[A/N: So just a reminder, that when i talk about songs or have people write songs it's all for fan fiction purposes, I do try to always stick with real life facts so don't kill me lol. PLUS omg who else is in love with the new album!?]
I have legitimately been running around for the past three weeks trying to get my bakery up and ready for its grand opening next month. Having to buy an ass load of new equipment, decorations, and speakers for music to play while people eat.
On top of that I had interviews to do in a matter of five minutes and I'm running late, my life couldn't be any more hectic than it is now. I've had a total of four interviews done and couldn't find anyone, either they were too young, just using my bakery as a chance to see Jaime, or had the personality of an acorn. I have a specific feel that I want to keep in my shop, happy and relaxed.
I parked my car in front of the bakery and saw a young girl standing in front of the door, her cell phone in hand, a black shirt with a plaid shirt tied around her waist, some skinny jeans and black and white converse.
I told the people that were interviewing that this was going to be laid back and not to worry about dressing in slacks and a suit coat. They could wear whatever they wanted, as long as it wasn't a bathing suit and they weren't completely naked.
"I'm so sorry I'm running late!" I say rushing out of the car.
"Oh it's okay." The girl smiles.
"I'm Arianna." I smile while pushing my hand out to shake hers.
"I'm Tori." She gently takes my hand and gives it a firm shake.
"Nice to meet you, come on in and we'll start this thing." I laugh.
I set all my bags down and motioned her to take a seat in front of me at one of the empty tables, I had to push back my awkward as best I could. This isn't my thing, I hate interviews and now I had to give one.
After about thirty minutes of questions and getting to know one another, I realized she was perfect for the job and immediately asked if she wanted the job, and to my luck she accepted.
"Thank you for this opportunity, I can't wait to start." She smiles as I walk her out the door.
"No, thank you. At least now I have one person to be with me here." I reply.
"I'll keep in contact, there's a few more things I need to do until we open, I'll be having a training soon so be ready."
"I will boss." She salutes with a laugh before getting in her car and driving off.
One down, at least three more to go. I think to myself as I walk to the back room.
And as if some sort of miracle happened I hear the jingle of bells that were tied to the door sound through the bakery.
"Hello? I'm here for an interview." The voice spoke.
I scrunched up my eyebrows and walked back to the front to see Sarah, Alex and David standing at the counter with smiles on their faces.
"Oh my gosh what are you guys doing here?" I exclaim, running to give them each a hug.
"We came to see about a job." David says as I release him from my hold.
"But what about the café?"
"We walked out." Alex states with an eye roll.
"The owner hired his niece who was a major bitch and began changing everything, from what we served to the way we dressed. The asshole told us we had to start wearing long sleeves to hide our tattoos and then said we had to take out our piercings. I got into it with her and walked out, they followed." Sarah explained.
"Whoa that's crazy, well you guys know you always have a job here, there's no need for an interview at all, you're hired."
"But I can't bake." Alex pipes up.
"We'll teach you." David and I say simultaneously.
I locked the door and said goodbye to my friends before getting back into my car to head home and spend time with Jaime and Lilah, we called it our inaugural family night that we're doing every Friday when he's home.
"I'm home!" I shout through the apartment as I shut the door and lock it.
"In here!" I hear Jaime shout back.
I walk to Lilah's room and see Jaime on the cherry wood rocking chair going back and forth as he held Lilah in one arm on his lap, and his free hand holding a Harry Potter book.
"Harry Potter?" I ask with a smirk.
"Mike says we gotta start them young." He laughs.
"Ma!" Lilah shouts getting me to turn my attention to her.
"Lilah!" I shout back, her smile shining brightly as she wiggles around in Jaime's arms.
Jaime gets up from the rocking chair and walks over to where I'm standing then hands me my child who quickly lays her head on my shoulder and plays with a string falling from my shirt.
"How did the interviews go? Jaime asks.
"Well I have four employees now." I reply while we walk out of the room and to the kitchen.
"Whoa four already?"
"Yeah, I've got Tori, a girl I actually interviewed, then Sarah, Alex and David who quit the café and wanted to work with me." I explain.
"That's awesome, I'm glad you got a staff now baby. We just gotta finish a few things and we're ready for August eighteenth." He smiles.
"I'm excited and nervous at the same time." I confess.
Jaime walks over to me and places his hand on my cheek, "You have a huge support system behind you, you'll do amazing and Lisa will be so proud of you."
