Chapter Fifteen

As soon as we entered Alessandro’s, I knew I shouldn’t be here.

It was soooo posh! Really, really high class. I felt so out of place immediately. Compared to this, I was just so plain and ordinary! What was that old phrase? “Like a daisy amongst the tulips”. That’s what I felt like, being here.

The sad, boring, over-looked daisy in a patch of classy, exciting, good looking tulips.

Christian of course, fitted in perfectly- but I just felt awkward, and so, so intimidated.

It was quite a big place- and the two main colours were white and yellow. Everything was so bright and shiny- shiny new. It was big, spacious and very modern.

Yet the yellows didn’t give it the cold atmosphere it probably would have given off if left alone. It really reminded me of a proper Italian restaurant, actually. I’d been to Italy- with Abbie in fact- when I was 15, where I’d experienced some “real” Italian restaurants.

Well, ok, one- but still!

The place looked relatively busy, but it was still early in the evening, actually. We’d be eating early of course, ‘cos we had a film to see afterwards.

I had to endure this ordeal first!

But I felt to separate from it all.

“Whatcha think?” Christian suddenly asked, grinning to me.

I turned to him, speechless. “Erm… it’s, er… nice.”

I wasn’t sure whether I did like it, yet. I was so busy thinking I shouldn’t really be here, I don’t really belong here- that I hadn’t really given a thought to whether I liked it or not.

He gave a little laugh. “Stop looking so worried!” He said.

Oh dear. Was I doing it again?

A waiter came over then, and escorted us to our table. And I nearly hugged Christian with thanks when I realised where we’d be sitting. It wasn’t bang-smack in the middle of the room, like I’d been dreading. It was out of the way- so no-one could look at me and think, “God- what’s that nobody doing here?”

It was also near the window- but not the one that looked out onto the street (arraghhhh!)- it looked out onto the patio at the side, which was all lit up and looked really pretty.

Overall- it was a brilliant table, and I was so grateful to Christian for choosing it.

“You ok?” He asked me, as the waiter left us to fetch the menus.

I nodded, staring at the table I was about to be sat at. It was round and small, a two- seater. I’d be opposite Christian when we sat down. You could tell it was “posh” immediately. It had like, a cream tablecloth on tinged with lace, and it had a candelabrum!

Like, woah.

And it had about a million forks, spoons and knives laden out and all I thought was arraghhhhhhhh.

“You sure you’re ok about being here?” Christian asked.

I nodded, completely lying.

“You gonna relax anytime soon?” He grinned.

I looked up at him, still frozen.

He laughed and reached over and took my hand. “C’mon, sit down,” he said warmly, and we did so.

But I just didn’t know what to do. He must be so used to this, I thought. Posh restaurants, tables with candelabrums and a million pieces of cutlery.

I’m not.

I don’t have a clue what “rules” to follow.

“Is that better?” He asked, after we’d sat down.

I couldn’t stop staring at the masses of cutlery in front of me.

“Huh?” I said, not fully hearing him.

He smiled again, and took my hand from across the table.

Oooooh, not a good idea. I felt so nervous inside, I probably would squeeze it to a pulp.

“You have got to relax!” He said. “Am I still making you feel nervous?”

I shook my head. “I-It’s not you,” I said. “I-It’s the whole place. I shouldn’t really be here. I- I’m not famous enough.”

He raised his eyebrows and laughed. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard!” He said.

I looked up at him, surprised.

“Take a look around,” he said. “Anyone else famous here?”

I’d been too scared to look before, because I’d expected to see people like famous actors and actresses, all the Spice Girls, Madonna, Brad Pitt and the rest of the tinsel town gang.

But I forced myself to look- and Christian was right. A load of gorgeous, dressed-up… nobodies.

Like me!

I felt strangely reassured. Christian was the only famous person here! And I was even beginning to think he was ordinary now.

“Have you seen Titanic?” He suddenly asked me.

I turned to him, confused. “Erm… yeah…”

“Remember when Jack went to that dinner party?” He said.

I did- and then I realised what he was trying to say. I laughed a little in relief.

“You’ll be fine,” he said, giving my hand a squeeze, and then annoyingly, he let go.

