Just Play Along

Ninety-Seven & Ninety-Eight

PART NINETY SEVEN

*Jess’ POV*

Days at the estate were always relaxing, and this trip was no different. After spending the mornings riding horses, I would end up in the TV room with Aston and my father, playing random card games as the afternoons dwindled by.

We had big family meals for dinner, cooked up by Hilary who was a much better cook than any of the rest of us. And then after dinner the lot of us would sit around the huge wooden table in the kitchen and chat. It was crazy to see my family growing, from just the four of us when I was little, to six. And soon seven.

“I’m just going to say good night to my parents and get a glass of water,” I told Aston as he pulled the duvet back on the bed, our last night at the estate.

“Ok, want me to come?”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I’ll bring you a drink too.”

“Ok,” Aston smiled, climbing into the bed with his phone.

I wandered down the hall and down the stairs to my parents room, saying a quick goodnight. They were leaving first thing in the morning and I doubted we’d be up to see them off. 

Once done I went to the kitchen, pulling down two glasses and filling them up with water. Being out in the country we typically tried to drink water from bottles, and I scowled as I finished up a bottle and had to dig around for a new one to fill the second glass. Just as I was tossing the finished bottle into the recycling something caught my eye.

The pages from the notepad Freddy and Aston had been writing in. 

I knew I shouldn’t have looked, but I couldn’t help but snatch the pages out and have a scan through to see what they’d been talking about. It was actually a thick stack, all sorts of topics catching my eyes. They’d chatted a bit about the baby first, as Aston had said. Freddy seemed to be a bit nervous about caring for the child with his impairment, something that would probably make things difficult but I’m sure he could manage. 

I smiled at the scrawl of my two favorite boys in the world, covering page after page. It was surprising how easy it was to tell their writing apart. Freddy’s was dark and bold, his letters small but neat. Aston’s was loopier and it was clear that he was scribbling on the page much more quickly than Freddy. It fit their characters really.

There was the usual football banter, talk of the holidays, and then something that caught my eye…

Freddy: So when are you finally planning on proposing to my sister.

Aston: I don’t know.

F: Don’t you want to?

A: Course I do.

F: Then what’s stopping you?

A: Jess doesn’t want to get married. She told me.

F: Jess doesn’t know what the hell she wants.

A: Yeah, but at least she was being honest with me. She said the idea of commitment freaked her out.

F: She’s so afraid of change its ridiculous.

A: I know. I don’t get it sometimes.

F: Honestly I think it has to do with me.

A: What? You being sick and losing your hearing?

F: Probably. She seems to think that change is only ever going to be a bad thing. She’d much rather have things stay exactly as they are. It's safe.