Twelve Days of Christmas

11 Pipers Piping

Ben

Today felt very different. Whereas yesterday my body was tingling with a sort of nervous anticipation, today it was squirming with nervous dread.

Why couldn't this have finished yesterday? Then I could have chalked it up as being a really positive experience. But no, today I had to come back and undoubtably humiliate myself in front of everyone. And Luca Diego. I know it shouldn't have mattered. And I tried not to care. But I couldn't. It wasn't because I liked him. It was just, well, who wouldn't want to come across as cool in front of Britain's sexiest man? And no, that wasn't just my opinion. It was fact. Or at least it was according to People's magazine.

And yes, last night I'd spent most of my evening stalking said sexy man on the internet, much to my overwhelming shame.

But I had learnt a few things about him that I'd never known. Firstly, his parents were actually normal people. Not even particularly good looking. Just, well, normal. And he had a normal childhood, not appearing on any sort of radar until he was 20. That was when the band got their big break. Turns out that James's brother was in another well known band, Dragons' Fire, and Zaphire had been their supporting act on tour. By the end of the tour, Zaphire was all people were talking about.

I felt strangely proud of the band for making it in their own right, without the use of those TV shows that propelled people into the spotlight. And fans? There was some serious hard core fangirling going on, mainly over Luca but also the other boys too. I was curious enough to click on the link about Luca's girlfriend. Turns out he didn't seem to have one, unless he was in a secret relationship. But what he did seem to have was an endless stream of dates and pretty girls on the end of his arm. No sooner was the rumour mill flying about one girl, he'd be spotted kissing another one.

And then of course there was the relationship between him and Marvin. It seemed that a section of fangirls were determined to say there was something going on between the two of them. And Luca and Marvin would add fuel to the fire by occasionally posing together in a way that seemed a little too friendly. Or Luca would be photographed straightening out Marvin's hair. And there was one where Marvin was tying Luca's tie for him. Marvin grinning, while Luca looked down shyly.

I couldn't lie, those pictures made my pulse race, but I knew they were probably staged. I'm not even sure Luca knew how to be shy.

Taking some deep breaths, I walked back into the studio and looked round for Malcolm.

It wasn't long before a voice caught my attention.

I swung round to see Luca laughing with Marvin. It only took a second before Luca's eyes met mine, and I cursed myself at being caught staring.

"Hey, look, the drummer boy's back!" Luca said, unfortunately coming my way. "Whatcha doing here?"

"Erm, Malcolm asked me to fill in for someone today," I said, praying he wouldn't press further.

My prayers weren't answered.

"Who?"

"Erm, one of the piper's apparently," I said with a shrug.

Luca looked surprised. "You can play the bag pipes too?"

"No, not at all. But apparently I won't need to play."

Luca burst out laughing like this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. "Whatcha going do then, just stand there looking pretty?"

"Hey, I can't help it if the camera loves me," I shot back, doing my best to ignore the fact Luca had indirectly called me pretty.