Oli had finished his new album by March and the band were due to go back on tour in June to launch it. He was excited for the world to hear what he'd been working on for so long and to see how much he'd changed, but he'd been home for 18 months and he expressed worry about being away, about making life work with my studies, with Ivy, with his absence. He was worried that it would put stress on me and distract me from my studies, so to keep things running smoothly, we ended up enrolling Ivy in day care. It was just one day a week at first to get her used to it, then when Oli went on tour, she could go for the two days I was on campus. We were a little apprehensive, but Ivy thrived and seemed to enjoy interacting with other babies and we got some beautiful finger paintings to put on our fridge. We hired a nanny for the two days I was studying from home too, to keep Ivy tended to while I studied and it seemed like we'd found a way to keep things running perfectly. Oli was much happier once we had things in place and it was nice for Ivy to start socialising too now that she was almost two.
Because Oli insisted, Bring Me the Horizon's long-awaited return to touring was beginning in America and coincided with my Uni break so I could join them for most of it along with Ivy and Cass too – you know, for moral support because being on the road with a two-year old was a lot harder than being on my own like I was the first time I toured with them! We headed over to the East Coast for the bands big return and seeing Oli on stage again made me so happy and proud. He'd grown so much, but the man on that stage felt like the exact same one I used to lust over years ago and it was so fucking sexy. He was always the hottest man in the world to me, but something about the way he commanded a crowd and owned the stage like a God... my sex drive got out of control. Maybe it was also because it took me back to a time where I was on tour, sleeping with him in dressing rooms and tour buses, but either way, it cranked my libido to an uncontrollable level. I was feeling like my pre-Ivy, Oli-obsessed, three-years-ago self, I swear. Oli was pretty tired from being on stage almost every night since he hadn't done it in so long, but even so, our sex life was definitely in full swing during that tour... there was something about seeing him get all sweaty and angry on a stage that just did it for me, lol. The only disappointment was that we flew just about everywhere so we didn't get to re-live our tour-bus days. Those were always fun.
We celebrated Ivy's second Birthday in Orlando and took her to Disneyland with the whole band in tow. She could only go on the kiddy rides but that suited me and she loved meeting the characters and watching the fireworks. Daddy however loved the rides that threw him around, upside down and shot him into the sky... lol. He was such an adrenaline junkie!
Ivy was getting so big, but she was the most beautiful little thing I had ever seen; her hair now long enough to put into pig-tails, her tiny-toothed smile so sweet and her eyes now exactly the same as Oli's. She was such a Daddy's girl, constantly going to him for cuddles, but I loved seeing my two favourite people in the entire world together so much that I couldn't be jealous. The way she always wanted to kiss him, mimicking Mommy doing the same thing was the cutest thing ever and my Instagram was constantly filled with photos of them being cute, especially when we were all on tour together.
Being on a family adventure together was very exciting, but even more exciting was that Brian was the band's videographer throughout their American tour, so Cassidy got to spend a lot of time with him. They got closer over the two weeks she was following the tour around with me and for the first time ever, Cass committed herself to being a girlfriend. I was ecstatic for her and so excited that she had taken that step with him because I knew how big it was for her, especially since he didn't live in San Francisco, not even in America!
After the US tour wrapped up, Oli spent a week at home before he was headed off to Europe and while 5 weeks was a really long time for him to be away, he flew home for 5 days in the middle of the tour to make it feel a little bit easier. I didn't get to celebrate his birthday with him, but we video called and Cass, Ivy and I had a birthday cake at home in his honour which made him smile.
Oli was in and out of San Francisco for the rest of the year, but everything was fine when he was away. University, nannies and day care all carried on without any hiccups apart from the occasional night where Ivy was upset because she missed him. I did too, but at least we had photos and calls every day. Life was a juggling act, but we had it under control. Ivy had made lots of friends at day care, had weekend playdates and got lots of party invites and I had even started talking with one of my classmate friends about potentially starting our own business; a lifestyle brand focused on creating and using sustainable materials and fabrics.
