Just Play Along

Forty-Seven & Forty-Eight

“Ast, you’ve got to drive me to work right now,” I said, flicking through all of the messages on my blackberry. To say shit had hit the fan with this new healthcare proposal was an understatement. 

“But…”

“Please!” I exclaimed, already waiting for my father to pick up his mobile. “Dad,” I said as soon as he picked up.

“Jess, you need to get here now.”

“I’m coming,” I said quickly, “I was up in Peterborough, I’m halfway there.”

“Hurry!” he replied, “We’ve got A LOT of work to do.”

“What’s happened?”

I listened as my father started to explain everything, scribbling down notes as he hit the finer points. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t been there when Jeremy had gotten hold of the proposal. It had been hours. What sort of office manager was I? Wasn’t I the one that was supposed to be calling everyone in so we could get a head start on this?

But no, I’d been caught up playing in the snow with some boy. And this was exactly why I was so against love and relationships.

PART FORTY EIGHT

“Jess, what the hell is going on?” Aston asked me as I hung up my phone, setting it in my lap so I could read through my notes again.

“Work,” I replied shortly. I couldn’t do with any distractions.

“I don’t get it.”

“Aston! Just please stop asking me questions!” I said harshly.

“But…” he said, a shocked look on his face.

“Listen, I’m sorry, but this is really important,” I replied, “I’ve got to make some calls.”

“Fine,” he sighed, his eyes on the road and a massive frown on his face.

We drove through the outskirts of London and down to Parliament, Aston dodging the traffic the whole way, trying to get me there as quickly as possible.

“Here we are,” he said, pulling up at the employee entrance of the building. I was lucky I had brought my laptop as well as my pass to get into the building.

“Thank you,” I replied, jumping out of the car.

“Wait!” Aston shouted, “What are you doing tonight? Want to grab dinner?”

“Aston, I’ve got to work,” I replied, hopping from foot to foot indicating I really needed to get inside.

“Oh.”

“Thanks, we’ll talk later.”

“Bye Jess,” he replied, “Happy Birthday!”

I didn’t really hear him though; I was already running through the gates into the building.

“Jess, there you are,” my father exclaimed as I came running into the office.

“Sorry, got caught up,” I replied.

“You're here now,” he said, “Jeremy put a copy of the proposal on your desk, the interns have split it up and are reading through it.”

“Thanks,” I sighed.

“This is the real deal,” my father said, “If you want to work for the Prime Minister, you’ve got to be prepared for things like this.”

“I know,” I said with a grimace, “It was a short notice trip to meet Aston’s parents…”