“Who is that guy?” Ainsley asked as she towel dried her hair. She paused to pull her sweatshirt back over head and step into her yoga pants, her undergarments being much more casual than her previous choice.

Jaime stood up from the bed and walked over to the door of his bedroom, pushing it shut all the way and turning the lock.

“Is that really necessary?” Ainsley asked, her voice in more of a whisper. Why did Jaime have to lock the door? Was this guy dangerous or something?

Jaime walked over to the desk that was in the corner of his room and opened up his MacBook. He typed away for a few moments while Ainsley walked over to him and weaseled her way onto his lap. He adjusted his arms around her so he could finish typing. “This is his website.”

Ainsley read the URL and nearly erupted into laughter. “Ricky Business? Really? I’m assuming he’s a fan of young Tom Cruise, then.”

“Yeah, but not just Tom Cruise. You’ve seen that movie, right? You know how it ends up?”

“Yeah, he runs a successful prostitute business, right?”

Jaime nodded, and then looked back to the website that had loaded. The name “Ricky Business” was written in a font that looked to be a neon sign, with a subtle glowing effect that would flicker every now and then. Around the sign were women dressed in minimal clothing and suggestive poses. Ainsley was trying to hide every part of her that was expressing hatred and fear in order to keep Jaime in the dark.

Ricardo was someone that Ainsley had previously met, and although she didn’t remember him very well, she knew that he was slime.

“Hey, isn’t that your ex?” Jaime asked, pointing to the screen. Ainsley’s heart stopped as she looked to the page to see a picture of Ricardo and Bret. They were each dressed in suits that complimented each other nicely, their hands shaking, and their names written in the caption below the picture.

Bret Jennings and Ricardo Ibanez sealing the merger. Ricky Business celebrates its third year of being in business with new additions and membership options…

“What kind of website is this?”

Jaime turned to look at Ainsley, raising an eyebrow and giving her a look that said are you really asking me that? “Um, it’s pretty obvious. It’s porn, baby.”

“That’s what I was afraid of…” Ainsley said with a shaky breath. Her mind flashed back to the night she had run into Bret in San Diego, and Jeric had to come pick her up. She thought back to when Bret had confronted her after a long day of work, offering her money, and then the worst of all, her mind flashed to the pictures. The awful pictures that had been taken of her.

“What’s wrong?” Jaime asked. Ainsley looked across the page, her eyes frantic and her palms beginning to sweat as key words began to piece together in her brain. She took control of the laptop, navigating to the top panel where there was a link that read ‘Girls.’ She clicked on it, searching frantically for her name, and much to her pleasure, it wasn’t there.

“Would you tell me what you’re doing?” Jaime asked, his voice sounding slightly worried but also playful. “Baby, if you want to watch porn together, I’d prefer that we didn’t find it from a website where you ex’s picture is staring at us.”

“What?” Ainsley asked, shaking her head. “No, I don’t want to watch porn together. I was checking um…for my name…”

Jaime was silent for a moment. “Oh,” he breathed. “Those pictures,” he recalled.

She nodded. “Yeah. I never got back to him about it, but I had a feeling that he was going to post it anyway.”

“He can’t legally do that, can he?” Jaime asked, quickly closing out of the webpage as if it pained him to look at it. “Don’t you have to sign a consent form or something?”

“I don’t know. I never looked into it,” Ainsley admitted. “I just figured that if I never talked to him again, he would have his answer and would respect my privacy.”

“Well, I’m really glad that you’ve chosen not to release those pictures, because I really don’t think I could be supportive of that.” Jaime kissed the side of her head before gently rubbing her hip and then tapping it lightly, telling her to get up. “Alright, let’s head to bed. We have to be up early. And you have a big day.”

“I do?” Ainsley asked, standing up and walking toward Jaime’s bed.

Jaime nodded as he removed his sweatpants so he was just in his boxers and t-shirt. “Yup, you’re meeting my family.”

“Oh, right,” she said, feeling quite nervous. Ainsley climbed into bed beside Jaime, shivering from the cold of the untouched blankets and also from the nerves that were overwhelming her body. Was she ready to meet Jaime’s family? His parents? She knew nothing about them because Jaime never really talked about his family all that much. Sure, Ainsley knew that he had a good relationship with his parents and brother, but she didn’t know anything personal about them, except that they were huge soccer enthusiasts and that his mother was allergic to Brussel sprouts. And she didn’t know the first thing about soccer, so she couldn’t even start a conversation with them.

Oh god, she thought, I’m fucked.

-

The next morning Ainsley took so long getting ready that when it was time to go, Jaime was getting frustrated with her, which in result, sparking a fight between the two. Ricky had already left, insisting that he didn’t want to keep Tia Leticia and Tio Javier waiting any longer.

