The
silver people carrier pulled off the main road into the Granada service station
car park.
“Where
are we?” Chloe asked.
“Service
station.”
“Oh
good, we can get food now.” Said Ben. “Are you hungry?” he asked Chloe.
“Yeah,
I’m starving!” she said. “Someone ate half my toast this morning.”
“Oh
that’s funny coz someone ate half of mine too.” Rose said, grinning at Chloe.
“What
are the odds of that?”
“High
with Ben around.” Mark said, opening the slide door.
Ben
leant over Chloe and pushed Mark in retaliation as he got out.
Mark
stumbled out of the car. “What was that for?” he asked, turning round.
“Coz
you’re a bastard.” Ben informed him, grinning.
“Just
so I know then.” Mark said.
Rose,
Chloe and Ben all got out of the car after Mark.
“Are
you not worried about getting mobbed again?” asked Rose.
“It’s
generally not so bad at service stations. It’s only when there’s a big crowd
that there’s a problem anyway.” Mark said as they started to walk towards the
services building.
“Yeah.
No-one ever expects us to be at service stations.” Ben said. “Coz of course,
we’re not real people. When we finish performing on Top Of The Pops, we go to
the holding bay and sit in a small box with all the other celebrities until
duty calls again.”
“Wow,
I never knew that!” Chloe exclaimed sarcastically. “You learn something new
every day.”
“Yep.
Today’s purely a one off when we’ve been let out of our boxes for a special day
outing.” Mark said.
“And,
we’re actually robots. But don’t tell anyone.” Ben said to Chloe.
“Your
secret’s safe with me.” she assured him. “That is, until tomorrow when I go to
the papers and tell them everything you’ve just told me, aided by the miniature
tape recorder I have in my pocket.”
“Then
there really would be a scandal!”
“Yeah.
Sordid sex romp with robot. Now there’s something you don’t hear in the
news every day.”
“Yeah…”
Chloe said. “Although I think I might have noticed if I’d had a sordid sex romp
with a robot.”
“Ah
well, it’s very convincing.” Ben said, winking at her.
“Now
I don’t want to know.” Rose said.
“Oh
it’s alright Rose, you’ll get your turn. There’s no need for jealousy between
friends.”
Rose
smiled at Ben and shook her head.
“Are
there loos in this place?” Chloe asked.
“Probably.”
Ben said.
“Nice
and specific then.”
“Well
I don’t know! Have I ever been here before?”
“Would
I know that?”
“Go
and walk on your own.” Ben said, pushing Chloe gently away from him.
“He’s
not used to the retaliation.” Mark told her.
“Oh
is that what it is?”
“Yeah.
That’s what comes of always getting your own way all the time. I say good for
you. You show him!”
“I
do not always get my own way!” Ben protested.
“Yeah
ya do!”
“I
do not!”
“Fine.
You win.”
“Thank
you.”
“Told
you.” Mark said to Chloe.
“Such
a pain.” Ben muttered as the group entered main building.
“I’m
going to see if I can find a loo.” Chloe said.
“Oh
I’ll come as well.” Said Rose.
“We’ll
get the food then.” Ben decided. “Do you want anything in particular?” he asked
Chloe.
“No,
I don’t mind, anything.” Chloe said. “But definitely chocolate.” She added.
“I
can see you’re my kind of person.” Ben said, smiling at her.
Rose
and Chloe set off towards the toilets at the far end of the service station
building while Ben and Mark walked in the opposite direction to the shop.
“Is
it just me, or is this incredibly fun?” Ben asked as they browsed the rows of
food.
“It
really is!” Mark agreed.
“It’s
coz they’re young I think.” Ben said. “They make us feel younger.”
“Like
you need much encouragement.”
“Stop
it! You’re being so annoying today.”
“Yeah,
likewise! Stop trying to humiliate me in front of Rose!”
“Why
do you care?” Ben asked.
“Because
I… you know why, stop being a pain.”
“Rose
and Mark, sittin’ in a tree…” Ben started.
“Oh
the maturity…” Mark muttered, watching as Ben put half the shop into a basket.
“Sure you got enough there?”
“Um…”
Ben picked up a packet of crisps. “Yes.”
