To mark the momentous occasion that is the grand opening of Inspired Innovation (haha, how weird does that sound in place of ffnet?!), I have decided to put up another chapter of this fic for you all. Just coz I’m nice like that. At this stage I would like to give a special mention to my good friend Kate, for not only helping me to do this site, but also providing me with the word ‘edgily’ when I’d been stuck trying to think of a suitable word for days! Thanks hun! Chloe xxx

Chapter Nine

“So when are you moving down?” Paul asked Chloe, mouth full of burger.

Chloe looked at Ben and smiled. “Oooh, we haven’t really decided anything yet have we? I’ll probably stay down here for the two weeks like we planned, then I’ll go back home, sort everything out, pay the rent on the flat up ‘til the end of the month, and come back down here!”

“Sounds like a good plan.” Ben said.

It was Saturday night and the five of them were at Planet Hollywood celebrating Chloe moving in with Ben. Mark however, was having a secret celebration of his own. While everyone else was all ‘Yay Chloe’s moving in with Ben!’, Mark was celebrating what had happened at Top Of The Pops with Chloe on Thursday morning. Just to recap, coz it was such a good thought to have; she had kissed him. Yes, Chloe kissed Mark. He could say it over and over in as many different ways as he wanted because however he said it, it still meant the same.

Chloe wanted him.

Of course she did, Mark had known that from the first time they kissed, but this just reinforced what he was already sure of. For the last couple of days, Mark had been floating around in some kind of dream world. Knowing what he knew about Chloe’s feelings for him felt better than he’d ever imagined it would do. It’s amazing what a kiss can do for your mood!

It wasn’t just a kiss though. No, the implications of Thursday were huge. Now the plan was clear. To be with Chloe, all Mark had to do was convince her to leave Ben. A relatively small task compared to his situation this time a week ago when everything looked depressingly dismal. Now however, everything looked bright and positive. It was like he was a completely different person; he couldn’t believe how happy he was! He did feel a tiny bit bad for Ben, but mostly he just felt happy. Happy happy happy. This was great!

“Have you got any plans for when you do move down permanently?” Chris asked.

“I guess I’ll have to get a job or something.” Chloe said.

“Why?” Ben asked her.

“Why? Well, because I have to.”

“Why?” Ben asked again.

Chloe gave him a strange look. “Because… it’s what people do! They get jobs, go out to work and earn lots of money. Well, you lot do anyway. The rest of us have to settle for just the first two.”

“I don’t want you to get a job.” Ben said.

“You don’t want me to get a job?” Chloe repeated, looking very puzzled. “Why not?”

“Because you won’t have time off when I have time off and we’ll never get to see each other. It’s hard enough with you not having a job.”

“Ben, I have to work.”

“No you don’t! Why do you have to?”

“Why don’t you want me to?”

“Because I don’t get to see you often enough as it is, you having a job will just make things more complicated.” Ben said.

“But I’ll be living with you! You’ll get to see me most evenings, regardless of what we do in the day. And I can’t just not have a job. I’d have no money and nothing to do.”

“But I’ve got loads of money, I can pay for everything you need!”

Chloe didn’t look all too pleased about this comment. Should Mark feel bad for hoping they’d have a big argument and break up?

“No, you can’t. I don’t want you to.”

Ben looked surprised. Surely he knew why that comment hadn’t gone down well? Mark didn’t claim to know Chloe better than her own boyfriend did, not yet anyway, but he wouldn’t have said that.

“But why? I don’t mind!”

Chloe looked from Ben to Paul, to Chris, to Mark, quickly looking away when they made eye contact. God, she was beautiful. Mark had an almost overwhelming urge to just grab her there and then and do things with her that he really didn’t think Ben would be too happy about them doing in front of him.

Or at all.

He really needed to see her alone.

“Can we talk about this later?” Chloe asked Ben, looking a bit embarrassed about having a sort of semi-argument in front of other people.

“Clo, I didn’t mean…”

Chloe cut Ben off before he could finish. “It’s okay, let’s just not talk about it now yeah?”

