PART ONE HUNDRED ONE
*Jess’ POV*
The next morning we woke up earlier than normal. Probably because I’d passed out of meltdown-induced exhaustion the evening before, not that I was going to admit that.
“Breakfast?” Aston mumbled, his lips pressed against my neck as he held me tight.
“I’ll get it.”
“Let me,” he said.
“You can make lunch,” I told him, pulling his arms off of me and stumbling out of bed, grabbing a dressing gown on my way out the room. “I’ll bring the food up.”
“Perfect,” Aston yawned, grabbing the remote control for the TV and flicking it on.
I pottered around the kitchen for a little while getting some things together on a tray, and then I hauled it all up the stairs and laid it on the bed.
“Thanks,” Aston said, kissing the side of my head as he grabbed a piece of toast.
“No worries.”
“What are we doing today?” he asked me.
“I have no idea,” I replied, sipping my coffee.
“I vote we do absolutely nothing.”
I turned and looked at him, a cute smile on his face as he nibbled his food.
“I think that sounds perfect,” I replied.
We spent the entire morning in bed, fighting over what to watch on the TV. Aston was insistent on some sort of sports program, and I wanted to watch some rerun of a film I’d seen ages ago. In the end the TV was forgotten as we laughed and wrestled about, in our own little bubble.
At lunchtime we threw some sweats on and wandered downstairs, Aston making sandwiches for the pair of us as I sat and watched on from the breakfast bar. For the afternoon we messed around in the TV room, Aston playing games on his xbox while I laid on the couch and laughed at him, his iPad propped up in front of me as I tried to play a puzzle game.
“I’m going to pop out for half an hour, is that ok?” Aston asked me as late afternoon approached and the winter sun started to set.
“Why?”
“Just to get some food,” he shrugged. “Want anything special?”
“Maybe grab some wine or something?” I replied, “Think we’re pretty much out.”
“Course,” he said, giving me a quick kiss as he went to find his shoes.
I took his momentary absence as an opportunity to finally have a shower, but instead of getting dressed I threw on some clean pajamas and a hoodie. After drying my hair I wandered back downstairs to see Aston pulling things out of shopping bags and laying them on the counter.
“What did you get?” I asked him.
“Well…” he started, “I got the wine you requested, and a Nando’s...”
“What’s all this then?” I said, nodding towards the stack of baking goods on the counter as I pulled my Nando’s towards me and started to eat.
“I thought,” Aston started as he got his own food, “I could maybe try to bake you a cake for your birthday.”
“You’re going to bake? Tonight?”
“I might need your help,” he replied with a laugh, “But that is the goal.”
“You don’t need to do this,” I said, “I’ll be fine without a cake.”
“I want to though. It’s not fair that I have to miss your birthday.”
“I’m missing yours,” I shrugged.
“Also not fair,” Aston pouted.
“Let’s make a deal then,” I replied, holding out my pinkie for a pinkie promise. It was a bit greasy from my chicken wings, but around Aston I didn’t really care. “We’ll have a joint birthday celebration. Just the two of us. Where we can make up for missing out on celebrating one another's birthdays together.”
“You mean,” Aston grinned naughtily, “We’ll set aside a night for a ton of really excellent late birthday sex.”
I gawped at him for a minute but then nodded my head sheepishly, my cheeks burning red. That was pretty much what I meant, just put in a slightly more crude sense.
“Now, should this joint celebration be in the form of a holiday or… ?” Aston questioned.
“Let’s play it by ear,” I responded, “If I’m going to do this job thing I should probably see how it goes.”
“So you’re going to do it.”
“Yup,” I replied, “You’re right, I’m being silly not giving it a chance.”
“Once you do you’ll realize change isn’t always a bad thing.”
“I think I do realize that,” I said, “I mean look at us.”
“What about us?”
“I told you ages ago that I didn’t want to fall in love, and we obviously have. And then I agreed to move in with you, and now we’re here.” I was treading close to that marriage conversation again. I knew I shouldn’t do it to myself, or to him, but I couldn’t help baiting him a bit to see what he’d say. If he’d bring it up. I knew I wasn’t going to.
Instead of saying anything Aston just gave me a sweet smile, turning to his chicken. In that moment I could read all of his emotions. I knew that he wanted to say something about marriage but he’d stopped himself. All because I’d told him to wait a year. Why was I so stupid about it all?
We spent the evening attempting to bake this cake Aston insisted on making. I wasn’t too fussed about it, but when we realized that there wasn’t much else to do but drink the wine and try to bake we thought it might be funny. In the end we didn’t end up with much of a cake, just a lump of something that slightly resembled burnt chocolate.
The next day was spent much the same. Aston and I shut off from the world as we savored our last few hours together before he left.
