|Andrea|
After Jenni's talk with Ron — that ended in a hug, we got dressed and got ready to go to Eleven.
"Yeah, we're going to see titties!" Nicole shouted.
We arrived at Eleven and we got a drink before sitting down to watch the strippers.
Then Jenni began to get a lap dances from a few strippers. We all watched in amusement.
"Is that money?" Nicole pointed to the money literally flying through the air. She started scooping the money up and putting it into her purse.
"No, no, Nicole!" I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.
"What?" Nicole asked, looking confused.
"That's the strippers' money. This is how they get paid." I told her.
"I could buy so many diapers with this!" Nicole said drunkenly.
Then one of strippers saw Nicole taking the money and she walked over.
"No, no, baby." The girl said, "That's our money."
"Oh, God." Nicole expressed. I just shook my head, laughing before walking over to Pauly to dance with him
• • •
The next morning, I got out of bed and immediately got the IPad and FaceTimed Julian.
"Hi, Mommy!" Julian greeted. Since it was the morning time, my parents were most likely getting him ready for school.
"Hey, baby!" I greeted with a smile, "How are you? Have you been good for Papa and Nanna?"
"Yes." He replied with a smile. That's one of the very many things I loved about him. He was always happy.
"Did you brush your teeth?" I asked in a fake stern tone.
"Yes!" Julian said, throwing his head back. I laughed in response.
"Where's Daddy?" He asked.
"He's still sleeping but you can talk to him later, okay?"
"Okay."
We talked for a little while longer — well, more like, he was babbling on about new toys he had received from my parents, and other random things — but it made my heart melt.
"Well, baby, it's about time for you to head to school." I said, checking the time on the IPad.
"Julian!" I heard my mother's voice shout in the background. I chuckled.
"Coming!" Julian shouted before turning back to me, "Bye, Mommy. Love you."
"I love you too. Have a great day at school." I smiled.
As I hung up, it me.
I missed him.
It's been weeks now since I last seen him. I've never been away from Julian for this long.
Tears began to well up in my eyes.
"Andrew!" I heard Mike call me by his nickname for me. I immediately pushed to tears back as Mike walked into the living room.
"What's up?" I said, putting on a smile.
"Can I talk to you about something?" He asked.
"Sure."
"So, I wanna go ring shopping for Lauren and I want you, Alex, and Jenni to come with me." Mike told me
"Why?"
"Well, Alex is engaged, and you and Jenni by far the most responsible people in the house." Mike replied with a smile.
"Well then, I'd love to help you." I said, matching his smile. He gave me a quick hug and kiss on the cheek, thanking me before walking off.
• • •
I thought I was feeling better but then I started to look at the pictures of Julian that were on my desk. I was my bedroom by myself as Pauly was downstairs working out.
"Hey, Andi, do you have-" Nicole stopped when she noticed my face. "What's wrong, boo?"
"Nothing," I immediately lied. But she gave me a look that told me
that she didn't believe it. "I just miss Julian."
"Aww, I know how you feel." Nicole said, bringing me into a hug.
We stayed like that for a few moments and when we pulled away, I saw tears slipping out of Nicole's eyes.
"What's wrong?" I quickly asked her.
"This is making realize how much I miss my kids." Nicole replied, wiping her tears away.
I gave her a sad smile before hugging her again. This hug was longer, and that point, we were both in tears.
Finally, Nicole pulled away and said, "We need something to cheer us up."
"Please don't suggest going to a bar. I'm not in the mood for that." I told her.
"I wasn't going to say that!" Nicole interjected. I gave her a look. "Okay, I was!" Her and I laughed.
Across the hall, we see Alex — in his and Vinny's shared room — about to throw some things away.
"Al, what's that you're about to throw away?" Nicole asked him abruptly
"Huh?" He looked up, "Oh, it's a coupon for an ice cream place in town. I don't plan on using it so I'm throwing it away."