As Ainsley hyperventilated in Jaime’s locked bathroom, she took a mental note of their names, but only felt more panicked when she realized that before then she didn’t even know the names of his parents.

“Ainsley! Jesus, woman, if there’s one thing my mother hates, it’s when we’re late to family functions. I can hear her voice now: La familia es lo primero , hijo. Nunca guarde su familia espera,” he ranted quickly, leaving Ainsley in confusion. She was barely able to piece together what he said about family coming first, and then she panicked again, realizing that his entire family was Mexican, which meant they were all probably going to be speaking Spanish, leaving Ainsley confused and desperately wishing she would have paid more attention in High School.

Jaime pushed the door open, holding a key in his hand and an expression so menacing that Ainsley immediately felt guilty for causing such a fight. “I can’t go!” she called out, breathing heavily. “I can’t meet your family.”

Jaime’s expression softened. “That’s why you’re taking so long?” he asked, groaning. “You’ve been ready to go this whole time?”

Ainsley nodded, her body frigid and her movements quick.

“Get up, Ainsley. We can talk about this in the car,” he commanded, turning around and storming out of the room.

Ainsley listened, cursing herself for being so foolish. Why was she such a nervous wreck? She grabbed her purse and followed Jaime down the stairs and to the garage, where he was sitting inside of his escalade, the garage door opening as she climbed in. Jaime pulled out without saying a word and headed toward the freeway.

“Ainsley, what the hell is with you this morning?” Jaime asked, his tone still tone, but a little more forgiving.

Ainsley shrugged and looked out the window. Surely Jaime wouldn’t understand her fears. Ainsley had grown up without being accepted into a family since her life was always so broken when it came to her parents. She didn’t know how to act around parents. She didn’t know how a family barbeque functioned, the closest thing she knew was the barbeques she had been attending with the guys of Pierce the Veil, and sure, that sometimes meant Vic and Mike’s parents, but never a whole family. She wasn’t the kind of person that attending a family party, not with a friend and certainly never with a boyfriend.

For the years that Bret and Ainsley were together, she only ever met his parents once, and it was over video chat since they lived in Georgia. They never visited them, and vice-a-versa. They broke up before Ainsley could be invited over for a Christmas or Thanksgiving with his family.

She pulled out her phone and texted Malorie, the only person who she felt comfortable talking to about her fears.

Mal replied quickly and said, There’s nothing to freak out about, Ains. You’re pretty much the dream girl a parent would want their son to bring home, and that’s even when you’re drunk. You’re the living depiction of ‘girl to bring home to mom.’

Ainsley felt a bit better after reading that, but the way that Jaime was silently fuming beside her told her that this was not going to be an easy day.

“So, how old is your brother going to be?” Ainsley asked, trying to break the anger that was suffocating her.

Jaime just continued to stare straight, not even blinking at the sound of her voice. Ainsley felt so small in the passenger seat. She felt ashamed and embarrassed and all she could think about was how selfish she was to make Jaime late to his own brother’s birthday party. Jaime wasn’t a person to be late, so surely they would assume that it was Ainsley’s fault.

Ainsley sighed loudly when she realized that she hadn’t even purchased any kind of gift for his brother. “I can’t go, Jaime. You can drop me off somewhere and I’ll call a cab, but I need to go home. I don’t even have a gift, Jaime. I don’t know anything about your parents, how the hell am I supposed to just waltz into some party?”

“Ainsley, would you just shut up?” Jaime asked, chuckling slightly. “I told my brother that you’ll be there and I wrote your name in the fucking card that’s with his gift. Which is a six pack of imported beer I got on tour and some German fucking weights.”

Well, at least Ainsley had found out that his brother liked beer and lifting weights. “Jaime, I don’t even know his name.”

“His name is Chris. And he’s turning twenty-five,” Jaime said. “Now, would you tell me why you’re freaking out? You’re acting like you’ve never met a boyfriend’s parents before, jeez.”

Ainsley was silent as she squirmed in her seat, feeling even more embarrassed.

“Wait, you mean to tell me that you never met Bret’s parents? Or any other boyfriend’s parents?”

“Bret’s the only boyfriend I’ve had, and no, I never met his parents. They lived in Georgia.”

Jaime was silent for a long time after that, letting the atmosphere in the car range from tense to awkward, to uncomfortably silent. Why was Jaime so angry with her? Ainsley couldn’t help but search the possibilities of why Jaime could be so angry with her over this. The entire morning felt strange and uncomfortable, from the moment they woke up, to the moment they started arguing, to the moment where the tension was slightly relieved. Something just wasn’t right.

