Good Days Bad Days

Highs And Lows

A few days after the Olympics Jayne and a Ricky took a taxi to Old Bond Street in London. The street was lined with expensive designer shops which Jayne could never dream of buying from. When they stopped Ricky paid the driver and got out, holding a hand out to Jayne.

"Come on gorgeous." he smiled.

He lead her into Tiffany's where she felt a little dazzled by all the diamonds. They wandered around for a bit looking at all the rings.

"This is harder than I thought." she sighed. "Too many diamonds and not enough time to try them all on."

Ricky did a little snort of laughter. "Such a hard life." he replied sarcastically.

"I like that one." she said, pointing to one of the many rings. "That one too. And maybe that one. But they're all really expensive."

"Price doesn't matter. You can have whatever you want." he told her earnestly as he looked into her eyes.

"You don't have to buy me expensive things." she replied.

"Well I want to so shut up and choose something nice." he laughed softly.

After half an hour Jayne had decided on a classic plain band with a single but fairly large diamond.

"There's only one thing left to do." Ricky grinned when a member of staff went to get the style of ring in Jayne's size.

"Pay for it?" she joked and hugged him.

"You're funny." he smiled and kissed her. "I love you."

"I should hope so!" she giggled. "Don't propose here though. That's kinda cliche."

"Somewhere more romantic then." he nodded.

Once they paid for the ring they walked through the streets looking in a few shop windows. All the time Jayne had the bag with her new ring clutched tightly in her hand. Ricky would be the only one she would let take it without a fight.

When they were sat in a posh tea rooms having afternoon tea Ricky leant over and snatched the bag from chair next to her. She choked on her tea with surprise.

"Here?" she spluttered.

"Maybe." he shrugged.

She ducked into the nearby toilets until her coughing fit had subsided. When she came back there was a little turquoise blue box next to her tea cup.

"For me?" she asked as she sat down pretending not to know what was in the box.

"Yes!" he laughed.

"I wonder what it could be!" she played along as she pulled the white ribbon off the box then lifted the lid off. "It's beautiful!"

"So it's a yes?" he asked.

"Of course it is stoopid!" she pulled a face. "How did you know my size?"

"I cut your finger off, took it with me and then magically stuck it back on without you noticing." he replied.

"You're so charming!" she sighed jokingly.

"At least let me put it on your finger." he said and swatted her hands away as she went to take the ring out of the box. "Jayne, will you marry me?" he asked, grinning madly.

"Absolutely!" she grinned.

He slid the ring onto her finger and kissed her hand gently.

"I love you." he grinned.

"I love you too." she beamed and kissed him softly on the lips.

Within a few weeks of proposing to each other they had set a date for their wedding. When they both had weekends off they would plan everything they could.

When autumn came Jayne noticed a change in Ricky's enthusiasm for their ideas. At first she thought he might just be tired and didn't mention it. After a while she started to wonder if he was having second thoughts. He seemed to be talking less and drinking more when he got home. One day when he slammed the front door particularly loudly she knew they needed to talk about it.

"Are you having second thoughts?" she asked outright.

He stopped rummaging in the fridge and gave her a dark look. "What?"

"Are you having second thoughts about getting married?" she asked.

"No." he sighed.

"What is it then? Is it something I've done?" she asked. "If I've done something wrong then I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"For god sake Jayne!" he snapped and slammed a bottle of beer on the kitchen work top. "Not everything's about you!"

"But..." she tried to justify but was cut off.

"Leave me alone!" he snapped and stormed off.

She took a few deep breaths to stop herself getting angry the followed him.

"Stop acting like a teenager Rick." she told him sharply.

"I'm not the one acting like a teenager!" he growled.

"Well I'm not." she said, taken aback by this accusation.

"Nick is if you must know." he spat.

She watched him staring broodily at his drink for a moment then sat down next to him and soothingly rubbed his back.

"What's he done now?" she asked.

The drummer in the band had been playing up lately. He'd been behaving strangely for months and the rest of the band had had to work really hard to get him to cooperate.

"He's left." Ricky sighed.

"What?" she gasped.

"Just said he wants to do his own thing." he shrugged. "Somehow I didn't see that one coming."

"I'm sorry darling." she said soothingly and kissed his cheek. "What's going to happen with the band now?"

"No idea." he replied.

He hardly spoke for days afterwards. He'd still be awake, staring at the ceiling at night when Jayne went to sleep. Most mornings she woke up with his arms around her as he slept but this was the most affection he showed to her. He would spend the days either in bed or sitting on the sofa looking blankly at things while he was lost in thought. He only ate or drank when she put something in front of him.

After a week of this almost catatonic state Jayne had had enough. She came home from work to find that as usual he hadn't moved from the spot she left him in.

"Rick we need to do something." she said softly.

He didn't show any signs of hearing her.

"Oi, Wilson!" she snapped and waved a hand in front of him. He turned and glared at her. "Good, you're listening. Pack some stuff and your passport. We're going away for a few days."

"Why?" he asked.

"You need a break so we're going to Ireland tomorrow." she told him.

"Ireland?" he asked.

"Yeah. Everyone's friendly there. It'll be fun." she explained. "It helps that it's near by and cheaper than Disney."