About half an hour after they left the GMTV television studios, a1
arrived at the dance studio on the outskirts of London. They were booked in for
8 o’ clock and so had decided to get changed and then go straight over there. They
signed in and went into the studio room.
“So what are we doing today then?” Ben asked, as he turned the lights
on.
“Have we decided on the set we’re doing on Sunday?” Mark asked.
“Yeah. We’re doing Take On Me, then Same Old Brand New You, but the acoustic
version, and then we want one more that we can sing live, but dance to at the
same time.” Chris informed him.
“How about Ready Or Not?” Paul suggested.
“God, we haven’t done that one for ages!”
“Yeah, lets do that! We can do it live can’t we?” Ben asked.
“Yeah, I think so. We did it on tour.”
“Well let’s go through that today then. To start with anyway. Are we all
agreed that that’s the one we should do?” Mark asked.
“Yeah.”
“Yep.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Right, good, um, before we start, there’s actually something I wanted
to talk to you two about.” Mark said, looking at Paul and Chris.
“Sounds serious.” Chris said with anticipation.
“Yeah, is it something bad? Why can’t Ben know?” Paul asked.
“Oh, Ben already knows, and it’s not bad, well I don’t think so, it depends
how you look at it.” Mark said.
“Okay…”
“Come over here, let’s sit down.” Ben suggested.
Mark shot him a grateful look and followed him over to some chairs at
the corner of the room.
“Okay, well, you know Ben was telling you about Chloe and Rose?” Mark
said, clearly uncertain how to breach the subject.
Paul and Chris nodded.
“Well…” Mark trailed off.
“What? Come on man, it can’t be that bad. You can tell us, we’re your
mates.” Paul said encouragingly.
“I know, I just don’t know how you’re gonna react to what I tell you.”
Mark said.
“Mark, they’ll
understand. I did.” Ben told him. “Seriously, it’s not that big a deal. It’s
all in your head.”
Mark smiled at him. “Okay, but don’t be really shocked okay?”
“We won’t, just tell us.” Chris said.
Mark looked around and suddenly he didn’t know what he’d been so worried
about. Ben was right. They would understand. They were his friends and
he’d stuck by them through a lot worse. He shouldn’t be worried about telling
them about Rose, he shouldn’t worry about telling them about anything!
“Alright. You know Rose is Chloe’s best friend?” he said.
“Yeah…”
Mark took a deep breath. “Well, I’m… we’re together.”
“But isn’t she…?” Paul said, deciding against finishing his sentence.
“16. Yeah.” Mark confirmed.
There was a silence.
Finally, Chris spoke. “Mark, I don’t know what you were so worried
about. What did you think we were going to do? Kick you out of the band?”
“Yeah, we need you to play the piano man!” Paul said, smiling.
“Seriously though. Who cares? So she’s a bit younger than you. If you’re okay
with it then why shouldn’t we be?”
“Told you.” Ben said.
“Thanks guys.” Mark said.
“For what? Being human? Sure, any time!” Paul laughed. “You’re an odd
one Mark. I can’t believe you thought we were going to have a problem with it.
How long have you been stressing about telling us?”
“Since this morning.” Mark confessed.
“Jeez Mark.” Chris said. “You’re a big fan of worrying unnecessarily
aren’t you?”
“What do you think Tim’s gonna say?” Mark asked nervously.
“Want my advice?” Paul asked. “Don’t tell him. If anyone’s going to
over-react over this, it’s him. He doesn’t need to know.”
“That’s what I said.” Ben told him.
“But what about Del?”
“What about Del?”
“Well Rose is coming to our gigs next weekend, he’ll see her then, and
no doubt it’ll get back to Tim.”
“Well Chloe’s coming too right?” Paul asked.
“Yeah…”
“So just tell him she’s her friend and don’t mention that you’re
together.” Paul suggested.
“Don’t you think he’ll get slightly suspicious when we’re kissing? He
might just guess that something’s going on.”
“Can’t you just save it till you get home?”
“Oh god, that’s another thing. I have to tell my parents. Oh I hate
this! It shouldn’t have to be this way, I should be able to tell who I want
without caring and without there being a problem!” Mark said exasperatedly.
“But in most cases there’s not going to be a problem.” Ben pointed out.
“Honestly. People aren’t as closed-minded as you think. And it’s not like you’d
be breaking the law if you... well, y’know.” He grinned. “She is 16. Unlike
Chloe. And I don’t care what people say about that.”
Mark sighed. “It’s just so difficult. I don’t know how to tell people. I
can hardly go, ‘hi, by the way, I’m going out with someone who’s almost 7 years
younger than me’ can I?”
