A Year and a Half Later…
It was late February and Aston and I were on our way down the red carpet at the Brit Awards. The boys had been nominated for Best Group and Best Song, and I just happened to also have two of my songs in the Best Song category. Don’t worry, we weren’t exactly competing against each other… I may have produced the song they had a nod for.
We wore slightly matching outfits. I was in a tight fitting red gown with an open back and Aston had a red bowtie on.
“Aston, Jess!!” shouted photographers as we stopped and posed for photos. I was much more comfortable doing this than I had been when Aston and I were first together. Of course, it still unnerved me, but I’d become more willing to go to big events with Aston because I knew that it meant a lot to him.
Aston pulled me to a stop in front of a journalist from one of the big magazines that the boys tended to feature in, ready to give a short interview.
“How are you two doing tonight?” asked the journalist.
“Good yeah,” we smiled.
We chatted for a while about the song the boys had been nominated for and the performance the boys were planning for the night. I couldn’t help but beam the entire time.
“So now, let’s chat about this relationship,” grinned the journalist. “Marvin and Rochelle tied the knot last fall and it sounds like your band mate JB and his girlfriend are heading down the aisle this spring… starting to feel the pressure Aston?”
“Uh well…” smirked Aston. “We’ve got all the time in the world. I’d be stupid not to put a ring on this one, but gotta find the right moment and that.”
I gave him a secret smile, remembering back a week to the afternoon of Aston’s birthday…
FLASHBACK
I was crouched down by the oven, my hair pulled back in a messy bun and an apron around my waist. The kitchen looked a bit of a disaster with all sorts of baking materials littering the counters and I’d used literally every utensil and bowl we owned.
“What is going on here?” asked a voice behind me.
“No!!!” I whined, standing up and attempting to shield what I was doing from his view, “Out!!!”
“Baaabe?” the voice whined, coming up behind me. I felt two strong arms wrap around my waist.
“I said out,” I huffed.
“I don’t wanna,” he said, as he placed a soft kiss on my neck.
“But you’re ruining it!” I moaned.
“What?”
“Nothing!” I said, twisting in his grip.
“Is this supposed to be my birthday cake?” he asked, trying to peek around me.
“What? No!” I tried to lie, but failed miserably.
“Shut up babe,” he giggled dipping his head and placing a kiss right below my ear. I sighed deeply, he knew I loved when he did this. “Why’s it such a mess in here?” he asked after a minute.
“I’m not exactly a chef am I?” I asked him pointedly, attempting to stare him down.
“Why didn’t you just order a cake then?”
“It’s not as special,” I mumbled.
“Awww… you’re too cute,” he grinned, placing his fingers under my chin and pulling my face up for a kiss. I let it get slightly passionate before pulling away and slipping out of Aston’s grip.
Gingerly, I crouched back down in front of the oven again.
“What you doing?” he asked, crouching beside me.
“Not really sure if its cooking or not,” I replied with a frown. “It still looks like soup.”
“Isn’t it supposed to stay in for like an hour?” he asked.
“Is it?” I asked.
“You’re the baker,” he laughed standing up, clearly making fun of me.
“Hey!” I whined, standing up and slightly glaring at him as he surveyed the mess in the kitchen with a smirk. While his back was turned to me I decided to get very cheeky and picked up a handful of flour. “Babe,” I said quietly, so he would turn to face me. The second he turned around I held out my hand and blew the flour in his direction, laughing as it completely covered his front and got all up in his hair.
“Are you serious?” he asked, shocked.
“Mmm…” I smiled, ready to waltz out of the room.
“Get back here,” he shouted, grabbing for the flour and chasing me around the island. It didn’t take long for him to get a good shot in and pretty soon I found myself covered in flour as well.
“You monster!” I laughed.
“You started it!” he said incredulously.
“No you did!” I replied. When he looked at me like I was crazy, clearly indicating that I had in fact covered in him in flour first I grinned, “You were making fun of my baking skills.”
“No I wasn’t!” he laughed.
“Whatever babe,” I replied, sidling closer to him, my hand held behind my back.
“Truce?” he asked.
“Hmmm…” I smiled, tracing a finger down his face as he let his arms wrap loosely around my waist. Before he could react I pulled my hand from behind my back and cracked an egg right on his head. “Nahh…” I said, as he stood there trying to register what I’d just done.
“You didn’t…” he whispered.
“I might have,” I replied with a cheeky expression on my face.
“You’re dead now…” he said grabbing me by the waist and carrying me towards the counter with one arm, looking for anything he could possibly get me back with. I saw his hand reach for something and I started squirming as much as I could in his strong grip.
