I Swear I Love You

Jimmy’s POV

“You know Larry isn’t going to be happy with this,” Jess said as she was playing with my fingers. We had spent at least a couple of hours in the pool but after her parents came home we moved onto a blanket her mom was kind enough to lay out for us on the grass. Her dad even leant me a pair of black shorts and a plain shirt since obviously mine were completely soaked, and wouldn’t dry even if I could just soak up the sun for hours on end.

“To hell with Larry,” I replied.

She propped herself up on her elbows to look at me. “And the others?”

“They don’t matter.”I reached over with my hand and gently brushed against her cheek. “I only see you.”

“I’m the only one here, you don’t need to keep it up now.” She frowned. “Perhaps I shouldn’t ask you to help me pretend for the sake of my parents; I don’t want to see the band split because of me.”

Pretend. That’s what Jess was doing; pretending. I hadn’t realised before when we were in the pool that Holly was behind us, and basically Jess pulled that stunt to prove that we were a happily reunited couple after a small quarrel.

“We won’t,” I reassured, pulling her back to my side. “Stop worrying.”

“I can’t help it,” she sighed, snuggling up closer. It was weird sitting like this together- it was almost exactly like when we were in the park except that this time we were sober. What we felt for each other was clearly of our own desires. Well, mine at least, but even if hers weren’t in the same degree as mine, the fact I could call her mine now for enough. “The band was your life long before I jumped into it.”

“Except family comes before everything, right?”

“Damn right that does.” We both looked behind us to see Jess’ mom and dad behind us along with Holly, sharing our smiles. Her mom passed out some refreshing drinks to us as we sat up to make room for everyone on the blanket. Once everyone was sat down her dad continued. “You know James, I have to admit I was a bit… surprised when I found out you were Jess’ husband-”

Surprised was a nice way to put it. When he first stormed into the back to confront Jess- since I guessed that Holly had already told them our secret- I was actually scared. Her dad looked to be built like a fucking rock; his frame was more intimidating in my mind than Matt’s. Thankfully his wife soon followed and stopped him from unleashing his full anger, acting as the perfect opposite to him in order to take his rage and instead make him calm. Their relationship kind of reminded me of Matt and Val’s; whenever Matt was pissed off at something Val was the only person who could calm him down again.

“-but after I’ve got to know you over these past few hours I’m glad to say that she’s found a good man.” He reached over and patted me on the shoulder. “I trust my daughter to you son. Look after her for me.”

Jess heard that and shot me a light smile. “Don’t worry, I will Mr. Fawn.”

“Enough of that!” He scoffed. “Call me Jacob. Or Jake.”

“But not Jakey-poo,” Jess’ mom, Cheryl, interjected. She smiled lovingly at her husband as he rolled his eyes at the name. “That’s mine.”

“Always will be, my cherié,” he replied, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing the back of it. “But would you not tell company about it?”

“He also likes J-Bear,” she whispered to me, purposely keeping her voice loud enough so that he could still hear. “Or Jakey-kins-”

“Come here you,” he said playfully, pulling her to him and planting a loving kiss on her lips to still them. “It’s not ‘embarrass your husband’ day.”

“That’s because I can do that ever since you said I do,” she replied. “That comes with the marriage territory.” She smiled at Jess. “Feel free to do the same.”

“I will mom,” she laughed.

Looking at her whole family it was clear where Jess got her looks from- she had obviously got her small height and soft hazel waves from her mother but she had her dad’s pale blue eyes and his traits. Her sister, Holly, was built pretty much the same but she was at least a few inches taller, making it pretty hard to view her as the little sister to Jess. It just seemed a bit ironic.

“So are you two staying for dinner tonight?” Cheryl asked, looking at us both expectantly. “It would be a shame to lose you both so quickly.”

Jess instinctively looked to me. “Don’t you have some band stuff to do?”

“A band?” Holly’s eyes drifted to me. “I remember Brian telling me about that. What do you play?”

“Drums.”

“What’s your band called?”

I recoiled from having to say the name in front of her parents, since I guess it was a bit of a funny one without explanation, but I did it anyway. “Avenged Sevenfold.”

“Oh right! That’s it,” she exclaimed with a smile. “I have your new album on my iPod. It’s very good.”

“Hey thanks,” I chuckled. “I can probably get you a backstage pass for tomorrow night’s show- if you haven’t already got a ticket that is.”

