Bad Desire: New Beginnings - Fast Forward

Part 30 - always had a home

1 year later (part 3):

"Dude, are you ready? Come on, if we're any later your mum is going to go crazy at me." Jack knocked loudly on Harvey's hotel room door.

"It's not me, it's Lottie!" Harvey argued with a grin on his face, as he pulled open the door and revealed just what Jack had been expecting. While Lottie was stood in the background fully dressed and ready, Harvey still hadn't changed into his suit.

They were supposed to be at Todd's event 20 minutes ago, but as usual, the Lawrences were running late. When they kids were younger, Jess and Jack were able to use the excuse that they had so many people to get ready however, now most of the blame easily laid on Harvey Lawrence. He'd always claim that it would only take him five minutes to get ready, so insisted he could lay in front of the TV until they had to leave. However, he always ended up being the one to hold them up.

"You're going like that then?" Jack looked questioningly at his 22-year-old son, who was dressed in some joggers and a t-shirt.

"Yeah, I thought I looked great. Don't you think?"

"Very funny. Get changed, idiot." Jack ruffled Harvey's hair before turning to look at Lottie. "You look beautiful. At least one of you is making an effort."

"Thank you." Lottie smiled before nudging Harvey's side. "Your dad is right, by the way. You need to get ready, it's not good to be late."

Although Harvey was still the worst when it came to getting up and ready on a daily basis, having Lottie around had been a miracle for the family. She had taken over Jess' job of having to nag him as though he was a teenager and not a young man. It meant that although he was still incredibly lazy and had perfected the act of being late, he was getting better, and progress was all that mattered.

"I bet El or Kian aren't even downstairs yet." Harvey challenged, knowing that them having children and Ellie's pregnancy meant it was an extra task for them.

"Actually, they're all sat in the lobby. We're just waiting for you man."

"Damn it!" Harvey was defeated causing him to reach into the wardrobe for his suit. "We'll be 10 minutes."

"5 minutes." Jack corrected. "When I open this door again, you need to be ready"

Jack had told Jess earlier that he would be the one to ensure their son didn't make them late this time. This was an important night and they were not prepared to let their friends down. Therefore, he knew the fact that he hadn't kept to his word would cause some blame to fall onto him too.

Harvey and Jack were incredibly good at testing Jess' patience with their scatty like behaviour and the joy they got out of it. When together, both of their inner childlike behaviours would come out, driving the rest of the family crazy. However, a night like this wasn't one for messing around with and Jack was trying to be on his best behaviour.

...

Those five minutes were almost up when Jack spotted Jess making her way down the hotel corridor towards him. She had an expectant look on her face and Jack was convinced she was just about to say, 'I told you so'.

The pair had made a bet, with real money, that Jack wouldn't be able to get Harvey out of the hotel on time. Although he was gutted to be losing this whole thing, Jack couldn't help but admire Jess for the way she still just as willing to tackle this serious world of parenting with a little bit of fun. Nothing about them had ever been ordinary, from the moment they had started their own family, they were not about to start that now.