I poured some iced coffee in my to go cup and quickly checked my phone for the time, ten till twelve, "Shit." I mutter to myself.
Jaime emerges from our bedroom nothing but a pair of dark blue jeans on, a towel in his hand as he rubs it over his hair to dry it from the shower he just took, "You're late." He laughs.
"Thanks for pointing that out." I say with an eye roll.
"What are you two going to do while I'm gone?" I ask as Jaime comes over to me and places a soft kiss on my shoulder.
"Oh I don't know yet, probably go to my parent's house. Go do some shopping maybe. We're just gonna go with the flow." He smiles, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"Okay well I should be done in a few hours, I'm just teaching them the basics today."
I grab my keys and purse from the counter and place a kiss on Jaime's lips before walking towards the door.
"Oh, what do you want to do tonight?" Jaime shouts right as I place my hand on the door knob.
I scrunch my eyebrows together and look at him with confusion, "I don't know, what's so special about today?"
He looks around and scratches the back of his neck before smiling, "Um nothing, I was just asking in case one of the guys asks if we want to hang out." He responds.
"Oh, well nothing. So I'm okay with anything." I smile in response before saying 'I love you' and leaving.
I drove down to the bakery and saw all of my employee's cars sitting outside while they stood outside the door, talking and on their phones.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." I say rushing out of my car and to the door to unlock it.
"We've only been out here waiting for like twenty minutes Rae." David comments, receiving a glare in the process.
We all walked in and placed our bags on the counter before going to the back where the learning would begin. I pulled out bowls and mixers then put them in front of each of my "in training" bakers.
"Okay this will be easy; you can't screw this up it's so easy." I say while I hand them each a box of ingredients to begin.
"This is one of my favorites, Butter Beer cupcakes." I smile.
"Oh like from Harry Potter?" Tori asks with a wide smile.
I nod my head in agreement and begin giving them instructions, we were making these by scratch but the process was simple. At least to everyone but Alex.
"You poured it in the wrong bowl." David says to Alex who looks very confused.
"What do I do?" She looks up to me with wide eyes.
"You're gonna have to make a new bowl." I laugh when she makes a face.
"That's it, you're fired." Sarah says getting Alex to shoot her a look as if to say 'Seriously?'
"Oh shit, I can't fire you, I'm not the boss anymore." Sarah mutters to herself.
I laugh and shake my head at their comments to each other while David and Tori keep mixing their things together.
"Arianna, fire her." Sarah says in conclusion.
I laugh and look at Alex whose eyes are wide in worriedness, "I'm not going to fire you Alex." I chuckle getting her to let out a shaky breath.
"I told you guys I'm not good at this."
"We'll just let you stick to waitressing or doing the cash register." I say getting her to nod in agreement.
After a few more hours of lessons we decide to call it a day, "I'll see you all on Tuesday." I say as we walk towards the front of the store.
"Oh wait Ari, not yet!" Sarah exclaims throwing her bag back onto the counter before rushing towards the fridge.
I look at her with confusion then watch as she pulls out a cake from the bottom rack then kicks the door closed with her foot, she brings the cake over to us around the counter and places it in front of me, "Happy Birthday!" She smiles.
Suddenly realization hits me when I remember that today is actually my birthday, "Holy shit, it's my birthday!" I shout.
"Did you actually forget your birthday Rae?" David asks with one eyebrow raised.
"Yes! I've been so side tracked trying to get this shop finished that I forgot it was my birthday, oh my God that's why Jaime asked what I wanted to do tonight." I mumble the last part to myself.
I shake it out of my head and look at the cake in front of me that Sarah placed candles on and lit each of them carefully. I blew them out and began to cut out pieces for them to which they gratefully took and quickly ate before Alex covered it back up and placed it in the fridge again.
"Well have a great night and don't get too fucked up." Tori laughs as we walk out the door.
"I'll try not to, but no promises." I smirk.
I get into my car and quickly call Jaime, why didn't he tell me anything? Did he forget it was my birthday too?