“Not that!!!” I shrieked.
“Oh yes!” he replied, picking up the bowl that was filled with the remaining cake mix and holding it over my head.
“NOOOO!!!” I yelled one more time, before I felt a cold gloopy sensation slowly dripping down my hair, down my face and neck and then into my top.
Aston released me after he did it, and stood in front of me laughing his head off. “Smile babe,” he laughed.
“No pictures!” I said. But it was too late. “You better not Tweet that…”
“Too late,” he laughed.
“You’re mean,” I pouted.
“You love me really,” he laughed. “Pic of both of us?” he said as he grabbed hold of my waist. I refused to smile, but I let him snap one anyway.
After a moment of standing there, feeling uncomfortable, I ran my hand through my hair, only to have it covered in chocolate cake batter. Grinning to myself I slid over to Aston who was still messing with his phone. “Hey babe,” I said.
“What?” he asked turning to me, just in time to be met with a handful of cake batter in his face.
“Yess!!” I laughed. With that round two of running around the kitchen began and we went all out, throwing anything we could get our hands on. Flour covered just about everything, egg shells littered the floor and chocolate streaked across many of the appliances.
Eventually we found ourselves in a heap on the ground, leaning against one of the kitchen cabinets, trying to catch our breath back from laughing.
“It’s going to take ages to clean this,” I sighed.
“Who cares,” said Aston, “It was totally worth it. You look ridiculous.”
“Thanks babe,” I whined. “Get it off me…”
“Hmmm… that could be arranged,” smirked Aston, pulling me closer to him. I let myself fall slightly in his embrace, only to be shocked away from him by a wet sensation on my cheek.
“Did you just lick me?” I asked him incredulously.
“Maybe…” he whispered before pulling me back towards him. “You taste yummy right now,” he added before licking my cheek again.
“Babe that’s gross!!” I laughed, squirming out of his grip. “It tickles!!!”
“Oh no you don’t!” he laughed, grabbing hold of me and pinning me to the floor. He went in to lick my cheek again as I lay there laughing my head off.
When he was done he leaned up and stared down at me, grinning away. I felt my breath catch in the back of my throat just laying there staring at him. We must have been like that for minutes, just lost in each other’s eyes.
“Marry me?” he whispered, breaking the spell.
“What?” I asked, searching his eyes.
“Uh nothing…” he said, sitting up.
“No,” I replied. “Did you just ask me to marry you?”
“Um…”
“Seriously Ast?”
“Nevermind… I just got caught up in the moment…” he sighed, trying to slip away from me, just as the timer on the oven started going.
“Shit…” I mumbled, jumping up to take the cake out of the oven. I frowned at what I pulled out, it was all lumpy and sad looking. I couldn’t possibly feed it to everyone when they came over later. After I put it to the side I turned to find Aston had disappeared. Quickly I climbed the stairs, trying to figure out what had just happened. Had he seriously just asked me to marry him? I was in slight shock. After looking around a bit I found him in the bathroom, just about to slip into the shower. I smirked at what I saw of myself in the mirror before I turned to him.
“Ast…” I said quietly. “Talk to me.”
“I need a shower,” he replied shortly, avoiding eye contact.
“Well then I’m coming and you’re going to tell me what just happened there.”
Quickly I stripped my clothes off, being careful not to get any of the mess on anything in the bathroom. When I was done I slipped into the shower where Aston was stood with his hands over his face.
“Ast…” I said, trying to pull his hands off.
“It wasn’t meant to happen like that,” he whispered, he looked really upset I couldn’t tell for sure, but I think he may have even by crying. “I had it all planned out. It was going to be like a fairytale, perfect, our happy ending. Candles, roses, and on Valentine’s Day too. And then I had to be stupid and let it slip out… And now I’ve ruined it all.”
“Hey,” I said, holding his face gently in my own. “You didn’t ruin it.”
“But I did…” he said, attempting to cover his face with his hands again. Gently I pulled them away and looked at him, trying to get him to hold eye contact with me.
“I kinda thought it was romantic how you just asked it… It fit the moment perfect… Actually it was a lovely moment,” I said, replaying it in my head with a small smile. “It was pretty ‘us’ wasn’t it?”
“I guess,” he replied his face becoming a bit brighter.
“You can ask me your way if you want, tomorrow or whenever, but I’m never going to forget how you actually asked me the first time… And if you want to hear it, I’ll give you my answer.”
He stared at me for a minute, the hot water dripping down his face and slowly getting the food off of him. I’m sure I looked a right mess as well.
