PART ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THREE
*Jess’ POV*
“Please don’t die,” I told Aston for the fifteenth time as he checked over his belongings. It was two weekends before the wedding and he was off to some mystery location with a handful of friends for his stag do. It was a Friday evening, Aston was back Monday morning for work stuff, and I was left all alone to fend for myself for the entire weekend. Fab.
“I promise I won’t,” he said.
“You say that, but I can’t be sure,” I worried.
“Jess,” Aston said, putting his hands on my shoulders. “I promise I’ll be at the wedding in one piece.”
“You better be back here in three days in one piece!” I said with a frown.
“You know what I mean.”
“Still…” I sighed, shrinking out of his grip, “I worry when it comes to those guys. I have no idea what trouble you’ll get up to!”
“I’ll be fine,” Aston said, “Now, what are you going to do this weekend?”
“Just go over things one more time,” I shrugged, “Relax a bit. Maybe call up Marnie or my brother or something.”
“You don’t need to go over things again,” Aston said, “The wedding is all ready to go.”
“I just want to make sure.”
“Control freak!” he laughed, hugging me tight as his phone started buzzing indicating that the boys had arrived to come get him and take him away for the weekend.
“Have fun,” I said, walking with him to the door and seeing him out, “But behave!”
“Love you too babe,” he grinned, ignoring my statement and kissing me fiercely before pushing his way out of the house.
“Love you…” I sighed to myself, wandering into the empty house and finding the binder with all of the wedding documents in it.
I’d done my best not to be a total bridezilla, but I was totally organized when it came to the wedding. I had everything sorted as early as possible, dresses, flowers, food… Everything. But I still had this bad feeling that something was going to go terribly wrong and I wanted to have a leg up on it when it did. It was just how I worked, always a step ahead.
The front door buzzed about thirty minutes into my review of all the documents, confusing the hell out of me. I let the visitor up, shocked to see Marnie with a huge overnight bag on one shoulder, a full shopping bag in her hand, and a wicked smile on her face.
“What’s going on?” I asked her with narrowed eyes.
“Weekend Slumber Party!” she declared.
“What?” I stuttered, letting her push her way into the house.
“Aston is away so the girls can play!” she responded with a big smile, “He can’t have all the fun!”
“Oh god…” I sighed. I knew Marnie had something up her sleeve, but I wasn’t really prepared for this. An invasion of my house? “What does Weekend Slumber Party entail exactly?”
“Tonight, just us,” Marnie grinned, “Tomorrow night… maybe we’ll add some friends and go out.”
“I can’t say no can I?” I asked, watching Marnie dump all sorts of random things on the kitchen counter.
“You’ve missed living with me really,” she said, ignoring my question.
“Well…” I started.
“Don’t actually answer that!”
“Was just saying, I don’t mind living with Ast.”
“Course you wouldn’t,” Marnie winked, passing a shopping bag into my hand.
“What is this?” I questioned, looking at the bag.
“Your attire for the weekend.”
“Shit Marnie!” I said, pulling out what appeared to be a slinky nightie that would barely cover my bum. “Like hell I’m wearing this!”
“You have to!” she insisted, “I’m in charge of the hen party.”
“You’re crazy,” I said, putting the garment back in the bag and setting it on the counter.
“But…”
“NO!”
She frowned at me, digging through the rest of the contents of her bag. She dragged out a few DVDs and some bottles of wine, laying it all out on the counter. “This is the rest of our day sorted.”
“Promise?” I asked, eyeing up the selection. It wasn’t so bad.
“Like I said, we’ll start chill tonight and then ramp it up tomorrow. Aston can’t be the only one that has a bust up this weekend.”
I grimaced at the thought, never one to really be a partier. Wine and a DVD was enough for me!
Marnie and I laid around my house the entire evening, ordering a Chinese and watching chick flicks whilst polishing off more than one bottle of wine.
“Where is Aston anyway?” Marnie asked as we started a new film.
“No idea,” I shrugged.
“He didn’t tell you?”
“He didn’t know!” I said, “The boys gave him a list of things to pack and told him to bring his passport.”
“So he’s going abroad?”
“Maybe,” I shrugged, “I told him I don’t ever want to hear about it and that he better be home on Monday in one piece.”
