"No leave me alone, just go away!" I scream trying to get out of his hold.
"Don't you understand? I'll never leave you alone, you'll always be mine." His breath trickling down my neck as his grasp on me tightens.
"What do you want with me?!" I wiggle a little more trying my best to loosen his hold around my torso.
"I want you dead." He says so bitterly, as from a distance I hear her laugh, it's so chilling, enough to make a criminal shiver. How'd she find me?
I finally pull away from his tightening arms and run as fast as my legs could go to nowhere in particular, this place is so dark I'm almost surprised I haven't fallen into something. From behind me I hear my name being called,
"Ari!"
"Arianna wake up!!" I jolt from my nightmare with sweat falling from my face as my hair sticks to my face like glue.
"Oh my gosh Ari, are you okay!?" Spencer looks at me holding on to my arms to keep me from freaking out anymore than I already have. I calm my breathing and look into her eyes and nod my head slowly.
"Do you wanna talk about it?" She asks rubbing my arm up and down to comfort me.
"No, I'll be fine, just a nightmare."
"Well that was some nightmare, you were screaming. If you need to talk I'm here." She says getting up and letting out a hand to help me out of bed.
"You should go shower, it's already nine am and you need to go to work, you can take my car." I hurriedly make my way to the bathroom and start my shower.
Once I'm out I pick out my clothes and get settled into them, I skip blow drying my hair and settle with putting it into a high messy bun. I grab my bag and Spencer's car keys, waving goodbye and making my way to her black Mazda.
I quickly walk into the bakery, instantly setting my bag behind the counter and walk to the back to see Lisa putting a cake into the oven.
"Hey Ms. Lisa." I say almost inaudible but she still manages to hear me. She turns to me and walks over, immediately embracing me in her tiny arms, without question I return the comforting gesture and wait for her to pull away.
"How are you doing?" She asks keeping me at arm's length, I decided to tell her over the phone Saturday night after getting home from shopping, she told me to take a couple of days off and return Tuesday, which is today.
"I'm okay, I could definitely do without the threats Sean is sending me but I'll be fine." I say sitting down in a chair placed by me, Lisa following my actions sitting directly across from me.
"Have you gone to the police, mija you should report him." She places her hand on mine.
"That won't stop him, he'll find a way around it, he'll stop eventually." Before Lisa could answer we hear the bells from the door jingle. We both get up and make our way to the front room a man in black slacks and a black polo stands waiting with a bouquet of white roses.
"Can I help you?" Lisa asks sweetly keeping her eyes locked on the flowers.
"Uh yes ma'am, I'm looking for an Arianna Rae." He says putting the note in his pocket, I furrow my eyebrows and walk towards him.
"Um that would be me."
"Ah cool, these are yours." He says handing me the flowers and thanking us before walking out.
"Ooh and who might these be from?" Lisa says smelling one of the roses.
I take the card from the plastic card holder and immediately open it to reveal scratchy but readable handwriting, Lisa looking over my arm and to the card as I read the note aloud,
"Have a great day at work beautiful, can't wait to see you later.
Xo Walter Hanes ;)"
I irrupt into laughter obviously knowing who it was that sent this, I shake my head and place the roses by the register and pulling out my phone to text Jaime.
"Who's Walter Hanes?" Lisa asks confused I lightly giggle and again shake my head.
"Remember that guy Jaime that I was freaking out about when he came in, these are from him, Walter Hanes is a joke between us."
"Oh! Okay well isn't that sweet, what time are you two going out?" She asks making her way to the back.
"Around five." I reply
"Okay well, you can leave around three-thirty so you can go get ready." She shouts from the back
"You don't need to do that, I'll be fine, I'm staying to help." I shake my head at her constant niceness towards me, always letting me get away with things.
"Nonsense, you're leaving at three-thirty so get to work now, no argument!" She shouts back. I just oblige and text Jaime quickly, thanking him for the flowers, almost instantly getting a reply back.
Jaime: No need to thank me, I remember you saying something about white roses so I decided to send you some, beautiful just like the person that received them.
I blush for the millionth time since I've met him and reply,
Arianna: Oh stawp, you're gonna make my mouth hurt from the constant smiling, I gotta get back to work talk to you later <3
I put my phone in my bag and begin to work on the dozens of requests that have come in since yesterday.
Before I knew it three-thirty came around and I grabbed my belongings, letting Lisa know I was leaving and made my way back home. As soon as I got to the apartment I rushed to my room and began going through my closet trying to find something decent to wear.
