Chapter Twenty

“That one?” Chloe asked, pointing at a house on the street her and Ben were walking down.

“No.”

“That one?” she asked, pointing to the next house.

“No.”

“That one?”

“No!”

“Are you sure you live on this street?” Chloe asked.

“Yes I’m sure! It’s a bit further down yet.”

“I can’t walk any further!” Chloe moaned.

Ben laughed. “Do you want me to carry you?” he asked.

“No, it’s okay.” Chloe said. “I was only joking. I’d walk miles to get to your house.”

“Well luckily for you it’s not miles. It’s only a bit further now.”

“Ooh, I’m so excited!”

“Are you?”

“Yep! Can’t wait to see your house! I mean, I’m seen pictures of it but I bet it’ll look really different being actually there. Is it a flat or a house?”

“Kind of a flat apartment type thing. Most of the houses around here are. That’s why they’re so tall. I’ve got the ground floor one so we don’t have to walk up loads of stairs.”

“Oh good, coz otherwise you might actually have to carry me.” Chloe said.

“That wouldn’t be a problem.”

“Yeah but you’d drop me.”

Ben gasped. “I would not!”

“You would.”

“Well let’s see shall we?” Ben said, catching Chloe off guard and sweeping her legs out from underneath her so he was carrying her.

“Ben! Put me down!” Chloe squealed.

“No.” said Ben defiantly, carrying on his little game.

“Ben! No! Ahh!” Chloe screamed between giggles.

“Hmm, let’s see, am I gonna drop you? Yes! No! Yes! No!” Ben said, almost dropping Chloe and then catching her again at the last minute.

Chloe squirmed in his arms until Ben eventually put her down.

“You’re so annoying!” Chloe said.

“Just proving a point. I didn’t drop you did I?”

“No.”

“Told you I wouldn’t.”

“Yeah, luckily for you. You’d have been so dead if you had dropped me!” Chloe warned him.

“Ooh I’m scared.” Ben said, clearly not scared.

“Well so you should be. I’m a very scary person.”

Ben laughed. “Oh yeah, very scary.”

“I am!” Chloe cried indignantly.

“No you’re not, you’re the loveliest person I’ve ever met.” Ben said, putting his arm around her waist.

“Oh well that works too.” Chloe said smiling.

“We’re here now anyway.” Ben said

“Are we?” Chloe asked excitedly.

“Yep, well, very close. But we can’t go in until you guess which one my house is.”

“Um…” Chloe looked at the four houses facing her. “That one.” She said confidently, pointing at one of the middle two.

Ben looked surprised. “How did you know that?” he asked.

“I recognise the windows. It is that one, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. Well done!” Ben said feeling in his pocket for his door key.

They went up the steps at the front of the house and Ben let them in.

“After you.” He said.

Chloe entered the house.

“Wow, I can’t believe I’m in your house.” She said.

“It’s not as nice as your house but it’s better than some of the ones around here. And it doesn’t have a garden but there’s lots of parks and it’s not like I have any pets so it doesn’t really bother me.”

“No, it’s lovely. It is very different from the photos though. I guess I kind of built up a picture in my mind of how it would be, but it’s absolutely nothing like how I imagined!” Chloe said.

“Do you want the grand tour?” Ben asked, putting down Chloe’s bag by the door as he closed it behind them and put his keys on the table.

“Yeah!”

“Okay, come with me then.” Ben said, walking down the hallway. “This is the sitting room,” he said, showing Chloe into the room. “and through there is the kitchen. Then the bathroom’s in here… and this,” Ben said, going into his bedroom. “is my room. Now you have three options of where you want to sleep while you’re here.”

“Okay.”

“You can sleep on the sofa, or you can sleep in my bed and I’ll have the sofa, or we can both sleep in my bed.” Ben said.

Chloe grinned. “I want to sleep in your bed with you of course! As long as you don’t mind, that is.” She added.

“I don’t mind. I was hoping you’d pick that option anyway.” Ben said grinning and giving Chloe a hug. “Do you want your present now?”

“Yeah!” Chloe exclaimed excitedly.

“Okay, it’s in the sitting room. Let’s go and sit down.” Ben said.

Chloe nodded and followed Ben from his bedroom to the front room. “I like this room.” She said. “It’s cool.”

Ben smiled. “Thank you.” He picked up a small package all wrapped up in shiny wrapping paper.

“Ooh very posh!” Chloe said as he handed it to her.

