Chapter Eighteen

By the time they’d recorded Ben, Mark and Chris's vocals, Paul still hadn’t arrived and they were starting to get worried. They’d been ringing Paul at regular intervals but he still wasn’t answering his mobile or home phone.

Ben looked at his watch. It was half past 11, only four hours till Chloe arrived.

“Do you think one of us should go round there?” he asked.

“Yeah, see if he’s… there.” Mark agreed.

Del sighed. “This isn’t giving Mike a very good impression you know guys.” He said, looking round at the producer. “I know it’s not your fault but all I can say is that Paul better have a bloody good excuse. Chris you go and see if you can find him.”

“Can’t I go?” Ben asked.

“Why?”

“I need to pick up something from town. Thought I could do it on the way.”

“Ben, you don’t have a car, it’d take you ages.” Mark pointed out.

“But it’s important.” Ben persisted.

“What is it?” Chris asked.

“Present for Chloe.”

“Who’s Chloe?” Del asked.

“A friend.” Ben said simply.

“Fine, go with Chris.” Del said. “Mark, I can tell you about all the PAs Nick’s put a1 down for.”

“Make sure you tell us.” Ben said.

“Are you going or not?” Del asked.

“We’re going.” Chris confirmed and he and Ben left the recording studio.

“Why didn’t you tell Del about Chloe?” Chris asked as they headed towards the car park.

“I dunno really. It was just a reflex reaction I guess.” Ben said.

“Where do you have to pick the present up from?” Chris asked, unlocking the car.

“Virgin.”

“Shall we go there first then?”

“Yeah, great. I just need to run in and collect it so you can just drop me off and drive around till I come out.”

“Okay.”

As they got in the car, Chris watched in amusement as Ben checked his watch for the hundredth time that minute.

“Exactly the same as when you last looked.” He said.

“Huh?”

“The time.”

“Oh. Sorry, I’m just…” Ben grinned. “I’m gonna see Chloe in four hours.”

“Aw, it’s sweet.”

“I’m so so excited. I feel like I haven’t seen her for months!”

“Do you miss her?” Chris asked as he drove.

“Like you wouldn’t believe. I lie awake at night and all I want is to be where she is. Being with her, it’s something I can’t describe. It’s just the best feeling in the world.”

“That’s love for you.”

“But it’s more than that. I’ve been in love before and it was never as good as this. It’s… oh I don’t know. It’s pretty cool though.”

“Well I think you’re very lucky. If Chloe’s really as great as you say she is, you just make sure you hold on to her.”

“Oh I will. I have no intention of letting this one go. She’s everything I ever wanted. I…” Ben trailed off.

“What?” Chris asked.

Ben looked at him. “Oh, nothing. Just thinking that’s all.”

They sat in silence for the rest of the journey until they got to Virgin Megastores and Ben got out of the car.

“I won’t be a minute.” He said, slamming the door shut behind him and heading into the store.

Ben walked through the doors and went over to the information desk.

“Hi.” He said to the assistant. “Um, I ordered a CD a couple of days ago and the guy said it’d be in today so I’ve come to pick it up.”

The assistant reached under the desk and pulled out a clipboard with a list on it.

“What’s your name?” she asked.

“Ben Adams.”

She ran a finger down the list and stopped by Ben’s name. “Ah yes, Angels by Robbie Williams?”

Ben nodded. “Yeah.”

“It arrived this morning, I’ll just call someone to get it for you.” She said, pressing a buzzer.

Within minutes, another shop assistant appeared and was sent away with instructions to get Ben’s CD from the storeroom.

While he waited for the assistant to reappear, Ben started counting in his head, waiting for the…

“You know,” the desk assistant started. “You look a bit like that guy from that band. What are they called? a1, that’s it.”

There it was.

Ben smiled at her. “Yeah I know, I get that all time.”

Which was true, he did get it all the time. Possibly because he was “that guy from that band.” It made Ben laugh though. He thought it was quite obvious who he was, especially seeing as his name was down on a piece of paper on the desk, but it was only the fans who actually talked to him directly. Other people just hinted that they knew who he was and expected him to “come clean”.

There was a silence as Ben imagined the shop assistant was trying to think how to breech the subject with him again.

“Oh, here we are.” She said disappointedly as the storeroom assistant came out of a side door carrying a small package.

“You paid for it when you ordered it, is that right?” Desk assistant asked.

“Yeah.” Ben said, taking the package from storeroom assistant.

“Can you just sign here then, to say you’ve collected the CD?”

“Sure.” Ben took the pen from her and signed his name on the line.

“Thank you.” Desk assistant said as he handed the form back to her.

“Thanks.”

Ben walked out the shop with the CD and looked around for Chris’s car. He spotted it driving down the main street and waited for it to stop.

“Did you get it?” Chris asked as Ben got in the car.