“What if its in the papers?” she asked, “Celebrity Stag parties are always in the papers.”
“I don’t read the papers,” I shrugged.
“But everyone else does,” Marnie said, “You always know what they’re saying about you, even if you don’t read them yourself.”
“Whatever,” I said, my eyes glued on the TV. It was the truth too, I didn’t want to know what the boys were doing, it would only make me worried.
“We need a plan for tomorrow,” Marnie said, changing the subject.
“I thought you were planning everything?” I laughed, “How come I’m all of a sudden being drawn into this?”
“You killed my plans with the nightie…”
“Marnie that was just weird,” I said, “Why in the world would I wear that around for just you?”
“I don’t know…” she mumbled, “It seemed funny when I bought it.”
“You’re a mess sometimes,” I laughed, “Which is precisely why I love you!”
“You’ve gone soft Jessica Rego,” Marnie grinned, leaning over and giving me a big hug, rocking the pair of us from side to side.
I just gave her a knowing smile, releasing her, grabbing my wine, and having another sip.
“I’ll do whatever you want tomorrow,” I said after a few minutes, “But no slinky nighties. Or slutty dresses. Or anything like that.”
“Deal,” she said, “And just remember you agreed to this.”
“Oh god,” I sighed, turning to giver her a ‘don’t you dare hire a stripper look.’
PART ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FOUR
*Jess’ POV*
“I feel like I’m dying,” I moaned, the bright light of the terrace shinning in to the room and blinding me. Marnie was next to me in bed my bed, curled up with the duvet.
“You’re fine.”
“No I’m not…” I sighed, stumbling out of bed to the toilet to be sick.
“So maybe that was more of a bust up than you needed,” Marnie said, rubbing my back gently as I sat on the floor by the toilet.
“I’ve never been this hungover in my life.”
“Just means you partied hard.”
“Too hard,” I said, feeling another wave of nausea.
When I’d let Marnie plan the night out I had no idea that she had it in her mind that she wanted to kill me. After placing a few phone calls and sending a few texts from my phone, she had sorted a VIP booth at a club in the West End. It was a pretty random assortment of people. Aston’s bandmates’ girls were there, as was Monica and Hilary and a few other people I knew from various work and charity things. It was one of those groups of people where you would think the night was going to be mega awkward, but it just clicked and it was a total blast.
“I can not believe I agreed to tequila shots,” I said as I attempted to stand up to clean my teeth.
“Do you even remember coming home?”
“Noooo…” I moaned, “I’ve never blacked out like that before.”
“Sign of a good night.”
“Fuckkk…” I groaned, crawling back to the bed and climbing in. “Marnie cure this for me.”
“Hair of the dog,” I heard her mutter, freaking me out just a little bit. She wandered out of the room for a few minutes and then came back, placing a beer on the side table.
“What the hell?” I asked her, turning to see her with a beer in her hand as well.
“My fabulous hangover cure…” Marnie said, “Is to just get drunk again.”
“God you’re a mess!” I said, hitting the duvet with a fist incredulously as I closed my eyes.
“Works for me,” she said. I could hear her bustling around, sipping on her own beer.
“What time is it?”
“3pm.”
“Jesus,” I groaned, opening my eyes and staring at her. What the hell had happened the night before?
“Just try it.”
I gave Marnie a dramatic frown and then sat up, snatching the beer and having a sip. It made me feel a little sick to smell the alcohol, but after a few sips I could already feel my body calming just a tiny bit.
“Just finish that,” Marnie said, “And you should be able to eat then.”
“This is horrible,” I complained.
After an hour I was able to stumble down to the TV room with my duvet, flicking channels as Marnie cooked up some food. I couldn’t even be near the kitchen the smell bothered me that much.
“I can’t work tomorrow,” I cried as Marnie came in and laid food on the coffee table, just looking at it made my stomach lurch.
“That’ll be good,” Marnie laughed, “Call in sick from your Hen Do hangover.”
“I’m going to tell Jeremy that my best friend tried to kill me.”
“Mean,” Marnie said.
“True.”
“It was fun!” she said, “You can’t complain too much.”
“I wish I could remember it! I didn’t do anything totally stupid did I?”
