It was sweltering. Jason had been tossing and turning for most of the night, his skin prickling angrily, and sweat cascading down his forehead as he gasped for breath. It was two weeks till Christmas and California was in the throes of a heat wave. He cursed fluently as he resigned himself to the fact he was getting up again, not that it mattered because in four hours they would be on a plane. It had been just over a year since he and his dad had moved out there and about two months since Seth had finally given in and joined them, when apparently living with their grandma had become unbearable, but he was still not accustomed to the climate. Straining his eyes in the dark he focused on his bedside radio alarm clock.
'4am' 'It is way too early to be this hot.'
That wasn't his only problem. He was reliving the doctor's appointment he'd had that morning and he had spent most of the day imagining his dad's reaction when he told him he was planning to stay in England or more specifically Hollyoaks with Mitzeee as she had agreed to put up him and Seth. And then he had started with that funny dream, not that it was unusual in many respects. There had not been a night since they had left that he hadn't dreamt about Bart McQueen and his old life back in Chester, but this was different, he'd been thinking about Riyle and the old gang from college – Maddie, even if she did grate on his last nerve, Neal and Jono, but due to two recent separate tragedies they were all dead and Seth, in her dream he had come back from somewhere, whereas in reality she could hear him snoring like a steam train in the room next door.
Finally accepting that sleep was going to elude him, Jason clambered out of bed, grabbed his towel and swimming shorts and crept stealthily downstairs, he decided a swim would clear his head and waste time before he had to wake his dad and Seth so they could get to the airport. Their flight was due to leave at 8am, so he had at least two hours before he had to wake them up. As he was gingerly closing the patio doors his phone started ringing. It blared out an all too familiar tune as the caller Id flashed unmistakably.
'Bart McQueen? At this time? And why now?'
Jason had been keeping abreast of the village gossip thanks to snippets of conversations he had heard his dad and Seth having with the McQueen's as they skyped to see Bobby. And it was his understanding that Sinead had recently discovered she was pregnant and Bart was planning to stand by her and the baby, so they were planning to get married. They had been together nearly two years, since Jason had convinced him to go to London and win her back, so he conceded it was his own fault. However, despite his vow to Bart that once he left the village he would never speak to or see him again he had never managed to discard his old sim card, his excuse being that he had needed to keep in touch with Riyle, which was no longer an issue and Mitzeee for her sins, but he had done well (so far). He had only thought about Bart a few hundred times a day and nearly called him on the odd occasion he had been out and got plastered with his new so called mates, but now as he stared at the screen, his heart thundering in his chest, his resolve was weakening.
The ringing stopped. He stared wistfully at the blank screen. He could always call him back; he'd obviously not changed his number. Deciding against this Jason slowly climbed into the cool water, he breathed deeply, a swim would help to clear his head.