Did Jaime not want Ainsley to meet his family? Before she could dwell on the possibility of it, they arrived to their destination: a large one-story house on an acre of land where the neighbors were so far away that you couldn’t even see if any cars were parked out front. The house was a deep red with a dark brown trim. It was clearly an old home, but the upkeep made it look fresh and clean. The property was gated, but the front gate was already propped open by a couple of stacked bricks on each side of the fence gate. The driveway was a circular one, where you drove up on one end and could continue driving straight to get out the same way you came in.

Jaime parked behind the rest of the cars and immediately hopped out and headed to the trunk to retrieve the present for his brother. Ainsley stepped out of the car, her black suede ankle boots immediately becoming dusty from the dirt driveway. She looked around and admired the way the yard was rich with roses and other foliage. There was a wooden bench on the front porch that looked hand-made and decorated in glass mosaics, a picture of a rose created in rich colors. There were plants hanging from the patio cover, each with a different assortment of tiny flowers with drooping greenery that made the air smell sweet and amazing, even from the dirt of the driveway.

Jaime met my side, handing me the six pack of imported beer and the card while he carried the box, which the weights were wrapped in. Ainsley followed Jaime’s lead, walking right by his side as they walked to the front door. The front door was open, with a simple screen door to keep the bugs out. There was a loud clatter coming from within the house, a faint sound of children laughing in the distance. Jaime walked right in, Ainsley following right behind him.

The home was decorated with a large assortment of trinkets and knick-knacks. A lot of frilly and colorful furnishings and a lot of decorations that looked authentic to Mexico, where his parents were originally from. Ainsley saw on the wall of the living room a framed picture of Pierce the Veil’s Collide with the Sky album and a platinum record beneath it, signed by each of the members. Ainsley smiled at the thought of Jaime’s proud family. But then she felt nervous again. What if they didn’t think she was good enough for their son who had made such a name for himself? And yet, here she was, just a small bakery manager with no money and no family.

“Jaime!” a voice boomed from their left. Ainsley looked over to where a man emerged from the hallway, holding a corona in his right hand while his left hand held the hand of a woman walking behind him.

“Chris!” Jaime called out. Ainsley looked between the two as Chris released the hand of the woman to give Jaime a side hug, to which Jaime mostly just leaned into since his arms were occupied with the gift.

The two brothers didn’t look as similar as Ainsley was expecting. She was imagining Chris to have dimples much like Jaime’s, or even dark, spiky hair like his, but instead Chris’s face was smooth and dimple-free, and his hair was cut too short to be able to tell if it was straight or curly.

“Chris, take the gift from your brother, it’s clearly heavy,” the woman behind him said, her Spanish accent rich. She noticed Ainsley standing behind Jaime and immediately walked over to her, holding out her hand to take the beer and card from her. “I’ll take that from you, hun. Thank you.” She smiled widely and took the items before heading toward the voices that were drifting through the house.

“Chris, this is my girlfriend, Ainsley,” Jaime introduced, nodding his head in her direction.

Chris held his hand out, smiling widely. “Nice to meet you, Ainsley.”

“You, too,” Ainsley said, shaking his hand gently. “Happy Birthday.”

“Thank you,” he said while taking the box from Jaime’s grip. “Everyone’s in the kitchen and out back. Grab yourselves a beer! The food will be done in about an hour.”

Jaime placed his hand on the small of Ainsley’s back, guiding her toward the kitchen where there were several women slaving away – every counter was occupied with one thing or another. It looked like they were preparing enchiladas. Ainsley smiled at the smell of food in the air and the way everyone was working together in the kitchen. This was exactly what she imagined a family gathering to be like.

“Ma!” Jaime called out, but his voice was drowned out by the sound of the oven beeping. “Ma!” Jaime tried again.

This time, the woman closest to the refrigerator turned around, her hands covered in remnants of shredded chicken. She had a rounder face with long, dark hair that was wavy throughout the majority of it, but became slightly more curled toward the ends. Her hair hit just beneath her shoulder blades with only a couple of layers and no bangs. Her face was clad with thin-rimmed glasses and minimal makeup. The wrinkles on the sides of her eyes made it look as if she was constantly smiling. Ainsley immediately recognized her eyes as a feature that Jaime had inherited.

“Jaime!” she exclaimed, immediately moving toward the sink. The rest of her body was visible and Ainsley noticed how she was slightly chubby, but still had a good body for her age. She was right around Jaime’s height with wide hips and a shorter torso. She was wearing jeans that flared slightly at the bottom with sandals and a simple dark blue shirt.

Once she washed her hands, she rushed over to Jaime. Instead of hugging him, she grabbed his face in both of her hands and kissed each of his cheeks while rambling on in Spanish, to which Jaime kept groaning and saying, “Maaaaa,” as if he was embarrassed by what she was saying.