The waiter came then, and gave us each a menu.

God- I felt so strange. I hadn’t done this- been to a restaurant- since… well, since I’d been with my ex- Matt.

About 2 years ago!

“Would having the same help you?” He asked me, before I even opened the book.

I nodded, grateful. Yes; yes it would help. A great deal.

I opened it up and my eyes shot to the starters- and again that panic welled up inside me.

Lists and lists of soups.

Cold cucumber and prawn soup.

Chilled beetroot soup.

Cream of artichoke soup.

Cream of mushroom soup.

Cream of onion soup.

Lentil and tomato soup.

Red bean and pepper soup.

Sweet corn and ham soup.

Cock-a-leekie soup… I didn’t even know what that was!!

Oh God- help!

“What soup d’ya want?” Christian asked across the table.

“Erm… I don’t actually like soup,” I confided in him.

He laughed. “Seriously?!” He said. “You don’t like soup?”

I shook my head, feeling stupid. But I just didn’t like it. It was disgusting- all soup was. From tomato to that cock-a-leekie stuff- whatever that was!

The problem was, there wasn’t that much choice other than soup for a starter. Why didn’t they have a pasta dish, like in Italy all those years ago?

As if Christian was reading my mind, he said, “you want pasta, then?”

“There’s pasta?” I said.

He nodded. “You want a tomato- pasta thing?”

I laughed at the way he said it. Made me feel like he wasn’t such a natural at this after all.

“Sure,” I grinned.

“And then you can pick the main course!” He said, grinning.

Ohhhh great, I thought, looking over the list. But it wasn’t too bad. A lot of rice and salad dishes, and then more pasta based ones. As we were having pasta first, I thought we may as well have rice and a salad.

“Rice and Italian salad!” I announced, making him laugh. “I’ve come to an Italian restaurant, I may as well have Italian.”

“Do you want Zabaglione for desert, too?!” He said, laughing.

He’d got me there. “What?” I said.

He laughed again- soooo cute!

“It’s an Italian desert,” he informed me.

“What is it exactly?” I asked.

“It’s like a really sweet drink. It’s served with biscuits,” he explained.

“Ohhhh,” I said, feeling a bit naïve. He seemed so much more clued up than me. “I don’t really know Italian food that well,” I said.

“Neither do I!” He protested. “I’ve learnt off Paul, that’s all. He knows all about it.”

“Paul’s Italian?” I asked, surprised.

He shook his head. “No, no. His dad’s half Italian, though. His surname’s Italian- Marazzi.”

“Oh,” I said. I didn’t know that.

“So- what do you want for dessert?” He asked me.

“Erm… not for me thanks,” I said. “I’ll probably be much too full by then to eat anything.”

“Oh- please!” He said. “Give me an excuse to eat something sweet!” He laughed. “I’ll feel guilty if you don’t have something, too!”

I remembered that interview, and him saying he loved sweets and chocolate, and I laughed.

“Oh- alright then, I’ll try,” I said. “You pick, though.”

“Rich Chocolate Pudding!” He said immediately, eyes shining.

I couldn’t help but laugh. He looked so excited, it was soooo sweet! I wished I had the nerve to take his hand over the table like he’d taken mine, but I didn’t.

The waiter came then, and Christian gave him our orders, and once he’d done that and the waiter had written them down, we gave our menu’s back.

“You want anything to drink, Katherine?” He asked me.

“Erm… wine would be nice,” I said.

“Yeah? What kind?” He said.

I felt really stupid again. “I only like sweet white wine,” I said, going red.

“That’s ok,” he said warmly- and he ordered a bottle of Chardonnay.

“Are you sure you can afford all of this?” I asked uncertainly.

“Katherine- yes! Of course I can!” He laughed. “This is my treat, remember? So just relax and start enjoying yourself!”

“I am enjoying myself,” I said, half-truthly.

“Well, at least I didn’t trip over the waiter,” Christian grinned.

I laughed, intrigued. “Have you done that, then?”

He shook his head, laughing. “No! I haven’t- but Mark has! Haha!”

“Mark has?” I echoed.

