Ainsley rolled over and groaned at the sound of the fan circulating around the room. Wait a minute, I don’t have a fan. She shot up, immediately regretting it as a piercing headache rang through her skull, blurring her vision for a quick moment. She blinked a bit and took a few deep breaths before scanning the room. She didn’t recognize any of her surroundings. Where was she? The last thing she remembered was getting in the limo with her ex-boyfriend, Bret. Could she still be at Bret’s house? No, that wouldn’t be right. Jeric was coming to pick her up and take her home, so why wasn’t she home?

She looked down and noticed that she had slept in her dress from the night before. There was a stain on the side of her dress and a tear where the cut-out on her hip was. She groaned. This was not a cheap dress, dammit.

She got up and decided to try and explore to figure out where she was. She slipped out of the bedroom and was met with the smell of French toast and bacon coming from down the hallway. She decided to follow the smell. She reached the end of the hallway and froze when she heard talking from right around the corner. Two girls. Well, a woman and a girl were talking.

“I’ll be able to tell you if she’s really the one dating Jaime,” the girl spoke. There was a slight pause and a clanking of silverware against a plate. “I’ve seen the instagram pictures of Jaime and Ainsley. I’ll tell you if it’s her, alright.”

“You think she could be lying?” the woman said with a slight chuckle. “Don’t you think that’d be a silly lie to tell?”

There was no response from the girl. Ainsley looked at herself – she was a wreck, there was no way she could go out there and see these people, whoever they were. She looked in the hallway and noticed a few family portraits hanging up. A woman and a man, mostly. Marriage photos, baby pictures, and then – bingo - a full family photo. Ainsley scanned the picture, looking for anyone she might be able to recognize. And sure enough, in the top right hand corner of the picture was someone she recognized. Jeric. But Jeric lived alone…

“Good morning,” Jeric said from beside her. “How are you feeling?”

Ainsley jumped a bit and backed up against the wall. “Confused,” she answered. “Is this your house?”

“No, it’s my sister’s house,” he answered with a smile. He was wearing plaid pajama bottoms and a loose t-shirt. His hair was no longer slicked back like it usually was and instead it was parted to the side with the remnants of the gel in his hair caused clumps of it to stick out in random directions.

“Fuck,” Ainsley mumbled. “Why don’t I remember anything from last night?” she muttered.

“It’s probably better if you don’t,” Jeric said through a stiff jaw.

“What are you-“

“Jeric? Are you awake?” the woman called from down the hall. “Breakfast is ready!”

“Come on,” Jeric said quickly. “Let’s eat and then we’ll talk about that later.”

Ainsley looked down at herself and bit her lip. “Is there…um…anyway I could borrow something to wear. This probably isn’t the best thing to wear when you meet someone for the first time.”

“Oh, yeah,” Jeric rushed down the hallway and held a finger up to her before disappearing around the corner. He returned a few minutes later holding a pair of pajama pants and a black women’s v-neck. She was thankful that he didn’t give her any of his clothes to wear – that alone would feel like cheating to Ainsley. It wasn’t right to wear another man’s clothes, especially after apparently spending the night at his –well, his sister’s - house.

“Bathroom is right there,” he said pointing to a door that was right across from the bedroom that Ainsley had slept in. “Or you can change in the guest bedroom where you slept, whatever you want to do. I’ll meet you in the kitchen.”

He smiled warmly and left the hallway. Ainsley slipped into the bathroom and flicked the light on as she locked the door with her other hand. She set the clothes down on the counter and then looked up at her reflection. She nearly screamed at the sight. Her hair had fallen out of its up-do that Helena had done for her the night before. The braids were still intact, but the bun had fallen out completely. She pulled the elastic and bobby-pins out of her hair and decided on leaving the braids in. She pulled her hair back into a messy pony-tail and secured it. She wrapped the braids around the elastic that was keeping her hair up and used the bobby-pins to secure them in place. She pulled her bangs out of the ponytail.

She slipped out of her dress and pulled the clothes on that Jeric had given her. She bent over and washed the smeared make up away from her eyes, but was careful not to take all of it off so her face wasn’t completely naked. She dug through the drawers in the bathroom to try and find some toothpaste. She pulled the toothpaste out and squeezed it onto her finger before rubbing it around her teeth and her tongue. She squirted some more into her mouth and used her to tongue to rub it around to try and rid her taste-buds of the stale liquor that was lingering.

