Just Play Along

Ninety-Five & Ninety-Six

PART NINETY-FIVE

*Jess’ POV*

"See that wasn't so bad," Aston said to me as we sat on the couch in the main room of the house, his family just departed.

"No," I sighed, leaning my head on his shoulder.

"Can't nod off now," Aston said, popping his shoulder up so my head fell off, "Gotta pack up and head to see your family."

“Now?” I whined.

“Now!” he laughed, “Unless you don’t want to go anymore…”

“Of course I want to go! Just… How exhausting," I replied, letting him grab me by the hands and drag me up to our room, "Promise we'll have an early night?"

"This is your part of the holiday!" Aston laughed.

"Definite early night," I said, grabbing my weekend bag and starting to fill it with warm clothes and a few other things.

Christmas with the Merrygold's had been fun. We'd drunk our way through most of the alcohol in the house and had quite a few laughs along the way. On the day itself Aston's Mum had cooked up a huge feast and we'd exchanged gifts with his family, the lot of us partaking in some high-energy drunken board games late into the evening. We’d done gifts on Christmas day, but Aston and I were saving our gifts for each other until after we'd seen our families, something just for us to do after devoting our time to one another’s families.

"Ready?" Aston asked me twenty minutes later, a sports bag on the bed next to the shopping bag full of gifts for my family.

"Yeah," I replied, slinging my bag over my shoulder, "Let me just find my purse."

After a quick jog around the house I was satisfied we were ready to go, the pair of us taking the lift down to the garage to hop in Aston's car.

"Should I put Christmas music on?" Aston asked me, the streets of London fading away quickly.

"You could do," I yawned, already dozing off. 

It was lucky Aston knew the way to the estate at this point, I was out cold for the entire journey, the exhaustion of trying to be a good host for his family getting the better of me. The Merrygold’s had definitely worn me out.

"Jess," Aston said quietly, shaking my shoulder.

"Hmmm?"

"We're here," he whispered, kissing my cheek gently.

"Wow, already?"

"Slept like a rock," he laughed, nodding towards the big mansion.

"Sorry," I mumbled, pushing my way out of the car and walking towards the boot to collect my things.

We grabbed our bags and walked up to the big familiar house hand in hand. I wasn't exactly sure where my family was so I first took Aston to my room to drop our things off. It was becoming familiar for us, the estate. We'd come up whenever we had a long weekend together, to avoid the bustle of London and relax a bit, just us or maybe with my family.

"Shall we find your parents?" Aston asked, grabbing the shopping bag of Christmas gifts we'd brought.

"Sure," I replied, leading him out of the room and through the house.

My parents were in the kitchen sipping hot cups of coffee and chatting away.

"There they are!" my father exclaimed upon seeing the pair of us.

"Hi Daddy."

We did a general round of hellos, hugs all around as we shared Christmas greetings.