I had a lovely long bath. I was surprised when I opened the bathroom door. What I found there made my heart beat even faster. Then I lay in bed for a while. I'm on my way back downstairs now. Arriving in the living room I see Kimberly lying in the corner of the couch. Silvia is on the other side against the armrest. "You are right on time. We just set up a movie". Silvia is the first to see me enter the room. Kimberly looks up. She looks at me with a smile. I walk over to her. "Can I lie down with you? ". Kimberly looks at me in surprise. I don't know if this is the smart thing to do, but this is all I want at the moment. She lays on her side to make room for me. I lay on my back next to her. I put an arm behind her and take her hand to place it on my stomach. Fortunately, Kimberly puts her head on my chest by then. I immediately start playing with her hair. "If you do that for a while, she will sleep in no time." I look at Silvia questioningly. I feel Kimberly nod. "If anything Kimberly calms down, it's when you play with her hair. If she's really upset, grab a brush and comb her hair. Then she will be calm again." Again I feel Kimberly nod. "That is correct. If there's anything I love, it's that feeling," she says. "Okay, I'll remember." Now I also know why she fell asleep twice as fast on my birthday.
We are watching the movie in silence. A while ago I put my hand on Kimberly's, who is lying on my stomach. She now starts playing with my fingers. I get a smile on my face. "By the way, do you know that I am jealous of your future partner". I hear Silvia laughing when I say that to Kimberly. I just have no idea why. Kimberly gets up and looks at me in surprise. "Why that? ". I give her a smile. "Do you know how romantic the bathroom looked". I see Kimberly's cheeks turning red. She quickly buried her head back on my chest. "It wasn't that much. I just wanted you to relax completely." I hear another laugh from Silvia. I look at her questioningly. She shakes her head laughing. "That certainly worked out," I say and give Kimberly a kiss on the head. "Speaking of a future partner, have you seen this yet? ". Silvia throws her phone our way so Kimberly can watch.
As soon as Kimberly looks at the phone I hear her sigh deeply. "When is this from? " she asks a bit irritated. "This morning". Kimberly then looks at me. "Remember when I asked your advice about a date? ". I nod. "Well this is the result". Kimberly hands me the phone. "Has it become something? ". I hope she can't hear my disappointment in my voice. On the phone I see a picture of her and someone else. They are in a restaurant. Kimberly holds his hand. I don't like the text under the photo either, Is this the new showbiz couple? Kimberly Hansen and Patrick Jonkers spotted together again during an intimate dinner. Kimberly shakes her head hard. "I followed your advice. I told him that he doesn't stand a chance, but that we can go out for dinner as colleagues. We've done that a few times now. Patrick and I are starring in a new movie together. It is nice to get to know each other a little better and to be able to exchange work experiences. You can only learn from that and get better. The media immediately makes more of it, but yeah, they are good at that. I know exactly when this photo was taken. Patrick showed me his new tattoo and told me how they made it invisible on set. He would never become more than a good colleague," she says with a sigh. "How can you be so sure? He doesn't look that bad after all". Kimberly shrugs. "He seems to be a handsome man ". I hear Silvia laughing again. "Yes, he sure is a handsome man," she says laughing. "But you would always tell me why he doesn't stand a chance". When I say that I notice that Kimberly is looking at Silvia. She suddenly has a serious look. She gives Kimberly a very small nod. "He's not my type". I feel Kimberly getting a little tense. "What is your type then? ". I hear her sigh. "Uhm, I like women," she says very softly. "Okay yeah, then he is clearly not your type," I say laughing.
I'm actually really happy to hear this and I'm not really surprised. But even then I can't tell her how I feel about her. I really don't want to give up this friendship. Kimberly looks at me with relief. "Do not you mind? ". I shake my head. "Why should I mind? ". She shrugs and puts her head back. I wait for her to say something more, but it remains silent. "Do I have to make a statement? ". Kimberly shakes her head when Silvia asks. "I will see if I put something on social media this weekend to deny it". Silvia nods and gets a grin on her face. "I can take a picture of the three of us. You can place it online and add a clear text ". She winks at Kimberly, who sighs. Kimberly has no time to respond. Silvia stands up. She sits down on the floor in front of us and starts taking selfies. "Sil are you really serious now? ". Silvia nods with a smile on her face. "Then at least make sure you also have one that doesn't have Julia's face on it. I don't want her to be bothered". Silvia nods and takes some more pictures.
