My alarm wakes me up and I sit up straight away. I lean over and grab my phone and switch it off. Seconds after there was a knock on the door.
"Yeah?" I say running a hand over my face whilst yawning.
"Breakfast is done." Nicole says and smiles before heading downstairs.
Alannah was still fast to sleep so I lean over and tap her. She grunts and rolls over so her back was to me. I laugh then do the one thing I know will wake her up. I lean over slightly and tickle her and her eyes open widely. She then begins to laugh.
Her laugh is genuinely contagious, as soon as I hear her laugh I tend to smile or laugh.
"Stop!" She shouts between laughs.
She takes a deep breath and sits up. I put my hand out which she takes and we head downstairs.
"Manhã!" Alannah exclaims walking into the dinning room holding my hand.
Nicole and David look at each other and shrug before looking at me.
"It means morning." I say and they nod. I sit Alannah down in her chair then sit down beside her.
"Well, Manhã." Nicole smiles and Alannah claps. I smile at Nicole before cutting up Alannah's food.
"Do you know what time your going out tonight?" Nicole asks and I shake my head. I don't know anything about tonight it was very last minute.
"I'll find out and get back to you." I tell her and she smiles at me.
"I haven't got anything date worthy so I'm going to have to head home today to get something." I say.
Nicole and David look at each other concerned then back to me. David reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wallet. He then hands me some cash.
"What's this for?" I ask confused.
"Get something out of that it is better then you going home right now." He says and I go to hand it back to him.
"I've got money." I say and he looks at me firmly.
"Lara take it." He says just as firmly I nod and then thank him and he smiles.
After breakfast I tell Nicole I'll wash all the dishes. She thanked me before smiling and heading out the door.
I cleaned the dishes and then check on Alannah. She was playing with some toys and watching Doc mcstuffins.
"Let's go get ready." I say and she turns around and nods. She then holds my hand as we head upstairs.
I walk into my room and make the bed straight away. Once I finished making the bed I sit Alannah on the bed. I put Sofia the first on the tv and she lies down and cuddles a teddy bear.
"Are you going to be good whilst I'm in the shower?" I ask and she looks up and nods. I smile then head in the shower.
Once I get out of the shower I get changed into black jeans and a white top which I tuck into my jeans. I then blow dry and straighten my hair.
I switch the tv off causing Alannah to scan around the room for me.
"Come on." I say signalling into the bathroom. She climbs down carefully and runs into the bathroom. We brush her teeth and then I clean her face.
We head back into my room where I get her dressed. She was wearing some black jeans and and a yellow jumper. I put some socks on her feet before putting the tv back on. I sit her on the bed then go over to the desk.
After applying some concealer and mascara and then doing my eyebrows me and Alannah head downstairs.
We get downstairs and I grab my bag from the shoe closet. I check to see if all the things I needed where in there. Then I put Alannah's ankle boots on her and her coat and tell her to wait by the door. I put on some black and white snakeskin ankle boots with a but of a heel. I then put on a Carmel teddy bear jacket before leaving.
I hold Alannah's hand to the car. Once I get to the car I pick her up and strap her into her car seat. I kiss her cheek before closing the door and heading round to my side.
I get in the car and then as I close the door my phone pings. I grab it from my bag as I needed to connect it to the aux anyway.
Unknown- what's your favourite colour?
I look at my phone confused before replying an answer.
Lara- Who's this?
I connect my phone to the aux and put a song on and as I go to put it down my phone pings again.
Unknown- Its Jax I forgot you didn't have my number yet. Best save it with a heart
I laugh and then save his contact, without a heart.
Lara- lol. My favourite colour is purple.
I put my phone down and then begin to drive to the mall.
The problem about David and Nicole's house is it's so far away from everything. Meaning I have to drive to where I need to go. With it being fall it means bad weather is coming back. So it will rain a more often, meaning I'm going to have to drive a lot more.
When we park I check my phone quickly.
Jax- okay, I'll see you at 6:15
I put my phone in my bag and then climb out of the car and walk over and help Alannah out.
I carried Alannah around for the most of it because I don't want to lose her. I had searched multiple shops but I never tend to shop for myself anymore. I normally just online shop and its quick and easy.
I walked into one of the stores and it was pretty much empty so I put Alannah down and held her hand. She let's go of my hand and runs off causing me to follow after her.
"Mama look at this dress." She says pointing to the dress in front of her. "Its pretty." She says and I nod.
