[A/N: So I went to see PTV last night and all I can say is AMAZING. Omg if you haven't gone to the Misadventures tour yet, you're in for an amazing night.
SECOND, sadly this book is coming to a close here soon. I've planned on finishing it in about ten more chapters. Thank you guys so much for sticking with me this entire time, I'm truly grateful. I LOVE YOU ALL <3]
Today was finally the day, I was nervous and excited at the same time but kept telling myself that it was going to all work out for me.
I placed the last few pieces of jewelry on, including my 'J' necklace and the promise ring Jaime had given to me all those years ago. My outfit itself consisted of dark blue jeans, a black lace crop top that sat just below my naval, and black flats, which weren't my favorite kinds of shoes but I couldn't wear Vans with this top.
I sprayed a good amount of perfume on before grabbing my things and walking out the door to the kitchen where Jaime waited with Lilah to leave.
"Are you ready?" Jaime asks handing me my to-go cup of coffee.
"I'm nervous, what if no one comes and I'm just forced to shut down again?" I ramble until I feel Jaime pull me into his arms softly shushing my worries away.
"It's going to great baby; you'll have so many people there that you won't know what to do. You've been preparing for this moment, and I'm so fucking proud of you for never losing sight of your ambitions. Now we're gonna go to that bakery and feed all those people with your heavenly peanut butter cookies."
I smile and feel my nerves release as Jaime places a kiss on my lips, grabbing Lilah's car seat then my hand, pulling me out of the apartment and to the car.
When I got to the bakery I saw everyone's cars outside, I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and went to unlock the door, letting David, Sarah, Alex and Tori in. They quickly went to the back to put their things away and got to work on making anything they felt comfortable baking.
I went to turn on all the lights and the music which was playing a playlist Jaime put together for me on my tablet.
I tied my hair to the side and put on my apron then began whipping up some peanut butter cookies that all my friends seem to love so much. It was one of my own creations, sugar cookie batter with chocolate and peanut butter chips drizzled with melted peanut butter.
"Babe it's almost ten." Jaime shouts from the front where he was counting the money in my cash register.
I pull off my apron and felt my heart beat faster as I walked to the front with everyone following closely behind.
I went for the door and looked outside to see nothing but cars passing by, I was broken out of concentration when Jaime's phone alarm went off signaling that it was now ten o'clock meaning it was opening time.
I turned on the open sign that hung on the window then unlocked the door, I walked back around the corner of the counter and patiently waited, Lilah was fast asleep in her car seat that Jaime put on a chair next to the register that Alex will be using.
After a few minutes of aimlessly walking around the shop I heard the bells from the front door ring and I quickly snapped my head towards the entrance to see who was coming in.
"What's up bitches!" Mike shouts as he and Alysha walk through the door.
"Oh God." I say with an eye roll while making my way over to them.
I give them each a hug as the rest of my friends walk in, along with Austin and his friend Charlie, then my parents and brother.
Soon enough my shop was filled with friends and family, a few fans that found out where my bakery was which I didn't mind in the slightest.
"Where's the cookies?" Vic asked as Alex brought him a drink from the back.
"Calm down," I laugh.
I walk to the back where I had a plate saved for him, I took them back to the table he was sitting at with Danielle and placed it in front of him, "Here, now you can stop being a baby."
"This is all I want in life." He mutters as he looks down at the plate.
"You better share those." Danielle says as I shake my head and walk away.
I heard the bells on the door ring again and turned my attention to whoever was walking in, it was one of Lisa and I's old customers Mrs. Yolanda.
"Mrs. Yolanda!" I exclaim walking over to her with a smile.
"Arianna, oh my goodness you've changed so much!" She says running her fingers through my now short hair."
"I know." I laugh.
I lean down to give her a tight hug then watch as Daniel, Lisa's son walks in. He looked around for a second until his eyes landed on mine.
"Daniel!" I say, letting Mrs. Yolanda know to order anything on the menu and enjoy herself.
I run up to him and pull him into a very tight hug, the last time I saw him was at Lisa's funeral. We had spoken on occasion but mostly lost touch, I felt terrible about it all but when I decided to reopen the bakery I called and invited him to the opening.
"Wow, look at this place Ari, it's amazing." He says in awe.
"Thank you." I smile.
"My mom would be so proud of you; she'd love this place."
I walked with him to the counter and spoke with him for a few minutes before having to greet others that walked in.
Jaime was right, the bakery was packed with people, from family and friends, to old customers and new ones was were anticipating the opening since they saw the 'Coming Soon' sign.
By the end of the day I was completely tired from all the baking I did once we started to run low on a few things, I have never baked so fast in my life, but today was the ultimate challenge and I'd like to think I did a pretty good job.
I turned off the open sign and walked out with Jaime and Lilah, I had sent everyone else home about an hour ago while Jaime and I counted today's profits and made a deposit slip, you know, grown up stuff.
Once we got home I quickly threw myself on our bed, feeling Jaime lie down next to me with Lilah who was quick to start playing with my hair.
