Chapter 9
They had woken the next morning to the sound of Cheryl’s phone ringing. It had been her manager, Hilary, calling to let her know that the papers were running a story about her being gay. The headline read Revolution in the BED and the article included pictures of her and Kimberley out to dinner two nights ago and then embracing outside Kim’s flat; her and Kim kissing at Nadine’s birthday party and pictures of them both leaving the theatre together arm in arm the night before. Some of the pictures had been taken on mobiles by others at the party and in the theatre, and Kimberley had been livid that so-called friends of hers could do that. Cheryl; however, had calmed her down.
“At least its out in the open now” she had said and Kimberley couldn’t disagree. Her sister Sally had been livid that she hadn’t told her she was seeing Cheryl Tweedy, but after Kimberley had explained how quickly it had all come about, she was delighted for her. The last person Kimberley had dated had been in a band but had never come to much, so they had had a giggle about Kimberley dating a “real celebrity”.
The paparazzi were hanging around a lot, both outside Cheryl’s house and Kimberley’s flat, but Kimberley was too busy to notice. Every spare minute she had off from rehearsals was spent either running around town picking up last minute bits and bobs for her trip, or with the girls, who were roped in at every opportunity to help with the packing. Cheryl had joked that she would rather spend the evening with Louis Walsh than pack but, from the little glances she was giving and the way she squeezed Kimberley’s hand in her own, Kimberley knew she was happy to be spending as much time with her as possible and that she was going to miss her terribly once she had gone.
Nadine had cooked a surprise meal the night before she had to leave and had even got in touch with Cheryl to invite her much to Kimberley’s delight, although they did have to put up with a few jokes about their sex life and “Kimmy baby” had reared its ugly head on more than one occaision. The food had been incredible and they had all gotten extremely p!ssed on the wine Cheryl had brought, making everyone emotional about Kim’s impending departure. Kimberley had laughed at them all getting tearful.
“I’m off to Asia not the electric chair!” she had joked.
Cheryl had stayed over at Kimberley’s that night and they had made love, passionately kissing and touching each other, before dropping off to sleep in each others arms. It had been a wonderful night but now, on the road to the airport, Kimberley felt sick. Cheryl had offered to drive her there and had gotten up extra early to load up the car for her. Kimberley had argued that 4am was too early to be getting up unless you had to and that she would get a taxi, but Cheryl was having none of it. Kimberley loved Cheryl’s attentiveness and that she was making the effort to take her. In fact, if she hadn’t offered, she probably would have been upset but, now that they were on the way, she was certain she would cry saying goodbye to her girlfriend and that it was going to be much harder than she thought.
“So, what have you got planned for the next month, you know, work wise?” she asked trying to take her mind off the dull ache in her chest.
“Nothing important hun” Cheryl answered yawning loudly. “Just album stuff and meetings for the new series of the X Factor”.
Kimberley giggled incredulously.
“What?” Cheryl asked glancing between Kimberley and the dimly lit road ahead.
“Nothing” Kimberley giggled again placing her hand on Cheryl’s thigh. “I just love how you don’t think your new album or your TV show is important.”
“Ok I suppose they are important” Cheryl conceded. “Nothing out of the ordinary then. How’s that?”
“Better” Kimberley said in satisfaction. She paused briefly as they entered the airport car park. Looking towards the entrance, both girls could see a collection of paparazzi waiting at the door. Luckily they hadn’t seen the girls pull into the car park but as there was no other entrance to the departure gates, they would have to pass them to get inside.
