There's literally so many mistakes in this chapter but bare with me, I wrote this with every intention to post it ASAP. I'll be correcting them soon, but just disregard them for now haha. Thank you!
-Jaime-
It's been three days since I saw Arianna and I couldn't get her face out of my mind, the way the wind blew in her hair, the twinkle in her eye from the reflection of the moon. I've missed her so much and though I didn't exactly see a smile come from her that night, I would've gave anything to see one.
I get up from my spot in bed and decide to go roam around Cleveland for a while before going home tonight after a failure to get Arianna to talk to me.
I walk to the nearest coffee shop and order a large cup and drink it after putting a good amount of creamer and sugar, I take my cup to go and begin walking around the city, half trying to get things off my mind and half hoping to run into Arianna, but fate decided otherwise.
I coincidently walked by her apartment building and made my way through the doors and to the front desk seeing a boy around the age of twenty behind the counter, "Excuse me." I say getting him to look up at me.
"Yes can I help you?" He smiles widely.
"Yeah, is there an Arianna Vespillo living here?" I ask.
"Um I can neither confirm nor deny that, that's confidential information, I'm sorry." He shrugs.
"That's no problem, I understand. I know she lives here but if you can, the next time you see her, give her a note for me?"
I grab a business card from next to me and a pen then jot down a small note handing it to the boy with a sympathetic smile. He looks at the card and smiles, "Yeah I get it, you can't say you'll give it to her, thanks though." I give him a small smile and walk out of the building in hopes of him giving it to her.
I make my way back to the hotel and go straight to my room and begin packing my things, I get interrupted though by a FaceTime call from Vic.
I accept the call and am greeted by Vic's face sporting a cheesy smile, "Yo what's up Hime-Time?"
"Just packing, gonna go back and start looking at some apartments, hopefully find one that I can move into immediately." I answer.
"Still no luck with Ari?" He asks with a straight face.
I shake my head in response, "No she's had three days, I don't think there's any more room for me in her life."
"What makes you say that?"
"Well the fact that when I went to go see her she was with her new boyfriend." I answer, the pain in my chest aching at the thought of it.
"Whoa she has a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, I can't tell you enough how awkward and painful it was to be there when he kissed her, I wanted to rip him into shreds." I grit.
Vic begins to laugh and shake his head, "Yeah let's not get ourselves put in jail Hime."
"Yeah I'm trying not to."
"Well hopefully she sees you before you leave, I'm crossing my fingers for you buddy." He says holding up his hand to show he was crossing his fingers.
"Thanks Vic, I'll let you know how it goes." And with that we say our goodbyes and hang up the call.
I can only hope fate is on my side.
-Arianna-
"Are you sure you don't want me to take Lilah off your hands while you go get ready for the night?" Leo asks as we walk out of the small diner.
I place my to-go cup into the cup holder on Lilah's stroller and shake my head at his question, "No, I miss her and want to spend time with her before mom and dad come pick her up."
"Well if you change your mind let me know and I'll take her off your hands." He assures.
"Thanks, I appreciate it bro."
I give him a hug and we say our goodbyes before heading in opposite directions.
Tonight I was going to this black tie affair with Christian for his business, they do this once a year and it just so happens to be tonight, I'm excited to say the least, but nervous at the same time because I'll be meeting all his business partners.
I strapped Lilah into her car seat and got into the car myself driving in the direction of the tailor I sent my dress to so they could hem it up to my height, seeing as I'm practically a midget.
I parked my car in front of the tailors, I called them ahead of time to let them know I had a baby in the car, only for their response to be that they'll take my dress to my car so I wouldn't have to leave Lilah inside the car alone.
I did, though get out of the car just to help the young girl hang my dress on the small hook in the back seat, the dress bag falling to the floor because of how long it was, "Thank you so much!" I say with a grateful smile.
"It's no problem that dress is beautiful, have a great time wherever you're going." She smiles in return.