I smile and reach up to kiss him, lingering there for a few seconds before separating, "Thank you."
"There's no need to thank me, that's what I'm here for." He shrugs.
"But I'm hungry right now, so I was thinking we can order some Chinese and then watch movies, I rented some kid movies but once the kid falls asleep then I've got scary ones." He whispers the last part as if Lilah would understand what he was saying.
I giggle and shake my head, "Okay sounds like a good plan."
Jaime ordered the Chinese while I went to take a quick shower, putting on my lazy clothes and tying my hair in a messy bun. I took my contacts out and placed my glasses on my nose so I could see.
I walked out of the bedroom to smell the food, Jaime sitting on the couch with Lilah, all the cartons of food laid out on the coffee table, with forks and chop sticks which I finally learned to use.
"Mmm it looks so good." I say rubbing my hands together, ready to dig in.
I sat on the other side of Lilah and took my carton of chicken lo mein while Jaime pressed play on the first movie, Toy Story.
I laughed and looked over to him, "I say we gotta start them young." He says, we both look down at Lilah who is already fascinated by the scenery.
I pulled out my phone and clicked the camera icon, "Look over here." I say getting Jaime's attention.
Jaime puts down his food and grabs Lilah, lifting her up life Rafiki held Simba at the beginning of The Lion King.
We both smiled as Lilah began to laugh, catching it in time I snapped the picture, Jaime putting Lilah back down then picking up his food again.
arianna.rae: Inaugural family night, Chinese and movies with my two favorite people. @ptvjaime (floating heart emoji)
Two hours into our family night and Lilah was already out like a light, it seems as though the pictures from the movies made her sleepy, she fought it for a minute then fell asleep in Jaime's arms.
Jaime placed her in the rocker next to him before going to change the movie, "The Conjuring?" He asks lifting up the box.
"Yeah that's fine." I say in agreement.
Just like the many other times we have movie night, we didn't get through half the movie until we began to talk, I felt a few buzzes from my phone and decided to give it a look, I opened up my Instagram and took a look at all the likes and comments on the picture of Jaime, Lilah and I.
It never failed to see a few rude but expected comments from his fans, of course they were confused, and a lot of people would be. First he's with Jessica then begins dating me out of nowhere, then starts dating Jessica again announcing to everyone that he's a dad, THEN dating me again showing that he has a daughter now and Jessica not being seen again.
I know if I were a fan I'd be like what the hell, but these people are so quick to start rumors without even knowing the full story.
ptv.girlfriends: I'm so fucking confused, like what happened to Jessica?!
Piercethejaime: I so wanted him and Jessica to stay together, this girl just keeps fucking up good relationships.
Ptvjiame: She not even that pretty! Home wrecker status lol.
I felt my blood boil, then felt tears prick my eyes but tried my best to push them aside.
"What's wrong?!" Jaime jumps quickly, turning my head to face him.
I shake my head in response, "Nothing." I smile.
"No it's not 'nothing', what's going on?"
I hand him my phone, he begins to scroll through the many comments, "Baby, don't let this get to you. Their words aren't worth it at all."
"I know, but once you really think about it, they're right."
"No, don't even begin to think that, because you're none of those things they're calling you." He cuts me off.
"I know, I know." I agree.
"All that matters here is that I love you and we're a big happy family. Those aren't fans, not in my book, I don't give a shit what they have to say because at the end of the night it's just me and you, no one else but us... and the kid." He laughs at the last part which makes me smile.
"You know that song Floral and Fading from the new album?" He asks.
"Yeah, the one Vic wrote for Dani." I answer.
"Well, I actually helped out, we both wrote it for you two, I took him a few lyrics that I jotted down back when we were still together and you were getting hate at the time, he wrote about that time when Danielle got her Instagram hacked and those girls were putting rude shit up."
"What lines were about me?" I ask looking down at my hands.
"Well the chorus, I wrote, then the last part of the second verse. Some other bits and pieces but, that's probably my favorite song because we wrote it for you two." He explains getting my heart to pick up pace.
"Can we talk about everything that happened that night?" Jaime asks after a moment of silence.
"What do you mean?" I ask with a tilt to my head.
"I mean, we argued a bit over it in Ohio, then we kind of mend things without really going over the events of the night you left. And to be totally honest, I'm still wondering where you went that night."
