Me and Mr. Write (15 page)

“
And you should have seen it, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much but then, that’s Rosie, always the class clown!”

“Jenna, release him from your claws you minx” I join the duo in the corner and
Jenna lights up when she sees me standing next to her,

“Rosie!
He is a keeper, well done darling! Had to kiss a few frogs though hey?” Jenna bumps her hip into mine and I reach for Jackson’s hand,

“Hmm, listen I have to introduce
Jackson to a few people hun so we’ll see you in a bit? Pip’s inside” Jackson takes my hand and we escape inside the house.

“Sorry Babe, I didn’t realise she’d found you” I laugh as I lead
Jackson through the guests and toward the hallway,

“My god that girl can talk, are you really friends?” Jackson sounds genuinely confused that Pip and I would be friends with a girl like Jenna, I laugh again,

“Yeah, she’s lovely really, she’s just like a dog on heat when it comes to a pretty face” I pull him close and run my fingers up into his hair “And you’re one heck of a pretty face” I pull his head down until his lips meet mine.  Jackson’s left hand runs down my back and squeezes my backside, I could easily drag him upstairs now but we’re pulled back into the real world by my brother,

“Put her down, you’ll put me off my food” he playfully punches Jackson on the shoulder as he walks past us toward the kitchen and I call after him,

“Nothing could put you off your food Rafael!” I smile up at Jackson through my eyelashes and we smile as we head back into the party.

“Goodnight, thanks for coming”

I say goodbye to the last of the guests and head back into the living room, Dad has already got the
champagne out and is filling flutes on the dining table,

“Com
e on, come one. Get a glass, all of you” Dad instructs us all to take a glass before he raises his,

“Right, I just want to say a few words”
there’s a playful groan from Rafe, Mam and I and Dad rolls his eyes at us before continuing, “ Now listen, Rosetta my beautiful girl, you’re getting so old”

“Oh
… thanks Dad!” I laugh

“No, No, listen! I just mean that I am so proud
of you, of both of my children. Here we are on your birthday with you so happy and in love, and we’re just a few days from your brother’s wedding and…”

Dad starts to well up as he
speaks and he shakes his head to dismiss the tears, Mam starts to cry at the sight of her husband so emotional and joins him at his side. Dad continues,

“You
see, when a man becomes a dad his whole life changes. I was blessed with two beautiful and brilliant children and now I look at you both, these men that you have chosen to share your lives with, and I couldn’t be happier. I feel like I did it right” he puts an arm around Mam’s shoulder and kisses her on the cheek, “We did it right” Mam becomes inconsolable and I feel a lump rise in my throat. Dad raises his glass and we all follow suit,

“To you both beco
ming somebody else’s problem!” Dad sips his glass as we erupt in laughter.

I am tired from the long day and head up to bed, Jackson tells me that he is going to finish his drink and then follow me up but he joins me within ten minutes.

“You’re up sooner than I expected!” I am surprised and put my kindle back down on the bedside table,

“I didn’t have much left babe, plus I wanted to give you your presents” Jackson grins like the Cheshire Cat, I hadn’t even thought about presents,

“Ooh go on then... spoil me!” I l
ay back and proclaim playfully. Jackson sits on the end of the bed and fumbles around in his bag before turning toward me and placing a box between us. It’s wrapped simply in brown paper with a piece of hessian cord wrapped around and tied in a bow on top, the simplicity of it warms my heart as I start to pull at the string.

As I open the box and move
the purple tissue paper aside, I lay my hands on two envelopes. I ask Jackson if I have to open them in any order and he takes one of them from me. I open the other and take out a black and white card, on the front is a picture of a ballerina up on pointe. I open the card and inside there are two tickets, ‘Swan Lake in the Round at the Royal Albert Hall in June’

“Oh My God
Jackson” I leap toward him and wrap my arms around his neck, “Thank you baby, thank you so so much!” I am over the moon and feel seven year old Rosie pirouetting with glee inside me.

Jackson laughs
and pushes me back, telling me to look again inside the box. I lay my hands first of all on what feels like a key ring. When I pull it out I realise I was right, it’s a small print of the Mona Lisa. I am slightly confused but Jackson encourages me to dip back into the box. I dig deep into the tissue paper and find what feels like a toy of some sort, I pull out a model of the Hunchback of Notre Dame and look at Jackson baffled, he laughs and tells me there’s one more thing in the box.

I feel around inside the box
again and when I pull my hand out I open it to reveal a miniature model of the Eiffel Tower and something clicks in my mind. I look at Jackson for confirmation of my suspicion and he hands me back the other envelope. I open it and pull out a printed confirmation,

“Paris! We’re goin
g to Paris?” my voice is choked. I have wanted to go to Paris all my life,

“Yes babe, just me and
you and three long days in the romantic capital of the world, on the most romantic weekend of the year”

I hadn’t even looked at the dates on the
paper in my hand, I stopped when I saw Charles De Gaulle but when I look again I realise, “Valentine’s Day? Oh my God Jackson, Valentine’s Day in Paris!!!” Again I throw my arms around Jackson’s neck and kiss him excitedly all over his face, “Thank you, thank you, thank you” he laughs and responds,

“You like then?”

“Oh my gosh, I love! Thank you Jackson” I feel so lucky, he put so much thought into giving me an amazing birthday.

“This year is going to be amazing for us Rosie, just you wait and see”

I just smile and lay back on the bed pulling him down on top of me, I need to thank him properly.

When we wake the next morning there is a buzz about the house, Rafe and Matthew are getting married in just four days and they are like lovesick teenagers, giggling and play fighting, holding hands more than I have ever seen them do and they are completely inseparable since Matthew got here yesterday.

