Closing the door quietly in hope of not disturbing the others, he headed into the main lounge, getting a small surprise on the way.

"Oh your back then! You dirty stop out!" Paul chimed, laughing slightly. "So, Mr Bond, how did it go? Obviously very well since it’s…"

"Awful." Mark stated, dejectedly throwing his keys on the table, along with the bow tie he ripped from his neck.

Slumping into the chair behind him, he frowned, while their eyes probed dangerously, wanting the details.

"Well?" Ben finally asked.

"Well what?" Mark questioned, drably.

"What happened?" Ben urged. "You can’t expect to stay out ‘til half twelve in the morning and have nothing to tell."

Mark sighed. Revealing everything that had occurred was going to be hard but not as half as hard as it would be telling them she didn’t want to be with him. He was so sure in himself somewhere that she would meet him outside the gates, come running after him, want to be with him, but he was wrong. That kiss meant nothing to her, just like the past few weeks did; yet to him he thought something was building, something was there. He was wrong though, because she hadn’t come and the thoughts that tried smoothing everything over didn’t work either. Deciding to follow his own advice, he told himself what he told her: everything happens for a reason. So why wasn’t that helping right now?

"I dunno where to start…" Mark said, leaning forward, fiddling with his cuff buttons.

"How about the beginning?" Christian smiled kindly.

"Ok, the beginning…" Mark repeated. "Well, it started off quite well to begin with, very well in fact. When I came in, she was standing by the stairs. God she looked beautiful! She had on this dress… and her eyes… her hair! Wow!" Mark smiled, relishing at the thought.

"Alright loverboy – enough about how she looked! She could wear a dust bin bag and you’d still like her!" Paul grinned. "What happened?" He asked; he had to know.

"Well Anton had to go off somewhere, sort something out. I dunno quite what but he asked Louise to take me through to the ball so it was like the perfect set up, where she asked me to dance and everything."

"Aw." Ben coaxed.

"And it was going really well. As soon as we began dancing I knew something was there, something definite. Its like we entered our own little world and everything around us was just a blur of nothing. Well that was until he came over." Mark revealed.

"He?" Christian asked, intrigued.

"Ooo I bet it was that evil Anton wasn’t it Mark! Evil Anton who knows! Ahh, does he know? Did he find out? Teeeeell!" Paul demanded, clutching the pillow like it was some over acted soap opera featuring one of his best friends.

"Yes it was Anton, and he just goes ‘Oh, mind if I cut in?’ all smirky like." Mark mimicked, placing on a fake posh accent. "But of course Lou had no choice, Lou never does… well until later."

"Later? Ooo it gets better?" Ben grinned.

"This isn’t exactly thrilling for me Ben." Mark said sarcastically, noticing the smile that seemed to weave itself on Paul and Ben’s faces.

"Sorry mate," Ben apologised, wiping away his grin.

"Sorry," Paul said quietly. "Its just this is so good! This should be made into some TV programme or something!" He beamed. "Oh, erm, sorry… but later?"

"Yes, later," Mark began again, glancing at the floor. "Later on in the evening after finally escaping Anton…"

"Ooo Mark! Say escaping evil Anton’s clutches! Sounds better! And it sells!" Paul smirked.

"Paul." Christian told sternly, darting him an unappreciated look.

"Sorry, just say evil Anton then." Paul said sadly.

"Ok, so Lou finally gets away from evil Anton, and she took me to the garden…"

"Al fresco mate! Good one!" Ben laughed.

"No." Mark corrected. "But it was there where she kissed me…"

"She kissed you? How can that be bad?" Christian asked. "It’s what you wanted wasn’t it?"

"Well yeah, but then you don’t know what happened after." Mark replied, looking a little distressed.

"Evil Anton saw didn’t he! Didn’t he!" Paul proclaimed.

"Yes evil Anton saw." Mark said disgustedly. "And yes evil Anton wanted an explanation but I couldn’t give him one. I mean, there I was snogging his fiancée. What could I have said?"

"Bummer mate…" Ben sighed.

"What happened then?" Christian asked sensitively.

"Then? Then evil Anton tells me to leave! Leave! Quite fair in his rights I suppose but Louise didn’t want me to go."

"She didn’t?" Ben smiled, trying to look hopeful.

"Yeah, and I didn’t want to leave. Well I did, but not Louise, well y’know, but I had to. Causing a scene just wouldn’t have helped." Mark explained.

"What? So you just left? You left Louise there all alone?" Christian queried, a little shocked.

"Nooo. It’s like some tragic romance!" Paul added.

"I didn’t just leave her… I couldn’t! I know that’s what I did but before I went I told her I’d wait for her outside the gates until midnight."

"And?" Paul urged, this time more gently.

"And? She didn’t show…" Mark said sadly, leaning back against the chair as his face resembled water; full of blue emotion.

"She didn’t show?" Ben verified, disheartened.

"Yep." Mark sighed.

Everything he had ever felt towards Louise had so suddenly vanished; not because he’d lost all feeling but because he knew he had lost her. She was so close to being in his grasp, close to being his, yet someone who didn’t deserve her quickly stole that. Anton had everything, some things that no one needed, but Louise he did, Louise he wanted, however, not everyone gets what they want.

"Well… well maybe she couldn’t get out." Christian tried uplifting.

"No… no Chris. If she wanted to be with me then she would have found a way. She got out for that gig we did so she could have got out for this." Mark said as his own harsh words took effect.

"Yeah, maybe…" Ben mused. "But you don’t know what happened after. It could have been harder. Way harder then before."

"Exactly. Like Ben said. You don’t know at all what went on there after. There’s that chance that she couldn’t get out, but I bet she tried mate." Paul smiled.

"Yeah, well I s’pose it doesn’t matter now." Mark grimaced. "You guys were right though. She never would go with a guy like me…"

"No, nooo don’t listen to us!" Ben told. "You’re a great guy Mark."

"Yeah you are! I mean how many guys are as sweet as you? I mean, you still love Disney! That’s cute – girls love that! Don’t they Chris?" Paul added.

"Yeah… yeah of course they do! Everyone loves a sweet guy! Why do you think Paul hasn’t had anyone for the last six months!" Christian tried joking.

"Hey! I’ve been looking for a job! I’ve been busy!" Paul defended.

"Well whatever you think, Louise obviously didn’t like, did she?" Mark pointed out.

"Yeah… well… well you’re a thousand times better then that evil Anton!"

"But that’s the point though, Paul. I’m not. I’m no better then anyone, just like he isn’t than me, and it’s that what makes it so hard." Mark admitted, leaving his seat and heading into the hall.

Having a light tapping distract him, he turned slowly towards the door while the house continued to stay silent, as the lounge evidently felt uncomfortable. Sighing as he slowly opened the door, that soon changed into surprise as what he expected to see over powered his imagination.

Dripping wet, clothed in the same dress he left her in, her curls stuck to her face as the rain that was now falling, glued them permanently. Shivering a little while the moonlight picked up on her wet shine, she smiled weakly before falling into Mark’s arms where he pulled her close.

"I’m so sorry Mark…"