And then the Monday came.
“You sure you’re going to be ok at work?” Aston asked me as he stood in the front room in his sweats.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, all dressed for work with a cup of coffee in my hand.
“Call me when you’re done telling Jeremy and your Dad you’ll join in?”
“Course,” I replied.
We were avoiding saying goodbye because we knew how hard it was going to be. Aston had an evening flight but was going straight to the airport from a series of meetings with his management, which meant I wouldn’t see him once I left for work.
“Ok I gotta go,” I said, standing in front of Aston in the front room.
“Bye,” he said awkwardly.
“Bye.”
Without another word he pulled me into his chest by wrapping his arms tight around me, my hands falling easily around his middle. We stood like that for nearly five minutes before breaking apart, tears streaking down both of our faces. I couldn’t help but laugh as I saw how silly we both looked.
“I’ll miss your crazy ass,” Aston whispered, cupping my cheeks with his hand gently.
“I’ll miss yours too.”
“Thanks,” he giggled, leaning in and pressing a hot kiss against my lips.
“I love you,” I said through my tears, pulling away just enough so I could get the words out.
“Love you more,” Aston said, kissing me again.
After a series of several more kisses and lots more tears I was ushered out the door with a wave and a promise that the seven weeks would fly past. I actually hated saying goodbye to him.
Work went by slowly, things beginning to fall into place as I spoke to Jeremy and my father about the plans they’d been concocting. In a matter of only two weeks the office would be closing down, all of the staff sent to work with other MPs save Monica, who Jeremy had decided to bring on as a personal assistant and scheduler, something I could only guess had been done to please me.
Back home that night I slouched into the house, frowning at how silent it was.
“Just you and me house,” I sighed, wandering up the stairs to change out of my work clothes and into something more comfortable. Being a soppy mess, I selected a pair of Aston’s sweats and one of his tops; unable to accept the fact I wouldn’t be seeing him now for nearly two months.
Wandering back to the kitchen to make something to eat I spotted a huge bouquet of flowers on the counter, a note propped up against them.
‘Life is going to throw you all sorts of crazy situations that you’re going to have to figure out what to do with. Just do what I do… Just play along. Love you, A xx’
I grinned down at his note, those words something of a mantra for us. Just play along. He was right, the only thing you could do with the unpredictability of life was play along.
It was exactly upon reading the note that I made my decision.
And then of course, I burst into tears.
PART ONW HUNDRED TWO
*Jess’ POV*
I twisted in bed as my alarm clock went, sighing to myself as I leant up to turn it off, emptiness surrounding me. It was still weird not to hear Aston moaning at me to turn off the alarm. Or to not have him trying to grab me around the waist to keep me in bed a little longer.
“I hate this,” I muttered, crawling out of bed and stumbling towards the en suite for a wake up shower.
Two and a half weeks. That’s all it had been. I still had four and a half to go. What torture!
I got ready for work and then ate a quick breakfast, grabbing my things and heading to the bus. Instead of the usual ride to Parliament I was headed in the opposite direction, to a small block of offices that my Dad and Jeremy had rented out for the campaign. With my father stepping down from the House of Lords we’d had to clean out his office and move out, not allowed to stay there for the campaign.
I slumped down at my desk, in the corner of the big office we were using. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a small conference room and an office as well as a big open space for cubicles or something. I’d been given the back corner with the promise I’d eventually get cubicle walls for privacy, not that I really cared.
“Hey Jess, we’ve got that image consultant coming in later,” Jeremy told me was he walked in.
“I hadn’t forgotten.”
“She wants to meet with you for a bit.”
“Ok,” I replied, not sure what that really meant. Was it about the campaign? Or about me?
I spent the morning doing what I had done the last few days. Calling and emailing everyone I had in my address book to try and organize campaign support. If that was financial donations, endorsements, or just well wishes, I'd take anything. We needed to get the word out that we were serious about this.
After lunch I was ushered into the meeting room with the image consultant, Judy. She was an older woman who tended to stare down at people over the bridge of her nose, her glasses always sliding off her face. It made her seem a bit judgmental.
“Jessica, pleasure to meet you,” she said sternly, standing up.
“And you,” I replied, shaking her hand professionally as I took a seat across from her, a pad of paper in my hand.
We discussed the campaign for a bit. Different things we could do to make the office look good and not catch any heat from the press. To be honest it annoyed me to hear what she had to say. I was pretty sure I could handle things myself; I didn’t need someone telling me how to run my office.
“Now Jess about you…” Judy said snidely. Everything she said came off as unpleasant. I wasn’t sure if it was intended or it was just her look and the tone of her voice, but I was certainly uncomfortable.
