(Leve
DrØmet i Norge)
Tuesday
9:30 a.m., Oslo
“Come on, lazy bones! We’re gonna miss breakfast at this rate!” Chloe said, pulling the duvet cover off Ben.
She’d been up since half past 8, but Ben was still in bed.
“Stop it!” He complained, rolling over.
“Nooo, Ben! You have to get up!”
“But we’re on holiday!”
“Exactly! Lots to do!”
Ben sighed heavily. “You’re such a pain.” He said, sitting up and swinging his legs round the side of the bed.
“I’m not!” Chloe protested.
“No, you’re not.” Ben said, catching Chloe’s hand as she walked past and pulling her closer to the bed.
“Get up.” She said, giving him a kiss before going back to what she was doing.
“I am up!”
“Great! Let’s go down to breakfast!” Chloe said, grinning at Ben.
“Fine.” He said, getting off the bed and heading over to the en-suite bathroom.
“Oh actually, Ben?” Chloe said, as he started to close the door.
“What?”
“I think I’m gonna go down to breakfast now, is that alright? I know how long you take to get ready!”
Ben smiled. “The cheek of it. Yeah that’s fine, babe. Bring me some food back.”
“Alright, see you later.”
Chloe grouped her hair up into a ponytail, picked up the card key and left the room. She walked down the corridor and got in the lift, riding it down to the ground floor. When the doors opened at the bottom, she stepped out and followed the signs to the restaurant where she quickly located Christian, Kate and Mark sitting round a table in the corner.
“Morning!” she said cheerfully, taking a seat next to Mark.
“Hiya!” Mark said, giving her a big smile.
“Ooh, you look happy this morning! Any particular reason?”
“Do I need a reason to be happy?”
“Nope! Absolutely not! It’s nice to see you smiling!”
“Where’s Ben?” Christian asked.
“In the shower.” Chloe said. “I’ve only just managed to drag him out of bed! How long have you been up for?”
“Since 7.” Christian said.
“Oh my God! I feel so lazy! I didn’t get up until half 8.” Chloe said.
“Same here.” Mark said.
“He woke me up when he got up.” Kate said, making a face at Christian.
“I did not!”
“Did.” Kate said with a grin.
“Do we just go and help ourselves to breakfast?” Chloe asked, looking round.
“Yeah, it’s a buffet.” Mark said. “Want me to show you?”
“Yeah, okay.” Chloe said, getting up and walking with Mark over to a long salad bar containing all manner of foods from cheese to cakes.
“Is there a small reason for you looking so cheerful?” Chloe asked, putting food on a plate.
“Sort of.” Mark said.
“Have you spoken to Rose?”
“No, nothing like that. But I went out last night after everyone had gone back to their rooms, just felt like a wander around to clear my head, y’know, and I realised that, even if Rose didn’t hate me, she wouldn’t want me back while I’m being so miserable. So I’m just sorta making more of an effort to be the type of person people want to hang around with.”
“That sounds like a very sensible plan.” Chloe said approvingly. “So what have you got planned for today?”
“Not sure really. Just thought I’d take it as it comes, really.”
“Cool. Ben said something last night about me and him going up to the palace grounds…?”
“Oh yeah, I went up there last night – it’s really nice. I think Christian’s planning to whisk Kate off somewhere for a day of romance.”
“Awww. They’re so sweet together, aren’t they? Beat me and Ben hands down, and I remember when we used to be the couple everyone went awww over.”
“Those were the days.”
“I’ll second that.” Chloe said as they headed back towards the table. “I hear you two are leaving us shortly.” She said to Kate and Christian.
“Oww, he’s got this big surprise for me.” Kate moaned.
“Don’t look too excited.” Mark observed.
“Noooo, I hate surprises.”
Christian just smiled to himself. “Are you about ready to go?” he asked Kate.
“Now?”
“Yep, gotta get going.”
“Hmm, alright.” Kate said with definite reservation, standing up with Christian. “I guess I’ll see you later, then. If I’m still alive.” She said, glaring at her other half.
“See ya.” Chloe said, smiling as she watched them leave.
“I’m gonna be a right loner, today.” Mark said. “Not that I’m in any way miserable about it.”
“Why are you going to be a loner?”
“Because Kate and Christian are off somewhere together, you and Ben are going somewhere together, and even if the offer was there I don’t really feel like hanging around with Paul and Rose all day, and I’m sure Rose would feel very much the same way.”
“You can hang around with me and Ben!”
“No, I wouldn’t want to impose on your day.”