The four of us are going into Manchester today, the plan is to go shopping and have some lunch but really we’ll probably just float from bar to bar, cocktail to cocktail. In truth, Mam j
ust wanted us out of the house.  Matthew’s Mum and Dad were here at the crack of dawn and Mam and Jane have some serious wedding business to attend to, I think that’s a ‘Bernie-ism’ for looking over baby photos of their boys and drinking wine while their husbands hit the golf course.

The train to Manchester takes less than an hour and as we walk through Piccadilly Station arm in arm, Jackson can’t help but point out that it would be a great city to live and work in. I love Manchester, so I just nod and smile in agreement.

The day is great and to my surprise, and disappointment, there was and lot more shopping than there was margaritas! All three of the men that I came here with enjoy shopping more than me and by the time we sit down on the train to come home my feet are on fire. Jackson has sat down opposite me so I kick off my shoes and put my feet on his lap; he dragged me around on them all day so he can rub them better. I don’t remember much else until Jackson shakes me gently to wake me up and tell me that we’re home.

We were supposed to all be going to the pub this evening but
I’m exhausted.  Rafe can see that I’m not up for it so I’m pleased when he tells Matthew that we’re going to have brother/sister DVD and wine night and our other halves can go to the pub without us.

“What are we watching bro?” I’m so excited to have Rafe to myself. We’ve both put on our pyjamas and ordered a pizza. Rafe took Audrey to the shop earlier on to pick up some wine and nibbles and he picked up a DVD while he was there,

“We have Warrior, and we have Lawless!”

“So…Tom Hardy marathon then?” I say with a smile knowing the weakness that my brother has for the actor,

“RoRo, I’m getting married... I need to get my fill” Rafe grins and goes to put the first of the two DVDs in the player while I get comfy and settle in for the night.

“Hey Ben, thought you were having dinner with the in laws tonight?” I’m surprised to see Ben behind the bar when M
atthew and I walk into the pub.  Pip had told Rosie that they were spending some time with her parents to try and show that they’re serious about each other after their floor show a few days ago.

“I was supposed to be mate but Eduardo got called in to work so Pip’s spending the evening with her mum” Ben blows out a breath that that screams relief and I laugh before ordering two pints and heading to a table with Matthew.

“So, how you feeling then Matty boy?” I sip my pint and wait for Matthew’s response,

“Good, really good. I’m nervous about the speech and stuff but not about getting married.
I’ve been around a bit and so has Rafe but I’ve never known anything like what we have, it’s just so easy with him” Matthew can’t keep the smile from his face as he talks about his fiancé.

The conversation moves on as we talk about rugby and music and all things
Alvez; I’ve grown to really enjoy Matthew’s company. He reminds me a lot of Steve; he’s funny and swears more than anyone that I’ve ever met, even Rafe! He’s really caring and always concerned about the people close to him, but mostly I just like that what you see is what you get with him.

Before long the conversation inevitably turns back to the wedding, the drinks are flowing and our voices have definitely gone up a few decibels, mostly to shout over the morons a couple of tables down that have clearly been drinking all day
, and are doing their very best to insult everyone in the pub. A year ago I’d have probably started something with them by now, but I have to keep a lid on my temper, I’ve got Rosie to think about.

Matthew and I continue our conversation, talking through the wedding details and plans for the future,
we get into quite a deep conversation about his and Rafe’s desire to have children. I hadn’t realised that they wanted to be parents quite so much and Matthew becomes quite enthusiastic as he talks through the various options for gay couples.

“Fucking Fags!”

Matthew and I are stopped in our tracks by the outburst from the corner of the room and both turn to look at the source, “Yeah you two fuck off! We don’t want queers round here!”

One of the morons has stood to try and make himself look bigger as he shouts over to us and I am livid,

“Say it again?” I look him in the eyes as he holds onto the table to steady himself in his inebriated state,

“I
said, get the fuck out benders. You’re not welcome!” before I can react, Matthew has leapt up and is pinning the guy to the wall by his throat and smiling up at him. He looks menacing even to me and then I remember that he’s a trained fighter, he knows full well the damage he can do if he loses control.

“That’s enough! Matthew sit down, you lot get out!”
Ben has joined us to take charge of the situation. Matthew slowly releases the weasel that he’s holding and I can’t help but be impressed by his self-control, I want to kill him and the insults don’t even apply to me. “Matthew, Jackson…Sit down!” Ben turns to us, his eyes wide and his voice determined; he means business. We return to our table and watch the group of low lives leave the pub, both fighting the urge to follow as Ben puts down a fresh pint in front of each of us.

“Trust me, that twat is not worth it. Sup up”

Ben returns to the bar and I look at Matthew. He is a picture of tranquillity and I feel like I have steam coming from my ears,

“How are you so calm?” I ask in a low voice,

“I’m used to it Jackson, people aren’t as accepting as they like to pretend they are. I think maybe Rafe and I are threatening to blokes. We aren’t camp or easily identifiable as gay, so men feel comfortable and then when they find out, they are convinced we’re going to want to jump them and it freaks them out!” Matthew shrugs his shoulders and takes a sip of his beer,

The mood eventually lifts and we move to the bar to chat with Ben while he works.
He tells us that the group of dickheads that had been mouthing off have always been the same. They will never grow up and are best just ignored. I find it hard to just ignore people when they’re insulting those that I care about but I know he’s right, some people are ignorant, some are uneducated, some are both but their words are just words. That mouthy prick doesn’t know me, and I don’t know him, he’s not worth it.

Ben calls last orders and Matthew and I savour the last of our pints before we head home. As we walk away
from the pub the mood is light, we are slightly tipsy and still laughing at the mental images of Ben pumping away at Pip in front of her Dad.