“Yep.” Ben showed him the package.

“Off to Paul’s then.”

“Okay.” Ben said, carefully opening the packaging.

“Do you think he’s gonna be there?”

“Huh?”

“Paul.”

“Oh, I dunno. It’s a bit strange isn’t it? It’s not like him just not to turn up.”

Ben finished unwrapping the packaging, opened the case and looked at the shiny new CD inside.

He smiled. “Excellent.”

Chris took his eyes of the road for a second to look at the CD.

“Why that CD?”

“It’s one of Chloe’s favourite songs but she doesn’t have a copy of it, so it thought I’d get her one.”

“What are her others?”

“What?”

“Favourite songs. You said it was one of her favourite songs.”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Ben said, realising that he hadn’t actually asked her that.

“You don’t know?!”

“No, I didn’t ask.”

Chris shook his head and tutted.

“What? Did you know what your girlfriend’s favourite songs were?”

“Yes.”

“After going out with her for a week?”

“Probably.”

“Shut up. Why do you wanna know what Chloe’s favourite songs are anyway?”

“Musical taste says a lot about a person, I’m just interested.”

“She likes a1.” Ben said, grinning as he remembered a conversation they’d had on the way to Legoland.

“Of course.” Chris said. “Who wouldn’t?”

“Only really stupid people with no taste.” Ben said.

They quickly got to Paul’s area but as they approached, Ben remembered something.

“Oh no!”

“What?”

“Well we can’t get in unless Paul opens the gates for us can we?”

“Oh no.”

“If he’s not answering the phone, he’s not gonna answer the buzzer is he?”

“Well we might as well try it, he might answer.”

“I guess.”

They pulled up at the gates and Chris wound his window down. He pressed the buzzer and waited. When no-one answered, he tried it again.

“Doesn’t look like he’s in.”

“How does Paul get in?” Ben asked. “Coz he can’t buzz himself in if he’s outside the gates can he?”

“I think there’s a code to open the gates.” Chris said.

“Do we know the code?”

“Um… I don’t know. I know lots of codes, I can’t remember what they’re for.

“Try them all.”

“Not a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Coz I think this is one of those code things that if you’ve had three goes, it automatically calls the police.”

“Well maybe we should, Paul could have died for all we know!” Ben said worriedly.

“I’ll try 3 codes and if they don’t work, I’ll ring Del okay?” Chris suggested.

“Yeah okay.”

Thinking hard, Chris decided on the first code he was going to try. Cautiously he punched in the first set of numbers. There was a fail tone and the gates stayed locked shut.

“Try another one.” Ben said.

“Okay, um…”

Chris thought again and punched in another set. Once again, there was fail tone and the gates didn’t move.

“Again.”

“One more okay?”

Chris tried to think of when Paul might have told him the unlocking code for the gates. One particular sequence of numbers stuck out in his mind but he couldn’t for the life of him think what they were for. Deciding that he might as well go for it, he punched them into the keypad.

“Yes!” Ben shouted as the gates started to slowly open in front of them. “Nice one Chris!”

Chris drove in and parked behind Paul’s car. Him and Ben both got out the car and Chris locked it.

“So what do we do now?” Ben asked.

“Uh, knock on the door I guess.”

“He’s not gonna answer.” Ben said pessimistically as they walked up the short path to Paul’s front door.

“He might do.”

“Yeah or he might not.”

Chris knocked loudly on Paul’s door.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t answer.

Chris knocked again.

“Told you.” Ben said.

“What are we going to do now?” Chris asked.

“Let ourselves in?” Ben suggested.

“And just how do you suggest we do that?”

“With the key I have.” Ben said grinning and producing a key from his pocket.

“You have a key? Well wh…” Chris sighed. “Never mind.”

He watched Ben put the key in the lock, turn it and push the door open.

“Ta-da!”

They stepped through the door and into Paul’s hallway.

“I feel like I’m a detective or something.” Ben said.

Chris laughed. “Investigating what?”

“The disappearance of a boy band member.” Ben said in a TV voice-over voice.

“Oh very good. Well for your first investigation, Detective Ben, I suggest you find out if Paul is actually here.”

“Okay, I’ll check the bedroom and bathroom, you look in the sitting room, kitchen and dining room.”

“Right.”

Ben crept quietly, he wasn’t sure why, towards Paul’s bedroom door. It was slightly ajar but not enough for him to see in. Pushing it open further, Ben saw Paul, fully clothed, fast asleep on the floor.

“Chris!” Ben shouted, figuring that if the phone and buzzer hadn’t woken Paul up, a bit of shouting wasn’t going to make any difference. “Found him!”

“With a proper orchestra?” Mark asked, his eyes lighting up.

“Yeah, the Philharmonic.”

“Oh wow! Great! When is it?”