"I think you should wear that." I turn to Spencer pointing towards an outfit laid out on my bed, she has a bowl of cereal in her hand and is talking through a mouthful of lucky charms.
"Did you pick out my clothes for me?" I say lifting up one eyebrow.
"Yes. Deal with it." She says turning on her heal leaving me in my room to change.
I walk over to the clothes that are set on my bed, and am surprised to actually like the decision she made, baby blue high waist jean shorts, a black short sleeve v-neck shirt, black fishnet tights and some black combat boots.
When I took a look at my beside clock it was already four o'clock, I ran to the bathroom to change and quickly apply make-up. I pull my hair out of the tight bun it was wrapped in and brush it out, leaving natural curls to fall slightly over my shoulders,
I then move to my make-up, applying my black eyeliner across the top of both eyelids and the bottom finishing up my eyes by coating them with black mascara I move on to my infamous red lips, matte red making them look full and plump. I look myself over once and exit the bathroom going to my room and grabbing my bag and cell-phone.
"Well don't you look hot!" I get startled by Spencer's outburst on my appearance.
"Oh shut up, hopefully this works, I don't exactly know where we're going." I say second thinking my outfit.
"Oh no it'll work, trust me." She replies with a wink. And with that a knock sounds from the door making my heart rate pick up and my legs feel like weights. Spencer quickly gets up from the couch and makes her way to the door.
"Hey! Come in, she's finishing up." I hear Spencer say to who I'm guessing is Jaime, I finally move my legs and turn to see Jaime standing with a big smile on his face. I give him the once over and notice he's wearing a black Diamond shirt, jeans and black Vans.
"Are you ready m'lady?" He says bowing his head making me giggle and nod my head.
"Have fun you guys!" Spencer shouts from her room. I reply back a 'bye' and shut the front door behind me locking it and putting my keys in my purse.
"Well don't you look nice tonight." Jaime says while opening the passenger side door for me.
"Likewise Mr. Preciado." I say before ducking my head and getting settled into the seat.
Jaime makes his way over to the driver's seat, getting in and putting the keys in the ignition and finally buckling himself in.
"So where are we going?" I say breaking the silence.
"It's a surprise, you'll see when we get there." He smirks and pulls out of the parking spot driving out of my apartment complex.
The whole car ride was filled with conversations about work and whether or not Toy Story two and three were better than the first movie, my choice being two and three, but Jaime was fighting for number one. Before I knew it we were at this cute little hamburger joint, it looked like it came right out of the fifties. Jaime put the car in park and got out racing around the car and opening my door for me. I got out and thanked him as we made our way into the diner.
"Welcome to Rocket Burger, is it just you two today?" The girl asks, she wore a black and blue dress with a white apron across the front, he hair was half up and she wore a fifties car hop hat and wore black and white saddle shoes on her feet, it really felt like as soon as I walked in I was thrown into a fifties movie.
She walked us over to our table and handed us a menu, then went back to her spot by the door. I looked around at the place and took in the interior. Elvis pictures and photos with girls wearing poodle skirts hung everywhere. Next to me on the table was a small jukebox that plays what you want if you insert a nickel.
"You like it?" Jaime says pulling me out of my thoughts
"I do, it's super cute and very retro." I smile at him then look down at my menu.
"I was hoping you'd like it, I kind of wanted to get away from the city and away from any fans, no interruptions this time." He grins and looks back to his menu.
Our waitress came and brought our drinks then took our orders leaving us to ourselves once again.
"So are you from San Diego or you just live here with Spencer?" He asks after taking a sip of his root beer.
"No I'm from San Bernardino originally but moved here with another friend, that's until we got into an argument and I decided to live with Spencer, hence why you had to pick me up at this new address." I replied, leaving Sean out of the conversation as best I could.
"Ah I see well how long have you and Spencer known each other?"
"Around nineteen years already, we've known each other since we were six." I smile remembering the day I met her,
"We were in elementary school, I was new and some boys were picking on me and made me cry. She went up to one of them and pushed him on the ground and slapped him. She got sent to the office but didn't get in too much trouble because she was defending me. We've been friends ever since."
He coughed on his drink and erupted into laughter. "She slapped a kid and threw him on the ground, wow she's a fireball isn't she?"
"You have no idea." I laughed
"So what's it like to be in a band?" I ask turning the questions to him.
"Hmm well it's definitely fun, traveling and getting to do what you love. But of course it has its moments."
I look at him and tilt my head to the side, waiting for him to continue.
