Mel
struggled through the lounge, one hand pulling her heavy trolley case and the
other clutching at a steaming mug of tea.
“Ooooooh
this is nice,” Mel said cheerily as she made her way to a seat in the terminal.
“How on
earth can you be so bloody cheerful?” Steph muttered
Steph and
Karen were finding it hard to match Mel’s perky mood, they had left London at a
ridiculous hour in the morning to make sure that they landed in Norway before the
boys did, and now they were paying for it.
“May be we
should go and find our hotel and freshen up?” Karen suggested as she threw her
large bag on the floor and slumped down next to Mel.
“Good
idea!” Steph agreed, “we can go and get changed, have something to eat and then
find the boys later.”
Mel’s face
fell, her cheerful smile being replaced by a slightly worried one, her brows
furrowed as she chewed thoughtfully on her lip.
“What you
say Mel?” asked Karen.
“I’d rather
stay here and wait for them to arrive,” Mel admitted in a quiet voice.
“Come on
Mel! We look a complete state,” Steph observed, catching a glance at herself in
the reflection in a glass door, her hair was hanging limply around her
shoulders, her face was shining and the bags under her eyes were so large they
could have carried her luggage.
“We look
fine,” Mel enthused, routing around in her bag and presenting Steph with a make
up bag, “just go to the toilets, shove a bit of lippy on and we’ll be away.”
“Fine!”
Karen muttered, “toilet it is then.”
Karen and
Steph stood up and made their way towards the toilet.
“You not
coming Mel?” Steph asked, looking back at her friend who was still perched on
her seat.
“Nah, think
I’ll stay here in case the boys come in.” She replied, giving them a smile.
Making
their way in silence to the toilet, neither girl spoke until they were inside
and well out of earshot.
“What on
earth is up with Mel?” Karen asked, gazing into the mirror as she reapplied
some lip-gloss.
“You’ve
noticed too then?”
“Yeah,
she’s been acting funny for days”
Taking a
small travel brush out of her pocket Steph began to tame her wild mane, tugging
at the small knots that had gathered at the bottom of her hair.
“Wonder
what’s up with her?”
Karen stood
in silence for a moment pondering the question, but no matter how long she
thought about it she couldn’t come to a sensible conclusion.
“I’ve got
it!” She yelled suddenly, “she’s obviously having problems at home!”
“You
think?” Steph asked doubtfully.
“Yeah, I
mean she’s always having arguments with her parents, and it would explain why
she was so desperate to come to Norway – she wanted a break from them for a few
days.”
Steph
slowly nodded her head, it did make sense.
“Right,
well we’d best tread carefully around her then.”
Back in the
lounge Mel was still sat in the same position, nervously playing with the
buttons on her phone, for some reason her stomach was rolling around in
cartwheels, and every two seconds her eyes darted upwards, seeing if she could
catch a glimpse of the boys walking through the gates. Any moment they would appear and her life
would be complete again. Every time she
thought about seeing them her legs began to shake, the feeling steadily
sweeping through her body until it reached her hands. They were really beginning to shake now, they were practically
vibrating with nerves, no matter how hard she tried to hold them still they
just kept on moving in tiny twitches of emotion.
“Mel!” a
voice sounded above her.
She turned
her head upwards to find Karen and Steph standing in front of her.
“Mel!
You’re phone’s ringing!” Karen said
“It is?”
she asked in confusion.
“Yeah,
can’t you see its vibrating in your hands?”
She glanced
down and noticed that the little screen was flashing.
Smiling at
the girls she picked it up and held it to her ear.
“Hello? Oh hi Mum, yeah, OK, no I wont be home for
tea tonight.”
Steph’s
ears pricked up, was it her imagination or did Mel’s mum have no idea she was
in Norway, leaning forward casually she continued to listen into the
conversation.
“ I’m
studying for my English test and then staying the night at Steph’s. That OK? OK see you later then bye.” She
hung up the phone.
“OK?” Steph
asked.
“Yeah
fine,” Mel replied, returning to playing with her mobile buttons.
“How’s your
Mum?” Karen asked, she had also overheard the conversation and was curious to
know what was going on.
“Fine,” Mel
replied shortly
“And she
doesn’t know you’re here?” Steph pressed, deciding not to wait for Mel to bring
it up herself.
“No, she
thinks I’m at college,” Mel admitted.
“And…”
Steph was
cut off by a loud high pitched screech coming from the other end of the lounge,
it sounded like a woman but as the noise came closer they saw that it did in
fact belong to Ben Adams.
“Oh mi
god!” He enthused, running up to them and sweeping them all up in a group hug,
“you actually came!”
“Yeah well
you asked us to!” Karen replied.
