Life After The Villa

23. Back To Normal

"You know Instagram's going crazy, right?" Asher asks, sitting down next to me with her phone in her hand. "Here, take a look." She orders me, taking Luca out of my arms so that she can hold her godson, then hands me her phone.

I look at the photo she posted on her Instagram account yesterday evening; it's a photo of me and Asher showing off our engagement rings whilst I'm holding little Luca. And the caption says "two engagements and a baby...who said no one finds love in the villa?"

There are so many comments congratulating me, Asher, James, and Taylor, but there are also so many questions about why we only have one son. And James and I knew there'd be so many questions about this, which is why we made the decision to tell everyone in a post this afternoon. And the thought of everyone knowing what happened makes me really nervous, but at the same time it's a good thing. That way it's all out in the open and hopefully people will stop asking questions, because the more they ask about what happened, the more upset James and I get. 

"Honestly Ash," I start, putting the phone down so that I can look at her, "I'm so happy for you. This is what you've wanted ever since you've met him."

"Well I guess I have you to thank." She tells me, which really takes me by surprise. She readjusts Luca in her arms before explaining. "Do you remember when we were in the villa, I'd just coupled up with James so that Skye wouldn't get the chance to steal him away from you?"

"Yeah, I remember." I tell her with a soft smile. "Everyone got angry at you because they thought you were trying to screw me over again, but in reality you were being a good friend. It was the first time I saw you differently, and knew that we'd be good friends from there on out."

"What you're forgetting is that we were up on the balcony and you were talking to me, calming me down, trying your very best to make me stop crying." She tells me, and I remember it, it was the first time I saw Asher cry, and I realised for the first time that just because she puts on a front, it doesn't mean that she's not hurting on the inside. "And you made me tell you about my ex, the one who left me broken. Then you made me realised that not all men were hellbent on breaking me, you made me realise that I could find true love, if I was open to the possibility of it." She takes a deep breath and smiles a wide smile before continuing. "If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have opened myself up to him and we wouldn't be where we are now. And I can't thank you enough for that."

I smile back at her with an equally as big grin, "trust me, the pleasure is all mine."

"Hello, hello, hello." We both hear as the front door flies open. I instantly know that it's James, but I'm really confused, I thought him and Taylor were going out to lunch for a bit. They only left half an hour ago, so what are they doing back already?

"What are doing back so early?" Asher asks as she sees Taylor walk into the room.

"We have a surprise for you." Taylor grins, then pulls a bouquet of white roses from behind his back. "I know you think red ones are cliché, I hope white ones are fine."

"They're perfect." She smiles, then hands Luca back to me so that she can hug her fiancé.

"Here, let me take him." James says, taking Luca straight out of my hands. "Because my gift to you is this." He hands me an envelope, holding Luca easily in just one arm. I take it off of him as he starts to explain what it is, "It's a voucher. It's only for Nando's, so it's nothing special but I thought you and Asher could go out for lunch and get some time to yourself whilst Taylor and I take care of the baby."

"James, I can't leave him." I start, not wanting to be apart from my precious little boy. "What if something happens to him?"

"Then Taylor and I will both be here to take care of it. You deserve some girl time, Vee, without having to stress out over the baby. Everything will be alright, I promise." He looks me in the eye, reassuring me that he's perfectly capable of taking care of his son, and I know he is, he's the best dad in the world, he's already proved it to me.

"Okay." I finally say, giving in. "But we're coming straight home afterwards. Luca needs feeding soon so I won't be able to stay out for long."

"I understand." James laughs, "now go and have fun. Both of you."

I turn to Asher and we both get ready to go, thankful that we have the greatest boyfriends on the planet. And as soon as we leave, we start talking about them. "Who'd have thought this time two years ago that we'd be here?" Asher starts, getting into the car. "We're both engaged, you've given birth to a son, I've been on I'm a celebrity, you're the face of the biggest clothing line in Britain at the moment, and we're both desperately in love."

"Quite a life, isn't it?" I giggle as she starts the engine, driving out of the driveway. "Almost sounds too good to be true."

"Don't say that." Asher commands me, "when you say stuff like that, bad things happen."

"I think I've maxed out on bad things happening to me to be honest." I sigh, thinking about everything that's happened in my life, "but I don't want to take any chances."

"Anyway, let's talk about something else." Asher beams, then a massive smile crosses her face like a thought just popped into her head. "Like our weddings."

"I should have known we'd be talking about this some time soon." I remark with a small chuckle, referencing Asher's complete predictability. 

"I would say it would be cool to have a joint wedding, but I want my wedding to be my day." She jokes, "I love you but I'm not having you stealing my thunder."

"No chance of that with my mum body." I tell her, "I still have all my pregnancy weight."

"And you still look gorgeous, which is exactly why I don't want you stealing my thunder." We both laugh, and I'm just loving everything being normal again. Right now I'm not Violetta Rossi, the girl from Love Island, I'm just plain Vee, an ordinary girl who's chatting to her best friend about her wedding.

"Hey Ash, can I ask you something?" I start, becoming serious all of a sudden.

"Sure."

"Will you be maid of honour?" I ask, not being able to hold back my smile.

And she instantly smiles hearing this, and replies quick as a flash without even having to think, "only if you'll be mine."