“Yeah, okay…”

“So,” Chloe said, swiftly changing the subject. “looking forward to tomorrow?”

Paul looked puzzled. “What’s tomorrow?”

Ben grinned. “Tomorrow we go to number one.”

“Shut up Ben, you’ll jinx it.” Mark said.

There was little he wanted more than to get to number one with Caught In The Middle, the band’s first single for almost a year. They’d never needed a number one as badly as they needed this one. Of course they always wanted to get to number one with every single they released, but they needed this one. They had to prove to everyone that they weren’t just some naff boyband with a three year life span. It was a crucial time for them after being off the scene for so long and changing their musical direction. They had to do this.

“Yeah, we’re not going to get to number one, Enrique’s gonna do it.” Paul said.

“With that crappy song? I can be your hero baby.” Ben started to sing in a whiney voice.

“Ben Adams, next stop, Enrique Iglesias tribute band.” Chris said.

“Christian Ingebrigtsen, next stop, on the floor.”

Chris raised an eyebrow at Ben. “Yeah? You think you can take me?”

“With both hands tied behind my back.” Ben said confidently. “You’re a big wuss.”

“I learnt everything I know from you.” Chris retaliated.

Chloe smiled. “I’m going to the loo. Don’t let them kill each other Paul. I’d still like to have at least part of a boyfriend when I get back.”

You can have two if you want, Mark offered silently.

This was his chance though, to talk to Chloe alone. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say to her but he needed to see her.

“Do you know where it is?” Mark asked her, trying to sound casual.

Every time he spoke to her, she got this spooked look in her eyes. Like a rabbit caught in the headlights. What was with that?

“Um…”

Come on Chloe, play along.

“Shall I show you?” Mark asked.

He wasn’t going to miss this opportunity.

“Er, yes, okay.” Chloe agreed hesitantly.

Mark tried not to look too delighted. He was only “showing Chloe to the toilets” after all.

They both got up from the table and started to walk towards the back of the restaurant.

“Need to talk to you.” Mark said quietly.

Chloe just glared at him and carried on walking in silence.

As they got further away from the table, Mark began to feel a bit uneasy. That look from Chloe had suddenly made him realise that he wasn’t the one in control here. No, he’d been in control, sort of, up until Thursday when he passed the power to Chloe. If she decided that this “thing” between them wasn’t going to go any further then that was it. No matter how much he pushed her, it was totally up to her what happened between them. And if she decided that that was nothing, then what could he do? It wasn’t like before when the dilemma was if and how Mark was going to let Chloe know how he felt about her.

This was not his decision any more.

They reached a set of swing doors marked ‘Men’ and ‘Ladies’, and stopped in front of them.

“You can go now.” Chloe said, without even looking at him.

“What?” Mark asked.

“You can go now.” Chloe repeated slowly. “You offered to show me where the loos are, you’ve done that, now you can go.”

Mark’s thoughts echoed around his head.

He wasn’t the one in control.

“I need to see you.”

“You can see me at the table.” Chloe said coldly, turning to go into the ladies toilets.

“Why are you being like this?”

Mark didn’t understand. Why was Chloe acting like that? Like she didn’t even want to know him. This wasn’t right, this wasn’t like Thursday. They were meant to have got past the whole denial stage after Chloe kissed him, why had she suddenly lapsed back into it?

“Like what?” Chloe asked.

“You know what I’m talking about.”

“Because it’s wrong! All… this! It’s just wrong and fucked up okay, just leave me alone!”

With that, Chloe pushed the door of the ladies open and went through it, slamming it closed behind her.

Mark stood looking after her in slight disbelief. What the hell had just happened? As far as he could gather, Chloe had told him to leave her alone and stormed off. But no, that couldn’t be right. She’d done that already, on Thursday morning when he tried to talk to her at Ben’s. They’d moved on from that and had established that Chloe wanted to be with him. That’s why she’d kissed him. Mark had already sorted that in his mind.