I say a quick thank you and drive away towards my apartment, where I had a lot of boxes I still had to go through from my storage before getting ready for the night.
I walk through the front lobby to get to the elevator, my dress bag draped neatly on top of Lilah's stroller while she's rambling away in baby talk.
"Hey Michael." I wave as I walk past him.
"Oh wait Arianna," He shouts softly getting me to turn back to him.
"A guy came in earlier and asked me to give this to you." He says holding out a business card.
I scrunch up my eyebrows in curiosity and take the car from his hands reading the short note that was scribbled on the back. I felt my heart pound just a slight and look back at Michael with a small smile, "Thank you Mikey."
I then get into the open elevator and make my way up to the floor my apartment was on. When I got inside I quickly changed into something more comfortable, then put Lilah inside her walker while I went through a few boxes of just knick knacks and books I never got a chance to read.
I had just opened a box when I heard a knock come from my door, I get up from the couch and quickly walk to the door and look through the peephole to see Christian waiting on the other side.
I swing the door open with a smile getting one from him in return, "Hey beautiful." He says as he walks inside.
"What are you doing here?" I ask leading him to the living room where the mess was.
"Just came to see you because I was bored and couldn't wait till tonight to see your gorgeous face." He smirks.
I feel a slight blush rush to my cheeks but turn away in time for him to miss it, "Oh stop." I laugh.
"What's all this mess?" He asks looking around the living room.
"Just going through some boxes I had in storage, I'm in the mood to put out some of my old things." I explain as I walk to the kitchen to grab a Gatorade.
"This is a lot of things."
"Yeah I know, I'm a pack rat." I laugh while I look through my pantry for something to snack on.
"Is this him?" Christian asks after a few moments of silence.
I turn to look at him with confusion as to what he's talking to and when I look at what he's holding I rush over in a heartbeat and snatch the picture from his hands, "Don't look through this box." I say placing the picture frame back inside the opened brown box.
"Whoa, I'm sorry." He says raising his hands in defense.
"No, I'm sorry I shouldn't have snatched it from you, it's just that box has a lot of personal things." I say already knowing everything that's inside.
"It's okay I understand, but can I ask a question?"
I nod my head in approval, "Sure."
"Is that Lilah's father? The guy who came the other day?" He asks hesitantly.
"Uh yeah." I answer looking down at my feet.
"Was he here to see Lilah or something?" He prods on.
"No, he actually doesn't know she exists." I confess.
Christian's face goes straight in realization, "Oh I see."
"It's nothing bad, I mean, I didn't know I was pregnant until after I left." I explain further.
"Oh, was he like a bad guy or something? Did he hurt you?"
"No no it wasn't anything like that," I begin looking down at Lilah who was playing with the toys on her walker.
"We just weren't on the same page with our relationship, so I decided for us and left."
He nods in understanding, "So he's the other half..." He trails off pointing to the tattoo on my right shoulder.
I look down at it then back into his eyes, different emotions swirling in them, "Yeah, yeah he is."
"But I've moved on." I say blankly.
"Well, the only good thing that came from you leaving him is the fact that I met you, so I'm glad you left." He smiles while pulling me into a hug.
I wrap my arms around his torso and take in the scent of his cologne before bulling away and reaching up to place a gentle kiss on his cheek.
"Well I better head out, I've gotta go pick up my tux and go see Mark about who's going and what important people I have to talk to." He says.
"Okay I'll walk you out."
I walk him to the door giving him one last kiss before watching him walk away towards the elevator. I shut the door and walk back to the living room and grab Lilah from her walker then take her to sit next to me on the sofa.
I open the box I just realized I had and began taking some of the things out, from notes and poems, to pieces of jewelry with our names engraved in them. I even found my Minnie ears I got from our trip to Disney World and the old diary I used to write in.
