9:03pm
The train was nearly at London Euston thankfully, and Jac and Mo had slept for just over an hour, but when they entered the London borough, it had become too busy and noisy to sleep. They had just stopped at the train station before London Euston, when a suited man sat besides Jac with a cup of fresh coffee. Jac was slightly tired so she wasn't fully alert but as soon as she noticed the coffee, she jumped up and as the train started moving, she had to grab onto Jonny to stop her from falling into the other men and women who were standing.
"I got you." He smiled as he wrapped an arm around Jac's waist to stop her from falling back against the unfriendly looking business men and women who certainly weren't impressed by the six suitcases by the doors as well as three rucksacks that had been dumped on top- Jac, Mo and Zosia didn't want to leave their handbags alone unlike the men.
It was another few minutes until the train finally reached London Euston and everyone was knackered despite it only being 9pm. Jac needed the toilet desperately but she didn't want to have to admit that and there wasn't any in the train. She was staring at the floor to avoid Jonny's eyes as their faces weren't far away. When the train stopped, he tightened her grip on her just in case. Zosia however nearly fell back because she had been too sleepy to hold onto a pole. Thankfully, her dad grabbed her and prevented any injuries.
"Earth to Zosia?" He queried.
"What?" She moaned.
"C'mon, we need to get off." He ordered as the doors opened. Quickly, the party of six clambered off of the carriage and then stood at the edge of the platform waiting for further instruction from their leader. "Right, stay close." Guy ordered. "We need to head to platform 19." He stated before he began pulling his suitcase towards the escalators.
"Oh no. No, no, no, no." Jac said sternly as she backed off. Jonny had been pulling her suitcase for her because one of the few things that made her shoe her vulnerable, weaker side was tiredness and exhaustion.
"What's wrong?" Guy huffed, they really needed to get going to catch their train.
"I don't do escalators." Jac stated as she fearfully looked up- she couldn't even see the top that's how high the escalator was. Jonny then remembered that she had a fear of escalators which he had found out when they went to see a movie at the local cinema which was on the third floor of Holby's shopping centre several months ago when they were going out.
"I'll find us a lift, meet you at the top okay?" Jonny suggested.
"Fine, but be quick." Guy ordered before he pulled himself and his suitcase onto a step of the escalator. Mo, Mr T and Zosia did the same whilst Jac and Jonny headed for a map to find a lift.
"How can you be scared of an escalator?" Mo laughed.
"I bet she's seen the Final Destination films." Mr T stated.
"Yeah right. I bet the only things Jac watches is medical videos." Mo stated.
"Do you not think she's a Mamma Mia kind of woman?" Mr T joked.
"Nah, that's you."
"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a bloke liking Mamma Mia." Mr T protested.
"Yeah. Course there's not." Mo said sarcastically.
"You alright?" Guy asked as he looked down at his daughter who was two steps below him.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Zosia retorted.
"It was a polite question, you could at least be polite back." Guy stated. "Especially considering we're sharing a cabin on the train for ten hours, and a bedroom at the cottage for two weeks." He added.
"Who said I was sharing a room with you?" Zosia demanded.
"Well considering it's a three bedroom cottage and the other four are semi-romantically involved, I would've thought it was obvious." Guy stated.
"Jac and Jonny aren't going out." Zosia stated.
"No but would you really rather share a room with Jac than with me?" He laughed.
After what seemed like forever to Zosia, they finally arrived at the top of the escalator where they met Jac and Jonny.
"Didn't get lost then?" Mo joked.
"Nope, I'm an expert with a map." Jonny said smugly.
"Oh, so that's why you asked the steward where the lift was then." Jac said sarcastically before she followed Guy. Mo smirked at Jonny before they too followed him to platform 19.
"Hello, I'm Karen, your host for your journey tonight." Karen smiled as she welcomed the party of six on board. "The train is split up into carriages of who's going where and you're the only passengers heading to Aberdeen tonight so you've got this entire carriage to yourself." She smiled as she walked along the aisle with Guy and the rest of the group following behind. "You're in rooms 31, 32 and 33." She announced as she opened the first door, then the two doors further down the carriage. "And I'll come and talk to you individually soon, so I'll give you time to settle in." She smiled. "Oh and the toilets are just down there." She added.
"Thank you Karen." Guy smiled as she walked away.
"Ugh." Zosia muttered as she entered the room.
"What? Am I not allowed to say thank you?" Guy protested as he closed the door behind them so that Jac could waddle past, down to the toilets. They were in a small room with a bunk bed on the right, along with a small wash basin, hand towel, shaver point and counter side. He slid his suitcase under the bottom bunk. "Do you need anything from here for now?" He asked as he nodded to her suitcase. Zosia shook her head so he slid that under the bed too to make more room. "You do realise that you're on the top bunk don't you?" He smirked.
"Yep. You're too old to even get up there, let alone get down." Zosia smiled sarcastically as she grabbed her handbag and sorted through it.
Jonny had just laid on the bottom bunk to annoy Jac, when she walked in. They all had identical rooms.
"Jonny." Jac sighed.
"Hey, I'm joking, you can have this bed." He smiled as he got up after realising that she wasn't in the mood for a joke- well, actually, she never was. Jonny stood up and Jac had just sat down on the bottom bunk when Karen poked her head around the door.
"Hiya, just to let you know, breakfast will be served around 8am tomorrow, would you like a continental breakfast or a full English?" She enquired.
"Continental, please." Jac replied.
"Yep, me too." Jonny nodded. He wasn't sure if Jac could stomach the smell of greasy food in the morning and he certainly didn't want to test it.
