I have a the song Bailey "wrote" last chapter up top
Thank you guy for sticking with me through the hard drive crash.
Losing all those chapters sucked and was so disheartening.. i've been having a hard time finding it in me to redo them, but i'm definitely trying and pushing on.
for those of you who didn't see, my hard drive crashed and i needed a hard drive, operating system and windows program.
And if it weren't for the guys at prose.. you wouldn't be seeing any of these updates at all, it's really because of them that i'm still writing at all. So special shout out to
https://theprose.com/
Chapter Fifty-Five – Where They Build A Home
Bailey's Pov
To say Julian was enraged would be an understatement. By the time the boy left Mia was embarrassed, furious and the kid nearly dove out the open door as I opened it and invited him back for dinner and made a point that he wasn't allowed back without parental supervision.
To be honest, I was even a little embarrassed by Julian's sex talk to the kids.
"He seems sweet." I said when I turned around
"Why!" she yelled at Julian and he stepped to her
"If you bring a fucking boy in this house again, I will not be so kind when I toss his ass out of here. You are grounded." He told her and she didn't seem intimidated by him.
"You have no right to me." she pushed and he looked to me. Technically that was true, she was my responsibility.
"Julian may not be your guardian, but he does have that authority; he's spot on that you are grounded." I told her and she got angry
"Are you fucking kidding me? And did you have to do that to him?" Mia yelled at me and instantly backed down and looked to Julian for help, he just shook his head.
"What the hell were you thinking Melina? You let that boy bring beer into this house; don't think I didn't notice that one. You take advantage of our trust in you and invite him over for what, Sex? So the both of you can disrespect your fifteen year old body? Do you want to be taken away from me Melina?" If someone were to find out about that, there goes my temporary custody.
"I didn't think about being taken away." she looked at me and cringed when I looked back at her.
"I'm disappointed in you." I really was; I thought she was smarter than that.
"I know. I'm sorry about the beer, I didn't know he was bringing it over and I didn't like it. I wasn't going to sleep with him." she blushed again
"You don't know that until it comes to actually making the decision Melina. You have two minutes to grab me your computer, iPod and your phone. You will get on the computer or watch Netflix when I say. You will not be staying after school anymore. You will not be going to any friend's house and I will be pulling cords to gaming systems in this apartment. When we move, the door to your studio will also be locked. Go." I pointed at her room and she sighed but handed me her phone and came back out with her laptop and iPod as well as the cord to the play station in her room.
"How long?" she asked me.
"Until Julian and I talk about it and decide on a time and a farther punishment. You have lost all trust and you will not be left alone. You can go to the studio with us when we go." I knew if I sent her to Larissa she would be less strict to win Melina over and Carter was a pushover.
"I am sorry. His name is Travis by the way and he's a good guy. He's not like most of the guys at that school. He's on scholarship and he's a quiet and sweet guy. I wish you would have let him go and yelled at me instead. I'll go clean up." She took that well.
Julian and I went outside to talk while she moped and cleaned the kitchen.
"How long are you grounding her for?" He asked and I set her stuff down on the table out there.
"Depends what I find when I go through her phone and Facebook. She doesn't get her art studio the first week we're there though and she's not staying after school anymore and not allowed to be home for a long time." I looked through the doors. I hated being the bad guy.
"You're going to go through her stuff?" he asked me and I looked back to him.
"Yes. I don't know how to do this though, how do you raise a teenager?" I asked him and he shrugged
"I don't know, we'll figure it out." I sighed and sat down. I really was just overwhelmed by the disappointment I felt. Boys I could understand and if they had all their clothes on and weren't in her bed, I could go easier on her.
But she allowed alcohol into this house; that was something I couldn't look past.
"I need to call and have her phone restricted. She can have it to call or text certain people for a while. I'll probably give her iPod back next week; no music really is a special kind of torture." This was the first time she's done something like this.
"Good, I thought the music was excessive." He sat behind me and rubbed my shoulders, I felt like I was thirty five right now, not twenty-one.
"Oh don't worry, I'm sure you're going to sneak her music behind my back anyways, don't though. You don't need to hide that from me and it will just undermine me." Her laptop and phone were the biggest ones to decide on.
"Okay. I'll be good; we have a long few years ahead of us." Yes we did. Honestly, she was really good about being grounded. We sat outside and talked about what to do for a little bit, when we came back in the dish washer was going and she was sitting at the table doing her homework.
"What am I going to see when I check your missing assignments?" I asked and she looked guiltily at me.
"I'm working on them now, I have six and they will be turned in on Monday; I promise." Julian sat with her and helped her with her math and she gave me her passwords for me to check over her profile.
I pulled her conversation with Travis up and it seemed like this wasn't the first time he's come over when we were gone.
