Hello everyone! Been meaning to upload this one for ages and ages but just never got round to it! I should be uploading something at least once a week from now on as I’m building up a nice big backlog of unread chapters of just about all my stories! You’ve got at least another 30 to go of this before I have to write any more, haha, and there’s still quite a lot of NBY and the odd BR and WIMY that I’ve been hiding away too! So I better get uploading then! Hope you enjoy this chapt, I think it’s a bit dull, but that’s probably coz I’ve read it about a million times since I wrote it a year and a half ago! Chloe xxx

Chapter Sixteen

“Where’d Paul go?” Mark asked, as Ben wandered back into Chris’s kitchen alone.

“He had to go, he’s meeting a mate.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot he had to do that. Are you alright?” Chris asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s all sorted out. Paul’s just having a bad day.”

“He shouldn’t have said that though.”

“I know but he didn’t mean it. It’s cool.”

“Good. Is there any point rehearsing without Paul here?”

“I think we should carry on seeing as we’ve got the time. Unless anyone’s got something they need to do. I’ll do Paul’s bits.” Mark said.

“No, I’m free all day.” Ben said.

“Yeah, me too.” Chris said.

“Cool, okay. Shall we do Same Old Brand New You again then? Then we can work on some of the new stuff if you want, try and finish that song coz it’s been really annoying me!”

“Yeah, sounds good. But, after we’ve had lunch.” Ben decided.

Mark laughed. “Do you ever stop thinking about your stomach?” he asked.

“Yes! But it’s lunch time!” Ben defended himself.

“What do you want to eat?” Chris asked Ben and Mark.

“What have you got?” Ben asked.

“Um…” Chris went over to the fridge freezer in the corner of the room. “Do you want the whole contents of my fridge?” he asked.

“Is it interesting?” Ben asked.

“Not really.”

“Not really then.” Ben grinned. “A sandwich’ll do.”

“Yeah, me too.” Mark agreed.

“What do you want in them?” Chris asked.

“Not that horrible cheese.” He said, laughing.

“It’s very nice cheese.”

“And you’re the only one in the whole world that thinks so.”

“Plenty of people like it.” Chris said defensively.

“In Norway.”

“Yeah, well, it’s an acquired taste.”

“That’s fine by me, as long as I don’t have to eat it… or smell it!!”

“It’s not that bad!”

“Chris, it’s vile!”

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry, I seem to have run out of food completely. Oh well, you’ll just have to go without lunch then. What a shame.” Chris said.

“Looks like we’re not gonna get fed Mark.” Ben looked at Mark. “What do you reckon? Pizza?”

“Pizza.” Mark agreed.

“Pizza for two then.” Ben said.

Chris laughed. “Alright, you win. What do you want in your sandwiches? Not that I’m going to make them for you.” He added quickly.

Ben shook his head. “So rude. Let’s see what you’ve got then.” He said, going over to the fridge. “Hmmm, I shall have… ham I think.” He decided, grabbing a plastic pack off one of the shelves. “Mark?”

“Yeah, that’ll do me as well.” Mark said.

“Cool. Chris, would you like me to make you a sandwich?” Ben asked.

“Thank you Ben, that would be very nice.” Chris said with a smile, sitting down next to Mark at the big wooden kitchen table in the middle of the room.

“Looking forward to tomorrow?” Ben asked Mark.

“What a stupid question.” Mark said. “Of course I am.”

“Me too.” Ben enthused. “I can’t wait to see Chloe.”

“Oh and you’d never guess.” Mark said.

“Do you miss Rose?” Ben asked, arranging the ham into vague sandwich form on several pieces of bread.

“You are so full of dumb questions today Ben!”

“No, but do you really miss her?” Ben persisted.

“What do you mean, really?”

“Well, really, like… oh never mind.”

“No, what?” Mark asked.

“Nah, nothing, it doesn’t matter. So, have you got anything special lined up for this weekend?” Ben said, quickly changing the subject.

