“I’ll meet you back here in 10 minutes.” Ben said to Chloe as they stood a few metres from Paul’s house. “I’ll just get the money out and come back here.”
Chloe nodded. “Okay.”
She watched Ben head off towards the local branch of his bank, adjusting to being alone for the first time in a few very long days.
She was okay, she told herself; she was going to be just fine.
Walking towards Paul’s apartment block, Chloe saw a familiar face reaching the door before her, digging in his pocket for his keys.
“Paul!” Chloe shouted, increasing her pace as he turned round and looked at her.
“Chloe?” he said in surprise. “What are you doing here? Are you alright?”
Chloe smiled. “I’m fine. Well, you know.”
“Yeah, um…” Paul opened his mouth and closed it again looking utterly perplexed.
“I haven’t got very long – only about 10 minutes – but I wanted to come and see you before we go.”
“We? Go? What?”
“Me and Ben. We’re leaving the country – I don’t know where to yet, but we’re gonna start again, try and put all this behind us.” Chloe explained.
It was all coming out in a muddle, but Chloe was well aware of the time constraint and she wanted to make sure she got to say all the things she’d planned on the train journey down to London.
“So, um, I came to say goodbye.” She said.
Paul looked speechless.
“Y-you’re leaving?” he stuttered. “But… when?”
“Today. As soon as we can get a flight.”
“Oh.” Paul said, looking fairly dazed.
Chloe didn’t blame him for not knowing what to say – it was a bit of a bombshell to drop – but she was praying he wouldn’t say anything soppy that’d make her cry. Today was very nearly too much.
“I’m sorry to come and spring it on you like this, but there wasn’t really any other way. I couldn’t go without saying goodbye to you.”
“No, er, that’s alright, I just… I can’t believe you’re leaving.”
“Well, um, I’ve got some more news, if you’re not too shocked already?” Chloe said, trying to hide her smile at the thought of what she was about to say.
“No no, go on – I think I’m just about keeping up.”
“I’m pregnant.” Chloe said, grinning at Paul. “And it’s Ben’s.”
He looked at her in amazement.
“Oh, wow. Chloe, I- Oh, congratulations!” he said.
He looked so happy for her that Chloe felt the tears come to her eyes when she realised that, if all went according to plan with this “new life”, Paul would never ever get to see the baby.
“Don’t cry babe, it’s a happy time!” Paul said with forced joviality, his own eyes filling up.
“I wish we could take you with us.” Chloe admitted, sniffing the tears away.
“Ah, I think you two’ll be just fine without me. Well, you three.” Paul said. “Anyway, we can keep in touch. Can’t we?” he asked off Chloe’s expression.
“Um, we’re not telling anyone we’re going.” She said quietly.
“Oh.” Paul said, looking thoroughly gutted. “Well make sure you tell baby how great their Uncle Paul is!” he chocked out.
“I love you, Paul.” Chloe said, flinging her arms around his neck.
“I love you too.” He said, squeezing her tightly against him, only just managing to keep the tears in.
“Thank you, for everything.” Chloe said, pulling back from the embrace. “You’ll always be my angel.”
“Well I’ll always be here if you ever need me for anything.”
Chloe smiled. “I’m gonna miss you.”
“Are you trying to make me cry like a girl?” Paul asked, smiling back. “I’m gonna miss you too, and Ben, believe it or not. Oh, and you tell him that I’ll be expecting a written resignation from the band from him, regardless of where you two end up.”
“I will tell him.” Chloe said, looking at her watch and seeing that her time was nearly up. “I’m rubbish at saying goodbye, I never know what to say.”
Paul shook his head. “I don’t think I’m much better, I wouldn’t worry. Now,” he said, trying to make the situation less sad. “You look after Ben and that baby, and just be happy. Because you deserve it.”
Chloe burst into tears and hugged Paul one last time.
“I better go.” She sniffed. “I’ve got a plane to catch.”
“Take care, Clo.” Paul said, turning away and going into the building without looking back.
Trying to pull herself together, Chloe shuffled back out onto the road, wiping away her tears and deliberately not thinking about it. She brightened a little when she saw Ben waiting for her and her mind was immediately filled with positive thoughts of the future that lay ahead of her.
“Okay?” Ben asked, instantly pulling her into his arms for a comforting hug.
Chloe nodded.
“You know what? I’m bored of England – let’s go somewhere else.” Ben said, smiling at Chloe.
She smiled back. “Wellllllll… okay!”
Ben laughed. “Right, Heathrow it is.”