“I hope you like it. I think you will. It took me ages to think of something to get you but this seemed like a good option.”

“Can I open it now?”

“Yeah!”

Chloe turned the present over and carefully undid the wrapping paper. She gasped when she saw what it was.

“Oh my god! Oh my… wow!” she gave Ben a massive hug. “Thank you so much! Oh my god, I can’t believe it!”

Ben was grinning too, really pleased it had had the desired affect.

“So you like it then?” he asked.

“I love it! Oh my god, Ben, this is just the most wonderful present anyone could ever get me!” she said, turning the CD over and over in her hands, clearly delighted. “Can I put it on? Have you got a CD player in here?”

“Yeah, in here.” Ben said, going over to a big cupboard and opening it to reveal a huge stereo system.

“Wow, cool! How do you work it?”

Ben pressed the power button to turn the system on. “You just press this button to open the CD draw and then hit play which is… here.” He showed her.

“Okay.”

Chloe did as he’d shown her, put the CD in and pressed play. The opening strains of ‘Angels’ played out across the sitting room and a huge smile spread across Chloe’s face.

“I love this song.” She said.

“I know you do.” Said Ben.

“I love you too.”

Ben smiled.

“Come here.” Chloe told him and Ben came closer to her.

Chloe put her arms around his neck. “You are just the most amazing boyfriend in the world.” She said before kissing him.

“Here we are then.” Mark said, stopping the car in front of his house.

Rose got a strange feeling of déjà vu and tried to work out where she’d heard him say that before. Then it came to her – it was at the hotel the first time she met him.

“You’ve said that before.” She told Mark as he got her bags out of the boot.

“Have I?”

“Yeah, when we were at the hotel on Monday night.”

“Really? How did you remember that?” Mark asked.

“I dunno really. Just remembered you’d said it before.”

“Are you ready then?” Mark asked her as they walked up the path to his front door.

“For what? Your house?”

“And the possible parental attack.” Mark said grinning.

“Yes, totally prepared for every eventuality.” Rose said.

I doubt that, Mark thought, remembering with dread that he had something to tell her.

He put the key in the door and let them into the house.

“Let’s go and put your stuff upstairs first and then I can show you around the house, okay?”

“Yeah, whatever!” Rose said happy that she was finally here.

“Do you want the spare room or do you want to share my room?” Mark asked her as they went up the stairs.

“Can I share your room?” Rose asked. “I don’t want to sleep on my own, I’ll probably get scared.”

Mark laughed. “Yeah sure, you can have my bed and I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Or, you could sleep in your bed as well.” Rose suggested innocently.

Mark looked round at her as they reached the landing.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind sleeping on the floor and my bed isn’t very big, there won’t be much room with two people in it.”

Rose smiled at him. “We’ll just have to sleep extra close then won’t we?” she asked.

“That’s fine by me.” Mark agreed, opening his bedroom door. “This is my room.”

“Wow! It’s so cool! And very Disney.” She added, looking at the vast amount of cuddly toys occupying a whole corner of Mark’s not exactly huge room.

“Think you can put up with spending three nights in here?” Mark asked, putting Rose’s stuff down.

“Well that depends.” Rose said. “Are any of your teddies evil?”

“Evil? No, I don’t think so!” Mark said with amusement.

“Well then I think I’ll be perfectly happy here.” Rose assured him.

“Cool. Shall we go and do the meeting the parents part next?”

“Yeah! Except you look nervous, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Just ignore my dad if he says anything, okay?”

Rose frowned. “What might he say?”

“Well, he went a bit weird when I told him how old you were.” Mark confessed.

“Oh.” Rose said quietly.

“But it’s not a problem, it’s really really not.” Mark tried to reassure her. “Honestly.” He said, putting his hands on her arms and running them up and down comfortingly.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah! My dad was just a bit shocked, that’s all. He didn’t disapprove though. And he’s gonna love you, I know he will.”

Rose attempted to smile even though she’d gone from being excited about the prospect of meeting Mark’s parents to a nervous wreck.

“Okay?” Mark asked.

Rose nodded. “I guess.”

Mark kissed her and she suddenly felt a million times better and like she was ready to face anything.

“Okay now?”

Rose grinned. “Yeah.”

“Come on then, I expect mum’s in the kitchen. You can meet her first. She’s lovely.”

They went downstairs and walked up the hallway.

“Mum?” Mark called.

“Yes dear?”

“Where are you?”