"And would you like tea or coffee?" She asked and Jonny saw Jac's head drop so she was looking at the floor, he was sure she was hoping that he wouldn't get coffee. And of course, he wasn't that cruel.
"Two teas please." Jonny replied.
"Okay well, there's a menu there with complementary snacks and drinks. Just come to the end of the carriage and I'll be happy to help." She smiled.
"Okay, thanks." Jonny smiled as she left.
"You're on the top bunk." Mo stated.
"Why? I'm taller." Mr T stated.
"And what's that got to do with the price of fish?!" Mo laughed.
"Alright fine, we'll flip a coin." Mr T said as he reached into his pocket.
"No we won't. You're on the top bunk, end of." Mo concluded as she plonked herself down on the bottom bunk.
"Fine." Mr T huffed as he pulled his coat off. He then opened the door because there was a knock.
"Hi, Karen." Mr T smiled as he opened the door further.
"Hi, just wanted to know if you'll be wanting a continental breakfast, or a full English?" She queried with her notepad and pen at the ready.
"Full English please." Mo replied.
"Yeah, me too."
"And, tea or coffee?" Karen asked.
"Definitely two coffees." Mo replied.
"But Jac doesn't-" Mr T began.
"Jac's in another room, it doesn't matter." Mo stated.
"Okay then. I'll bring breakfast to you at around 8am. Have a nice evening." She said before leaving.
"Ugh, she's annoying me already." Mo stated.
"What? She's a lovely lady." Mr T laughed.
"Yeah well she's too cheery."
"You're turning into Jac."
"You calling me ginger?" Mo joked.
"Keep it down, I'm going to bed." Zosia stated as she climbed up onto the top bunk and slid under the covers.
"Wow, you're not exactly the party animal you used to be are you?" Guy joked.
"That's because I've been doing unpaid overtime all week to keep up with the workload." Zosia stated. "And I was never a party animal." She protested.
"Yes you were!" Guy laughed.
"Prove it." Zosia ordered.
"Okay, I had to pick you up from a night club once because you got so drunk that you wet yourself whilst wearing a miniskirt. Another time you rang my mobile at 4am to get me to come and open the front door because you'd lost your key-"
"Okay, I get it." Zosia moaned, she turned onto her side, faced the wall and wrapped the pillow around her head.
"And the worst time," Guy began as he stepped onto the bottom step of the ladder and pulled the pillow off of her head, "was when you vomited on your boyfriend, and then dumped him because he smelt of sick." Guy stated before he put the pillow back on Zosia's head. She wrapped it back around her head before she tried to fall asleep which was easier said than done on a train that stopped every quarter of an hour at another station, though once she did nod off, she usually never woke up during the night -unless she'd had too much alcohol but that certainly wasn't the case that night.
"What time you getting up tomorrow?" Mo queried as she questioned when to set an alarm.
"Um, I'm gonna set my alarm for half seven." Mr T replied as he pulled the blind down. "I'd rather be ready early than have a last minute panic." He added.
"I like your thinking." Mo said sheepishly as she also set an alarm for 7:30am.
"Mo, can we clarify something?"
"Like what?"
"Well us... I mean, are we-" Mr T was broken off as Mo planted her lips onto his. She lingered there for a few moments before she pulled away.
"Did that answer your question?" She whispered.
"Just about, yeah." He smiled.
"Goodnight Mr T." She whispered before she climbed into the small bed and tucked herself under the covers.
"N-night Mo." He replied before he switched the bedside lamp on, and the main light off. He climbed up onto the top bunk, got cozy, and then switched of the light.
Jac had just returned from the toilet for the second time since being on the train despite them only being on there for less than half an hour.
"Right, I dunno about you, but I'm gonna get some shut eye." Jonny stated. He wasn't too tired but he knew that Jac wouldn't want to be the first one to throw in the towel. He noticed that she had taken off all of her makeup, which showed the true extent of her exhaustion that had been very cleverly covered up by her makeup skills. He knew that it wouldn't be an instant fix, but he hoped that a good nights sleep without the worry of work in the morning would do her good.
"Yeah, me too." Jac said as she pulled her jumper off, and then pulled on a dark blue hoodie to get more comfortable. The hoodie was the one thing she liked wearing because it was comfortable and baggy so it fitted her growing figure. Jonny kicked his shoes off and as he turned around, Jac had already gotten under the covers, she was just pulling her hairband out, put it on her wrist and then neatened her hair slightly before she laid down. Jonny was setting an alarm on his phone when he watched Jac take one of the two pillows under her head, and put it between her legs. He knew from before that she hated sleeping with just one pillow so he grabbed the neck pillow that he had in his rucksack for travelling.
"Here you go." He said as he tucked it under her neck. He then reached up and grabbed one of his two pillows, and put it between her back and the wall to make her comfortable. "You know I can't sleep with two pillows." He smiled before he began to climb up the short ladder to his bunk.
"I know; you always chucked one of my pillows on the floor when you stayed round mine." Jac retorted.
"And I always picked it up in the morning." He protested in an elevated tone. "You want me to wake you up in the morning?"
"Nope, my bladder's my new alarm clock." Jac stated.
"Well, night night. You want the light off?" He queried as he rested his fingers on the bedside light.
"No I wanna sleep with it on." Jac said sarcastically.
"Just checking. See you in the morning." Jonny said as he got comfortable and then switched the lamp off. Now that she was in the dark, Jac wrapped her arms around her bump and stroked it. It didn't take long before the gentle squirms of her baby in her womb let Jac slip into an easy sleep.
Thanks for reading, please review x