"Jaime," I begin until he cuts me off.
"I fucked up, and I knew that as soon as I walked out of the door. I went to Jessica's, took her to get ice cream, then hung out at her apartment for a while, I got your text messages but never answered then completely shut my phone off after you called the first time."
Jaime looked at his fingers the entire time he spoke, I stayed silent, letting him explain what really happened that night.
"Mike told me you called him, and I assume that's how you realized I wasn't really at his house."
"After the third time calling you I finally called Mike and he told me that he and Alysha weren't even in San Diego, that's when it all made sense. I found Jessica's Instagram and saw her post that she was with you and as soon as I saw that, I packed my things and left." I explain my side, looking at the TV as I spoke.
"When Jessica and I were talking, something hit me, like a pain in my chest telling me something was wrong," He points to his chest then looks into my eyes.
"I got up, which confused her, and told her I had to leave. I knew something wasn't right and I had to go home. The entire drive I was speeding, and as soon as I got home it was quiet. I went upstairs calling out your name to get nothing in response, then I went to our closet to find your entire side empty, I flipped my shit."
I feel my heart drop at the visual playing in my head of him finding all my things gone.
"I remember walking down stairs still hoping it was all a joke and that you were going to pop out and say it was all a joke. Then I saw the letter you left on the coffee table, when I read it my whole world shut down."
I felt a tear fall from my cheek as I look up at him and see tears forming in his eyes as well, "I went everywhere, Vic and Danielle's, Tony and Spencer's, only to have Spencer shut the door in my face which didn't surprise me in the slightest. I even went to Austin's."
My head shot up as soon as he said that, "You went to Austin's?"
"Yeah, we almost got into it because he was obviously pissed, but he said you weren't there so I left, haven't really talked to him since the day I took Max to him so he could give him to you, we're definitely not on good terms."
"Jaime, I was there." I confess.
"You were where?" He asks although he knew what I was meaning.
"I was at Austin's, I mean he never told me you came over, I must've been asleep when you went." I explain.
"Well obviously he was protecting you." He mutters.
"What would you have done Hime, I was already set on leaving. I was so tired of trying to work things out after so many failed attempts, I needed to breath."
"I would've begged, done anything to get you to come home, I might have done something so wrong, but I couldn't fathom my life without you. The guys had to come and literally drag me out of the house because I wouldn't get out of bed, I haven't been that depressed since I was in high school."
"If it makes you feel better, I was the same way. Once I got to my parent's house is spent almost a month at home not wanting to do anything, and it was worse when I found out I was pregnant." I say looking at my sleeping child in her rocker.
"When I found out I was pregnant they had to put me on strong anti-depressants because my depression wasn't good for her, I was stressing out the baby, I wasn't eating properly. I was scared because I didn't have you there to help me with her, but my pride was stronger than anything so that's what kept me from coming back."
Jaime looks at me with full attention, it was my turn to speak so he let me.
"When I left, it was possibly the hardest thing I had to do, but I did it. I left for Cleveland the next day, and about two months after I left I got a job and got better not only for me but for Lilah. I promised myself to tell you before she turned three, I knew I couldn't keep her away for long, especially because of Spencer, we were bound to see each other someday."
"Thanks to Tony that happened a lot sooner." Jaime chuckles.
I laugh and shake my head, "I'm not mad at him, I mean maybe for a little bit but I get it, I would want Spencer to tell me if the roles were reversed." I explain.
"Now here we are." Jaime mumbles, taking my hand in his.
I smile and squeeze his hand slightly, "You were always the one." I whisper.
"You were always my one, and I swear my future would be nothing without you." He smiles in response, raising my hand up to his lips to leave a soft kiss on the back.
"I love you Jaime." I say scooting in closer to his body, wrapping my arm around his torso as he wraps his around mine from the back.
"I love you too."
--
Jaime had woken me up super early which was around eleven in the morning, I honestly don't know how I'm going to do it when I have to be up early to open the bakery every day, lots of coffee that's for sure.
The guys had a show today here in San Diego, they weren't on tour or anything, just a fun show they were putting on with PVRIS and I The Mighty. Which meant I had to join in on the rehearsals because the girls would be there.
"I took Lilah to my parent's so hurry up and get ready." I hear Jaime say right before he delivers a hard slap to my ass from over the blankets.
I groaned in pain, and buried my head into the pillows, "Fuck you!" I mumble loudly.