"How many times has he been over Melina?" I asked her and she groaned
"This is the third, but it's only the first time we've done anything. He's helping me with math so I don't have to bother Julian and he kissed me, it got out of hand. I should have never let him bring beer though."
"How old is he?" Julian asked
"Sixteen" She answered and she went back to her homework as I went over his profile and hers. There wasn't really anything bad on here. No I hate Julian and Bailey or anything that says she sneaks out at night or drinks. She looks like a kid who made a mistake.
"You can have your music back in a week, you're studio a week after we move and your games back in a couple weeks; it's not like you play them."
"And my phone?" she asked
"I'm suspending everything except the ability to call and text except family. You get the rest of the access as well as your laptop back in a month. I know it's a long time but he's been here three times without you telling us Melina." She looked like she wanted to say sometimes but kept quiet.
"I accept that. Can he come over when you two are here or is that not allowed?" she asked me and I looked to Julian.
"Is he going to want to come over?" Julian asked her and she shrugged
"Depends, are you going to lecture him about sex again?" she asked and he smirked
"Probably." Honestly, he probably would and she looked to me.
"Bailey." She groaned and I shook my head
"Shouldn't have had your shirt off Melina." There was nothing I could do on that one.
"Right, like I haven't caught you with your shirt off." She tried to argue with me and I pushed the embarrassment away.
"Actually, you have not. It was still on the day Julian got back from the hospital and even if we were having sex, that still wouldn't be a valid argument. You are a child and I am not." I wasn't going to play that game with her. She was fifteen, if she were eighteen this would be a different conversation.
"Fine. I accept my imprisonment; just stop giving me that look please." She looked pleadingly at me.
"What look?" I asked her
"That one that conveys your absolute disappointment in me." Well at least she could pick up on that.
"I am disappointed in you. You're lucky I'm still taking you to get your hair done." The appointments were already made and the purple was looking very sad.
"You are?" She perked up a little bit, she wasn't going to ask. I nodded though and she came to give me a hug. A hug for being grounded was something I wasn't expecting.
"Yes now ask Julian what his punishment is." She was going to hate it.
"Oh god, what?" She was already cringing. To be fair it was cruel and definitely unusual.
"You're pretty much going to be my little shadow, Mia. I'll spare you my four thirty wake up for the gym, but not my second one. You get to come to the gym with me every evening." He smirked and she gave a look that could be the picture for the definition of disgust.
"No, take my phone longer, I will give you my sketchbooks for a week, I'll lock myself out of that studio for a month. Bailey don't let him do this to me." she pleaded with me; got on her knees and begged. She was serious too; she would give her phone of for six months before she would willingly go to the gym with Julian for a month.
"Thirty-one days, count them. Bailey will take you to get workout clothes tomorrow." As if being grounded wasn't enough, traumatizing her with the gym everyday would certainly do the trick and keep her from inviting boys over.
"No." she groaned and stood before sinking dramatically into her chair and did her homework miserably.
"We start tomorrow; it's going to be fun." Julian loved this. We can use this to our advantage later, she sneaks out or comes home drunk at three in the morning, well she better be rested enough for an early morning workout.
"I hate you both." And she then ignored us, which I kind of found amusing. At least I didn't take her sketch pads and she would get her music back, she had enough CDs to last her seven days, I'd probably even give it back Friday so she would get it starting on the weekend.
In the morning Julian woke me up when he got back from the gym and I made breakfast while he showered and then woke Melina. We ate and Julian would be working all day on music arrangements. So we took off to go pick up Macy and go to get coffee before hair.
"Where are we going?" Macy asked and after I drove through and handed everyone their latte.
"Secret." I smiled at her and Melina looked bored out of her mind in the back.
"Hey kid, how are you?" Macy asked Melina.
"Grounded." She mumbled miserably and Macy looked over to me.
"Jesus, cracking the whip hard huh? You're a mean mama." Macy teased me
"You would be too if you found your fifteen year old shirtless in bed with a boy." Melina groaned in the backseat and Macy turned to look at her.
"Babe, take it from me. High school boys are not worth it and college boys are barely better. Wait for a man and you are far from a woman at this point. Grades first, and I'm not saying that because I have to." she turned back around after she said her little bit.
"I know; I want to be like you Bailey. You can easily see how much Julian loves you and how much he respects you. I want that too. I like Travis but not nearly enough to sleep with him. Kissing him is fun though, that's the most I've ever done and Travis is very awkward, he hadn't kissed many girls." We were a little tough on him, if he came around again I'd at least try to be nice.