That seemed to brighten her up further- if that was even possible. She’s like the embodiment of happiness. “Thank you Jimmy!” She swooped in and pecked me on the cheek, which Jess quickly complained about.

“That’s my husband you’re kissing!” I smiled at that. My husband.

Holly tutted. “It was a family kiss. He is my brother-in-law now.”

“You’re my number one girl Jess,” I murmured, giving her a light shake. “Always will be.”

Her parents ‘awwed’ me after I said that, causing me to blush. “That’s so sweet,” Cheryl mused, before turning to her husband, patting him on his knee. “I remember when you said something like that to me back in high school.”

I couldn’t help my mouth hanging open at that. “You’ve been together since high-school?”

She giggled. “Since 8th grade actually. I just couldn’t get away from him.”

“Wow. That’s a long time.”

“A very long time,” she agreed. “Makes me feel so old.”

“Well you don’t look it, so that’s half the battle, isn’t it?” I offered. “Better to look younger than your years than to look older than you are.”

She beamed at Jess. “You made a good choice Jessica.”

“I could get some drug addict to say the exact same line and you’d be won over,” she replied with a roll of her eyes.

Her mom feigned shock. “I would not!”

“Mmhmm.” Jess clearly wasn’t buying it- and by the looks of things, neither was her dad or sister. Man. Here I thought that was a good line right there. “Anyway what’s for dinner?”

“Dinner?”

“You did invite us to stay mom.”

“Oh I did, didn’t I?” She cried, clapping her hands together. “Well since I can’t remember what I was planning, why don’t we go out for dinner? Celebrate your marriage. There is an adorable place downtown that serves the nicest salads-” Simultaneously Jess’ dad and I pulled faces, causing the three females around us to laugh. “Of course they do steaks for the tough men here.” She then turned to her other daughter. “Why don’t you text that boy to come out with us? He’s up visiting our end today isn’t he? You always used to go on about him.”

Her cheeks burned from embarrassment. “Mom!” Her voice dropped. “Not here alright!”

“Oh come on honey, Jess has James so it’s not fair that you are alone,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’ll even text him for you.” Before Holly had realised her mom had already managed to slip her daughter’s phone from her pocket, text at lightning speed and send it before she could do anything. And who said the older generations couldn’t handle modern-day technology? “All done.”

Her daughter looked horrified. “Mom!”

She smiled sweetly at her. “You’ll thank me later.” She got to her feet and brushed herself down, with the rest of us quickly following suit. “Since it’s an occasion let’s all get dressed up now shall we? I’m sure you’ll fit nicely into one of Jacob’s suits, you’re the same build as he was before he decided to pile on the pounds-”

“It’s muscle, not fat!”

She ignored him and curled her arms around one of mine, leading me into the house. I made sure Jess’ hand was tightly grasped in mine since I didn’t want to be taken anywhere without her. Of course I knew her parents knew well over this past hour, but I was still a little intimidated. Hell, I was probably more scared of her mom than her dad- she had one of those freaky charm things going on that tells you that just screams trouble. It’s always the nice ones that turn to be the blood-sucking vampires.

“Ignore him,” she said, silencing her sulking husband walking behind us. “As for you Jessie, your old prom dress is upstairs; I couldn’t bear to give that away. You looked so beautiful in it.”

Whether she looked nice in it or not, Jess seemed horrified at the idea. “I am not wearing that thing again! I looked like a whore!”

Her mom tutted. “Such language Jessica!”

Jess’ gaze dropped, instantly apologising. I guessed that was probably the reason why I never heard her swear; years of pressured upbringing. “Sorry. I looked like a promiscuous lady.”

“That’s better. And you looked lovely in it darling, so I don’t see why you are so against wearing it. It brought out the most gorgeous colours in your eyes-”

“I’m not wearing it! I’ll just go out how I am!”

Her mom stopped then, blasting a full-on glare upon her daughter. “We are going out to celebrate your wedding. You will be getting dressed into proper clothes.”

See what I meant about trouble in the charming ones?

“Fine, I’ll wear it,” she grumbled. “But you better get me a good wedding present.”

“We’ve already got it actually.”

Jess stopped, pulling on my arm as a result and causing me and her mom to stop as well. “You already got it? But how? You didn’t know I was married until now.”

Her mom smiled. “We’ve had it for a long time.”

“Well what is it?”

She wagged her finger at her daughter. “You’ll get given it at dinner. But for now-” She tugged on my arm and set us off again. “Time to get dressed up.”