Charms or Banjos?

Chapter 11

As Jessica walked into the shop she was more than familiar with, she heard some familiar voices. "Don't get them, the parents will just steal them." A male voice said. Jessica followed the voices until she found them: Sam, Alex and Paige squabbling in one of the aisles. "Hi!" Jessica exclaimed when she saw them."Jess! You're really here!" Paige shouted back. "Hi Jess." Sam said over his sister. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming here too?" Alex asked, pulling Jessica closer to him by her waist. "I thought I'd surprise you guys." She replied, leaning on Alex. "Well, we were going to find a Maccies after this, want to join us?" Sam asked. "Sure, I'll have to message my parents to let them know though." Jessica answered.

"You once called me forever now you still can't call me back and I love Vermont but it's the season of the sticks and I saw your mom, she forgot that I existed." Alex and Paige sang as the four of them drove through the country lanes to find a McDonalds. "Excellent singing guys." Jessica joked. The song ended and the intro to the next song began. "You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset, she's going off about something that you said 'cause she doesn't get your humour like I do." Jessica and Paige sang. Alex joined the two of them as the song went on, singing to Jessica who was in a world of her own as she sang along. 'I'm going to marry that girl one day.' Alex thought as he watched his girl singing and dancing in the car beside him.

At the drive-through, Sam ordered their food, whilst Alex, Jessica and Paige were talking. "I mean, he's hot. You can't deny that Alex." Paige said, looking for an agreement from Jessica. "She's right Alex. Theo James could kidnap me any day." Jessica replied. "You're both wrong. If there's anyone who is that hot, it's clearly me." Alex retorted, flexing his arm muscles. "You're an idiot Alexander." Paige chortled. "Wait, your real name is Alexander?" Jessica asked, laughing. "Thanks for that Paige, yeah, my full name is Alexander." Alex replied, annoyed. "It's adorable." Jessica told him. "So, what is your family doing for Christmas Eve Jess?" Sam asked. "Nothing, my dad says he needs Christmas Eve to prepare for the next week of non-stop drinking." Jessica replied. "Well, our parents are hard-core, drink all the way from my birthday until New Year's Day, so why don't you ask if you can spend at least just Christmas Eve day with us, I'll book you a taxi, or we can send your parents the address for the house so they can pick you up after?" Paige asked. "Yeah. Come on Jess, it'll be fun." Alex agreed, making a puppy dog face. "That sounds like so much fun, I'll ask my parents when I get back." Jessica decided. "Yes!" Alex and Paige exclaim at the same time, high-fiving.

"Hey mum, please can I spend the day before Christmas with Paige, her family have invited me over to watch films and play board games." Jessica asked her mother as they washed up the dishes from dinner. "Okay, we were going to go to the Dinosaur museum for your brother, so that's fine." Jessica's mum, Louise said. "Thank you, I'm going to message her now." Jessica replied, hugging her mum before running off to her room.

"Thank you for having me." Jessica said as Paige opened the door for her. "No worries, the parents are already drunk, want to say hello?" Paige asked. Jessica nodded and Paige showed her to the living room. "Hi Jess." Rosie and Jane said. "Hi." She replied. "We're going upstairs, can I take the Malibu and Pepsi with me?" Paige asked. "Yeah, just don't spill anything." Dan replied.

"Hey guys, Jess is here." Paige said as she walked into the games room where Jo was sitting on the sofa texting Mason and Sam and Alex were playing Call of Duty on the TV. "Hi Jess." Sam and Jo both said in unison. Alex abandoned his game with Sam to run up to Jess, pick her up in a hug and spin her in a circle, making Sam groan in annoyance. "How's my girl?" He asked after he put her down. "Dizzy." Jessica replied, grabbing onto Alex's arm for stability. Alex and Paige laughed at this before sitting down on the beanbag chairs on either side of the sofa, Alex pulling Jessica to sit on his lap. "Monopoly?" Sam asked after switching off the TV.

"You landed on my property so pay up." Jessica said to a very poor Alex. "I don't have the money Jess, can't I just give you Mayfair?" He pleaded. "Nope, just give me whatever you have, then you're out." Jessica replied. "Fine." Alex said, giving up. Their negotiation had lasted a solid fifteen minutes, Sam and Jo got out in the first thirty minutes of playing, leaving Paige, Alex and Jessica the only remaining players. Now only Jessica and Paige remained. "I am impressed, Alex never backs down." Jo said from the sofa. "I am just incredible, obviously." Jessica preened. "Damn straight, that's my girl." Alex said, kissing her temple. Jessica was never a fan of PDA but Alex made it okay, and she felt comfortable enough in herself that she couldn't care less about displaying how much she liked him.

Almost an hour later Jessica was running out of money fast as Paige just kept gaining it. "I give up, it's been too long." Jessica groaned as Paige finished her turn. "You know the rules Jess, loser takes a shot. Jessica reluctantly took the shot of Jager from Alex, knocking it back and then making a face as Paige celebrated her victory. "Hey, I want to show you something, come with me." Alex said, taking Jessica's hand and leading her away from the games room. "Where are we going?" Jessica asked, curious. "You'll see."

Alex led Jessica out onto the terrace, where you could see the sun setting. "Wow, this is an amazing view." Jessica exclaimed as she walked towards the balcony. She wasn't looking at Alex, but all of a sudden, she heard the introduction to Love Story by Taylor Swift playing. "Dance with me." Alex said as the first words of the song played. She nodded and Alex pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her in a slow-dance position. "I never knew you could dance." Jessica said. "I don't dance often." He replied. The two danced through the whole song, not noticing Paige stood by the door filming the whole thing.