Every relationship had their ups and downs, some are made public which is how judgment arises and some are kept private and that's how praise arises. For Camilla, the mere idea of people knowing her personal life made her cringe...but, Aubrey was who she wanted. Not out of comfort, out of genuine love.
"Grandma has a nice set up in here for you, doesn't she?" Camilla said to Alijah, wrapping him in his towel as she took him out of the bath and to his room which Julianna had prepared for him incase he ever stayed over. "I know, you liked the water, I'm sorry" she said, hushing him as he began to cry.
"Mama's boy" Camilla said, kissing Alijah's belly, making him smile. She moisturised his skin, putting on his diaper and his onesie. Once changed, Camilla took him downstairs with her to make him a bottle and get him ready for the day. It had been a week since Camilla's last conversation with Aubrey, she'd decided to keep her distance from him till she felt ready. He'd seen Alijah a few times via their mothers but she herself hadn't made any contact with him.
"I thought you were breastfeeding?" Julianna asked, entering the kitchen to make herself some tea in a flask.
"I'm not producing as much milk these days, there's no point" Camilla shrugged.
"Do you want tea or anything before I leave?" Julianna asked, watching Camilla position Alijah to feed him his bottle.
"I'm alright mom, I'm not hungry or anything before I leave" Camilla forced a smile, sitting on the kitchen stool with Alijah.
"You need to eat, I don't like to feel worried about you" Julianna sighed.
"Mom I'm fine, go to work and have a good day"
"I don't wanna sound patronising, I apologise honey" Julianna replied, kissing Camilla on the cheek and kissing Alijah on the forehead. "Any plans for today?"
"Not really, Brielle wants to go out tonight since she doesn't have Zac until next week Monday"
"You should go, I'll look after Alijah"
"You've already done enough mom, I'll just stay home" Camilla shrugged, turning her attention over to Alijah. "You're drinking all of this bottle in one go? Wow, mamas big boy" she smiled, watching him smile with the bottle nipple still in his mouth.
"No, you need to go out and enjoy yourself. I'll be home by before 10:00pm, so just get ready in the mean time" Julianna fanned her off, quickly exiting the house to head out to Frings'.
-
The tension at work between Aubrey and Julianna was heavy. He didn't know what to say, he knew Camilla would've told her mother what occurred between them so there was zero point in continuing as if things were normal.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Aubrey said, poking his head and top half of his body through the double doors that led to the kitchen. Julianna was stood behind the chefs, observing how they cooked what she'd told them to.
"Hold on" Julianna said, finishing her explanation to the Junior chefs before exiting the doors with Aubrey. "What would you like to talk about?" She asked.
"I just feel like I have to apologise to you as well, you've always had faith in me to be the man your daughter needs and I feel as though I've let you down too. I'm sorry for hurting your daughter, I really do love her and I will do everything in my power to fix this"
"I appreciate the apology, I understand that you're sorry and I believe that you love my daughter" Julianna gave a short smile. "I shouldn't be helping you but, tonight Camilla was supposed to go out to with her friends, I offered to babysit and she didn't want me to, so how about you come over to my house, ask to take Alijah and let her enjoy herself"
"You think she'll want me to, though?"
"I'm sure she'd appreciate it"
"Alright, thank you Julianna. Not just for this, for hearing me out and stuff" Aubrey smiled.
*Hours later*
"Where's my baby?" Camilla said, coming downstairs fully dressed to see her mom in the laundry room folding clothes.
"In the living room" Julianna said. "Don't you look hot, wow" she laughed, complimenting Camilla.
"Thanks mom...is he by himself?" Camilla raised an eyebrow.
"No, go look" Julianna laughed a little. Camilla furrowed her eyebrows, heading to the living room to see Aubrey sat down burping Alijah.
"That was a big burp" Aubrey chuckled at Alijah, changing the position he was holding him in.
"How comes you're here?" Camilla stopped at the doorway, somewhat annoyed that Aubrey was here but still excited to see him.
"Your mom said you're heading out, I wanted to see Alijah so I thought I'd come get him while you enjoyed yourself" he looked at her, completely besotted. "You look good, real good" he smirked.
"Better than Gwen?" She thought to herself, but avoided saying to keep the peace.
"Thank you" she smiled.
"Can we talk?" He added.
"As long as you don't make me cry, took me a while to do all this" she pointed to her freshly done makeup.
"I won't" he chuckled, his eyes roaming up and down Camilla's body as she sat in front of him, crossing her legs and putting her left hand on her knee to reveal her vacant ring finger. It hurt him and he wanted to address it but chose to not provoke any negative feelings in Camilla.
"Well?" Camilla said, tilting her head to the side as Aubrey stared at her in awe. He was nervous, no matter how long they'd been together, Camilla still gave him that feeling he felt the first time he'd seen her. Especially given the situation they were going through and his inability to see her and hold her the way he wanted to.
"I miss you baby, I did an unspeakable thing but I'm not me without you. On a serious ting" Aubrey said. Camilla folded her arms and pursed her lips.
"You know I miss you, but one week doesn't make something like this go away. If I fucked one of the employees, your skin would crawl just being around me or even being in that restaurant. Tell me I'm wrong?" She looked him straight in the eyes.