Mark looked momentarily confused but answered Ben’s question. “Yeah, I’m gonna take Rose out for a nice meal somewhere.” He said, smiling.

“Cool.”

“What about you?”

“Um, I dunno. I wasn’t planning on doing anything but now that seems like a total cop out. Do you think I should have arranged something?” Ben asked worriedly, pausing from the sandwich making.

“No, I’m sure Chloe’s not expecting anything. And it doesn’t matter where you are, as long as you’re spending the tine together.”

“That’s what I thought. And plus, we’ll be out most of the day on Sunday and Saturday morning so I thought it'd be nice just to chill out.”

“Yeah. I’m sure you’ll have a great time whatever you do.”

“When are you going to tell Rose about Sam?” Chris asked as Ben brought the plate of sandwiches to the table and sat down.

“I’m thinking as soon as possible coz otherwise I’ll be thinking about it the whole weekend and it’ll ruin it.” Mark said sensibly.

“Are you worried about?” Ben asked.

“Terrified.” Mark admitted. “But it’s for the best.”

“Yeah. I really wouldn’t like to be you right now Mark. I don’t think I’d cope with it half as well as you are.”

“Well there’s no point wallowing in self pity over it is there really? I can’t do anything about it now. And look on the bright side; I’m going to be a dad! Okay, so it’s not the ideal circumstances but it’s still gonna be my kid.”

“True. Hey, are you gonna have to go to those funny pregnancy class things?” Ben asked.

“Anti-natal classes?”

“Yeah, those. Will you have to go with Sam?”

Mark shrugged. “I dunno, I guess.”

“Cool. Can we come and watch?”

“No!”

“Ow, why not?”

“Coz you can’t! Why would you want to come anyway?”

“Coz it’d be really funny.” Ben said.

“Oh thanks Ben.”

“What are you gonna call it? Can I be the God father?” Ben asked.

“Ben! I only found out about it yesterday!”

“Sorry, I’m just interested, I love kids.”

“Well why don’t you go and get your ex-girlfriend pregnant and then you can see for yourself how much fun it is.” Mark snapped.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I thought you were okay about it.”

“Oh yeah, I’m great! I’m coping just fine. Coz I’m Mark, that’s what I do. I can cope with anything and still stay cheery.”

Chris and Ben exchanged glances.

“You can talk to us about it you know Mark. You know you don’t have to go through this on your own.” Chris said.

Mark sighed. “I’m just so confused, about everything! I thought it was okay, I’d sorted it all out, but when I woke up this morning, everything seemed wrong again. I guess it didn’t hit me till then really.”

“And now…?” Chris prompted.

“Now, I wish I could just run away and never come back just so for once, I don’t have to deal with it.” Mark said.

“Oh Mark, you should have said something. Why do you do this?”

“What?”

“Keep things to yourself. We’re not useless you know. Occasionally, we do find it in ourselves to actually help people, believe it or not.”

“Can I suggest something?” Chris asked.

“What?”

“You need to get this sorted out before Rose comes down coz if you have to tell her and you’re not sure about it yourself then it’s going to be a lot harder. So I propose we cancel the rehearsal and try and come to some sort of conclusion.”

“Yeah, good idea.” Ben agreed. “Mark?”

Mark nodded.

“Okay. Firstly, and this is the most important thing I think, do you want to get back with Sam?” Ben asked. “And the question isn’t, do you think you should for the baby’s sake, or anything else, it’s do you want to?”

“I don’t know.” Mark said. “I keep changing my mind. Last night, when I left her house, I’d decided that I didn’t want to be with her, just friends, but I couldn’t get to sleep for ages when I got home so I had a lot of time to think about everything. And all I could think about was her. I know it ended badly, but what we had was good, and I just kept going over in my head all the memories we built together, all the things we did. And I wanted to have it back. Coz I still miss her, y’know? I think about her nearly every day and I can’t help it. I’m still not over her; I thought I was, but I’m not.”

