Omg! Can’t beliiiiiiiiiieve we’re this far into LTD already! But oh noooooooo, is the Blue chapter. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I don’t know what they’re doing in it – I can’t help who happens to wander past, can I???? Argh, stupid stupid chapter. *sulks*

Chapter Thirty

“How long before we have to leave?” Chloe asked Ben as they stood in the front room of his apartment.

“Just enough time to get some lunch.” Ben said.

“Cool. What’s for lunch?”

“Dunno. What do you want?”

“Sandwiches?”

“Is that all you eat?” Ben asked.

“No! I eat lots of things! Everything actually.”

“Doesn’t look like it.”

“Well it’s the weekend, that’s what you eat.”

“Sandwiches?”

“Yeah!”

“I don’t eat sandwiches at the weekends. Not for tea anyway.”

“Yeah, but you’re posh.”

Ben looked at her. “I am not posh!” he said indignantly.

“Oh you so are.”

“How am I posh?”

“Your family’s really posh.”

“How do you know? You’ve never even met them!”

“I know, but I know they’re posh.”

“My mum’s not posh!”

“Okay, how many unoccupied bedrooms in your mum’s house?” Chloe asked, trying to suppress a grin.

“Not many…”

“How many?”

“Five or six.” Ben said in a small voice.

“Ah-ha! Now you can’t say that that’s not posh.”

“I really must remember not to associate with common riff-raff.” Ben said in a posh voice, grinning.

Chloe gasped. “Common riff-raff?! So rude!!”

“Guards! Escort this intruder from my house!” Ben shouted.

“You are so…”Chloe trailed off and just hit Ben in frustration.

“Security! I’m being assaulted here!”

“You’re such a horrible person.” Chloe said, sitting down on the sofa and folding her arms crossly.

Ben immediately sat down next to her and tried to put his arms round her but Chloe just pushed him away.

“I am not talking to you.” She said.

She didn’t mean it of course but it was so funny to wind him up and she did it so well.

Ben frowned and disappeared off into the kitchen. Chloe could hear drawers and cupboards being opened and the occasional metal sounding object being dropped on the floor. She was extremely curious about what Ben was up to but refused to go and see. He wasn’t gonna win this time!

A few minutes later, Ben came back into the sitting room holding something behind his back.

“I made you something.” He said, sitting down next to Chloe again.

Chloe turned round. “Is this another one of your bribes?” she asked.

“Yes.” Ben said with a grin.

“Go on then, show me.”

Ben brought out a plate from behind his back. On it was a cheese and marmite sandwich cut into the shape of a heart.

“Awww…” Chloe said, completely taken aback. “You’re so sweet.”

“Sorry I called you common.” Ben said. “I don’t think you are really.”

“I know, I was only winding you up.”

“Am I forgiven?” Ben asked.

“Completely. And then some.” Chloe said, taking the plate from him.

“Where’s Ben?” Del asked.

“Dunno.” Paul said.

Chris, Paul, Mark and Rose were sitting on one of the glorified picnic tables that had been put outside in the backstage area at Hyde Park. a1 were due to sound-check at about half past 12, after Atomic Kitten. The girls were already half way through their set and Ben and Chloe still hadn’t arrived.

“He’ll be here. The car was probably late picking them up or something.” Mark said sensibly.

“Well you’re sound-checking in about 5 minutes and they’re already behind schedule so if he’s not here by then, you’ll have missed your slot.” Del warned them.

“We can always rehearse back here.” Paul suggested. “Chill out man.”

Del just shook his head and walked away from them.

“He gets too stressed.” Paul said.

“Ooh, this could be them.” Mark said, as a dark green people-carrier with blacked out windows drove up.

Rose smiled as Chloe got out, closely followed by Ben.

“Where’ve you two been?” Mark asked.

“You’re just in time Ben. We were on the verge of giving Rose your place in the band.” Paul joked.

“Sorry, we were um, having lunch.” Ben said, looking at Chloe, making her turn away to stop from laughing.

“Guys, you’re on!” Del shouted from across the grass.

“Come on, sound-check time!” Paul shouted childishly, bouncing up to Ben and grabbing his arm.

Ben gave Chloe a kiss. “Won’t be long.” He said.

“Paul looks like he’s in a good mood this morning.” Chloe observed, sitting down at the picnic table opposite Rose and watching the four guys walking towards the stage.

“Yeah it’s great! He’s been going completely mad!” Rose said. “You’re looking very happy.”

