Before, there were only two dates that I really paid attention to throughout the year.

The first was the seventeenth of May, Jaime’s birthday. It was the day that he was brought into the world and if he had never been born, I wouldn’t have found my other half. He was goofy and laid back and so damn easy to get along with. Of course, like in every relationship, we had our fights but because of him, I could never stay mad at him for that long. He knew how to make me laugh or crack a smile when I was doing my best to look angry. I was forever thankful for meeting him back in high school in our freshman year, where being in a relationship was topic of gossip and love was shy.

It wasn’t hard to develop a crush on him, nor was it easy to keep it together. He was funny and energetic—his enthusiasm contagious. That year we were just friends who ran into each other every morning as locker neighbours. Whenever he was near, I felt butterflies and the shakes, all for a person I didn’t know very well. As the year progressed, we became closer and hung around each other more often. And then he’d smile, dimples and all, and my heart would melt each time.

I couldn’t forget the day he told me he liked me. It started off terribly. I was fifteen minutes late for school because the batteries in my alarm clock juiced out which resulted in my first period teacher to growl at me and pick on me during the lesson. I had brought the wrong books to class as well. By lunch time I was so fed up with myself that I just wanted to curl up in my bed at home and never get out. It wasn’t the misfortunes of the day that was the worst, but the fact that I hadn’t seen Jaime the whole time.

When I went to my locker right before the class after lunch though, the stormy day turned into a sunny one because inside my locker was a little teddy bear holding a love heart. The love heart had two letters sewn on it—the letters ‘L’ and ‘J’. I turned around to see Jaime standing behind me with a rose in his hand. With a shaky voice, which came from someone who was always confident and charismatic, he told me that he had a crush on me too.

I didn’t even hesitate in answering ‘yes’ when he asked me to be his girlfriend. We still have that teddy bear.

The second important date was the twenty-fifth of September, the day we got married. It wasn’t grand and lavish with a big guest list at an expensive wedding venue. Instead, it was at the beach with a close family and a handful of our closest friends in high school, like his two good friends Tony Perry and Austin Carlile, who I happened to be pretty close with as well. Tony was his best man while my best friend, Layla, was my maid of honour. Marrying him was one of the best and proudest moments of my life, because that was love in its rawest form—giving yourself wholeheartedly to one person and spending forever with them.

Although it wasn’t that unorthodox to get married at nineteen, there were always the doubts of others about us. While I was studying hotel management in university, Jaime was working two jobs to help me pay the rent of our apartment and my student loan plus band practice. Even at the hardest of times we stuck together, despite how some of the people we met thought that we were too young to make it work. But we always had each other to look at and hold at the end of the day and it made everything bad disappear. As long as we had each other, we would be alright.

And things did start to turn out better. Jaime and Tony joined a band formed by two brothers called Pierce the Veil and I graduated and landed a job as a division manager that offered a decent pay too. With my salary and Jaime’s band earning more royalties as their band grew more popular, we were able to buy our first home—a three bedroom house in a cute neighbourhood. We were happy and still ridiculously in love. We didn’t think life could get any better—that was until I found out I was pregnant with our daughter, Cleo.

So then came important date number three, the fourteenth of December. Jaime was ecstatic when I told him. Tony would tell me how hyper he’d be during their shows, running around and bragging that he was going to be a dad. When he was home, he’d talk to the baby and play the guitar which she really liked, considering all the kicking.

When Cleo was born though, he fell in love with her in seconds. Cleo had my tousled brown hair while she inherited Jaime’s dark puppy eyes and dimpled smile. She was so much like him, in both appearance and attitude. She was always bubbly and loving, spreading that same, viral smile that her dad had. She loved it when Jaime sang for her and guided her on how to play the guitar.

Her godparents—Tony, Austin, Layla and Jaime’s friend Ashley—were in love with her too. Cleo was really attached to Austin though and sometimes when neither of us could make her settle down when she had a tantrum, I would call Austin and ask him to come over. He just knew how to calm her down. Jaime’s parents and mine loved her too. Life was treating the three of us well.

Except for one thing.

As much as I was happy for the achievements Pierce the Veil had accomplished, such as selling out and headlining tours across the world, Jaime was rarely home. Of course we called him on the phone and on Skype, but that didn’t replace him being with us in person. I hated lying to Cleo before she went to bed, saying that her dad would be home in a few days, only to be gone again for months.

I missed him too. Aside from being my husband, he was also my best friend, my partner in crime. I knew this was selfish of me to think, but I was glad that his band wasn’t too big when Cleo was born and he was around more often to help me raise her when she was a baby. I hated waking up to an empty bed in the mornings, and there was nothing but cold sheets to keep me warm.

Tonight, Cleo and I were watching Tangled which was her favourite. Flynn Rider reminded her of Jaime and I guess that she was right in a sense. She was snuggled close to me and I was playing with her bouncy hair.

“Mommy, who’s your favourite princess?” she asked. Because of her, we had nearly all of the Disney and Pixar movies, though it started with my mini collection. When she was born, it just kept on growing.

