Chapter 16

 

“And you’re sure you’re OK?” Steph asked for the tenth time in two minutes.

 

“I am absolutely fine,” Mel insisted, turning to face her friend and showing her a huge smile.

 

“Its just that you didn’t seem too good yesterday,” Karen called from the front seat, “you looked a little shocked at the news of you know who.”

 

“You can say her name you know,” Mel replied, “I’m cool with it.”

 

“OK” Karen started again, “you seemed a little shocked at the news of Gabriella.”

 

Mel caught Karen’s gaze in the mirror and smiled at her, “well everything is fine now.”

 

“What changed?” Steph asked in interest.

 

“You’ll see,” Mel replied, an air of mystery in her voice.

 

Refusing to elaborate anymore on the subject she turned away from Steph who was her fellow backseat passenger and began to fumble through the side pockets of the car door looking for the chocolate éclairs that she knew were there before.

 

Finding the packet she opened them and offered one to Karen, being careful to unwrap it for her so she didn’t have to take her eyes off the road ahead or take her hands off the steering wheel for too long.

 

It was true what she had said to her friends, she really wasn’t so bothered about Christian and his new love anymore.  She knew it was only a matter of time until the blonde bimbo broke his heart and then she would be there to pick up the pieces and offer support.

 

She smiled smugly to herself at the thought of a disgraced Gabriella being made to leave the a1 tour in shame, everyone hating her.

 

Mel began to sing loudly to the CD as the little car sped up the motorway towards Birmingham, she hadn’t been this happy in a long time.  This was just the start of the tour, they would be two days in Birmingham, followed by a few in Sheffield and then it was onto Cardiff before the final nights back in London.  It was only a small arena tour for a1, but for Mel it meant the world.

 

“Turn it up!” she called out to Karen and she took her coke bottle out of her bag and began to sing into it, throwing her arms around in an over dramatic style.

 

Steph giggled and began to do the same, until the back of the car had become rather like Top of the Pops - both girls miming into their coke bottles and singing at the people in the cars beside them.

 

“You trying to make me crash?” Karen asked, glancing at them in the mirror.

 

“Sorry,” they replied meekly, putting their bottles down.

 

“We nearly there yet?” Mel grumbled, stretching her head out of the window to see if she could see a passing road sign that would give her the miles.

 

“A little way yet,” Karen replied.

 

“Right, guess we need another game then,” Steph announced, “how about do or die?”

 

This was met by much approval, even from Karen who had suddenly decided to join in with the mad girls on the back seat.

 

“Louis Walsh - do or die?” Steph asked, her eyes twinkling at Karen.

 

“Do,” Karen replied firmly.

 

The two girls began to make gagging noises in the backseat.

 

“You serious?” Mel screeched at her, “you’d do it with Louis Walsh?”

 

“He’s rich,” Karen replied simply, “right my go, Graham Norton do or die?”

 

Mel dissolved into giggles at this, “how are we expected to answer that?” she asked, “he’s gay, he wouldn’t be interested in any of us.”

 

“He wouldn’t know which end,” Steph agreed.

 

Karen’s eyes widened, “Stephanie!  That was so filthy.”

 

“Someone’s been spending too much time with Paul,” Mel agreed.

 

“So, Graham Norton do or die?” Karen asked again, looking at Mel.

 

“Erm... do,” Mel replied after a little thought.

 

“Ooooooh I’ve got another one!” Steph exclaimed, “one for Karen.”

 

Karen eyed her suspiciously, this one sounded rather ominous.

 

“Christian, do or die?”

 

Mel turned to look at Karen with interest, “careful what you say to this one,” she warned, “this is my man you are considering doing.”

 

Karen laughed at the serious expression on Mel’s face, “it’s got to be die hasn’t it?” she replied cheekily.

 

“What’s wrong with him?” Mel screeched back.

 

“You just told me that I can’t do him,” Karen replied.

 

“I didn’t,” Mel replied haughtily, “poor babe, I’d do him in an instant.”

 

“Well yeah we know that.”  Mel and Steph replied at the same time.

 

The game continued right until they pulled into Birmingham and then onto the Hilton Hotel car park.

 

“You sure we got the right hotel?” Mel asked, suddenly unsure that this would be the hotel that a1 would be staying in overnight.

 

“Yep, they always use this one,” Karen said confidently, pulling down the mirror and carefully applying more makeup, “right do I look like a teeny bopper?” she asked.

 

They had never yet been eyed suspiciously in the hotels they had stayed at before, but it didn’t stop them being a little nervous about checking into them.

 

“You look great,” Mel confirmed, “we all look far too old to be teeny boppers.”

 

Getting out of the car the girls stretched their achy legs and pulled their luggage out of the boot and up to the hotel door.

 

Walking confidently through the lobby Karen made her way up to the reception desk.

 

“Booking in the name of Fields,” she said politely.