She used the restroom, washed her hands and then exited the bathroom. She put her dress down on the bed in the guest bedroom before slowly making her way down the hallway. She heard the woman talking again and followed the sound of her voice to find the kitchen.

“Good morning,” the woman smiled to her and turned around, revealing a slight baby bump. She was resting her left hand on her belly while her right hand was holding up a spatula. “Have a seat. I’m just about finished with the next batch. Felicia finished up the last batch all on her own.” She pointed her spatula at the girl that was sitting at the counter beside Jeric.

Felicia turned around with a sour expression written across her face, but as soon as she looked over Ainsley’s features, a smile immediately broke out and consumed her entire face. “You really are Ainsley! Oh my god!” she nearly squealed as she started to fan herself. Her eyes welled up in tears and she stood up to look at Ainsley a bit better.

“It’s nice to meet you…?” Ainsley laughed a little bit. “You’re Jeric’s daughter, right?”

Jeric smiled widely in Ainsley’s direction, confirming it for her. Ainsley looked back over to Felicia. She had dark brown hair that was thick and straight with the most gorgeous brown eyes that matched her hair color. Her skin was naturally tan, just like Jeric’s. She had no make-up on her face, but her dark eyelashes almost made it look like she was wearing mascara. She was a gorgeous girl.

“How long have you and Jaime been dating? Is Jaime really that funny? Do you know Tony? Does he seriously love Turtles?” The questions were spewing from her mouth as Ainsley took a seat beside her.

“Felicia, relax! Let the girl eat something,” the woman winked.

“Ainsley, that’s my sister, Anne. And that in there, is my soon to be niece or nephew.” Jeric smiled widely and looked over to his sister who rolled her eyes.

“Nice to meet you,” Anne said with a smile. She plopped three, thick slices of French toast onto a plate and tossed some bacon on there as well. She set the plate down in front on Ainsley and watched as Ainsley immediately began to dig in.

“Want some milk?” Anne asked sweetly.

Ainsley nodded. “Yes, please,” she said after swallowing a bite.

“I’ll get it for her!” Felicia said quickly, causing Ainsley to flinch from the sudden outburst. Felicia ran over to the fridge to pull out the milk and a glass. She poured Ainsley her milk and carefully handed it over to her and set it down. “Can I have your autograph?” Felicia asked quietly with wide eyes, like it was the best idea in the world.

“Felicia!” Jeric scolded. “Let the girl eat her breakfast! You don’t need her autograph.”

“Yes, I do! My friends will never believe me when I say that Jaime’s girlfriend spent the night at my house! Oh my god. Wait until I post this on tumblr…”

“I’m so sorry about her,” Jeric said as he turned to look at Ainsley.

Ainsley just shrugged and continued to eat. She really didn’t care about Felicia freaking out over her. It felt strange to have someone treating her like a celebrity, but at the same time she knew that Jeric’s daughter was a fan of Pierce the Veil’s, so it was somewhat expected.

“Can we take a picture together?” Felicia asked with a big smile.

“I think I’d rather give a signature,” Ainsley laughed. “I don’t look too great for a picture.”

Felicia scoffed. “You’re Jaime’s girlfriend, you’re obviously gorgeous if you’re dating Jaime!”

“I don’t think it comes down to looks like that,” Ainsley laughed a bit. “But I guess I’ll take a picture with you.” Ainsley felt suddenly awkward as Felicia whipped her phone out from her pocket and stood next to Ainsley. She put her face next to hers and held the camera out in front of them. Felicia snapped a couple of pictures and then ran to sit down next to her.

“Auntie, can you take a picture of us eating our breakfast together? Make it look like we’re not paying attention and just eating, okay! Like you caught us in the moment.”

Ainsley laughed and just continued to eat her food while she tried her best to ignore the camera. Anne handed the phone back over to Felicia and told her to relax again, but Felicia was still freaking out. Ainsley could practically hear her heart beating out of her chest.

“Alright, Felicia. Go do your chores and pack your things while I talk to Ainsley,” Jeric said as he kissed the top of his daughter’s head. “Then we’ll leave to take Ainsley home and then go back to my house.”

Ainsley sighed and got up to rinse her plate in the sink. Anne tried to stop her, but Ainsley insisted on doing her dishes. It was the least she could do since she had let her spend the night AND cooked her breakfast. Not to mention, a delicious breakfast.

