Chapter Three.
“Where’s he gone?” Ben asked angrily, rushing out of
the room.
“I don’t know, he
just LEFT okay! What the hell
did you say to him?” Mark replied, angry himself, something Ben rarely saw with
him.
“I can’t remember! I said a lot of things...” Ben
lied.
“Yeah but what was the last thing you said? He
wouldnt’ve just walked out like that unless it was pretty bad!” Christian asked,
coming from ‘round the corner with a packet of crisps.
“How can you eat when Paul’s just up and left us?”
Mark asked. Christian shrugged.
“I’m hungry!” he then replied. Mark rolled his eyes.
“I think the last thing I said was something about his
ex...” Ben remembered, changing the subject.
“What? Kaz?” Christian asked.
“Yeah. The girl he broke up with before joining” Ben
replied. Christian sighed.
“You had to go there didn’t you? You know how fucking
upset he was leaving her! Why bring that up after the
“Boys! Calm down! What’s going on? Where’s Paul?” Tim asked,
walking out of his room, holding his forehead in his hands.
“Ben had to go and mention Kaz and now he’s gone and
left” Mark replied.
“Left? For good?” Tim asked,
worried.
“No. He said he needed to think, and then when I asked
how he was going to get to
“Ohh he’s probably...” Tim began, then bit his tongue
(not in the literal sense) “walking around or something” He finished.
“Great! He could get mobbed!” Ben said. Everyone
looked at him.
“What! He could!!” Ben said again.
“At three in the
morning?” Christian asked after
looking at his watch.
“It could happen...” Ben replied. There was a pause in
the conversation.
“Right. Well. Let’s all try and get at least a LITTLE bit of
sleep before tomorrow. We can worry about Paul in the morning, okay?” Tim
suggested.
“How can you be so calm about this? We’ve practically
lost a member!” Mark asked, arms waving everywhere as he spoke.
“You know full well Paul wouldn’t walk out on you guys
like that. Now off to bed, all of you! I don’t wanna hear another word about
it!” Tim replied.
“Fine” Mark huffed. Christian and Ben followed him
back to their rooms; Mark slammed his door, as Christian and Ben carefully
closed theirs.
*
“Can I come in?” Paul asked as the woman looked him up
and down in a little confusion.
“Err...Sure...Erm...What’re you doing here?” She
asked.
“I’ll explain in a sec. I’m just really glad to see
you” Paul replied as he walked in to the living room with her, after she’d
closed the front door. She tied the belt around her dressing gown a little
tighter and sat on the sofa beside Paul. He took her hand and looked into her
eyes.
“I’ve missed you so much. I feel terrible just
dropping in like this, especially at this time of the morning, but I couldn’t
handle it with those guys any longer, not tonight anyway and four years without
seeing you is the worst thing in the world that could ever happen to me...Kaz?
Why are you still going out with me? After I’ve put you through so much shit? I
mean, with Ellie to look after, I haven’t exactly been the greatest boyfriend
in the world have I let alone a good...”
“Shh. It’s alright. I knew when you first joined the
group that you’d be away for a long time, and yeah, obviously it was hard at
first, but I’ve got my mates, and I’ve got your number. Talking to you isn’t
exactly as good as seeing you every day, but at least it gives me some contact
right? Listen, if Ellie’s here, then I know it’ll work. Even without her it
would have worked. I know it’s not your fault that you have to be away for
ages, and I know you’ll always come back, okay? So what’s all this about not
being able to handle the guys? Have you quit already?” Kaz interrupted. She was
22, with black hair streaked with bright red, and dark dark brown eyes. Paul
looked away from her.
“I haven’t left yet. I’m thinking about it...I don’t
think I can take being away from you two any longer! Especially since Ellie’s
getting so big! She’s almost five now isn’t she? I bet she doesn’t even know
what her daddy looks like any more...” he replied.
“She knows. She doesn’t understand why you’re not
here, but she knows. And she loves you. I keep telling her that you’re out
making money so we can have all the toys in the world for her,
and that when she’s older she can have a great big castle and be the princess
inside, and one day she’ll marry her prince, like one day I’ll marry mine. I’ve
just got to wait for him to come home. And even though you’re home now, I can’t
let you stay. Not if you’re going to be giving up all your dreams just to be
with us. We’ll live, what you’ve wanted to do is so much more important right
now, isn’t it?” Kaz asked.
“I’m not so sure any more. It’s too hard. The hours,
the travelling, the constant secret phone calls...” Paul replied.
“Then tell them!” Kaz said quietly.
“I can’t. They’ll hate me for lying, and who knows who
else’ll find out if I tell them! The press might get involved and I can’t have
that! Not for you two!” Paul replied, his eyes were
filling up with tears as he spoke, just thinking about how dangerous it could
be for Kaz and Ellie if the rest of the lads found out was scaring him.
“Do you really think
they’d go and tell the press?” Kaz asked, taking one of her hands out of
Paul’s’ grasp and running it along the side of his face gently.