"After a while you can get home sick, and all you wanna do is sleep in your own bed instead of a bunk. Use your own bathroom that fits more than just a leg." He chuckles lightening up the sudden mood change.
"But over all I can say that I love being in a band, seeing those kids faces, knowing that what you're doing has helped them in some way or another, that's what I love the most." He smiles, it was almost calming to see the love he has for his career in his eyes.
"Well, you've definitely helped me." I say looking down at my hands.
"How so?" He questions furrowing his eyebrows
"Two cheese burgers with french fries?" The waitress interrupts to which I silently thank her.
We ate our food in comfortable silence and enjoyed the rest of the night talking about random things in life, thankfully he never asked again how the band has helped me, if I were to tell him about my problem he'd probably stop talking to me.
"Okay we better go, before they kick us out." He looks at his watch and pulls out his wallet and much to my dismay he placed a twenty on top of the ticket and gets out of the booth lending out a hand for me to take, I take it without hesitation and we make our way out of the diner and to his car.
The drive back to my apartment was fast and fun if I may add in, we listened to old rock music and sang out the words to everyone of them. We laughed and joked around, something I haven't done in a while, and it was very much needed.
"We're back." He says pulling into a parking spot and parking the car.
"Did you wanna come in?" I ask
"Yeah sure." He takes the keys out of the ignition and locks the door as we walk to my front door.
I open the door and am immediately taken back by Spencer and Tony occupying the sofa snuggled under covers and watching a movie.
"Whoa.." Jaime says from behind me.
"Hey guys!" Spencer's says pausing the movie and taking a sip from her coke.
"How was your night?" Tony speaks up removing his arm from around Spencer's shoulders.
"Nice, and yours?" Jaime says walking over to them pulling me with him by my hand.
"Same." Spencer replies bringing her legs up to her chest.
"You guys can join if you want." Spencer says, I look over to Jaime and shrug my shoulders.
"What are you watching?" I ask
"Insidious two. It just started, we can pause it so you can change Ari." Tony says, throwing me off when he uses my nickname, I gotta get used to being friends with him.
"No it's fine, go ahead and play it, I'll be right back." I say getting up and going to my room, I quickly change into some black Soffe shorts and a white Guns N Roses tank top.
I walk back to the living room and sit next to Jaime on the second sofa and throw the extra blanket over us, he pulls me closer to him and wraps his arm around my shoulder as we let the night consume us.
-Jaime-
We were halfway through the movie when I heard little snores escape Arianna's mouth, I look down at her and pull the blanket a little more over her arms that are wrapped around my torso to keep her warm.
"Psst." I look over to Tony who seems to have a sleeping Spencer on him as well.
"What do we do?" He asks with a panic expression, I shrug.
"Just take them to their beds." I suggest.
I carefully slip myself out of Arianna's hold and bend down to pick her up. I look to my side to see Tony doing the same thing with Spencer. We walk down the hall to where the bedrooms are and I stop.
"Which one's which?" Tony asks.
"I don't know, just-"
"This is my room." Spencer mumbles with one eye slightly open. Tony nods and opens the door going in and shutting it behind him.
I quietly walk to her door and open it then walk to her bed and lay her down after pulling back the sheets. I almost make it out of her room to leave until,
"Are you leaving?" I hear from behind me, I turn to see her still laying down but both eyes open and staring at me.
"Well I can stay in the living room." I say pointing my thumb to the door.
"That's nonsense, you could lay here if you want." She says patting the spot next to her.
I walk over to the other side of her bed and pull back the sheets, I get comfortable and lay down facing the ceiling. Ari turns her back to me, obviously not trying to make any sort of move on me which I thank, because anyone else probably would've tried.
I turn my body to face hers and she slowly turns her body towards mine.
"What's on your mind Preciado." I smile at the fact that she calls me by my last name.
"Why are you so pretty." I say poking her cheek which makes her giggle and hide her face behind her hand.
"I'm not, shut up." She looks back at me.
"You're right you're not." I reply making her smile fall.
"You're beautiful." I say pushing a piece of her hair behind her ear, making her smile once again.
"You're quite the charmer aren't you." She says as more of a statement than a question.
The next move I made was totally against my best judgment and my brain, but I did it anyway. I put my hand behind her head and pulled her closer to where our lips were barely touching, leaving me wanting nothing more than to close the space between us, and before I knew it she did just that.