Jeric and Ainsley walked into the backyard and sat down beside the pool.

“Your sister’s house is amazing,” Ainsley commented. The house was enormous and perfectly well-kept. The backyard was enormous, complete with a large swimming pool, hot tub, and even a water slide.

“Yeah, her husband’s a lawyer. Great guy, too. I just hope that I can take Felicia back to live with me soon. Anne’s pregnant now; she shouldn’t be worrying about my rebellious teenage daughter.”

“Felicia is great, Jeric. She seems to listen,” Ainsley said as she rolled up the bottoms of the pajamas she was wearing. She dipped her feet into the pool and gently moved them around in the water.

“She has her moments,” Jeric laughed and copied Ainsley’s motions.

“So, about last night…I don’t remember anything. Well, I remember calling you and then getting into Bret’s limo, but that’s it. The rest is just blank.”

“I don’t know if you want to hear it, Ainsley. It’s pretty rough,” he said with a sigh.

Ainsley’s mind was racing. Rough? How was it rough? What happened? Ainsley immediately began to assume the worst. Did she sleep with Jeric? Or Bret? Surely Ainsley wasn’t that kind of girl, but anything can happen when you’re black out drunk. But Ainsley liked to believe that Jeric was a good guy and wouldn’t over-step any boundaries.

“Well, I got to Bret’s house and nobody answered the door. I waited for thirty minutes before I heard people talking inside, so I decided to just force my way in. I got inside and searched the house for you. It was really hard to find you, but when I did…man, I’m so glad I did.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ainsley…he…”

“Ainsley!” Felicia’s voice interrupted whatever Jeric was about to say. She came running to the side of the pool holding a ringing cell phone out in front of her. “Ainsley your phone won’t stop ringing!”

Ainsley quickly grabbed the phone and saw that it was Mal who was calling. She quickly answered it.

“Ainsley? Where the fuck are you? Are you okay! Oh my god, please tell me you’re alright. I’m so sorry –“

“Mal, I’m fine,” Ainsley sighed. “I’m back in Oceanside. Jeric picked me up.”

“I’m so sorry, Ains. Oh my god. I can’t believe we left you.”

“It’s okay, kind of. I mean, it’s not your fault since you were passed out, but yeah…”

“I can’t believe they would leave you,” Mal spat venomously. “Those fucking bitches.”

“It’s okay, what’s done is done. Are you okay? Did you get home alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m actually on my way to Oceanside right now. I have all of your things along with my own sleepover bag. I’m going to spend the night at your house, okay? I should be there in like twenty minutes.”

Ainsley sighed.

“You should probably call Jaime,” Malorie said. “He’s going fucking crazy right now. I guess you never called him last night when you said you would.”

“Fuck,” Ainsley cursed. She quickly shot Jeric and Felicia and apologetic smile for her language. “Yeah, I’ll call him now. I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay, bye. I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, Mal. We’ll talk more later. Bye.”

Ainsley hung up the phone and sighed heavily. “Sorry about that,” she said. “Um, I need to call Jai-“

“OH MY GOD ARE YOU GOING TO CALL JAIME RIGHT NOW? CAN YOU PUT IT ON SPEAKER PHONE?”

“Felicia, go inside,” Jeric said sternly.

“I’m sorry, Felicia, now is just not a good time,” Ainsley apologized. She needed to set things straight with Jaime because he surely was going to be upset.

Ainsley quickly selected Jaime’s name in her contacts just as Jeric stood up. “We’ll give you some privacy,” he said as he pulled on Felicia’s arm to get her to go inside.

“Ainsley, what the fuck?!” Jaime answered after a single ring. He must have been sitting by his phone.

Ainsley felt horrible for not calling Jaime. That should have been the first thing she did when she woke up.

“Hey babe, I’m okay. I don’t remember much about last night. I blacked out right after I hung up with you,” she explained quickly.

“Thank God! I’ve been trying to call you all night! Did Jeric pick you up?”

“Yeah, he did. But I didn’t go home last night. I spent the night at his sister’s house.”

“Well, as long as you’re okay. Jesus, Ains, you about gave me a fucking heart attack. You’re crazy, you know that, right? That you’re like a fucking dare-devil or something? You need to like, stop doing things, because I didn’t sleep at all last night because I was worried sick about you!”

