On the plane, once again first class, Ben insisted on strapping Sammie onto her seat. They kept eye contact while he did so.
“I’m so going to miss those eyes,” Sammie said, more to herself than him.
“Why? We’re going to see each other loads, I’ll make sure of it. You don’t think we’ll see each other again, do you?”
“Well, no, I think we will. You’ve made me believe you. It’ll be an insult to you if I didn’t. I’m just thinking that you’re busy with the band and when you’re not you’ll be with your family. It reduces the time we can spend together”
“I’ll make time for you”
“And then I’ve got to concentrate on work ‘coz it’s my A level year and I want to go to Uni and I have to help with Max a lot, he is only six after all” Ben silenced her by putting his finger over her mouth.
“I’m making time for you, okay? We’ll work out a way to see each other. I won’t let anyone keep us apart. Okay?”
She nodded and kissed him. He kissed back until someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Could you do your seatbelt up please, sir” and airhostess asked. Ben, blushing, did as he was told, before taking Sammie’s hand and looking out of the window. Sammie squeezed his hand.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, just thinking”
“’Bout what?”
“Chris and Paul”
“Well, whatever floats your boat”
“No! I was just thinking about them fighting over a girl. They have such different tastes; I’m finding it hard to believe they found a girl to fight over. And, well . . . let’s put it this way, until I found you, only Mark seemed capable of a long term relationship so it could be bad news for your friend. Then again, Paul was engaged . . .”
He let himself drift into silence, thinking again. Sammie rubbed his arm as he thought, wondering herself if Kaz was aware of these things. She assumed Ben was working out what would be best for Kaz (which he was), which Sammie thought was incredibly sweet, seeings as he had only met her once, and the first time Sammie had mentioned her, Ben seemed to draw a complete blank as to whom she was talking about.
“Thing is” Ben was speaking his thoughts again, and Sammie zoned out of hers to listen. “Does your friend want a long term thing or not?” He asked, his eyes boring into hers, searching for the answers. Sammie thought, and then chose her words carefully.
“I think if she went with Christian, it’d be a short term thing, if it was Paul it’d be longer, but I’m only guessing from the things she’s said as a fan. She may be getting on better with Christian than Paul”
Ben smiled.
“Everyone gets along with Paul. Christian may confuse some people so unfortunately I can’t say the same for him. It’s a pity, he’s a great guy” He saw Sammie’s bemused expression. “What?”
“What?”
“When I spoke to Paul on your mobile, when I got it accidentally, he said we’d have to talk more before he liked me and, well, this is the first time you’ve mentioned one of the guys properly, how they’re like and stuff”
Ben smiled again.
“Paul’s pulling your leg. If I like you, Paul definitely will . . . you want me to talk about the guys?”
Sammie nodded, smiling.
“Well, Paul’s hilarious, in case you couldn’t already tell. We talk everyday except I think one day this holiday we didn’t, but I was preoccupied. Ummm, he spends half his life in Spain these days, so we all have these huge phone bills with all these Spanish numbers on. Chris is mega sensitive, but he can be a bit of a slut too, which is kind of confusing. But he’s a great guy anyway. He gives us hugs like all the time, and doesn’t complain too much when we make fun of him. Mark is very Simpson’s and Disney and cuddly. We’ve known each other years ‘coz we were in another band together, and we have loads in common. We get on really well, and, well, he’s my best mate!” Ben’s face and eyes had completely lit up while he was talking, and his whole body had become more animated. Sammie couldn’t help but smile back-his smile was so infectious sometimes!!! She loved the way his eyes had sparkled as he spoke. She wanted him to keep going.
“I thought you were all best mates”
“Well, we are, but Mark’s my best, best, BEST mate. If it weren’t for him, I’d never have been in a1, and if it weren’t for him agreeing to go on the show even though he wasn’t keen, we never would have met”
“Mark’s wonderful!” Sammie gushed, surprised that Mark wasn’t keen to go on the show. Ben’s smile grew as far as it could, and they both lapsed into silence, although now it was a comfortable silence between them.
As the dinners were brought around, Ben started talking again.
“Sammie, sweetheart?”
“Yeah?”
“We’re going to get back at about eleven”
“Yeah”
“The show’s going to make us stay in another hotel”
“Aaaaaaand?”
“My flat’s pretty close to the airport, do you want to stay there with me instead? Until you have to go home?”
Sammie thought for a while, then smiled.
“Do I get room service?”
“Urrrr”
“And a morning paper? Oh, and meals in the flat restaurant?”
“Ummmm”
“Ben, I’m kidding! I’d love to. It’d make it easier to talk to Christian, Kaz and Paul . . . where will I sleep though?”
“My bed”
“Where would you sleep?”
“My bed”
Sammie smiled.
“I guess that’ll be alright, we’ve already slept in the same bed twice”
“Exactly, that’s why I suggested it. Paul’ll give us a lift back”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I kind of asked him before this whole thing blew up”
“Okay . . . would Kaz come too?”
Ben shrugged.
“I guess so, she’s your best mate and he’s taking care of her, so she should”
Sammie nodded. She was starting to feel sleepy, so she nuzzled her head into Ben. He put his arm around her, and took one of her hands with his other hand, rubbing it gently. She soon nodded off, but Ben stayed awake, worrying.