PART THIRTEEN
“What?” I asked Aston again as he sat and stared at me.
“Nothing…” he laughed, giving me a weird look.
“You’re seriously a cheeky gimp aren’t you?” I questioned.
“Yup,” he said proudly.
I heaved a sigh of exasperation as I took in his confident expression. “Marv told me about the flower trick.”
“What trick?” Aston asked, taking a bite of his sandwich, his eyes never leaving mine.
“About how you put all you boys on the card even though they’re only from you,” I told him.
“Oh yeah, that trick,” Aston grinned, his mouth full of food.
“I’m so over your cheesy pretty boy moves,” I told him.
“Cheesy?” Aston asked.
“Oh god, they’re horrible!” I laughed. “Trying to give me flowers on behalf of all the boys! Always sitting next to me! I’m not stupid you know…”
“My charms have to be working a little…” Aston grinned.
“No,” I said defiantly.
“Oh they are,” he said, pressing on, “You haven’t told me to stop!”
“Um yes I have! How many times have I told you to give up your pursuit?” I questioned.
“Nah you’re just being stubborn,” he said, “If you really meant it you’d look me in the eyes and tell me that you were uncomfortable and that I should stop.”
“Ok Mr. Cheeky Gimp,” I said, turning to face him and catching his eyes with my own, “I’m uncomfortable, please stop.”
“Nope,” he grinned.
“Oh my god!” I said as I threw my hands up in the air.
“That was completely contrived babe,” he told me, “Nothing serious about how you said that, or the look in your eyes.”
“You are so annoying!” I told him.
“And yet here you are, still talking to me. Again.”
“Not anymore,” I said, getting up from my seat and crossing the room to go sit by Dirk. I sat down in a huff, my arms crossed over my chest. I tried my hardest to avoid eye contact with Aston, but it seemed like he was taking great pleasure in trying to catch me out every few minutes.
“Ready for round two?” Dirk asked after our lunch break was over.
“Please!” I said, knowing that even though I had to sit next to Aston, we were meant to be one hundred percent professional. It was the only way I was going to avoid his annoyances for the rest of the day.
The fact that I now had a reason to be more involved in the interviews meant that they actually ended a lot quicker than I thought they would. At almost smack on 7pm we were done and packing up for the day.
“Anyone fancy going out for a meal?” Marvin asked as I threw my phone in my bag and put it over my shoulder.
“Can’t sorry, I’m meant to be at Joe’s for dinner tonight.”
“But you see him everyday!” Aston protested.
“Yeah, because he’s my colleague and best friend,” I told him.
“Well you’re going to be missing out on a nice meal with us boys then,” Aston pouted.
“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities, like tomorrow…” I told him. Dirk had told us just minutes prior that we were all to be going to a charity gala together the next night on behalf of Sports Relief. The group of us would be sharing a table and walking the red carpet of the event together. I couldn’t wait to get dressed up for it… not.
“Bye Jess,” Marvin said as I wandered out of the room down to the awaiting cab.
“Bye boys!” I echoed back, giving them a wave.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yup!” I replied, heading out of the building and to my cab. As I sat in the cab I stared down at the wilted flowers sitting in my lap. Maybe I was being a bit harsh on Aston? No one had ever gone after me like he had, and honestly I just didn’t know how to react. I really didn’t have time for any sort of relationship, and I didn’t want him to think I was interested, but I couldn’t help feel a little bad for being so harsh on him. But then again, he brought it upon himself with his constant attempts to win my attention.
“What are those?” Joe laughed as he took in the flowers.
“Guess,” I sighed, passing them to him as he read the card.
“You know most girls would die to have a bouquet of flowers from JLS,” he said.
“They’re from Aston,” I told Joe, grabbing a glass from the kitchen and filling it up with water, “He just put JLS so I wouldn’t be cross with him. Marvin told me.”
“That poor kid… The number of times you’ve turned him down must seriously be wounding his pride.”
“It’s his fault,” I said, “He could have stopped after the first time I said no.”
“But he likes youuu,” Joe teased in a singsong voice, "And I'm beginning to think you don't mind the attention."
“Ughhh,” I sighed, sitting down at the dinner table where Kat and Stella were already sat. We had a nice meal together, as we always did. Joe and I mostly talked about how Japan had gone, obsessing over the race and who was running well this early in the season. And who wasn’t.
As it was pushing 10pm I made a move to head home, knowing I had training the next day and not wanting to keep Joe and Kat up much longer what with their little one.
“Oh Jess! Are these yours?” Kat asked, pointing the bouquet of flowers that were now in a vase on the kitchen counter.
“Yeah,” I said noncommittally.
“Take them with you!” she grinned, pulling them up and making sure they were back in their wrapping.
“Thanks,” I sighed. The flowers had gained most of their life back after being in water for a few hours. I’m not sure who put them in the water or when, but I suspected Joe was involved. He seemed to be playing matchmaker a little too much these days.
“See you tomorrow Joe!” I shouted through the house, wincing when I realized Stella had been put to bed already.