The brief few seconds that it lasted felt like minutes, she pulled away leaving my lips tingling from the disconnection and snuggled her head into my chest, wrapping her arms around me and falling to sleep almost instantly and myself doing the same not too long after.
I opened my eyes to the sunlight beaming through the white curtains, I look over to my side and see Arianna fast asleep. I pull the blankets off my body and get up, I walk to the door and open it, my nose is instantly hit with the scent of bacon and eggs.
I walk to the end of the hall and see Spencer standing in the kitchen cooking, I quietly walk behind her and scare her.
"Boo!" She gasps and turns around slapping my shoulder.
"You ass hat!" She places her hand over her heart while I try to contain my laughter.
"Ass hat? What the hell is that?" I question her choice of words.
"I don't know, I made it up. It seems to suit you well!" She scolds then giggles.
"Is she still asleep?" She asks turning back to the oven.
"Yeah, what about Tony?" I reply.
"Yeah he is, so how was the date last night?"
"It was fun, she told me how you guys met." I chuckle, stealing a piece of bacon from the plate next to her.
"Hey wait until I'm done! And did she? I beat that little boy up, and ended up dating him in high school." She laughed
"Nice, I wonder who wore the pants in that relationship." I joke
"I did actually, he ended up being gay and used me as show that he wasn't" She shrugged and I chuckled making my way to the counter and sitting in the stool.
"Don't hurt her Jaime, she's already been through enough." She says sitting in front of me taking me off guard by the change in subject.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, she's already put up with a bad boyfriend recently and she doesn't need her heart being broken anymore than it has been." She looks at me as if she knows something I don't.
"I won-" I begin to say but am cut off.
"She wasn't able to have any social media when she was in this relationship, so she doesn't see what I see on Instagram, and you know what I mean Jaime, don't hurt her. You may be famous but that means nothing to me. I like you like a brother but she's my sister, and I'll always protect her." I nod and silently agree.
"I'll take care of that, I don't want to hurt her, she's too special to me at this point." Spencer smiles at me and pats my hand that's on the table.
"Good, I don't want to beat you up like Jimmy Sanders from first grade." She laughs then looks over my shoulder.
"Good morning princess'!" She says happily, I turn to see Tony walking over to the stool next to me and Arianna not too far behind rubbing her eyes from sleep.
"Good morning." She says sleep still coating her voice, she sits next to me and leans her head on my shoulder.
Out of nowhere I hear my phone go off, I reach into my pocket and pull it out and without looking at who it was I answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hey babe where are you, you're not at home." Jessica says through the phone.
I get up and excuse myself, both Spencer and Tony's eyes burning holes into my back as I walk to the patio door opening and closing it behind me.
"Hey, I know I came to Mike's last night and stayed over because we were drinking." I say making up the quickest lie I could put together.
"Oh well, let's have dinner tonight." I couldn't avoid her any longer.
"Okay I'll pick you up at seven be ready."
"Okay sounds great, love you bye!" and with that she hung up.
I went back into the kitchen where they were laughing at some joke Tony told, probably about an incident during tour.
"Who was that?" Tony ask, to which I glare at him.
"Casey, he wanted to grab drinks later." Tony nods his head knowingly and from the side I see Spencer staring at me and when I turn to face her she puts her head down.
Once breakfast was over we all separated, Spencer walking Tony to his car and me and Arianna going into her room.
"I think I should be going, gotta go run errands and stuff." I say standing by the door.
"Okay I'll walk you out." She walks past me and to down the hall, and just as we were walking out the door Spencer makes her way inside.
"See ya Hime." Spencer says nonchalantly.
"See ya." I say back and walk towards my car with Arianna following behind.
"Well last night was fun, thanks for taking me out." She says folding her arms across her chest.
"It's no problem, we should do it again, you intrigue me Arianna Rae." I say with a smirk making her giggle.
"Likewise Preciado." She says smiling.
I lean down and place a kiss on her lips, making her unfold her arms and place them on my waist. I place my hands on her cheeks and deepen the kiss before pulling away and leaning my forehead on hers.
"I'll text you when I get home." I say, as she nods in response.
I get into my car and start it up, pulling away and waving at her as I drove out of her complex and to my home, where reality waits.
[A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR GUYS! I hope you had a wonderful holiday and got all the gifts you wanted, this chapter is very delayed and I apologize but I will work on updating more, promise.
And again if you haven't go and check out the story I'm writing with CandyPlatypus called Again, a Alex Gaskarth and Jack Barakat love story.
I have many things in store for this story just wait and see.
Love you guys!
-Adri <3]