“Why not? Why is it anyone else’s place to have a problem with it? Ben’s
right. It’s not illegal, so don’t worry about it. And if anyone tries to tell
you that you shouldn’t be going out with her, tell them to get lost. Or tell
them to come and see me and I’ll tell them, in maybe slightly less polite words
than you would have used.” Paul grinned. “I’ll stick up for you man.”
Mark laughed. “Thanks Paul, I’ll bear that in mind!”
“Are we doing this rehearsal then?” Paul asked.
“Yeah! Let’s do it!”
Chris went over to the stereo in the dance studio and put the a1 CD in.
He skipped to track four as Mark handed out the microphones.
“Let’s see how much of it we can remember then shall we?” Chris said,
pressing play.
The opening strains of Ready Or Not blasted out through the soundproof
studio and Ben, Mark, Chris and Paul automatically formed a line, facing the
wall of mirrors.
“I hate these mirrors.” Paul said as they moved.
“I knew you were going to say that.” Ben commented.
“Well they freak me out man!”
“Only coz they make you realise how damn good looking the rest of us
are!” Mark laughed.
“Oh yeah, that’s it.” Paul said sarcastically.
The vocals kicked in and Ben started to sing along.
“There’s magic within you. There’s magic in everything you do. Magic me
to the place where dreams come true.”
“Sometimes I go crazy. I get off on the cr… BEN!!” Christian shouted as
Ben bashed into him. “You went the wrong way!”
Mark walked over to the CD player and pressed pause.
“Sorry, I wasn’t concentrating.” Ben confessed.
“Oh and I wonder what you were thinking about.” Paul said, grinning.
“Not a certain lady by any chance?”
Ben smiled. “Oh shut up. Let’s do it again.”
They re-started the track and launched into a flawless rendition of
Ready Or Not. Everyone sang and moved in the right places and it looked
fantastic.
“You have to admit, we are good.” Chris said breathlessly as the song
changed to ‘Everytime’ and they all collapsed in a heap on the floor.
“Yep, we rock.” Ben agreed.
“That was pretty good guys.” Said Mark.
“Pretty good? We were great!”
“But we could always be better.”
“God, you’re like a manager!” Paul exclaimed.
“Shall we do it again then?” Chris asked.
“I think we should run through Take On Me first. Just so if we end up
spending loads of time on Ready Or Not, we’ve at least practised it once.” Ben
suggested.
“Yeah, alright. Have you got the CD Chris?” Mark asked.
“Yeah, it’s in my bag, I’ll get it.” Chris stood up and went over to his
bag that was on the floor by the chairs.
He got out a1’s second album and put it in the CD player.
“Mark, what do you know about us not being allowed to perform our new
stuff until August?” he asked as it was loading.
“What? Who said that?” Ben looked up, surprised.
“Tim. I spoke to him this morning. It sounded like everyone knew, the
way he was talking about it.”
“Why didn’t I know about this?” Ben asked indignantly. “I wrote half the
stuff!”
“Mark? Did you know?” Chris asked again.
“Yeah, Tim told me last week. I assumed you all knew.”
“I didn’t.” Paul chipped in. “But then, I’m always the last to know
everything so I’m hardly surprised.”
“What did he say when he told you?” Chris asked Mark.
“Nothing really. Just that he thought it was best that we held back our
new stuff until nearer the time of our single release.”
“Why?” Ben looked really annoyed now.
Mark shrugged. “Dunno. He just said that we should stick with The A-List
for as long as possible. He reckons we can still sell more copies if we keep to
performing the old tracks and One More Try.”
“But that’s not fair! He didn’t spend 3 months in a recording studio
working his hands off! I thought we had a deadline.” Ben complained.
“That’s pretty out of order. I thought the deal was that we got a say in
when we perform what.” Paul said.
“Aren’t you pissed off Mark?” Chris asked.
“Not really. Tim wouldn’t suggest it if there wasn’t a good reason
behind it. I’m sure it’ll all work out. Now are we doing this song or not?”
After over 2 hours of rehearsing, the boys decided that it was time to
take a break and so sat down against one of the walls with drinks and snacks.
“So,” Paul said, munching a packet of crisps. “tell us about Rose then.
What’s she like?”
“Yeah, we want to know everything!” Chris continued. “We tried asking
Ben the same questions but he just went all misty eyed and pathetic so we
didn’t get much out of him.”
Mark smiled. “Well Rose is very… unique. She’s very cute, she has the
loveliest face I’ve ever seen, really honest and open. She’s great fun to be around,
really happy and bubbly and she’s so sweet. Just a really really nice person.”
“Okay, well you’ve just described yourself.” Paul observed with
amusement. “Apart from the cute bit. I don’t think you’re cute.” He added
hastily. “Don’t be getting the wrong idea!”
Mark laughed. “Well she is like me I guess. Probably why I like her so
much.”
“What does she look like? When I asked Ben earlier, before I knew you
were going out with her, he described her as “quite cute I guess”, but he
didn’t actually say what she looked like.”