“Am I?” Chloe asked innocently. “Must be the weather.”

“And Ben.”

“Well he could have something to do with it.” Chloe said, grinning. “How are you and Mark?”

“Fine. I’ve got something I need to talk to you about actually.” Rose said, deciding now was a good time to tell Chloe about Mark and Sam.

“Something bad?”

“Kind of.”

“Go on.”

“Well um, I don’t really know where to start…”

“The beginning?” Chloe suggested.

“Might be a good idea.” Rose said smiling.

She was so glad Mark had said she should tell Chloe about Sam.

“Well Mark’s ex-girlfriend, she’s called Sam. They split up um, a couple of months ago I think, I can’t remember what he said, but, well it’s not actually such a long story really. She’s pregnant with Mark’s baby.”

Chloe nearly fell backwards off the bench. Rose almost laughed at the look on her face. Trust Chloe to bring some comical relief to any situation.

“WHAT?! Oh my god! Oh my god, are you okay?” Chloe asked, getting up and giving Rose a hug.

“Yeah, I’m okay. It was a bit of a shock…”

“A bit?! Oh my God Rose, I would have died! In fact, I nearly did! How are you not completely suicidal?”

Rose smiled at Chloe’s concern. “It’s not so bad really. I can’t really do anything about it can I? Just gotta be there for Mark.”

“Yeah. Oh my God. Is Mark okay?”

“Mark’s okay.” Rose confirmed. “A bit confused, but he’s alright.”

“When did you find out?”

“Mark told me on Friday night.”

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Chloe asked.

“I wasn’t sure if I should. It’s not really my place to tell people is it? I wanted to though.”

“I guess. Aw, poor you. This was not the plan, was it?”

“It definitely wasn’t.” Rose said. “But I’m with Mark and he’s told me he’s not getting back with Sam so I’m happy-ish, given the circumstances.”

“So, do you know anything about Sam?” Chloe asked. “Have you met her or seen a picture or anything?”

“Ah well, this is the thing. I’ve heard two very different accounts of Sam. Mark didn’t tell me too much about her but he made her sound all very helpless and poor Sam.”

“As Mark would.”

“Yes, exactly. So there’s Mark being all sympathetic and nice about her, and it’s driving me mad coz naturally I hate her.”

“Naturally. So do I for the record.”

Rose grinned. “And I talk to Colin about it and I get a completely different account of things from him.”

“What did he say?”

“Well he wasn’t exactly nice, put it that way.”

“He doesn’t like her then?”

“Understatement! He hates her, which I’m glad about coz then I don’t feel so bad and evil.”

“You shouldn’t feel bad and evil. You’re allowed to hate her.” Chloe said. “So what exactly did Colin say about her?”

“He called her a slut.”

“Oh my God! Did he?! Go Colin!!”

“I know!!” Rose said. “He said she’s beautiful though, which wasn’t quite so encouraging.”

“I bet she’s really minging.”

“I dunno. Colin sounded like he was being pretty honest. I doubt he’d say she was beautiful if he didn’t mean it.”

“Well she can’t be any more beautiful than you if Mark’s not getting back with her.” Chloe pointed out.

“Well there is that.”

“There is that. What else?”

“Well he just said how she was a horrible person and I was so much nicer and…”

“Aww, did he?”

“Yeah.”

“Awww, bless him! I so want to meet him you know. He sounds really cool.”

“Oh he is. He’s soooo funny. He’s always winding Mark up, it’s hilarious!”

“Ow I wanna meet him!”

“I’m sure you will at some point.”

“Well I hope so. Is he like Mark?”

“Not really. He’s actually quite like Paul.”

“Cool. But unfair.”

Rose laughed.

“What song’s that?” Chloe asked, straining to hear the music that was playing.

“Um… isn’t that Same Old Brand New You?”

“Oh yeah! Are we gonna get to watch the concert this afternoon?”

“I don’t think so.” Rose told her.

Chloe looked disappointed. “Ow, why not?”

“Mark said that there probably isn’t much point hanging around after a1 have done their bit. Wouldn’t you rather spend the time with Ben?”

“Yeah I would actually.” Chloe said, grinning for seemingly no reason. “Shall w…” She stopped talking mid-sentence.

Rose looked at her. “What?”

Chloe just looked to the right. Rose followed her gaze and saw what Chloe could see: three guys walking in their direction. And not just any three guys; Lee, Duncan and Anthony from Blue.