“Yeah. Well- kind of. We were at this- I think it was a record company party. And we were all stood around drinking and talking, when Mark saw this waitress carrying this big tray of drinks,” he said, “so he thought he’d go and help her, ‘cos she was struggling. But, God- I don’t know what he did! He tripped over something or other. Anyway, he went barrelling into this tray and coated the waitress, himself and two executives in drink!”

I burst out laughing. Ohhhh… poor Mark!

Christian was laughing, too. “He was horrified, poor guy! He ran off into the toilets, totally embarrassed! I just stood there horrified as well, and Ben was trying to keep from laughing. And Paul- well, Paul was wetting himself! He thought it was absolutely hilarious! He still teases him about it!” Christian laughed.

“That’s mean,” I said, laughing.

“Yeah, and there was this one time in TGI Fridays- I was out for lunch with Ben and he tripped over the step and fell into one of the signs! That was really funny as well! Everyone was laughing at him, and he went completely red!” Christian laughed.

Awww- now I feel sorry for Ben! Still- I loved hearing the a1 guy’s embarrassing stories!

“Anything ever happened to you?” I asked him.

He thought for a minute. “Not like that,” he said eventually. “But I did forget to sing my verse to Everytime once during a concert. I sang the chorus fine, and then I went into my own little world. I just sat there- I don’t know what the hell I was thinking! And then I heard Paul say really loudly into the microphone, “Christian- sing your verse.” I was really embarrassed! I had to start half way through, and I looked a complete idiot.”

I laughed, feeling sympathy for him.

“Oh- I can’t let it finish without telling you something embarrassing Paul has done!” He said hastily. “God- let me think. He’s done so many- there’s gotta be one…”

I laughed again. Ohhh- poor Paul! Poor a1!

If only the guys knew Christian was spilling all their cringe moments tonight…

“Oh!” Christian suddenly said. “There was this one time, in LA, and we were performing on a TV show- and we were doing this song called She Doesn’t See Me. Anyway, Paul had just sung his bit, and the instrumental part came on. And we were really near the audience, and there was this girl in the front row who was reaching out for Paul to touch her hand. So, Paul walks over to do so, but he trips over the mic box and falls into the audience..!”

“Oh my God!” I gasped, not sure whether to laugh.

Christian grinned. “It was really awkward too, ‘cos we still had a song to finish! I had to sing next, so Ben and Mark had to help him back up to the stage! It was too unbelievable to be funny. Paul was soooo embarrassed- luckily he had time to recover before he sang the last line!”

“But- but was he alright? That must have been awful for him!” I said.

Christian nodded. “He was fine, just really embarrassed. Ben had a good laugh about it later though. Paul wasn’t very happy!”

“I’ll bet!” I said.

There was a break in conversation then, before Christian asked, “so- er- anything ever happened to you?”

I thought about “just suck it!” but that was much, much too embarrassing to tell Christian!

“Oh loads,” I said. “But I’m not saying any!”

“Why not?” Christian said surprised. “I’ve humiliated myself and all the guys!”

“And I’m sure they’ll be really grateful, especially Paul,” I grinned.

“I’ll find them out later,” Christian smiled cannily. “Believe me, I will.”

I laughed. He probably would, as well! I kind of hoped he would in a way. That I could get close enough to him to tell him everything about myself.

“Listen- thanks for the presents again,” I told him. “They were so nice! But really- you didn’t have to do it. It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yes it was!” Christian protested. “If you hadn’t been talking to me, you would have been concentrating and you wouldn’t have knocked it over.”

“It wasn’t really a big deal, though,” I went on. “You didn’t have to buy me a replacement!”

“Well, I was upset about it. I bought the vase this morning in Manchester-“ he started to laugh. “You should have seen the guy’s faces! They all thought I was having some sort of early mid-life crisis! Paul was like- “what the hell are you buying a vase for?!!” And Mark asked me if I was feeling alright! When I explained it was for you, Ben started to tell me that traditionally in England, you bought a girl flowers, or chocolates, or perfume- something like that- not a vase! I think he thought I was totally confused! So then I had to tell them what happened, and finally they began to accept I was buying a vase for a valid reason, and that I wasn’t turning into an OAP!”