Paul came
ambling up a few moments later, his tired, hung over eyes covered in designer
sunglasses and his head virtually hidden by a hat. He stopped in front of them, looking them all up and down.
“Shit!” He
exclaimed, turning to Mark who had just appeared behind him, “what country are
we in mate?”
“Norway,”
Mark replied.
“You sure
we aint in England?” he asked, returning his gaze towards the girls.
Mark
followed his eyes, “wow you came!” He exclaimed, jumping around them like an
excited schoolboy.
“So we are
in England then?” Paul continued to question, “cos these are English fans.”
“Go back to
sleep Paul!” Ben retorted.
Mel’s heart
gave a jump as Christian appeared behind him and swept Mel up into a tight hug.
“You came!”
he said, his eyes shining in happiness.
“Yeah,” she
replied simply.
“Well,
welcome to my homeland.” He grinned, taking her over to the large glass window
to look at out at the first glimpse of Norway, “you’ll love it here its
beautiful.
He stood
behind her as they gazed out of the window, his head appeared over her
shoulder, and while he talked quietly about the sites of Norway she felt his
breath tickle against her neck slightly which sent shots of adrenaline up her
entire body.
“Beautiful”
she breathed, completely overcome by the distant landscape of the country and
Christian himself.
“Sure is,”
he replied dreamily.
“How was
the rest of your day yesterday?” she asked
“Boring
interviews mainly,” he replied, “although I did get cross at one woman.”
“Why?” she
asked, finding it hard to believe that placid Christian could possibly get mad
at anyone.
“She said I
looked like a cross between Donald Duck and Brad Pitt,” his bottom lip curled
down as he pouted at her.
She
laughed, “well you don’t honey, you look gorgeous,” her cheeks blushed a rosy
red as she realised what she had just said.
“You do
too,” he whispered in her ear before turning and joining the rest of the group
who were still standing behind them.
Routed to
the spot Mel continued to look out of the window, she didn’t want to move, she
wanted this feeling to stay with her, 2 seconds ago in this very spot Christian
had said that she was gorgeous… she wanted to stand here forever.
“Mel! Can
you look after my luggage trolley for me while I go to the toilet?” Mark’s
voice boomed across to her.
Reluctantly
she turned round, “sure”, she moved over and placed a hand on the trolley.
“Don’t let
anyone steal my luggage!” he yelled over his shoulder as he disappeared out of
sight.
“Ooooh
shall we hide it?” Ben giggled as he came over to her.
“I don’t
think that’d go down to well,” she scolded him.
“Exactly!”
he replied, trying to take her hands off the handle so he could make a run with
it.
“Shhh keep
the noise down!” a voice hissed from the corner. A very ill looking Paul was curled up in a small ball against one
of the seats, his hat pushed far down and his head pressed in-between his
knees.
“You
shouldn’t have drunk so much last night!” Chris commented, laughing at him, but
moving away to give him some more peace.
“Where did
you go?” Karen asked, interested to hear about their popstar shenanigans.
“Most of us
went to bed,” Chris replied, “was only Paul who decided to burn the midnight
oil.”
“Even
though Del told him not too,” Ben piped up, doing his best to try and annoy
Paul.
“Thanks
Mel!” a singsong voice interrupted the conversation as Mark’s head bounced into
view.
“Ooooh
guys?” Steph asked putting on a sickly sweet voice, “seeing as we are all here
could we have a large group photo?”
“Sure!”
Mark exclaimed, excitedly clapping his hands together, “right come on everyone,
Steph wants a photo.”
Running
around the lounge he tried to drag everyone up on their feet, “come on Ben you
can stand here, Paul can go at the front, Mel and Chris at the back, I’ll stand
here.”
Standing in
the middle of the room by himself, Mark stamped his foot slightly, “come on
guys, I can’t have a photo by myself.”
One by one
they reluctantly made their way over and listened to Mark bossing them about
and telling them where to stand.
Calling Del
over they stood in their perfectly assembled group ready to be snapped.
Mel smiled
with pure content as she gave a little glance up at Christian who was standing
next to her, his arm wrapped loosely around her waist, he noticed her and gave
her a small smile. Blushing in
embarrassment she turned back to face the camera.
Suddenly
she felt a hand rest casually on her bum, rubbing it very slightly, she glowed
even redder… Christian was touching her bum, what was she supposed to do?
Ignore it, return the gesture, run away?
She wondered if anyone else had noticed, she shifted feeling suddenly a
little uncomfortable.
“I’ve got a
bit of arse!” Paul exclaimed next to her, as she felt the hand give her bum a
slight pinch.
It had been
Paul all along.
Her stomach
plunged … with relief? Or was it
actually disappointment?