"You've got thirty minutes." He says before I hear the bedroom door open as he walks out.
I rolled over and threw the blankets off my body being hot with the cold air instantly. I walked to the bathroom and began brushing my teeth, once I was finished with that I tied my hair to the side in a messy fishtail braid.
I did a simply thin winged eyeliner on the top of my lids then placed a coat of mascara on, I brushed on some powder over my face then finished it all off with a nude lip gloss, not really feeling the need to put on more than I should right now.
I walked out of the bathroom and to our closet, pulling down a black flowy crop top along with my pink Vans, then going to my drawer to grab a pair of pink shorts. I discarded my sleeping clothes and replaced them with the clothes I picked out for the day.
I tied on my Vans and grabbed a pair of pink and black sunglasses, my phone and a pink Coach cross body. I put my wallet and phone inside then walked out of the room to see Jaime in the kitchen making what smelt like coffee.
"Here, iced vanilla coffee for you." He smiles handing me my black hard plastic cup with coffee inside, I took it gratefully and began sipping from the straw, letting the cold coffee slide down my throat.
I quietly followed Jaime out of the apartment and to his car, getting in and watching as he fumbled around with the radio stations for a second before actually reversing out of the parking spot to head to our destination.
"How'd you sleep?" Jaime asks, breaking the peaceful silence I was actually enjoying.
"Okay, but Jaime I'm still asleep so let's just shhh." I say placing my index finger over my lips.
"You're so cute when your grumpy." Jaime continues to joke.
"Oh my God you're still talking." I mumble as I look out the window.
I hear Jaime choke on his water then start to laugh, going back to silence soon after, but not before grabbing my hand and intertwining our fingers, which I freely let him do.
We pulled up to the venue and immediately saw the line of fans waiting outside to get in, a site I missed seeing when I would come to their shows.
I got out of the car and followed Jaime to the back where everyone was warming up for practice.
"Hey guys!" Vic shouts from his spot on an amplifier.
"Don't talk to Arianna right now, she's being mean." Jaime responds as we get closer which resulted in him getting a slap to the arm.
"Are you still half asleep?" Danielle laughs.
"Just a slight." I laugh in response.
The girls and I watched a bit of their rehearsal before going to walk around where the merch tent was. A few fans stood in line to buy something, Drew going back and forth along with Josh the other merch guy that I just met the other day.
"Oh my God, Alysha!" I hear someone say.
We all turn around to see maybe three girls in front of us, Alysha takes a photo with them before they moved over to me, "Oh my gosh I love you, you literally inspire me." One of the young girls says to me.
"Aw you just made my day." I say giving her a tight hug.
I take her phone and snap a picture of us, "Ooh I love that, tag me and I'll go find it." I say getting her to smile then give me another hug.
"I just want to let you know that I saw some of the things those fans were saying to you yesterday on Instagram, so I went and reported their pages for you." She says shyly.
"Oh you're too sweet oh gosh, I love you, thank you for sticking up for me, I'm speechless." I say feeling my heart swell at her actions.
I give her one last hug before following the girls back to the stage where PVRIS was now warming up.
"Babe!" I hear shouting from behind me.
I turn around to see Lynn walking towards me with her arms wide open, "Babe!" I shout back.
Once I get to her I pull her into my embrace, "It's been forever!" She says as we pull apart.
"I know! I've missed you." I say as if we haven't seen each other in years.
"How's the squirt?" She asks referring to Lilah.
"She's good." I smile.
"Still has an attitude?" She laughs.
"I don't know where she gets it from." I say seriously before busting into laughter, knowing damn well she gets it from me.
A few hours later the girls and I grab our change of clothes and go inside the guys' bus to change.
I lock myself in the back lounge with Spencer and begin to change, I strip from my day clothes and pull on a pair of fishnet tights before sliding into a pair of black high waist shorts. I then placed a navy blue low cut crop top on that landed just below my breast.
Lastly I tied on a pair of black block heel platform ankle boots, they were completely comfortable so I had no problem wearing them tonight. I untied my hair from its braid and let the waves fall around my face, letting it sit like that perfectly.
I placed a few rings on as well as a black choker and a beaded bracelet, I sprayed myself down with some perfume and grabbed my phone, placing it in my back pocket before walking out with Spencer who was waiting for me to finish.
