Chapter Thirty-Three
“That was really really good!” Chloe said, as
her and Rose walked back with a1.
“Yeah, you were definitely the best act.” Rose
said.
“We were the only act you saw!” Chris said.
“Yes but you were so good, we just know that
no-one could beat your performance.” Chloe said.
“Such a suck up.” Paul said.
“I am not sucking up!!” Chloe objected. “It’s
true, you were very good.”
“And how did you find our performance?” Paul
asked cheekily.
“Oh shut up.” Chloe said as Ben hit Paul.
“GUYS!”
Everyone looked to their right where Del was
standing.
“Photos, guys!”
“Oh okay. You two go back to the bench. We
won’t be long. Just a few photos for magazines and stuff.” Mark said.
“Okay!”
Chloe and Rose watched as a1 walked over to Del
and then off the do the photos. Then they carried on over to the bench.
“Can you remember where the bench is?” Chloe
asked Rose.
“I think so.”
“Don’t sound too confident.”
“We’ll find it!”
As they walked, they saw various bands making
their way to the stage, going for interviews and on their way out.
“Look there’s Blue!” Chloe said, pointing over
to where Duncan, Lee, Simon and Anthony were standing. They looked like they
were about to go home. “They’re our showbiz friends.” She laughed.
“And Steps.”
“Yeah, and Steps!! That was so cool. We hung
out with Claire!”
“I know! She was so nice.”
“She really was.” Chloe said, looking back over
to Blue.
Duncan looked up, spotted her and smiled.
“Yeah, and H is so funny!” Rose continued.
Duncan beckoned Chloe to go over.
“And Lee was really nice too. I was quite
surprised actually coz… Clo, are you listening to me?”
Chloe looked at her. “What? Yeah, sorry, no I
was listening. I’ll be back in a minute okay?”
“Where are you going?”
“Uh, Duncan wants me to go over.”
“Oh, okay. Shall I go back to the bench?” Rose
asked.
“Yeah, okay. You don’t mind do you?”
“No.” Rose lied. Of course she minded, but only
coz she didn’t think it was a good idea. Especially if Ben walked past and saw
Chloe talking to Duncan alone. “I’ll see you in a minute then.”
“Okay…” Chloe said, already on her way over to
Duncan. He met her half way.
“Hi!”
Chloe smiled. “Hi. You on your way home?”
“Yeah. I’m glad I saw you before I left
actually. Wanted to ask you something.”
“What?”
“Well it was really cool talking to you today,
and I just wondered if maybe I could have your phone number?”
“Oh.” Chloe said quietly. “I uh, don’t think
that’s a very good idea.”
“It’s okay, I know the score. You’re with Ben,
that’s cool. Just thought it’d be nice to keep in touch. Maybe we could meet up
some time when you’re in London again. Just as friends.” Duncan added.
“Um…”
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. Just
thought we got on well, nothing more than that.”
Chloe thought for a minute.
“Okay.”
Duncan smiled. “Cool. Tell me your number and
I’ll put it in my phone.”
“Okay, I’ll have to find it first though! It’s
a new phone, I don’t know the number yet.” Chloe said, getting the phone Ben
bought her out of her pocket.
“That’s a very nice phone. Mine’s really
rubbish, I’ve had it for ages.” Duncan said, getting his phone out too.
“Okay, ready?” Chloe asked.
“Go for it.”
“0-7-9-8-9-3-4-7-7-0-1.”
She watched as Duncan put the number into his
phone.
“Do you want mine?” he asked. “Just so it’s
fair.
“Yeah, okay.”
“0-7-7-5-9-3-8-6-2-2-6.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
“No problem. I’ll give you a call sometime.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“When are you going home?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“Enjoy the rest of your time down here then.”
“I’m sure I will.”
Duncan looked back over to where Lee was
standing by the side of a dark blue people carrier. Obviously Anthony and Simon
had already gone.
“Well I better go, but thanks for this,” He
held up his phone. “And I’ll speak to you soon. Say hi to Rose for me.”
