Hiya guys! Hope ur all holding up, argh well just a few things to say about this chap (otha than I forgot how much I insulted Chris, haha, oppps!) neways, firstly when I wrote this chap (last summer I think!) I’d never seen Chris’s flat before, and since then I have seen a1 at home thing on L&K, but hey, this is how it was originally written, so it’s the same, sowee! Although I had obv been informed about the guitar phone cos it’s in there, haha! Secondly, this is the last, erm, for a while anyway, ‘tame’ chap of LTD, so just to warn you next chap is slightly ahem, and omg you’re sooo nearly on chap 19!!! Haha!! Oh god, help me. Oi- and Taz, keep your rude thoughts to yourself and the lemons, thanku!! On with the story… thanks as always to the lovely readers out there! Kate xxx

Chapter 17

Those words went straight to my brain and were translated into something else very quickly.

He wants to sleep with you.

Kate, he wants to sleep with you.

Tonight.

Oh my God, I can’t believe he asked me that! I thought, completely numb and horrified. Does he think I’m dumb, or something?

I know that cliché.

Everyone knows that cliché.

“Do you want to come back to my place for a coffee?” = “Do you want to sleep with me tonight?”

Arraghhhh- just who the hell did he think I was?!

What did he think I was like?!

This is our first date.

Before tonight, sure- we’d spoke on the phone an awful lot, and we were really beginning to know each other… but you don’t sleep with someone on the first date!

You just don’t!

Well, I don’t.

I’m not cheap and tacky like that. I don’t go throwing it around, like some people! I have values, morals, self respect. And if Christian thinks he’s going to be spending the night with me tonight, then he’s got another thing coming.

Like a good slap in the face.

Just because he was Christian a1 didn’t mean I was just going to jump into bed with him for the hell of it.

Jeez, Abbie was right.

He must do this over and over- go on dates, sleep with the girl and then forget about her the next day. And if anyone asks about it, it was a ‘fling’.

He seemed to put a lot of effort into the ‘flings’ though. He’d certainly put a lot of effort into this one. Maybe he’d seen me as a challenge.

I was feeling so angry inside, rage boiling up inside of me.

I can’t believe he has the nerve to ask me that, I thought fuming.

He thinks I’m easy.

He thinks I’m easy.

“Katherine?” He questioned, still waiting for an answer.

I looked back at him, and I didn’t see the Christian I’d seen at the beginning of the date this evening.

Charming, considerate, gorgeous Christian.

I just saw this slut of a guy, who wanted a one-night stand.

Well, he can bloody look elsewhere.

He’s not the guy I thought he was. I don’t want to be with a guy like him.

The lights turned to amber just as I cried at him, “what the hell do you take me for?!!” really angrily.

I don’t think he’d been expecting that.

His face started to jump, he was so startled at my reaction.

But then the lights turned green and he had to go.

He quickly tore away from my angry glare, and got into gear and moved forward through the traffic.

I didn’t want to look at him anymore, so I turned away and looked out of the window.

I just wanted to be home.

This whole date had turned into a nightmare.

“K-K-Katherine-“ he was trying to look at me, whilst keeping his eyes on the road for driving.

Don’t talk to me, I thought angrily in my head.

Just get me home.

“W-What’s the matter?!!” He asked, alarmed.

Ohhhh, he’s trying to be all ‘innocent and faultless’.

If he uses the ‘sorry, I’m Norwegian’ line, I am gonna slap him so hard…

“Just take me home,” I mumbled.

“But, but Katherine-“ he still sounded really flustered.

“Please!” I cried, wanting to get out of the car.

He disgusted me, he really did. Has he been planning this all night? Without a doubt. God, I was beginning to trust him as well. I was beginning to feel as though we were becoming close.

Really close.

But now he’s thrown it all back in my face with that one comment.

“What’ve I done wrong?!” He cried, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see him struggling to keep an eye on the road, because he kept trying to look at me.

Oh great, go and crash the car, I thought bitterly. Mess your new car up, like you’ve gone and messed this date with me up.

“Did I say something wrong? Why are you suddenly mad with me?” He asked, pleading insistently.

Yup, the innocent card was out. Probably deny he ever asked me to his flat for a coffee now.

“Er… Probably deny he ever asked me to his flat for a coffee now.

“Er… yeah!!” I said, thinking you dumb twat.

“Well- what?!! I’m sorry!!” He said, trying his best to sort things out.

God- was he really this naïve?

“Christian- I am not coming back ‘for a coffee’ with you! God, what do you take me for? I’m not a slut, you know. I’m not the type to just- sleep around everywhere- if you think I’m that low-“

“Oh!” I think Christian realized what I was finally talking about.