“You told them I broke my vase?” I said, deeply embarrassed.

Oh God- now they must think I’m such a calamity Jane.

“Yeah- they didn’t care. We’re always knocking things over at the ARMI house. Paul kicked a football into the Sun Room window once and smashed it.”

Oh God, they sounded completely mad! I thought. What am I letting myself into, going out with Christian?!!

“Did you like the flowers?” He suddenly asked.

“Oh- they were beautiful!” I told him. “I haven’t had any roses in my flat for ages!”

“I wasn’t sure what colour to get. What is your favourite colour?” He asked.

“Erm… white, actually. But I do love red ones as well!” I smiled.

He smiled back and I really felt good, for the first time that night.

We were getting on sooo well. I’d really relaxed since Christian had started talking to me, and making me laugh!

I loved hearing about all the guys!

The waiter came over then with the wine, and poured two glasses out for us before leaving it.

“I think we should have a toast,” Christian announced, picking his glass up. “To the first of many dates to come!” He said, holding it out, ready to contact it with mine.

I giggled happily and we clinked our glasses. “To the first of many dates!” I said.

The wine was really, really nice. I rarely had any- and Chardonnay? Woah! I’d only ever had that at like, weddings. And id only ever been to about two of them since I was a teenager.

We had our starter then, and as soon as I saw it, it reminded me of two things:

1)      Italy- and how wonderful it had been there- especially seeing all the sights of Rome! And…

2)      I was absolutely, absolutely starving, starving hungry and I wanted to eat as soon as POSSIBLE!

“Oh my God- this reminds me so much of Italy!” I gushed, as we settled down to eat.

“You’ve been?” He asked me.

I nodded. “A long time ago. It’s probably changed a lot!”

“Where did you go?” He asked, interested.

“Oh, erm, Rome, and then Sorrento. It was on a school classics trip- so, all about the Romans and stuff, but it was still really exciting!”

He nodded, his mouth full.

“Have you been?” I asked- and then realised that that was the most stupidest question in the universe, and wished I could take it back.

He nodded, swallowing. “All over,” he said. “With a1. But not before, then. So- I haven’t really, like, been on holiday there. It was just for work.”

“Are you big in Italy?” I asked.

He shook his head, laughing. “No- no we’re not! Makes you wonder why we keep going back!”

“You’ll make it eventually!” I told him, grinning.

“So- c’mon then,” he suddenly said. “I want to know all about you…”

“What?” I said, laughing, a little unnerved.

He smiled that cute, comforting smile. “You know- where you grew up, about your family, how you ended up in London, stuff like that,” he said.

Oh dear. He wanted to know my life history? God- he might as well go watch paint dry! That’s how interesting it was.

“Oh, you don’t want to know about me,” I smiled.

“Yes I do! Of course I do!” He said earnestly.

“Ok- but it’s really dull,” I warned him.

“Try me,” he said back.

“Well- ok. I was born in Yorkshire, in a town called Halifax. But we moved after a couple of months to come and live in Boston, in Lincolnshire. And after a few house changes, we eventually ended up down Tollfield Road, and that’s where I grew up,” I explained, and he nodded. “And I went to school there, and stuff, and it’s where I made all my friends. Two of them I go to Uni with now- Abbie and Emm- I met at Secondary school,” I told him.

“What about your family? Do you have any brothers and sisters?” He asked me.

I nodded. “Two sisters and a brother.” I said.

“And what are they called?”

“Well, I have an elder sister called Felicity, she’s 22 and she works in a school,” I explained, and he nodded. “And then I have a younger brother called Patrick. He’s 20 and he’s on a course at the moment- business management,” I said. “And then there’s my youngest sister Jessica, and she’s 18 and finishing school this year. She’s doing her A-levels at the minute at college.”

“So you’re the only one who went to University, then?” He asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, everyone else wanted to stay in Boston. But I couldn’t stand Boston! It was sooo boring!” I said, making him laugh. “We didn’t even have a cinema after I was 15,” I told him, sighing.