“Are they coming over here?” Rose asked quietly.

“Dunno. Oh my God, what if they do?!”

“Oh my God, they are…” Rose trailed off as the Blue boys neared their picnic table.

“On your own, ladies?” Lee asked.

“Um…” Rose said.

Chloe smiled at him. “Looks like it.” She said.

Oh my god, is she flirting with him?! Rose thought.

“Mind if we join you?” Anthony asked.

“No, not at all.”

Lee, Anthony and Duncan sat down; Anthony and Lee next to Rose, and Duncan next to Chloe.

“Manners guys.” Duncan said. “I’m Duncan.” He said, needlessly really, as if they weren’t gonna know who he was!

“Lee.” Lee said.

“Anthony.”

“Hi.” Chloe said with a smile. “I’m Chloe and that’s Rose.”

“So what are you girls doing here then?” Duncan asked, looking straight at Chloe.

Obviously doesn’t matter what I’m doing then. Would he even care if I got up and did a mad dance on the table? Probably not. I cannot believe Chloe is flirting with him…

“Is that our table?” Ben asked, looking into the distance and trying to work out if his eyes were failing him or if Chloe and Rose had really split into five different people.

“That one?” Mark asked. “Yeah.”

“Okay, so, is it my imagination or are there more people than just Chloe and Rose sitting around it?”

“Male people…” Paul said with interest.

“What?!” Ben asked.

“Well they’re not laydees…” Paul said suggestively. “Tut tut, can’t leave them alone for 5 minutes!”

“Trouble with having beautiful girlfriends.” Chris said.

“Beautiful?” Mark asked.

“See, even Chris is after them!” Paul said, thoroughly enjoying this.

“I’m not!”

“What did you mean by beautiful?”

“Who is that?” Ben asked.

“He just touched her arm, Ben.” Paul pointed out.

“That’s it, he’s dead.”

“Someone’s getting over-protective.” Chris commented.

“Why are two of them sitting by Rose?!” Mark asked, noticing for the first time.

“He is sitting far too close to Chloe…”

As they got closer, they were able to see just who exactly were with Chloe and Rose.

“I do not believe it!” Ben exclaimed.

“Oh it’s only Blue.” Mark said relieved.

“I wouldn’t say that if I were you Mark. You know what that Anthony’s like. Coincidentally, he’s the one sitting by your girlfriend. Thinking on keeping her were you?” Paul said, more to himself than directly to Mark.

“They’re good looking boys.” Chris pointed out “helpfully”.

Chris and Paul fell behind as Ben and Mark stormed towards their girlfriends.

“This should be very interesting.” Chris said to Paul.

“No doubt about that.”

“They’re so paranoid. Like Chloe and Rose would choose one of those lot over Ben or Mark.”

“Hope there’s a fight.” Paul said mischievously.

Ben walked up to Chloe as calmly as he could. He didn’t really know what he was going to say. He was actually thinking of not saying anything but just snogging her. He thought that might get the message across pretty quickly.

Lee and Anthony looked up as Ben and Mark approached but Duncan was deep in conversation with Chloe.

This is it. Maybe I should just punch him. Oh how I’d love to do that. Chloe might not be too impressed though. Maybe not then… Ben thought.

“Alright babe?” he said, going up to Chloe.

She turned round, looking slightly surprised, but happy to see him nonetheless. “Hiya! How did sound-checking go?”

“Yeah it was fine.” Ben said, looking at Duncan.

“Hiya mate, how you doing?” Duncan said, smiling at Ben.

“Yeah I’m not too bad.” Ben said, sitting down next to Chloe as she moved up.

Closer to Duncan. Ben thought.

“We’re just passing the time with your lovely girlfriends. You don’t mind do you?” Duncan asked.

Yes and I’d like to kill you. Ben thought. If she looks at him like that again I’m gonna cry.

“No not at all!” he said lightly, putting an arm around Chloe.

Mark was pleased to see that Rose didn’t look like she was enjoying herself quite so much as Chloe. He knew this because as soon as he’d got to Rose, she’d got up and given him a hug whereas Chloe had just moved up for Ben to sit down and carried on talking to Duncan. Which was very interesting…

“You guys have finished sound-checking then?” Anthony asked Mark.

“Yeah.”

“We better find Simon and go and do our bit then lads.” Anthony said, getting up.

Lee and Duncan did the same.