We walked to where the guys stood side stage waiting for PVRIS to walk off the stage so they could go on, I immediately found Jaime and wrapped my arms around his waist, then laid my cheek on his back.
He turns to face me and smiles as he drinks in my appearance, "You look amazing babe." He smiles before leaning down to place a kiss on my lips.
"Are you ready?" I ask while he adjusts the bass strap on his shoulder.
"Yes, I'm glad I finally get to look over and see you to the side of me." He whispers to me.
"Now until forever babe." I smirk.
PVRIS walks off stage and Mark shouted giving them thirty minutes, Jaime goes over a few notes on his bass then begins to jump around to warm up.
"Fifteen minutes' boys!" Mark shouts again, Spencer and Alysha going to the opposite side of the stage to be near Tony and Mike, while Danielle and I stood on left side to be with Jaime and Vic.
"This is gonna be one hell of a show." Jaime says as he gets ready to go on.
"What do you mean." I ask scrunching my eyebrows together.
"You'll see." He smirks, leaning down to place a kiss on my forehead.
"Okay?" I drag out.
"Good luck babe." I smile.
The show went amazingly, the crowd ate it all up, the way they sang along to each song and freaked out when one of the guys got near them was crazy, I loved being able to watch the man of my dreams do what he loves most.
"How you guys doing out there!?" Vic shouts into his microphone.
The crowd screams, that could either be good or bad but we'll assume good.
"You guys know my buddy Tony right?" Vic says getting another set of screams in response.
"Well before we get to our last song of the night, he actually has a few words to say." Vic finishes, handing Tony the microphone which was a site to see because he hates speaking to large crowds.
"Hi." He smiles.
"Okay so I'm not so great at these things which is why I'm doing it, because she wouldn't expect something like this." He says, no one understanding what he's talking about but my gut had a feeling.
"Is it okay if I speak my feelings to you guys right now?" He asks, everyone yelling and pulling out their cameras to record the whole thing.
"So I have this little lady in my life and I really like her you guys," He begins.
"She's my best friend and has given me everything I want in life, but there's just one thing missing and after two months of stressing over it, I finally came to the conclusion on what I have to do." He explains.
"Oh my God, is he?!" I exclaim looking over to Danielle who has the same shocked expression on her face.
"Spencer can you come here for a second?" He asks turning to his side where she stood.
At this point Danielle and I are practically on the stage wanting to see what's about to happen, Jaime turns to me and smiles, then moves out of the way so Danielle and I could get a better view.
"Spencer," Tony begins again before putting the microphone on its stand.
"I'm not good at speeches." He laughs, his voice was faint since he put the microphone away but we could all still hear him.
"I've literally loved you since the day Jaime and I went to the mall with you and Arianna, I knew I wanted a future with you the moment I saw your smile and heard your laugh, I wake up every day happy knowing that I have you in my life. You've given me a family, and strength to keep doing everything I can to keep you smiling."
I see Spencer wipe a tear from her eye as he continues to speak, "The only thing left for me to do is take this relationship to the final step,"
Tony turns to Mike who reaches over his drum set to give him a little blue box, as soon as Spencer sees it she raises both her hands over her mouth.
Tony kneels down on one knee and says a few words before Spencer begins to nod her head rapidly, sticking her hand out to him as he places a ring on her finger.
Tony gets up and pulls her into his arms, her legs wrapping around his body as she holds onto him tightly.
The crowd erupts into loud cheers, including us girls and the guys who start clapping.
"OH MY GOD!" Danielle shouts fist pumping with victory for them.
After a few moments, Spencer finally releases Tony from her embrace and walks back to the side while the guys wrap up their show.
"Hell yeah!" Vic shouts.
"Well damn, this one's called Floral and Fading."
The guys begin playing and let the beautiful song fill the entire room,
"You say you want to chase the moon like fire
Well, together we can fake our own deaths here
Just wanna be alone and watch as you all just disappear."
Jaime turns to look at me, winking with a smile as he continues to play along with the song.
"I want devil horns
I wanna breathe in your rush
I wanna leap when you want me to fly
But darlin' I don't mean to beg
But these thorns on the stem are nearly tearing up my skin."
"Can you believe we're here right now?" Danielle asks as she links her arm with mine.
I look at Jaime clapping his hands over his head motioning the crowd to do the same, my smile growing ten times larger at the sight,
"I still feel like it's a dream."
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