“I think it’s Belle,” I answered. “What about yours?”

The answer was obvious though. “Rapunzel,” she giggled. “I want long hair like hers,” she added, touching her brown curls. “You and Daddy are like her and Flynn too.”

“How is that?” I wondered.

“Daddy always comes back for you when he’s away,” she replied and that made my breath stop for a bit. Cleo was used to Jaime being away, much as I didn’t like the fact. She missed him just as I did and looked wistfully at his guitar hanging in the living room wall, next to the picture of the three of us, taken on her birthday, which was also the same birthday as the drummer of his band, Mike. I remember how it was princess themed and she made Mike wear a tiara as well. “When will he be back?” she asked.

“Why don’t we call him?” I suggested, taking out my phone from my pocket. I sent him a quick text before calling to make sure it was a suitable time to call.

Hey, Cleo wants to talk to you. Are you busy at the moment?

A reply came a few minutes later. I just woke up hahaha go ahead.

When I had just finished reading his text, my phone started to ring, showing his number overseas and a photo of him holding Cleo when she was a few months old.

“Hey,” I answered. “What time is it there?”

I heard him yawn on the other end of the line. “About eight in the morning?”

“It’s almost eight here too.”

“Let me talk to him, let me talk to him,” Cleo demanded, shaking my arm. Her enthusiasm made me chuckle and I heard him do the same.

“Put her on,” he said gently and I put the phone of speaker.

“Daddy?” she asked, holding my phone in the centre of my hands.

“Hey baby,” he chimed. “How’s school?”

“We’re learning about butterflies,” she reported excitedly. “We have a few on a plant outside our class room.”

“That’s cool. What else have you been up to?” he asked. I could hear the pride in his voice, despite him just waking up.

“Yesterday me and Mommy and Uncle Austin made pizzas. I wanted to make some for you but then I had to make one for Uncle Tony and Uncle Vic and Uncle Mike and we only had a little cheese.”

He laughed while I stifled a giggle. “That’s okay. We can have a pizza party when I get back home.”


“Daddy,” she said more quietly. “When are you going home? I miss you and Mommy misses you too.” Her honesty made my heart heavy.

“I miss you too, sweetie, and your Mom so, so, so, so much.”

“When are you going home?” she repeated. “I can keep it a secret so that we can surprise Mom,” she said mischievously. I smiled and pinched her cheek lightly.

“Next week,” he replied. “On Thursday, actually. Tour’s almost finished.”

“Really?” I cut in.

“Really,” he breathed contently. “I’ll be seeing my two favourite girls in a few days.”

“Yay!” Cleo celebrated. They kept on talking for a bit until he asked to speak to me. I reverted back to the handset.

“Are you really going to be back in San Diego on Thursday?” I asked. There had been times when he said they were going back for Cleo’s sake but in reality, they were still going to be away for another week or two.

“Yeah,” he replied. “Tour really is almost finished. We had our third to last concert last night. Today is a day off though.”

I chuckled. “Sounds like you need it.”

“What I need is to get home and hang out on the couch with your head on my shoulder and Cleo siting on my lap while watching Tangled,” he replied. “Is it weird that I miss watching while I’m on tour? Like I want to watch it on my laptop but I’m afraid the guys will make fun of me.”

“Well you have a daughter so that is a valid reason for watching it,” I answered. “And besides, doesn’t Tony watch Star Wars and Mike watches Harry Potter?”

“Yeah, that’s true,” he sighed. “I can’t wait to come back home. It’s so cold here.”

“I told you to pack some warm clothing,” I chided while I heard him laugh.

“I’ll brave the cold for a few more days,” he replied. “Everything okay at work?”

“We had that hotel inspection last week,” I explained. “We’ll be finding out the results next week.”

“I’m sure you kicked ass.”

“I hope I did. Are you and the guys doing fine?”

“We’re having a great time and we’re sort of sad that it’s ending. But we’re also really homesick so we’re okay. Hey, I’m actually going to go eat breakfast soon. I’m starving. They don’t serve breakfast burritos,” he said and I could imagine the pout he would have on his face. “I’ll call you again before we come home.”

“Okay, make sure you take care of yourself,” I replied. I held the phone away from my ear. “Cleo, go say bye to Dad,” I said, handing her the phone while pressing speaker.

“Bye, daddy,” she said. “I love you.”

“I love you so much, jellybean,” he answered. ‘Jellybean’ was Jaime’s pet name for her and he’d been calling her that ever since he found out I was pregnant with her. “Be good to your mom, okay?”

“I will,” she replied, handing the phone back to me.

“She really misses you a lot,” I whispered.

“I miss her too, not to mention her incredible mom.”

I smiled at his flirts. “Go get something to eat,” I told him.

“Will do,” he replied. “I love you, Luce.”

The words were a remedy and a heartbreak. “I love you too.”

Notes

hello :) a bit of fluff to kick off the story. this chapter was kind of short and i'm sorry about that. hope you enjoyed it anyway.

this story will be around 20-30 chapters. i'm excited! heaps of fun things

comment your thoughts, jellybeans :D rate and subscribe too! xox