"Are you hungry Betty Crocker?" Jaime asks with a smile.
I side glare at him then stick out my bottom lip in a pout, "Yes."
"We'll I have a surprise, so get you and Lilah in bathing suit and pack the towels." He instructs, getting up then leaving the room.
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion but shrug and go along with his plan, I raid my dresser drawers for a bathing suit and throw it on the bed, deciding to go and change Lilah first.
I walk past the kitchen, where Jaime was pulling things out of the refrigerator, and went straight for Lilah's room to dig through her drawers for her bathing suit.
I had at least three swim suits but settled for her Minnie Mouse suit, it was red with white polka dots and a shear white tutu, Minnie Mouse was on the front smiling. Lilah loves Mikey Minnie Mouse, just like her father.
I turn to where she's lying on her changing table and undress her, replacing her shorts and shirt for her swim suit which she loved, I then grabbed one of her white beach hats that Danielle bought her and placed it on her head along with her red sunglasses.
I picked her up and carried her over to the living room where her walker sat on the floor, putting her inside then going to my room to change.
I quickly discarded all of my clothes that I had worn today and replaced it all with my new favorite bikini set, the cups on my top piece had black and white lace that matched the entire bottom piece, I placed a black lace kimono around my shoulders along with a pair of blue jean shorts over my bottom half.
I went to the bathroom then pulled out some baby wipes and began wiping off all of my makeup which would be ruined if I went swimming with it.
I ran a hand through my short hair that I decided to cut last week as well as dye jet black, wanting a bit of change in my life, then walked out of the bedroom with my bags in hand.
"Are you ready?" Jaime asks shutting the lid to our cooler.
"Yes, I'll guard the food while you go change." I say with a smile.
Jaime walks past me with a smile and literally within minutes comes back out wearing a pair of red swim trunks and a white Rebel8 tank top.
"Okay, let's go."
I hook Max on his leash then follow Jaime out of the apartment and to the car where we buckle Lilah in and begin situating all of our things in the trunk while Max sat in the back barking at us to hurry up.
Once we got everything sorted we got into the car and got this show on the road.
After about thirty minutes of driving we pulled up to a beach that I literally haven't seen in years, "Jaime is this?"
"Yes, yes it is." He laughs.
I quickly push open my door and get out, going to the back seat to grab Lilah, Max and my bags, then walk over to 'our' rock and placed my bags and towels on the sand while Jaime followed closely behind with the cooler and floaties that he decided to bring.
"Jaime this is our rock, and our beach." I smile looking over to Jaime who was setting up our big umbrella.
"I know; it's been a while since I've been out here." He replies, tightening the screw on the top of the umbrella.
"I haven't been here since the day you brought me after the zoo." I mutter, sitting on my blue towel with Lilah in between my legs.
"I had come a few months after you left to clear my mind, write a few songs, just get away." He says sitting down next to me on his red towel.
"She's never been swimming." I say looking down at Lilah who looked at the water in amazement.
"Well then what are we waiting for?" He smiles, unhooking Max from his leash who was more excited than all of us, seeing as he hasn't been to a beach since he moved to Ohio with me.
Max ran for the water as we all followed behind him, Jaime taking Lilah from my arms then walked then into the water where it was just above his knees.
From behind him I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture, Max splashing around in the water while Jaime and Lilah watched, the sun low but still bright and beautiful.
arianna.rae: Family beach night, loving this view right now. (floating heart emoji)
I dropped my phone into my bag then pulled off my kimono and walked over to where Jaime stood with Lilah, "I've missed the beach." I say with a smile.
With that I walked in more until the water was just below my breast, "Come on, we'll never know if she likes it if we don't get her in the water."
Jaime laughs then walks closer to me, Lilah's toes hitting the water for the first time, her facial expression was priceless, her eyes went wide and she looked down to see what was touching her feet. Once she noticed it was water she smiled and began kicking.
Jaime kept walking into the water until both her legs were completely emerged, she found the courage to slap her hands on the water, getting Jaime and I wet instantly.
After playing in the water for a while longer we decided to get out and go eat the sandwiches Jaime had made, Max guarding our things of course.
"Turkey sandwich, light on the mayo, lettuce and pickles for you." He says handing me a Ziploc bag with my sandwich inside.
"A ham sandwich easy mayo, with tomato, pickles, cheese, tomatoes, and lettuce for me." He goes on, pulling out another bag with his food inside.
"And strawberries with banana's Gerber for the child." He finishes, handing Lilah her bottle of food, which she takes graciously but looks at it as if to ask "What in the hell is this."
We all began eating, Jaime multi-tasking and feeding Lilah at the same time, feeding her a spoon full then taking a bite of his sandwich, repeating the pattern, spoon, bite, poon, bite.
A few hours passed and the sun began to set, the colors of the sky reflecting on the water which looked beautiful from where we were sitting.
"Jaime, have I ever told you how much I absolutely love you?" I whisper, Lilah had just fallen asleep so we laid her in between the both of us.
