Chapter Thirty-Four
sure I had the number rite.
Great talking 2 u 2day,
have
to do it again sometime.
Dunc
Dunc? Who was Dunc?
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, Ben
realised who the message was from.
Duncan from Blue.
What the hell was he doing with Chloe’s mobile
number?! Suddenly feeling a mixture of anger, disappointment and guilt, Ben
cleared the screen and put the phone back on the side. Except now, it didn’t
say there was a new message. So if Chloe saw there was a message on her phone,
she’d wonder why it hadn’t told her. And she’d guess, Ben knew she would. She
was far too intelligent to be fooled like that. And he couldn’t lie to her, he
just couldn’t. So he’d have to delete the message. That was definitely the
safest thing to do, but wasn’t that even worse than reading it in the first
place? Plus, Ben wanted to ask Chloe about it, to confront her about why Duncan
had her phone number, but then she’d know he’d seen the message and she’d know
there had been a message and it had been deleted. Great, he’d got himself into
a right mess now.
Ben heard the bathroom door open and he hastily
put the phone back down on the side, how Chloe had left it. He held his breath
while he tried to make out which direction Chloe was going; towards him, or
away into his bedroom. The bedroom door closed and Ben breathed a sigh of
relief. He had a little more time to think, but he had to decide what to do
soon. He could just delete the message and not bring it up, but he knew it’d
drive him mad thinking about it.
Making the decision to be honest and tell Chloe
exactly what had happened, or more or less exactly what had happened, Ben left
the phone where it was and went back to his cooking, trying to work out how to
bring up the topic. He didn’t want to start an argument and he didn’t want to
accuse Chloe of anything, he just wanted… his mind put at rest he supposed.
Just had to make sure that, stupid as it sounded, there wasn’t anything going
on between Chloe and Duncan.
“Are you cooking?” came a surprised voice from
behind him.
Ben span round to see Chloe standing in the
doorway, freshly showered with wet hair. She came over to him and put her arms
around his waist.
“I didn’t know you could cook babe.” She said.
Ben smiled at her. God, he loved her so much.
“Thought I’d surprise you.”
“Aww, what you cooking?”
“It’s a pasta-y thing. You like pasta right?”
“Yeah. It smells lovely.” Chloe said, looking
up at him. “What?” she asked.
How can she tell something’s wrong? That’s
amazing, we’ve only known each other for a week and already she can read my mood
just by looking in my eyes.
“If I tell you something, will you be really
cross and break up with me?” Ben asked.
“No! What is it?”
“I did something really bad.”
“Go on.” Chloe said, suddenly sounding serious.
“Well your mobile was on the side and I was
about to move it when I saw that you had a new message. And I was curious, so I
read it.” Ben said, waiting for the reaction, wishing he could just close his
eyes and hide.
But instead of shouting at him, or getting
upset, Chloe just gasped. “So rude!” She said with a grin, letting go of Ben
and going over to her phone.
“It’s from Duncan.” Ben said, surprised at her
reaction.
Chloe stopped dead. “Is it?” she asked.
Now she looked like she was waiting to
be shouted at.
Picking up her phone, Chloe read the message.
“Why does Duncan have your phone number?” Ben
asked calmly, not wanting to annoy Chloe, especially seeing as she’d been so
great about him reading the message.
Chloe looked slightly guilty.
“We were just talking and he asked if he could
have it.” She said. “I told him that I didn’t think it was a very good idea but
he said just as friends. So I gave it to him.” She looked at Ben. “Are you
cross?”
Realising he’d blown everything totally out of
proportion and feeling terrible for it, Ben went over to Chloe.
“No I’m not cross.” He said, putting his arms
around her.
“Are you sure?” Chloe asked worriedly.
“Yeah! Are you cross with me for reading the
message?”
“Hmmm, maybe a little bit.”
“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have done it. I
won’t do it again.”
“That’s okay, I’ve got nothing to hide. You can
read all my messages if it’d make you happy.”
“I’m already happy.”
“It’s amazing what reading one text message can
do for your mood.” Chloe said with a smile.
“It’s amazing what being in the same room as
you can do for my mood.” Ben said, kissing her.
“Don’t burn the food.” Chloe said, breaking
away from Ben.
“It’s all under control.” Ben said, kissing her
again.