That was why, wasn’t it? It had to be, what other reason could there be? You don’t go around kissing people you’re not interested in, especially not the way Chloe had kissed Mark. So he didn’t understand why she didn’t want to talk to him now. What had he done wrong? He hadn’t seen her at all on Friday because they’d had a day off, and this morning had been taken up by SM:TV and CD:UK, so he hadn’t had a chance to speak to her then either.

Well he couldn’t leave it like that, he had to know where he stood with her. He might not get a chance to talk to her alone like this for the rest of the night so whether she liked it or not, he was going to wait until she came out of the loo. She couldn’t hide in there forever!

A few minutes later, Chloe emerged from the toilets. She visibly jumped when Mark stepped from the shadows.

“What, are you stalking me now?” Chloe asked crossly.

“I wanna talk to you.”

“Look Mark, we’ve already tried this and the whole talking thing really doesn’t work.”

“So we won’t talk.” Mark said, putting a hand on Chloe’s arm.

She immediately pulled away, looking edgily around her.

“It’s alright, no-one’s gonna see.” Mark reassured her. “Relax.”

Chloe sighed, a pained expression on her face. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“I could ask you the same question.”

“I’m not doing anything to you!” Chloe protested. “All I want is for you to leave me alone and stop trying to ruin things with me and Ben.”

“I’m not trying to ruin things! I love you Chloe, have you got any idea how hard it is for me to watch you and Ben together? Especially when I know you have feelings for me.”

Chloe shook her head. “No, you’re wrong, I don’t.”

“There’s no point denying it. Not now.”

“Oh and what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You kissed me Chloe. Don’t try and act like everything that happened on Thursday was down to me, because I know you know that it was as much you as it was me. Stop playing games, it’s not fair on me, or Ben.”

From the look on Chloe’s face, Mark guessed that that was probably not the best thing he could have said.

“Don’t you tell me what is and isn’t fair on Ben.” Chloe hissed angrily, trying not to raise her voice. “What you’re doing isn’t fair on Ben.”

“Go and tell him then.” Mark said simply.

Chloe looked thrown by this comment. Mark knew she wouldn’t tell Ben because she knew that she was as much at fault here as he was.

“What are you waiting for? Go and tell Ben all about how one of his friends is trying to seduce his poor helpless girlfriend.” Mark said spitefully.

It was cruel but he had to do it. Had to make Chloe admit, to herself more than anything, that she did have feelings for him.

“Maybe I should tell him then…”

“No! Mark, don’t.”

Mark looked at Chloe questioningly.

“Fine. You wanna talk, talk.” Chloe said evenly.

“Not here.”

They’d already been gone too long, Mark didn’t want anyone suspecting anything before there was really anything to suspect.

“What?”

“Come to my house.”

“I can’t!”

“Why not?”

“Because… Ben…” Chloe faltered.

“Come to my house or I tell Ben all about what’s been going on. Maybe I might make up a few things too. Like, how it was all your idea…”

Chloe looked shocked. “You wouldn’t do that.”

Mark just shrugged.

“Why are you being so horrible? That’s blackmail! If you really loved me like you say you do, you wouldn’t be being like this.”

“Using the ‘if you really loved me’ line already, it must be serious. My house, tomorrow.” Mark said, walking away from Chloe in the direction of the table.

That had been a really nasty thing to say, Mark couldn’t believe how he’d just acted. He’d actually shocked himself, never mind how Chloe must be feeling.

What is wrong with me?! He thought crossly.

He really was messing things up. Yeah, he wanted Chloe to come to his house so he could talk to her properly, but blackmail? That was stooping really low. He wanted to go back over and say he was sorry, give her a hug, if she’d let him after what he’d just said to her, but he had a feeling that the saying you’ve got to be cruel to be kind was becoming increasingly accurate as this situation progressed. It’d be fine, in a couple of weeks he’d have what he wanted, what he needed, and all this would be forgotten.

He hoped…

Ben looked up from the conversation as Mark sat back down at the table.

“You were a long time, where’s Chloe?”