"You'd look so beautiful in it." She says smiling. She's honestly so cute and so kind.
"Fine I'll buy it." I say and she smiles.
Once we finish shopping I hold Alannah's hand and we go to a little cafe/restaurant type of thing. We sit at the table where I order an iced coffee and some juice for Alannah.
I also order Alannah some mac n cheese. I just ordered a grilled cheese sandwich because I didn't get to finish mine yesterday.
While we were waiting for food Alannah played with bracelet over the table whilst I took in the interior of the place. It looked very aesthetically pleasing with plants and all.
"Mama." Alannah calls tearing me away from analysing the plants behind her. I look at her and she smiles.
"Why do you always wear this bracelet?" She asks and continues to play with it.
"James got it for me before he left to go to college. You know James is our best friend and well I used to see him everyday. Now I hardly see him so this acts as a friendship bracelet." I say and she smiles.
"How many days till James comes home?" she asks twisting my bracelet around.
"Hmm about 30 days." I say and she claps excitedly.
After I finish my lunch I watch Alannah eat hers. Once she finishes her food I wipe the food from around her mouth. She got some cheese sauce on her top which I wipe away as well. I finish my drink then pay the bill before leaving.
We get to the car and I strap Alannah in the car seat. I then put the shopping bags in the trunk.
If you think I went shopping and didn't buy Alannah something you are very much mistaken.
I get into my seat and turn to Alannah to see her looking exhausted.
"Don't fall asleep now, wait till we get home." I say to her and she nods.
****
I pull up on the Miller's drive then turn to my side to see Alannah was asleep. I climb out of the car and walk round to Alannah's side.
I open the car door and pick her up and attempt to close the car door. I shut it with my foot when I hear a car door close.
"Do you want some help?" Gio asks jogging over to me.
"I'll take her." He says prying Alannah from my arms.
"Thank you." I say and he smiles. I walk to the trunk of my car and get the shopping bags. I walk to the front door and then unlock it.
"Where do you want me to put her?" He asks.
"Uh can you take her up to our room?" I ask and he nods.
I show him to our room and he gently puts her down on the bed.
"Thanks Gio." I say putting the bags on the desk.
"We're friends now, you don't need to thank me for these things." Be says and I smile slightly.
"I'd still like to thank you though whether we're friends or not." I say and he smiles.
I walk Gio to the door where he tells me he was going up to Jax's house. He then continued to tease me about mine and Jax's date.
"Do you like Jax?" He nudges me as I lean against the front door.
"He's very kind to Alannah so yes of course I do." I say and Gio shakes his head.
"Do you like like him?" He asks and I shrug.
"He's attractive and very tall but I don't know him that well. Did I mention he's extremely tall." I say and Gio nods and laughs.
"I know he thinks your beautiful." Gio says and I roll my eyes.
"And how many people does he say that too?" I ask and Gio raises an eyebrow.
"He's only ever told his mum that she's beautiful. He doesn't say beautiful unless he means it." He says and I smile slightly.
"Well I hope you have fun but if I don't hurry up Jax will beat my ass." He says and I just laugh.
"Bye Gio" I say and he smiles and waves as he walks to his car.
I go back up to my room and begin to pack away the clothes that I had brought today. After about ten minutes I walk over and lie on my bed next to Alannah.
A knock on the door makes me jolt up.
"Come in." I say loud enough for someone on the other end to hear but not too loudly to wake Alannah up. The door opens and Nicole comes in.
"Were you asleep?" She asks and I pick up my phone.
"I assume so." I say seeing that I had fell asleep for 2 hours. It was now 4:30pm when I look over at Alannah who was still asleep.
"You're home early." I say and she nods.
"I uh wanted to see if you needed any help getting ready." She says shyly and I nod. My mom has never helped me get ready, Nicole has. She always acts so shy when she asks but I love her.
She's helped me get ready for prom, graduation, she's well and truly the mother I never had.
"I'm not going to start getting ready till 5 though." I say and she nods. I lean over and start waking Alannah up.
She sits up and yawns and moves closer to me. She hugs me tightly whilst I smile back. Nicole comes in and sits at the desk then. I then remove all the makeup I was wearing as it had smudged.
After talking for a while it was 5pm. I put doc mcstuffins on for Alannah whilst me and Nicole sit at my desk. I do my makeup mostly on my own then Nicole went over my hair with the straighteners. I smile at her then walk into the bathroom to put the dress on.