I was quickly sent to voicemail which concerned me more than it probably should have,
You have reached my voicemail, if this is an emergency call Arianna, if you're dying then I don't know why you're calling me when you should be calling 911. In any other case then just leave me a voicemail or text me. BEEP
"I'M GOING THROUGH A CRISIS JAIME PRECIADO AND YOU SEND ME TO VOICEMAIL!! IT'S MY FUCKING BIRTHDAY AND I FORGOT, YOU BETTER BE HOME OR I'LL KICK YOUR ASS."
I end the call and place my phone in the cup holder then focus my eyes on the road driving the rest of the distance to my apartment.
When I got to the apartment I quickly got out and skipped up the steps leading to our door, I shove the gold key into the lock and push the door open with so much force it hit the wall with a loud bang.
"Jaime!" I shout through the apartment getting nothing but silence in response.
I march to his music room and open the door to find it empty, next was Lilah's room, again it was soulless and quiet, where is everyone?
I walk over to the kitchen and lean my body against the counter, my phone pressed onto my ear as I ring Jaime again in hopes of an answer this time. But of course I got sent to voicemail again, only this time the voicemail was different from the one I heard on my way home earlier,
Hey you've reached Jaime, I'm kind of tied up at the moment trying to make this night perfect for my girlfriend. So if this is an emergency then please call your mom or 911. If this Arianna, hey baby, go to our room and check out your surprise.
I quickly end the phone call and speed walk to our bedroom and flip the lights on being met with a new outfit laid neatly on the bed with a note on top.
I picked up the note and opened it to read what was on the inside,
Happy birthday beautiful!
I was wondering how long it would take you to realize today was your birthday.
I didn't forget I promise, I just wanted to keep this charade up for a while so I can surprise you.
Put on this outfit that Lilah and I picked out for you and go downstairs for the next part, I love you princess.
Jaime
I put the card back down and looked over the outfit he put together, it was a black spaghetti strap skater dress, that landed mid-thigh and some cute black leather and beige rope wedges that had a strap across the top of my foot and buckled around the ankle.
I slipped into the outfit, not worrying about a shower since I had taken one this morning, then went to the bathroom and began working on my makeup and hair.
I turned on my curling wand and began doing my makeup while that heated up, I went soft with my eyes, going for a neutral brown crème shadow then blended in a bit of black around the corners before grabbing my liquid liner to draw a winged like shape over it.
I brushed some powder over my skin and moved onto the lips coating them with a nude lipstick to finish off the look. I then began twirling strands of hair around my curling wand then set the curls with a bit of hair spray to lock them in for the night.
I walked back into the room after shutting off everything in the bathroom then began placing all the pieces of jewelry Jaime picked out on, my favorite being the long gold chain necklace with a feather at the end.
The gold jewelry was a theme he chose, seeing as I had matching gold bangles, some black and gold stud earrings and some gold rings, everything was well put together which worries me in a way.
Last but not least, he had placed a beige fedora hat that had a black ribbon tied around it on the bed to finish off my entire outfit, I placed that on my head and sprayed on some perfume before grabbing a brown cross body and a pair of black sunglasses with brown lenses.
I grabbed my keys from the table by the door and walked out of the apartment locking the door behind me before skipping down the steps and to where my car was parked to see what was next on this journey of surprises.
The next thing I knew my eyes were covered by a pair of hands blinding me instantly, "Don't worry it's just me." I hear Jaime say from behind me.
"What's going on?"
"Trust me would you?"
I oblige and feel him let go of my eyes and quickly recover them with a blindfold then lead me to what I assumed was his car, he helped me into my seat and then buckled me in before shutting the door and making his way into his seat, starting the car and beginning to drive to where ever he was taking me.
"Jaime where are you taking me?" I ask, still blind and clueless.
"Shh, just enjoy the music." Is all he said before turning up the volume on his radio.
After what felt like thirty minutes in the car we came to stop and I heard the car turn off.
"Are you going to kill me?" I joke getting Jaime to laugh and get out of the car.
I hear the door next to me open and feel Jaime reach across me to unbuckle my seatbelt then take a hold of my hand to lead me out of the car and to where ever I'm going to be murdered at.
