PART THIRTY FIVE
The Christmas season soon descended on us and I found myself in some weird comfortable routine with Aston. We’d see each other once a week, mostly for holiday charity meals, and avoid chatting about anything real. It seemed to work as we were approaching four months of this whole game, no major blowouts had happened and while things had been awkward for a bit they'd certainly settled down.
Christmas Day came along and I was sat in my comfiest jumper and some leggings with a hot cup of coffee on the deck at my nan’s, my brother Freddy sitting across from me as we signed away to each other. We were in Portugal for a few days of family time, at the seaside resort that my grandparents owned and operated. It wasn’t anything fancy, by any means, but it was cozy and it always relaxed me to come here.
‘What are you doing for New Year’s?’ Freddy asked me.
‘I don’t know. Aston invited me to Dubai,’ I signed, spelling out the letters to Dubai slowly.
‘Fancy.’
‘I don’t know why he invited me.’
‘He’s your boyfriend.’
‘I guess,’ I responded.
‘You don’t like him?’ Freddy asked, ‘You seem happy whenever I see you two together.’
‘It’s complicated,’ I signed.
‘It always is with you!’ Freddy replied, grinning widely at me.
I gave him a shocked look and leant forward to smack him hard on the arm, ‘Quit being a big brother.’
‘It’s my job,’ Freddy responded, ‘You should go on holiday.’
‘I have work.’
‘When was the last time you went away somewhere to relax?’ he asked me.
‘Now?’ I smirked.
‘Family holidays don’t count.’
I shrugged dramatically. To be honest I couldn’t think of the last time that I’d been away on a holiday. Marnie and I were always talking about going somewhere but then something would come up at work and I’d get sidetracked. We went to Ibiza when I was in uni, but that was back when I was 19. At 25 years old, nearly 26, it had certainly been a long time.
‘Go,’ Freddy said, ‘Seriously.'
I stared at him for a minute. He was giving me this sad smile that indicated he knew I needed a break from my life for a few days. It was too bad that he had no idea about the reality of my situation with Aston. I hated lying to my family, but it would just be awkward if they knew the truth. And honestly, the only real hesitation, other than work, that I had about going to Dubai was that I didn’t want Aston to think it was some romantic holiday. After everything that happened between us things had finally settled down and we were past that awkwardness after having slept together. I didn’t want things to fall back to how they were or we were going to have to end this whole thing. I still stood by my decision... I didn't want a relationship with anyone. Ever.
‘Fine,’ I signed to Freddy, ‘I’ll go.’
‘Good,’ he replied, smiling. ‘You won’t regret it.’
We’ll see about that, I thought to myself. I just needed to make sure that things were abundantly clear going into this whole thing.
After a lush Christmas meal made by my nan and aunt, I went to give Aston a call to tell him I’d come. I was going to wait until after the holiday, but I just needed to get it out there before I changed my mind.
“Hey,” Aston said when he answered his phone, slight surprise on his voice, “Didn’t think I’d hear from you today.”
“Um yeah,” I replied. “Listen, I’ll come to Dubai.”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Sure,” I said, “My brother has convinced me that I need a proper holiday.”
“He’s right,” Aston said, “I promise it’ll be low key. We’ll go to the pool and then if we feel like it we can go to the clubs in the evenings. Or find chill bars. Whatever you want. I’ve got six other friends that are going to be there. Guys and girls. There’ll be plenty of people to talk to and hang out with.”
“Ok,” I said.
“So then, I’ll come collect you at your flat on the 29th? Our flight is in the evening. One of them over night ones.”
“Sure,” I said, “Sounds great.”
“Merry Christmas Jess,” Aston said.
“Merry Christmas,” I replied, hanging up the phone.
I couldn’t tell if Aston was pleased that I was coming or not. He was always so hard to read, both on the phone and in person. I could never actually tell what he was thinking
‘You’ll have fun,’ Freddy signed at me as he watched me put my phone away.
‘Hope so,’ I signed back.
--
The 29th soon came and I was back in London at my flat. Although Parliament was more or less shut down for the week, we’d had a few small emergencies to deal with and I’d found myself in the office for most of the day, frantically trying to fight the little fires that had erupted over the holiday.
“Jess, Aston is here!” Marnie shouted through the flat.
“What?!” I called back.
“I just let him up,” she said.
I’d been meaning to call Aston all day to tell him that I wasn’t sure I could make it to Dubai anymore, but I guess I had forgotten. I seriously had to get some work-related things done, including revising a massive report that was going out to the House of Lords in two weeks time in regard to the healthcare debate.
“Jess you ready?” Aston called as the door slammed shut behind him.
“No!” I called back. I was sat cross-legged on my bed with my laptop in my lap, furiously typing away as I worked on my report.
“Where’s your bag?” Aston asked me as he barged into my room.
I looked up at him, “Aston… I don’t think I can come,” I said.
His eyes went wide at me and he shook his head. “Oh no you don’t!!! You’re coming.”
“But… I’ve got lots of work to do!”
“Sod it,” Aston said, “Where’s your suitcase.”
“Aston…”
“Where is it?” he asked sharply, looking around my room. He clocked it after a minute, dragging it off the top of my wardrobe and flinging it open on the floor, “You want to help or am I doing this on my own?!”
“Aston please!”
“You’re coming if I have to pack your bag and carry you down to my car. Now are you going to help or am I going to have to dig through your things myself?”
I was slightly shocked by his persistence… where exactly was this coming from all of a sudden?
