Rose
woke up, not knowing where she was or how she got there. She lay there for a
couple of minutes trying to remember why she was lying in a room reminiscent of
a very posh hotel.
Hotel?
“Ohhh.”
She said quietly, suddenly remembering everything.
Looking
at her watch, she saw it had just gone 9 o’ clock and her first instinct was to
find Chloe and have a really good discussion about last night’s events. Getting
out of bed, she noticed she was still fully clothed which puzzled her but she
put it to the back of her mind and opened her bedroom door. Guessing that
logically, Chloe’s room would be the one next to hers, she knocked on the door.
There was no answer but, assuming Chloe was still asleep, Rose went in anyway.
She was surprised to find that not only was Chloe not in her room, but it also
looked like her bed hadn’t been slept in. Rose looked around. It was definitely
her room though, because her bag was on the floor. Starting to worry that
something had happened to Chloe, or she’d been asleep so long that everyone had
gone without he, she debated what to do. Mark would know what was going on,
she’d ask him. So now she had to find his room.
Rose
looked across the main room. There were two doors, one lead to Mark’s room, one
lead to Ben’s. Luckily, one of the doors was slightly ajar so she walked over
to it and peeked round. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Mark lying
on the bed.
“Rose?”
Rose
opened the door fully. “Hi.”
“You
can come in if you want.” Mark said, sitting up.
Rose
stepped into the room. “Did I wake you up?”
Mark
shook his head. “No, I’ve been awake for ages. I was gonna come and see if you
were awake yet actually so you saved me a journey.” He said smiling.
His
smile faded when he noticed Rose’s troubled expression.
“Are
you okay?”
“Have
you seen Chloe this morning?” she asked.
“No,
why?”
“Well
she’s not in her room, I thought something might have happened.”
“Have
you asked Ben?” Mark asked, getting out of bed and putting on a t-shirt.
“No,
I don’t think he’s up yet.”
“I’m
not surprised, him and Chloe woke me up last night at about half past 1 with
their drunken antics.”
“What
were they doing?” Rose asked, suddenly interested.
“I
have no idea! Something about monsters in my room.” Mark shrugged. “They were
very very drunk.” He added, walking towards the door.
Rose
followed Mark out of the room and stood by his side as he slowly opened Ben’s
door.
“Well
would you look at that.” He commented opening the door further so Rose could
see Chloe and Ben asleep, all cuddled up together in each other’s arms.
“Ahhh,
that’s so sweet.” She said. “Do you think they’ve been like that all night?”
“Well,
probably from when they sobered up! I could still hear them talking when I went
to sleep. In fact, for a while, it sounded like they were jumping on the bed! I
wouldn’t put it past Ben, he’s not the most mature person at times, especially
not when he’s had that much alcohol!” Mark laughed. “Come on, let’s get some
breakfast.” He said, closing the bedroom door.
“Good
idea, I’m starving!”
“What
do you want?” Mark asked. “I think you can have pretty much anything you want.”
“Toast
will do.”
“Really?
Just toast?”
Rose
smiled. “Yeah!”
“Are
you sure?”
“Totally.
Breakfast’s not really my strong point.”
“Okay,
if you’re sure. What do you want on your toast?”
“Marmite.”
Rose said.
Mark
made a face. “Marmite first thing in the morning?” he asked.
“Yeah!
Why not?!”
“Coz,
I dunno, just urgh.”
“You
should try it, it’s great!” Rose assured him.
“I’ll
take your word for it.”
“You
do that. What are you having?”
“I
dunno.” Mark said, walking over to the side table near the door and picking up
the plastic food and drinks menu that stood next to the phone. “Well they have
like a continental thing with croissants and toast and stuff. We could share
that. You have the toast and be boring…”
“I’m
not boring! I like simple things.” Rose interrupted him.
“Okay,
you have the toast and be simple,” Mark said, grinning at Rose. “and I can be
cultured and eat cakes for breakfast.”
“Sounds
like a good plan.”
“It
does.” Mark said picking up the phone. “For room service room service, press
5.” He read to himself, pressing the corresponding number. “Hi, we’d like to
order breakfast please… the continental… 406… thanks.”
Mark
replaced the phone.
“Shouldn’t
we have waited to see what Ben and Chloe wanted?” Rose asked.
“Well
we should have done, but we didn’t.” Mark said.
“Believe
it or not, I did realise that.”
“Nah,
who knows how long it’ll take Ben to sleep off his hangover. We could starve to
death if we wait for him to surface.”
Rose
smiled. “Chloe’ll regret drinking so much. She’ll be cross if she’s got a
hangover.”
“Have
you got a headache?” Mark asked Rose.
“Nope.
Have you?”
“I
only had about a glass of champagne I think.” Mark said. “I’m fine. Do you want
a drink? There’ll be some stuff in the fridge.”
“Yeah,
water please.” Rose replied.
“Okay.”
