Battered

Chapter 28

Kimberley" Cheryl calls from upstairs, "have you seen my phone charger?"

"It was next to the bed last time I saw it"

The sound of footsteps and cupboards being opened and closed can be heard; then a few moments later, "Got it".

I climb the stairs and make my way down the hallway to our bedroom, where Cheryl is packing her things for Newcastle. Thursday morning had come around far too quickly for my liking and in a few hours Cheryl will be leaving for a couple of days.

"Do you need a hand?" I ask, watching from the doorway as Cheryl crams another pair of shoes into her suitcase.

"No thanks babe" she answers, "I can manage"

Cheryl's method of packing a suitcase, and by method I mean just throwing everything in and hoping that it fits, is a little more laidback than my approach and I look on as she casually flits around the room, adding more and more clothes to the already overflowing suitcase.

"Are you sure?" I ask again.

I try to keep my tone light and breezy but the hint of a smile on Cheryl's face leaves me in no doubt that she knows I'm dying to take over and reorganise everything, or more appropriately in this case to fold everything.

Another pair of jeans are flung into the suitcase and I'm convinced she's being even more careless than usual just to see how long it'll be before I crack and go into, as Cheryl calls it, neat-freak mode.

"What time do we have to leave for the train station?" she asks, taking no notice of my question and kneeling down on the floor to zip up her case.

"In about an hour" I answer, going to sit on the edge of the bed, on my hands, while Cheryl continues to battle with the zipper.

The zip won't budge and after a few attempts, Cheryl resorts to sitting on the suitcase to try and get it closed.

"Ok Monica," she says jokingly after a few minutes of struggling, "I give up; fold to your heart's content."

I ignore the reference to the overzealous Friends character and go to kneel beside her on the floor, playfully nudging her with my arm before opening the suitcase and sorting through the contents.

Cheryl gets up from the floor and drops a quick kiss on the top of my head before retreating to the safety of the bed and sitting down, leaving me to work my way through the mountain of clothes.

"Do you really need all of this stuff?" I turn around to ask her, "You're only going for a few days babe."

"Yeah, I know, but I like to be prepared" she smiles at her own words, "You must be rubbing off on me"

"Obviously not enough" I laugh, gesturing to her disorganised suitcase.

A well aimed pillow hits me on the side of my head and the culprit dissolves into a fit of giggles. Abandoning the packing, I quickly get to my feet and retrieve the pillow that has landed next to me.

Realising what I'm going to do, Cheryl tries to escape but I gently push her back on the bed and swat her repeatedly with the pillow, "Ok, Ok" she shrieks, somewhere between laughing and screaming, "I give up, you win."

Her admission of defeat makes me lower the pillow but as soon as my guard is down Cheryl quickly reaches out and takes hold of my wrists, pulling me forward. I lose my footing and stumble forwards onto the bed, landing on top of her.

Dark eyes meet my own and the look that passes between us makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

"Déjà vu" she smiles as I lean down to kiss her.