“I’m in the kitchen!” came the reply.

Mark looked at Rose. “Told you.” He said.

They advanced towards the kitchen and Mark opened the door. Pamela had her back to them and was washing up.

“I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet, mum.” Mark said.

His mum turned round, and immediately Rose could see some of her in Mark. Rose smiled politely. She wasn’t really sure what else to do.

“This is Rose, mum. Rose, this is my mum.” Mark introduced them.

“Hi.” Rose said shyly.

Pam smiled warmly at her. “I’m Pam. Lovely to meet you.” She said, extending a hand.

Rose shook it and smiled back. This wasn’t so hard, she thought.

“Did you have a good journey, love?” Pam asked Rose.

“Oh, uh, yeah! It was fine!” Rose said.

“Good. I expect you’re hungry are you?”

“No, I’m alright thanks. I had a big lunch.” Rose said.

“Well what about a drink?”

“Um, yeah, that’d be really nice, thanks.”

“What would you like? We’ve got tea, coffee, water…”

“Water will be fine thanks.” Rose said.

“Just like Mark.” Pam said. “He’s forever drinking water.”

Rose looked at Mark and he smiled at her.

“Where’s dad?” Mark asked his mum.

“He’s out the back I think. Said something about the garden.” She replied, handing Rose a glass of water.

“Don’t I get offered anything?” Mark asked.

“You know where it all is.” Pam said.

“Oh thanks!”

“Now come on Mark, Rose is a guest and you’ve lived here for the whole 22 years of your life.” His mum reprimanded.

Mark grinned. “I’ll go and see if I can find dad. Okay?” he asked Rose.

She nodded even though she didn’t really want to be left on her own. “Yeah.”

Mark disappeared out of the kitchen in search of his dad.

Pam smiled at Rose. “Have a seat, Rose isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Rose said, smiling again and sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself? Mark hasn’t really told us much and I’d love to get to know you. Where do you live?”

“Buckinghamshire, near High Wycombe.”

“Oh, not too far away then?”

“No.”

“And who do you live with?”

“Um, my mum, my dad and my brother.”

“Oh, you have a brother! Older or younger?” Pam asked interestedly.

“Younger. He’s 11.”

“What’s his name?”

“Jamie.”

“You know Mark has two brothers?”

Rose nodded. “Yeah.”

“Yes, Colin and Gary. They’re older than him so Mark’s always been the youngest. And most spoilt.” She added quietly, winking at Rose.

Rose laughed as Mark came back into the room with his dad. Mark smiled as he saw that his mum and Rose were getting on. He came over to Rose and she stood up next to him. He put his arm around her.

“Dad, this is Rose.” He said slightly nervously. “Rose, my dad Keith.”

Rose decided that seeing as things had gone so well last time, she’d stick to the same winning formula and smiled politely at Mark’s dad.

“Hello Rose.” Keith said.

“Hello.”

There was an awkward silence before Mark’s dad spoke again.

“You’re very welcome here. I’ll hope you’ll make yourself at home.” He said, smiling.

It was as if everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief at the same time, and Mark let out the breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding at this approval from his dad.

“I better get back to the garden, but I’m sure I’ll see you at some other point the weekend Rose.” He said.

“Yeah.” Rose said as Keith turned round and walked out of the kitchen.

“That went well I think.” Mark said. “It did go well, didn’t it?” he asked his mum.

“It went fine Mark, but I always knew it would. Your father’s just a bit set in his ways sometimes but he’s not an unfriendly person. I knew he’d welcome Rose.”

“Well I’m glad he did, otherwise things would have been very awkward.” Mark said. “I think me and Rose are gonna go back upstairs now mum.”

“Oh alright love. See you later Rose.”

“Well? What do you think?” Mark asked as they walked back upstairs.

“They’re both really nice!” Rose said. “Especially your mum, I love your mum!”

“She’s great isn’t she?”

“Yeah, she’s really really nice.”

Once back in Mark’s bedroom, he decided that now was the time to tell Rose about Sam.

“Rose,” he started, sitting down on the bed. “I’ve got something I need to tell you.”

“What?” Rose asked, puzzled at his suddenly serious expression.

She sat down next to him and he took hold of one of her hands.

“I’ve been dreading telling you this ever since I found out but I can’t keep it from you, that wouldn’t be fair. But I want you to know that whatever you decide to do after I’ve told you, I’ll understand.” Mark said, feeling slightly ill.

