Aston’s POV
It seemed to take everything I had not to just spill my heart out to Marvin. I was dead scared about what he’d think about me still being in love with Jess. I couldn’t help it, I totally was, head over heels. Everything about being with her put me at ease, made me insanely happy. After telling the boys that I was in love with Jess while at Judge’s Houses, I never mentioned it to them again, instead playing it down as a silly summer romance. I think I did this as some sort of emotional defense, hiding the fact that I was actually gutted when she left for LA. Heartbroken.
Finally I managed to kick Marvin out of my room, pushing the door shut behind him. I walked back to the bedroom and opened the door, expecting to find Jess dozing in bed. I was shocked to see she wasn’t there, and immediately went over to the bathroom, but it was empty as well. I panicked slightly, looking around the room, before my eyes landed on a note lying on the bedside table. I walked over and picked it up, my hands shaking slightly as I read it.
“This was just a booty call wasn’t it? I was wrong… you have changed.”
I stared at the note as tears pricked my eyes, crumpling the note in my hand and dropping it to the floor. In just a matter of minutes I’d completely messed everything up. I slumped down onto the bed, putting my head in my hands trying to figure out how to fix this situation. She’d obviously just overheard everything that Marvin had said, assuming the worst. And I had done nothing to stop him from saying it.
My mind spinning I tried to think up a plan. There was no way that I was going to be able to catch Jess and be at the studio in an hour. I had no idea where she’d gotten to, and my rental car was too far away to retrieve, drive to her place and get back in time. In the end I decided the best thing to do was leave her a text and then go round later in the day when I was done at studio. I knew she wouldn’t answer if I tried calling.
Over the course of the day I refused to talk to Marvin. Internally I was trying to blame him for everything that had happened between Jess and I, and I was pretty sure that I’d regret it if I did try to say something to him. Instead I just kept to myself.
As soon as we were done I went off in search of my rental car, immediately driving it up to Jess’. I parked it up and practically ran up the walk to her front door. A rang the bell and waited a few moments before the door was pulled open, the receptionist from Mosley stood before me.
“Is Jess here?” I asked.
“No…” she said slowly, eyeing me up and down. From this look alone I was sure that Jess had told her everything had happened.
“I’m not playing,” I said. “Seriously, I don’t know what Jess told you…”
“She told me you used her for sex,” said the receptionist cutting me off and giving me a dirty look.
“I didn’t…” I said. “I swear. I wouldn’t do that to her… I…” I took a deep breath before I said it, “I’m still in love with her.”
The receptionist just stood there with raised eyebrows.
“Seriously, it was a misunderstanding. Jess overheard my bandmate jumping to conclusions and misinterpreted it… If I could just explain it to her, set it right?”
“I’m sorry…” started the receptionist again.
“Please,” I said, tears starting to sting my eyes again. I was getting desperate here. “I’m begging you… I can’t let her think that I didn’t mean it when we…”
“No, you can’t see her because she seriously isn’t here,” said the receptionist finally cutting me off.
“Where is she?” I asked. “When will she be back?”
“Oh god, this is complicated…” started the receptionist, running her hand threw her hair. “She just flew to New York, to do the Tinie Tempah record.”
“But…” I started, trying to piece together the facts I knew, “She didn’t say she was leaving today…”
“She wasn’t planning on it, she was going to try and push it back until you had left, I think. But, when she got home this morning she was pretty upset and said she might as well go today.”
“When is she back?” I asked, my heart falling further and further by the minute.
“Not till sometime next week probably, whenever they finish the track…” and there it was the last dagger. I wasn’t going to see her again before I left LA. And when I got back to London I was going to be crazy busy with the band’s summer tour. No time to sneak to New York or LA and set things straight.
I sighed, defeated, and fiddled with my phone in my pocket. “Can you text me when she gets back to LA?” I asked. “I’ll give you my number. I know for a fact that she isn’t going to answer my calls, she’s too stubborn. I need to do this in person.”
The receptionist stood and stared at me a minute before nodding her head. I gave her my number before wandering back to my car in a daze. As a slid into the passenger seat I finally let the tears fall freely, hitting my hands against the steering wheel in frustration.
Why hadn’t I just set Marv straight?