Bad Desire: New Beginnings - Fast Forward

Part 7 - she's still his daughter

Once everything had settled down, Jess and Juliet watched as Jace made his way around the room, willingly introducing himself. It felt strange seeing him in person as they'd only seen photos of him before now. He still hadn't felt like a real person however, now he was here, the fact that Sophie was newly married with someone they didn't know had hit them.

"Hey, how's it going?" Jace suddenly made himself known as he approached the group of them. He seemed confident enough however, it was hard to tell if he was forcing it due to how unexpected this whole situation had been. "I'm Jace, I just wanted to introduce myself."

"Hey man, I'm Jack." Jack was the first of them all to break any uncertainty. Reaching out to shake his hand, it resulted in further handshakes and hugs within the group of them.

"It's good to finally meet you." Jess added, having being keen to find out what this guy was really like.

She had managed to grasp a rough idea whenever she stalked Sophie's social media profiles, however that was about it. 

"Is this your first time in Brighton?"

"First time in England too." Jace laughed while taking a seat down beside them all. "I've never been much of a traveler."

"Did you grow up in New York then?" Jess continued, already taking a good guess by his accent but needing to keep the conversation going. 

"Yeah, I grew up in Brooklyn and then moved over to Manhattan to study." Jace began before another voice, one that wasn't so pleasing to some people here, interrupted them.

"Where he studied hard to become a cop!" Estee emphasised the last word, clearly finding satisfaction in using the American term.

Immediately turning around on her approach, Jace politely got to his feet and gave her a welcoming hug. It was difficult to tell how he felt about her but it was clear to see she approved of him. 

Estee wasn't an easy woman to please, that had been shown by Sophie's many relationships that she had not approved of. Aaron had been one she most definitely had never fully warmed up to however, his reluctance in trying (due to knowing failure) probably hadn't helped.

"I don't mean to interrupt but I just wanted to come over and say how glad I am to see you all here." Estee continued, her french accent holding a volume much louder than necessary. "You finally got to meet this man who has made Sophie incredibly happy."

It was obvious in that moment how awkward Jace felt. He was here trying to make a good first impression on Sophie's friends and hadn't quite needed Estee's input. Nevertheless, he remained polite throughout her brief stay before his body relaxed once they had been left alone once again.

"I'm guessing you've met the parents then." Jack teased causing Jace to smile. "Looks like you've made a pretty good impression and that's not easy."

Jace paused momentarily while trying to figure out how to reply to that. He knew they clearly were not Estee's biggest fans however, he wasn't willing to make his own comments. He barely knew these people so it wasn't really his place to get too personal with them.

Luckily though the moment was saved when three-year old Amiya came running over to Jace, with her arms wide open. 

"Jace!" She yelled with such power in her voice as her body came crashing into his arms.