“Beautiful.” Marcy smiled as I came back into the bedroom.
“Are you sure this isn’t a bit much?”
Marcy shook her head, then we made our way to the bar, where we were meeting Danni and Kate.
Jackson
I spotted Esme as soon as she walked into the bar tonight, she was wearing a little black dress, her hair was down around her shoulders and she had some little heels on. She looked amazing.
We were just playing our last song and Esme and her friends were up and dancing; they all looked like they were having lots of fun, it was nice to see people enjoying our music.
“Thanks, guys, you have been awesome!” I yelled to the crowd, and was rewarded with cheering and whooping. I laughed to myself, jumped off the stage and made my way to the bar. This was normally my favourite part of the evening, but Es was not working tonight. I would catch up with her later though, if I could.
I enjoyed our little chats after our gigs but lately it seemed as though Cindy had some sort of Esme radar, every time I tried to have a conversation with her, Cindy appeared from nowhere.
“Babe, we got a table over here.” Cindy told me as she came over and pointed to where the rest of the band were sitting.
I grabbed my drink, asked if she wanted one but she said Frank had already got her one. We then walked over to the table to chill out for the rest of the evening.
“Good gig, guys.” Rick said as he raised his glass in the air for a toast; “Here’s to Flix.”
I raised my glass and took a sip of my drink. I relaxed and slumped back in my seat and put my arm around Cindy’s shoulders, she was talking to Frank, laughing and joking with him.
“Come here, babe.” I said to Cindy, pulling her towards me. She leant over to me, gave me a quick kiss, then went back to talking to Frank again. I was getting annoyed; it was like I wasn’t even there.
“Are you not going to talk to me at all, Cind?” I asked her a little sternly.
“What are you talking about? I’m talking to you all.” She said waving her hand in the air, dismissing it.
“I’m going to the bar.” I walked away and made my way over to the bar, where Esme and her friends were.
“Hi, girls, having fun?”
“Hi, Jax. Yes thanks, we are.” Esme answered, smiling brightly at me.
“Where’s the hot one?” Marcy asked me. I laughed at her question and knew she was talking about Rick; I’d noticed her paying attention to him.
“He’s sat down having a drink.” I said, nodding my head in Rick’s direction. I leant in close to Esme and whispered in her ear;
“I haven’t forgotten about our little song writing plans.” I winked at her, she smiled and I walked back over to Cindy and the guys.
Esmeralda
“What was that?” Marcy asked.
“What?” I replied innocently, as if I didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Him, whispering to you!” Danni said.
“He likes you.” Kate added.
“We’re friends, if he didn’t like me, we wouldn’t be.” I told them all, brushing it off.
“Whatever you say... Oh, Rick is coming this way.” Marcy said, sounding excited. As he approached I watched her re-applying her lip gloss and fluffing her hair.
“Hi, Es, you having fun? Good to see you enjoying yourself rather than working.” He said to me.
“Yeah, thanks, Rick. Have you met Danni, Kate and Marcy?” I asked.
“No.” He said, turning towards the girls; “Hi, nice to meet you all. Anyone want a drink?” I noticed he seemed to be looking at Marcy more than the other girls.
“No, thanks Rick, we’re off in a minute.”
He nodded at me and then walked away. As he left I noticed Marcy watching him leave.
“Marce!” I exclaimed.
“What?” she asked, a bit distracted.
“You like him!”
“What? Oh... No. I appreciate a hot guy.” She said as she shrugged her shoulders. “Right, girls, how about we grab a takeaway and head back to Esme’s?”
Chapter 14
Jackson
Cindy was off out on a girl’s night. She had spent the last two hours getting ready and I was waiting for her to leave, it felt like time was standing still. She never took this much care with her appearance when I took her out. I had decided that once she had left I was going to go and see if Esme was home, I wanted to have a look at the song she was writing and see if I could help her put some music to it.
“Babe, how do I look?” I heard Cindy ask, appearing in the doorway wearing what could only be described as lingerie.
I looked up from the music sheet I had in my hand and said; “Wow, baby, you’re looking hot. Where are you girls going?”
She shrugged her shoulders and said; “Just to a few clubs, don’t wait up! Bye, babe.” She walked over to me, bent down, as I was sitting on the sofa, gave me a kiss, turned around and walked out of the room.
As soon as I heard the door close, I grabbed my guitar, sheet music and a bottle of wine. Esme was shy and quiet and I wanted her to have some confidence and I wanted to hear her music and I hoped the wine would make her relax and bring her out of her shell.
I left the hotel room and made my way to Esme’s.
Esmeralda
A few days after my night out with the girls, and I was still thinking about my last conversation with Jax.
I had just got out of the shower when I heard someone knocking on the door. I groaned as I knew it was Marcy as we were having a DVD night; she normally just walked in. I threw a towel around myself and ran to answer it. I flung the door open and was about to shout at Marcy, when I froze in shock; it was Jackson. I held on tighter to my towel, pulling it up slightly.
“Hi, what are you doing here?”
“Sorry, are you getting ready to go out?” He asked, gesturing towards my towel.