“Oh- no, no, no, no, no!” He said hastily. ‘Katherine- I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Oh sure, whatever,” I said. Here we go. Excuses time.

“But I didn’t! I really didn’t! I would never think of you like that- never!” He cried.

“Then why the hell did you say it?” I said angrily.

“Because… because I literally meant it. I want you to come and have a coffee with me at my flat.”

“I’m not falling for that!” I said firmly.

‘But- Katherine- I can see what it looks like, but honestly, I just want a coffee with you,” he said earnestly.

“I don’t believe you,” I said.

“Katherine, please!” He sounded really desperate.

We were nearing my flat now, anyway. Soon be home, soon be out of this car.

I never want to see Christian again.

I just sat there in silence.

I could hear him sigh.

“Look, I’m really sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted to have a coffee with you… or a tea, anything. I just… I didn’t want the date to be over so soon, that’s all.”

When he said that, I looked up at him surprised. Mainly because that was what I’d been thinking, too. I hadn’t wanted the date to end so soon, either.

‘I-I was thinking about maybe going to a bar, or something… but, I guess, I just wanted to be alone with you.” He blushed a little bit. “I wanted some privacy so I suggested my place.”

I suddenly felt all my anger fading away. Just hearing him speak like that… I knew he was telling the truth.

“I’m sorry- I see how it looked now. Like I was trying to get you into bed or something, and there’s no way I’d do that, never. I’ll just take you home.”

“Christian- wait!” I suddenly blurted out.

‘Yeah?” He said, he was just looking at the road now. He seemed really down. I think he thought we were over.

And God no- I didn’t want that! Now I understood, I felt bad for yelling at him.

“I-I’d love to come to your place for a coffee,” I said.

I don’t think he’d been expecting that, either!

He shot me a glance. “Huh?”

He looked so confused, I let a grin escape.

“Christian, I’m sorry. It’s just- you know that old cliché…”

‘Yeah, yeah, they go back for a coffee and then they end up sleeping together,” he said, “I did not mean that.”

“I’m sorry… a coffee would be lovely,” I said. Now I felt bad!

‘I don’t know if I want to anymore,” Christian said, setting the alarm bells off in my head.

Oh no! no, no, no! what have I done?! I was thinking.

“I don’t know what you think of me anymore,” he added.

Ohhhh, I thought, slightly relieved. I thought he’d gone off me!

I smiled and put my hand on his on the steering wheel. “Christian, I think you’re great. Please can we go for a coffee? I just read it wrongly, I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry,” he said. “God knows what you were thinking ‘bout me!”

Er, quite a few things, I thought. Not nice things!

“Take me to your flat. I want to see it,” I said, letting his hand go.

But as soon as I did, he took his off the steering wheel and put it back into mine again.

“You sure you want a coffee? ‘Cos I’ll just take you home. Really, I will-“

“Christian!” I laughed. “I want a coffee!”

“I’ll get you home by 11, I promise,” he said firmly.

I laughed again. “Christian, I know you will! Just drive!”

He smiled, for the first time since the traffic lights, and he shut up and drove.

But he didn’t let go of my hand.

I didn’t want him to.

He drove all the way to his flat steering one-handedly.

I was feeling much calmer. I now knew Christian had really only meant to have a coffee with me- nothing else. He was a decent guy. I can’t believe I’d thought he was like that, anyway.

He likes me for real, I know he does. He keeps showing me he does. I can trust him, I know I can. He would never mis-treat me- never!

It was really dark now, around 10 o’clock. So when we parked, I had no idea where we were. He let go of my hand to take his seat-belt off, and I did the same.

“Coffee, I promise. Just coffee and a chat. And home by 11!” He said plainly to me.

I laughed. I loved the way he kept stressing that. Made me feel safe, relaxed and made me like him even more!

I got out of the car, and shut the door behind me.

I looked up at the building, all clouded by darkness. I really couldn’t see it very well.

It was cold outside now, as well. I shivered.

At once, Christian was by my side.

“Let’s get indoors before it turns into Norway out here!” He laughed, and he guided me to the front door through the darkness.

When we got there, he took out the keys, and I heard them jangling as he put one into the lock, and then a clunk. Christian opened the door.

Again, more darkness. I could vaguely see a hallway, but there were too many shadows.

Christian stepped inside and reached up to his left. A few seconds later, there was a flicker, and the lights came on. The hallway, which indeed it was, lit up.

He turned around to me. “Come in!” He said. “It’s freezing.”

Nervously, I stepped into his flat with him, and he closed the door shut behind me.

Arrraghh- I was here!