Mark said, going into the kitchenette, opening the fridge and getting two
bottles of water out. “Here ya go!”
Rose
caught the bottle of water Mark threw in her direction, opened it and sat down
on the sofa.
Mark
joined her. “Did you sleep alright?” he asked.
“Yeah,
the beds are really comfy.” Rose paused. “Did you put me to bed?”
“Yeah,
you don’t mind do you? Only, you fell asleep while we were watching the film
and I didn’t wanna leave you there all night, you’d have got cold.”
“No,
it was really nice of you.” Rose reassured him. “I just couldn’t work out how
I’d ended up in bed, fully clothed when the last thing I remember is sitting on
the sofa, watching a film.”
Mark
started to say something in reply, but was interrupted by a knock on the door
and a call of, “Room service!”
“I’ll
get that.” he said, putting his water down on the side and going to the door.
“Thanks.” he said, opening the door to let the maid type person bring their
breakfast in on a tray-table on wheels.
Rose
got up from her seat and went over to the breakfast. She picked up a plate and
a piece of toast.
“Knife…
marmite… TV.” She said, picking up those things and sitting back down on the sofa.
Flicking the TV on, she switched to Channel 4.
“Big
Breakfast?” Mark asked, sitting down next to her with a muffin.
Rose
looked at him. “Do you argue about everything?” she asked.
“Yes.
Want some muffin?” he asked.
“Ew
no.” Rose said in disgust.
“Why
not? Muffins are nice. I thought you liked chocolate?”
“Not
for breakfast!”
“Chocolate’s
great for breakfast!”
“As
is marmite. Try some.”
“I
know what it tastes like! Hence I don’t want it for breakfast.”
“Better
than cakes.”
“Isn’t.”
“Is.”
Rose
and Mark both turned round as Ben’s bedroom door opened and him and Chloe came
out looking bleary-eyed.
“Good
morning.” Rose said.
“Mmmm.”
Chloe said, rubbing her eyes.
“Morning
Ben.” Mark said. “How’s your head?”
“Fine.”
“Really?”
“No!”
Ben admitted, a pained expression on his face. “I feel like I’m about to
explode, have we got any aspirin here?”
“No
idea, go and look.”
“Owwww.”
Ben moaned, making his way slowly to the kitchen.
“
Have a nice night?” Rose asked Chloe as she sat in the left armchair.
Chloe
smiled. “Don’t look at me like that, I know what you’re thinking.”
“Really?
What am I thinking?” Rose asked.
“You
know full well what you’re thinking Rose.” Chloe said. “And you’d be wrong coz
nothing happened, we just fell asleep.”
“Okay,
whatever you say.” Rose said, clearly not convinced.
Chloe
rolled her eyes. “You have such a dirty mind!” she said as Ben came into the
room holding a box of painkillers and a glass of water. She stood up to let him
sit down and then sat on his lap. “Rose doesn’t believe me that nothing
happened last night.”
Ben
raised his eyebrows. “Well, I wouldn’t say that…” he said with a smirk.
“Don’t
make things worse!” Chloe said, hitting him lightly on the arm.
“Ow!
Mind my head.”
“I
was nowhere near your head, stop being so melodramatic!”
“Why
haven’t you got a headache anyway?” Ben asked crossly.
“Because
I didn’t drink half as much as you did!” Chloe said.
“That
could have something to do with it.” Ben considered, taking two tablets and
putting the glass and box on the floor.
“Anyway,”
Chloe said pointedly. “nothing happened. We just talked for a bit and then went
to sleep.”
“You
mean it was all a dream?!” Ben asked. “Thought it was too good to be
true.”
“I
don’t even want to know.” Chloe said.
“You might do. You don’t know what I was dreaming
about.” Ben said.
“You
don’t want to know.” Mark assured Chloe. “Believe me, I’ve heard about what
goes on in Ben’s head.”
“What’s
happening today?” Ben asked, changing the subject.
“Have
we got a day off?” Mark asked uncertainly.
“I
dunno, have we?”
“You
don’t know? Ooh, toast. Can I have some?”
Rose
nodded and handed Chloe the other half of her toast.
“Thanks.”
Chloe said, taking a bite.
“Chris’ll
know, I’ll phone him.” Mark said, getting up and going into his room.
“Do
you really not know whether you’ve got a day off or not?” Chloe asked Ben.
“I
can’t remember.” Ben said. “Either that or I wasn’t told in the first place.
Then I’ve got even less chance of remembering.”
“Well
yeah, if you don’t know to remember it.”
“Yep.
Lost cause.”
Chloe
smiled and leaned back against Ben.
“Can
I have some of your toast?” he asked.
“It’s
second hand.”
“I
don’t mind.”
Chloe
tore a bit off the half eaten piece of toast she was holding and gave it to
Ben.
“That’s
not very much.” He said.
“Go
and get your own then.”
“I
can’t, you’re sitting on me.”
“Don’t
complain then.” Chloe said.