“Oh, no. Marcy is coming over, come in, come in. Help yourself to anything, I will just go and put some clothes on.”
I ran back to my bedroom and threw on some jeans and a top; I scraped my hair up into a bun on top of my head and headed back out into the living area.
“Hey, sorry, can I get you anything?” I asked Jax. He had his back to me in the kitchen and as he turned around he was pulling a cork out of a bottle of wine. He held it up as if offering me a glass and I just nodded and pointed to the cupboard where the glasses were.
“Marcy is coming over for a DVD night but you’re welcome to join us.” I told him.
“Oh, that’s sweet of you, but I don’t want to intrude. I will just have a quick drink with you and get out of your hair.” He handed me my glass of wine. “Your phone was beeping as you were getting changed.”
“Oh, let me check it... It’s Marcy, she has cancelled on me.” I laughed to myself.
“What’s so funny?”
“She probably had a better offer.” I told him, I was feeling a bit awkward as I still didn’t know what he was doing here. “What are you doing here?” I asked trying to sound polite.
“I had a free evening and I was hoping that maybe you did too. I thought we could work on that song that you showed me.”
“Really?” I asked surprised.
He nodded his head and said; “Yep, even bought my guitar.” He was gesturing to where his guitar was.
“Ok, great. Shall we go into the front room?” I asked.
He held out his hand as if to say carry on. He followed me in and we sat down. I pulled out my notebook that I wrote my songs in and handed it to him opened on the song that I was working on at The Archer. He began playing some music on his guitar as he was writing things down.
“I love this bit... ‘When you touch my hand, I feel you in my heart, when you touch my hand; I can’t bear to be apart.’ I think we can put it with this bit you got here... ’Holding you in my dreams, I wish it was reality, kissing you in my dreams, I need you to be with me’.”
“Really? You thin
k?” I asked him, surprised.
“Yep, sing it with me?” He said as he started singing.
I sat there, picked up my glass of wine and shook my head. I could write songs, but there was no way I could sing them. I tried to distract him. I stood up and asked him; “Are you hungry? I’m going to make some food. You want some pasta?” I looked over to him and he was smirking at me, “What?”
“You’re avoiding... But yeah, pasta sounds good. I’ll help you.” He stood up and walked into the kitchen. I followed him and asked; “You can cook?”
“Yep.” Was all he said.
We began cooking; I loved the way he took charge. He then gave me some chopping up to do and we moved around each other in the kitchen with ease. It was almost as if we had been like this for years.
***
After we had finished cooking and eating, we were sat on the sofa and for the next couple of hours we were putting the final touches to the song we had put together. Somehow we had ended up writing a duet.
“How about we end it with... ‘When you hold me close, I know this is love’?” He asked me whilst singing and strumming on his guitar.
“Yes, I love it.” I said to him, the wine was having a bit of effect now and I was feeling a little braver.
“Es, lets sing it together... It’s just us here.” He asked sounding hopeful. I nodded my head and he started playing the intro to the song.
It was my verse first;
I wish I could tell you how I feel,
I wish I could tell you my feelings are real.
Jax sang his verse;
I want to be with you,
For you to be mine
I want to be with you
All of the time.
We then sang the chorus together;
Holding you in my dreams,
I wish it was reality,
Kissing you in my dreams,
I need you to be with me.
My verse again;
When your eyes meet mine,
I feel so sure,
When your eyes meet mine,
You make me feel so pure.
Jax;
When you touch my hand,
I feel you in my heart,
When you touch my hand,
I can’t bear to be apart.
We both sang the chorus;
Holding you in my dreams,
I wish it was reality,
Kissing you in my dreams,
I need you to be with me.
Finally we both sang the last verse together;
When you hold me close,
We fit like a glove,
When you hold me close,
I know this is love.
We finished the song and it really was good, I was excited that we had written it together and that I sung it with him. I launched myself at him and hugged him; he put his arms around me, too. As I pulled back, our faces were only inches apart. I swallowed and looked into his eyes, my gaze then dropped to his mouth.
His lips were parted slightly and he started to close the gap between us, reality hit us both when Jackson’s phone started ringing. We leapt apart and as he answered his phone, I got up from the sofa and made my way to the kitchen to start the dishes.
“Hey, sorry, that was Rick, I’ve gotta get back.” He said as he came into the kitchen.
“Oh, ok. Hope everything is ok?” I tried not to sound too disappointed; I avoided making eye contact because I couldn’t bear it if he didn’t feel the same way.
“Yeah, Cindy was on a girl’s night and she’s really drunk. I’ve gotta go get her.”
“No problem, thanks for coming over, I had a great night.” I said as I led him to the front door.
“I had fun too, see you soon?” Jackson asked, as he leant forward to hug me his lips brushed against my cheek.
“Yep, definitely. Bye.” I hugged him back but still couldn’t bring myself to look up into his eyes.
I waved as he ran down the steps and down the street.