“Are you planning to stay in London once you leave University?” He asked me, and was it just me, or did his voice have a touch of worry in it?

Nah- must be me hearing things again!

“Erm… I don’t know,” I said honestly. “It really depends where I can get work. I don’t wanna go back to Lincolnshire, and I’ve kind of got used to being around here, so hopefully I can stay. But if there’s no job vacancies…”

“Why did you decide to come to London?” He asked me.

“Oh, I dunno,” I shrugged. “This Uni had my course, and I just wanted to go somewhere exciting and different and… big, I guess. Can’t say I’ve seen the “exciting” life of London yet, though.”

He laughed. “It’s out there- I can assure you!” He said.

Yeah, I bet you know all about it, I thought. I bet you go clubbing and drinking in all the “cool” clubs every chance you get. Lucky devil.

The waiter came to take away the empty plates then from the starter- and then onto the main course! It looked absolutely gorgeous (like Christian!). The Italian salad basically consisted of, from what it looked, tomatoes, sausage, olives, onion and mozzarella cheese. Oh well- could always leave the tomatoes (yuk) and olives (double, double, double x infinity yuk!) and eat the rest. I was still starving.

“So- you gonna be a teacher, then?” He grinned, tucking in.

I nodded, eating. “Hopefully,” I said eventually.

“Oh, you will be,” he said, grinning. “How long ‘til your exams now?!!”

“Oh shut up,” I warned him. Like I wanted to be reminded of them tonight- of all nights!

“So- anyway- in between studying all night for these do-or-die exams,” he said grinning, still teasing, “what else do you get up to?”

“Erm… well I go out with my friends a lot,” I told him and then silently thought- well, I used to. “And I love going to the cinema, and bowling and stuff like that. But sometimes we just go down the pub, or “Chilled”- this ice-cream place, and just hang out.”

He nodded.

“And I also like reading a lot, and…” I blushed a little. “I write a lot.”

That seemed to interest him a lot. “Write what?” He said.

“Erm… stories. Well- novels, really, I guess,” I said laughing, thinking of my 50 chapter+ “stories”.

“Really? Have you had any published?” He asked, interested.

I laughed my head off. “Ohhh… Christian, no! you really think I want to be a teacher? Of course I don’t! All I’ve ever wanted to be is a writer. Ever since I was about 8- I grew up thinking I was going to be the next Enid Blyton or something. And then I realised how tough it is to actually be a writer and to get anything published. It’s a really risky career, so I decided I’d be a teacher to guarantee money, and then I’d write on the sidelines. And then, if it ever took off, I could ditch the teaching job and be a writer full time,” and then I stopped.

“But it’s never gonna happen,” I said, sadly. “I wish to God I was good enough to cut it as a writer, but I’m not. I’m just not. I just do it as a hobby now, really. I’m never gonna be any good at it, so I don’t know why I still bother. Optimism, I suppose.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Christian said. “I bet you’re brilliant. I was like that when I first wanted to get into the music industry. I thought my songs weren’t up to very much, but our management liked them- and they got me in a1! And you know Like A Rose?”

I nodded, remembering their ballad from last year.

“Ben wrote that when he was 16,” Christian told me. “That’s how talented that guy is. Believe me, if you’ve got talent, you’ve got talent.”

“I haven’t got any talent!” I laughed. “Not in writing, anyway.”

“What are they about?” He asked.

“Oh… um… it varies. Depends what kind of mood I’m in,” I explained. “Sometimes they’re kind of a romance, next- they’re a horror story! It really varies.”

“Have you got any finished?” He asked.

“Erm… not many,” I said, thinking about all my unfinished material. “I get bored easily!” I laughed.

“I’ll have to read them sometime,” Christian remarked, making me cringe.

“No way!” I said, adamantly. “Definitely no! I wouldn’t put you through that!”

He laughed. “I might want to,” he smiled.

 “Well- I don’t want you to! Anyway- I’m sick of talking about myself. You know all about me- I want to know all about you, now.”

“Me? What d’ya wanna know about me, for?” He asked.

“The same reason you wanted to know about me!” I laughed.

“But- don’t you like, know it all already?” He kind of grimaced.