“So do you want her back?” Ben asked gently.

Mark was silent for a moment. “It’s not as simple as that.” He said.

“Why?” Chris asked.

“Well, it wasn’t all good was it? We argued, a lot, and if we did get back together then who’s to say that it wouldn’t be like that, or worse, again? But then, once the baby’s born, it might bring us together so that’s a reason to give it another go. But it’s a risk, coz if I go back to Sam, I lose Rose and if it doesn’t work out with Sam, I’ve got no-one. And if me and Sam do split up again, then chances are it’s gonna be as awful as last time and that’ll affect the baby. At least if we stay friends then we can help each other.”

“Well there’s your answer then.” Ben concluded.

Mark looked uncertain.

“You don’t want that do you?” Chris asked.

Mark looked at him. “No.” he sighed. “I want Sam back. I’ve tried to be sensible and practical but I can’t help how I feel.”

“Are you totally sure that’s what you want Mark? It’s not just a case of wanting something you can’t have?” Chris asked.

“We’re not trying to dissuade you, you just have to be totally sure otherwise it could be the biggest mistake you ever make.”

“I think that’s already happened.” Mark said. “What do you think I should do?”

“We can’t decide for you.” Ben said.

“I know, but I want to know what you think.”

“Well I don’t know Rose so I can’t really comment but for the record I think that if it didn’t work with you and Sam the first time, maybe you should try something else. You said yourself that it could be worse this time round, why risk that?” Chris said.

“Ben?”

“Honestly?”

“Yes, please.”

“I think that if you went back with Sam, it’d be the wrong thing to do. I like Rose, more than I liked Sam, and I think that you do too. I agree with Chris. I’m also wondering whether getting back with Sam is an easy way out of this age issue you have with Rose. I don’t think you really want to get back with Sam. If you have even one tiny doubt about getting back together with her, that doubt is telling you that it’s not what you want.”

Mark nodded, considering what Ben said.

“I think that a good thing to do would be to not decide anything right away.” Ben continued. “Have this weekend with Rose, enjoy it, and then afterwards make your decision. Talk to Rose about it. She’s involved in this as well now coz whatever you chose, it’s gonna affect her. Probably more so if you decide to stay with her, but you’re on the same side and you need to work through it together.”

Mark smiled. “You make a lot of sense Ben.” He said.

“And why is that so surprising?” Ben asked, glad that he’d helped.

“Coz you talk a load of crap.” Chris offered.

“Thanks!” Ben said indignantly.

“You are right though.” Mark said. “And what you’ve said, it’s stuff that in my more rational moments I do realise. I just keep having these lapses into mad panic when everything falls out of place again. It’s hard to take in sometimes.”

“Well whenever you have a mad panic, you can always come to us and we’ll try to put you straight again.

“Believe it or not, it does help.”

“Things will be alright you know Mark. However much things don’t make sense now, one morning you’ll wake up and everything will have fallen back into place. Well, as much as it can in a situation like this.” Ben reassured him.

“Yeah, it’s probably what everyone keeps telling you but it really will. You’ll look back in seven months when the baby’s been born…”

“And think how much easier things were before.” Mark finished for him.

“Sorry.” Said Chris.

“No, it’s okay, it’s just that whatever anyone says, it’s not going to suddenly go away and however many times I’m told that it’ll be alright, it doesn’t get any better and I don’t stop wishing that I could just erase this whole part of my life.”

Ben and Chris looked at Mark sympathetically.

“There’s really nothing we can do is there?”

Mark shook his head.” Not really. But I appreciate you trying, I really do. I’ll get by with a little help from my friends.” He said, quoting a Beatles song. “Or alternatively, a lot of help.”

“Well we’re ready and willing.” Ben said, with a smile. “All you have to do is shout and we’ll fail miserably at helping but make you feel better by how completely useless we are.”

Later that day, Ben was back at home trying to tidy up his flat.

