PART FIFTY ONE
*Aston’s POV*
“Seriously bruv, what has gotten into you lately?” asked Marvin as we sat around the studio while Reesh recorded. I just shrugged my shoulders at him as I continued to play on my iPad. “It’s that whole Vegas wedding thing isn’t it?” he asked. “Listen you know that the boys and I were just annoyed that you didn’t tell us. We’re brothers, we’re here for each other.”
“I know,” I mumbled.
It had been a week and a half since everything with Jess had gone down. I hadn’t seen her or spoken to her since the divorce hearing. In my mind I wanted to believe that she didn’t sell the story, but I just couldn’t figure out who else it could have been. She’d always been into playing games so I figured that it had to be her. I just wished that I hadn’t been so angry with her, but it was all sprung upon me so fast, I couldn’t help it. I guess it was time to just move on…
“We need to get you out and forgetting about all this drama,” declared Marvin as if he were reading my thoughts. I watched on uneasily as he set up a double date for us, setting me up with a friend of Rochelle’s.
That night I found myself dressed up, waiting for Marvin to pick me up to go out. I wasn’t really feeling it, but he was right, I needed to move on. Jess had hurt me more than she knew, I just needed to let it go and move on.
I slid into the back of the car to be met by a pretty red-head. “Ast this is Annalise,” Rochelle told me from the front seat.
“Hi,” I smiled as I buckled up.
Dinner was awkward. I just didn’t have anything to say, my mind was in another world. When we were done Rochelle insisted we hit the clubs for a bit, have a few dances. I obliged more as an act of habit than anything else, I was running on auto-pilot at this point.
We took a cab from the restaurant so we could drink a bit, and I watched in horror as we pulled up in front of the club. The club that Jess and I had hooked up in the toilets at. It hurt just to look at the place. I couldn’t say anything though, I didn’t want Marv to have a go at me. We took our seats at the same table we’d been at that night, and got in a round of drinks. Before long Marv and Rochelle went off to the dance floor, leaving me and Annalise alone at the table.
Hardly acknowledging Annalise’s presence I stared across the dancefloor, just as I had the night Jess and I had ended up in the toilets together. I looked for her in the crowd, knowing she wasn’t there. No one prowled around the dance floor like she did. No one had that same sexy smirk. No one was Jess.
In that moment I knew that as hard as I tried, there was no way in hell I was going to be able to enjoy the evening out. My head was too messed up over things. I hadn’t moved on. Not even close. I was still stuck in that crazy world that Jess and I had inhabited for a short time.
“I’m sorry,” I said to the pretty red head that sat awkwardly next to me, who I had pretty much neglected the entire night. Checking that my things were in my pockets I got up from my seat and walked into the mass of heaving bodies and out the front door.
When I got outside I took of deep breath of the somewhat smoky air that swirled around the club before hailing a cab and directing the driver back towards my neighborhood.
As we drove through the still bustling streets of London I sat with my eyes shut, thinking about everything that had happened over the last few weeks. It was an emotional whirlwind that had my head banging if I was honest. I’d experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows and come out of it more confused and hurt than ever.
“Here we are sir,” said the driver as he pulled up to the house. Robotically I passed him a wad of money and then slipped out of the cab, taking a deep breath as I stared at the house in front of me.
In a daze I walked up the familiar stairs and knocked on the red door, praying that this wasn’t going to be a mistake. I had no idea what I was going to say, but I needed to do it, if only for my own piece of mind.
Eventually the door was pulled open and a young guy stood before me, putting my stomach into a lurch. She hadn’t moved on already?
“Can I help you?” he asked in a crisp British accent. I don’t know who he was, but just seeing him had me beyond jealous.
“Is Jess here?” I asked, hoping that he wouldn’t deny me.
“Sorry mate,” he said in a somewhat guarded manner. My heart dropped at this, who was this guy and why wouldn’t he let me see her?
“Please, I need to see her,” I begged.
“Listen I don’t know who this Jess is, but she doesn’t live here.”
“Sure she does, I’ve been here to pick her up loads of times.”
“Well she must have moved,” the guy said. “I just moved in a two days ago.”
“Oh,” I said. I’d missed her. Somehow she’d left early. I didn’t know if it was down to her project or me but the fact that she was no longer at her house indicated that she had most likely left London. So much for trying to convince her to stay.
“Sorry mate,” said the guy again.
“Nah it’s fine, didn’t realize she’d left that’s all,” I sighed, putting up a front.
“You seemed pretty desperate to see her, everything ok?” he asked.
“What yeah, just a lot of shit going on between us,” I said absentmindedly, fiddling with my phone in my pocket as I hoped to make an exit soon.
“You love her?” the guy asked. I stared at him for a minute before answering his question with careful words. We spoke for another minute before I excused myself and started the 20-minute walk home, lost in my thoughts.
The one thought that hurt the most was that she’d left without saying goodbye. I knew why of course, I’d been absolutely horrible to her. I’d hurt her when I promised that I wouldn’t. I’d really messed up.
To confirm my suspicions that she was in fact gone, I attempted to dial her mobile number, frowning when a voice came on the line telling me the line had been disconnected. That was it then, she was long gone.
About halfway through my walk my phone buzzed in my clenched hand. I looked down at it to see a text from Marv, [Where the hell are you? Annalise is sitting here all by herself!]