"Good honey." I really hoped that she continued to think like that. It was definitely not the easiest thing to wait, but I knew that when I did give into him, after marriage, it would be worth it. It was a great feeling knowing that we were committed to waiting together. I didn't need a man to wait completely, just wait with me. Julian's past didn't bother me anymore. It also made dating a little easier in a way I assume. If a guy had a problem waiting than he wasn't the right guy.
I wanted to sit down and talk with her about it a little more without Julian. It may be an uncomfortable topic, but I wanted her to hear from someone who was committed to waiting and I would like to see if maybe I could get Kylie, Macy, Kenna or Nia to talk to her as well to give her a different perspective. I didn't expect everyone to see things like me; I just wanted her to wait until she was truly ready. If that time came at seventeen or twenty-seven, I would handle it. I wanted her to be in love with the person she was choosing to give her virginity to.
I also know that Julian would never see it that way. After thinking about it all night, I decided that when she does start dating seriously I would talk to her about it again. If she was grown enough to be making adult decisions with her body, she was grown enough to talk to me about them so I can make sure she's smart about it and protected.
I can't stop her from having sex but I can make sure she has the pill and that she uses protection. It was disheartening to me that fifteen was an age that I had to worry about this. Fifteen was way too young in my opinion.
"What are we doing?" Macy was out of the loop when we pulled up to hair salon.
"Well Melina is getting a trim and her purple redone, you are getting a haircut and your hair bleached and dyed red. I am getting mine trimmed and a strand bleached with a color I haven't chosen put in." I thought it would be fun to put at least a little color in.
"Really?" Macy looked at her faded and browning hair
"Yes." And then I had other plans. It took three hours to get Macy's hair done but Melina and I were patient, I was such a bad parent when I let her play games on my phone to pass some time. But the time was worth it, Macy looked so much happier when she looked in the mirror, she even cried a little bit.
"I'll pay you back, I promise." She hugged me and I paid for it all before heading to the next stop.
"No need Macy, really. And Melina, I had these appointments made already. You are still very grounded." It was really bad timing to have to ground her.
"I get it." I met up with Nia and took them all to get our nails done followed by a trip to the mall. Macy needed some more clothes, though she would never ask for them, and Melina needed clothes for the gym. She looked amusingly miserable; I took a picture and sent it to Julian.
Melina and I would go shopping after her art grounding was up for her studio and then I also took Macy to get makeup. She didn't own anything really. All her stuff besides what I had bought her was old, torn or ratty from living on the streets. Right now I was now fortunate enough to be able to help her and the money was doing me no good sitting in my bank account when I could help her so much by spending next to nothing compared to what I had now.
I even let Melina get some makeup, she didn't need much though.
When it was time, Macy changed into her new clothes and spent some time in the bathroom and Nia did her makeup as well as mine and Melina's for fun. Macy looked great when Nia was done and this was the happiest I've seen her in a year.
"I feel like myself again." she touched her face as she looked in the mirror. Macy was just one of those girls who loved spending hours on her hair and makeup. She enjoyed being all done up like that and I could appreciate that because makeup was expensive and time consuming.
"I'm glad." She hugged me tight and Nia fanned her face to try to make it so she didn't break into tears again.
"You and I should hang out more. Bailey's been too busy being a rock star and a mom to spend time with lowly me." Nia gave me a nasty look and I pinched her arm.
"Do you want your best friend to get sued and dropped by his label?" That was what would happen if we didn't focus on music right now.
"No, I get it. Things will be easier in a couple months." When it was done I would for sure have more time on my hands. I fidgeted with my phone again debating on if I wanted to call him, again. Anxiety was getting the better of me at the thought of leaving him alone like this and for so long. Then I remembered I had to anyway to let him know to meet us.
"It will. I'm going to let Julian know to meet us. Nia would you like to get coffee in the morning after I drop Melina off at school? You can have the pleasure of dragging Lucca out of bed at an ungodly hour." Lucca would sleep until two if you let him.
"Is Julian going to be okay with that?" Nia asked me carefully, like she wasn't sure if she should ask or not.
"If he's not we can fight about it tonight. Julian needs to get over it; it's in the past where it belongs. I will tell him tonight though." I shouldn't have to but I did understand on a level, I would make sure he knew.
"Well then I accept." Nia took off to go and do something work related and I dropped Macy off at the coffee shop before meeting Julian at a furniture store. We were moving in in a little less than two weeks and we had nothing bought.
Really bad timing on grounding because Melina was now free to pick out what she wanted for her new room and we let her wonder while we picked out the boring things, like couches.
"Did you have a good time?" Julian grabbed my hand and our shoulders bumped while we walked.
"I did, I'm having coffee with Nia and Lucca tomorrow morning." Julian stiffened and stopped walking; I should have waited to talk to him about it.
"Oh." Was what I got in response.