It was just a red dress with flowers dotted around it.
I run my hand over the dress before stepping out of the bathroom.
"Wow." Nicole says staring at me with wide eyes and I smile.
"Bonita." Alannah says making me smile.
I twirl before walking over and kissing her cheek.
"What shoes are you wearing?" Nicole asks.
"I was thinking about my snakeskin ones but something tells me they won't go." I say and she smiles.
"Wait a moment." Nicole says and runs out excitedly and as she does David walks in.
"You look very pretty." He says and I smile.
"Thank you." I say and he just nods.
Nicole walks back in with some white boots. They where the same as my snakeskin boots just yet plain white. I hug Nicole and she smiles at me. She's such a happy person.
I put them on and do a little twirl and Alannah claps her hands which makes me laugh.
"You really do look beautiful."" Nicole says and I smile.
"Right I'll leave you girls to it." David says and walks out.
I had brushed Alannahs hair again and then brushed my hair. I applied some more lipgloss before the doorbell rang.
"Jax is here." Alannah squeals and runs out and down the stairs. I take a deep breath and then head downstairs with Nicole by my side.
"Wow." Jax says when I walk down the stairs and I smile. "Bellissimo." Jax mutters and I look at him.
He brings a hand from behind his back to a bouquet of purple flowers and hands them to me.
"Oh my god, they're beautiful." I say and he smiles. I take a sniff of them and smile up and Jax.
"I'll put them in water for you." Nicole says and I thank her.
"Right we should head off as well." He says and I nod.
I lean down and Alannah wraps her arms around me.
"I love you." She says and I kiss her.
"I love you too." I say and she smiles and let's go of me to hug Jax.
As we walk out of the house he puts his hand out for me to hold onto as I walk down the steps.
He then opens the car door for me.
I step in and sit down. He then closes the door for me and heads round to the drivers side.
Once Jax gets in I had put my seatbelt on and was staring at him. Jax was wearing a navy suit with a purple tie and it was a really nice suit.
Even sitting down he towered my height. I'd say he's easily six foot.
"You know if you take a picture it'll last longer." He says. My eyes snap from his face to out the front window and Jax smiles.
"I... uh..." I say trying to think of what to say and Jax just laughs.
"It's alright I don't mind you checking me out." He says and I laugh.
"I didn't tell you that you looked nice." I say and he smiles.
"Thank you." He says and I smile.
It took about forty minutes to get to the restaurant.
As soon as we park I went to open my car door but Jax ran round and opened if for me.
"Thank you." I say getting out. He leads me to the restaurant doors and opens the doors for me.
"Ricci." Jax says when we get in the restaurant.
"Follow me." The lady says grabbing two menus.
We sit at the table and then I look at the menus.
"Italian." I say and Jax looks up from his menu.
"Italian is my favourite" he says and I smile.
"Why is that?" I ask putting the menu down.
"Because I am Italian." He says and now you can see that he's italian. The height, the natural tan on his skin, his eyes.
"That's so cool!" I say and he shrugs.
"Speak Italian to me." I say and he laughs and looks at me. I rest my hands under my chin to listen to him.
"Sei molto bella." He says fluently with an Italian accent. I smile and then raise and eyebrow.
"What did you say?" I ask and he laughs and shrugs his shoulders causing me to roll my eyes playfully.
A waitress brings us bottle of red wine then fills up our glasses and I look at Jax confused. We didn't order yet.
The lady walks away leaving the bottle of red wine at the table. I raise an eyebrow at Jax.
"When I come here with my family they have to bring it to us." He tells me and I nod.
"I can't drink it I'm not even legal yet." I say and Jax laughs.
"No one's going to check, your here with me." He tells me.
"Aren't you driving?" I ask taking the tiniest sip of wine.
"I'm allowed a glass of wine." He tells me and laughs.
After we order dinner it felt a bit awkward and I didn't really know what to say.
"How's Alannah, I haven't really spoken to her since she was uh crying at the Miller's?" He asks and I nod.
"She's fine. She just gets nightmares every now and then, when she can't find me she tends to panic worse." I admit to him and he nods.
"Did something happen to her?" He asks and I nod. Yes.
"You'll have to wait a little longer if you want to find out what." I tell him and he nods.
"You know Alannah really likes you." I say and he smiles.