I sighed as I looked at the message, throwing myself on the grass outside of a block of flats, not caring if I got dirt on my trousers.
[I couldn’t be there anymore, I told her I was sorry. My heart and my head are in another world right now, I’m definitely in love with her.]
As I hit send I couldn’t help but let a tear fall down my face. I’d just admitted it to myself and to Marv, I was in love with Jess, it was that simple. In love with a girl who obviously hated me. Regardless of whether or not she’d actually sold the story I hadn’t given her a chance to explain herself, I’d just railed into her. No wonder she’d left!
[In love with who?] Marv texted back.
[Jessica Rego.]
And then, more as a mechanism to put everything into perspective for myself than for Marv, I added a second text. [My ex-wife. I need to get her back.]
PARTY FIFTY TWO
*Jess's POV*
The phone call I’d gotten that night in the office had been from my boss. He’d seen the emails I was sending and figured it was as good of a time as any to give me a call and say that I was coming home early. My part of the project wasn’t exactly done, but there were other people who could finish it for me and my animation skills were needed on something in New York.
At first I’d felt sick about leaving London so soon. I literally had two days to pack up the flat and get on the plane. But then I found the silver lining in it, this was my chance to get away and figure everything out. The press weren’t going to follow me across the pond, and maybe I’d be able to leave behind all of those reminders of Aston that were undoubtedly everywhere. I just needed space.
I ended up moving in with Nicole’s sister for the time being, seeing as Nicole was recently married and I was homeless. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but Kiley lived in a nice area so it wasn’t horrible. I figured I’d get looking for apartments once I was settled back into work.
That said, being back at work was not what I expected. I forgot what it was like to be in a big office, the last three months having been in a small section of the BBC with only six other people. Luckily my office with a door was still reserved for me, I couldn’t imagine going back to cubicle land. I just wanted to be left alone with my art.
“Hey lady,” said a voice at my door on my first day back.
“Mags!” I exclaimed, jumping up and giving her a hug. “It feels like its been years.”
“It’s been a week Jess,” laughed Maggie. “So what does the boss have you working on?”
“Doing some animations for a shampoo company,” I shrugged. “Should be a pretty quick project.”
“I hear he is saving some people for more big projects like the BBC,” she winked.
“Ok Maggie,” I said with an eye roll. She was such a gossip when it came to office matters.
“Seriously though Jess, you doing ok?” she asked me.
“I guess,” I sighed. “I didn’t think he would actually just fall off the face of the earth you know? I thought there would at least be one more confrontation.”
“Maybe it hasn’t happened yet?” she asked.
“It’s been almost two weeks,” I said, picking at a bit of my desk that was chipping off.
“Well just hang in there,” smiled Maggie.
“Ok,” I sighed.
The next week at work was much the same. Me slouching in and doing my animations and Maggie poking her head in every so often to check on me. Was I really that much of a disaster?
On Thursday afternoon, a little over a week since I’d come back to New York, I decided to go out and get lunch at the sandwich shop down the street. I’d asked Maggie to come but she was busy, and Nicole had new hours at her hospital so she couldn’t do lunch as often as she used to.
When I got to the shop I ordered my usual, waiting quietly while they made it and then rang me up at the tills. After handing my money over I turned to grab a table, surprised by what was waiting for me.
“Jess,” shouted a voice from across the restaurant.
“Tyler?” I whispered, seeing him sat in a booth on his own in a smart suit. Slowly I walked towards him, not sure what he wanted.
“Sit with me,” he said.
“Ok,” I mumbled, setting my tray down and sliding in across from him. “How are you?” I asked after a moment of silence.
“Good, really good,” he said. “I got a job. A real job in business, doing what I wanted to do all along.”
“Congratulations,” I smiled. I listened as he told me about his job for a little while, nibbling on my sandwich as he did. Just seeing him again I was no longer hungry. Too many memories were coming back, good and bad.
“How are you doing?” he asked. “Everything sorted?”
I knew he was asking about the Vegas wedding, of course he was.
“Yup,” I said shortly. “Done and dusted and back at the New York office.”
“Listen Jess, I just wanted to say that I’m sorry that I yelled at you on the phone. It was out of line to have a go at you without knowing your side of the story,” he apologized.
“It’s fine,” I sighed.
“No its not. I shouldn’t have assumed that you were trying to hurt me, that you were cheating on me or something. I was just upset that you didn’t tell me about it when we were together. I know I would have been mad, but I think we could have gotten past it,” he said.
“Yeah…” I mumbled. Inside my head was spinning. This was the apology that I was supposed to be getting from Aston, I didn’t care at all whether Tyler apologized or not. I’d deserved that telling off to be honest. I’d straight up cheated on him.
“So then, back in New York,” said Tyler awkwardly, changing the subject.
“Yup, been back for a bit more than a week now and doing some little projects for a bit. They’re giving me time to take a bit of a breather from the big accounts,” I said, launching into a conversation about work.
I couldn’t help but notice throughout the conversation the looks that Tyler was giving me. They made me uncomfortable. Six months ago I would have loved them, I would have loved that he was giving me any attention at all. But now I just felt ill.
He stopped talking after awhile and just looked at me, before asking the question that sent my mind into a downward spiral. “What are the chances that we can get back to how we were?” he asked.