“No. But it could slip out. It could slip, and then
it’ll all be over. Then fans’ll think I’ve been lying about everything, the
guys won’t trust me any more and I’ll have nothing left to survive on. Apart
from you and Ellie, but that won’t be enough if we’ve got no money coming in,
and I don’t wanna ruin your lives as well as mine!” Paul replied, he was
practically crying now, he looked down at his hands and Kaz’s which was between
his. Her free hand lifted his chin up towards her, before she moved in close
and kissed him on the lips. The kiss continued and got longer, Kaz’s arms ended
up around Paul’s neck and his were around her waist as they slowly moved down
so that Kaz was lying on the sofa, with Paul gently on top of her. They kissed
a little more then slowly pulled away.
“I’d forgotten how good it was to kiss you...” Paul
whispered.
“So had I. Which is why I needed to be reminded” Kaz
whispered back, kissing him again. It lasted a little longer than the one
before, when finally they pulled away due to little footsteps on the stairs.
Paul quickly moved from on top of Kaz, and sat back down where he’d been
before. Kaz walked to the door of the living room to greet Ellie, who was on
her way.
“Hiya babes, what’s wrong?” Kaz asked quietly.
“I needed a wee wee, and I went to your room to see if
you was there and you wasn’t so I came down here and I hearded you talking. Who’s in there with you mummy?” Ellie asked, rubbing her
eyes. She had long dark brown hair and beautiful blue eyes.
“Remember my prince that I said would come home one
day?” Kaz asked. Ellie nodded.
“He came home” Kaz said, taking Ellie’s small hand and
leading her into the living room to a very nervous Paul.
“Daddy?” Ellie asked with a huge smile on her face, she
pointed at Paul aswell as she asked. Kaz smiled, as did Paul.
“Yeah, wanna give him a big hug and tell him how much
you love him?” Kaz asked. Ellie continued smiling, but her grip on Kazs’ hand
had gotten tighter, she moved her little body from side to side along with her
head.
“It’s okay. She’s probably just a bit shy” Kaz said to
Paul.
“It’s not a problem. It’s
understandable” Paul replied, still smiling. Kaz smiled at him for a
second then kneeled down on the floor to be almost level to her daughter.
“Shall we go and take you back to bed lil missy?
You’ve got nursery tomorrow!” Kaz asked. Ellie nodded.
“Won’t be a sec” Kaz said to Paul as she stood up
again, picking Ellie up with her. She carried her out of the living room and up
the stairs into her blue bedroom.
“Is it really your prince mummy?” Ellie asked as Kaz
tucked her into bed.
“Oh yeah. Nobody else could ever be my prince, babes. You’ll
get used to him being around soon, honey. Alright?”
Kaz asked.
“Yep. But he looks different to the piccie on my wall”
Ellie replied.
“That’s because that was taken four years ago, and
that’s a long time! But I promise, it’s the same person” Kaz laughed slightly.
Ellie smiled.
“Do you love him lots and lots? Like my prince is
gonna love me?” Ellie asked. Kaz nodded with a smile.
“I love him lots and lots and LOTS!” She said happily.
Ellie giggled.
“Night night
then. You should get some sleep if you want to get me up in
the morning!” Ellie then said cheekily.
“Cheeky monster! You shouldn’t be up in the first place!” Kaz joked
back. Ellie laughed.
“I know. Night night” she then said.
“Night, babes. Sleep tight” Kaz replied. She walked away from Ellie
as she snuggled into her pillows, went out of the room and then closed the door
quietly behind her. She went back downstairs and into the living room back to
Paul.
“Hey” She said lightly to catch his attention. He
looked ‘round to the door.
“Hey. She’s beautiful” Paul commented straight away.
“I know. She’s gorgeous, just like her dad” Kaz
replied smiling. Paul walked towards her as she remained stood in the doorway
and held her hands.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about everything Kaz. And I
really want to stay here with you and Ellie. Seriously, I didn’t realise how
much of her life I’d missed until I saw her just now! She’s so grown up a lot since I last saw her
and I wasn’t part of that at all.” Paul said.
“But a1’s your life. What’ll you do?” Kaz asked,
looking up slightly into his eyes.
“I’ll get another job, I don’t know. Anything! As long
as I get to stay here with you” Paul replied.
“It’s really up to you, Paul. But please? Just please,
think about it a bit more before telling Tim and the boys, okay?” Kaz begged.
Paul nodded then kissed her on the lips. His hands had automatically gone
around her waist again and hers around his neck.
“You really should get some sleep. No doubt Tim’ll be
here later asking for you...” Kaz said gently.
“You’re probably right” Paul replied with a smile.
“Come up” Kaz said, taking his hand and leading him
upstairs quietly. He entered what once was his bedroom, and saw that it had
hardly changed at all.
“I know it’s kinda weird for us to be sleeping in the
same bed again, but if you don’t want to...” Kaz began.
“Of course I want to” Paul interrupted. Kaz smiled as
she pulled the covers from the other side of the double bed, so that Paul could
get in.
“I’ve still got some of your pyjamas in the wardrobe
if you wanna change?” Kaz asked.
“Cool” Paul replied, walking over to it. He found some
blue ones and changed, not actually realising Kaz was still in the room till
afterwards, but not minding when he did. She smiled as he slid up the covers
with her.
“Night” She whispered, turning to face him.
“Night” He replied, just as quietly. He moved his hand
and placed it at the back of Kaz’s head, then pulled her forwards slightly,
kissed her on the lips then let her head move back. They both drifted off to
sleep, happy with the fact that the other was finally, once again, laying at
their side.