I picked up one of the picture frames and turned it over to see a picture of Jaime and I when we were in Paris, I looked at Lilah and put the picture in front of her to get her focus on it and when she saw it she grabbed onto the frame firmly, her babbling stopping as she stared at the object in front of her.
"That's your daddy." I say although I'm sure she probably doesn't understand what I'm talking about.
She keeps concentrating on the picture and what touched my heart was when she placed her hand on Jaime's face and looked at it with admiration almost, she looked up at me with a smile and began babbling a little before looking back at the picture, her eyes still focused on Jaime's face before she busted into a fit of giggles while tapping her hand on his portion of the photo.
I laughed along with her for a second before speaking up, "Yeah I know he's goofy looking."
She giggles again and stops before looking up at me his eyes staring at me through this little human being in front of me, "Trust me he's crazier in person." I grin.
I let her hold the picture frame while I put the rest of my things back into the box, I went to grab the photo last but as soon as I took it from her grasp it resulted in booming cries and a fit coming from her, "Okay okay, here you can keep it." I say giving it back to her, hoping it would cease the whines.
He focused her eyes back on the picture and began sniffling, tear stains still showing on her cheeks as she softly smiles at the photo, "Cry baby."
I pick her up and take her to the bedroom and lay her down inside the crib, placing the photo inside with her as she falls asleep almost instantly.
I take this quiet opportunity to get in a quick shower, leaving the baby monitor on in her crib and taking the other with me into the bathroom, leaving the door open just in case.
I get in and begin washing over my body before scrubbing my hair with shampoo and conditioner, I run a razor over my legs then hop out wrapping a towel around my body as I plug in the blow dryer. I take a few minutes to dry my hair then turn on the curling wand to heat it up.
I walk back into my room to a still quiet and sleeping Lilah and begin to hear my tablet ring with a Skype call, I walk over to where it's charging and see Spencer's name across the screen.
I accept the call and see her face pop up with a huge smile, "Hey best friend!" She shouts.
"Shhh I just put her down, please don't ruin the quietness." I plea.
"Oh shit I'm sorry." She whispers.
"What's up?" I ask taking the tablet to the bed where I face it in another direction while I put some undergarments and a t-shirt on.
"I just wanted to talk while you get ready for your fancy shindig tonight." She laughs.
"Oh okay." I laugh.
"What are you guys up to?" I ask her.
"Tony is in the kitchen trying to burn down the apartment and Joyce is in the play pin chewing on his sock, HEY GET THAT OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!" She scolds in realization of what her child is doing.
I laugh at her outburst but cover my mouth as to not wake my own child, "Oh gosh that was funny." I chuckle.
"Parenthood, it's a damn rollercoaster."
"Tony is still pouting at the fact that you're not talking to him." She says with a grin.
"I love Tony, yeah it made me upset that he told Jaime but he was being loyal to his friend so I can't be too mad, if the roles were reversed I'd want you to tell me where Jaime was." I explain.
"See she's not mad at you." Spencer says looking away from the screen.
"THANK GOD! I'VE BEEN CRYING FOR DAYS!" I hear Tony shout, getting me to giggle.
"Have you talked to him?" She asks moving to another place so Tony wouldn't hear our conversation.
"No I couldn't bring myself to go see him." I say looking down at my fingers.
"Well when the time is right it'll happen and you'll be ready." She assures.
"I know." I agree, honestly wanting to drop the subject of Jaime.
"So when is this fancy shindig?" She smiles.
"In about four hours, I need to start getting ready actually, my hair is going to take most of my time." I say getting up from my spot on the bed.
"Take me with you! I want to virtually hang out while you get ready, I'm so bored Rae I actually felt like sitting through the entire Twilight series." She says with wide eyes.
"What, really? And you don't even like Twilight." I laugh.
"I know!" She chuckles.
I take the tablet into the bathroom with me while I begin to do my hair, "I don't even know if it'll look like the picture." I say focusing on a strand of hair.
