Mark looked at his watch. “We should probably be making a move soon.” He
said.
Chloe’s face fell. “I’ll um, go and turn my radio off.” She said
quietly, getting up and walking over to the window. Turning the blue and silver
stereo off slowly, she stood with her back to the other three and stared
silently out of the window.
Sensing something was wrong, Ben got up after her while Rose and Mark
started their own little conversation.
“Are you alright?” Ben asked quietly, putting his hands on her waist
from behind.
Chloe nodded, not looking at him.
“Are you sure?” he asked.
Chloe turned round to face him and Ben could see that tears were already
forming in her eyes.
“Oh Clo, don’t do this.” He said, not liking to see her so upset.
Chloe looked down at the carpet.
“Please. Don’t make it harder.” Ben said, stroking her hair
comfortingly.
“I’m sorry.” Chloe mumbled.
“It’s not like it’s forever. We’ll be seeing each other again in a
week.” Ben reminded her, taking both her hands in his.
Chloe nodded but didn’t say anything.
“And we can talk on the phone all the time. And I can email you… if I
can work out how to turn the lap-top on.” Ben said with a smile, desperately
trying to make Chloe feel better.
Chloe looked up and smiled at him half-heartedly.
“Okay?” he asked hopefully.
Chloe nodded again.
Ben looked at her suspiciously. “There’s something else isn’t there?” he
asked worriedly. “What is it?”
“Nothing, I’m fine.”
“Clo, you can tell me. I don’t want you to be upset. I hate to see you
like this. And there’s something on your mind, I can tell.”
Chloe looked out of the window, breaking Ben’s gaze.
“It’s nothing. You’ll think I’m stupid.”
“I won’t. Please tell me. I want to help, if I can. Come here.” Ben
said, sitting down on the keyboard stool and pulling Chloe next to him, still
holding her hands.
“It’s just, well…” Chloe started, unsure if she should tell Ben what was
worrying her. “I’m frightened you’ll meet someone else in London, the most
perfect person in the world, your ideal girlfriend, and you’ll forget all about
me.”
Ben looked shocked. “Do you really think I’d do that?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” Chloe said truthfully. “It would just be so easy to do
coz I’d never find out. And there’s probably a million girls in London who are prettier
than me and are more interesting than me and just nicer than me, and, oh I
don’t know, I’m just scared. I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t lose me. There’s no way I’d meet my ideal girlfriend in
London unless you’re thinking of moving down there coz the person I want is
right here in this room. I don’t cheat on people Chloe. I’ve had it done to me,
I know what it’s like. I’m not gonna suddenly bump into someone on the street
and think, ‘oh well actually, I think she’s little bit nicer than Chloe, I’ll
go off with her.’ I’m not like that, I want to be with you and that’s it.” Ben
paused to look at Chloe but she looked away. He sighed. “Don’t think that I
haven’t been thinking the same thing about you. Just coz I’m famous doesn’t
mean I’m immune to stuff like that. I’m terrified you’ll meet someone else and
leave me coz maybe it’d be easier going out with someone a bit closer to home.
You know I’m not gonna be around much, and I’m worried you’ll lose interest or
get fed up of not seeing me.”
“I won’t. Not ever.” Chloe said, suddenly looking up at Ben.
“Chloe, I’ve never been more desperate to hold on to something… or
someone, in my entire life. It might be hard sometimes, harder than it should
be, but if I didn’t think it was going to be worth it, I could just walk away
right now, you know I could. I could walk out that door and never come back and
it would be over before it’s even started, hey presto, easy life. But I’m not
going to do that. I haven’t done that. I want to be with you so I’m
still here. Doesn’t that say anything to you?”
“But you could have anyone…”
Ben looked like he was undecided whether he should be upset or angry.
“But I don’t want anyone Clo! I want you! I don’t know what I can do to make
you believe me.” Ben put his head in his hands.
Chloe tried to stop the tears that had started to fall. “I can’t help
it, this is all I’ve ever wanted in my life and I don’t think I could handle
not having it again.”
“But you’re not going to have to.” Ben took a deep breath. “I wasn’t
going to say this because I thought it was too soon but however much I tried
not to, I’ve been thinking about it all day and every moment I spend with you
makes me think it even more. I didn’t want to say it in a situation like this,
but if it’s the only thing that’s gonna convince you that I mean what I’ve
said, then… I love you.”
Chloe was so surprised that she stopped crying and looked up at Ben. For
a moment, she looked as if she was deliberating something and Ben started to
doubt whether it had been right thing to say.
“No you don’t.” Chloe said quietly, looking sadly into Ben’s eyes and
realising that there were tears in them too.
“I do.” He said with a pained expression on his face. “I love you, and
it’s strange, because I’ve never said it this early on in a relationship
before, sometimes I haven’t said it at all, it’s a big thing, but I really do
mean it. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t, I told you that. But if you think I’m
just saying it to stop you from being upset then… I don’t know what else I can
say.”
As Ben trailed off, a single tear fell down his cheek. He didn’t bother
to wipe it away but just looked at Chloe as she looked straight back at him.