"Is that a bad thing?" Be asks and I shrug.
"You tell me." I say and he laughs.
"She's a good kid." He says and I nod and smile.
"Why don't you go to school anymore?" Jax asks and I sigh.
"Alannah is my first priority. No matter what and she doesn't go to school yet so I wont have anyone to watch her." I say and Jax shakes his head.
"No that can't just be the reason. I know for a fact all you have to do is ask and Nicole and David would watch her for a few hours or something whilst your at school." He says curiously. Yes they would but I'm not about to tell him on a first date that I can't pay for it.
"She's not their responsibility, she's mine. So if that means not going to school, I dont really care." I say and he nods. "Plus I get all anxious if I leave her for to long." I say and he looks at me confused.
"I was sixteen when Alannah was born so it meant I grew up a lot faster then I should of. Like right now I should probably be at a college party getting drunk. But I'm still here taking care of my little girl" I say and he smiles sympathetically. "Its whatever though because I wouldn't change it for the world" I say and he smiles.
"I've been meaning to ask" Jax says and I look up to him. I signal for him to keep going and he smiles.
"Is James Alannah's dad?" Jax asks I start laughing.
"Well I mean he acts like it sometimes and Alannah has called him dad a few times but he's not her dad. Wait did you think I'm Alannahs biological mother?" I ask and he nods and looks at me confused.
"Alannah's my sister. My mums too busy to notice her so I sort of stepped up and my dad left the day after my sixteenth birthday." I say and he frowns.
"That's not fair though." He says and I shrug my shoulders. Maybe
"Like I said I wouldn't change it for the world." I say and he smiles.
Alannah is everything I care about. I love her so much she means everything to me. Everything.
"You have a good heart." He says and I smile.
"But we've spoke far too much about me, you have to tell me about you as well." I say and Jax nods.
"What do you want to know?" He asks and I shrug again.
"Wait tell me about your Italian background." I say and he smiles.
"My dad's Italian and well my dad sent my mum to Italy to a safe house in the last couple of months of her pregnancy. She was surrounded by my dads family and well she gave birth to me there. When I was about 3 months old we came back to New york. So I obviously speak fluently in Italian and English now." He tells meand I smile.
"That's-"
"Sexy." he says finishing my sentence for me and I just erupt into laughter .
"I was going to say amazing." I say and he laughs.
"You know when we were talking about friends from birth the other day." I say and he nods. "Is yours Gio." I ask and he nods again.
"I like Gio, he is nice." I say and Jax scoffs.
"More like a pain in the ass." He says and I laugh.
"How old are you both?" I ask and just as I say that our food arrives.
"Thank you" I say to the waitress and she smiles and walks away.
"24, I'm 25 in january and Gio is 25 in February." He says and I nod and smile.
"So I only have to wait about two years for the wedding" I laugh.
"No no , I'll find someone before the time I'm 27." He says and I smile.
"I want you and Gio to get married." I say in a childlike tone and he laughs.
"There's no way." He says and I smile and laugh.
****
After eating dinner Jax pays the bill and we head back to his car. As we walk out the restaurant Jax opens the door for me. He then walks me round to my car and opens that for me.
"Thank you." I say slipping in the car. He smiles and shuts the door before making his way round to his car door and getting in himself.
"Have I complained about New York traffic yet?" I ask and Jax nods whilst letting out a laugh.
"I believe so." He says and I smile and rest my head on the window.
"Shit." Jax says and I turn to look at him confused. "I didn't compliment you." He says and I laugh and roll my eyes. He did, didn't he?
"You said wow, that was enough for me." I say and he smiles.
"You are so sweet." He says and I smile.
"How much do you want a bet that Alannah will be awake when I get home?" I ask and Jax furrows his eyebrows.
"We've been out for ages, it's nearly 9 o'clock." He says and I laugh.
"She had a two and a half hour nap earlier." I say and Jax looks at me shocked.
"That's so long." He says and I nod and laugh.
We finally got to Nicole and David's at about 9:30pm. Jax opens the car door for me and I smile.
"Thank you." I say and he smiles.
We stand at the bottom of the steps to the house when I turn to Jax.
"I had a really nice night tonight Jax." I tell him and he smiles.
"So did I." He says and I smile.
I turn to walk up the few steps when Jax grabs my wrist and turns me back to him.