"I'm sure it will, you're good at doing hair."
"But this is more than just a braid, its fancier." I say picking up another strand of hair.
By the time I was done it looked decent and pretty good for my first try, it was a side bun consisted of intended messy curls falling from the sides, as well as a halo braid on the crown of my head. When I finished praying hairspray Spencer began dramatically clapping at my finished product.
"Thank you audience." I laugh.
Our laughter was quickly interrupted by a knock on the door, I took the tablet with me as I walked over to the door and looked through the peephole seeing my parents on the other side, I opened the door and let them in with a smile, "Hi!" Spencer shouts from the other end of the Skype call.
"Hello Spencer." My dad says with a wave followed by Veronica doing the same.
"Where's my beautiful granddaughter?" My dad asks immediately.
"Geez you act like you haven't seen her in years." I laugh.
"Hold on Spence." I say placing the tablet on the bed.
I hand Veronica Lilah's bag and watch as my dad carefully pick Lilah up from her crib, she stirs a little in his arms before letting out a breath of air and relaxing.
"Call me if anything happens, I'll be by to pick her up when we're done." I say walking them out.
"If you need the night to yourselves just let us know." Veronica says with a smile.
"I will but I'm positive I'll be picking her up tonight, I can't sleep without her." I answer looking down at my sleeping one year old.
I lean down and place a soft kiss onto her forehead and say goodbye to them as they walk out the door and to the elevator.
I go back to my room and grab the tablet seeing Spencer on her phone, "I'm gonna go ahead and text you, gotta finish up here and then get into my dress." I say pulling her focus away from the phone.
"Okay, Tony just told me dinner is almost ready anyway, send me a picture of you in the dress before you leave!" She instructs.
"I will." I smile before saying bye then hanging up the call.
I turn on my speakers then play some music from an old playlist I started when I was still in San Diego then walked back into the bathroom and began to work on my makeup.
I placed silver glitter eye shadow on each of my lids then put matte black shadow on the creases, blending it out to create a smoky effect. I took my liquid eyeliner and drew a thin line across the top lid with a small cat eye effect at the ends. I coated my eyelashes with mascara twice then patted on some powder foundation seeing as I didn't need to cover any redness. Last but not least I colored my lips with a matte red lipstick, giving my entire look the pop it needed.
I took a look at the time and noticed I only had thirty minutes left, I quickly grabbed the dress bag that hung on my closet door and unzipped it revealing my ball gown, it was long and black with silver flower designs on the top ending jest below my breast, with silver lines intricately making their way around the bust as well.
I stepped into the dress and expertly zipped it up then grabbed my pair of strappy silver glitter heels, slipping my feet in them then zipping up the back of the heel.
I heard my phone ring and saw Christian's face illuminate the screen, "Hello?" I answer still frantically putting my jewelry on.
"I'm downstairs." He says.
"Okay I'm on my way." I answer before hanging up.
I put on my vine looking diamond earrings as well as vine diamond necklace that sat just around the collar of my neck, I clipped on a matching bracelet and a black diamond pear shaped ring. I quickly grabbed my clutch and shawl from the bed and raced out the door, not literally though, I mean I'm wearing heels, if I were racing I'd die.
I reached the bottom floor and sped walked out the door and saw Christian standing by the curb in front of a black Rolls Royce Phantom, a car I've always wanted to be in the presence of and here it is.
"Oh my God Christian this is a-"
"A Rolls Royce." He chuckles.
"Thought you'd like it."
"Like it? I love it, I can't believe this. It's gorgeous." I say in complete awe.
"Not as gorgeous as you are." He says taking in my appearance.
"But won't you get cold in without a jacket?" He asks seeing as I have nothing covering my arms.
"Nah, I don't think so." I assure.
"Are you sure? I mean, we can go get a jacket really quick." He continues.
"No Christian, I'm fine."
He looks down my arms and that's when I know where he's going with this, "My tattoos." I say with an eye roll.