Uncertainly, she moved her hand towards his and as they touched, Ben grasped
her hand tightly.
“I love you too.” Chloe said, this time letting the tears flow freely as
Ben hugged her like he didn’t ever want to let go.
“I’m so sorry…”she whispered as she pulled back to look at him.
Ben shook his head and put a finger to her lips. “Shhhh.” He said,
before he replaced the finger with his lips and kissed her.
“Blue?” Rose asked.
“Yep.”
“Steps?” she asked hopefully.
“Yep.”
Rose’s eyes lit up and Mark grinned at her. They’d been discussing the
coming weekend and had moved onto the subject of the charity concert. At the
moment, Rose was grilling Mark on who was going to be there.
“Um… Slipknot?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
Rose giggled. “And you’ll introduce us to everyone?”
she asked.
“Yes, even if I’ve never met them before, I’ll go up to them and
introduce you. And hey! Why not kill two birds with one stone? I’ll introduce
myself as well.” Mark answered, smiling as Rose laughed again.
They were quiet for a minute and then Mark bit his bottom lip and looked
at Rose.
“I was thinking,” he said, trying to sound casual. “you know when you
and Chloe come up for the concert on Sunday?”
“Yeah?”
“Well seeing as it’s quite a long way to come, might it be more worth
your while to come down for the whole weekend?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well I’d imagine that Ben would want to spend the whole weekend with
Chloe if he could, and we’re not doing much this weekend so you and Chloe could
stay from like Friday or something.”
Rose grinned. She thought she knew what Mark was getting at.
“Stay where?” she asked innocently.
“At my house?” Mark asked apprehensively.
“Can
I sleep in your bed?” Rose asked cheekily, smiling. “I’ve seen pictures of it,
it looks really comfy.” She added.
“You
can sleep in my bed if you want to.” He said. “And you can meet my parents.
They’re really nice.”
“Would
they approve of you having a 16 year old girlfriend?”
“Is
that what you are?” Mark asked.
“I
don’t know, am I? She asked hopefully, looking straight at him.
“Do
you want to be?”
“Do
you want me to be?”
Mark
nodded. “Yeah.”
“Me
too.” Rose said.
Mark
smiled at her and moved closer, putting his arms around her waist. As he did,
she slid her hands over his shoulders and around his neck and they kissed.
When they broke apart, Rose grinned at Mark.
“Aren’t you sad?” he asked.
“About what?”
“That we have to go soon.”
“Yeah, course I am. But the fact that I’m with you at all kinda
overshadows not seeing you for a few days. You have to look on the bright side
of things.” Rose explained the reason for her cheery mood.
“I’m gonna miss not being around you.” he said.
“Me too. You have no idea how much.” Rose said.
“I bet I’ll miss you more.” Mark said childishly.
“I bet you won’t.” Rose said with a grin.
“Alright, I’ll arm-wrestle you for it.” Mark suggested as they both
burst into fits of laugher.
A short while later, the now two official couples were walking back up
Chloe’s drive, hand in hand.
“Is the car gonna be in the car park?” Rose asked Mark.
“Yeah I think so.” Mark said.
They walked the rest of the way in silence until they got to the car
park and saw the red car there waiting to take Ben and Mark back to London. As
they crossed the road, Ben squeezed Chloe’s hand tighter as if to say, ‘don’t
worry’. She looked at him and smiled to let him know she was okay.
“I guess this is it then.” Said Mark needlessly, as they got to the car.
Rose threw her arms around his neck and hugged him, the reality of the
situation suddenly hitting her.
Chloe
looked at Ben sadly. “I’m not going to see you for ages am I?” she asked him.
Ben’s
contented expression changed to match hers.
He
sighed. “I don’t know. I really don’t. It’s gonna depend on how busy we are.
With the new single coming out soonish and then the album, we’ll be doing loads
of promo for them and we’re going all over the place doing road shows and
stuff. If we’re doing anything near you, I can get a car to pick you up and
take you there but we don’t do much around your area. I could come up and see
you on my days off but we don’t get many of those either. You’ll see me on TV.”
He smiled half-heartedly.
“I
wish I lived a bit nearer to you.” Chloe said.
“Me
too.”
“That
would be cool.”
“Are you gonna be okay?” Ben asked.
Chloe smiled. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. You better not forget to ring me
though.” She said.
“I won’t. And you can ring me whenever you need to talk to me okay? Promise
me you’ll do that?”
Chloe nodded. “I promise.” She said, despite the tears which were now
threatening to fall.
Ben put his arms around her. “Don’t cry babe.” He said, hugging her
close to him.
“I don’t want you to go.” She said, making the most of the feeling of
him next to her.
“I know. But I’ll see you soon.” Ben said, kissing her. “Really soon.”
“Ben, we’ve gotta go.” Mark shouted, apologetically.
Chloe and Ben broke apart, both wishing they didn’t have to.
“I love you.” Ben said.
“I love you too.” Chloe said and they embraced again quickly before they
walked back over to the car, hand in hand.
