Hi, I’m back with chapter 5 and this is actually one of my fave chappy’s… dunno why! Lol! Yet again, thanks for all the nice reviews and stuff (even though I can’t read yours Kate ;’( *sniffs*) and well… I hope you enjoy! Happy V-day! Haha! Let’s hope you all had cards and stuff from your loved ones or mysterious senders… I didn’t! lol! Luv Hay xxx

Chapter 5

Walking through the brown wooden gate, he let it close behind him with a small creak before heading up the path and to the door. Pushing in the key while leaning against it, he gave it a small shove until it opened and he stepped in. Throwing his keys back into his pocket, he took off his jacket and wandered through to the small lounge where three others sat. Laying the jacket over the top of the chair, he slumped in it as he remembered how he had spent his afternoon.

"Well, how’d it go?" One asked, sitting comfortably in blue jeans and plain white T-shirt.

"Alright I suppose…" Mark sighed.

"I think what Ben means there is, have you done a good enough job to start raking us in some cash?" The shortest out of the four said, lounging on the sofa as he played with a piece of string.

"Paul, don’t ask it like that!" The blonde guy told. "Not only is Mark gonna be making us some cash for this band but you’re gonna have to do something too, like get a job."

"Yeah, yeah Chris." Paul dismissed. "Anyway, Mark, spill."

"There’s not much to tell really…"

"Oh yeah, come off it Mark! What normal person lives at a place called Aphex Manor with the name Aphex-Campbell? I mean, who the hell would need two surnames let alone a place named after them." Ben said.

"Ben, shut up." Paul told pointedly. "We didn’t need to know that… Continue Mark…"

"Well the place is really big – like massive big. I’m talking marble staircase here with like three flights of stairs."

"Three flights of stairs? How on earth could you walk three flights stairs? Do they have a lift?" Ben asked.

"No." Mark answered. "Anyway, there’s maids too but she doesn’t like them… she prefers to do things on her own…"

"She?" Christian grinned.

"Oh yeah, Lou. That’s her name. Well its Louise but I call her Lou." Mark explained.

"Lou ey? Hmm… and who’s this Lou? I’d say you know her pretty well since you call her Lou…" Paul commented, suspiciously.

"Ah! Mark you’ve been having shenanigans with the maids already haven’t you?!" Ben laughed, sitting up intrigued.

"Does the little black and white outfit turn you on?" Paul chuckled.

"No… I mean… no! What I’m trying to say is, Lou isn’t a maid. She’s the one I’m teaching…"

"Oh, the little teacher student act now…" Paul laughed. "God Mark…" he continued, shaking his head whilst grinning.

"Hey, shut up guys and let him explain. You wanted to know didn’t you?" Christian interrupted.

"You’re just interested in this Lou…" Ben added. "Carry on Mark, for deprived Chris’s sake here…" He smirked.

"Well Lou is the one I teach and she’s really nice…"

"What’s she look like?" Paul suddenly asked, placing the piece of string on the small coffee table before Ben picked it up.

"Erm… well she has these blue eyes, really sparkly ones that look quite deep… like pools of water. And she has this longish brown hair that’s not boring and straight – it’s wavy." He explained as if wavy hair was so fascinating. "She’s quite tall to, but not too tall… just the right height really…"

"You’ve fallen for her, haven’t you?" Christian smiled.

"What? No, no… no. Fallen for her…" He mimicked. "I haven’t fallen for her…"

"Yes you have." Christian stated.

"Yeah, don’t argue with Chris mate. He’s like God of all things love and that way orientated." Paul advised.

"Well it doesn’t matter anyway, cos she’s engaged to Mr Aphex-Campbell… getting married soon…" Mark informed.

"Ouch." Ben winced. "You do know how to pick ‘em don’t ya?"

"Yeah, come on Mark. Don’t take this the wrong way or anything but by the sounds of this guy, he has everything. Owns the house, all this money…" Paul trailed off. "And then you – a small little house like this, no car and no permanent job living with three lazy slobs like us."

"Thanks Paul." Mark grinned sarcastically.

"I don’t think Paul means it nastily Mark, but when looking at the facts, he’s right." Christian said sensitively. "What can you offer to this Louise that’ll make her change – ditch her well living and obviously the person she loves."

"But that’s the point. I don’t think she loves him…" Mark revealed.

"Ahh come on Mark." Ben said. "Let’s not go down that road. She wouldn’t be with him if she didn’t would she?"

"Yeah but then again I don’t think she likes it there. She showed me that about the whole maid thing and…"

"Chris, come on, talk some sense into him will ya?" Paul told.

"Hang on a minute," Christian said. "What do you mean, she doesn’t like it there?"

"Well she seems different around the others, Anton and that."

"Anton?" Ben questioned confused.

"Yeah Anton, the one she’s engaged to." Mark replied carelessly. "It’s just when she’s around him, she acts different. Like I can only call her Lou when no one else is there whereas all the others call her Louise and when he walked into the kitchen while we were getting a drink, she like changed completely. Stood upright and everything. I’d even say she seemed tense…"

"Tense?" Christian asked. "Tense as in how? Tense as in nervous tense or tense as in doing something wrong tense?"

"I dunno…" Mark answered, bewildered. "But definitely tense. I wouldn’t say she was nervous, well she was a little bit, but she wasn’t really doing much wrong either. Flirting a bit maybe but…"

"Flirting?" Paul grinned, now more alert.

"Well not flirting flirting… it coulda just been her being friendly…" Mark added.

"Hmm… well if you ask me…" Ben began.

"No one asked you." Paul smirked.

"I said, if you ask me," Ben repeated. "If you ask me, she does seem to like you but then that could just be because you’re not from her world. You’re different so that’s why she’s interested…"

"Yeah… Ben could be right there…" Christian mused.

"But what if it isn’t that. What if its cos she generally likes me and doesn’t like where she is?" Mark asked, hope evident in his voice.

"All I can say, is be careful." Christian suggested. "Be very careful Mark because the last thing you want to do is get mixed up in this, especially with people like them..."

"Yeah! They could sue us mega!" Paul exclaimed. "And we don’t have money like they do so we’d be well and truly stuffed and never get this band going…"

"Paul, if you continue to sit on your arse all day, just like Ben over there, then we never will get this band going…" Christian added.

As the others continued to talk about jobs, money and the future, Mark zoned out and tried piecing together his hopes, thinking that maybe if things were different, and he was a star, with money, a car, a glamorous job, then Louise would be interested in him. But then again, he knew Louise and after only one day he knew that she didn’t like that. She didn’t like the life she was living in and even if it did sound a little zealous, he couldn’t help but feel it was right. Louise didn’t like the money, the glitz and glam; she liked normality and as he continued to think more about what she liked, he found it incredibly spooky how much he thought he already knew about her. One thing he did know for certain though, was that there was something there, something that splashed a splurge of colour on those dreary drab walls, but whether this colour was genuine, or just a weak wash of water, only future lessons would tell.

"Hey, who’s up for some fish and chips from down the chippy?" Paul asked, standing up.

"Yeah, go on then, I’m starving." Ben grimaced, rubbing his stomach.

"Ok, Mark, you’re paying!" Paul said cheekily.

"What?" Mark questioned.

"Well since you’re the one with the job earning money off those rich snobs up there, then we can use their money to buy our grub." Paul smirked. "Grab your coat."

"I wonder what they’ll be eating for their dinner?" Ben pondered, out of the blue. "Probably something like caviar…"