"No, it's not-"
"Yes it is Christian, look you knew I had tattoos when we met. If it were such a problem why do you insist on taking me places where I can't show them?" I ask starting to feel like somewhat of a burden.
"It's not that Arianna, I love your tattoos, they make you look sexy and rebellious but I don't know, this place will be full of business people that I work with and try to make deals with." He tries to explain obviously using the give and take tactic they use in elementary schools.
"So you don't want your business friends to know your girlfriend like tattoos." I say with a tilt to my head.
"Look Christian, I don't have to go, I can skip out on this one, but in reality the only opinion that matters is mine and yours, who gives a shit what others think." I say getting him to nod in agreement.
"You're right."
"I'm always right." I say with a grin.
"Don't get used to it." He chuckles.
Christian then opens the door to the car and lets me get in then shuts the door and makes his way to the other side and gets in closing the door before telling the driver where to go.
The drive was quiet, something telling me he was still leery about me showing off my body's artwork, but I pushed the thoughts from my mind and told myself to just enjoy the night as best I could.
We pulled up to a very large building, a cement stairway leading to doors to enter the inside. Christian got out first then made his way around to open my door for me lending out his arm for me to take while leading me to the double doors.
When we entered there was security making sure we didn't have anything on us, and once we got through airport security we walked down a very large hallway, red carpet and paintings of people you'd see in history books, this hallway looked like it belonged in a palace.
We made it to a set of doors where two men stood on either side, one of them opening the door once we got closer, "Thank you." I whisper to the gentleman who smiles in response.
When we entered there was a room full of people who took the time to look at us walk in, all the men in black tuxedoes and the woman in black dresses either with a dash of white, silver or gold.
We made our way to a man who had square glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, he had his hair combed back with a smile on his face.
"Geez Christian, fashionably late as always." He says.
"You know me, I like an entrance." Christian smirks.
"Mark this is Arianna." He says introducing me to Mark his vice president.
"It's nice to meet you Arianna." Mark smiles as he skims over my body making me suddenly feel self-conscious.
"Likewise." I smile.
We made our way around the room, I stood to the right of Christian the entire time while he talked business with a few of the gentleman who were invited, none of the ladies in the room saying a word to me, only a casual 'hello, nice to meet you' line.
Christian took me to a table that had his name written on a place card, apparently everyone was waiting on our arrival to eat, because as soon as we sat down everyone did as well and then the food was brought out.
I sat next to a young lady who looked to be in her mid-twenties, when I asked what she did in the business she looked at me with a glare and shortly said she was a clerk in Christian's office then quickly turned to the person next to her and began a friendly conversation with them.
I pulled my phone out and decided to send a quick text to Spencer, letting her know how the night was going.
Arianna: No one likes me.
I put my phone in my lap and listened in on a conversation Christian was having with the gentleman next to him then felt my phone vibrate.
Spencer: You don't know that, just put on that fake smile you always do and make friends!
I roll my eyes and send her back a middle finger emoji then watch as Christian get up from his seat, turning to me quickly, "I'll be back." He says before walking off.
Not only did these females not want to talk to me, even my boyfriend was ignoring me, and I'm not over exaggerating, he has barely spoken to me all night, and barely introduced me to his business partners.
I then put on a fake smile and made another attempt at talking to the girls next to me, "I like your dress." I compliment the other girl whose name I learned was Naomi.
"Thanks." She says before rejoining her conversation with Christian's clerk.
After a few more moments the two girls got up and walked to another table with another set of girls leaving me completely alone at the table.
At this point I was feeling anxiety make its way through my body, you know that feeling when you think everyone is starting at you but they're really not? That's how I felt this exact moment.
I checked the time on my phone and got up from my seat to find the nearest bathroom, when I walked in from around the corner I heard the same two girls that were at my table speak.
"Can you believe he's with that girl?"