“What about me?” I bit back, trying not to get aggressive.
“I’ve read you have a famous boyfriend.”
“Yeah, Aston. I guess he’s ‘famous,’” I replied, “What about him?”
“Is he going to play a role in this election?”
“What? No! Of course not!”
“You’re positive,” Judy said.
“He’s not even in the country right now. And to be honest he has no idea what goes on here anyways. He’s not the most politically savvy person I know.”
“Well I think you should break up with him, for the campaign,” Judy said.
“Sorry?” I stuttered, shocked at what she was saying.
“It’s just, people like Aston draw unnecessary attention away from the issues. We don’t want people bandwagoning just because you’ve got a famous boyfriend.”
“Like I said, Aston has nothing to do with this election,” I said slowly.
“Now he doesn’t, but when you guys start really getting into this campaign the opposition are going to start digging for anything they can find to bring you guys down. It might not be the smartest to have a popstar trailing in your wake. Who knows what damage he could cause…”
“You’re kidding right?”
“I’m just being honest,” Judy shrugged.
“I’m not breaking up with my boyfriend for all of this. Jeremy knows that Aston means well and has nothing to do with the campaign. There’s no point.”
“Just warning you,” Judy sneered.
I glared at her, before slamming my notepad shut and standing up quickly. “I think I’ve given you enough time this afternoon.” Without a thank you or a goodbye I turned on my heel, fuming and slamming out of the conference room and straight into Jeremy’s office.
“That woman is insane!” I shouted as soon as the door had shut behind me.
“What did she say?” he asked, standing up with concern on his face.
“A load of wank about how I should run this office!” I said, “And then she told me to break up with my boyfriend.”
“What? Why would she do that?”
“Apparently Aston could bring bad press to the campaign.”
“Well…” Jeremy started.
“You don’t agree with her do you?!” I screeched.
“I don’t know! I’ve never done this before!”
“Well,” I said hot-headedly, “If it comes down to him or this campaign... I’m choosing him!”
“I’m not asking you to choose Jess, calm down!” Jeremy said, grabbing me by the shoulders and pushing me down into a seat.
“I’m just saying,” I huffed, “I’ve been with the boy on and off for three and a half years now. We live together. I’m sorry Jeremy, but I’m not going to break up with him. I’d rather step down from my position if it becomes an issue for the campaign.”
“You’re not breaking up with anyone or stepping down from anything,” Jeremy said, “I want you on my team. If something comes up involving Aston we’ll figure out our way around it. All of us.”
I stared at Jeremy for a minute before nodding my head. “Sorry,” I sighed.
“It’s fine,” he replied wryly, a smirk on his face, “You crack me up sometimes.”
“Why?”
“You’re so in denial about how much you love that guy and then you do something like this. Choosing him over your work!”
I stared at Jeremy as he said this, the reality of the situation setting in. That was the first time I’d ever done that. Three and a half years prior I’d sat Aston down in a booth at my local pub and told him that I would never ever choose someone over my job. And I’d just done it. And it was him no less.
“I’m a mess,” I told Jeremy, "I don't even know what I'm doing anymore!"
“No,” he laughed, “You’ve just found your soulmate. No one knows how to deal with that.”
“I know,” I sighed in agreement, leaning back in my chair. “But I seem to do a great job of convincing him that I’m not that interested. What is my problem?”
“You’re Jess,” he laughed, “It’s typical behavior from you.”
“Yeah but…” I stopped as I thought about the note I’d read over the holidays. “I really messed up this time,” I sighed, finishing my thought.
“How so?”
I sat silently for a minute before spilling it all. I don’t know why I did it, but I couldn’t keep it to myself any longer. I knew if I told Marnie that she would blab to everyone, and Freddy would probably tell Aston. So it was down to Jeremy, my former assistant now boss.
“You’ve just got to tell him how you feel,” Jeremy said, "Simple."
“But I can’t, he’s away!”
“Skype him.”
“I want to do it in person.”
“Then wait till he’s back! Jess, it’s not hard!”
“But he’s not back until forever,” I pouted, playing with my phone as a text buzzed through.
“Well you figure it out,” Jeremy said, “I’ve got to go meet with this horrible lady now.”
“We should get a pint after work and bitch about her,” I said, “I can’t wait to hear what she tells you!”
“If it’s half of what she said to you, it should be horrible!” Jeremy laughed, "I'll definitely take you up on the pint."
I gave him a weak smile, getting up and going to my desk to finish up a few things before calling it a day.
As I sat down I checked the text on my phone, a smile crossing my face. [Love you. Axx]
I quickly tapped out a reply, setting my phone down next to me as I looked through my emails the biggest grin ever on my face.