"No!" Nicole shouted, causing Alex to look at her in confusion. "Give it to me." She pretty much demanded.
He looked even more confused but he handed her the coupon.
"It's called The Frieze." Nicole said, pronouncing it terribly.
Alex chuckled in amusement, "It's pronounced like 'freeze."
"Whatever." Nicole shrugged. "We should go there.
"Now?" Alex questioned.
"Yeah. Andi and I miss our kids and we need something to cheer us up! So let's go!" Nicole said, snapping her fingers.
"God, you're demanding. I would hate to be Jionni." Alex said, adding a laugh to that last part. Nicole gasped before hitting him on the arm.
Then, the three of us left the house and piled into the Escalade — with Alex driving, me on the passenger side, and Nicole in the back.
• • •
We arrived at the place and we got out of the car.
"After you," Alex said, opening the door for Nicole and I.
"Oh, what a gentleman!" Nicole mocked, causing me to laugh.
"This is real." Alex said, looking around the place.
"So many flavors," I commented, looking at the menu.
"They have something called 'Get Down Boogie Oogie Cookie.'" Nicole pointed out, making us laugh.
"What are you getting?" Alex asked me.
"I think I'm gonna get the toasted marshmallow." I said, pointing to it on the menu.
"I want the vanilla fudge swirl." Nicole spoke.
"I'm gonna try the chocolate peanut butter swirl." Alex said.
After that, we ordered our ice cream and we got them before sitting down at a table.
"Mmm! This is really good!" Nicole said after having her first taste.
"I think is the best ice cream I've tasted." Alex added.
We all just sat there, enjoying our ice cream.
"Can I take a picture with you guys?" A young woman — who looked to be in her mid-twenties- asked us.
"Of course." I replied with a smile.
The girl pulled her phone out and we stood up. She got a picture with each of us separately and then all of us together.
"Thank you!" The girl said before walking off.
"Bye!" Nicole said, waving at the girl. As she was doing that, her ice cream spilled onto the table.
I facepalmed while laughing. "You are such a klutz."
"Meh!" Nicole whined, making me laugh.
• • •
"You ready for this?" I asked Mike as him, Alex, Jenni, and I headed into the jewelry store.
"As I'll ever be." Mike chuckled.
"Hi," Jenni greeted as we entered the store. "We're ring shopping for his future bride." She motioned to Mike.
"Something like this?" The man asked as he showed us a ring.
"This is beautiful too. This is a vs1 G color. 2.01 carat." The woman explained, showing another ring. Mike looked completely confused.
Then they showed us some other beautiful rings.
"Maybe you could get it customized in her favorite color like I did with Lacey's ring." Alex suggested.
"What does Lacey's ring look like?" I asked him.
Alex pulled his phone out of his pocket and showed us the picture of Lacey's ring.
"Oh, that's beautiful." Jenni commented.
"That's really nice." Mike complimented.
"You did good," I said, nudging Alex, making him smile.
"It's a 5.07 carat." Alex stated. Mike nodded, I guess he was mentally taking notes.
After that, the man showed us a ring with a pink stone.
"What does that go for?" Jenni asked him.
"This one is appraised for forty-five thousand dollars." My eyes widened as I looked over at Mike. He gave me a look as well.
Then we began looking at other rings.
"Do you have any idea as far as size?" Another woman asked him.
"We have a size four and a half." Mike replied.
"No, no, no." The woman said.
"Oh, you mean size of the carat?" Jenni realized. "He's getting a little overwhelmed."
More rings later...
Mike held up an engagement ring and wedding ring. "So she wears this one?" He asked, referring to the engagement ring.
"No, both of them." I replied.
"You didn't know that?" Jenni asked in shock.
I laughed before explaining it, "You give her the engagement ring now, and then later on your wedding — when you exchange rings, you give her the other one."
"Is there anything else she gets too, on top of this?" Mike jokingly asked.
