Yes I know, I know, I only updated this a few days ago, but had to put some more up, mainly cos I’m so excited about this fic at the moment – I am constantly having new thoughts and ideas for it – I went on holiday and all I could think about was this fic, and when I was walking down the street today I just spaced out and planned an entire chapter!! So yeah – more things to come I hope!

 

Also just wanted to say, tonight sees the premiere of my new fic “Popular” … mmmm, I have actually gone off it – but am putting it up anyway in the hope that I will find inspiration – it’s a bit cheesy and childish but hey never mind!

 

Thanks for everything and Happy New Year! xx

 

Chapter 18

 

Mel pulled the cap further down in front of her eyes, taking a deep sip of orange juice and praying that it was going to hit the areas of her insides that felt squiffy. 

 

“I knew you two shouldn’t have drunk so much,” Steph said haughtily, she was the only one of the three girls sat at the breakfast table with a huge full fry up in front of her.  Both Mel and Karen had opted for a slightly empty breakfast of black coffee and orange juice.

 

“Stop being so annoying,” Karen groaned. 

 

The only thing that made Mel’s hangover seem more manageable was the fact that Karen looked a lot worse than she did.  Her hair lay limp and greasy against her head and her eyes were blood shot.

 

Mel ran her eyes over the breakfast lounge, she had never known a1 to come down for breakfast before, but there was a first time for everything and knowing her luck today would be the day that they decided to show up.  If this happened Mel already had a plan in mind - she would pull her cap down tight on her head and leave before Christian had the chance to see her.

 

“So what are we going to do today girls?” Steph asked brightly.

 

Karen moaned and practically threw her head into the steaming cup of coffee, “do we have to go out?  I feel like shit.”

 

“You’ll feel fine after a shower.”

 

Mel turned to look at Karen in horror, “you mean to say you haven’t had a shower yet?”

 

“Couldn’t be bothered,” Karen replied, “just kind of rolled out of bed and threw some clothes on.”

 

“No wonder you look so rough,” Mel pointed out.

 

“Thanks,” Karen snapped back, “was it really necessary to point that out.”

 

“I’m just saying, what would happen if a1 walked past and saw you looking like that?”

 

“I wouldn’t care,” Karen commented.

 

Steph, jumped into the conversation, breaking it up before the argument got out of hand.

 

“We could go to the cinema,” she suggested, “go watch a film, grab something to eat before we go to the show tonight.”

 

Mel nodded, with any luck getting out for a bit would blow the cobwebs away, meaning that by the time she saw Christian tonight she would be feeling a lot better.

 

 

Several hours later and the girls were stood outside the Odeon cinema carefully scanning the board.

 

“Ah ha!” Steph said, pointing her finger at the board, “we should go and see this one.”

 

“But it’s an 18,” Mel whinged back.

 

“Yeah and what does that matter when you are 19?”

 

“It normally means that its going to be too scary for me,” Mel admitted, “can’t we just go and see some silly family film or something?”

 

Both girls turned towards Karen, looking into her bleary eyes and trying to get a response but to no prevail, she was still looking worse for wear, her head almost completely covered by her coat hood, the only part of her that was exposed was her chin.

 

“There’s nothing else that looks any good,” Steph argued back.

 

“May be we should just pick straws for it?” Mel suggested.

 

“Or alternatively,” Karen’s muffled voice sounded from under her coat hood, “we could just follow them and see what they are going to see!”

 

Mel and Steph turned towards where Karen was pointing and noticed a familiar group of boys standing a little way from them also examining the board.

 

“Shit!” Mel exclaimed, running an anxious hand through her hair and looking around for an escape route.  “What are they doing here?”

 

“They are allowed a life,” Steph replied casually, shifting a sneaky look at them.

 

“But they’ve got a gig tonight, they don’t have time to be coming to the cinema.”

 

“Its in a few hours yet Mel, I think there’s time.”

 

“So can we go and see what they are going to see?” Mel asked, enthusiastic at seeing a1 next to her with no security, and more importantly no Ella in site.

 

“We could do,” Steph said, “but we can’t let them see us, they’ll think we are stalking them.”

 

“Which we are,” Karen grunted.

 

Grabbing her friends by the arms Mel pulled them around the corner of the building, her eyes watching the group and waiting for them to go in.

 

“This is ridiculous,” Steph muttered, “I cant believe we are doing this.”

 

“Shhh” Mel replied, putting her fingers over her mouth and frowning at her friend.

 

She looked back round the wall again, to her annoyance they had disappeared.

 

“Come on!” she snapped, quickly running out from behind the wall and cautiously opening the door into the cinema. 

 

“Its no use Mel, we’ve missed them,” Steph noted with a shrug of her shoulders.

 

But Mel was ignoring her, her eyes scanning the film titles in front of her, if her way of thinking was right then may be this wasn’t such a lost cause after all.

 

Grinning to herself she marched up to the counter, “three adults for A Bug’s Life please.”

