Ello guys!

 

Am updating this a day or two earlier than usual to make way for the final chapter of The Cruise which will be going up  some time over the weekend… I wanted to make sure that the finale of Zoë and Mark didn’t over shadow The Follower as this is one of my favourite chapters of it so far!

 

Thanks for all the reviews!! Love Chlo xxx

 

Chapter 15

 

Saturdays in the city were always heaving, meaning that to get anywhere you had to weave your way in and out of crowds of people - something that normally irritated Mel, but not today - in only two days she would be back with Christian and everything would be back to normal again.

 

“What are you grinning about?” Steph asked as she noticed the huge grin that was fixed onto Mel’s face.

 

“Nothing,” she smiled.

 

“She’s been grinning like that all day,” Karen observed, “I’m guessing she’s excited about Monday.”

 

Mel’s face lit up even more and she started to skip slightly as they wandered down the street and into Top Shop.

 

“So how many outfits are you planning on getting?” Mel asked her friends as she ran her hands through the rail of clothes in front of her.

 

“Whatever the budget will allow.” Karen replied, picking up the price label to a particularly nice black skirt and putting it straight back down again.

 

“Put it on plastic,” Mel dismissed, heaving a selection of clothes into her already full arms, “I’m planning on buying different outfits for every day.”

 

Steph looked at her in disbelief, “What's wrong with the clothes you’ve got already?”

 

“Chris has seen them all before.”

 

“Yeah, and I’m sure he really pays attention to what you are wearing,” Karen commented, “he’s a bloke for gods sake, they just don’t notice things like that.”

 

“He does,” Mel replied smugly, “I was reading a magazine article where he said that her prefers girls who wear short skirts and little tops that show off their stomach.”

 

“That doesn’t make him observant.” Steph argued.

 

Karen nodded her head in agreement, “Yep, it just makes him a perv.”

 

Both of them burst into giggles, ignoring the evil looks that Mel was shooting them over the rail of coats. 

 

She continued to sift through the clothing, each garment she picked up skimpier than the first.

 

“Right, I think that’s me done,” she commented, lugging the clothes through the crowds of people and towards the changing rooms.  “I’ll meet you guys back out here.”

 

An hour later the three girls left the shop, Karen and Steph both clasping one bag while Mel struggled with three huge bags on each arm.

 

“So what did you get in the end?” Steph asked, pulling one of the bags to try and get a glimpse inside.  But the bag was quickly snatched away from her grasp.

 

“Its a surprise,” Mel noted, “anyone for coffee?”

 

“Can we just pop into Superdrug first?” Karen asked, “I’m going to need some  things for my wash bag.”

 

They headed into the shop, Karen and Steph heading straight for the toiletries while Mel ducked into the next aisle to look at the makeup.  She ran her eyes across the lipstick testers, pulling out random colours and testing them on the back of her hand until her whole skin was dotted with small blobs of colour.  She then moved onto the nail varnish, selecting 10 colours and discretely painting each of her nails.  Pleased with her efforts she decided to go and show the other girls.

 

Walking into the next aisle they were nowhere to be seen, Mel lifted herself up onto tiptoes to look around the store, but they were gone.  Muttering angrily to herself she decided to pass the time away by checking out the magazines.

 

As she approached the shelf Karen and Steph, rushed towards her, pulling her arm and turning her round.

 

“What are you doing?” Mel asked, surprised by their odd behaviour.

 

“We’ve finished now,” Karen said breathlessly, “come on time to move on.”

 

“But I was going to go and look at the magazines.”

 

“There’s no time, we have to go and get some coffee,” Steph argued, pulling at Mel’s arm in an attempt to get her moving.

 

“There’s no rush,” Mel said, taking a step towards the newsstand.

 

“They’re really boring this week, nothing to see.” Karen stated, “please let’s go and get a coffee.”

 

Mel looked at both of them in bemusement before wriggling out of their grasp and moving towards the magazines.

 

She picked up a copy of smash hits and began leafing through the pages, looking for any sign of a1.  Finding an article on Mark she started reading it. 

 

Laughing at a particular funny bit she turned to her friends.

 

“Have you read this bit where Mark says ... “

 

She stopped mid sentence, both Steph and Karen were leaning hard against the other end of the magazine rack, both of them looking at each other nervously.

 

“What are you two doing?”

 

“Nothing,” Karen said, trying too hard to look casual.

 

“What are you hiding behind there?” Mel asked, throwing the forgotten issue of smash hits back on its shelf.

 

“Nothing,” Steph replied, looking at her wide eyed in panic.

 

“Come on, out with it,” Mel smirked, pulling both girls away from the shelf.

 

Her eyes immediately fell on a huge picture of Christian that was on the front of one of the magazines, her heart leapt into her throat but then was released back down to her stomach with a large painful thud. 

 

In the picture he had his arm round a beautiful blonde girl.

 

“How long have you known about this?” Mel asked, her voice coming out as barely more than a whisper.

 

She picked up the offending copy of OK Magazine and flapped it in front of her friends.

 

“How long have you known?” she asked, her voice coming out slightly louder than before.

 

“We only just found out Mel,” Karen said calmly, “we were trying to keep you away from it.”

 

Mel’s eyes fell on the headline under the picture of Christian

 

CHRISTIAN A1 SPEAKS FOR THE FIRST TIME ABOUT HIS LOVE FOR MODEL GABRIELLA BUCKFIELD.

 

“This can’t be happening.” she gasped, looking from the words back up to the picture.