“I told you- I know as much about a1 as I know about nuclear physics, or whatever!” I said, making us both laugh. “And you’re not getting out of it, so tell me.”

He sighed. “Ok- I was born in Oslo of course, and I lived in Norway until I was 18. My dad was a pop star, actually. He was really successful in Scandinavia and Germany, so I think that’s where I got my love of music from, and my want to be a pop star, too.”

Wow- I thought. Famous parent! Already more interesting than me and he’s not even 18 yet.

“And up to then, I was kind of learning a few instruments, like violin and I could play piano. But I’d only just started learning the guitar,” he explained. “So- when I was 18, we all moved to the US. Me, my parents, and my older sister Eva and little brother, Martin.”

“Whereabouts in America?” I asked.

“Oh- Kentucky,” he said.

“Oh wow- I’d been expecting California or Florida, or New York- something like that!” I laughed.

He shook his head, smiling. “No- I guess we were really ordinary! And that’s where I learnt to speak English properly. And I went to college there, before I left to go to England when I was 20.”

“So- you’ve lived in 3 different countries?” I said, surprised.

He nodded. “I guess. My family are all back in Norway, now. But I moved to England and got into the Paul McCartney Fame School in Liverpool,” he explained.

Now I was impressed.

“The Fame school?” I said, raising my eyebrow.

He nodded, slightly embarrassed.

“What- the stage school?”

“It’s not such a big deal,” he shrugged.

“Christian!” I nearly cried. “That’s really famous! Only like, musical boffins go there!” I said, making him laugh.

“I guess I’m a musical boffin, then!” He said, grinning.

“So- you studied there?” I said, still completely stricken.

He nodded. “For about two years. I was actually an assistant photographer for a bit. That was great fun! But I really wanted to be in a band. So, about 4 years ago now, I got an e-mail from the teachers at school, giving me this phone number to call. So I did- and the management asked me to send a demo tape of my voice, which I did, and then they rung and asked me to come down to London. And that’s where I auditioned- well, kind of- for a1.”

“And the management picked you?” I asked.

He nodded, then laughed. “Yeah, them and Paul! Paul was already in the group, he was the first to be picked, and he auditioned me with Tim, our manager, and Vicky, our other manager.”

“So- it’s all thanks to Paul that you’re even in a1?” I grinned. He had a lot to thank Paul for! (So did I, actually!!!)

He laughed. “Er… no, not really! But he was a big help! So yeah, I met Paul first and we got on brilliantly. We kind of had a lot in common, ‘cos we’d both lived in different countries and stuff. Paul’s family’s in Spain, you see.”

I nodded.

“And Paul and I were the only ones in the group for about 6 months. And then we were introduced to Mark and Ben- and well, we kind of got on together…”

I was very interested at that.

“What d’ya mean?” I asked.

He blushed, as if ashamed. “Well, Paul and I both had our reservations about Ben. Not in a bad way! He was just quite a bit younger than us- he was still at school! And he did come across really full of himself and quite confident. He was really talented though- he had; well, has, a brilliant voice and can play about 4 instruments. But we just- well- I got on with him. Him and Paul didn’t hit it off immediately, which is weird, ‘cos they’re great mates now. We eventually gelled, and now we’re all great mates! But it was quite hard at first. I even hit Ben once.”

I nearly choked on my rice. “What?” I said.

He smiled. “It wasn’t that bad! Not so much a hit- more of a slap. We had this argument- God, I don’t even remember what it was about now. And I got really angry with him, and slapped him. But that was ages ago. We’re more mature now!” He laughed.

“Don’t you argue anymore then?” I said.

He shook his head. “No- we talk things through, and if we sense one of the guys is having a bit of a bad day, then we’ll give ‘em a hug and then some space. We know each other so well now, we don’t need to fight.”

Wow- mature attitude, I thought!

“So- now you’re all fabulously famous and well known?” I grinned, making him smile.

“No way!” He said. “We may be quite big in England, but we’re not that famous. We’re more famous in Asia. The fans are crazy over there!” He said, and laughed. “And we still haven’t broken America yet. We’d love to do that- we really would. Then we’d know we’d really “made it”.”