 

“A Bug’s Life?” Steph hissed in her ear, “isn’t that a kid’s film?”

 

“Exactly,” Mel replied, “I bet you anything that’s what they’ve gone to see.”

 

Collecting their popcorn and coke the girls made their way to the screen, making sure that the trailers had started rolling before they entered.  Creeping round the dark corner Mel squinted against the blackness, trying to make out the figures of a1, the last thing she wanted was for them to see that they were here.  Finally a few rows up from the back she saw the outline of Chris’ high quiff.

 

“Be very very quiet,” she whispered to her friends, “we need to try and get all the way up there without them seeing us.”

 

“Or alternatively we could just sit down here like normal people,” Steph whispered, tugging at Mel’s top and trying to force her down into a seat.

 

“No, we’ve got to go and sit behind them.”

 

“Why?” Steph whispered loudly back, “what’s the point at staring at the back of their heads for an hour and a half?”

 

Mel ignored her and started her way up the stairs, moving quickly and quietly, her eyes constantly on the boys, hoping that they wouldn’t look in her direction and see her.  Her heart was pounding so loudly she was sure that the whole cinema could hear.  She felt so exposed walking up the stairs, if they turned and looked at her, there was nowhere she could hide, yet she was going to be daring enough to walk all the way up to them and sit just a few rows behind.

 

She glanced behind, Steph and Karen were following, their feet reluctantly plodding up the stairs behind her.

 

Finally they were level with the row directly behind the boys, she glanced over at them quickly, they were all engrossed in the previews, as long as they were careful they wouldn’t be noticed.  She carefully slid into the row, quietly shuffling along the seats until she had sat down on a seat right behind Christian.

 

“Mel!” Karen hissed from the far end of the row, “we can’t sit there.”

 

Mel shrugged her shoulders, not daring to speak in case any of the boys turned round.

 

Giving a sigh Mel and Steph followed her, reluctantly sitting down next to her.

 

“This is ridiculous,” Steph whispered in her ear, “this is really taking it too far.”

 

“Don’t panic it’ll be fun,” Mel assured them, glancing quickly at the back of Christian’s head and getting a quick rush from the excitement of it all.

 

“Mel what is up with you?” Karen asked, “you never used to be like this.”

 

“Shhhh, the film’s starting,” Mel replied, ignoring the question.

 

The three girls settled down quietly to watch the film, hardly daring to breath in case they drew attention to themselves.

 

Glancing up at the screen and deciding that the film looked pretty boring Mel decided to occupy herself in a different way, taking a quiet scoop full of popcorn she fixed her eyes on the back of Christian’s head. 

 

He had lovely hair, slightly quiffed at the top, and perfectly styled.  Moving her eyes down she noticed the way that his hair finished in a cute little tuft at his neck, she wanted nothing more than to place her lips on his neck, the more she looked at it, the more she could feel herself shiver in anticipation, suddenly it was if there was no one else in the room apart from her and him, surely it wouldn’t matter if she just leant forward and made contact with the skin that she so longed to touch.

 

She felt herself slip quietly off her chair, her eyes still fixed avidly on the perfection in front of her.  A force grabbed her from behind, pulling her back into the seat, she tried to fight against it and struggle her way forward towards him, but it was too strong for her and slammed her back into her seat.

 

“Mel what are you doing?”  Karen whispered, sharply into her ear, releasing the tight grip she had on her arm.

 

“Nothing,” Mel whispered back.

 

“Looked to me like you were heading straight at him,” Steph said.

 

“Who?” Mel asked in confusion.

 

“Christian, you were heading straight for him, you were about to blow our cover.”

 

“No I wasn’t” Mel said matter of factly, “look the film’s over.”

 

Quickly standing up she made her way to the end of the row, moving quickly to avoid the torrent of questions from her friends, she looked behind her, they were still at their seats, avidly in conversation, letting out a huge sigh of relief, Mel turned back to the direction she was moving in, slapping head long into a moving object as she went.

 

“Sorry,” she muttered to the man she had just walked into.

 

“Mel?” it replied.

 

Looking up she found herself gazing at Ben.

 

“Ben?” she replied, forcing her voice to sound as surprised as his had a few moments earlier, “what are you doing here?”

 

“Watching the film,” he replied, laughing.

 

“Wow, coincidence,” Mel said, her eyes quickly shifting to look at Christian who had doubled back to join them.

 

“Good film?” he asked.

 

“The best,” she replied, “you enjoy it?”

 

“Yeah, for what it was,” he said, looking at Mark and smirking, “needless to say a certain someone made us come and see it.”

 

“It was a quality film,” Mark argued back, “don’t you think so Mel?”

 

“Quality,” she echoed.

 

“I’ll see you later yeah?” Chris asked her, placing a hand gently on her arm and shaking her out of her trance.

 

“Yeah, see you at the show.”

 

His face lit up into a huge smile, igniting her insides and setting her on fire.