“Get
up and bring me some.”
“I’m
not your slave!”
Ben
looked at Chloe. “Are you sure? Coz you look just like her.”
“So
rude.”
Mark
came back into the room
“Chris says we have got a day off.” He said.
“Yay!”
exclaimed Rose as Mark sat back down next to her.
“So,
what do you want to do today then?” he asked.
“Lets
go somewhere really fun!” suggested Ben.
“Like…?”
“I
dunno, somewhere we won’t get bugged to much though coz that’s not very fun for
Chloe and Rose.”
“What
day is it?” Mark asked.
“Tuesday.”
“Well
why don’t we go to a theme park or something? It’s not school holidays or
anything so there probably won’t be many people there, not who know who we are
anyway.” Mark proposed.
“What
do you think?” he asked Rose.
“I
think it sounds great!” she replied. “I love theme parks.”
“That’s
two for going to a theme park, what about you two?” he asked, looking at Ben
and Chloe.
“I
don’t mind, as long as we’re both there.” Chloe said, smiling at Ben.
“Ben?
Do you care?”
“Nope.”
Ben replied, not even looking at Mark, his full attention on Chloe.
Mark
shook his head. “He is so annoying when he’s with a girl he likes, you just
can’t talk to him coz he doesn’t listen.” Mark said to Rose “Watch this: Ben, how
do you fancy drowning in a sea of flesh eating piranhas today, instead of the
theme park?” he asked him.
“Yeah,
whatever.” Came the distracted reply.
“Looks
like we’ll be making all the decisions today then. So, theme park yeah?”
“Yeah,
theme parks are really fun! There is one catch though.” Rose said.
“What’s
that?” Mark asked.
“You
have to come on all the scary rides with me so I have someone to sit by, coz I
expect Chloe will be wanting to sit next to Ben. And then I’ll be all on my
own.” Rose told him.
“You
won’t be all alone, coz if you’re all alone, that means I will be too, so we’ll
have to do everything together, just to avoid any aloneness.” He said, smiling.
“That
sounds like a good plan.” Rose approved.
“Well
now we’ve got the small print sorted, we have to decide which theme park to go
to, there’s loads around here.”
“I
really don’t mind. You choose.”
“This
is meant to be for you and Chloe so you should choose.”
“But
I’ll have fun with you wherever we go, I want you to enjoy yourself as well.”
“I
will. You choose.”
“YOU
choose.”
“You’re
more stubborn than Ben!” Mark said, with a smile. “We’ll both choose.”
“Okay.”
“Right
well, there’s loads of little ones but the three main big ones are Thorpe Park,
Chessington and Legoland.”
“Oh!
Can we go to Legoland?” Rose asked excitedly.
“What
happened to both choosing?” Mark asked.
“Sorry,
where would you like to go?”
“I
want to go wherever you want to go. I said I didn’t mind.”
“So
can we go to Legoland then?” Rose asked hopefully. “I’ve never been but it
looks really lush.”
“Yeah,
Legoland’s great.” Mark agreed.
“Have
you been before?”
“Yeah,
a few times, but not recently. The last time I went was last summer with Ben’s
family. We took his little brother and sister for Lucy’s birthday. It’s really
amazing with all the stuff built out of Lego and the rides are really cool. And
they have new ones all the time. It’s really nice for kids as well. You’d like
it, it’s really fun.”
“Well
that’s sorted then, we’re going to Legoland! I guess I better get changed. I
can’t go in this.” Rose said, looking down at her dressy attire. “Are you
coming Clo?” she asked.
“Mmm?”
Chloe said half-heartedly.
“Are
you going to change or are you planning to go to Legoland in your pyjamas?”
Rose asked again.
“Oh,
um, what?” Chloe said, only half listening to what Rose was saying as Ben was
whispering something in her ear. “Stop it! I’m trying to talk to Rose.” She
said to him before turning back to Rose. “What did you say?”
“Are
you going to get changed?”
“Yeah.”
Chloe paused. “Why?”
“Have
you really not heard a word we’ve been saying?” Rose asked exasperatedly.
Chloe
looked sheepish. “Ummm, no.”
Rose
sighed. “We’re going to Legoland.”
“Really?
Oh cool! I’ve always wanted to go there. When?” Chloe said, suddenly
enthusiastic.
“Now.”
“What?
Right now?”
“Well
no, but as soon as we’re all ready.” Rose said. “So I’m going to get changed
now. Are you coming?”
“Oh,
yeah, okay. You’ll have to help me choose which top to wear though coz I
brought two with me.” Chloe said.
“Okay,
lets go.”
“Okay.”
She turned to Ben. “I won’t be long.”
“Alright.”
He said, kissing her lingeringly on the lips.
“Come
on!” shouted Rose, pulling Chloe away from Ben.
“Sorry.”
Chloe apologised grinning.
“Clo!”
Ben called as Rose dragged Chloe off.
“What?”
“Can
I have your toast?”