"We can talk about it at home. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I'm excited to pick out furniture for our home Julian." He took a couple breaths and started walking again.
"Later." He agreed
"Melina's hair looks good and Macy's looks amazing." He kissed my hand and looked at my nails.
"These are pretty. What kind of couch do you want?" he asked me and I sighed taking in the huge room of couches in front of us "Yeah." He picked up on my vibe
"A big one, like a sectional?" I suggested and that didn't narrow it down much. We were going to be here forever. Even with help it took us a solid hour to pick a couch out and I was hoping that we liked it in the house. We picked accent chairs and tables as well for the living room and moved onto dining room sets.
"Who said being an adult wasn't fun." His sarcasm was very much appreciated right now.
"Bedroom will be more fun." I kept telling myself that, we just had a lot to get through. I know we weren't going to be able to pick everything today, but at least a lot of the more dull things would be chosen.
The dining room table was important because we spent a lot of time at it and I wanted to start having weekly family dinners again and the family was expanding.
So Julian let me pick that one because he knew it was important to me. It ended up being a large table to start out with and then we could expand it to accommodate for large family dinners.
"So do you think we're ever going to fill all those empty rooms?" he wrapped his arms around me the best he could as we walked to the bedroom furniture. He bent and his lips lingered on my neck for a second.
"Maybe, I guess it depends on what you're going to compromise on with this bedroom. I mean, it has to be a room I'll want to spend a lot of time in." I told him suggestively, something that was very none Bailey of me.
"Anything you want." We wondered the different bedroom sets and ended up running into Mia who picked hers. We were opting for a California king. I loved enormous beds; they were instantly more comfortable to me.
"What do you want?" I asked him and he smiled as he kissed my temple
"A bed frame that I can restrain you to one day." I turned and smacked him and he shrugged unapologetically.
"Hey, don't knock it till you try it pretty girl, I'm not saying tomorrow or anytime in the next couple years; eventually. Do you want the bed higher or lower to the ground?" he asked venturing into safer topics. It was personal picking out our bedroom and I even admit, kind of arousing. The bed we picked today would be the bed we shared after a honeymoon and I blushed again, damn it.
"Uh, tall." I cleared my throat.
"It's okay to think about it you know. It's natural and it's normal." He told me and this was the first time he's really been serious with the topic of sex instead of trying to get a reaction from me.
"I'm just already getting nervous and we're not even engaged." We had a lot of time before a wedding and I was anxious like it was happening next week. He stopped me when he grabbed my hand and we sat at a little bench at the end of a bed.
"I love you and there is no pressure, even if you're not ready when we do get married. I love you and when it does happen it will be perfect no matter how it goes and it will be a beautiful thing. I will find you the most amazing and gorgeous thing I've ever seen like I already do and I will take care of you; you will always be my main concern, especially sexually." That's literally the most serious he's been. Usually he gets issues when we talk about sex but he was calm right now.
"I know you will, it's just a lot of pressure and not because of your past or I feel like I need to live up to anyone. But you're waiting for me and I don't want to disappoint you or disappoint myself." He hugged me and I let myself just feel his embrace.
"You can't disappoint me. It's one step at a time Bailey. It's a house right now and then it will be an engagement, we set the time-frame for a wedding and you set the time-frame for sex. I'll wait as long as you need. We're buying a home though, don't freak out about something that's a while away, I want to enjoy picking all of this out with you and remember how happy we are when I do make love to you in this bed. I don't want to think back and remember you having an anxiety attack because you're freaking out over something that's not even happening." He was right.
"Okay, one step at a time." we were in agreement but hell I loved him and could marry him tomorrow. I didn't need that huge wedding, just the people I loved and the man I want to marry.
"There you go, breathe." His coaching did help.
"Breathing is checked, now I want a taller bed that I have to practically jump to crawl into." He laughed and he stood before offering a hand to me.
"There's my girl, now let's go find a normal sized bed for your midget ass to get into." He held tighter when i tried to shove him.
"You're a giant, I'm not that short." Yes I was. I already knew I was going to have to get up on the counters to get things out in my new kitchen at times.
"Beds." He pointed around us and we looked through it a few times before finding a four post bed that connected at the top that would house the size we were looking for. This thing was going to be massive and I loved it.
We met back with Mia and actually had a pretty great time picking furniture out. Melina wasn't resentful for being grounded and was just happy to be here and make her room truly hers.
It felt less like we were constructing a house and more like we were building a home now. I loved the thought of this being a stable and final home for us. I couldn't wait to tell everyone on Friday either, keeping this secret was killing me.
When we placed the order for all the items we wanted to be delivered next week, I could finally see the end of this renovation in sight and now I prayed these next two weeks went by quick so we could get the hell out of these apartments.