"That is how you should be treated okay? You should be brought flowers and you should never have to open a door. You should be complimented several times" he says and I raise an eyebrow. "I only complimented you once in English, everything else was in Italian." He says and my smile grows wider.
"Well you said I was sweet and I had a good heart and well I took that as compliments too." I say and he smiles.
"You look absolutely beautiful." He smiles and I look down and play with my bracelet so he couldn't see my cheeks.
He walks me to the door where he then leans down and kisses my cheek.
"Goodnight Lara." He says and I smile and look up at him.
"Goodnight Jax." I say and open the door slightly.
"Mommy!" Alannah shouts when I walk in.
I knew it.
She was in her pyjamas and looked completely ready for bed.
"And why are you still up?" I ask picking her up and placing her on my hip.
"I'm not tired." She says then David comes running over to me.
"Oh my god your back." He says grateful and I raise an eyebrow.
"Nicole had to go to her sisters but she put Alannah to bed before she left. I went to check on her and she was playing around with toys. She told me she wasn't tired so I brought her down here with me and shes been running round like crazy. I've been chasing her and everything." He rambles and I laugh slightly.
"So I think we can tell David doesn't have it anymore." I say and he sighs, sitting down.
"My son is 19, I haven't done this in about 17 years so no I definitely don't have it anymore." He says and I laugh.
"How was it?" David asks as I sit Alannah down on the island whilst getting a drink.
"It was good." I say smiling.
"How did he treat you because believe it or not I won't hesitate to beat his ass?" David asks and I laugh before taking a sip of my glass.
"He was very respectful, he acted like a true gentleman." I say and David nods.
"Good. He says.
Alannah takes a sip out of my glass and I help her drink the rest of it so she didn't drop it.
"Well we should go to bed." I say and David nods.
"Goodnight girls." He says and kisses our foreheads before we head upstairs.
I put Alannah on the bed and she giggles before lying down. I walk over to my desk and remove my makeup.
"Mama." Alannah says and comes and hugs my legs.
"What's up bubba?" I ask picking her up and putting her on the desk.
"I can't sleep unless you tuck me in," she admits and my heart melts. I kiss her cheek and she smiles.
Once my makeup was removed I sat up and walked over to the bed. I tucked Alannah into the right side and kissed her forehead.
"I'm just going to get changed." I say to Alannah and she nods. I go into the bathroom and put my hair in a messy bun and some pyjamas.
Once I head back into my room I jump as Jax stands there talking with Alannah.
"Jesus Jax." I say clutching my chest.
"Hi." He says and I smile slightly.
"What are you doing here?" I ask running my hand over my face.
"Bag." Alannah says and I turn to her.
When Alannah gets tired her answers become one word or she becomes really sentimental. I sit on my bed beside Alannah and then take my bracelet off and put it on the nightstand.
"You left your bag in my car." He says handing my bag to me.
"I didn't even notice, sorry." I apologise and he just crossed his arms over his chest.
"I didn't notice either, Gio did." He says and I look at him confused.
"It wouldn't stop ringing." He says and I take my phone out of my bag confused.
It was an unknown number. I look at Jax confused then back at the phone.
"Who?" Alannah asks and I shrug.
"Go to sleep bubba." I say kissing her forehead again. Her eyes flutter shut and I take a breath of relief. She's fast asleep.
"Sorry I didn't mean to wake her up." Jax says and I smile.
"She was already awake, she was playing around for David the whole time." I say and laugh slightly.
"You look beautiful by the way." He says looking me up and down.
"Um... thank you. Im not trying, I'm about to lie down and struggle to sleep." I admit to him and he raises an eyebrow.
"You look beautiful. Why do you struggle to sleep?" He asks and I sigh.
"Its a long story." I say and he nods. I doubt he would want to hear.
"Well I look forward to hearing it soon." Jax says and I smile. He's sweet.
I get into bed beside Alannah and he smiles at me.
"Goodnight Lara." He says and kisses my forehead before leaving my room.
My cheeks hurt. I had been smiling and laughing all night with Jax. It was only about 11pm so I wasnt tired. I picked up my phone and began to do random things because I was bored.
I was scrolling through my contacts when I came across Gio's name. How the hell that got in there, I'll never know.
After watching youtube on my phone for about an hour I had finally began to get tired. I lie down fully causing Alannah to stir. She had so much room on her side of the bed but yet shes so close to me.
She wraps her arms around my arm and then that was it.
It didn't take much after that for me to fall to sleep.