“Cracking America’s hard,” I commented. “Robbie Williams didn’t do it.”

He grinned. “I know! It’s gonna be tough.”

We had to stop then, as our 2nd course was finished. It was all going really fast. When the waiter brought the Rich Chocolate Pudding, I was beginning to feel really full. But it did look delicious!

“Oh wow- this looks great!” Christian announced when he saw it.

“You really love chocolate, don’t you?” I laughed.

“Yeah- who doesn’t?” He said, grinning.

“I suppose,” I said. Emm was a good example here!

“My favourite chocolate’s actually Norwegian chocolate,” he told me. “Whenever I go back there, I always bring loads back!”

“When are you going to Norway again?” I asked.

“Oh- we’ve just been!” He said, eyes shining. “It was wonderful to see my family again. I got all my birthday presents, too! But I couldn’t really relax there. We were on promotional duty for No More,” he explained, and I felt really sorry for him.

When was he never working?

“Are you on holiday soon?” I asked him.

He shook his head. “We’re going to be too busy to go anywhere this summer,” he told me. “We’ve got too many gigs to do. And radio PA’s. It’s a shame. Paul and I went to Sweden last summer and had a wicked time. We wanted to go somewhere cool again this year- like maybe going back to Mexico or somewhere. That’s where we filmed our first video,” he said.

“Is that your favourite place?” I asked.

“No- that’s Paul’s!” He said, grinning. “Sweden’s mine. But we did that last year, so hopefully we can do Mexico again sometime soon!”

Then came our first real break in conversation for a while.

I just enjoyed my Rich Chocolate Pudding- it really was as gorgeous as it looked- something I was finding out about Christian!

How could he be in a1? How could he be famous? He was so down to earth and chatty, it was unbelievable.

Even when he talked about a1, and the rest of the guys, it was as if they were a completely different world. They didn’t really exist.

He just talked about them as if they were unreal, or his “normal” mates! Which… they were, I suppose. He must spend nearly everyday with them!

“You get on with Paul the best, then?” I asked suddenly.

He thought for a minute before answering. “I get on with all the guys really well. They’re all my best mates,” he said. “But I guess I do get on best with Paul. I’ve known him the longest, and he’s really funny and can always cheer me up. Yeah, I suppose Paul’s my best, best friend in the band,” he grinned.

We’d basically finished the dessert now- and I knew we’d be leaving to go to the cinema soon. That was kind of disappointing. How was I ever gonna be able to sit for an hour and a half without talking to him?

How was I gonna be able to concentrate with him sitting so close next to me?

It was gonna be impossible.

Plus, I didn’t want to break the flow we’d got into. What if we couldn’t get back into it again?

Ohhhh Kate, calm down! I told myself crossly. Stop being so stupid.

Stop thinking the worst!

“Shall we get another bottle of wine before we go?” Christian asked.

I smiled and nodded. “Alright!”

So we did.

“You ready for a horror movie?” I grinned at him, as we finished up.

He took a deep breath. “Ahuh. I want to prove the guys wrong. They all think I’m gonna chicken out tonight, and not see it.”

“Ohhh… you’ll have to prove them wrong!” I laughed.

“You won’t mind if I hold onto your hand through the scary parts, will you?” He grinned.

Mind? Mind??!! Of course I wouldn’t mind!!!

I went all hot just thinking about it.

“Sure,” I mumbled.

“Have you had a good time so far?” He asked. “I mean- is this date going ok for you?”

“The date’s fantastic,” I smiled, telling the absolute truth. “I’m having a great time, thanks Christian.”

He grinned, pleased with himself. “I’m glad to see you’ve relaxed! You looked so worried earlier on. Like you were gonna pass out or something. You went really pale.”

“Well it wasn’t that bad, was it?” Christian laughed.

“No- I don’t know what I was so cut up about,” I admitted. It really had been not such a big ordeal after all.

I finished my glass of wine.

“We better get going,” Christian said, looking at his watch. “We’ll be late!”

He quickly finished his glass of wine too, and then called the waiter over for the bill.

He still insisted on paying for everything. What a sweetheart!