“I’m so sorry,” Ainsley said. She felt tears stinging her eyes, but blinked them back quickly. “I hardly do anything, you know that,” Ainsley laughed.

“I know, well, I’ve decided that I like it better when you work a lot. Save the partying for when I’m not on another continent, okay?” Jaime chuckled a bit. “Isn’t Malorie on her way to your house?”

“Oh, yeah. Jeric will be taking me home in a minute,” Ainsley said. She quickly sat up, though. She knew what would lighten up Jaime’s mood. “I have someone who really wants to talk to you.”

“O…kay…? Who?”

“Her name is Felicia. It’s Jeric’s daughter. She’s fifteen and loves Pierce the Veil. She lives with Jeric’s sister and has been freaking out all morning because I’m here. Even asked me for my signature.”

“Aw, that’s cute. Let me talk to her,” Jaime said happily. The fans always made him that much happier.

Ainsley walked into the house and saw Anne standing in the kitchen, reorganizing the refrigerator. “Hey Anne, where’s Felicia?”

Anne turned around and pointed down the hallway. “Just keep going down the hall, you’ll know which door is hers,” Anne said with a smile.

“Thanks,” Ainsley replied. She followed Anne’s directions and went walking down the hall. Sure enough, she saw Felicia’s door at the end of the hall and to the left. It was covered in posters, drawings, and other random things. Ainsley could hear Vic’s voice blasting from the speakers inside the room. “Listen,” Ainsley said softly. She held out her phone so Jaime could hear the music. “Did you hear it?”

Jaime was a laughing mess on the other side. “Yes, I did,” Jaime said happily. “That’s awesome! Wait, let me FaceTime you so she can see me!”

Ainsley held her phone out and clicked on the FaceTime button. They connected the call and Jaime smiled widely on the screen.

“Aw, baby, you’re so beautiful. I’ve missed your face,” Jaime said right away.

Ainsley smiled widely and made kissy faces at the camera. “Why don’t we do this more often?” she asked.

“I don’t know, but we should.”

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Ainsley agreed. “Okay, I’m going to knock.”

Ainsley knocked on the door loudly and called out her name. She listened as the music was put on pause and Felicia’s frantic footsteps raced to the door. She pulled the door open and smiled widely. “You can come inside,” she said right away. “Let me show you my room!”

“Here, you can show both of us,” Ainsley said as she held her phone out to Felicia. Felicia grabbed the phone in confusion, but as soon as she looked down at the screen her face lit up with a large smile, and then it slowly froze as shock took over.

“Hi, Felicia,” Jaime said with a smile and a wave. “Thanks for letting Ainsley stay at your house,” he said with a large grin.

“Hi…hi Jai…Jaime…Jaime Preciado….” she nearly choked over her own words. She let out a nervous giggle. “I am a huge fan, you have no idea!”

“Thank you, that’s so awesome to hear,” Jaime smiled widely. “Hold on a second, okay?”

He held a finger up to the screen and then set it down on the table. He walked away and Felicia sat down at the edge of her bed with a huge smile on her face and her eyes staring at Ainsley’s phone, not blinking so she didn’t miss a thing.

There was the sound of footsteps and then suddenly the phone was lifted and the screen went blurry as it was being moved around. When it focused again, Jaime was standing in the shot with three other smiling faces standing behind him.

“Hi Felicia,” Vic spoke up with a huge grin. “It’s nice to meet you!”

Felicia was smiling widely and expertly reached up to take a screen shot of the moment on Ainsley’s phone. The boys began to talk to her a bit and she went off asking them millions of questions and telling them millions of stories in a matter of seconds. Ainsley took this time to look around her room. There were only a few posters on the walls and not much else to it. She had a full-sized bed and a dresser and a laptop sitting on top of a simple, black desk.

“Alright, it was nice to meet you,” Jaime concluded. “Can I talk to my girlfriend again?”

Ainsley’s heart did a few flips at the sound of Jaime saying that. Sure, he had said it plenty of times before, but the fact that he was saying it to a fan meant so much more to her. Felicia said a quick goodbye and then handed the phone back over to Ainsley. Ainsley looked at the screen to see all of the guys still standing there.

“AINSLEY!” Vic nearly screamed. “I miss you so much, chica!”

“I miss you, too, Vic! I miss all of you,” Ainsley responded with a wide smile. “You guys need to text me more and send me more pictures. I feel forgotten.”