Bring Me The Horizon's tour wrapped up in early December around the same time as my Uni Christmas break began, so the band, our families and our closest friends all travelled to Mexico, to Acapulco, to the same resort where Oli and I had connected two years ago. It was such a special place for us and right there on that same beach where he first held my hand, Oli and I became husband and wife. Mat and Tom were Oli's groomsmen, while Cass and Tilly were my bridesmaids. We kept things reasonably small, but we still booked out a good portion of the resort for our wedding and it was the most beautiful, magical day of my life. Ivy threw rose petals onto the sand before my dad walked me down the aisle and Oli cried, either at Ivy with her roses, me in my wedding dress or the memory of that place, maybe all three. We were married on the sand as the sun set, we partied until midnight with our friends and family and just like we'd done two years ago in that resort, we had a lot of sex. We even attempted to do it in the hammock again for old times sake, but the outcome was no better than the first time, lol.
Our wedding was what I had always envisioned; simple and private, on a beautiful beach, surrounded by close family and friends... followed by a massive party rather than a serious, sit-down kind of reception with stuffy speeches. It suited both of us, in fact Oli was so hungover the following day that our first day of married life was mostly me nursing him back to health. I didn't mind though, there were perks to having him in bed all day - especially when he told me he was 'never too sick for sex'. Typical Oli, lol. It also gave us a chance to look through and post a couple of the beautiful photos Tom had taken for us after the ceremony; those first moments after Oli and I became husband and wife.
Most of us stayed in Mexico for a few days after the wedding and the entire band stayed in Malibu for a week as well, just like we had after they played their Halloween show. Brian came to stay in San Francisco with us over Christmas too and I loved seeing him and Cass together, though they definitely weren't as lovey-dovey as Oli and I were in public... could you blame us though? We were in our honeymoon period. Speaking of honeymoons... we decided to wait and take one in the new year, when it wasn't the peak Christmas season and busy everywhere!
The following year, Oli was back on tour and my talks about starting a business with a class friend became a reality when Oli decided to fund us. He actually had good knowledge on businesses and investing and helped us set up everything we needed, helping us financially and generally just supporting us in any way he could. I loved my husband already, I loved him regardless of what he had, what he knew or how much money he earned, but the way he helped me pursue my dreams and achieve my goals was something I never could have imagined. We started really small, creating materials from recycled plastics to just make a few one-off items, but after a month and after Oli posting about them on his Instagram, demand went through the roof. I don't know what I'd expected, but I was overwhelmed by the response.
Oli ended up turning the guest suite in our house into a work area and office for me and my friend's brand and we brought in Cassidy to help us run the business side of things – just a few hours a week, but that really helped. I was in my last year of University, so while all of this was happening, I was still trying to focus on getting my degree and of course still devote loads of time to Ivy who was about to turn three. Being and wife and mother was always my first priority, but being a business woman was really exciting and fulfilling too. By the end of the year, our business had grown so much that we decided to lease a space to run it out of, Cassidy quit her job and became our full-time CEO, we employed several other people for various things and we paid Oli back every cent he had invested in us in the beginning. It was crazy how fast our brand took off and it was incredible how much people embraced our environmentally positive products!
I graduated from University in December that year and took my very overdue honeymoon with Oli. We went to Hawaii for a week to escape the cold and spent the entire time relaxing, having sex then relaxing again after having sex. It's literally all we did.
I spent the next 6 months really putting all of my time and energy into my brand. I had always wanted to do research for WWF or something like that, but now I was researching ways for companies to be more sustainable, to use the eco-friendly materials we had created and patented, and we ended up getting contracts with some pretty big brands. We even got a shout out in Vogue! It was surreal and Oli was undoubtedly very proud of what I'd accomplished, not that I could have done any of it without him. I was never interested in becoming a millionaire or not having a personal life because of work, so while I was passionate about my job, I still put Oli and Ivy first. We went on holidays together and when Oli wasn't touring, I worked from home a lot so I could be with him too. Oli took me to an incredible ski resort in the mountains for Valentine's day, we went back to Venice for my birthday and we even took a trip to Costa Rica together to donate clothing to various charities and visit local non-profits; kind of like what I would have done if I had of won that trip with Richard Branson all those years ago. Life was incredible.
Cassidy was still doing the long-distance thing with Brian after 8 months and I was incredibly proud of her for putting in the effort to make it work. She wasn't usually someone who put in any effort, even if the guy she was seeing lived a block away so her dedication to someone on the other side of the world was heart-warming. She hadn't told me that she loved him yet, but I was pretty sure that she did. It was October when she told me Brian was thinking about potentially moving to America and I think I cried. I wanted that for her; I wanted her to find love and happiness and everything that I had found with Oli, and for the first time ever, it looked like she was on the path to exactly that.