“Crisps?” Mark asked Rose.
“Yes.”
“Yes what?”
“Yes to crisps.”
Mark smiled. “That wasn’t the question.”
“I know.”
It was still a lovely sunny day outside and so
Mark and Rose were getting ready to embark on a picnic. They were in the
process of putting the food together.
“So what kind of crisps?” Mark asked.
“I don’t mind.”
“Walkers?”
“Yeah, anything!”
“Flavour preference?”
“Salt and vinegar. If you’ve got any.”
“Lucky for you we have plenty.” Mark said,
getting two packets of crisps out of a cupboard. “What else do we need for a
picnic?”
“Chocolate.” Rose said with a grin.
“How could I forget?” Mark walked across the
kitchen and opened a top cupboard.
He grabbed a packet of what should have been
chocolate bars, but when he looked inside it was empty.
“Hmm, seem to have a slight shortage of
chocolate. Colin must have eaten them all. He’s so annoying.”
“Well that’s okay, we don’t have to have
chocolate.”
“No, we will have chocolate.” Mark said. “We’ll
just have to go and buy some.”
“You can’t go and buy chocolate.” Rose said.
“Why not?”
“Coz you’ll get recognised.”
“Nah it’s okay, I’ll just put a cap on and
no-one’ll know it’s me.”
“You realise that never works, don’t you?”
“It does work!” Mark said indignantly.
“So does not.”
“Well we’ll see won’t we? When I go and buy
chocolate.”
Rose laughed. “Fine, but you will be
recognised.”
“Bet you five bars of chocolate that I don’t
get recognised.”
“Deal.” Rose said, shaking Mark’s hand.
“Looking forward to my five bars of chocolate.”
“So am I!”
“You’ll be recognised.”
“Won’t.”
“Will.”
“Won’t.” Mark said, throwing a packet of crisps
at Rose.
“What is it with you and throwing food at me?!”
Rose asked, throwing the packet back.
Mark caught it easily and threw it back at
Rose.
“If you’re not careful, I’ll start throwing
sandwiches at you!” Rose warned. “I think you’re forgetting that all the messy
food’s over by me.”
“Oh yeah. Sorry, I take it back.” Mark said.
“Such a liar.”
“You see right through me.” Mark said, throwing
more crisps at Rose.
“I will throw sandwiches. I have no shame.”
Mark laughed. “You’d miss.”
“Right, that’s it!” Rose said, picking up some
neatly wrapped sandwiches.
Before she could throw them, Mark was standing
in front of her. He grabbed the hand holding the sandwiches and kissed her.
When they broke apart, Rose said, “You only did
that coz you’re scared of sandwiches.”
“Oh shut up.” Mark said with a smile, going
back to his search for food. “Have we got enough stuff?”
Rose looked at the huge pile of food on the
table behind her. “More than enough!”
“Good. Are you about ready to go?”
“Yeah, I’ll just go to the loo and put my shoes
on and then I’m ready.”
“Cool. You go and do that and I’ll put all this
in some kind of bag so we can carry it.”
“Okay.”
Rose left the room and Mark started to put all
the food they’d prepared into a big bag. They had just about everything you’d ever
need for a successful picnic; a big bottle of Coke, sandwiches, crisps, sausage
rolls, boiled eggs, cakey things, strawberries, apples, all they were missing
was chocolate. In addition to the food, Mark also put plastic plates, cups,
various plastic cutlery in case they needed it, and a rug to sit on, into the
bag.
“Ready.” Rose said, coming back into the room
just as Mark put the last item into the bag.
“Great, let’s go!” Mark said excitedly, picking
up the bag.
“Is that really heavy?” Rose asked, as they
walked out to the car.
“It’s very full…”
“And too heavy for you.” Rose teased.
“Do you want to try carrying it?” Mark asked.
“Yes.”
“Go on then. You can put it in the car.” Mark
put the bag on the ground and opened the boot of the car.
“Okay, no prob…” Rose tried top pick up the bag
but it was so heavy she only managed to lift it off the ground about an inch.
Mark tried not to laugh.
“Don’t laugh, it’s not funny.”
“Sorry.”
Rose tried again, failing miserably.
“Oh leave me alone.” She said, letting Mark put
the bag in the car.