I think Kimberly has been looking at the photos for half an hour now. All photos clearly show how we are lying. "Something like this?" Kimberly asks when she hands the phone to Silvia. She looks at it for a while and then nods with a smile on her face. "If you want to post this, I'm totally fine with it." She returns the phone. Kimberly then hands it to me. In the picture, Kimberly and I are snuggled together. My face is indeed not visible and Silvia is just on it. She also posted two other photos. One photo is the one Kimberly sent to me this morning as well. Where she and Silvia lie on the beach. The other must have made Silvia without us knowing. It's a picture of Kimberly and me at the water's edge, where Kimberly has wrapped her arms around me from behind. Fortunately, not much is visible from me. But it's mainly the text that does it, Hope everyone is having a great weekend as I am. I have a wonderful weekend with the two who make me happy. I can't wish for more. Only love here. I instantly feel warm when I read it. "Yeah, I think that's fine." Can I get out half stuttering and hand the phone back. Kimberly then posts it online.
"I don't know what you're going to do, but I'm going to bed." Silvia is already standing when she says it. "Sil never mind. I'll do that in a minute," says Kimberly when Silvia wants to clear the table. Silvia nods and walks away. "Hey don't you forget something? ". Silvia turns around smiling and walks towards us again. "Sorry, I didn't know you couldn't sleep without your goodnight kiss." She kisses Kimberly on the lips and kisses me on the forehead. "Sleep well ladies. See you tomorrow and don't you dare wake me up before eleven". Kimberly laughs. "I would not dare. I want to live a little longer. Sleep well Sil," she says. After I also wished Silvia a good night's sleep, Kimberly and I fell silent for a moment.
After a few minutes, Kimberly looks at me. She keeps looking at me for a moment. Then she shakes her head and puts her head back on my chest. "What is? ". I can tell she's getting tense again. "Would you like to sleep with me?" she asks very softly. "Sorry, that sounded very wrong. I mean, would you like to sleep next to me? I'm comfortable when I'm lying with you and I feel safe. The last time I fell asleep on your lap, I didn't have a nightmare. If you don't want to, I understand that too. I really shouldn't have asked you. So forget also ". I put my hand over Kimberly's mouth as she gibberish nervously. I have a big smile on my face. "It's okay Kimberly. I'll sleep next to you tonight". She looks at me almost shocked. "Are you sure? ". I nod. "If you feel comfortable with that, I'll be happy to do that for you. I don't have any problem with that". She gets a smile on her face. "Thank you ". "I like to do it for you". And for myself, but I'm not saying that.
We both lie on our sides in bed and look at each other for a while. "Do you often have nightmares? ". Kimberly nods. "At least three times a week," she says with a sigh. "Is it always the same? ". I try to ask with caution, because I don't know if she wants to talk about this. "Yes. My so-called friends took advantage of me. My girlfriend at the time most of all. I just didn't get it myself. We sat at our house one evening. A lot of alcohol was drunk, mainly by me. I haven't had any alcohol since then. My friends were busier collecting valuables. My ex's job was to distract me as best she could so that I didn't notice at all. I later learned that she was dating another girl from our group of friends. She always only had time for me when we were all together. I was so stupid not to look into it. Vince always knew they were hanging out with me for the wrong reasons, but I didn't want to believe him. That evening he confronted them about it and showed me what they were doing. Then it got out of hand. During the fight someone drew a knife. Vince was stabbed in front of me. I saw him bleed to death in my arms. Those guys were long gone without doing anything to save Vince. In the nightmares I relive it every time". I'm shocked when she says that. I knew that Vincent was stabbed, but not that Kimberly witnessed it. I really didn't expect her to tell me the whole story now. I quickly grab her in a hug, when I see her tears flowing. "Please don't say anything". I'm about to say something when I hear her sob. I hesitate for a moment whether I shouldn't say something, but then I remember what Silvia said earlier today. How Kimberly reacts when she talks about things like this. Maybe that's why I can't say anything, so all I do is hold her tight.
"I haveto leave tomorrow for a while. A meeting has been scheduled where I need to be."Kimberly says it after about fifteen minutes. It is very clear that she doesnot want to talk about it any further. "What time do you have to leave? ". Ilet go of Kimberly and look at her with a small smile. "About eleven o'clock. Ihope it doesn't take too long". In the meantime I wipe away her tears. "Didthey really have to scheduled that in your free weekend?". She nods. "Yeah,have pity on me. They don't even give me a weekend off," she says with a smallsmile. "Aw, how pathetic you are. But then it's time to go to sleep." She nods."Sleep well and thank you again for lying here with me." I give her a smile.Before I know it her lips are on mine. Immediately they are gone again. I feelall warm inside just from this brief touch. "Sorry, it wasn't my intention. Idon't mean anything by it either. Silvia and I do ". Kimberly starts gibberishnervously again. I know that she didn't mean anything by it. I have no problemwith her doing it either. I only know one thing now to shut her up. I put mylips on hers. I keep them there a little longer than she did. In fact, that ismuch too short. "Sleep well Sunshine". Kimberly looks at me shockedfor a moment and then gets a smile on her face. I lie on my back and pull herhalf over me. It doesn't take me long to fall asleep.