 

Mel looked casually round the hotel.  As usual it was perfect in every way - the kind of hotel that businessmen and popstars stayed in and normal people just didn’t get to see.  The floor was so shiny and well polished you could see your reflection in it when you bent down, even the reception desk itself had an air of class about it.  To the left of the foyer was a small lounge filled with several tiny tables and big comfy armchairs, to the other side were the lifts.  The lifts that lead to a whole other world.

 

Turning her glance back towards the door Mel could see a gathering of girls stood outside, all of them obviously waiting for a1 to arrive, excitedly clutching their posters and gathered tightly underneath the door frame to protect themselves from the rain. 

 

“And what time is breakfast?” Karen’s voice echoed around the quiet lobby.

 

“It will be from 7.30 until 10.30 in the main dining room which is situated on the first floor.”

 

Karen nodded at the lady politely, “and where will we find the main bar?”

 

“That’s also on the first floor.”

 

Clutching their key cards Karen ushered her two friends into the lift up to their floor.

 

“What floor we on?” Mel asked, positioning herself near the buttons but unsure of which one to press.

 

“Second.”

 

Pressing the large shiny “2” button the girls made their way up to the floor and found their rooms. 

 

The corridors were laid out in a plush red carpet, each door presented in front of them in shiny white with huge gold numbers. 

 

“Do they know there’s three of us in one room?” Karen asked as she slid the key card into the gap and the door clicked unlocked.

 

“We’d best be careful,” Steph confirmed.

 

Mel rolled her eyes, that normally meant that one of them would be a refugee and if they got caught they would have to pay more.

 

Pushing the door to the ensuite open she peered around inside.  Hotel bathrooms were always fantastic, and this one didn’t let her down.  It was spacious and was a wonderful clean white colour.  The basins were aligned with complimentary shower gels, bath cubes and soaps.  Mel reached her hand out to pull the light switch in order to get a better look.  The minute that her hand connected with the orange chord a low buzzing noise began to fill the room.

 

“What have you done?” Steph asked suspiciously, her head peering round the door.

 

“Nothing!” Mel replied innocently, “I just turned the light on.”

 

“You mean you pulled that orange chord?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“That’s the emergency chord, not the light switch.”

 

The phone rang in the main bedroom and Mel shuffled over to pick it up and explain to reception the mistake, with both Steph and Karen rolling around in laughter at her obvious awkwardness.

 

“Probably best that you just sit here now and don’t touch anything,” Karen commented, patting the bed with her hand before leaning down to examine the switches beside the bed.

 

“What do they do?” Mel asked.

 

“Not sure,” Karen replied, pressing one and watching the curtains slide back automatically.

 

“I love posh hotels,” Steph squealed in excitement.

 

It didn’t matter how often they stayed in hotels this was always the scene when they checked into a new one - many hours were often spent just playing with the gadgets and hunting out new freebies to sneak into their bags and take home.

 

Normally Mel would have joined in, but she had already begun to loose interest - there was only one place she wanted to be, back in the main lobby waiting for a1 to arrive.

 

“I’m just going to whizz downstairs and ask for some extra pillows,” she murmured at no one in particular, standing up and moving towards the door.

 

“But Mel, you can just ring reception,” Steph shouted out to her, but she was already gone.

 

Reaching the ground floor Mel peered out of the lift doors, looking round to the main door.  There was still no one there, the fans were all still stood expectantly and the lobby was empty.

 

Sighing to herself Mel took a seat in the lounge and started her long wait.

 

After half an hour of beer mat flipping the dull sound of screams from outside woke her from her daze, looking back towards the door she noticed the quick flashes of cameras going off before the door opened and Mark appeared through it.

 

Mel watched him casually, wanting them all to check in before she went over to speak to them - if it was one thing that annoyed popstars more than anything it was their fans getting in the way.  She needn’t have bothered worrying though as only a few minutes later Ben appeared through the door and headed straight over to her.

 

“Mel!” he called out happily, pulling her out of her seat and giving her a big hug, “how are you?”

 

“Great,” she replied enthusiastically, genuinely happy to see Ben again.

 

“Where are the others?” he looked all around her.

 

“Still unpacking.”

 

“Ahhhhh so you are staying with us?” Ben asked.

 

“We sure are.”

 

She felt a gentle hand lay on her shoulder, turning slowly round she saw the sight that she had been longing to see for so many days.  She hadn’t been sure how she would be the first time she saw him after learning about Gabriella, she had been a little nervous about how her body was going to react to him.  But on seeing that wonderful smile again all the doubts vanished.

 

“Mel,” he said quietly, smiling and pulling her into a tight hug.

 

“I’m so glad you’re here,” Mel whispered into his ear.

 

He pulled back from her and brought his eyes up to meet hers, locking her into his glance for what seemed like an eternity.

 

Mel’s heart let out a slight jump... Ella or no Ella the magic was still there.