"You're not wrong, but that wouldn't stop me from loving you or even wanting to be with you. All I need is one more chance, I wanna show you that one mistake doesn't mean anything to me and eventually it won't mean anything to you"
They were interrupted by Julianna opening the door to Brielle who walked into the front room. Camilla had confided in Brielle and Alisha about Aubrey's infidelity a few days ago, she wanted to keep it private but she also wanted to tell her friends why she was ignoring their calls and texts.
*3 days ago at Brielle's house*
"What's going on with you?" Brielle asked folding her arms as Camilla sat down in front of her and Alisha. "You've been avoiding us, why is that?" Brielle frowned at her.
"I'm going through a lot right now, Bri. I'm sorry" Camilla glanced at her. "Are you guys good?"
"Camilla, fuck my feelings. What's going on with you? We're worried"
"Exactly, you're always making sure that we're good and it's our turn to make sure that you're good" Alisha gave a her a short smile.
"If I tell you guys something, you'll keep it between us?" Camilla sighed.
"Who are we gonna tell Camilla? We're only friends with each other" Alisha laughed. "But, yeah I'll keep it between us"
"Yeah I won't say anything" Brielle laughed, pushing Alisha playfully.
"Um, Aubrey cheated" Camilla put her hands on her head, breathing in and out as a lump formed in her throat.
"He fucking what?" Brielle growled, dropping her phone out of shock. "This is the part where you say, just joking because if not I'm gonna break a bottle and walk over to that restaurant myself"
"That fucking idiot" Alisha muttered. "Who was it? Where can we find her?"
"You know that girl that works for us, Gwen? He said she gave him head" Camilla kissed her teeth.
"Oh my fucking-, is he crazy?" Brielle stood up, resting her hand on her hip. "I can stab the both of them if you want? No funny shit"
"I don't even want none of that to happen, I just wanna be away from him right now" Camilla held back her tears as the pair of them crowded round her to hug her.
"Are you going to stay with him?" Alisha asked,
"I want to. You guys know how I feel about him, he's my first...everything" Camilla sighed. "Does that make me stupid?"
"Not to me, everybody gets cheated on but nobody ever speaks about it because they feel embarrassed. You shouldn't feel embarrassed, the men that cheat should feel embarrassed" Alisha spoke. "I think you deserve better if I'm honest, but I support you with anything you do"
"I've cheated and been cheated on, so I see it from both perspectives. He probably really didn't mean to hurt you, that's not in his nature when it comes to you but at the same time it hurts a whole lot when you're the one that's been cheated on" Brielle confessed. "You guys are married, you just had a baby and you've been together since you were kids. Take him back but fuck with his head a little bit"
"You should fuck one of his friends, maybe Baka?"
"Not 40" Brielle laughed. "Oliver is pretty cute"
"I'm not fucking none of them" Camilla laughed.
"We're kidding anyway, you should just go out, dress up and show him what he's missing" Alisha nudged her.
"I love you guys" Camilla blushed, hugging them both.
"This is like that scene in the Destiny Child music video where they hug Kelly" Brielle laughed.
"I'd be Beyoncé though" Camilla joked.
"You're the one being hugged, so right now you're Kelly" Alisha giggled.
-
"Hi Alijah" Brielle cooed at the baby. "Hi cheater" she added, cutting her eye at Aubrey.
"Always a pleasure to see you Bri" Aubrey kissed his teeth at her.
"Whatever" she groaned. "You look sexy, what the fuck, I thought you said you had a mom body now?" She laughed, slapping Camilla on the ass.
"Ouch" Camilla laughed. "We can finish this conversation later" she turned back to Aubrey.
"Cool, just think about what I said though, yeah?" He raised an eyebrow.
"I will" She forced a smile.
"Come on, Alisha and Kennedy are outside in the Uber, we need to go" Brielle said, making Aubrey glare at her.
"Kennedy?" Camilla seemed confused.
"She kinda invited herself, but she said works at the club, we get free drinks and we don't have to pay to get in. I'm not gonna let her tongue kiss you or nothing, don't worry" Bri smiled. "Or am I?" She said, sticking out her tongue at Aubrey.
"Uh, cool" Camilla nodded, feeling awkward. "Bye mom!" Camilla yelled to Julianna.
"Later! Mek sure yuh keep yuhself safe!" Julianna yelled back in patios.
Bye, make sure you keep yourself safe.
"I will!" She chuckled. "Bri, my purse is in the hallway can you get it for me?"
"I'll wait by the front door with it" Bri rolled her eyes. "Bye Alijah, bye cheater"
"Tell her to fuck off, Alijah" Aubrey grinned, to which Alijah started smiling. "Oh word, that's funny to you?" He chuckled.
"Bye, baby" Camilla kissed Alijah on the forehead, wiping the lipgloss off of him afterwards. "Bye, Aubrey" she rolled her eyes, smiling.
"Bye baby" he smirked, pulling her into him and slapping her on the ass.
"Stop it" she pushed him playfully. "You probably used that same hand to hold Gw-"
"Bri's waiting for you" he quickly said, diverting the conversation before it took an ugly turn.