Chapter 15
“Kimberley? Babe?” Cheryl saw that only one toilet door was locked and stopped in front of it. “Babe, open the door, please”. She leaned on the door with both hands and rested her forehead on it, speaking softly. “Kimberley, whatever it is, come on, talk to me, babe”.
There was no sound from inside but Cheryl had followed Kimberley into the toilets. There was only one person in there, and she had to be inside that cubicle.
“Well, you didn’t really need the loo, cause I can’t hear anything, so something’s wrong. Babe, tell me, don’t shut me out”. Cheryl stopped as she heard a noise from inside the cubicle, and she instinctively pulled her head away slightly from the door, but left her hands on it. She heard the lock slide and the door opened slightly. Pushing it lightly, she opened it enough to be able to see Kimberley sat on the closed lid of the toilet seat, a crumpled tissue in her hand, looking up at her.
“What if they don’t understand?” was her simple question.
Cheryl looked back at her, leaning on the door frame, slightly confused.
“What if they don’t understand?” repeated Kimberley, “about us?”
“We’ll make them understand” replied Cheryl. “They’re our friends - they care about us, Kimberley. Once they see how important this is, they’ll understand”.
Kimberley shook her head. “It’s not that simple is it? You heard what Hilary said – it’s gonna be awful when we go public, and it could reflect on the band. It’s not fair on the others, is it? I just…when you started to tell them, I just felt sick, like I couldn’t breathe.”
Cheryl squeezed into the cubicle and leaned against the wall next to Kimberley, resting her hand on her shoulder. “Babe, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Hilary’s amazing – she’ll sort it, and we’ll…well, we’ll get through it together”.
“But Cheryl, it’s not just about us is it? What if the press turn against us? What if the fans do? Is that fair on the girls?” Kimberley was staring up at Cheryl, willing her to come up with some sort of magic response.
Cheryl cupped her face with her other hand, “Babe, we’ll talk it through with them. We’ll make them see that we won’t do anything to hurt the band. Hilary’s on board isn’t she? I mean – Hilary? Who would have thought it? I actually thought she was gonna have a fit or something, but she was great about it. She’ll have plenty of time to sort it before we’re ready to go public. We’ll make sure the girls know that they come first and we won’t do anything without them being okay with it first”.
Kimberley smiled, “nothing at all?” and she raised an eyebrow.
Cheryl pretended to be shocked. “Kimberley! I’m being serious!”
“I know,” Kimberley laughed, kissing Cheryl’s hand which was still resting on her cheek. “I couldn’t resist. Can you tell I’ve been crying?”
“A bit. Come on, we’ll do a repair job at the sink” Cheryl suggested, taking Kimberley’s hand. “But to be fair, they must know something’s up, the way the pair of us pegged it to the loo.”
“I suppose it’s time to just come clean and tell them, they’ll understand why I freaked out a bit,” reasoned Kimberley. “Oh god,” she uttered, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror. “I look like I’ve gone 10 rounds in a boxing ring”.
“You look beautiful,” said Cheryl, tenderly putting some stray hairs behind Kimberley’s ear. “You always do”.
“Now I know you’re just being kind – I look like sh*t” laughed Kimberley, kissing Cheryl’s hand before she took it away.