PART THIRTY SIX
Much to my annoyance, a few hours later I found myself on an airplane headed towards the Middle East. I wasn’t sure why I’d given in to Aston, it probably had something to do with stopping him from digging through all my underwear to pack my suitcase for me.
I’d brought my laptop along, sticking it in my shoulder bag and carrying it onto the plane with me. I tried to spend as much of the flight working on my report as possible, while Aston and all of his friends slept around me. At one point Aston had woken up and told me to get some sleep, but I couldn’t put my report down. If I wanted to have any free time in Dubai I needed to get it done!
Upon arrival in Dubai we split into cabs and headed over to the resort we were staying at. It was much hotter out than I expected, especially for late December. We were certainly going to be able to enjoy the pool while we were here!
The resort itself was right on the beach, and it soared high into the sky. I couldn’t help but be a little bit in awe. I'd certainly never traveled like this before!
“I got us a suite,” Aston said to me after he checked in, “Two rooms.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Just… don’t say anything to anyone yeah? They obviously don’t know the truth.”
I nodded my head, following him into the elevator.
Our suite was up on one of the higher floors of the hotel, with exquisite views of the beach. “You take the big room,” I said, “Since you booked everything.”
“It’s fine,” he said, "You can have it if you want."
“No… I insist,” I replied, “And I will pay you back for my part of all this later.”
“You don’t need to.”
“Yes I do,” I replied, “Please.”
“We’ll sort it later,” Aston sighed, clearly not interested in arguing with me. Ignoring him, I wandered to the smaller of the two rooms. It had a double bed and a small attached bathroom, as well as a single window that looked out on the water. I couldn’t help but stand and stare at how beautiful everything looked. I actually couldn’t believe that I was here.
After dumping my bags off I wandered out into the shared area of the suite, having a quick look around. There was a big TV and a small kitchenette, plus a sliding door that led out onto a large deck. I slid it open and stared out at the water.
“Want to go swimming?” Aston asked me.
“Maybe later,” I shrugged noncommittally.
“Ok, I’m going to run down and meet the guys. We’re going to pop over to the club where we are planning on doing New Year’s to speak to them about a few things, plus we need to go get some stuff. When we come back we’ll come back and head to the pool.”
“Sure,” I replied.
“You ok on your own? You want me to call one of the girls?” he asked. There were three guys and three girls with us. I hadn’t made an attempt to learn their names yet, I was sure it would come in time. "You could go shopping or get down to the pool early."
“I’m fine,” I said, "I'll figure something out."
“Ok, see you in a bit,” Aston replied.
As soon as he was gone I went and grabbed my laptop and work things, sitting out on the deck and pouring over my report with a hot cup of tea.
A few hours must have passed because I was moving onto the middle section when the door slammed and Aston came back into the suite.
“Please tell me you haven’t been working on your report the whole time?” he asked me as he came out onto the deck.
“I need to finish it,” I replied, my eyes never leaving my laptop screen.
“Didn’t you work on it all night?”
“Yes, and there is still a lot to do,” I said.
“Well we’re going to the pool right now, so go get ready!”
“Aston, please let me just work on this.”
“You can’t spend your entire holiday working,” Aston replied, “Come on!”
“I can do what I want,” I said defiantly, turning back to my laptop.
Before I could blink Aston had made a lunge for me, scooping my laptop from my lap and holding it in his hands.
“HEY!!” I yelled, jumping to my feet and putting my hands on my hips.
“You’re coming to the pool or I’m going to throw your laptop from this deck!” he declared.
“Give it back!”
“No!”
“ASTONNN!” I yelled.
“Just come to the pool. You can work on this after the holiday.”
“But…”
“I’m seriously about to chuck this,” he said, his face stern. There was no laughter in his eyes, he was deadly serious.
“Fine!” I conceded, “I’ll come to the freaking pool!”
“Good, now save your work and go get changed. We’re leaving in ten minutes,” Aston said, passing me my laptop back.
I took it from his hands and frowned dramatically at him. He was seriously pissing me off, almost to the point where I was debating heading to the airport and finding a flight back to London.
“Ready?” Aston asked me as I wandered out of my room with my bikini on, a summer dress over the top.
“Yes,” I spit out.
“Save the attitude,” he said, “You need to learn how to relax.”
I rolled my eyes at him, “Let’s just get on with this.”
“Fine,” he said. We both wandered out of our room and towards the elevator, not speaking to each other. It wasn’t until right when we got to the pool that we both switched on our fake smiles and fell into our fake relationship. On the outside no one would know that I was about five seconds away from punching him in the face.
“Hey Jess, over here!” one of the girls called. I wandered over to her, chastising myself for not learning anyone's names and putting my things under a lounger, pulling off my sundress so I was just in my bikini. I talked to the other girls for a bit, before closing my eyes and letting the exhaustion of not sleeping while on the plane take over me.
“I don’t think so babe,” a voice said after twenty minutes had passed. I could feel little droplets of water dripping on me, and before I could react I had been scooped into someone’s arms and pulled off my lounger.
“What the hell?!” I yelled, my eyes flying open to see that Aston had lifted me up and was carrying me towards the pool.
“You’re on holiday, remember?” he asked, “Need to take a dip in the pool.”
“I’ll actually kill you.”
“I’d like to see you try!” he declared, swinging his arms and releasing his hold on me. I found myself flying through the air and straight into the pool.
“You’re dead Merrygold!” I yelled as I spluttered to the surface. I could hear him laughing away, as my blood boiled with rage.