The boys all laughed a little bit at Ainsley’s ridiculous pout. “Sorry, you know we still think about you every day,” Mike replied.

“Guys, we have to go now,” Tony spoke up as he looked down at his gold watch. “Sound check.”

“I don’t want to go,” Jaime pouted as he watched Ainsley through the phone.

“We have to, Himes,” Vic spoke up. “Talk to you later, hermana.”

“Adios, Victor,” Ainsley replied with a smile.

“Babe!” Jaime said with a smile. “Do you actually know Spanish or do you only know those few words?”

“No, no sé nada de español,” Ainsley said with a smirk. (No, I don’t know any Spanish)

“Ay, nena, que estaba caliente.” Jaime winked and then gave her a kissy face. (Ay, baby, that was hot)

Ainsley and Jaime shared a quick laugh and then said their goodbyes. Once they hung up, Felicia had already finished cleaning her room and packed up a bag for when she went to stay the night at her dad’s house.

-

Malorie and Ainsley shared a long time hugging after Jeric brought Ainsley home. They hugged for what felt like hours. It was well needed, though. Malorie wouldn’t stop apologizing to Ainsley, even after Ainsley insisted that it was fine. Sure, Ainsley was still a bit upset, but Ainsley and Malorie were both safe and unharmed – what more could she really ask for?

“Okay, so bring out the wine and pop in a movie,” Malorie said as she plopped down on the couch after changing into her pajamas.

Ainsley walked down the hallway after showering and changing and did as Malorie instructed. She grabbed the bottle of wine, two glasses, and a bag of chips and then pushed Say Anything into the DVD player. It was a classic that the two of them had seen millions of times, that way they wouldn’t feel obligated to watch the movie and could start talking, as they usually did.

Ainsley poured the wine out for the two of them and sat down on the couch just as Malorie’s phone vibrated from her lap.

Ainsley turned her attention to the TV, watching the beginning of the movie while Malorie checked her phone.

“Oh my god…” Malorie said softly. She set her wine glass down on the table beside the couch and then used her now free hand to cover her mouth in shock. “Oh my god,” she repeated. “Ains?”

“What’s up?” Ainsley said, turning her attention over to Malorie. Malorie’s eyes were swollen with tears, her hands shaking and her entire face seemed to droop in sadness. But her eyebrows remained high on her face in shock. “What’s wrong?” Ainsley’s voice was now panicked.

“Did Jeric ever tell you about what happened last night?”

Ainsley furrowed her eyebrows and then felt worried. Jeric never got the chance to finish telling her what had happened when he picked her up. Ainsley assumed that it was no big deal since she was safe and everything was fine now, but something in Malorie’s shock and her question seemed wrong. Very wrong.

“Because Parker just sent me something and I…I think you need to see it…”

Malorie sighed but continued to stare at her cell phone screen a second longer. She swiped to the side and few times and then quickly swiped in the opposite direction very quickly – she was clearly looking at some pictures. She took in a deep, shaky breath and slowly held her phone out to Ainsley.

Ainsley quickly turned to her own wine glass down and then turned to where Malorie was holding her phone out, the screen still not visible from Ainsley’s seat. She started at the phone for a moment, biting her lip. Her heart began to pound – she had no expectations about what could be on that screen. She almost wanted to turn it away and say What I don’t know won’t hurt me. But she just couldn’t do it. Malorie’s expression told her that something was really wrong.

Ainsley slowly wrapped her fingers around the phone and pulled it over to her. She looked down at the screen and her face immediately contorted in a mixture of fear, sadness, disappointment, horror, and shock. She began to pant heavily as her eyes welled up. The muscles in her neck were tense as she kept her jaw slacked. It took every muscle in her body to keep her breathing. A headache immediately hit her and her body began to shake.

“Ainsley…” Malorie said softly as she watched Ainsley slowly swipe across the screen, looking at the pictures. “What have you done?”

Notes

dun dun dunnnnnnnn
Cliff hanger ooopps sorry lol

New character! Very important character to the story: Felicia. What do you guys think about her?
And what do you think Jeric saw when he picked Ainsley up?
And what did Parker send to Malorie? What did Ainsley do?
Say hello to drama!

I know there hasn't been a ton of Jaime in these chapters, but don't worry! He'll be back in a few chapters. :) Thanks for the feedback! Check out my other stories, too :) LOVE YOU ALL! XOXOXO