“16^th of September I think, so quite a while away, but these things have to be booked in advance.”

“Yeah, well if i…” Mark was interrupted by his phone ringing. “Excuse me.” he said to Del, getting the phone out of his pocket and answering it.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mark, it’s Rose.”

Mark smiled. The day was getting better and better.

“Hiya! How are you?”

“I’m fine, very excited! I’m just ringing to tell you that the train’s just left Gloucester station so we should be in London by half past 3.”

Mark looked at his watch – time seemed to be flying by today!

“Okay, cool. Well me and Ben will meet you by the escalators. Do you know which ones I mean?”

“Yeah, I know where you mean.”

“Great. I’m really looking forward to seeing you.” Mark said, forgetting that Del was in the room with him.

“Me too. Well I better go now coz I don’t have much credit but I’ll see you soon.”

“Yeah okay. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Mark put the phone back in his pocket.

“Sorry about that. What else?”

“Tim and Vicky want to have a meeting with you about something.”

“What?”

“I can’t tell you yet. Tim said he tried to ring you last night but he couldn’t get hold of you.”

“Oh yeah, I didn’t have my mobile with me.”

“Oh, well, he was going to tell you about it then but the meeting’s on Tuesday okay? At 3 in Tim’s Office.”

“Yeah okay, do you want me to tell the other guys?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, it’d probably be easier.”

“Okay, I’ll do that then.”

“Right. Um… I know there was something else… what was it?” Del said. “Oh yeah, there’s another roadshow been added to the list. You’re doing one in Bristol now as well. It’s for the balloon fiesta thing with GWR FM.”

“Oh, okay, cool. Is it just the regular line up?”

“Yeah, Steps, Hear’Say, Atomic Kitten, those kind of bands.”

“Great!” Mark enthused. He loved actually getting out and performing to the public.

Just then, Ben and Chris came through the door and into the studio.

“We’re back!” Ben said.

“Where’s Paul?” Del asked.

Ben looked at Chris. “He, um, won’t be coming in today. He’s really ill. He was at home but he was asleep and he slept right through his alarm, the phone, everything!”

Del sighed. “What about tomorrow, is he gonna be alright for that?”

“Yeah, I think it’s just one of those 24 hour things. He’s been sick and stuff but I think he’ll be okay for tomorrow.” Ben said.

“Good. Well I guess we’ve finished here then. We’ve done all of your vocals and we can’t do anything else without Paul so I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning at half 10 okay?”

“Cool, okay.” Ben said, happy that he’d be getting off early. “See you tomorrow”

Ben, Mark and Chris exited the studio, leaving Del with the producer.

“So what exactly’s wrong with Paul?” Mark asked, as they walked out to the car park.

“Well,” Ben said. “he’s not exactly ill…”

“He’s got a very bad hangover.” Chris told Mark.

“What?! I don’t believe him! Not again!” Mark exclaimed.

“Yeah, I couldn’t get much sense out of him but apparently, he went out last night and didn’t get in until sometime this morning. He’s not in the best state.”

Mark laughed. “What did you do?”

“Put him back to bed!” Ben said. “We made him a coffee and told him to sleep it off.”

“And that he wasn’t allowed to go out tonight.” Chris said.

“Yeah.”

“He surprises me sometimes.” Mark said. “Don’t know why. I should expect it by now shouldn’t I?”

Ben nodded. “Mind you, look on the bright side, we get to go home early. Time to prepare before Chloe and Rose get here.”

“Who needs to prepare? I’m all ready for her!”

“Oh well you would be.” Ben said. “We can’t all be Mr. Efficient.”

Mark ignored Ben’s comment. “Well anyway, Rose rang me earlier, just to say they were on the train and it’ll get in at about half 3. It left on time so it shouldn’t be late getting to Paddington.”

“Ooh, I can’t wait! It’s gonna be so cool this weekend.” Ben said happily.

“Do you want a lift back home Ben?” Chris asked.

“Do you mind?”

“No, not at all. It’s practically on the way isn’t it?”

“Okay, thanks. Save me some time and hassle. The tube’s a nightmare at this time of day! Plus I hate it at the best of times.”

“How are you getting back from the station?” Mark asked.

Ben laughed. “Tube I guess.”

“I can give you a lift.”

“No, it’s okay, I’m sure you’d rather have some time alone with Rose. Me and Chloe would just be in the way.”

“Are you sure? Coz I don’t mind.”

“No honestly, it’s fine. But thanks for offering. I could really do with having driving lessons couldn’t I? I can see this not being able to drive thing becoming really annoying!”

“Well they wouldn’t do any harm certainly.” Mark agreed.

“Yeah, well, I’ll look into it.”

“Which’ll mean you’ll totally forget about it and not do anything.” Chris translated.

“True. Well, the thought was there.” Ben said grinning.