Eventually I got out of my little trance and jogged over to where Aston was, stood buying ice creams from a little truck.
“Here you go,” he smiled passing me one.
“Thanks Ast,” I smiled back. “Really, for everything. Forgot how great of a friend you are.”
“What?” he said, a shocked look on his face. “You forgot?!”
“You know what I mean,” I laughed, pushing him playfully.
“No, I very well don’t,” he huffed, walking off from the ice cream cart back towards the beach. Smirking I followed after him before we plopped down on the sand. The afternoon sun was searing and I could feel myself getting rejuvenated from the warmth.
“So how long you here for?” I asked after a few minutes. “We never really talked about why you’re here in LA!”
“Oh yeah,” he replied. “We’re here till middle of this coming week. Mostly just recording, doing a little bit of writing too but we’ve got most of the songs we want to record all written now.”
“Very nice,” I said.
“Yeah it’s pretty laid back. Some days I’m in studio all day and others they don’t need me so I can do what I want.”
“Fun!”
“Sure is,” he smiled. “I’ve been working on my tan a bit at the pool.”
“There you go, one thing that LA is better than England for.”
“Exactly!”
At this point I’d finished my ice cream, so I got up to throw out my napkin at a nearby bin. Aston followed after me and then I pointed off down the beach at a pier. “Want to walk over there? There is a great view of the beach from the end.”
“Sure,” said Aston. “Let’s go closer to the water.”
We walked down by the water, pulling our shoes off and letting the water run over our feet a bit as we walked towards the pier.
“Can I ask you a question,” I said breaking our pleasant silence.
“Sure?” said Aston.
“Don’t take this the wrong way ok… I know you’ve been here in LA before. Why didn’t you call me up the other times? Why was it this time?”
I looked over at Aston and watched him take a deep breath. “I don’t know…” he said quietly.
“I’m not trying to be mean or anything. I was in England a few times, could have called you too…”
“It was just weird you know?” he said all of a sudden. “Surely you felt it too. What we had before was intense. When we met up over the holidays after you left, it just felt off. Like maybe we were better letting it all just settle a bit. I don’t think I was ready to move on, if you get me. And there was no way anything could happen what with everything going on in our lives.”
“I get you,” I said.
“But I’m older now, more mature. I really do want to be friends with you Jess. I ran into Alex Burke a few weeks ago and she mentioned that she’d been here recording with you. I’d mentioned you to her awhile back… She said I should call you up and see how you were doing. To be honest I was pretty nervous, I had no idea what to expect. But I’m glad I did,” he finished, with a smile. A really gorgeous smile.
“Well I’m glad you did too,” I said. “We did have a really strong connection back when we were flatmates, would be a shame not to still have that friendship.”
“So let’s fix it,” he said. “Back to being friends that actually stay in touch?”
“Deal,” I said. Upon answering his question Aston grabbed me by the waist and wrapped his arms around my back, pulling me in for a tight hug. I tried to push any dark thoughts out of my mind and enjoy the embrace. I really did miss his cuddles.
“Now come on,” I said pushing him away. “We’re almost at the pier, and I've got to get home soon.”
“Aww no way,” he said, a pout on his face.
“Yeah sorry,” I replied. “I promised my housemates that I’d cook dinner with them and watch a film tonight. Haven’t done anything together in ages.”
“I guess that’s ok,” he said as we climbed up onto the pier and walked out over the water. “But since you aren’t working right now, maybe you could help me out tomorrow?”
“With what?” I asked.
“Well, I want to do a bit of shopping here. You know, check out some stores we don’t have in London. Would love to have someone who lives here to take me around a bit.”
“I could do that,” I said.
“Perfect,” he replied, loosely wrapping his arm around my shoulder. We wandered around the pier like this for a bit, taking in the view. Even had someone snap our picture, with the ocean and the beach in the background.
After awhile I had to head home, so I said goodbye to Aston and wandered back to my car, the events of the day spinning in my head. I’d started out a bit of an emotional wreck, but things were getting better. Maybe Aston and I really could make this friends thing work this time?
