Ben hugged Sammie tightly, kissing her forehead over and over. Overwhelmed, she merely hugged him back.
“Want something to eat?” he whispered.
“Do you only think of food?” she giggled.
“No, I think of my family and the band and music and you” he kissed her again, then pushed her onto the bed.
“You’re so rude!” she said, as he dunked a strawberry into the fondue, jumped on the bed beside her and put the strawberry into his mouth.
“Sorry, did you want some?” Ben asked, then kissed her until they were sharing the strawberry. As soon as it had gone, he reached over and grabbed some random piece of fruit and started the process again, pushing Sammie gently until she was lying down on the bed, and he was leaning over her. He slipped his arms around her waist, taking one away occasionally to get more fruit. She ran her hands through his spiky hair, pulling his head closer. She was all too aware of his leg laying on hers, and began to wonder if he was going to push the kiss further. He didn’t seem to be, but Sammie had suddenly decided it was going to go further. As he reached for yet more fruit, Sammie grabbed his hand and wrapped it tightly around her body. Keeping one hand on his head, she slipped the other down his chest, and let it rest for a while on the belt of his jeans before sliding it under his top. He pulled away from her.
“Sorry, I thought-“ she began, and he cut her off.
“Not yet, we have ages to do that. Anyway, I just remembered, it’s Rupert’s football match today. It’s already the afternoon here, he’ll probably be getting ready” He sat up and pulled his mobile out of his pocket, and pressed one of the speed dial options. Sammie sat up and watched him.
“Hiya Luce, is Ru there? . . . Oh, right . . . any goals yet? . . . he did? Wicked! . . . go on, tell me . . . really? Okay, tell me everything as it happens, I have the time, just a sec though” Ben covered the mouthpiece and turned to Sammie. “Are you sure this is okay?” he asked, concerned. She nodded.
“Can I listen too?” She asked. He nodded and smiled.
“They’re five minutes in and Ru already scored. They’re gonna make him player of the season” Sammie smiled back as Ben glowed with pride. They both started to listen as Lucy commentated Rupert’s moves and gave the score every time they heard the crowd cheer. It felt like no time at all had passed when the match finished, with Lucy yelling “5-3 5-3-5-3!”, having forgotten that she was still on the phone. Sammie giggled.
“Max is like that when he gets excited” she said. Ben gave her a quizative look. “Max is my little brother” Ben nodded, smiling, then started talking to Lucy again.
“Yes . . . from . . . yeah, that’s it . . . he is? Pass him the phone then . . . Lucy, we’ve been talking for ages, pass him the phone . . . hey Ru, congrats man, I’m so proud of you . . . yeah I am . . . yeah, okay . . . hold on” he held the phone out. “Ru wants to speak to you” Sammie took the mobile.
“Hello?”
“You’re Ben’s date?”
“Yes”
“What’s your name?”
“Sammie”
“That’s nice”
“Thank you”
“Anyway, tell Ben I got player of the year award, Lucy said season but it’s year. And I scored a hat trick, how great is that?”
“That’s fantastic, well done”
“Okay, Lu is trying to break my arm to snatch her phone back so-stop it Lu!-before I go, be careful of Ben, he can get away with anything so be tough and-LU!-and keep your eye on him, okay?”
“Okay, I will”
“Cool, here’s Lu”
“Okay, bye”
“Bye!!!”
“Hi!” another voice came on the line, and Sammie felt Ben put his arms around her and lean in.
“Hello”
“I’m Lucy. How’s it going with Ben?”
“It’s great, how about you?”
“Yeah, me and Ben are doing great” Lucy joked and Sammie laughed. Ben squeezed her slightly.
“It’s great about Rupert, that award I mean”
“Isn’t it? I’d better go, my battery’s almost dead. I hope you and Ben stay together, you seem nice” there was a beep “that’s my battery, say bye to Ben for us!”
“Okay, bye”
“Bye nice person!!!” The line went dead and Sammie hung up. She could feel Ben moving up and down slightly as he breathed, but couldn’t see his face, it was buried in her hair.
“Wow, your brother and sister are so sweet!” She felt Ben nod. “Is Rupert really into football then?” She felt him nod again. “You okay?” Ben didn’t react. She turned to look at him, and saw him crying. “Oh, Ben, what’s wrong?” she asked, hugging him tightly.
“I, I , I just re-really miss them, tha-that’s all” he said through his mounting hysterics, hugging her tightly back. “Don’t let go of me” he whispered.
“I won’t, you know I won’t. Are you going to be okay?”
“I do-don’t know. I-I-I-it feels like the start of a panic attack”
“I have those too. And don’t worry, I’ll hug you through it”
“You have them too?” He asked, his eyes widening through the tears. She nodded. “Fo-found something in c-c-common then, haven’t we?”
Sammie giggled.
“Yeah, come on, breathe, breathe”
“Not very popstarry of me, is it?”
“I don’t care, as long as you’re okay”
Ben was slowly beginning to calm down, and Sammie rubbed his back as he did.
“I feel so stupid” he said once he had calmed down.
“Well, you shouldn’t. It was sweet in a way, missing your brother and sister so much that you had a brain freeze.”
Ben smiled weakly.
“I’m so glad you’re my girlfriend”
“So’m I” she pushed his hair away from his face, and wiped his tears away, with him watching her all the time.
“I mean it. And when this week is up, you can meet my parents, and Ru and Luce, and Mark and Chris again, and Paul”
“And you can meet my family, and Kaz again”
They hugged again, and Ben whispered
“We might as well go and look for the camera crew”