Aston’s POV
A few weeks had passed since I’d seen Alex at the Festival and for some reason I couldn’t help but obsess over the idea of going to see Jess. I mean, she was a really good friend of mine, it’d be wrong not to, right? It’s not like our relationship ended on a bad note, just that we were both moving on to bigger and better things in our lives and being together didn’t quite fit into that.
We’d been in LA for three days already, and I just couldn’t shake the boys long enough to go to Mosley. I’m not sure why I didn’t want them involved, but I knew this was something that I had to do on my own. Finally on the Friday afternoon I managed to get out of the studio earlier than the other guys. The four of us had agreed to do our own thing that night. Marv’s girlfriend was flying out for the long weekend and they were having date night, JB had plans with some old friends, and Reesh had mumbled something about a concert he wanted to check out. It was just luck really that I was left on my own.
It was only a short ride to Mosley’s studios, and when I got there I walked purposefully up to the glass doors, suddenly feeling very nervous. What was I doing again?
I walked up to reception to see a smiling girl with curly brown hair. “Hi, how can I help you?” she asked in a distinctly American accent.
“Hiii…” I stuttered. “I’m… uh… I’m looking for Jessica Rego.”
“Can I ask why?” said the receptionist politely.
“Uh… she’s just an old friend of mine. I haven’t got her number anymore so I thought I would pop in and see if she was working. I can come back another time if she’s busy,” I rambled.
“Unfortunately, Jessica isn’t available,” replied the receptionist.
“Can I leave a message for her?” I pressed on. “Just, tell her Aston stopped in and I’ll jot down my mobile number for you. Please?” I added, with a slight nervous smile.
“Aston?” said the girl quietly.
“Yeah… I’m friends with Jess from back home… I promise this isn’t as weird as it seems. I’m not some act trying to get her attention or anything. Really, we’re friends. Here I can prove it to you,” I said, pulling out my phone and starting to scroll for a picture of Jess and I.
“No… Aston it’s fine,” said the receptionist. The placard on her desk said her name was Molly and she had a very strange look on her face. “Unfortunately I can’t take a message for Jess,” she said, “Sorry.”
“What? Why not? Surely you can just slip her a piece of paper or something.”
“It’s not that,” said Molly, looking around the room awkwardly. “Jess doesn’t work here anymore.”
“What??” I said, my heart beat starting to pick up. Why on earth would she leave Mosley? It was a dream job. And, she’d just recorded with Alexandra Burke a few weeks ago.
“Her last day was a week ago,” said Molly.
“Where is she now?” I asked. What was going on?
“I’m not allowed to say,” said Molly.
“Oh that makes sense,” I mumbled. “Listen, she didn’t leave any contact information behind or anything did she?”
“Even if she did, I’m sorry to say I wouldn’t be able to share that with you. Surely you understand.”
“So basically, you can’t help me get in touch with her at all?” I asked, starting to feel a bit annoyed and upset about this whole situation. I’d missed her by a week!
“Sorry,” said Molly. “Against corporate policy.”
“It’s fine, thanks anyway,” I sighed turning on my heel and walking out of the building.
I sat myself on a bench outside and fiddled with my phone, trying to formulate a plan. Now that I’d started this little quest to find Jess, I wasn’t in the mood to give up. Not yet at least.
And then I heard this weird noise, that stunned me out of my thoughts. “Pssst…” there it was again. I looked up and noticed the receptionist stood outside with her sunglasses on and her phone up to her ear. She gestured for me to walk over to her, and then started chatting on the phone.
“Yeah, well Jess is DJing at Avalon tonight,” she said into the phone. My eyes widened as I caught on to what was going on. “I think she goes on at about 10? Two hour set like usual I believe. You want to go?” turning Molly gave me a wink before walking off.
I’d just gotten all the information I needed to track Jess down; I was determined to see her tonight. 10:00 at Avalon.