My eyes began to wander. All from the ceiling, to the walls, to the little furniture there was, to the floor. Examining everything. I couldn’t really judge that much, other than everything was white, except for the dark brown furniture that was only really a table at the side, which had a phone on. All the doors were wooden, though. Really nice wood, kinda reminded me of my table at home. There were 3 doors, 2 on the right, 1 on the left; and at the far end of the hallway, there were a few steps, and then a fork it looked like, with a little passage-way on each way, which I couldn’t see to the end of. All the doors were closed.

Christian had taken his jacket off, and hung it up, whilst I’d been staring around, hugging myself to get warm.

He turned to me. ‘Jac-“ he started, asking for my jacket, but then he realized and laughed, a little embarrassed. So did I. God, if I took my jacket off, I’d only have my kerchief top on! Bare shoulders- eeek!

“Kitchen, dining room,” he said, pointing to the two left doors, “lounge,” he said, referring to the right door, “and then up there, the bathroom and my room.”

‘Wow,” I said, smiling. “So much more space than me!”

He did a cute grin. ‘I love it,” he said. “And you’ll find a place, soon.”

“Hope so,” I said, beginning to feel warmer.

“I just need to check the answer-phone and then I’ll make us coffee!” he said to me, and I nodded, whilst he pressed the play button on the phone.

I felt a bit awkward standing there, thinking, oooooh, should I be listening to his messages?!

But I didn’t say anything.

The first one was in Norwegian, anyway! I didn’t understand a word of it; a man speaking. Christian was grinning away to it like anything, so it must be good.

When the beep came on again, he grinned at me, “my best friend Henning,” he explained.

“Oh,” I said, understanding.

The next message was over in a few, sharp seconds.

‘Hellllooooooooo Chris!”

before another beep came on.

We both looked at each other for a second, confused, but then laughed.

That was sooo Ben!

The next message was quick, too.

“Hey- pllllease ignore that, Ben is being a complete wanker tonight!”

that was Paul!

The messages came thick and fast then, and they were so funny!

“Chriiiiiiis!! Where the hell are you?!! You’re missing a great party!”

that was Ben!

“Ok, again, really sorry ‘bout Ben, just ignore him!”

that was Paul!

“Chris! I’m watching EastEnders! Yeah, yeah, wicked!!”

and that was Ben, again!

“I’m so sorry, mate! He is completely pissed.”

Paul was apologising again!

Beep- and yet another message!

“Chris- what the hell are you doing?! Where are you?! You’re not shagging her in the car are ya?”

God, Ben sounded really out of it!

That message made me cringe a bit though, and Christian looked embarrassed, too. After the mis-understanding, it was now an awkward subject!

There was one last message on the phone, and that was from Paul again.

‘Ok- we’ve settled him now. Put BoyzIImen on, now stupid sod’s flat out on the couch! Sorry he’s been so fucking annoying tonight, talk to ya later.”

There was a final beep and then silence.

Christian looked at me, a little embarrassed. ‘Sorry you had to hear that,” he apologized. “They’re not usually that bad.”

I laughed. “Ben sounded really drunk!”

“Yeah, he does some really stupid things when he’s drunk,” Christian said. “He once got so drunk, he let himself into the studio when he got back and recorded a song. In the morning, when he heard it back he said he’d never heard such a pile of shit before in his life!” He laughed.

“Ooooh, did you get to hear it?” I asked.

‘Nah, he got rid of it. Probably would have been really funny, though,” he grinned.

“I’ll bet!” I said, smiling back.

“Right then! Coffee!” He said, suddenly, turning the subject away from Ben being drunk.

‘Um, milk and no sugar, thank you,” I told him.

He nodded. ‘Sure. Just let yourself into the lounge, I won’t be long.”

I nodded nervously, and he turned around and opened the first door on the left and disappeared into the kitchen, the light coming on.

I took a deep breath, and went over to the door on the right. It felt so weird being here. This was Christian’s house! It was where he lived!

I felt really thrilled in one sense to be here, really scared as well as he was so famous, but also a bit like an intruder. Like I wasn’t meant to be here.

But I pushed bad thoughts to the back of my mind, and pushed the lounge door open.

What I was confronted by- I could never have expected.

Oh my God- it was gorgeous! Really, really gorgeous.

I stood there, frozen, looking at it all.