“Okay, I will.”
“See ya.”
“Bye.”
Chloe walked slowly back in the direction of
where she guessed the bench was. She was sure she’d find it, even if she wasn’t
right the first time, but as she turned a corner, she saw it in clear view. The
guys weren’t back yet as Rose was sitting alone. She looked up as Chloe
approached.
“You were a long time.” She said.
“Yeah, sorry. I was taking to Duncan.”
Rose looked at her questioningly.
Chloe grinned, somewhat guiltily. “He asked for
my phone number.” She revealed, sitting down.
“No way!”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my god! Did you give it to him?” Rose asked,
praying that she hadn’t.
“Yeah. And he gave me his.”
Damn.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why did you give him your phone number?”
“Coz he asked for it!”
“Yeah but Clo, you’re going out with Ben.”
“I know! And so does Duncan. He just wanted to
keep in touch. As friends.”
“Are you gonna tell Ben.”
“Um… no.”
Rose raised her eyebrows.
“Only coz he’d go funny about it.” Chloe said.
“Hmmm.”
“Don’t you hmmm me Rose. You know full well
that I couldn’t be more in love with Ben, and I know that you think I fancy
Duncan…”
“I…”
“Don’t try and deny it! I can read your facial
expressions like a book. But you’re wrong, I just like him as a friend.”
“As long as you know what you’re doing.”
“I do.”
“Well that’s alright then.”
“It is. How long do you reckon Ben and Mark’ll
be?”
“No idea. They left kinda abruptly.”
“Yeah, they did. But I guess that’s all part of
being pop stars.”
“Which is very cool.”
“Oh it so is! Think we can go home when they
get back?”
“Hope so.” Rose grinned at Chloe. “I know why
you want to get home!”
“That’s so not the reason.”
“So is.”
“You’re so immature.”
“Oh and aren’t you the grown up one?! Tut tut,
breaking the law…”
“There’s nothing wrong with it. You didn’t
tell anyone though did you?” Chloe asked.
“No! Of course I didn’t! You told me not to.”
“I know, it’s just Paul said…”
“Paul is obsessed! He really is. He wouldn’t
shut up about it! He kept going, ‘I bet they’ve slept together, I bet they
have!’”
“Really?”
“Yeah! He really wanted to know if you had or
not. I don’t know why!”
“That’s a bit odd.”
“Yeah but you know what Paul’s like.”
“True. Still weird though.”
“It was funny actually coz I was really winding
him up, pretending that I’d told Mark and Chris.”
“You hadn’t had you?” Chloe asked worriedly.
“No!! I told you, I haven’t told anyone! Why
are you so worried about it anyway?”
Chloe shrugged. “I dunno. It’s just a private
thing, that’s all.”
“Does Ben know you told me?”
“Yeah, he didn’t mind me telling you. He said
it was okay as long as I didn’t say he was crap!”
Rose laughed. “Male pride.”
“Yeah.”
“He wasn’t crap then?”
“You can’t ask me stuff like that!!” Chloe
exclaimed.
“Why not? I am your bestest friend in the whole
world ever.”
“Don’t you try and guilt trip me into telling
you the details.”
“Ew, I don’t want the details!” Rose said.
“Good, coz you’re not gonna get them!”
“You didn’t answer my question though.” Rose
reminded Chloe.
“What question?”
“Is Ben good in bed?”
Chloe smiled. “Oh come on, this is Ben we’re
talking about here!”
“Yes, precisely why I wanna know.”
“So rude.”
Rose grinned.
Mark came over to the table. “Right. We’ve just
got one more interview to do and then we can all go home. Are you two alright
here for a bit? We won’t be long.”
“Yeah we’re fine!” Rose said.
“Okay. Sorry about this…”
“Don’t be stupid. You’re a pop star, it’s your
job. I don’t mind! Now go be interviewed.”
Mark smiled and gave Rose a kiss. “Won’t be too
long.” He promised.
“I’ll see you when you’ve finished.”
“Ben didn’t come and see me.” Chloe said
sulkily.