"Your life, your savings account, and your balls." Jenni told him.
"And you gotta get a gift the day of the wedding too." The man — behind the counter — told Mike.
"Normally, the guy's bands are way cheaper than the girl's." The other man stated.
"True." Jenni and I said in unison.
Due to all of the rings being expensive, Mike didn't find the right one so we ended up leaving.
• • •
Later that night, Ron pulled out these inflatable balls. He pumped air into them so that we could put them on.
Then, we decided to have a relay race around with the balls on. It was Pauly, Jenni, Vinny, and I against Alex, Ron, Mike, and the meatballs.
"Guido Olympics! Let's go!" Pauly exclaimed, "You call it." He told Jenni.
"On your mark, get set, go!" And the meatballs and Vinny off running.
We all expected the meatballs to fall — but to our surprise, they didn't.
Long story short, my team won.
"Let's all run into each other." Deena suggested.
"Three, two, one." And we all bumped into each other. Both Nicole and Deena fell immediately.
"Typical meatballs," I laughed, shaking my head.
Later that night, the guys — minus Ronnie — went out to Mokai.
• • •
"Ow!" I said, opening my eyes. I had just woken up to someone landing on me.
"Sorry," I heard Pauly say as he got into bed.
"You aren't gonna change your clothes?" I asked pointedly.
"Shh," He said randomly. I looked at him in confusion before I realized it...
"Are you drunk?"
"No," He replied. But the smell of alcohol on his breath told me otherwise.
I chuckled. "You're going to be destroyed in the morning."
"You're so pretty," Pauly said, playing with my hair.
I smiled at him. "Why, thank you."
"I would marry you." He said drunkenly.
"We've already crossed that off of the list."
"Really?" Pauly asked, seeming shocked.
"Yeah," I slightly laughed. He hugged me tightly.
"I love you, wife!"
"And I love you more."
• • •
The next day — in the afternoon — Pauly and Vinny finally woke up.
"Rise and shine." I said with an amused face while everyone cheered.
"You're meatballs now!" Nicole exclaimed jokingly.
Then, Jenni picked up the phone that the boys used last night.
"'Andrea and Olivia. Mokai girls.'?" Jenni read out.
"Vinny!" I said, turning to him.
He chuckled. "They were the waitresses."
"Oh, you got their numbers?" Deena asked. Vinny simply nodded.
"Oh, shit!" Ron exclaimed.
"'Olivia. Mokai. Blonde.'" Jenni read.
And for the third time in the row, Vinny got on the duck phone to call his girlfriend and tell her what happened the night before.
"How'd it go?" I asked him.
"She was pissed, obviously." Vinny replied.
"Of course she is. She has a right to be." I told him.
"Technically, the girls put their numbers." Vinny defended.
"But were you dancing with them?" I questioned. He didn't respond, which gave my answer.
"Come on, dude," I sighed, "Alex is away from Lacey. Mike is away from Lauren. If they can keep it together, so can you."
"Alright, I'm an asshole, I get it." Vinny said with attitude.
"Watch your tone." I unintentionally snapped. To my surprise, Vinny actually got quiet.
"Ohhh!" The guys exclaimed.
"She shut you up!" Ron exclaimed with everyone laughing.
"You guys are idiots," I said, shaking my head in amusement.
• • •
I sat down on the couch next to Pauly with a sigh.
"You alright?" He asked.
"No," I didn't even bother lying to him and saying I'm okay, "I really miss Julian."
"I do too," Pauly said, looking down.
We were silent until Pauly spoke up...
"Hey, Jenni and Nicole said that they might be flying home to see their kids, maybe we can fly home to see Julian." Pauly suggested. I immediately smiled.
"I'm taking that as a yes," Pauly said, also smiling. I hugged him tightly.
___________
This chapter would've been out last week, but I had to figure something out because in this episode, the roommates were trying to find a girl for Pauly and obviously that wouldn't have worked for this story.
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