Rocking Esme (The Rocking Series Book 1) (6 page)

Esmeralda

As I walked into the living room, I heard my front door opening; I was surprised to see Marcy standing there.

“Hey, you ok? What you doing here?” I asked her, a bit confused as I wasn’t expecting her.

“We are going out.” Is all she said, her hands on her hips in a defiant pose.

“What? Why?”

“Why not?” She said as she shrugged her shoulders, she then followed with; “Just a few drinks at The Archer, come on. You are always working, we want a night out with you.”

“Yeah, ok. Let me get dressed.” I reluctantly gave in. I walked back to my bedroom to find something to wear. She followed me and was looking over my shoulder into my wardrobe.

“Wear this.” She said, holding up my little black dress.

“Really?” I replied questioningly and then took the dress from her and went into the bathroom as I knew there was no point in arguing with her.

“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?”

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 think?” 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.