“Aw babe.” Mark said, putting his arms around
her. “You don’t need to be strong, that’s my job.”
Rose smiled. “Okay.”
They got in the car and Mark started to drive
away from the house.
“Where are we going for chocolate?” Rose asked.
“There’s a corner shoppy thing not far from
here. We’ll go there.”
“Okay.”
“Pick a CD.” Mark said, pressing a button to
reveal the in-car CD system.
“Out of what?” Rose asked.
“Press that button and it’ll tell you what’s in
there.” Mark said, pointing to a small black button on the CD player.
Rose scrolled through the titles.
“What do you want on?” she asked.
“Anything. I don’t mind.”
“Okay, Beatles?”
“Yeah!” Mark pressed play and the opening strains
of ‘Love Me Do’ played through the car.
“How far is it?” Rose asked.
“What? The shop or where we’re going?”
“Where we’re going.”
“About 20 minutes. The shop is right here.”
Mark said, pulling up at the side of the road. “Do you wanna come with me or wait
here?”
“Oh I’m coming with you. We have a bet
remember?”
Mark smiled and put his dark blue NY cap on.
“See? Completely unrecognisable.”
“Yeah right.”
“I am!”
Mark and Rose got out of the car and went into
the shop. There was a middle-aged man behind the counter and a couple of
teenager girls browsing the magazines. As Rose and Mark walked past them and on
to the sweets and chocolate section, one of the teenagers looked up. Rose saw a
puzzled look flash over her face and smiled to herself. Looks like she’d be
getting that chocolate.
“That girl recognises you.” Rose said quietly
to Mark.
“How do you know?”
“The look on her face when we walked past.”
“Nope, that doesn’t count.”
“Why not?” Rose asked.
“Because she hasn’t come over has she?”
“Well maybe she’s shy. Doesn’t mean she hasn’t
recognised you. I wouldn’t go over to you if I saw you in a shop with your
girlfriend.”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“No! I wouldn’t want to bug you.” Rose
explained.
“I don’t mind people coming up to me. It’s nice
that they know who I am.” Mark said.
“What’s with the cap then?”
“I don’t wanna be mobbed do I?”
“True.”
Rose looked back over to the girl and saw she
was talking excitedly to her friend. They kept looking over at Mark but it
didn’t look like they were actually going to come over. Which meant Rose would
have to buy Mark five bars of chocolate and put up with him gloating about
winning the bet all evening. That was really most annoying. Maybe she’d have to
help things along a little.
“So what are we getting then MARK?” Rose asked
loudly.
Mark looked at her and when he realised what
she was doing, he grinned.
“That’s cheating. I think you should be
disqualified.”
“Sorry, did I say that a bit loud?” Rose asked
innocently, smiling as she saw the girls coming over to them.
“Excuse me, are you Mark from a1?” the younger
one said timidly.
Mark gave Rose a look and smiled at the girls.
“Yeah, I am.”
Rose tried really hard not to laugh and busied
herself with chocolate picking.
“Can we have your autograph?”
“Yeah sure. Have you got a pen?” Mark asked.
“Um, yeah.” The older girl said, getting a pen
out of her bag. “Can you sign this?” she asked, producing a magazine with a1 on
the cover.
Mark took the pen and magazine. “What are your
names?” he asked.
“Patricia and Julie.”
“Okay.”
Mark signed the magazine for the two girls and
then handed it back to them.
“Thank you so much!”
“No problem.”
Both girls grinned star-struckly at him. “Bye!”
They said.
Mark smiled. “See ya.”
“I win.” Rose said quietly as she watched the
girls leave.
“You are so annoying. Such a cheater.” Mark
said, turning back to Rose.
“I know. I’ve chosen my five bars.”
“You don’t want five bars of chocolate.”
“I do.”
Mark laughed. “Yeah I had a feeling you might
hold me to that bet.”
Rose picked up the chocolate she’d chosen and
gave it to Mark. He took it to the counter and paid for it.
“You can share it.” Rose said.
“Oh that’s so kind of you, considering I paid
for it and everything.”
“I won this chocolate fair and square. I don’t
have to give you any of it! But I will. Coz I’m nice like that.”
“You are.” Mark said, unlocking the car and
getting back in. “Very nice.” He said, leaning over and giving Rose a kiss.