“Mark came to see me!”
“Yes I know that. Why didn’t Ben come and see
me?”
“Maybe he was busy.”
“Maybe he doesn’t care.” Chloe said sadly.
“Oh don’t be stupid! Mark probably wasn’t
needed or could be spared or something and that’s why he came over to tell us
they were going to be a bit longer. Of course Ben cares about you. God, anyone
can see that. Complete strangers that walk past this bench can see that!”
“What?”
Rose smiled. “You two! You are permanently all
over each other. I bet you don’t even notice that the rest of us are here!”
“You mean there were other people sat at this
bench?!” Chloe joked. “Are we really that couply?”
“At CD:UK when you walked into the canteen,
Mark called you Couple of the Year 2001. Yes you really are that couply.”
“Awww, did he? Awww. Aw.”
“I know. I so agree. Very awww.”
“Yeah! Awwwwwww!”
“I can’t believe I was actually worried that
you were going to be more into Ben than he was to you.” Rose said.
“You were worried about that?”
“Yeah! But maybe it should have been the other
way round…”
“Why?”
“Oh because just maybe Ben likes you a little
more than you like him.”
Chloe looked puzzled. “I love Ben.” She said.
“Yeah, and he loves you… more than anything
else in the whole world.”
Chloe shrugged. “Same.”
“Is it?”
“What are you getting at?”
“I’m just worried about you and Ben, that’s
all.”
“There’s nothing to be worried about!”
“Clo seriously, don’t try to make him jealous
by talking to other guys.” Rose said.
“I…”
“Because you don’t need to. Anything you want,
Ben will give to you. You don’t need to think up ways of making him pay more
attention to you because you only need to shout and he’ll be right there,
giving you as much attention as you want. He already wants to pay you
attention, he wants to be with you, he’d give you everything he has. Don’t
spoil things by being insecure. You don’t have to be.” Rose said.
Chloe was a bit taken aback. How did Rose know
so much… stuff?! She’d suddenly gone all wise and grown up, and clearly knew
far more than Chloe about these things. Except she was wrong on one count;
Chloe wasn’t trying to make Ben jealous by talking to other guys, she was only
being friendly, but Rose was right about everything else. Maybe the watch and
listen method of socialising worked better than Chloe had thought. Well now
Chloe didn’t know what to say. She felt like she’d just been told off by a
teacher or something when she knew she was in the wrong.
“I won’t.” Chloe said finally. “And I don’t do
it on purpose, I can’t help it. I’m not interested in anyone other than Ben
it’s just, talking to other guys, when they’re interested in you, it’s an ego
boost.”
Rose nodded. “I know. It’s harmless as far as
your concerned. But Ben doesn’t see it like that, he gets jealous, and if he
doesn’t get fed up with you, you’ll get annoyed with him for being jealous. All
I’m saying is be a bit more aware of what you do and how it’s gonna look to
Ben.”
Chloe smiled. “How come you’re so wise all of a
sudden?”
“I actually don’t know! Make it up as I go
along and it seems to make sense!” Rose said, laughing.
Back at Ben’s house that evening, Chloe was
having a shower while Ben made them tea. Chloe had left her mobile on the
kitchen side and Ben was about to pick it up to move it out the way when it
beeped. Ben looked at the small screen. The display showed;
new message
One new message? She’d only had the phone for a
day, who would be sending her messages? Ben remembered that she’d got a message
from Rose before so he guessed it must be from her. Still, Ben was curious to
see what the message said. He knew he shouldn’t read it, that was invading
Chloe’s privacy, but she didn’t need to know that he’d seen it did she?
Going out of the kitchen, Ben stood in the
hall. He could still hear the shower going so he figured he had at least 5
minutes before Chloe came out of the bathroom. He shouldn’t do it, he really
shouldn’t, but he… oh what the hell! Curiosity getting the better of him, Ben
pressed a button and the message appeared on the screen.
sure I had the number rite.
Great talking 2 u 2day, have
to do it again sometime.
Dunc