“Okay…” Rose said apprehensively, not knowing where this was going.

Mark took a deep breath. The amount of times he’d planned how he was going to say this he should know it off by heart by now, but suddenly all the words went out of his head and he was forced to make it up as he went along.

“A while ago, I was going out with this girl called Sam. We split up a couple of months ago and I hadn’t seen her for ages, but then on Wednesday she came to see me. Said she had something to tell me.”

Mark paused and Rose nodded, prompting him to go on, seeing the fear in his eyes but not knowing why.

“And she told me, that she’s pregnant and…”

Rose suddenly knew what was coming next but she willed Mark not to say it.

“…I’m the dad.” Mark said slowly.

Rose felt like she’d been hit around the head. For a second, the room around her went fuzzy as she reeled from the shock of what Mark had just said. She just stared at him, trying to take it in but at the same time, not wanting to. Tears came to her eyes and, not wanting Mark to see her cry, she got up and left the room, planning to head to the bathroom where she could lock the door and be on her own. Getting onto the landing she realised that she didn’t know where the bathroom was but, ignoring Mark’s shouts from the bedroom, she tried the handle of a door that looked like it could be hiding the bathroom and went inside. Luckily she’d picked the right room, so she closed the door behind her and locked it firmly, checking that it wouldn’t open from the outside. When she felt safe she fell to the floor and let the tears stream down her face.

Mark’s ex-girlfriend was pregnant.

Well that was it then. The end for Rose and Mark, surely? Why would he want to be with her when he could be with the bitch that was having his baby? The baby that Rose knew Mark craved. Rose knew she had no right to call Sam, or whatever her name was, a bitch having never met her, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to think logically about where to place the blame. All she knew was that she hated her for ruining the only thing she’d ever wanted in her whole life.

Suddenly she didn’t want to be here, in his house, knowing that she wasn’t wanted any more. Why had he even brought her here? Why had he waited till this weekend to tell her? What was the point? Prolong the pain? She wanted to go home. Now.

A loud knock on the door interrupted her thoughts.

“Rose! Are you okay?” Mark asked though the door.

Rose ignored him. The only person she wanted to talk to now was Chloe. But Chloe was with Ben, Chloe was happy. Rose didn’t want to ring her and ruin her weekend, and even though she had her mobile on her pocket, Rose realised that she didn’t have Ben’s number. She hadn’t bothered to get it just in case she needed to ring Chloe for some reason, coz she thought Mark would have it. Great. What a plan.

“Rose, open the door!” Mark said.

Rose couldn’t even bring herself to reply, she was so upset. It felt like her world had ended. Just like that, with no warning.

It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair.

Was all Rose could think in her confused and unhappy state.

“Rose, please!” Mark begged. “Let me explain. It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“How can it not be as bad as it sounds?” Rose shouted back.

Mark slumped against the door and put his head in his hands. This was so much worse than he’d ever imagined.

“Just please, open the door.”

Rose didn’t say anything. If she was honest, what she really wanted to do was to open the door and for Mark to hold her in his arms and tell her everything was going to be alright. But she knew that wouldn’t happen and so she wouldn’t let herself.

“Rose, I know what you’re thinking and it’s not like that. Please come out, we need to talk. I can’t get through this on my own.”

On his own? But he wasn’t going to be on his own. He was going to be with bitch cow-face. Sam, whatever, who cares?

“You’re not going to be on your own, are you?” Rose shouted angrily through the door. “You’ll be with her.”

“But I won’t be.” Mark said, tears in his own eyes. “That’s the whole point; I don’t want to be with her, I don’t even want her to have the stupid baby. All I want is to be with you, and I think I’ve just mucked that up as well.”

Without thinking about it long enough to stop herself, Rose had got up and was unlocking the door.

Hearing the familiar sound, Mark stood up, bracing himself for what he expected to come next. She was going to finish with him, he knew she was. And who could blame her? Who’d want to get caught up in his messed up life?

Rose slowly opened the door and stood in the doorway, eyes red and cheeks streaked with tears.

“You haven’t.” She said, looking into his eyes and thinking how much she wanted him to hold her.

Mark looked puzzled having forgotten what he said last.

“Mucked it up.”

They stood looking at each other for a moment before Rose moved uncertainly towards Mark and he took her in his arms, holding her tightly against him.

“I’m sorry.” Mark said, choking back tears.

Rose shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” She whispered. “It doesn’t matter…”