“I can’t
believe its snowing, the weather said nothing about snow.” Steph shivered as
she pulled her scarf tight around her, even her thickest winter coat was
failing to block out the sharp wind around them.
“And this
is just the worst place to be if it’s snowing.” Karen pointed out, clapping her
arms together and leaping up and down a few times.
The girls
all nodded in agreement, Old Ford Lock was an awful place to be standing
outside at the best of times, even on a hot summers day the breeze round ‘The
Big Breakfast’ house could be cold as it skimmed off the waters edge and
whipped around their ears.
“At least
there aren’t too many craves here though.” Mel pointed out, trying to see the
best side of the situation. Sometimes
in the summer months the gates would be awash with fans, mostly all armed with
big thick marker pens to write on the gates with, for years it had been a
custom to come and leave your mark on the white wood, and it was covered in
scrawls from girls who had come far and wide to see all sorts of bands.
“Peter
Andre,” Karen pointed to one scrawl, “whatever happened to him?”
“That must
have been some permanent marker pen, he hasn’t been around for years,” Steph
commented as she searched the fence for some more names.
“Ooooooooh
there’s the car,” a fan from the other end of the fence yelled and immediately
the air was filled with high pitched squeals as the fans left the fence and
went to bang on the windows of the prev.
“Is Gareth
driving?” Mel asked, craning her neck to try and see if she recognised the face
behind the wheel, it was always great when Gareth drove, he was so friendly and
always willing to chat.
“Sure is,”
Steph replied, grinning, “come on, lets go speak to him.”
Waiting for
a1 to get out of the car and move into the building the girls leant far over
the fence, finally catching Gareth’s attention.
“Hey
girls,” he called out cheerily, leaving his post by the car and coming towards
the fence to talk to them.
“How are
the boys today?” Mel asked him, “any funny stories for us.”
“They’re in
fine spirits,” Gareth responded, “were singing most of the way up here, and how
are you girls?”
“We’re
fine”
“Bit cold
though.”
“Gareth?”
Karen asked, a thought suddenly flashing up in her mind, “as its so cold out
here could we go sit in the car?”
Gareth’s
face fell for a second, a few months ago he had let the girls sit in the prev,
and even though he hadn’t got caught it was a risk that he still sometimes
regretted taking.
“I don’t
know girls, I don’t like to let you do thing like that, management wouldn’t be
happy.”
“But it’s
so cold.” Steph commented, breathing out a huge fog of smoke to emphasise her
point, “we’ll behave ourselves, we just want to get out of the cold.”
He gave in,
“oh okay, but the minute people start appearing out here I want you back behind
that gate.”
The girls
let out a triumphant squeal, climbing over the low fence and making their way
over to the prev door.
Gareth had
a quick look all around him to see if anyone was around before opening the door
for the girls and watching them climb in.
“Wow, its
great in here.” Karen commented, as they all spread themselves out over the
ample seating space.
“Magazine
anyone?” Steph giggled, shifting through the pile of magazines that were on the
seat next to them.
It was hard
not to look around them at what was on offer, it wasn’t every day you got to
sit in a popstar prev. It was different to any normal car, the back was fitted
with four seats with a wide stretch of leg room in front and behind them was a
large boot with extra seats also added in.
The windows were a slight misty colour, easy to see out of but
impossible to look into.
“It must be
so tempting to pull faces at people on the motorways.” Karen commented, moving
her face up close to the window and twisting it into a silly pose.
“I don’t
think I’d dare,” Steph admitted, “I would never quite believe that they
couldn’t see me.”
A loud
knock on the front window shocked them into silence as the door opened and
Gareth’s head appeared, “that’s your lot ladies, the boys are out in a minute.”
Thanking
him they all quickly scurried back over to the fence, reaching the other fans
just before the band emerged out of the door and started moving towards them.
Screams
filled the air again as the boys moved along the fence signing whatever was
waved in front of their noses.
“Hey Mel.”
A quiet voice appeared from in front of her.
“Hi Chris,”
she responded, grinning at him as he came over to see her, “good interview?”
“Yeah,
pretty good.”
“No daft
questions?”
“Not too
many.”
As usual
their conversation was restricted to small sentences, their communication done
mainly by small smiles and glances at each other.
“Hey
Melanie.” Another voice entered the conversation, pulling Mel back from her
Christian moment.
“Oh hey
Mark.”
“Don’t look
so pleased to see me then,” he retorted in response.
“Sorry!”
she replied quickly, reaching over to give him a friendly tap on the arm.
“I hate
this fence,” he mumbled to himself, and lifting up one of his long legs he
quickly stepped over it to join Mel on the other side, scooping her up into a
big hug, “there that’s better.”
“And is
this a good idea?” she asked, cautiously eyeing all the craves who looked like
they may run over at any given time, “you’re proving to be quite the rebel this
week.”
“Yeah I am
aren’t I?” he asked proudly, quickly leaping back over the fence before Del
managed to catch him.
“Shit!”
Steph suddenly called out, spotting something moving towards them from the
house.
“What?”
Chris asked turning around.
“Its the
cameras” Karen responded, seeing immediately what Steph was pointing at,
“they’re coming this way.”
“Oooh I’d
forgotten how camera shy you all are.” Chris grinned, waving the cameras over
to where they were all standing.
“Right guys
we want some shots of you with the fans,” the camera man instructed, moving
into postion, “these ones will do,” he
said, gesturing to the three gob smacked girls standing by Chris and Mark.
“Ooooh
yes,” Mark exclaimed, clapping his hands together in evil glee, “these two are
some of our best fans.”
The cameras
all pulled back slightly, starting on Mark for the opening shot.
“Quiet on
set, going to outside shot in 3, 2, 1, Action.”
Mark turned
towards the camera, grinning as the red light on the top beamed into use,
announcing to everyone that they were going live out to the nation.
“Welcome
back to the Big Breakfast,” Mark started, reading the autocue cards under the
camera like a true pro, “we are outside with three of our biggest fans.”
The camera
swooped towards Steph, Mel and Karen who all stood frozen to the spot, smiling
weakly into the camera.
“So girls,
“ Chris started, turning towards them, “exactly how many posters of us do you
have all over your room?” The tone of
his voice was sincere but his eyes were twinkling with menace, Mel could tell
he was enjoying every second of watching them squirm.
“Quite a
few.” She reluctantly replied.
“And are
they all over your ceiling as well as your walls?” Mark piped in, enjoying the
game that they were playing.
“Yes.”
Karen responded shortly, not wanting to admit to something that wasn’t true,
but also not wanting to show the boys up to the nation.
“Fantastic!”
Mark responded, “now lets go and see what Ben and Paul are up to over the other
side.” He moved off with the cameras in
tow, leaving the girls standing alone with Christian.
“I can’t
believe you did that!” Mel remarked, glaring at him slightly.
“Sorry,” he
responded, chuckling to himself, “it was so funny, you should have seen your
faces.”
Mel started
to feel her mouth turn up slightly, she couldn’t help but smile when Christian
laughed, he was pretty infectious, his mouth turning up to show two cute little
dimples and his eyes sparkling with joy.
“So you
agree?” he asked, grinning at her.
“No!” she
retorted, “I still think it was wrong of you.”
He
continued to smile at her, moving his head slightly towards hers, “sorry babe,”
he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and moved off towards his band mates.
Mel stayed
at the fence, her heart flittering slightly, her hand raised to the spot where
his lips had been.