“Don’t be so silly! It’s not like we’re doing anything special and we spend loads of time alone together at home. I don’t want you to be on your own!”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah! We’ll all go out together, and if Rose and Paul want to join us, they can, right? You know, seeing as you’re happy all the time again now.”
Mark smiled. “That’s right.”
“Excellent. I much prefer this Mark.”
“Do you?”
“Of course! I don’t like seeing you miserable: there was a time when you were the world’s happiest person. Or I thought so, anyway – you know how I adored you.”
“You saying you don’t still adore me?”
“Not in that way.” Chloe said, smiling at Mark. “Now you’re one of my best friends. In fact, that was one of my life aims when I was 15.”
“What?”
“Be your best friend.”
Mark laughed. “Really?”
“Yeah. I thought that if you were my friend then I’d never be unhappy coz you’d always be there to make everything better.”
“Awww, that’s so sweet!” Mark said. “Did you not want Ben to be your best friend?”
“Nah, I wanted to sleep with Ben.”
Mark laughed. “Right. Hey, does that mean you didn’t want to sleep with me?”
“Of course.”
“And why ever not?”
“I didn’t fancy you.”
“Chloe Homer, that is just a shocking revelation. Absolutely shocking.”
Chloe grinned. “Sorry about that.”
“Well it’s fine, I don’t want to sleep with you, either!”
“Just as well.” Chloe said, laughing. “Ahh, it’s good to have you back.”
Rose rubbed her eyes sleepily as she left the hotel room, cringing as the door banged shut unintentionally loudly behind her, and almost immediately bumping into Paul, who was looking as bad as she felt.
“Ohhh hangover.” She moaned, getting a sympathetic nod from Paul.
“Why was I asleep in your room?” he asked.
“I don’t know; I was in your room.”
“Urrrr.” Paul groaned. “How much did we drink last night?”
“I think it was more what we were drinking.”
“What were we drinking?”
“I don’t know.” Rose confessed pathetically.
“I think we’ve missed breakfast.”
“Yuk, I’m glad.”
“Me too.” Paul agreed. “Wanna come back to my room and hide from the loud people we’re on holiday with?”
Rose nodded. “I’m just gonna change my clothes.”
“Alright, good idea.”
Rose walked a few steps down the corridor and into the room through the door Paul had left open. There was a Paul-shaped flop mark on the pre-made bed, and Rose imagined there were similar Rose-shaped creases on Paul’s bed. It was cool they all got double beds: useful from the passing out point of view, and also, shall we say, convenient, from a copping off with the nearest available male to make your ex-boyfriend jealous point of view. Rose had numerous uses for double beds.
She went into the bathroom and splashed water on her face in an attempt to wake herself up a bit, and paused by the toilet as she decided whether or not she was going to be sick. Luckily it turned out that she wasn’t, so she went back through to the room and found some clothes to change into that felt less yuk than the ones she had on at the moment. She picked out a short denim skirt and a simple strappy top, coupled with her strappy sandals from the night before, and put them all on, studying her reflection critically in the mirror. When getting revenge on an ex, it was all about image. If she looked fantastic and was with someone else, it hurt twice as much. Good. Giving herself the thumbs up, Rose went back into the bathroom and brushed her teeth, sorting out her hair in the process. Then, spraying herself with body spray to mask the smell of stale alcohol, she headed back across the corridor to Paul’s room.
She walked straight in, leaving the door slightly ajar behind her, only to find Paul was still in the process of getting dressed and only had a pair of khaki green combat trousers on.
“Ooh, sorry.” She apologised with a grin, purposefully not averting her eyes.
“I better put a top on, I’d hate to subject you to my semi-naked body.” Paul said, grinning back.
“Who said I was complaining?”
“Well in that case…” Paul said, throwing the t-shirt he’d just picked up onto the floor. “Guess we’re even now – I’ve seen you with your top off, you’ve seen me with mine. Although, strictly speaking, you’re still one up on me, because you weren’t completely semi-naked.”
“Not irreversible.” Rose said, taking a step towards him.
“Is that so?” Paul asked with interest.
“If you’re lucky.”
“Must say, I am feeling quite lucky today…”
“Ah. Interesting. So, if I did this,” Rose said, pulling her top off over her head and looking at Paul. “Would you be feeling more or less lucky?”
Paul smiled and moved towards Rose. “Hang on – am I too hung over for this?” he asked himself out loud, screwing his eyes up tightly and then opening them again. “Nope.”
Rose giggled as he got closer still, backing her against the wall.
“Well then, I think your luck might just be in.” She said, readily complying as Paul took her head in his hands and kissed her.