“Ok…” he said in a small voice after a minute.
“Ask me again then,” I said. “So I can answer properly.”
He smiled faintly at me, before taking my hand in his. “It’s hard to get down on one knee in the shower,” he laughed.
“Ok, how about we get out then,” I laughed.
“I thought you loved how spur of the moment this was?” he retorted, starting to perk up more.
“I did, but I’m having you on one knee at least once so I can picture it in my head forever.”
“Come on then,” he grinned, grabbing my hand and switching off the shower. The second I stepped out I let him wrap me in a big fluffy towel and then watched as he wandered out of the room mumbling about ‘doing it right.’
“I’ve still got cake batter on my head,” I giggled looking in the mirror.
“Come here,” he said with a slight laugh from the other room. I walked over to him, where he was stood in the middle of the room, a towel around his waist and bits of flour plastered to his chest, his hair sticking up at odd angles.
As I approached he took my left hand gently in his own, smiling softly at me. “Jessica Louise Rego?” he asked with his most velvety voice.
“Aston Iain Merrygold?” I asked back.
“Shush,” he grinned.
“Sorry!” I giggled.
I then watched as he attempted to get down on one knee, while still keeping his towel wrapped around his waist. I felt little tears prickling my eyes as I smiled down on him, gripping his hand tighter.
“Jessica Louise Rego,” he started again. “I’ve known you for almost five years now, and we’ve had some of the most amazing times together. To be honest I can’t imagine my life with anyone else in the world, I love you so much.” At this point the tears were streaking down my face, I couldn’t help it. “We’ve certainly had a few rough moments, and we haven’t always been together, but the time we have been has been perfect. I want to grow old with you, I want to start a family with you… I want everything with you.”
“Me too…” I croaked.
“Jessica Louise Rego, I may be covered in raw egg and flour and a little cake batter, but would you do me the honor of being my wife? Will you marry me?” he asked with a grin. At this point he reached behind him to the bureau and grabbed a small box off the top, flicking it open and holding it out in his hand. A beautiful diamond ring sat cushioned in black velvet. I smiled to myself as I noticed through my tears that Aston’s hand was shaking slightly as he gripped the box.
“Of course I will you idiot!” I laughed, jumping at him and tackling him to the floor where we both fell in a heap, our towels slipping about. I leaned up in his arms and pressed my lips against his in a deep passionate kiss, all the love I had for him bubbling up inside of me.
“Let’s get this ring on your finger,” he said against my lips as he leaned his head back away from mine, finally breaking our perfect kiss.
“Go on then,” I smiled. I watched as he grabbed the small box and pulled the ring out carefully. He then gently took hold of my left hand and slid the ring up my third finger, where it fit perfectly. “I love it,” I whispered, leaning up and pressing my lips against his again.
“Good…” he replied against my lips before capturing them with his again. “Now let’s get you in the shower and get this food off of you, people are going to be here in less than an hour.”
I glanced up at the clock and grimaced… We had all sorts of people coming around for Aston’s birthday, pre-drinks, cake, and the like before dinner and a night out. “Oh god… the kitchen,” I groaned as he slipped out from under me and helped me up.
“Ah don’t worry about it,” he said, “Shower time.”
We slipped back into the shower where I quickly ended up pressed against the tile wall as Aston pressed kisses along my jaw and then captured my lips with his in a long romantic kiss. Before long he’d lifted me up in his arms and pressed himself into me, pressing kisses into my neck as we made love under the hot water of the shower. It was incredibly intimate, and a slightly perfect way of consummating our engagement.
“I love you Mrs. Merrygold,” Aston whispered into my ear as he set my back on the ground when we were finished.
“Hmmm… I was thinking you’d be Mr. Rego, you know be all new-age,” I replied in between breaths as I tried to steady out my breathing.
“Really?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Yeah, suits you,” I grinned as I pinched his ear lobe lightly.
“Hmm… Aston Rego… sounds a bit dodgy. I think Jessica Merrygold is much nicer.”
I stood there grinning at him as he tried the names out, a silly expression on his face as the water of the shower continued to pelt down on our bodies. As I was gently walking my finger up Aston’s arm the water suddenly turned cold.
“Shiiit!” I shouted, jumping slightly into Aston to get out of the spray.
“Steady on,” he grinned wrapping an arm around my back to keep me from tumbling into the shower door. “Got all of the cake batter out of your hair?”
I nodded my head and let him drag me out of the shower before we both froze. “Ast its quarter to seven!!!” I said, shocked at the time.
