn’t sleep.”
Concerned, Kimberley placed her hand on her thigh, “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know,” Cheryl admitted sadly, “I’m confused.”
The admission caused Kimberley’s stomach to knot uncomfortably.
She never liked to hear that Cheryl wasn’t well. All she ever wanted to do was make her happy. If Kimberley had her way, she would have wrapped her up in bubble wrap months ago.
She’d only known the girls for a short while. The bond she shared with Nadine, Nicola and Sarah was very sisterly. Unfortunately, her feelings for Cheryl were completely different. When she first saw the bubbly brunette and her cute dimples, she was awestruck. Now, it was just so much more. Her heart beat that little bit faster whenever they were together and she always felt nervous. At first she put it down to being intimidated because Cheryl often did that to people but when she saw her flirting with a handsome guy during a night out, and had promptly thrown up, her feelings were confirmed.
“What are you confused about?” Kimberley finally asked.
Cheryl lifted her head and peeked out from behind thick eyelashes. She looked scared and nervous, which unnerved Kimberley. She felt her hopes lifting like they always did whenever she read too much into things, for example, if Cheryl hugged her for a little longer than necessary, Kimberley automatically assumed that her feelings were mutual. She did it in every scenario.
“If I tell you, promise you won’t hate us?”
Kimberley looked bewildered, “I could never hate you.”
“Okay… okay. I know. I don’t know why I said that.”
She reached up and cupped Kimberley’s cheek. “Close your eyes.”
When Kimberley felt Cheryl’s lips against her own, her heart almost exploded inside her chest. She’d imagined this situation so many times before. She shakily pulled her closer and moaned breathlessly against her mouth. It felt so good…
Kimberley jerked awake with a groan and immediately rubbed at her temples, hoping that it would erase the dream she’d just had. She hated thinking about that particular time in her life. In fact, she hated thinking about anything Cheryl related.
She rolled over and turned her alarm off before she threw back the covers. If she didn’t get out of bed now, she knew she would fall back to sleep thus being late for her doctor’s appointment.
When she stumbled into the bathroom, she immediately walked over to the sink. After knocking on the faucet, she bravely looked at her reflection in the mirror. God, she looked terrible…and old. She rubbed at her eyes with the backs of her knuckles and cursed under her breath.
Although she was only approaching thirty-five, she still often felt like an old age pensioner. She pulled at the corners of her eyes and pouted. She had a few wrinkles here and there but nothing to really complain about.
For a second, Kimberley allowed her mind to drift back to the dream. They’d both been so young, with baby faces. A tiny smile pulled at the corners of her lips when she envisioned Cheryl’s chubby cheeks but as soon as it appeared, it disappeared.
She missed her.