“That
was quick.” Mark said, as Chloe and Rose approached.
“Yeah,
we found out that there are no loos. So we didn’t go.”
“Probably
just as well.”
“Whatcha
buying?” Chloe asked Ben.
He
showed her what was in the basket.
“Cool.”
“Will
that do?”
“How
big do you think my appetite is?!”
“Oh
it’s not for you. This is for you.” Ben said, picking a single bar of chocolate
up.
“Nice.
Thanks.”
“No
please, don’t thank me. Generosity’s my middle name!”
“Is
that before or after greedy and stingy?” Mark asked.
“I
think you’ll find it follows gorgeous and charismatic actually.” Ben said.
“I
feel sorry for you Chloe.” Mark said.
“Why?”
Chloe asked with a smile.
“He’ll
never love you as much as he loves himself.”
“Oh
that’s okay, coz she’ll never love him as much as she loves her hair.” Rose
said.
“Rose!”
“Match
made in heaven.” Mark said. “Go and pay for that Ben. We won’t be there until
it shuts otherwise.”
Ben
paid for the contents of his basket and the four of them headed back out to the
car that was waiting in the car park for them. They got back into the car and
it started up again.
“What
do you want Clo?” Ben asked, rummaging through the bag of food on his lap.
“What
chocolate did you get?”
“Dairy
Milk, Crunchie, Snickers and Yorkie.”
“What
are you having?”
“I
don’t know, I like them all.”
“Okay,
can I have the Snickers?”
“Yep.
One Snickers coming up.” Ben said, handing the chocolate bar to Chloe. “Do you
two want chocolate?” he asked Rose and Mark.
“I
do!” Rose said.
“You
don’t like chocolate for breakfast.” Mark reminded her.
“Is
it still breakfast time? No.”
Mark
looked at her wonderingly. “Mad.” He said.
“Can
I have the Yorkie?” Rose asked.
“Sure.
Mark?”
“No,
I’m okay thanks Ben.”
“What
are you doing this weekend Clo?” Ben asked.
“Nothing.”
Chloe said. “Just Chloe and Rose stuff probably.”
“How
long are you staying at Chloe’s?” Ben asked Rose.
“Until
Monday, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.
Why? What are you doing this weekend?”
“It’s
busy this weekend a1-wise.”
“Oh
yeah, we’ve got that charity thing haven’t we?”
“Yep.
Oh, we have to remember to have rehearsals some time this week.”
“It’s
okay, Del’s on it. Gonna get us a studio somewhere.”
“Cool.”
“What
charity thing?” Chloe asked.
“There’s
a big charity concert in one of the parks in London on Sunday afternoon. It’s
like Party in the Park, but not as big.”
“Cool!”
“Yeah,
it should be really good. You can come if you want.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!
That’d be okay, wouldn’t it Mark?”
“Yeah,
I think so.”
“That
would be so cool! Really?”
Ben
smiled at Chloe’s delight. “Yes! Really. If you can get down to London on the
train, we can pick you up from the station and you can come with us to the
concert.”
“That
shouldn’t be a problem.” Chloe said.
“Great!
I’ll see you on Sunday then!” Ben said happily.
“Yay!”
“Who
else is doing the charity concert?” Rose asked excitedly.
“I
don’t know all the acts who are going to be there, but I think Atomic Kitten…”
Chloe
gasped. “I love Atomic Kitten!!”
“More
than you love a1?” Ben asked.
“Of
course not more than I love a1.” Chloe said. “a1 are like my favouritest band
in the whole world ever!”
“Oh
good.” Ben said, amused.
“So
who else is gonna be there?” Rose asked again.
“Westlife
I think.” Mark said, cringing.
“I
thought you got on with Westlife.” Rose said.
“Well
we do, but whenever we’re put together in a show or something, the next day,
it’s always like ‘Westlife hate a1’ or ‘a1 slag off Westlife’ or something like
that. It gets a bit annoying that’s all.”
“And
their music is really boring and rubbish.” Ben added.
“You
can’t say things like that!” Mark reprimanded him. “It’s probably you who
starts off all these rumours in the first place.”
“Well
their music is boring, isn’t it Chloe?” Ben looked to Chloe for support.