Jackson
What bad timing was it that my phone rang at that exact moment! Or was it a blessing in disguise? I couldn't believe that I had almost kissed Esme. I felt bad because of Cindy, I wasn’t a cheater, I'd never been a cheater. I was also annoyed that Cindy had got herself so drunk, again, that I had to go get her. I left Esme without mentioning the almost kiss; I didn't want her thinking that I was some sort of player, I didn't want her thinking badly of me. I really hoped that I hadn’t ruined our friendship and that we would still be able to hang out in the future.
I slowed to a stop as the traffic lights turned red at the end of Esme’s road, all I wanted to do was turn around and go back and finish what I’d started. I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel in frustration, poor Esme, what must she have been thinking? I couldn’t believe I’d had to run out on her without an explanation or apology.
Esmeralda
I’d climbed into bed without realising it, it was as if I was on automatic pilot, I was in a dream-like state.
All I had on my mind was Jackson… We’d had a moment… We’d almost kissed… And then his phone went off. I didn’t know if I was relieved or upset. I mean, he has a girlfriend and I didn’t want to be someone he cheated on her with, but I didn’t think Jackson was that type of guy, at least I’d hoped he wasn’t.
Had I encouraged him to kiss me? Was it because we were drinking wine? Was that why he’d wanted to kiss me? I’d hoped it wasn’t just because of the wine. There was definitely something there and I was sure he’d felt it too.
I loved the fact that he gave me a hug goodbye and a kiss on the cheek, I almost felt giddy from that and I was constantly replaying it in my head.
Cindy sounded like she was hard work, very high maintenance. Jackson had to put up with a lot and for her to keep betraying him made me feel a little uneasy. I guessed I was a little protective of him too.
Chapter 15
Esmeralda
The following Saturday, it was Rick’s birthday party. I hadn’t seen Jackson since Monday when he came round to my place; I was hoping it wouldn’t be awkward when I bumped into him. The party was at Rick’s flat and I was looking forward to chilling out with the girls, letting my hair down and having some fun. I’d been a bit more fun and carefree since starting work at The Archer. I suppose I needed to come out of my shell a little to hold down a job in a lively bar. I was taking Marcy and Danni with me to the party as Rick said I could invite who I liked. It was a shame that Kate was working. The girls came over to my place to get ready and we were already running forty minutes late, thanks to Marcy having one wardrobe crisis after another! She insisted on nothing less than perfection, she was convinced that she was going to get lucky.
We finally arrived an hour later than planned. We let ourselves in as Rick said he wouldn’t hear the door. We headed straight to the kitchen to unload our bags of drink and Rick’s birthday gift and card.
We made our way across the kitchen to Rick who was standing talking to a group of guys. I held out his present to him and he said to me;
“Es, what’s this? I said no presents.”
“Oh, it’s only something small... Having fun?” I asked him.
“Yeah, it’s good, Esme, Marcy, Danni, this is Joe, Mark, Ethan and Daniel. We all went to school together.” He told us, introducing us to some of the guys.
“Hi, sorry I probably won’t remember your names; I’m not good with stuff like that.” I said to them, giggling.
“Hey, no worries, lets grab you ladies a drink, what will it be?” Mark asked, waving his hand over all the bottles of alcohol.
“Surprise us.” Danni said as she moved closer to him.
Danni seemed to take a bit of a fancy to Mark, they moved away to get us some drinks and we stayed and talked to Rick and his friends.
We were having fun, it was starting to get really busy and Marcy and I had decided we were going to go for a walk around and see if we knew anyone. We walked past Jackson and Cin
dy, they were having a dance in the front room with a few other people around, I caught his eye and smiled as we walked past. He didn’t respond but I could feel him watching me, I was glad he was busy with Cindy because it gave me time to have a few drinks before I had to face him properly.
“Es, look who it is...” Marcy said, pointing to a guy across the room. I was a bit confused as I didn’t have a clue who it was until he turned around. It was Drew, we all used to go to the same school together and I hadn’t seen him for a few years.
“DREW!” We both called at the same time. He looked at us, his smile grew and we ran towards him and he caught us both in a big hug.
“Hey, girls, what you doing here? Haven’t seen you in years.” He said, surprised to see us.
“We’re friends with Rick; his band plays at the bar I work in.” I explained to him. As I said this, his eyebrows rose and he said to Marcy, pointing at me; “SHE works in a bar?”
“Hey, I’m stood right here!” I said, nudging him with my shoulder. We were stood talking to Drew for a little while, catching up when Jackson joined us. I introduced the guys to each other and Jackson whispered in my ear; “Is this guy bothering you? Want me to get rid of him?”
“No! We have been friends for years.” I whispered back to him, surprised that he had suggested it.
He raised his hands in front of himself palms facing me, and started backing away.
Jackson
Rick’s party was in full swing. Cindy and I were enjoying having a few drinks and a couple of dances; I was making the most of enjoying her company before she got too drunk, lately she didn’t know when to stop. Esme was here with a couple of her friends, they were mingling around quite a bit. I tried to keep an eye on her as I didn’t want anyone hurting her; I was surprised it bothered me so much and why I kept thinking like that. She wasn’t mine to protect, but she seemed so sweet and innocent and I didn’t want guys bothering her.
Rocking Esme (The Rocking Series Book 1) Page 6