“No,” she said, “You were perfectly normal.”
“Promise?”
“I promise,” she said, “I wouldn’t let you make a total fool of yourself, what with how much the press loves to mess you around.”
“Thanks,” I sighed, closing my eyes and cuddling into the duvet.
“Are you going to hate me if I leave?” she asked, “I’ve got a job interview tomorrow morning and want to get myself ready for it.”
“No I won't hate you,” I said, “You should definitely focus on your interview. Someday you’ll finally find something that works.”
“Yeahhh…” she said. I knew she wouldn’t. Marnie was the kind of girl that would have a different job every month for the rest of her life, and the best part was, she didn’t care.
I gave her a faint smile and then sat up so she could give me a big hug. “Thanks for a fabulous weekend,” I told her.
“You deserved it,” Marnie said, “To see you settling down and getting married, its fantastic.”
“We’ll find you a man,” I told her.
“Oh you know I’ll be on the prowl at the wedding.”
I rolled my eyes, laying back down as she wandered out of the house. I did not doubt that at all.
Left to my own devices I flicked channels on the TV for a while, eventually making my way upstairs for bed. I still felt like I was about to die, and I’d already texted Jeremy telling him I wasn’t going to be in until midday the next day.
A harsh light woke me up before the sun was even out, causing me to sit up in bed with a frown. I still felt like death and I just wanted to sleep the rest of this hangover off, Marnie’s cure did nothing for me.
“Sorry,” Aston mumbled, flicking the light off and stumbling over to bed. I was surprised to see him home so early, I thought he’d be back later in the morning.
“You ok?” I giggled as he climbed in, still in his clothes.
“Hungover,” he groaned.
“Same,” I said, laying down and facing him, my fingers playing with the buttons on his top.
“What’s with the sexy nightie downstairs?” he asked after a few minutes, laughter in his eyes.
“Marnie.”
“That’s hers?” he asked with a smirk. Clearly he’d inspected it, and knew that it was much too small for Marnie.
“Shut up,” I said, “She thought it would be funny if I wore it.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Boring.”
“Would you want me out in public like that?” I questioned, my eyes searching his in a challenging manner.
“No,” he concluded, “For my eyes only.”
“Exactly,” I said, leaning up and kissing him. “You have fun?”
“Yeah,” he said, his hand stroking up my side gently, “You?”
“Marnie definitely did her best to make sure I had my own bust up of a weekend.”
“Awww, you guys go out?”
“From what I remember, yes,” I said with a smirk. Aston’s eyes went wide as I said this, clearly impressed that I’d let loose for the weekend. “Been hungover in bed all day,” I added.
“Marnie did well then.”
“Hmm…” I replied cryptically. “You didn’t get into too much trouble?”
“Thought we weren’t going to talk about what I got up to?” Aston retorted.
“I’m just a bit curious,” I giggled, undoing one of his buttons.
“Ok I’ll give you the very short version,” Aston said, “We went down to Brighton. I was drunk pretty much the entire weekend. I don’t think I actually slept at all. And I got a tattoo.”
“Tattoo?” I asked, leaning up on my elbow and staring down at Aston.
“Secret tattoo.”
“Show me.”
“No,” Aston grinned, "It's a secret."
“I’ll find it anyways!” I said, “Just show me!”
“No!!”
“Where is it?” I asked, wrestling him on the bed so I was sat on his stomach, my fingers undoing the buttons on his top.
“Nowhere!”
“Tell meeee…” I whined.
He just stared up at me grinning, shaking his head from side to side.
“It better not be ugly.”
“It’s not ugly,” Aston said with an eye roll.
“Please show me?” I pouted, peeling his top off.
“Fine,” he sighed, holding his right arm out. It was already covered in tattoos so I was a bit confused as to where his new tattoo could be.
“What?” I asked, inspecting his arm. “OH!”
“Yeah,” Aston grinned as I stared at his new tattoo, my fingers tracing it gently. It was just three little letters squeezed in between all of the other designs on his arm. It was truly a secret tattoo.
“AJM.”
“Aston and Jess Merrygold,” he whispered, his eyes catching mine as my heart melted just that little bit more. Ugh, this boy was seriously too cute for his own good.