“Oh,
don’t get me started on Westlife okay? I get far too carried away!”
“But
do you get on with them though?” Rose asked, confused.
“Well
personally, I have nothing against them, except for maybe lack of talent.” Mark
said, with a smile. “We just try and ignore the rumours about stuff they’re
supposed to have said though. It’s not worth making enemies.”
“So
you don’t like them!” Rose said triumphantly.
“No,
I never said that. They are nice people, but I don’t like their music. There we
go, that’s a good answer. You can’t get me on that one.”
“Do
you like them?” Chloe asked Ben.
“Yeah
I guess, there are nicer people in the world though.” Ben paused long enough
for Rose and Mark to start their own conversation so him and Chloe weren’t the
centre of attention. “Can I ask you something?”
“Yep.
You can ask me anything you like!”
“If
someone asked me a question, and that question was, ‘do you have a
girlfriend?’…” Ben started.
“Yeah…”
Chloe prompted.
“Would
it be okay if I said yes?”
Chloe
looked confused. “Um…”
“Okay,
well I didn’t do a very good job about that considering I’ve been thinking
about how I was going to say it the whole journey, so I’ll put it another way.”
Ben said. “I like you, a lot. So much so that I don’t like the thought of you
being with other guys, and the only way you’ll be just mine is if you’re my
girlfriend. And I think we get on really well, we had loads to talk about last
night, so the girlfriend thing seems like a pretty good option.”
Chloe
smiled uncertainly at Ben.
“And
I could have just avoided all this confusion by saying, ‘will you be my
girlfriend?’ but I thought that sounded really crap so I… didn’t say that…” Ben
trailed off. “Now I wish I had.”
“You’re
so sweet when you’re tongue-tied.” Chloe said. “I’d love to be your
girlfriend.”
“Oh
good.” Ben said. “Coz I’d have hated to get so rambling for no reason. Do you
think we could maybe do the kissing thing now so I can stop talking?”
Chloe
grinned. “I think we can definitely do that now.”
“How
much longer is it?” Rose asked Mark.
“Dunno.
Not too long I should think. Why? You bored?”
Rose
grinned. “A bit.”
“Shall
we play a game?”
“Okay!”
“I
spy?”
“Okay,
you go first.”
“Right.”
Mark looked around him. “I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with…
s.”
Rose
looked to the seat behind her. “Ew. Snogging?” she asked, laughing and looking
away.
“Nope.”
“Sky?”
“Nope.”
“Seats?”
“Nope.”
“Um…
silver necklace?”
“Nope.”
“Silver
ring?”
“No.”
“Silver…”
“It’s
nothing silver!”
“Okay,
um… can I have a clue?”
“Are
clues allowed?”
“In
this game they are.”
“Okay.
A clue… it’s in the car.”
“In
the car?”
“Yes.”
“Shoes?”
“No.”
Rose
paused and looked around her. “Surreal situation?”
Mark
laughed. “No.”
“Can
I have another clue?”
“You’re
rubbish at this!”
“I’m
not! You’ve just picked something really hard!”
“Okay,
it’s on the seat behind you.”
Rose
wrinkled her nose. “That means I have to look at those two being all lovey
dovey.”
Mark
looked over his shoulder. “It’s okay, they’ve stopped snogging now.”
“They’re
still there though.”
“It’s
sweet!”
“It’s
not sweet, it’s depressing.” Rose let slip.
“Why
is it depressing?”
“No
reason! Anyway, I spy…”
“Are
you playing I spy?” Chloe asked, leaning over the back of the seats.
“Yep.”
“What’s
the letter? Can I play?”
“You
can play coz I’m stuck. The letter’s s.” Rose told her.
“Snickers
wrapper?” Chloe suggested.
“Yes!”
Mark said.
“Snickers
wrapper?” Rose asked. “That is so rude, I had like a million guesses and you
get it on your first go! Why are you better than me at everything?”
“Oh
I just am.” Chloe joked. “Of course I’m not! You’re better at… being bad at I
spy.” She said triumphantly.
“Oh
thanks. Your go then.”
“Okay,
I spy, with my little eye, something beginning with…”