I hear what sounds like a front door open and follow Jaime some more, seeing as I have no choice at this point since he's holding both of my hands knowing I'd rip this blindfold off in a heartbeat.
"Okay stand here." He says letting go of my hands.
I feel him begin to untie the blindfold from my eyes and as soon as I readjust my eyes to vision I'm immediately taken back by a group of people in front of me.
"SURPRISE!" They all shout.
"Oh my gosh." Is all I can say turning to Jaime to bring him into a tight hug.
"You did all of this?"
"Anything to see that beautiful smile." He mumbles into my hair.
I turn around and start greeting all of my friends, seeing my dad emerge from around the corner, "Dad!" I shout taking off in a dead sprint towards him.
"Mia bella." He says in Italian as I hug him tightly.
"What are you doing here?!" I ask as I pull away from him.
"Well Jaime told us what he was planning and we decided we'd break our news to you as a surprise too." He says getting me all sorts of confused.
"What news?"
"Well we," He begins turning to Veronica and my brother who walk around from behind him.
"We decided to move to California, we miss you and Lilah too much."
I stood frozen in shock and pure happiness then pull them all into a group hug, "Oh my God I'm so happy right now!" I shout into my brother's shirt.
"I just missed Lilah, you not so much." Leo says earning a hard slap in the chest.
"You gotta do better than that." He mutters with a grin.
I roll my eyes and cross my arms, "Dad." I drag out.
"Guys we just saw each other, let's not start." My dad scolds.
"I'm just kidding, I missed you monkey." Leo says pulling me into a side hug.
From a distance I see a tall tattooed guy standing towards the back making my smile grow wide, "If you'll excuse me guys." I say excusing myself momentarily.
"Best friend!" I shout as soon as I get to him.
"Best friend!!" He shouts back pulling me into a hug.
Once we released from the embrace I noticed his friend Charlie standing next to him with a smile, "Charlie, it's nice to see you again." I say giving her a warm hug as well.
"Likewise, happy birthday." She says sweetly.
"Thank you." I reply with a smile.
"Look who I found." I hear Jaime come from behind me, I turn around to him and see a very happy Lilah in his arms.
"My baby!" I say taking her from him to cradle her in my arms.
I felt a sudden rush of awkwardness realizing that Jaime and Austin weren't really on good terms still, but this had to stop and I was going to finish it right now.
"Okay this is stopping right now; you guys need to civilize for me." I say getting them both to look towards the ground.
"Right now." I say sternly.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you she was with me the night you came looking for her." Austin speaks up.
Jaime looks at him quizzically, "I'm sorry I was such an ass about the situation, thank you for taking care of her when I didn't."
I smile and feel my heartstrings pull when they give each other a bro hug, concluding the heat between the both of them.
"Now let's fuckin party!" Austin says with a laugh.
The rest of the night was filled with laughter, food, games and more food. Seriously though, there was more food than people at this shin dig, but in all reality I wasn't complaining one bit because I was finding myself going back and forth from the food table at least once every thirty minutes.
"Okay guys can I get everyone's attention?" I here Jaime say from the patio of Alysha and Mikes backyard.
Everyone goes silent as he pulls out a wooden stool then looks in my direction, "Arianna."
I let my feet guide me to where he stood, he motioned me to sit in the stool to which I freely did while he went behind the food table pulling out his black acoustic guitar.
"I wrote this for you and I really hope you like it." He smiles while he begins to strum the strings.
"I just fell in the deep end
Like a lush without her weekend
I wrote this for you kid
It's not what I wanted but I need it
But man it's a long trip
From all the crazy things I've seen in this world
I'm blessed, I guess.
What if I was the secret and you couldn't keep it
And I swear I saw something good in your eyes before
And if I sang it in the right key
And I asked you politely for you to find a way home."
I feel the heat rise up to my cheeks with a smile that won't seem to fade, Jaime kept his eyes focused on mine as if we were the only two here.
"I find it difficult to sleep when all the walls
Seem to talk to me
I find it that I can laugh
Because my heart's so fucked up I can barely stand the
Sudden sounds of the cars outside
The red and greens on the traffic lights
That the only thing I got is this
The only thing I want is this
Memories to make me smile
A girl to stand there and so she can admire
The way I can never ever really keep my hands to myself
But the alcohol tastes so sweet
When it's mixed with lies and defeat
Oh all the battles I lost and lost again."