It was quite big, and the main colours were blue and yellow. It looked so cosy! There was a really big white leather sofa, with blue cushions, and 2 matching armchairs. They were set to face a wide screen TV, which had a DVD, I could see. Next to it, there was a video case, full of DVDs and videos. To the other side, was the mantelpiece, all white and marble, with a brown, wooden mantelpiece above it, with what could only be described as trophies on it! Behind the sofa there was long, rectangular wooden table, with lots of papers on it, and song sheets, stuff like that. Beside the sofa there was a glass coffee table with- oh my God- a phone in the shape of a guitar on it! How cute! And in the corner of the room was a really modern looking Hi-Fi set with a huge swirly CD rack full of music CDs.

It looked fantastic.

But the thing that was most catching my eye, was when I looked up at the walls- oh my God- how amazing!!

On each wall, except for the one above the mantelpiece, he had two framed pictures- the mantelpiece wall had three.

And they were all of a1.

A group picture of each of them, with all these different backgrounds; it was pretty incredible. Beaches, an outside view of what looked like a garage, a white one, a green one, one in a jungle-type place, one in a dessert, even.

I just looked at them in awe. God- where were all these pictures taken?

They all looked as though they were from different times as well. Paul’s hairstyle was different in nearly every single one!

I walked properly into the gorgeous lounge and went and stood in front of the mantelpiece.

I looked up at the three pictures. They, I think, were the most recent ones.

The one on the left was the one where they looked like they were outside, and there seemed to be a garage in the background.

Same old brand new you!

My head suddenly recalled from somewhere. I studied it, and yup, it was taken from the video-shoot of Same Old Brand New You. They all looked bloody freezing- haha!

The one next to it was the jungle-type one. I had no idea where that was from. And God, Ben had the baggiest trousers on you have ever seen in your life! And boy, did they look mardy in that one!

By contrast, the one next to it they looked absolutely ecstatic, and I instantly recognized that photo, anyway.

It was from the BRITS last month.

And a1 had won Best British Newcomers- I remembered that, ‘cos Abbie had never let me forget it! She had just kept on and on about it because she was so proud of them.

And awww- did they look so happy in that picture! Ben was actually clutching the award, looking really happy. He had this shocking pink jacket on though, which really stood out. Paul’s hair was blond here and he had this verrrry strange pink top on! Clenching his fist, looking happy.

Mark and Christian were in red and blue respectively.

As my eyes wandered down to normal eye level, I looked at the mantelpiece- and was confronted straight away with the BRIT award itself.

There it was, looking back at me.

Oh my God, that’s an actual BRIT award, I was thinking. The people I’ve seen holding one of these- all those famous mega stars- wow.

My eyes moved a little, and I saw he had a few smaller pictures stood up- 4 to be precise. One of him and an older man, one of him, the same man, a woman, and a younger looking woman and a guy, same age-ish as him., another picture of him and another guy, and then one of him and Paul.

Awwww- I loved the one of him and Paul immediately. Paul had normal brown hair in that, and he was pulling a really weird expression. Christian was really, really laughing, but not looking at the camera, unlike Paul, and they both had their arms round each other.

But awww- it was so cute. Paul and Christian were obviously the best of friends.

But my eyes wandered back to the BRIT award again.

Wow.

He had a BRIT award.

That really was something.

I reached over so I could touch it, although I was scared of damaging it.

I read the inscription on the bottom of the award, which had been inscribed at the bottom of the bronze model:

a1

Best British Newcomers

2001

“Looking at my BRIT?” His voice came behind me, almost making me jump.

I turned around, and saw him grinning at me and putting… a wine bottle and 2 glasses on the glass coffee table.

“Thought we’d have wine instead,” he said. “Make it less of a cliché.”

I smiled awkwardly.

“Watcha think, then?” He asked, referring to the BRIT, and walking over to me.

“I-It’s- it’s- wow,” I finally let out, making him laugh.

“I know! I’m so proud of us. Did you watch the awards?” He asked.

I shook my head. “No, I’m not really interested,” I admitted to him. “But this is really impressive!” I looked back at the BRIT.

“Pick it up if you want- take a look,” he said.

“Oh no- oh no I couldn’t,” I said, looking back at him. “I’ll drop it or something.”

He laughed. ‘No you won’t! if I can manage it, then you can!”

“Did you get to keep it, then?” I asked, slightly changing the subject. I really, really daren’t hold it! “Or do you all get turns at keeping it?”

Christian shook his head. “We had 4 made especially,” he explained. “So we can each keep one. I keep mine in here, Paul’s is in Spain I think… Mark’s is in his room at the ARMI house, and I think Ben keeps his in the studio.”

I nodded, and in looking back at the mantelpiece and the BRIT, I found myself saying, “I love that photo of you and Paul.”

He laughed. “Yeah- me too! That was when we were in Sweden last Summer.”

“What are you laughing at?” I asked.