Mark gave Rose a kiss and got in. Not wanting to upset her again, Ben
just squeezed Chloe’s hand and said bye, following Mark into the car. The
engine started up and then they were gone, leaving Rose and Chloe standing
alone in the empty car park.
For the first 10 minutes, Mark and Ben sat in silence, looking out of
opposite windows until Mark said,
“Ben? Are you okay?” he asked.
Ben looked at Mark and ran his fingers through his hair.
“I miss her.” He said. “Already.”
Mark smiled. “Was she okay earlier?” he asked.
“She was worried I was going to find someone else when I went home.” Ben
said.
“How much does she know?” Mark asked, surprised.
“Well that’s the thing, I don’t know. It could have just been
coincidence but then again…”
“Do you think she knows about…?” Mark trailed off, but Ben knew what he
was talking about.
“Well she could do, I mean, she’s a big fan, she probably knows quite a
lot. And she’s bound to have other a1 friends who might know things.”
“True.”
“Takes someone like Chloe to make you really regret doing things like
that.” Ben said thoughtfully.
“She’s really got you hasn’t she?” Mark asked with amusement.
“She’s done something weird to me.” Ben said, smiling. “It’s not good
right now, I feel like I’m being cut in half or something! Saying goodbye’s so
hard to do.”
“Yeah.” Mark agreed.
“Especially when…” Ben trailed off.
“What?”
Ben grinned. “Nah, you’ll think I’m stupid.”
“No, what?”
“I love her.” Ben said.
Mark looked taken aback at this. “Chloe?”
“Oh and who else have I just spent the last two days permanently
attached to?”
Mark laughed. “You love her?”
“Yeah, weird huh?”
“Well, it’s a bit… sudden…” Mark admitted.
Ben shrugged. “Guess there is such a thing as love at first sight.”
Mark smiled. “Have you told her you love her?”
Ben nodded. “I wasn’t going to, but she was really upset about me
leaving coz she’d convinced herself that the last couple of days have just been
like a casual fling or something, and so I just kinda accidentally told her.”
“Did you mean it?”
“Mark! Of course I did! I know what you think of me, but I wouldn’t say
something that important if I didn’t mean it.”
“Okay, sorry. It just sounded like you only said it to stop her
worrying.”
“That’s what she said.” Ben told Mark.
“Did she?”
“Yeah, she didn’t believe me. I hardly believed me to be honest.
I’m not used to falling in love so easily. But I really honestly do love her. I
can’t help it, just being around her… I’ve really fallen for her.”
“That’s really great Ben, I’m really happy for you. I think you’ve
picked the right one this time you know.”
“It makes a change doesn’t it?” Ben said. “But she is fantastic don’t
you think? She’s so interesting and different. You can have a really good
conversation with her and she always has something to say. I really didn’t
think people like her existed, but I can’t find a single bad point about her.
It’s great! Mind you, I said that last time didn’t I?”
“Yeah, but that was different, that was just you being blind, none of
the rest of us liked her. I think Chloe’s great as well though. You have my
blessing!”
Ben laughed. “Thanks, that makes all the difference! No, but seriously,
it does mean a lot that you like her. It’s not gonna be awkward when she’s
hanging around with us and stuff, it makes things a lot easier.”
“Oh no, she’s great to be around! And plus, she’s Rose’s best friend so
I couldn’t dislike her even if I wanted to.”
“Talking of Rose…”
“She’s lovely isn’t she?” Mark said, smiling at the thought of his
girlfriend.
“Yeah, she really is. She’s so sweet! Everything’s good with you two
then?”
“Yep, it’s all going great. She makes me smile just by being there, if
you know what I mean? She’s so nice, she doesn’t have anything bad to say about
anyone.” Mark sighed happily.
“And are you two…?”
Mark grinned. “Yes.”
“Took your time!”
“Not everyone can be like you Ben.”
“And what a shame that is.” Ben laughed. “Paul and Chris’ll be surprised
when we tell them won’t they? Mind you, Chris already kinda knows doesn’t he?”
“He knows about you and Chloe but when I spoke to him, me and Rose
weren’t together.”
“Oh yeah, you were doing your stupid ‘taking things slowly’ thing.”
“It’s not stupid!” Mark protested.
“Okay, did you get Rose by taking things slowly?” Ben asked.
“Well, no, but…”
“Did you get her by taking a bit of a “chance”?”
“I guess, but…”
“And if you hadn’t have been “brave” and made the first move, would you
be going out with her now?”
“Probably not, but…”
“So was I right?” Ben asked, knowing full well he was.
“Yes Ben, you were right.” Mark said, giving in.
“Thank you Ben…” Ben prompted.
“Thank you Ben for giving me some invaluable
relationship advice.” Mark said.
“That’s quite alright Mark. Anyway, what are you doing tonight?”
“Sleeping. What are you doing? Or shouldn’t I ask?”
“I think I shall… well, I was going to say go out and get drunk with
Paul, but I don’t actually feel like doing that tonight.”
“Oh my god!! What has she done to you?!”