I watch closely as he closed his eyes on certain parts, his fingers never stopping and his voice sending chills down my spine with how melodic it sounds.
He took a deep breath before finishing out the song,
"What if you were the secret
And I didn't see it
And I swear to God I wish these thoughts of mine
Could create the sunshine
It's beautiful as your eyes
I paint this night sky
And it's not like you need this
I just wanted you to see it
Tonight."
Everyone around us began to clap but my first instinct was to get off the stool and throw myself at the man in front of me and crash my lips onto his.
"I fucking love you." I whisper, looking into his chocolate brown eyes.
"I love you more."
"So cute, I wanna puke at all the gushiness." Vic says coming around us to get a plate of cookies.
"I hope you choke." I smirk getting him to turn around with a hurt expression on his face.
"That's so rude, I hope you guys get interrupted while trying to get it on the bedroom."
I burst into a fit of giggles while he walks away and towards our table.
A few minutes later all of our parents and decided to go home so we could enjoy the rest of our night, I let my parents take Lilah off our hands saying as soon as we left here we'd go to their hotel to pick her up.
We didn't plan on drinking much so we'd be fine to get her and end our night together as a family.
"Time to turn up!" Mike shouts from his patio with two bottles of liquor in his hands.
About three hours later Jaime and I found ourselves babysitters of my own birthday party, it was fun to say the least though, I definitely don't regret being sober tonight.
"Arianna!" I hear Tony shout from across the lawn.
I walk over to where he's sitting and take a seat next to him, Spencer occupied with Alysha at the beer pong table.
"What's up turtle?"
"I'm so happy Jaime ran into all those years ago." He slurs.
"Me too." I smile.
"Has your hair always been that color?"
I laugh and shake my head at his question, "Yes, always has been Tone."
"I don't like it."
I cover my mouth to conceal my fit of laughter while Tony stays as serious as ever at the moment, "Well what do you suggest?"
"Purple." He hiccups.
"I'll think about that one." I laugh.
From the distance I see a very drunken Vic standing on a table dancing for everyone who cared enough to watch.
I get up and walk towards him and pull out my phone to take a picture of him knowing this would embarrass the shit out of him later, but it's karma from when he made fun of my antics in the UK.
Once they all ran out of alcohol I decided to hand out bottles of water to sober everyone up a bit, "Here Spencer, take this." I say handing her a bottle.
"What is this?" She asks examining the bottle closely.
"It's water."
"I don't want this." She slurs throwing the bottle across the backyard.
"So rude." I mumble.
After a few minutes Mike comes out of the house with Alysha and trash bags, "Gotta start somewhere." He laughs.
Jaime and I take a bag from his hands and begin to pick up some of the trash which was mostly beer bottles and red solo cups.
Once people saw what we were doing they actually became sober enough to help out and by the time we knew it the backyard was clean again and everyone decided it was a good time to head home for the night.
"Good night guys." Danielle says pulling Vic along with her who was still a bit buzzed.
"Bye." We say in unison.
"Okay well I think it's time we go too; we have to go get Lilah." Jaime says giving Mike a hug as well as Alysha.
"Thank you guys so much for letting us party here." I say giving them each a hug too.
"It's no problem at all, anything for my best friend." Alysha says.
Jaime walks with me out to his car shouting a 'bye' to Alysha and Mike as I shut the passenger side door, Jaime going around to his side, settling in before he turns the car on and begins his way to the hotel my parents told us they were staying at.
"Thank you for tonight." I say turning to Jaime with a smile.
"You're welcome babe."
He reaches over the console and takes my hand in his, intertwining our fingers but keeping his eyes firmly on the road which was completely dead due to the fact that it was around two in the morning and everyone in the city was probably asleep.
Jaime slows down at a red light until it quickly turned green making him accelerate the speed again, I saw a bright white light on the left of me, feeling Jaime's hand tighten on mine instantly,
"Jaime!"