“Oh- probably just Paul! He cracks me up,” he said, grinning. “And then, that’s me and Henning,” he said, pointing to the photo of him and the guy, “that’s my family,” he said, pointing to the group one. “And then that’s me and my Dad,” he said, pointing to the last one.

“Who are your family?” I asked, looking at the picture.

“That’s my dad Stein, and my mum Inger, and then my big sister Eva, and my little brother, Martin.”

I nodded. “And they all live in Norway?”

He nodded. “Yeah, in my home-town called Siggerud.”

“And the guys,” I said, looking up at the walls, “you have photo’s of them everywhere!”

he laughed, and looked up too. “I know! One from every video- shoot,” he explained. “Except the one taken from the BRIT awards. That’s an exception.”

“Where are they all from?” I said, looking at them all over the room.

“That one,” he said, pointing to the wall near the CD player, “that’s Be The First To Believe- we shot that in a really, really beautiful place called Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. It’s such a romantic place- Paul loved it there, we’re gonna go back,” he said.

I nodded, interested.

“One next to it was Summertime Of Our Lives and that was taken in the Bahamas-“

“Oh, very nice!” I exclaimed, and he laughed.

“When we got to swim with dolphins,” he said shyly, and I looked at him.

“Really?! Wow,” I breathed.

He nodded, a little embarrassed for some reason.

Both pictures were the guys on the beach; Christian looked so young!

Christian pointed to the far wall next, “that’s Everytime,” he said, pointing to the dessert picture. “That was taken in Oujda in Morocco.”

“Wow,” I said, thinking- hey, this guy’s really travelled a lot.

“And the one next to it is just Ready Or Not- that was just shot in London,” he explained.

I nodded, and then moved my eyes to the next wall.

“That’s Like A Rose,” he said, pointing to the white one, “and the other one is Take On Me,” he said, about the green one.

He turned to me. “You have seen the video for Take On Me, right?” He asked.

“Is that where you fly?” I asked.

He nodded. ‘Yeah, fight the computer virus.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen that one. Really cool,” I told him.

He flashed me a proud grin. ‘Ok, and the last wall…”

We turned to that.

“… that one’s Same Old Brand New You which we shot in… Kent, I think,” he said thoughtfully. “Can’t remember where we go!” He laughed, and so did I.

“The one next to it’s No More,” he said more surely. ‘That was shot in Singapore.”

“Wow- Singapore!” I said, impressed.

“That was the last video we did. Well- we’ve just done One More Try, we shot that in Denmark. I’ll get a picture of that soon!” He said.

“Wow- you have such a great lounge!” I said to him, looking back.

He smiled. “I love this place. Got all my proud memories of a1 in here.”

“So you can look at them all the time!” I laughed.

“I bet you don’t know half the songs I just said,’ he said, going over to the white leather sofa.

I hesitantly followed him. He let me sit closest to the door, and he sat down next to me, but not too close. It was so comfy! And wow- leather.

I was in a pop star’s house!

“Actually, Abbie lent me both your albums,” I said to him, whilst he leant forward to pick up the bottle of wine, which was white thankfully.

He looked at me a little surprised, and then grinned. “Really? What do you think?”

“Ohhh… I haven’t had a chance to listen to them yet,” I said to him. “I’ve been too busy.”

“Too busy to listen to music?” he said, beginning to pour to glasses of wine out.

“Well… yeah!” I admitted, laughing a little.

“You can never be too busy to listen to music,” he said, with a knowing smile, as he poured a second glass.

I laughed. “Oh yeah, well you’re in a boy band- you listen to music and play music as your job! I have essays to do, lectures to go to, notes to revise…!”

His grin got wider. “You saying you work harder than me?!”

“Yeah!” I said, and we both laughed.

Ok, maybe that wasn’t true, but hey!

“You listen to the albums when you have time,” he said, putting the bottle down, and then picking up the two glasses. ‘I’d really like to know what you think of them.”

“Oh- I’m sure they’re great,” I said, taking a glass of wine from him as he held it out to me. “They’re your band, after all!”

“Exactly,” he said, before taking a drink. I took a sip of mine too. Mmm- really sweet! Nice.

At least I felt relaxed, which was great.

Great lounge, great wine, great company!

“Now actually,” Christian said, swallowing his wine, and putting the glass down. “We need to talk.”

I held my glass tightly in both of my hands and looked at him suspiciously.

“Oh?”

he smiled. “You know, we’ve talked about lots of things tonight, at the restaurant, but there’s one thing we haven’t talked about,” he said.

I was beginning to feel slightly confused, and a little bit nervous.

What did he mean?!

“What?” I asked, eyes blinking nervously.

“I don’t know anything about your love-life,” he grinned at me.