“Are you coming this afternoon?” Duncan asked Chloe.

“Yeah, for some of it.”

Duncan smiled. “I’ll probably see you later then. Nice meeting you Rose.”

“You too.”

Not that you actually said one word to me the whole time you were here, but never mind, Rose thought.

“See ya Chloe.” Anthony said as the three of them ambled across the grass the same way that a1 had come from.

“Wow. I just had a conversation with Duncan from Blue!” Chloe exclaimed happily “He’s so nice! Well all of them are!”

Ben frowned. “Do you fancy him?”

Chloe looked at him with surprise. “No! Do you?!”

“No.”

“Well I’m glad we’ve sorted that one out because I was beginning to worry!”

“He fancies you.” Ben said.

“Yeah he does.” Paul agreed, taking Duncan’s place on the bench.

“No he doesn’t! Don’t be stupid! Why would he fancy me?”

Ben whispered something in Chloe’s ear, making her smile.

“No but seriously,” Ben said. “it was so obvious he fancied you.”

“Well he knew I was going out with you. We told them straight away, didn’t we Rose?”

“Yeah.”

“So he knew I was unavailable.”

“Just because someone’s not single doesn’t mean you can’t fancy them.” Chris said.

“Exactly.”

“Well I don’t fancy him, I fancy you. So you don’t have to worry. At all.” Chloe reassured Ben.

“I still don’t like him.”

“Why not? He’s a really nice guy!”

“I don’t trust him around you.” Ben said.

“You don’t trust him, or you don’t trust me?” Chloe asked suspiciously.

“I don’t trust him.”

“Well you obviously don’t trust me either if you think something’s gonna happen between us.”

“No I do trust you…”

“Ben, we were just talking. We’re just friends. You and me were a lot more than just friends after spending a bit of time together. Doesn’t that say something?” Chloe asked calmly. “Please don’t get all jealous of him because there’s really no need. Who cares if he fancies me or not? I certainly don’t, coz I don’t want him, I don’t love him. I love you.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Ben said, smiling at Chloe. “I just get…”

“I know. But no more worrying remember?”

Ben nodded.

As Chloe kissed him, Ben began to feel annoyed with himself. Why did he get like that? He’d never been a jealous person, ever. And certainly not with girlfriends. So why was he totally overreacting over the smallest thing? It was so unlike him, Ben knew that, but he didn’t know why it was happening. When he saw Chloe with Duncan, even though he knew she’d never cheat on him, he started to feel all panicky, as if Duncan was going to somehow take Chloe away from him. It was so stupid though, and he knew that if he kept acting like this Chloe would begin to get annoyed with him. She was right; he had no reason to worry. So why did he?

“What time are we due back here this afternoon?” Chris asked.

“We’re on at about 20 past 4 I think.” Mark said. “But I think we have to be here when it starts. We’ve got interviews to do anyway so we might as well get them out the way beforehand if we can. It’ll mean we can get away faster when we’ve done our set.”

“Yeah okay. Are we all being picked up?”

“I think so. We better just check with Del though. Do you know where he is?”

Chris shook his head. “No idea.”

“I’ll go and find him.” Mark said, getting up. “Coming with me?” he asked Rose.

“Sure!”

“What time does it start?” Ben asked as Rose and Mark walked away from the table, hand in hand.

“2-ish I think. But you know what these things are like.” Paul said. “It’ll probably rain anyway.”

“No don’t say that!” Chloe said.

“It won’t rain, the sky’s really clear.” Chris said, looking up.

“Well it better not.”

“You’ll be alright, you can just go and sit in the tent thing.” Ben told her.

“I wanna watch you perform though.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah! I wasn’t allowed at CD:UK coz of the newspaper thing so I definitely want to today. If I can?”

“I think that’d be okay, wouldn’t it?” Ben said, looking at Paul and Chris.

“Don’t see that there’d be a problem. You’ll need pass things though. So you can get in.” Chris said.

“Oh yeah. Well we can get them when we come back this afternoon. We’ll have plenty of time. Lot of hanging around I’m afraid.” Ben said.

“I don’t mind. I’m good at hanging around.”

Ben smiled. “Well I hope you don’t get bored.”

“Nah, I’m good at finding things to do. If all else fails, I can sit and count blades of grass, that’s always a good one.”

“Have you ever actually done that?” Paul asked.

“No.” Chloe admitted. “But it’s an idea, don’t you think?”