Mark looked at Ben. “Do you think Rose is cute?” he asked.
“Yeah…
well I mean… she is.” Ben hesitated. “Oh come on, don’t tell me you don’t think
Chloe’s gorgeous?”
“She’s pretty yeah, but personally I prefer Rose.”
“Well you would say that. Just like I prefer Chloe.” Ben said, secretly
relieved.
“Well now we’ve got the fact that we’re not going to steal each other’s
girlfriends sorted out, WHAT DOES SHE LOOK LIKE?!” Paul asked again, not
entirely calmly.
“Okay, well she’s got short brown hair with red highlights, really
amazing hazel-ish eyes. I dunno, they’re not really a particular colour, but
they’re lovely. She has the most beautiful smile. I can’t describe it. Words
don’t do it justice. It just lights up her whole face”
“Oh god, he’s gone all poetic on us.” Chris said with a smile.
“So, let me get this straight, coz I’m not too sure, you like her
right?” Paul asked, teasingly.
Mark just smiled.
“No, see, this is
all good, what we got from Ben was, she’s great, you’ll be meeting her soon, go
away.”
“I did not say that!” Ben protested.
“More or less.”
“You were asking really vague questions. And it was half 6 in the
morning!” Ben defended himself.
“Well to be fair, you can’t really expect to get comprehensive answers
out of him. He is in love.” Mark said.
“Now this I didn’t know.” Chris said with interest.
“Really? Do you love her?” Paul asked.
Ben nodded.
“And she loves you?” Chris asked.
“Yep.” Ben couldn’t help but beam at the thought.
“Wow, Ben in love. Now that is something I’d just about given up on
seeing.” Paul said.
“No thanks to you.” Mark pointed out.
“Hey! Don’t blame me, it wasn’t all my fault! I didn’t force him to do
any of those things!”
“No, but you introduced him to the concept.”
“Yeah Paul, you lead him astray. Shame on you!” Chris chided.
Paul turned to Ben. “Ben, I am terribly sorry I subjected you to the
torture of sleeping with all those fit girls.” He said solemnly.
“That’s quite alright Paul, all is forgiven.” Ben replied, equally as
solemn.
“And by magic, everything’s okay
again. Oh no wait, there’s the small matter of your girlfriend finding out.”
Mark said, slightly harshly.
Ben was silent.
“I did warn you Ben. But you took no notice. I told you you’d regret it,
but you didn’t think about the consequences did you? Just as long as you were
having a good time.”
Chris shot Mark a disapproving look.
“What?” asked Paul. “Have I missed something?”
Ben looked down at his hands. “I don’t want Chloe to know about all
that… stuff I did.” He said.
“You’re worried about her finding out?” Chris asked.
Ben nodded.
“Oh! Tell her.” Paul said simply.
“NO! I can’t.” Ben protested.
“Why not?”
“Coz she’ll dump me. She’s only young; she won’t want to go out with someone
who acts like some kind of crazed sex maniac. She’ll get scared. God, I’m such
an idiot. I wish I could change it, turn the clock back. I’m not proud of
myself you know.”
“Ben, don’t worry about it man. It’s not like you’re still doing it.”
Paul paused. “You’re not, are you?”
“No! Of course I’m not! I’d never ever cheat on Chloe. I don’t need to.”
Ben said miserably, like it was a bad thing.
“Well there you go then! In the past.”
“Oh yeah, like that makes a difference.”
“It does you know. If she really loves you, she’s not gonna care. Or at
least, not hugely.” Chris said.
“Oh yeah, really comforting, thanks Chris.”
“It’ll only be harder, the longer you leave it. She probably knows
already anyway.” Paul reasoned.
“What?!”
“I bet she does. Our fans are pretty thorough, they know an awful lot.
God knows how, I certainly don’t tell them! I bet you a tenner she knows more
or less everything.”
Ben looked horrified at the thought of Chloe knowing everything.
“I dunno why you’re so bothered. You’re a right bunch of worriers aren’t
you?” Paul said.
“Tell her Ben. Let sleeping dogs lie, as they say.” Chris advised.
Ben looked at Chris, a confused expression on his face. “But you just
said to tell her.”
“Yeah.”
“Let sleeping dogs lie means don’t tell her.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.” Chris frowned. “Maybe that wasn’t what I meant to say then. Stupid
English sayings.”
Ben smiled. “So do you think I should tell her or not?”
“Yes, tell her. You don’t have to tell her everything, it’d be better if
you did, but you don’t have to. Just enough so that if she hears something from
someone else, it’s not gonna cause huge arguments.”
Ben
sighed. “I suppose. But if I don’t turn up on Saturday it’s coz she’s dumped me
and I’ve thrown myself off a cliff.”