Chapter 55

“Breakfast in bed for the lady,” he called out as he kicked the door with his leg, his hands full up with the large tray.

Mel awoke and rubbed her eyes groggily.

“Pardon?”

“Breakfast,” he repeated, laughing to himself at how confused she looked.

She sat up properly, rubbed her eyes and looked around her as if to say she couldn’t remember why she was here. He dumped the tray down on her lap and went round to the other side of the bed to sit beside her.

“Nice sleep?”

She picked up the cup of coffee and quickly let the caffine enter her body to shake herself awake.

“Lovely – you?”

He smiled warmly, “best I’ve had in ages thanks,” and he leant over and kissed her gently on the lips.

She looked at him in bemusment, he had never been this affectionate before.

“You’re looking at me like I’m an alien,” he commented.

She smiled meekly at him, “Mark called you an alien once,”

“He did?”

“Yeah, he said you were an alien from the Planet Norway.” She took a giant bite out of her toast and quickly picked up the napkin as the melted butter slid down her chin.

“I’ve had worse before,” he smiled.

“You get insulted a lot?”

“Quite a bit, a fan once said I was a cross between Brad Pitt and Daffy Duck.”

Mel chocked on her toast, the laugher coming so suddenly that crumbs shot down her windpipe and got lodged – taking a drink, she gasped her way out of trouble before dissolving into loud giggles.

“Someone really said that?”

“Yep, and I wasn’t sure whether to take it as a compliment or not,”

“Awwww, well I think you’re beautiful,” she commented.

“And you’re gorgeous,” he replied quickly, reaching out for another kiss.

OK, was something going on here? Were they on a different chapter that Mel hadn’t turned to yet – last night he was saying how he couldn’t commit to her yet now here he was giving her the big come on over the breakfast tray.

She concentrated on the breakfast, not meeting his gaze until she had finished every bit.

“What you up to today?” she asked.

“Studio,” he grumbled.

“Bad luck,” she replied sympathetically.

“What you going to do?”

“Hang here for a bit, watch a bit of TV,” she shrugged.

“Why don’t you come as well?” he asked suddenly.

“Wont Del mind?” she remembered how much he had always hated her.

“He’ll be fine,” Christian dismissed, “it’s not like your any old girl is it.”

She smiled and jumped up to get dressed. As she darted around the room pulling her clothes on Christian just sat on the bed and watched her – it gave her a warm feeling inside, it was almost like they were a real proper couple.

“I get to ride in the prev don’t I?” she squealed in excitement, as a car pulled up outside the drive.

Christian smiled at her in bemusement as she jogged down the steps and into the car, him climbing in beside her.

“I’ve always wanted to travel in one of these,” she commented.

“Can’t imagine why!”

The journey passed in a blur, Mel had her nose pressed tightly against the glass, amazed at how she could see out but no one else could see in. She then amused herself for a while pulling awful faces at people who had no way of retaliating. She was enjoying herself so much, she almost forgot where she was going.

That was until the car stopped, the door was opened and an angry face appeared in the back seat.

“Christian, out now!”

Del’s hand appeared soon after his face and grabbed Christian, pulling him from the seat and out of the car.

Mel followed timidly, trying very hard to shrink into the shadows and not be noticed, she really didn’t want Del seeing too much of her.

“We need to talk,” Del continued, leading Christian into the studio.

Mel trotted after at a steady pace behind, keeping her head down but ears pricked up for any more bits of conversation.

“I hope you have some good answers,” Del was muttering into Christian’s ear.

They reached a door off to the side of the corridor and Del pushed him in, shutting the door behind them.

Mel was left in the corridor by herself. Looking around she saw no other option but to carry on the way she was walking.

“Mel!” a voice suddenly echoed from in front of her, following the noise Mel found herself in a small room where the rest of a1 were gathered.

“Mark, thank god,” she said, going up to him and giving him a hug.

“Where’s Chris?” Ben asked.

“Del took him in for a chat.”

Mel noticed the band members exchange worrying looks.

“What’s going on?”

Mark looked at her for a second before replying, “Del’s mad at him.”

“Cos of the Hello magazine article,” Ben chipped in.

“He didn’t know anything about it until the Press Officer rang the day before it was on the shelves,” Mark explained, “until then he had no idea that you guys were shacked up or anything.”

Mel let out a big breath of air. This was not good. What on earth was Del saying in there? What if he was trying to talk Christina out of seeing her, he’d be sure to tell him that she was bad news, he’d never liked her. What if Christian told him to stick his job and left the band? It would be all her fault – and yet again she would have meddled into his life in such a way it was almost certainly beyond repair.

“Will it be OK?” Mel asked in a timid voice.

“It’ll be fine hunny,” Mark replied, giving her a reassuring squeeze, “Del’s always calling us in for telling offs.”

“I have at least one a week,” Paul grinned cheekily.

The words still couldn’t calm her jittery stomach though, and she didn’t feel settled until Christian reappeared. Del frog marched him back into the room and then strode over to the mixing desk to order a few more people about.

“Everything’s fine,” Christian whispered to her the second he left.

“I’ve been worried,” Mel hissed back.

“I know, but it’s all fine, I explained to him.”

Mel could only have at a guess what had happened in the room as the next moment the members of a1 were thrown behind the glass in front of the mic and she was left in the mixing room with only Del and a Sound Technician for company. Settling herself down on a sofa out of the way she crashed into the cushions and enjoyed listening to the singing.

It was a slow ballad, all about finding your perfect sole mate, the words were beautiful and it wasn’t too long before she had sunk so far into the cushions with her eyes shut that she forgot where she was. She let the blend of music and voices seep right inside her, filling her whole and lulling her into a place far from reality. For the first time in ages she felt completely relaxed. Even with her eyes shut she could distinguish Christian’s voice immediately, it was beautiful, the slight twang of his accent making it sound unique and the huskiness of his throat bringing the notes out in sexy little sounds.

She was quite surprised when the sounds came to a sudden stop and on opening her eyes she saw that she had been sat in the same position for the past two hours.

“We really that boring?” Christian asked, sitting beside her on the sofa.

“Pardon?”

“You were asleep through most of that.”

“I wasn’t,” she retorted indignantly, “I heard every single word.”

He laughed and gave her an affectionate hug, she was aware immediately of a set of eyes looking at them, and peering over his shoulder she noticed Del stood right behind her, glaring at them. He looked at her for a few moments before leaving.

“I thought it was sorted,” she commented.

“What?”

“Del”

He pulled away from her and turned round.

“What was said to you earlier?” she asked him.

“Just band stuff,” he shrugged.

“Nothing about me?”

“Nothing”

“Promise?”

He linked his arms around her neck, “I promise.”

She stood up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips and in response he pulled her in closer and kissed her again.

“My god get a room!” Ben shouted, grabbing both of them and pulling them apart, “spend some time bonding with other people.”

Grabbing Mel he pulled her across to the other side of the studio and sat her next to Paul.

“Paul Marazzi, I’d like you to meet my very good friend Mel, Mel meet Paul – he’s in a band you know.”

Paul looked her up and down, his eyes lingering slightly over her chest area before his eyes fixed on hers.

“How do you do?” he asked, shaking her hand as if they had never met.

“You two are stupid,” Mel tutted, standing up and walking back towards Christian despite their cries of protest.

“You done here?” she asked.

He nodded, and saying their goodbyes to the band they left the studio to return home.