Short Kings Anthem

Part 8

The obstacle course video did well and now they were brainstorming ideas for a sequel. Everyone had gathered at the Sidemen offices, rattling through ideas to try to make it bigger and better than the previous. There was also the crazy idea of combining it with a hide and seek.

"What's wrong with Theo? He's been in a huff all day." Simon asked laying out the pizza on the table. The obstacle course video did well and now they were brainstorming ideas for a sequel.

"Chris scored tickets for Saturday's Arsenal match but apparently he's taking someone else, and won't tell me who!" Theo complained. Lauren looked up at Harry quickly who gave her a knowing look back, she had told him she was seeing the Arsenal game but hadn't told him how she managed to get tickets but he'd just put two and two together.

"I'm going to grab a drink does anyone else want anything?" Lauren asked, she left to the kitchen after a few rumbles of no so only picked out one can of Pepsi Max from the fridge.

"I thought it was just casual,"

"It is," Lauren looked up at Harry talking in hushed tones, being quiet was not one of Harry's strong points so she looked around to check the coast was clear, luckily it was/

"But you're going on dates..."

"It's not a date. Him and I went to Arsenal games before so if anything it would be weird if we didn't see each other." Lauren offered an explanation. She was a life long Arsenal fan and while she wasn't as into football as the boys and didn't play, she did enjoy going to see the odd game. She had joined Chris, Theo and JJ in the times there had been an extra ticket floating around usually once a season.

"Try using that excuse again in three months when he's asking you to go to Jersey with him," Harry said walking away. Harry knew Chris and he knew Lauren; they either were in a committed relationship or they spent one night with somebody. They weren't the kinds of people that strung another person along so there had to be more to their current situation. Plus he was always right and loved being right so was going to tell himself that.

"I'm not going to be around Wednesday or Thursday next week," Lauren told Chris as they were walking into the Emirates Stadium ready for the game. Chris was wearing his yellow strip and Lauren was in a very old JCV top. Even her kits were usually of a certain vintage, she just had a hankering for old things.

"Anything fun?" Chris asked, his hand brushing against Lauren's as they walked. He had a big yearning to hold her hand but they were out in public and without him being too cocky, he was likely to be recognised at a football match, most of his fans were male football fans so the likelihood was higher.

"Filming some stuff in UK vineyards," she replied.

"Oh you are going to be in your element!" Chris threw his head back and smiled, wine was definitely Lauren's tipple of choice.

"I'll have you know it's going to be highly educational, I'm actually going to be studying for a sommelier licence for some videos," she said matter of factly, it was one of those video ideas that popped up randomly one evening and next thing she knew it was up and running.

"That's quite cool, one of the things I really love about your channel is how eclectic it is, football is all I know and I don't know what else I would do but sometimes I don't like being pigeonholed." Chris admitted he had built his audience on football and didn't want to alienate them by branching out into something else.

"Is that why you chose birds as your specialist subject on Mastermind?" Lauren asked with a glint in her eye, she wondered how that ever came about in the first place. Not that she thought Chris was stupid by any means but he was hardly known for his knowledge. Chris decided this conversation wasn't worth an argument so dropped it immediately.