I walked down to the high street near Joe’s place and hailed a cab, climbing in with the flowers once again on my lap. I couldn’t help but smile at how much nicer they looked when they’d had a bit of water. It was like they’d come back to life just a little bit. Really they were a lovely gesture, I just couldn’t see past the intention behind them to truly enjoy it.
I stared out the window as the streets of London passed, my phone buzzing idly in my bag at one point. Dazed I pulled it out to see a text. From Aston.
[Why won’t you give me just one chance?]
PART FOURTEEN
“So you’re actually getting dressed up for this Gala thing?” Joe asked me as I stretched on the track, ready for another day in the office so to speak.
“I have to,” I said, “I can’t even remember the last time I had to get dressed up!”
“Do you even have anything to wear?” he asked.
“Yeah… Dirk hired a stylist for me,” I said, “I’m meeting her at the Mayfair to get ready. She’s bringing me something to wear.”
“Swanky.”
“It’s all in the name of charity,” I grinned.
“Hmm well… you can’t go until you finish today’s workout,” Joe smirked.
“What you making me do today?” I asked.
“Warm-up then I want you to do a time trial, see what your time is looking like right now. Then we’ll do some speed work.”
“Sounds fab,” I said sarcastically.
“Oh get on with it,” Joe said, indicating that I should get up and running for my warm-up. I started off around the track, trying to get my head in that place it usually went, where my mind was 100% blank. But today I just couldn’t. That damn text from Aston was still driving me crazy, even after I’d thought endlessly about it the night before. Was I being too harsh with him?
I was distracted throughout most of training, and my time trial result was definitely slower than it should have been. I think Joe could tell but he wasn’t saying anything about it.
As soon as I was done at the track I was whisked off to the Mayfair for the second day in a row, off to get ready for the charity gala.
“Jess there you are!” grinned the stylist Dirk had hired on for the night, the same one who’d been styling me and the boys for the last few days, “I’ve got a few dresses for you to try.”
“Thanks,” I said, taking them off her and going to figure out which one I wanted to wear. I settled on a charcoal grey dress. It was simple, mid-thigh length, and figure-fitting, no frills involved. It was exactly my type of dress.
“Oh that’s perfect,” the stylist told me as I came out in the dress, “Now have a seat and I’ll do your hair and makeup.”
“Thanks,” I replied, slipping quietly into the chair. I stared at my reflection as she transformed my typically laid back style into something a bit more lavish. It was strange to see myself all done up, I hardly recognized myself.
“All done!” the stylist grinned after some time had passed.
“Ohhh look at you!” said another voice behind me.
I turned to see the JLS boys filing into the room with suit bags over their shoulders, ready to get changed for the event.
“Hey boys,” I smiled, turning back to the mirror.
“Jess you look great!” Oritse told me.
“Thanks,” I replied, a slight blush on my cheeks as all four boys stared at me for a minute, “Chop chop get dressed!” I told them as I clapped my hands loudly, after a long awkward moment had passed.
They quickly bustled away to go get themselves ready for the night. Clothes were flying everywhere and I was certain that I was in the middle of most teenage girls’ biggest fantasy. I sat at the makeup chair I’d been placed in, mostly to stay out of the way, but also because it was all a bit overwhelming.
“Pass that here will ya?” a voice said over my shoulder as a hand reached past my head.
“What?” I asked, turning to see a very topless Aston pretty much on top of me.
“That!” he said, pointing towards a pot of hair gel. My glance, however, didn’t leave his bare chest.
“What are you doing?” I asked him as he gave up and leant right over me to grab the gel. All I could smell was his aftershave, and I was definitely having a hard time tearing my eyes away from his bare chest.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” he asked, pulling back and looking down at me in the chair, “Gotta fix my hair.”
“But I mean, why did you have to practically climb on top of me?” I asked him.
“You were in my way,” he shrugged with a wink, twisting off the cap of the hair gel pot so he could get some out. He had hardly any hair to begin with so I was a little confused as to why he needed the gel.
“You could have gone around me,” I said.
“Maybe I didn’t want to,” he said, “Anyways, you didn’t really seem to mind, your eyes were as big as saucers. Still are…”
“I did too mind!” I protested, “You just caught me off guard! How else was I supposed to react to a very naked torso being pressed in my face?”
“You loved it,” he grinned, passing me the hair gel pot to put back onto the table. “You aren’t going to be able to get this image out of your head all night,” he added, pointing to his torso.
I scrunched my eyes shut as I turned away from him, “You’re too bold by half.”
“And you love it,” he laughed. I could tell he’d walked off because the cloud of aftershave that normally followed him around dissipated and I was left to regain my senses.
The gala was a nice event, and luckily there was enough going on with the red carpet to distract me from the thought of Aston hovering over the top of me with no shirt on.
Even so, it definitely wasn’t a coincidence when I spent a fair part of the dinner trying to get the image of a topless Aston out of my head where it seemed to be burnt to my mind.
Every few minutes he’d turn and give me a flirtatious look, knowing that he’d somehow scored another point against me and that I was probably picturing him.
Too bold by half indeed.