“There was a big queue, I thought I’d keep her company while she waited.” Mark lied. “She won’t be long…”

Later that night, Ben and Chloe were lying in bed. Today had been such a good day for Ben; ever since Chloe had agreed to move in with him he’d felt like he was walking on clouds. He couldn’t wait ‘til she moved down permanently, it was just going to be the best thing ever! Her staying with him for two weeks was just like heaven for Ben, so he couldn’t even begin to imagine how amazing it would be when they actually lived together. When he went out, she could go with him, she could go to all the gigs a1 did to keep him company and make the waiting around not so boring, when they went away to different countries she could go with him; it’d be fantastic! She’d be with him all the time. He was so glad he’d taken a chance and asked her to move in with him. Looking back now, he didn’t know what he’d been so worried about, of course she was going to say yes!

CD:UK had been great that morning as well; so much more fun than it usually was. There had been a brilliant crowd and all of a1 had been in good voice. Mark had seemed in a much better mood today as well; he seemed happier and a bit more lively. He’d put more into the performance today than he had for a long time and it was nice to see. The fans must have picked up on it too, coz afterwards when the band went outside to sign autographs, it had been all “Mark this” and “Mark that” and quite a lot of just general “MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARK!!!” as well! The fans had kinda backed off Mark a bit over the past few weeks. He’d been a bit down, not talking to the fans as much as he usually did, sometimes not bothering to talk to them at all, which was very unlike him. They’d obviously noticed and had been giving him a bit of space.

Thinking about it, Ben realised that he didn’t actually know what was wrong with Mark. He’d been acting strange for so long that Ben had just got used to the fact that there was something making him feel down without bothering to find out what it was. He kept meaning to ask him but never got the chance. He hadn’t been hanging out with them as a group as much as he usually did, and had been keeping himself to himself a lot. Ben had asked Chris and Paul what the matter was a couple of times, but all he’d got was a shrug or “I dunno”.

So none of them knew what was wrong with the person they spent the majority of their time with and knew inside out. Well what good friends they were. Ben made a mental note to have a good chat with Mark very soon and find out exactly what was up. It could be that all Mark needed was a friend to talk to.

Talking of strange behaviour, Chloe had been a little off today. She’d been unusually quiet and not as bubbly as usual. Ben knew her well enough to know that she had something on her mind and the withdrawn behaviour was a sure sign that she was spending a lot of time thinking things over in her mind. Ben wasn’t sure whether to ask her about it or not. He didn’t want her to think he was interfering, or that she wasn’t allowed a life of her own. But maybe she wanted him to ask her if she was okay. Ben didn’t want to come across as uncaring either. He’d rather be interfering than uncaring. So he’d ask her.

“Clo?”

Chloe looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

Ben thought he saw something flash briefly across Chloe’s face, but it was so quick that he put it down to his over-active imagination.

“I’m fine! Why?”

“Have you got something on your mind?” Ben asked.

He knew there was something she wasn’t telling him. It was that tone of voice she was using.

“No…”

“Are you sure?”

Chloe sat up a bit more. “Ben, I’m fine! What’s with all the questions?”

“Nothing, I’m just concerned.” Ben said, surprised at how quickly Chloe had snapped.

Chloe sighed. “I’m sorry, I’m just tired that’s all. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“That’s okay…” Ben said, confused. “You just don’t seem yourself tonight.”

Chloe snuggled back down next to Ben and put her arm across his chest. “A lot’s been going on over the last few days, that’s all. I’m just exhausted!”

So there wasn’t anything wrong? Maybe Ben was losing his touch.

“You know if there was something…”

“I know.” Chloe said, cutting Ben short. “Tell each other everything, right?”

“Right…” Ben said, tightening his grip on Chloe.

He still wasn’t totally convinced that everything was okay, but he couldn’t make her tell him if she didn’t want to. She’d tell him if it was something really big anyway. Maybe she just wanted to sort things on her own. Maybe it was something Ben couldn’t help in.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was something she didn’t want him to know…