Mark stared at his phone in disbelief for a few seconds, calling Sammie every name under the sun, then started up his car and drove back home, pulling into the driveway slowly, in the hope that his engine didn’t wake anyone up. He checked his watch. Half six. No one in the house was ever up before seven, unless it was Mark on Christmas day. He unlocked the door and crept past the stairs, and into the kitchen to put his keys away, promptly running into Colin and Siobhan. Both of them looked tired, with huge bags under their eyes, and both of them looked very, very, VERY, pissed off at him.
      “Um, morning!” he said brightly, hoping he could charm them over.
      “Gee Mark, are you sure it’s morning? Been a long morning already, hasn’t it?” Colin snapped.
      “No longer than usual, but maybe you should go to bed and shorten it, you look tired” A little sympathy went into his voice, in an attempt to be seen as compassionate.
      “Cute Mark, very cute. Want to explain to us where you’ve been all night?”
      “I only just went out for some fresh air!”
      “You went out hours ago! Siobhan woke up and found me here about two o’clock this morning, and said you’d gone somewhere, we’ve been up ever since, waiting for you”
      Mark couldn’t believe his ears, but one look from his girlfriend seemed to confirm it.
      “Sweetheart, you shouldn’t have waited, I was okay. You look tired . . . I hope you’re not working today”
      “Oh, spare me the rubbish Mark, you know I’m working today. I work almost everyday, just like you do. Last night was supposed to give us some time together, thanks for ruining it. Do you know what it’s like to wake up without you there? I’ve been worrying for ages, and you’re not even telling us why you were out all night . . . have you found another girl? Because I’ll stand aside, I don’t need to be with you and if you don’t want to be with me then fine”
      “Look in my eyes” he held her face and brought it up so they had contact. “You’re the only girl in my life, you will always be the only girl in my life, okay? I know you can get by just fine without me; it makes me grateful I’m with you despite that . . . I just needed to be by myself for a while, I’ve had a lot to think about”
      “Like what?” She asked, trying not to fall too badly at Mark’s words. He always had this ability to make her melt with one sentence, and she knew she was a fool for it most of the time. But the lack of sleep was doing odd things to her, and she was able to resist his charms for once.
      “Oh, just work, you know how it is. I got this song idea and got an itching to finish it so I drove off, looking for somewhere to inspire me to write the rest of it” His lies seemed to flow off his tongue like water off a waterfall. And best of all, she seemed to be buying it.
      “Okay, but next time, please at least leave a note so I know? I don’t want to have to worry like that again, if something had happened it could’ve been days before I found out”
      “I know, I know” Mark added some of the pain Siobhan had to his voice, making him sound even more apologetic, “And believe me, if I had known you would worry so much, I would have woken you up and told you, so you wouldn’t have worried so much, I swear” he gave her a small kiss, and she pulled him back for more. Like usual, it had worked; only it had taken longer than normal. Colin shook his head as he saw his brother and brothers girlfriend make up, knowing Mark was still acting dodgy.<o:p></o:p>

      Ben waited for Sammie to get off of the plane before him, and watched as she walked without even looking at him. That hurt a little, Ben thought, she should still be able to look at him surely? It wasn’t his fault he was so confused, it was Mark’s. What Ben didn’t know was that Sammie already was close to tears, and even looking at him would just make her cry again. He sighed and reached out an arm, intent on pulling her into a hug, but as he touched her she tensed, and pulled away. He didn’t realise that letting go of her would do this to them, he thought they had agreed to be friends. Pretty soon, tears were welling up in his own eyes, mainly from his stupidity. A realisation had come to him-what if after saying goodbye to Sammie didn’t mean he was with Mark? Mark might not want him now he was single and that meant . . . that meant he was left with no one. Okay, being single isn’t a bad thing, but Ben knew he shouldn’t be single when there were people who wanted to be with him, that were just ridiculous, especially as he wanted them both as well. ARGH! Why the heck did he want Mark anyway? Mark’s a guy, he can’t do half the things with Mark that he could with Sammie. That’s even worse, Mark’s a guy. If Mark were a girl, it’d be so much easier. Ben had said on more than one occasion that Sammie was the only girl he cared about and it was true . . . Mark being a guy therefore presented a major dilemma. Why did Mark have to pull him into the cupboard that day? At least then Ben’s head would be full of Sammie, and only Sammie. The way it should be. The way it used to be. Despite all the feelings Ben had about Mark, he had to admit-Mark could just SUCK sometimes. There we go again with the Mark thing! Ben glanced again at Sammie, and his heart sank. She looked so worried and tired, and half of it wasn’t Ben’s fault, Mark had infiltrated him somehow, made Ben want him, pulled him into that broom cupboard. Mark had just broken them up, the way no girl had ever managed to do. How had this happened?<o:p></o:p>

      Siobhan pulled into her car parking spot at work, and climbed out, rubbing her eyes and praying that the coffee machine was fixed. Thanks to Mark, she needed all the caffeine she could get her hands on just to make it through the day. And it was going to be a long day, until two a.m. if all went well. She got up to her office and found a note from her secretary.<o:p></o:p>

      ‘Sammie’s gone on holiday with Ben for a few days. Can you deal with the work on your own? Tim knows and he said he’d help if you need it. Mackey from the band called, he forgot his keys again. He slept in another Motel, and the bill was £90. See you at nine’<o:p></o:p>

      “Sammie, how could you?” she cried out in desperation, and with the lack of coffee, the tiredness came over her, and reduced her to tears. She called Tim.
      “Siobhan, what’s wrong?”
      “I got little sleep last night, and Sammie’s gone on holiday for ages. I don’t know how I’m going to cope!”
      “Vicky’s going to come over and help you, okay?”
      “Thank you Tim!”
      “No problem. Try and fit in lots of naps today okay? I’ll have words with Mark later”
      They hung up and Siobhan put her head on her arms and sobbed against the table.

      Sammie and Ben finally found a hotel with enough room for them for their entire holiday, although it cost a little more than usual. Sammie had specifically requested separate bedrooms and insisted on paying her half of the bill. Ben’s heart sank further-he usually convinced Sammie to let him pay, and now she was doing it herself. And the separate rooms meant that they really were splitting up. Ben had to bite his lip to prevent him from crying as Sammie handed her credit card over. She bravely turned to him on their way to their rooms.
      “So, where do you want to go?”
      Ben was about to mention Disneyworld, but the connotations of Mark that the idea brought stopped him. Florida was the worst place to put Mark out of your mind; he was everywhere around her it seemed.
      “Seaworld? I wanna play with dolphins!” Seaworld still had Disney, but they could try to ignore that. Try very, very, very hard. It wasn’t impossible, just very improbable. Sammie seemed as unsure as Ben, but nodded anyway, breaking eye contact as quickly as it was made