Oooh, okay, this is where LTD starts to actually get a bit well written, lol! This is about where I start to like this fic too, and I actually reeeeeally like this chapter, so… well, I hope you do too!! Yup, enjoy!! xxx

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“What platform is it?” Ben asked as him and Chloe made their way through the crowds of people at the station.

“Nine.” Chloe said, looking at her ticket. She pointed in the direction of the platform. “It’s all the way over there.”

They walked, hand in hand towards the end of their weekend together. As they approached the platform, they saw that there was a train already waiting there.

“Is that your train?” Ben asked.

“I think so.” Chloe said sadly as they walked alongside the carriages to one of the doors.

“What time does it leave?”

Chloe looked at her ticket again. “2:49.” She said, feeling a lump form in her throat.

“What time is it now?”

“I don’t know…” she mumbled, tears falling down her cheeks.

Ben put a hand on her arm to stop her from walking any further. He stood facing her.

“I don’t think I can do this Ben.” Chloe said.

Ben tried to smile. “Course you can, you’ll be fine!”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

Ben gently wiped away the tears that were staining her cheeks.

“No more tears.” He said softly, sliding his arms around her.

Chloe threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

Ben hugged her back, trying not to cry himself. He had to be strong for her.

“I’ll be seeing you so so soon, I promise.” He said, moving his hands up to her hair.

Chloe pulled back to look at him. “Thought you said no more tears?” she said, smiling and reaching up to touch Ben’s face and the tears that were falling from his eyes, despite his best efforts to keep them in.

Ben smiled too. “I’m such a hypocrite.” He said. “I love you babe. I love you so much that it’s killing me saying goodbye to you.”

“So don’t say it.” Chloe said, kissing him.

Ben responded, kissing her like he’d never kissed her before.

“I should get on the train or there’ll be no seats left and I’ll have to sit in the luggage compartment.” Chloe said when they broke apart.

Ben nodded. “If there’s no seats left you can always get back off again and wait for the next one. Or never go home…”

Chloe smiled at him. “I love you.” She said, before giving him a final hug. She knew that if she prolonged this any more it’d only be harder. Picking up her holdall, she turned away from Ben and walked towards the carriage door. Ben didn’t say anything, just watched her go, tears blurring his vision. Just before she got on the train, he couldn’t stand it any more.

“Chloe!” he shouted, running towards her.

She turned round, bag on the train, feet on the platform. Ben took her in his arms and hugged her. They stood like that for what seemed like hours, although it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes, until the guard blew his whistle.

“I have to go…” Chloe said. “Ring me?”

“Every day.” Ben said, so reluctant to let her go.

But finally he did, she got on the train and the guard closed the door. Ben watched the train as it pulled out of the station, taking Chloe back to her house, far far away from him. When it was completely out of sight, he turned round and slowly walked back over to the escalators. The same escalators that had started off one of the best weekends of his life. As he passed the spot where him and Mark waited for Chloe and Rose, he felt his heart sink. Turning away, he carried on down the escalators, towards the tube platforms. Nothing looked the same without Chloe by his side. Everything looked dull and uninteresting. Ben sighed. The rest of today was not going to be fun.

“Just up there.” Rose said, pointing to a small road off the right of the road they were driving along at the moment.

Mark indicated and turned into the road.

“It’s on the right, near the end.”

“That one?” Mark asked.

“Yeah.”

“Wow, that’s really cool! It’s like a proper little cottage.”

Rose smiled. “If my parents are in, there’ll be a car in the drive so you’ll have to park on the road, but if they’re not there then you can park in the drive.”

There wasn’t a car in the drive so Mark parked the car there. They both got out and got Rose’s bags from the boot.

“Cool, looks like they’re not in.” Rose said, pleased she’d have the house to herself while Mark was there.

Rose led the way up the drive, opened the back gate and put her bag down in front of the kitchen door to find her key.

Mark was busy taking in his surroundings. “This is such a nice place!” he said. “You and Chloe both live in really great areas, I can’t believe I’ve never been to either of them before.”

“Well it’s not as nice as Blakeney obviously, coz Chloe’s in Blakeney and not here, but it is a nice place to live.”

“You’re really close to Chloe aren’t you?”

Rose found her key, turned it in the lock and opened the door. “Like sisters. She knows me better than anyone else.” She smiled at Mark as they went into the kitchen. “And now I’ve got two people to miss!”

“Oh that must be such an inconvenience for you. I’m sorry, shall I go?” Mark joked.