"He was better off with you, if you weren't his clerk you would've had him in the bag."
"I mean she's okay looking but she just doesn't fit in with our crowd, she's too... trashy."
"I agree."
At this point I've heard enough and made my way back to the ballroom and went straight to where Christian was standing with a group of three other gentlemen, I tapped his shoulder and he swiftly turned to look at me with a small smile, "What's wrong?"
"Can I speak with you?" I say, my voice just above a whisper.
He turns to the men he was speaking with and says he would be right back then follows me to a secluded part of the ballroom.
"What's going on Arianna?" He asks in confusion.
"I can't be here Christian." I say looking up at him with a straight face.
"What do you mean, is everything okay?" He begins to ask, as if I were sick and needed to leave.
"Yeah, but this is not where I belong." I stop, racking my mind for the right words to say before continuing.
"This," I begin pointing to the place around me.
"It's all nice, I love dressing up, but it's not who I am Christian. I'm the type of girl who wears skinny jeans and band t-shirts on a daily basis, not pink sundresses and high heels, I'd rather wear Vans or Converse. I can't listen to jazz music for two hours, it's not my thing, it's yours."
His eyes look straight into mine and for the first time, I'm not getting lost in them. I see him searching for any reason to rebut what I'm saying as he listens intently at every word I say.
"One day you'll find a girl who loves all of those things, but it's not me." I say.
"But Arianna, I don't understand..." He trails off.
"You're trying to change me Christian, and I won't change for anyone, I am who I am."
He stands there with a solemn expression taking in what I'm saying, "Look, I hope you find your perfect match, and I hate to leave you like this but there's somewhere I need to be right now."
I'm sorry." I say before reaching up and placing one last gentle kiss onto his cheek before turning around and walking out the door.
When I made it to the hall I quickly took off my high heels and began sprinting down the hallway until I reached the doors to exit, I harshly pushed them open and stood at the curb of the road and expertly hailed a cab.
When I got in I told him exactly where to go and to step on the gas pedal, and he did exactly that. We drove past the city lights and big buildings, he was speeding but for me it just wasn't the fast I wanted right now. Soon enough though, we made it to the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, I dug through my clutch and handed him a fifty and told him to wait a few minutes.
I grabbed my shoes and ran inside clutching my heels in one hand while I picked up my dress to refrain from any dramatic falls as I made my way to the ticket desk knowing I couldn't get past if I didn't have a ticket.
"I need a ticket for San Diego, I don't care how much I just need to get to that gate before they take off." I rush out slamming my card on the counter, getting everyone to look at me, mostly because I look like a maniac coming in here with a ball gown.
"Um okay." The girl says looking through her computer.
"Please, I'm sorry but I need to catch someone before they leave." I say trying to get her to pick up the pace.
"Oh well, just go ahead it'll be gate thirty-eight. I'll tell them to let you through." She says.
"Oh my God thank you!" I exclaim grabbing my card and going through past the check in line.
I began speed walking as the girl told security to let me threw and why I needed to, they easily moved to the side as I made my way past them shouting a 'Thank you' behind me as I began to search for the gate number.
I get pointed in the direction I need to go and begin running, not caring whose watching. At this point my legs felt like jelly from the constant running but that didn't stop me for one second, I ran as fast as I could until I reached the gate numbers leading to my destination.
As the gate got into view I realized they were already boarding, I frantically looked around then saw the spikey hair I've been looking for, he was handing the lady his ticket.
"Jaime!" I shout as I got closer.
"Jaime!" I shout again getting him to turn around.
He looked at me with shock written on his face then dropped his bag to the ground before making his way towards me.
When I got to him I jumped into his embrace, wrapping my arms and legs around him as he carried me in his arms, everyone around us that witnessed the whole thing beginning to clap and whistle.
Still in his arms I pull away slightly to look him in the eyes, tears falling freely down my cheeks, "I'm so sorry. I love you so fucking much."