“Be tidy!” Ben said forcefully as a huge pile of books fell off a shelf in his front room and landed in a spread out heap on the floor. “Argh! I give UP!” he shouted crossly, collapsing on the sofa. “This is no good.” He said to himself, reaching over to the table by the sofa and picking up his phone.

He dialled a few numbers and waited for it to be answered at the other end.

“Hello?” came a female voice.

“Hi Pam, it’s Ben. How are you?” Ben asked politely.

“Oh hello Ben, I’m not too bad thanks, would you like to speak to Mark?”

“Yes please, is he there?”

“He is, I’ll just get him for you.”

There was a silence as Ben waited for Mark to come to the phone.

“Hello?”

“Help me Mark!!”

“What’s up?”

“Are you busy?” Ben asked.

Mark thought of the song he was in the middle of writing and sighed.

“Not reeeeally.” He said.

“Can you come over?” Ben asked.

“Why?”

“Will you come and help me tidy up my flat?”

Mark laughed. “What?”

“Help me tidy up…” Ben said feebly.

“How old are you Ben?”

“19.”

“Don’t you think you should be able to tidy up on your own by now?” Mark asked patronisingly.

“No…”

“Oh Ben, you’re hopeless! Yes I’ll come round and help you but make a start, yeah?”

“I have done!”

“And what does it look like?”

“Worse than when I started.” Ben said dejectedly.

Mark sighed again. “Okay, change of plan. Sit and do not move until I get there.”

“Yes mum.” Ben mocked.

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Yes please.”

“Well I’ll see you soon then.”

“See ya.”

“Right.” Said Ben when he’d put the phone down. “I’ll show him.”

Looking at the mess surrounding him in every direction, Ben tried to decide where to start. Seeing as he’d made such a mess of the room he was in at the moment, he decided to start with somewhere small and work up from there. The bathroom seemed the obvious option but Ben realised that if he started there he’d have to clean the bath and shower and stuff like that, and he really didn’t want to do that.

He thought to the spare room that had been used as a storeroom ever since he’d moved in ages ago. He’d never got round to doing anything with it and so whenever there was something that didn’t have a proper place to go it got chucked in there. Going over to it and opening the door, Ben wished that he’d at least chucked the junk in there in a tidy fashion. Giving up on that idea, Ben made his way to his bedroom, closing the spare room door behind him.

Standing in the doorway of his room, Ben surveyed the situation. The bed was unmade and the bed clothes hadn't been changed for ages, there were clothes and CDs all over the floor, all manner of bottles, tubs and tubes were scattered over the top of Ben’s chest of drawers, half of them with their tops off, damp towels sat in a heap by the radiator, the bedside table was littered with empty food packets and the bin in the corner was over-flowing onto the carpet. Looking more closely, Ben saw that literally everything was covered with a layer of dust.

“Oh my God, I don’t live here do I?” Ben asked in disbelief.

He realised for the first time that his whole flat was in a disgusting state and he couldn’t understand how it’d got this bad without him noticing or doing anything about it.

“I need a cleaner.” Ben muttered, wondering how the hell he was gonna get things cleaned up before Chloe got there, especially when he had to work all tomorrow morning.

Attempting to make a start, Ben went over to the bin in the corner, picked it up and went into the kitchen to empty it. It was only when he got to the kitchen bin that he realised that that was full as well. Looking in some cupboards, he found a carrier bag and emptied the contents of the bedroom bin into it. Then he took the lid off the kitchen bin, tied a knot in the top of the black bin bag and carried both rubbish bags outside and put them in the big green wheelie bin on the street outside his flat.

Feeling like he’d finally achieved something, Ben went back into the kitchen, washed his hands, picked up the bedroom bin and went into his bedroom again. Feeling that he was quite good at rubbish disposal, Ben went round the room picking up all the bits of screwed up paper, crisp packets, junk mail, empty containers and any other rubbish he could find and putting it in the bin. He managed to fill several more carrier bags, and as he took them outside to put them with the rest Mark drove up in his car.