“Better get ready quick then,” he laughed heading for the closet.
I caught myself just standing in the middle of our room, a towel wrapped tightly around me while my wet hair dripped down my back. I couldn’t help but just stare at the gorgeous ring on my finger. It was simple, yet elegant, with three square diamonds across a silver band, the middle diamond slightly larger than the other two. I was impressed by Aston’s taste, for a second I’d thought he’d pop out this massive, gaudy thing, but no, this was perfect.
“Babe come on,” he shouted, snapping me out of my trance. “You can stare at that ring for the rest of your life.”
“Promise?” I asked him as I started to pull on underwear.
“Promise!”
As soon as I was finished I wandered into the closet to find him stood there with trousers on but no top. “For the record babe,” I added, wrapping my arms around his waist, “I’d be honored to be a Merrygold.”
“I was gonna say…. What have I gotten myself into here!” he grinned, spinning around and placing his lips on mine again. “I wish no one was coming over and we could just spend the evening together the two of us,” he mumbled against my lips just as the doorbell went.
“Too late,” I grimaced, realizing that we were both far from ready.
“Seeing as you are more naked than I am, let me deal with them, but you better get ready fast!”
“Will do babe,” I replied as he went to grab a top. “Oh, and keep them out of the kitchen!”
“Ha!” laughed Aston as he jogged out of the room. I could hear him letting people in and offering to get them drinks and that.
Quickly I ran around the room pulling on my dress for the evening and drying my hair as fast as I could. As soon as I was ready I ran down the back stairs to the kitchen, stopping in shock as I watched the door being pressed open. I could hear Aston yelling at whoever it was not to go in there, but it was too late.
I stood stupidly in the middle of the kitchen as Marvin walked into the room.
“What the hell happened here?” he asked as he looked around the room and then landed his eyes on me.
“Umm…” I started, not sure what to say.
Within seconds the other JLS boys were stood in the doorway of the kitchen with Marvin and I watched as Aston slipped in behind them, a sheepish look on his face.
“Well…” Marvin said.
“Seriously guys, this is a disaster,” said JB.
“What happened?” asked Oritse, his eyes wide.
“Uhh…” I said again. How do you explain a full on food fight?
“The kitchen blew up,” replied Aston stupidly.
“Seriously Ast?” asked Marvin. “That’s the best you can do?”
“Umm…” said Aston. I just stood there staring at him, trying to figure out what to say.
“We’re getting married!” I shouted after a moment’s hesitation, deciding distraction was the best option and I really couldn’t keep it to myself anyway.
“Whaaaa!?!?!?” asked three boys simultaneously as Aston came across the kitchen and stood beside me, grabbing my hand in his, the pair of us grinning away.
“Ast I thought you were asking her tomorrow?” asked JB.
“We sort of had a moment here,” Aston replied with a grin.
“I’ll say…” said Marvin. “Did you say yes?” he asked me pointedly.
“Course I did!” I smiled waving my finger with the gorgeous ring at him. At this point the boys came around the pair of us and pulled us into a tight embrace.
“Welcome to the family Jess,” said Oritse.
Eventually we managed to get the boys out of the kitchen and I went over to the cake to add some icing.
“For the record, this is by far the best birthday of my life,” said a voice next to me. I turned to see Aston stood there with his hand on the counter.
“Well it’s just getting started…” I grinned.
“That better be a promise,” he growled in my ear as I picked the cake up from the counter and slipped out from his hands just as they were about to slide around my waist. I only gave him a wink as I wandered to the front room out to see everyone else….
END OF FLASHBACK
Aston and I continued our way down the red carpet, giving sly answers as questions about our relationship popped up. We weren’t trying to keep the truth a secret, we just wanted to make sure that all of our loved ones were in the know first before it hit the papers.
Before long we were ushered into the theater where we took our seats at a table with the rest of the JLS boys and their girls. The atmosphere was surprisingly light, we were here not to scoop up awards but to celebrate our hard work. For a while the boys disappeared, so they could do their performance, which allowed time for us girls to chat a bit. Eventually they were done and back with us, and the excitement started to mount up when it was announced the award for Best Song would be coming up soon.
“Good luck Mrs. Merrygold,” said a voice in my ear as a soft kiss was placed just above it.
“You too Mr. Merrygold,” I grinned, squeezing his hand tightly.
“I don’t need to win,” he replied quietly, “I’ve already won everything I could ever want.”
“Aww babe, I love you,” I whispered as I leaned in to place a sneaky kiss on his lips.
“I love you more,” he whispered back, just as the nominees were being read out…
The End. x
***
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