“Shut up.” Rose said, hitting him playfully.

“Gonna make me?” Mark asked, grabbing Rose by the waist and pulling her closer to him.

“Maybe.” Rose said, grinning and kissing Mark briefly on the lips. “Maybe not.”

“I’ll have to do something else then.” He said, kissing her for longer.

“ROSE?”

Mark and Rose quickly pulled apart as someone shouted her name from upstairs. They looked at each other as footsteps were heard on the stairs.

“I guess not everyone’s out then.” Rose said, looking to the kitchen doorway as her brother appeared, looking slightly surprised to see her there with Mark.

“Hi.” He said shyly.

“Hi! Are mum and dad out?” Rose asked as Mark let go of her.

“Um, yeah. They’ve gone shopping. Emma phoned.”

“Oh my god, are you passing a phone message on?!” Rose smiled. “What did she say?”

“She wants you to phone her back.” Jamie said.

“Okay, I’ll do that later. How long are mum and dad out for?”

Jamie shrugged. “Dunno. They only just left.”

“Oh, this is Mark, by the way.” Rose said, realising that she was the only person in the room who wasn’t standing there awkwardly. “Mark, this is my little brother, Jamie.”

Mark smiled at Jamie. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Jamie said quietly.

“Have you had lunch?” Rose asked her brother.

“Yeah. I’m going round Johnny’s house. Can you tell mum?”

“Yeah sure. When are you coming back?”

“Dunno.”

“Okay, be back for tea though.”

“I will.” Jamie said, putting his shoes on and going out the kitchen door.

Rose looked at Mark. “He’s a bit shy.” She said.

“He looks like you.”

“Do you think?”

“Yeah! If he was a girl, you’d look like twins!!” Mark said.

“Hmmm, is that a compliment or not?” Rose asked.

“Would I ever do anything but compliment you?” Mark asked, putting his arms around Rose again.

“You better not…” Rose said, picking up where they left off when they’d been interrupted by Jamie.

The phone rang.

Rose pulled away from Mark again.

“Someone’s determined to interrupt us.” She said, grinning. “Now I have to find the phone. Stay there.”

Mark did as he was told as Rose left him in search of the phone. She found it on the table in the room at the bottom of the stairs.

“Hello?” she said, taking the phone back into the kitchen. Mark come over to her and slid his arms around her waist from behind. “Hiya! I was just about to phone you back. Well sort of just about to, how are you?” Rose asked, leaning back against Mark. “I’m fine… yeah I’ve had a great weekend! … Oh nothing much…”

Mark coughed loudly. Rose looked up at him and grinned.

“I went to a friend’s house… no, no-one you know…. Can I phone you back later? I’m um, a bit busy at the moment… okay, I’ll speak to you later then… bye!” Rose hung up and put the phone down on the kitchen table.

“Was that Emma?” Mark asked.

“Yeah.”

“Who’s Emma?”

Rose laughed. “She’s a school friend.”

“You were gonna say you didn’t do anything this weekend.” Mark said, turning Rose round to face him.

“I was n… well okay, yes I was.” Rose confessed. “I didn’t want to talk about you when you were standing right behind me.”

“Why not? You gonna say nasty things?”

“What do you think?” Rose asked, smiling.

“I think we need to get back to what we were doing before we have any further interruptions.” Mark said, kissing her.

“That was so overdue.” He said when they broke apart.

“It was. Wanna see my room?” Rose asked.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

Rose grinned at Mark and took his hand. She led him through the smaller sitting room…

“Small sitting room, big sitting room through that door.”

…and up the stairs.

“Brother’s room up there, mum and dad’s room there, bathroom there and spare room there.” Rose said when they reached the top, pointing in the relevant directions.

“So by default, your room should be that one there.” Mark said, pointing to the closed door in front of them.

“Well guessed.” Rose said, opening her bedroom door and going in with Mark. “Oooh, it’s a bit messy. And small.”

“It’s nice. Cosy.” Mark said.

“Very good way of looking at it.” Rose agreed, sitting on the bed.

Mark sat down next to her.

“What time do you have to go?” Rose asked.

“I need to be back by 4. So in…” Mark looked at his watch. “about half an hour. I should probably go before your parents get back anyway.”

Rose nodded. “It’d probably go down better if the first time they know about you is when I tell them rather than when they walk in on us snogging in my bedroom.”

Mark smiled. “That wouldn’t be great for first impressions would it?”

“It really wouldn’t.”