It took them two tubes and a bus to get to Heathrow, and as usual it was buzzing. The two renegades walked through the throngs of people, hand in hand, glancing at each other now and then for reassurance. They battled their way to a desk and queued behind three other people.
“Anywhere in particular you want to go?” Ben asked.
Chloe’s stomach lurched. “No, let’s go anywhere.”
“Anywhere I think we might be able to do. What about places you don’t wanna go?”
“Not too keen on America and Australia, but apart from that.”
“So not reeeeally anywhere, then?” Ben teased.
“Actually, ‘Anywhere’ is the collective term for all non-American and Australian countries.”
“Is it really?”
“Course!” Chloe said, trying to tame the herd of wild buffalo stampeding around her stomach.
As her and Ben got nearer to the smiling blond woman behind the desk the buffalo increased their speed until finally,
“Can I help you?”
“Um, we want two one-way tickets on the next available flight to anywhere.” Ben said, squeezing Chloe’s hand as he said “one-way”.
“Right, okay,” the woman started to tap away on her computer. “And you want the seats to be together?”
“Yes, please.” Ben said.
“Any preference on class or type of seat?”
“No, I don’t think so. Anything.”
“Okay, if you’d like to bear with me one minute…” the woman tapped some more and Chloe’s heart started to beat in time to her keystrokes.
“Any preference on airline?”
“No.” Ben said.
Chloe could see he was getting impatient. She wondered whether he was worried she was going to change her mind.
“Ah, here we go…” the woman muttered. “Right, we have two business class seats available on the BMI British Midland flight to Milan, landing in Bergamo airport.”
Ben looked at Chloe and she nodded excitedly.
Italy – wow!
“We’ll take it.” Ben confirmed. “Might as well start how we mean to go on.” He said, smiling warmly at Chloe.
“Okay, that’s £321 per adult ticket, including airport tax, so that’ll be £642 in total, please.”
Ben handed over a credit card and the woman started to process the transaction.
“I thought you took all your money out of the bank?” Chloe asked.
“Not all of it.” Ben said. “I thought it might look a bit suspicious if I paid for two one-way tickets with hundred pound notes!”
“The flight is boarding right now for another 15 minutes, so if I can just check your passports?” the woman said, handing Ben back his credit card.
Ben and Chloe both handed their passports over, Chloe cringing at the ridiculous photo taken when she was 16 that looked absolutely nothing like she did now.
“Thank you.” The woman said, handing back the passports along with two boarding passes. “Do you have any luggage?”
“No.” Ben said.
“The flight’s boarding at Gate G.” the woman pointed to her left, further into the body of the airport. “There are signs just down there.”
“Thanks.” Ben said, pushing his passport and credit card into his jacket pocket and walking away from the desk with Chloe. “So, Milan, huh?”
“You don’t know where it is, do you?” Chloe asked with a smile.
“Not a clue.” Ben admitted.
“It’s in Italy.” Chloe informed him.
“Oh, classy.”
“You’ve never been, then?”
“Nope.”
“Me neither.” Chloe said, looking at her ticket. “What time does the plane get in?”
“Erm…” Ben looked at his, studying the small printed writing. “Leaving at 1500 hours, getting in aaat… 6 p.m.”
“Cool.” Chloe said.
They followed the signs to Gate G, which seemed to be all the way across the other side of the airport, neither of them saying a word to each other, just silently letting it all sink in.
“Looks like this is it, then.” Ben said as they joined the short queue at their departure gate. “Ready to start again in Milan?”
Chloe wasn’t sure whether she really and truly was, but with Ben by her side and a tiny baby growing inside her, it felt right enough at that moment in time. And that was all Chloe could ask for.
“Yeah.” She said, smiling. “Why not?”
The queue quickly moved through, and just before they disappeared down the boarding tunnel and got on the plane that would take them away to new uncertainty, Chloe turned and took one last look at England, and in that instant she knew that she was doing the right thing. Because it turned out that Ben was the right thing. He was the key to her self, her missing piece, the one good thing in all this. Chloe knew how lucky she was that he was standing by her side after everything they’d been through. He was the only thing she needed in the whole world, and if she had him she could do anything and go anywhere. With Ben she was invincible, and with Ben she was happy. It didn’t matter what happened in the future or where they ended up, just as long as they were together. And at the moment, the future was looking a lot more positive than the recent past. Together they were making a fresh start with a clean slate; starting a new life with every opportunity to do things right this time. Well, everyone deserves the chance to have a happy ending.