As The World Turns

Chapter 57

''No Marshall it's too early,'' Jodie whinned as the alarm woke her up, along with Marshall rolling around to get up and out of the bed.

''So you don't wanna come with me to Coachella then?'' He mumbled in response as he stretched while sitting on the opposite side of the bed to Jodie.

''Yeah, but I didn't know we had to be up so early,'' Jodie poked her head out from underneath the duvet to look over at him.

''I know it sucks, but you're gonna have the best week of your life,'' Marshall responded, leaving the room and into the bathroom.

Leaving Jodie alone wasn't the best idea, as she just stayed wrapped up in the duvet and fell back to sleep again. So after his shower, he really did think about just leaving her until five minutes before they needed to leave, but he knew she wouldn't appreciate it so instead he tried a more subtle way of making her wake up. Getting back on the bed he rolled over onto his side and gently moved the duvet away from Jodie's face; she tended to throw it over herself and bury her face in it, which he found odd because that in his opinion was what a pillow was for.

After moving the duvet away from her face, his next task was to figure out a way to get her up without annoying her. Although considering the alarm going off caused her to moan at him he wasn't sure what method wouldn't annoy her. The first thing he tried was just running his thumb along her cheek to try and soothe her out of her sleep, it worked with the girls when they were younger, but Jodie didn't even seem to budge.

Sighing, Marshall realised that it wasn't going to be easy and so he decided on a method that he knew would definitely wake her up. He leant down so his lips could come into contact with the exposed part of her neck and peppered a few kissed down it. Sure enough, as he had thought, Jodie shifted a little, mostly to move away, but since she had nowhere to go, Marshall, continued assault her neck until finally, she began to sit up, shoving him out the way in the process.

''Fine, I'm up, Jesus,'' Jodie grumbled, she now sat up and was rubbing her eyes.

''Hmm, morning to you too,'' Marshall had a goofy smirk on his face, which completely didn't match the sour look that Jodie was sporting.

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''Even after taking a shower, breakfast and coffee, Jodie was still functioning on low energy. Marshall told her she could sleep on the plane and she grabbed a blanket to take with her because she didn't have it in her to try and explain why she wouldn't be able to sleep; he'd have to find out on the plane.

Bags packed and placed in the car, all that was left to do was meet everyone at the airport; Hailie, Alaina, Whitney and Taylor had all called or texted to say that they were on their way. In truth Jodie was slightly anxious about the whole trip, she'd never spent time with any of the girls and they'd not met Taylor either, so she wasn't sure how things would go. Marshall had tried to reassure her that everything would be fine, but Jodie always doubted everything would be ok, she was a glass half empty kind of person and it really did show if these type of situations and she knew it.

''Dad why and how are you able to function this early in the morning,'' Hailie yawned as Marshall went and hugged each one of his girls.

''Maybe it's because I made sure to get a good nights sleep,'' Jodie snorted which caused them to all giggle, ''oh this is Jodie by the way for those who hadn't met her yet,'' he rose his eyebrows in the direction of his eldest and youngest as if to say 'gonna introduce yourselves.'

''I'm Whinty, dad said you had a cat, I love cats, well lots of animals actually,'' Whitney waved at Jodie, who smiled shyly in response.

''You wanna see pictures of him?'' Jodie even stunned herself with what she had just suggested. Marshall, on the other hand, was praising her for being so into talking to them already.

''Yes please,'' Jodie smiled at Whitney, pulling out her phone to show not only pictures of Blink, but a couple of videos too. Afterwards, Alaina introduced herself as she didn't want to be rude while Jodie was talking to Whitney.

''Alaina, it's nice to finally meet you in person, uncle wouldn't stop going on about how great you were,'' she offered a hug, which Jodie was hesitant to take at first, but returned it so she wouldn't seem rude. Then that just left Hailie, but since they'd already met, the conversation between the two started a different way.

''Smashed any more plates of stuff yet,'' Hailie jokingly commented, causing her sisters to look at her as if she'd gone a little crazy, but Jodie just laughed it off.

''fortunately no, but you never know there's plenty of stuff in the hotel room for her the break,'' Marshall chipped in, which caused Jodie to glare over at him.

''I'm not going to break anything,'' she protested, tapping his leg lightly with one of her crutches.

''Ow.''

''Oh there was no way that hurt Mathers you wimp,'' Everyone turned to see Taylor walking towards them, sunglasses perched on top of her head and a suitcase trundling behind her.

''And ya'll thought I had too much energy in the morning,'' he pointed at Hailie who stood along with her relatives stunned at how energetic and not to mention chatty, Taylor appeared to be.

''Sorry hi, I'm Taylor, Jodie's friend and housemate although that second thing seems rather redundant cause I have a feeling she ain't coming back,'' she sent a kind smile in the direction of each one of Marshalls girls who smiled back.

''Wait a minute I'm only living with Marshall till I don't need to depend on him to walk,'' Jodie protested.

''Hmm, keep telling yourself that,'' Taylor scoffed, turning to wink at a giggling Hailie.

''Oh I like her,'' Haillie whispered to her sisters who all nodded. Marshall sighed, trying to work our whose idea was it to have five women come with him, oh wait it was his.

Although the comment about Jodie only saying she was staying until she could do things without him stung a little because he'd hoped she'd stay or just move in afterwards.