Ben pulled the front door shut behind him and went into his sitting room. He flopped sadly down on the sofa. His whole flat felt different without Chloe there. It felt all empty, like there was something missing. A piece of paper on the table next to the phone caught his eye. He reached over, picked it up and unfolded it.

Ben,

I’ve had a fantastic weekend, thank you

so much for everything. I’m gonna miss

you loads, don’t you go forgetting me

now!

Love you,

Chloe xxx

Ben looked at the piece of paper in his hand. The only piece of Chloe left in London. He read it again. It was such a sweet gesture that it just made him feel even more depressed. Remembering something, Ben got up and went into his bedroom. Going over to his chest of drawers, he picked up the flat packet lying on top. He opened the flap and took out the photos that him and Chloe had got developed earlier. He took them back into the sitting room and sat back down, putting the kettle on on his way past. While it boiled, he started to look through the pictures. There were loads of him that Chloe had taken, and lots of Mark and Rose, but his favourite ones were the ones with Chloe in them. She’d been taking the photos most of the time so there weren’t that many of her, but there were a couple of Ben and Chloe at the charity concert, and Ben’s favourite which was of Chloe and Rose sitting chatting. Neither of them were looking at the camera because they hadn’t known Ben was about to take the photo, but to Ben, that just made the photo even better coz it was totally natural and the two girls both looked so happy. It made Ben smile just looking at it.

The kettle clicked to signal it had boiled and Ben carefully put the photos down on the sofa and got up to make a cup of coffee. Remembering the reason why Chloe had had to go home at the time she did, Ben picked up the phone and dialled Paul’s number. After five rings, Paul answered.

“Hello?”

“Fancy a bit of studio time?” Ben asked, pouring hot water into a mug containing coffee and sugar.

“Ben mate! You alright?”

“Depressed and alone, yeah I’m great.” Ben said sarcastically, going back into the sitting room with his coffee.

“Chloe gone home, has she?” Paul asked.

“Yeah, about half an hour ago. Do you wanna come round?”

“Yay let’s write songs!” Paul said.

Ben laughed.

“In the mood for drinking tonight?”

“Does it involve me getting so blind drunk I can barely see?” Ben asked.

“As ever.”

“Count me in then. I’m in the mood for a bit of drowning my sorrows.”

“Want me to bring some booze over?” Paul offered.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll see what I’ve got round here and if it’s really pathetic, I’ll go out and get some more.”

“Cool. I’ll see you in about half an hour then.”

“Yeah, see ya mate.”

“Bye.”

Ben put the phone on the table. He sighed. Getting drunk wasn’t a good plan was it? Especially not with Paul. But then again, if it’d stop him feeling sad about Chloe not being here, Ben didn’t really care if it was a good idea or not. There was no point starting to be sensible now after nineteen years of stupidity. And it wasn’t like he had to get up early the next day. The meeting with Tim and Vicky wasn’t till the afternoon so he could sleep until then if he got really drunk. Which he thought was very likely. He was quite capable of getting completely hammered on his own, but with Paul there to encourage him it was even easier.

Ben wanted to talk to Chloe. He picked up the phone again and dialled her mobile number. Almost immediately, Chloe answered.

“Hello?”

“Hi babe.”

“Ben! Hi! How are you?”

Ben smiled. She sounded really pleased to hear from him. He was certainly pleased to hear her voice.

“Missing you more than I thought was possible.” He said.

“Aw, it’s only been about half an hour!”

“I know, I can’t help it. Flat doesn’t seem right without you here. How are you?”

“Missing you too. And currently sitting on the floor of the train due to lack of seats.”

“You’re sitting on the floor?!”

Chloe laughed. “Yes, I’m sitting on the floor. It’s not that bad, quite comfy surprisingly. Except when people step on me on their way off the train.”

“Clo, you should have waited for the next one.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I don’t mind sitting on the floor. It’s fun. And I need to get home before mum gets back anyway. Don’t want her to worry.”

Ben smiled. Only Chloe would find sitting on the floor of a train coz there were no seats left fun!

“No. How long’s the journey back?”

“About another hour and a half now. I’ve gotta change at Swindon to get to Gloucester, but I should be back home by about 20 past 6 if I don’t miss any trains or buses.”

“That late?” Ben asked, surprised.

“It’s not that late. Just annoying bus times and stuff.”

“I should have got a car to drive you back, I feel really bad now.”

“Aw Ben, don’t worry! I’m fine getting the train back!”