"Only like every day." He smiles.
"Well I mean it every time I say it." I reassure any doubts he might have.
"Arianna, where do you see us going?"
I look at him in confusion then look back out to the water, "What do you mean?"
"Like, do you see us having more kids, or is Lilah going to be an only child? Do you see us getting married one day or staying like we are now forever? Where are we going to be in the future?"
I can't lie and say I wasn't taken back by his question, I had always thought of being with him forever, he was the only one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, but marriage never crossed my mind. I've just been so caught up in where we are now to fully think about where our future will take us.
"I want a family, more than just us three. Maybe two more dogs and a few more minions." I laugh looking at Lilah as if she were a yellow minion.
"If I were to ask you to marry me would you, even if it were with a ring pop?" Jaime laughs, the setting suns reflection sparkling in his eyes.
"Jaime, I don't care if you proposed to me with a string ring, I'd say yes in a heartbeat." I smile.
"Well, that makes me feel better." He laughs placing his hand over his heart.
"We could be in trash bags and in the middle of a junkyard and I'd still marry you."
"You're fucking amazing; you know that?"
I smile and lean over Lilah to kiss him on the lips, "You're the most amazing part of me."
We sat and watched as the sun went down then decided it was time to pack our things and head home, I strapped Lilah in her car seat then helped Jaime put everything back into the trunk. We got into the car and headed home.
When we finally got inside I took Lilah over to her room and carefully undressed her putting some night clothes over her body then laid her down inside her crib, turning on her nightlight and baby monitor then headed over to our bedroom where Jaime was starting the shower.
"Ooh hurry up I need to shower too." I say putting the monitor on the sink while I let my hair down from the messy bun I put it in.
"Well, we can conserve water if you take a shower with me." I see Jaime smirk in the mirror.
I turn to face him and grin, I strip out of my bathing suit and follow him inside the shower.
--
I walked into the bakery with Sarah early this morning, both of us getting to work on some new recipe's that we came up with.
After we opened the shop it was immediately hit with business, people that didn't make it yesterday coming today, but I couldn't complain because time went by quickly.
I stood behind the counter with Alex while she was showing me something on the register, hearing Danielle and Spencer laugh at something Alysha said. The girls have been here for a while, using their table to do some work on their computers.
Spencer working on her designs that she's been bringing up with Alysha who's helping her market and model the clothes she puts together, while Danielle worked on finding places that were casting models.
I turned around to ask Sarah something when I heard the door bells ring, Spencer's laugh silencing causing me to turn around and see who walked in.
When I saw Katelynn and Emma walk in my first reaction was to stop whatever Spencer was going to do, seeing as they didn't exactly end on good terms.
"What the hell." Spencer spits out.
"Spencer, wait." I say, but it was too late.
Spencer stood up from her chair and took large strides over to Katelynn who had a scared look on her face.
"What are you doing here?" Spencer says through gritted teeth.
"We're just here to see Arianna, there's no need to get attitude Spencer." Emma answers.
"Why? Because you've decided to actually be friends now? No, fuck you, you left when things got hard and now you want to come around when things are easier?"
Katelynn looks at me as if to ask for help, I quickly walk around the corner and grab Spencer's arm, pulling her back a bit before she completely ripped their heads off.
"Spencer, calm down."
"No, why should I?"
"Because, I had spoken to Katelynn a while back and we kind of cleared things up."
Spencer snapped her eyes towards me, "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I knew you'd act like this." I answer.
She looks back at Kate and Emma then crosses her arms, "You might be on her good side, but I still don't trust you fake bitches." Spencer rolls her eyes and walks back over to her table, both Alysha and Danielle confused as hell.
"Maybe we should visit another time." Katelynn says.
"You guys can stay, I'm just not sure if it will be awkward or not." I say with a soft smile.
"It already is, we'll come back another time, when she's not here." Emma says averting her eyes to Spencer.
"Too fucking bad, I'll be here every day until I die, because I never walk away from my friend." Spencer retorts, obviously hearing Emma.
"Bye Arianna." They both say, walking out of the shop.
I turn and walk over to Spencer who was focused on her computer screen, "You won't even give them a second chance?" I ask.
"No, I tried and they told me that I needed to stop being your friend too. I just never told you that they said that, but they did." She says plainly.
"Really?"
Spencer shuts her laptop and looks up to me, "Yeah, I had gone over to Emma's to ask them why they weren't friends with you anymore and they said because you were stupid and wouldn't leave Sean, then they told me to stop being your friend too. I said "Fuck you" and left."
"Wow, well fuck it I guess." I say.
Just then I heard my phone go off and went to check and see who it was, I saw a number that was unfamiliar to me but decided to answer it anyway, "Hello?"
"Hello, is this Ms. Arianna Vespillo?" A lady asks on the other end.
"Yes this is, can I ask who's calling?" I ask with curiosity lacing my voice.
"This is Brenda Jones, your mothers lawyer. Arianna, your mother is very ill and has requested to see you."
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