“Thought I told you not to move?” Mark said with a grin as he locked the car.

“I’ve been doing the bedroom.” Ben informed him.

“Successfully?” Mark asked.

“Yes! Well sort of, I haven’t got very far.” Ben admitted.

Ben dumped the rubbish in the wheelie bin and went inside with Mark.

“God Ben, how can you live here? It’s like a squat!” Mark exclaimed as Ben showed him what he’d done in the bedroom.

“It was worse before.” Ben told him.

“I dread to think! What do you want me to do then?”

“It’s up to you really, anything! I’m never gonna get this done before Chloe gets here.”

“Yeah you will, we might just have to call for reinforcements in the form of the army, that’s all.” Mark joked. “What’s the worst room?”

“This one I think and I’ve got it covered so the next worst one… probably the kitchen. I don’t think I’ve washed up for weeks.”

Mark looked puzzled. “Haven’t you got a dishwasher?” he asked.

“Yeah, but it’s full.”

Mark smiled. “Okay, I’ll make a start in there then.”

“Thanks Mark. If you need cleaning stuff don’t ask me where it is, I haven’t got a clue! You’ll have to find it yourself.” Ben said.

Mark shook his head in disbelief and went out of the room.

Deciding he was going to do clothes next, Ben picked up a pair of trousers and threw them into a corner he had mentally marked as ‘Dirty clothes’. After another ten minutes of work, the pile consisted of one pair of baggy trousers, five t-shirts, two long sleeved tops, a jumper, nineteen socks, fifteen pairs of boxer shorts and two pairs of jeans. Quite frankly, Ben was surprised he hadn’t run out of clothes the amount that was on his floor!

Ben went over to his double bed, took the pillowcases off the four pillows and threw them onto the pile as well. Then he took off the duvet cover and the sheet, throwing them both onto the ‘Dirty clothes’ pile. Then Ben went over to the pile, picked everything up and took them through to the kitchen where Mark was washing up plates, glasses and assorted cutlery.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“It needs to go in the wash.” Ben told him.

“Do you know how to work the washing machine?” Mark asked.

“Actually I do, but I thought that it’d be easier just to take it down to the launderette and have them do it. Then I don’t have to worry about drying and ironing it and stuff.”

“Good idea.” Mark said. “Tell you what, put it in bags and then take them out to my car and I’ll drop them down there when I’ve finished this.”

“Okay, thanks Mark. How are you doing in here anyway?”

“Not too bad. I unloaded the clean stuff from the dishwasher and put it away, then I filled it up again with dirty stuff and that’s doing now. At the moment, I’m washing the rest of the plates and stuff by hand.”

“Oh that’s great Mark, thank you so much! Sure you sure you don’t mind helping me?”

“Nah, I’ve got nothing much else to do.” Mark lied.

“Cool. I’ll go and tackle the next stage of the bedroom then.” Ben said.

“Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

As Ben disappeared down the corridor, Mark finished the last of the washing up. Before he dried the millions of things he’d just washed up, he decided to let them drain for a bit to save himself some work. Moving onto the next task, Mark started to pick up various food items from Ben’s kitchen surfaces and put them away in their proper places. As he opened the fridge to put away a tub of butter that Ben had left the top off, Mark was shocked to see that there was pretty much nothing in Ben’s fridge.

“Ben!” Mark shouted.

“What?” he heard Ben shout back from the bedroom.

“Come here!”

“What? Ben asked again, coming into the kitchen.

“Do you know that you have no food?” Mark asked.

Ben walked over to the open fridge and looked inside. “I do now.” He said.

“Do you think you might want to get some before Chloe gets here?”

“Yes, that would probably be a very good idea.” Ben agreed.

Mark laughed. “You are so hopeless Ben! You need Chloe up here just to look after you!” He sighed. “We’ll go shopping when we’ve finished tidying up okay?”

Ben just nodded and walked slowly back towards the bedroom to carry on tidying.