“But I’m meant to be looking after you this weekend, not shoving you on a train and expecting you to get home on your own.”

“I’m not five.” Chloe said.

“I know babe, I just feel a bit guilty.”

“Don’t be stupid, you’ve got to work this afternoon anyway.”

Ben remembered guiltily what he’d just agreed with Paul. Didn’t seem such a good idea now. Damn Paul making him drink alcohol.

“Just make sure you get lots of good songs done.” Chloe continued. “I’m expecting at least five number one singles out of this afternoon’s session.”

“Like I can write a number one single!” Ben said.

“You can! Oh you so can! You wrote Same Old Brand New You, didn’t you? That went to number one!”

“Chris wrote most of that.”

“But Paul didn’t write any of it, so if anyone should be feeling sorry for themselves, it’s him. And he’s not, so you shouldn’t be. Did that make any sense?” Chloe asked.

“Yes, it did make sense.” Ben said. “Chloe sense.”

“Why do I get my own sense?” Chloe asked.

“Coz you’re weird.”

“I am not weird!” Chloe said indignantly. She laughed. “Ooops, I think I said that a little bit too loud, everyone just turned round and looked at me. Oh the shame.”

Ben laughed too. He could just imagine the scene; Chloe sitting on the floor next to her bag, talking loudly on the phone, making absolutely no sense to the whole carriage who were listening to every word she said and pretending they weren’t.

“And okay, yes I am weird, but y’know, it’s better to be weird than completely sane. That should be my life motto I think.”

“I agree.”

“Good. So, what are you doing tonight? Having loads of fun without me no doubt.” Chloe said.

“Um…”

“Sorry, is that question too difficult for you?” Chloe teased.

“No, I just think you’ll be cross if I tell you what I have planned.”

“Does it involve strip clubs, prostitutes or naked women?” Chloe asked.

Ben almost choked on his coffee. That must have prompted some strange looks from Chloe’s fellow passengers.

“No!” Ben said.

“Well that’s alright then. I can’t tell you what to do anyway.”

“Depends what you’re telling me to do.” Ben said with a grin.

Chloe laughed. “Send me a tonne of chocolate. Does that work?”

“If you want a tonne of chocolate…”

“No, I don’t really want a tonne of chocolate. Just seeing what you’d do if I told you to. Are you gonna tell me what you’re doing tonight?”

“Most probably getting drunk with Paul.” Ben said.

“Am I meant to be surprised?” Chloe asked.

Ben could hear the smile in her voice.

“Yes! I’m very insulted!”

“Sorry, would you prefer it if I got really cross and said you couldn’t touch another drop of alcohol as long as you live?”

“You have a point.”

“I don’t mind if you want to go out and get drunk. Just make sure Paul looks after you. Oh, and no snogging any other girls.”

“As if I would.” Ben said. “We’re staying in anyway.”

“Well that’s even better! Enjoy your hangover tomorrow.”

“Oh I will. What are you doing this evening?”

“Watching TV, chatting to Rose online, stuff like that.”

“Can I chat to you online?” Ben asked.

“You can chat to me on phone.” Chloe said. “You don’t have the internet anyway.”

“Don’t I?”

“No.”

“Why not? I hope you didn’t do half a job when installing my entire computer.” Ben joked.

“So rude. You need an internet account thing and a phone extension cable before you can set it up anyway.”

“You lost me at internet.” Ben said.

Chloe laughed. “I’ll do it next time I come up okay?”

“Okay.”

“What phone company are you with?”

“Uuuum… dunno. BT?”

“Are you asking me or guessing?”

“Guessing. Do you know?” Ben asked as an after thought.

“No I don’t know what phone company you’re with! Well what company sends you phone bills?”

“Dunno, just give them straight to our accountant.”

“You have an accountant to pay your bills for you?!”

“Yes.” Ben said quietly. “Why is that funny?” he asked, hearing Chloe laugh.

“Oh I dunno, just is!”

“You make me feel really dumb.” Ben said.

“Do I? Why?”

“Coz you know loads of stuff and I don’t know anything.”

“Aw babe, you know loads!”

“Not about computer things.”

“But you know more than me about pop star stuff.”

“That’s coz it’s my job.”

“So, computer stuff’s kinda like a hobby. Don’t feel dumb.”

“If I keep feeling dumb will you come and cheer me up?” Ben asked.

“I’d live with you permanently if I could!”

“I’d be cheered up all the time then.”

“Well I better move in as soon as possible!” Chloe joked.