 

Reaching into her bag she pulled out her purse, struggling to find some money.  Rushing over to the counter she threw the magazine at the Sales Assistant, throwing the money at her and then storming quickly out of the shop, her friends rushing to catch up with her.

 

“Mel are you OK?” Steph asked, gently putting her arms round Mel’s shoulders.

 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Mel replied, “I’m going to head off home now, but I’ll see you guys on Monday.  What time are you picking me up?”

 

“We’ll be at your house at 10 am.” Karen confirmed, “you sure you’re OK?”

 

“Yeah I’ll be fine.”

 

Mel turned quickly away from her friends and made her way outside.  She managed to hold back the tears until she was sitting on the bus.  Placing the Superdrug bag on her lap she saw the vague outline of Christian through the plastic, before she knew it her eyes had filled up and the tears were falling silently down her face.

 

Getting into the house she thankfully noticed that everyone else was in the kitchen, giving her enough time to scramble up the stairs before someone noticed her.  Throwing herself down face down on the bed, she pulled the magazine from the plastic and placed it on the pillow in front of her.

 

She looked down into Christian’s smiling face and then back across to look at Gabriella.  She had a delicate looking face with high cheekbones, blue eyes, huge lips and perfect natural blonde hair.  She was wearing a light blue top that clung flatteringly around her chest and finished just before her perfect size 8 stomach. 

 

Mel glanced further down the picture, Christian’s hand was placed firmly into Gabriella’s her delicate manicured fingers intertwined with his, his other hand was resting casually on one of her perfect long legs.

 

Mel’s heart slowed down, the pain pumping itself to every corner of her body.  Her eyes were fixed on their hands, she wasn't able to pull herself away from the image, even though with every second that passed the tears were falling onto the page more harshly.  She closed her eyes, taking a big breath of air before opening them again, the picture was still there, although somewhat blurred and wrinkled with tears she could still see their hands clasped together, the page began to swim in front of her eyes. 

 

Finally pulling her focus away from it she looked round the room, everything seemed to be moving, she tried hard to keep her head still but still the walls around her were tilting from side to side. 

 

Pulling herself off the bed she stumbled into the bathroom.

 

Kneeling in front of the toilet she peered into the bowl.  Closing her eyes she let her body relieve itself of all the pain and anger she was feeling, with each surge of her body she felt herself calm down, until eventually the churning in her stomach had subsided.

 

Flushing all the hurt down the toilet she returned to her room, lying back down more calmly and turning the page to start looking at the pictures inside.

 

It was an entire 10 page feature, every page that she turned presented a new picture of Christian and Gabriella.  Most of them were very similar to the front page, but others caught her eye.  One had Christian and Gabriella lying on his bed, her head was leaning against his stomach and he had his hand in her hair.

 

Mel closed her eyes and quickly flicked the pages back to the beginning of the article, this time reading the print that was underneath each of the pictures.

 

Today Christian from chart topping boyband a1 reveals for the first time his love for the beautiful Gabriella Buckfield.

 

Mel glared at the picture of Gabriella that was grinning at her from the top of the page.  In a way it was almost as if she was smirking right in Mel’s face, triumphant that she had managed to lure Christian away.

 

The couple have been together for 6 months but decided to keep the relationship secret in fear of upsetting Christian’s dedicated fans.

 

Mel read on.

 

Gabriella Buckfield, more commonly known as Ella, 24...

 

She’s a bit old, Mel noted, smirking at the picture of the “old hag” in front of her.

 

...Ella, 24, said she wants the fans to be comfortable with the situation, speaking today the stunning blonde said, “Christian and I are very much in love, I make him happy and I hope that the fans can understand that.”

 

Mel let out a snort.  How would Gabriella who had only known Christian for 6 months know how to make him happy?

 

“Evil old slapper,” she whispered slightly under her breath, flicking onto the next page.

 

Christian has shown his love for Ella by presenting her with a ring that has been passed down in his family for generations.

 

The picture above showed Christian kissing a ring that hung around Gabriella’s neck on a gold chain.

 

“How cheesy,” Mel muttered, glaring at Gabriella.  It was so obvious that none of this had been Christian’s idea, it just wasn’t his style at all.  Somehow the evil cow had got him completely under the thumb.

 

Stunning Ella plotted to capture the love of her man for months.  “I’d noticed him down at the gym and knew he had to be mine.”  Ella undertook a campaign to get Christian to notice her, “eventually I just took the bull by the horns and asked him out.” 

 

“Poor Christian”, Mel thought, “poor little gullible Christian, she took advantage of the fact that he doesn't understand things and has lured him into her trap.”

 

Mel shut the magazine firmly, and put it the a1 ring binder that she kept safely under the bed.

 

She made her way down stairs and into the kitchen.

 

“Gabriella Ingebrigtsen,” Lucy announced in delight as Mel entered the kitchen.

“You know then?” Mel glared back at her sister.

“They’ll be getting married next you know,” Lucy noted, an air of delight in her voice.

Mel frowned at her.

“Awwwwww, is poor little Mel getting all upset cos she’s realised that the popstar doesn’t love her in return?” Lucy asked, enjoying every moment.

 

Suddenly something clicked into place in Mel’s brain.  Chris loved her, it was obvious to anyone, he was always singling her out for attention, giving her cute little looks, touching her at every chance.  He did love her - and all she had to do was make sure that he realised it before it was too late.

 

She smiled back at her sister.

 

“No, I’m not upset at all.”