She pulled away and then looked to Ainsley, her expression soft but not as excited as Ainsley had anticipated. “Where are my manners?” she asked herself, her accent so thick Ainsley could barely understand her. “Hello, are you a friend of my son’s?”

Jaime sighed and then placed an arm around Ainsley’s waist, who was feeling nervous and embarrassed beyond belief. Had Jaime even mentioned her before? His mother clearly didn’t realize that he was in a relationship, and the thought of Ainsley just popping in as a complete and totally new person made her feel awful and intrusive.

“Ma, this is Ainsley,” Jaime introduced. “My girlfriend.”

“Your what?” she asked, narrowing her eyes and furrowing her eyebrows as if she didn’t believe what he had just said.

“My girlfri-“

“Well… Ella habla español?” she asked, looking quizzically between the two. Ainsley’s heart beat out of her chest when she heard Leticia ask Jaime is she spoke Spanish. Why was she asking that? Was there something that she wanted to say about her without her knowing? “Yes, a little bit,” Jaime replied. “Oh, oh,” she said, giving Ainsley a small smile. “Necesito hablar con usted en el pasillo.” Jaime groaned and rolled his eyes, his frustration getting the best of him once again. “I’ll be right back, babe,” he said, gently squeezing Ainsley’s arm before disappearing into the hallway with his mother. Ainsley stood still, staring down at the dirt on her boots and trying desperately to bite back the emotions that were silently taking over her senses. Jaime had been acting strange all morning and Ainsley picked up on how irritable and distant he was seeming. Was it because he knew that his mother was going to act this way? Or was it because he was angry at Ainsley for something? Ainsley traced back over the conversations she had with Jaime over the past couple of days. The only conversation that was really important was the one they had the night before, about her ex and the pictures he had of her. Ever since Ricky had popped up, Jaime had been acting strangely. He was tense, precautious, and irritable. Ainsley thought about Ricky and how she hadn’t seen him since early that morning when he left early to head to the party. But where was he? Ainsley casually scanned the room with her eyes, but didn’t see him. She tried to see into the backyard, but she could only see a couple of men standing around and chatting, and Ricky wasn’t one of them. “Are you okay?” a woman asked. Ainsley looked to her right to see the woman who had taken the beer and card from Ainsley when she first entered. “Oh, yeah,” Ainsley said softly. “I’m just waiting for Jaime to come back.” Ainsley motioned toward the hallway. “You’re Ainsley, right?” she asked, pointing while squinting her eyes. “I’m Margarita, Chris’s fiancé. But you can call me Rita.” “Nice to meet you, Rita,” Ainsley said, holding her hand out for a handshake. Rita shook her hand, but didn’t let go and instead started to walk toward the backyard. “Come on, I will introduce you to everyone since Jaime is terrible at that stuff.” “Oh…o-okay,” Ainsley said, following behind her. The second she stepped outside, she could hear the loud chattering and music playing in the background. The backyard was decorated beautifully with various colorful banners and several tables set up for seating. Against the house was tables with chips and various different salsas and guacamole. “Chris,” Rita called out, “help me introduce Ainsley to the family.” Chris walked over and before Ainsley even had the chance to breathe, a beer was placed in her hand and she was being pushed toward a group of dark-skinned men all speaking Spanish and laughing. They were dressed in casual jeans and various shirts. One of them was in a white button-up shirt while another was in a Charger’s jersey. Ainsley silently thanked God that she wasn’t over or underdressed for the party, since there seemed to be no dress code.

“Hello gentlemen,” Rita said, interrupting their conversation. Their laughter and talking stopped, their smiles still prominent, and they all took the break as a moment to take a drink of their beers, almost in unison. “This is Ainsley, Jaime’s girlfriend.”

The men’s eyes all lit up in wonder and one in confusion. Ainsley didn’t know how to read their reactions, so she just continued to smile and held her hand up in a shy wave. “Hi, nice to meet you all,” Ainsley said.

“Jaime always did like white women,” the man in the button-up said, chuckling to himself.

“That’s Arturo, my father,” Rita said, giving him a subtle death glare. “Behave yourself, Papa.”

Ainsley laughed at the banter between the two before Rita introduced the rest of the men. The man in the Charger’s jersey was Lucas, Chris’s best friend, and the man right beside him was Hernan, another friend of Chris’s. Ainsley felt a bit at ease, knowing that there wasn’t an immense amount of pressure on her – these men weren’t going to judge her like a family member would. With them, it was as simple as meeting new people.

Rita disappeared into the kitchen when she heard another woman calling out to her for help, leaving Ainsley alone with Chris, Arturo, Lucas, and Hernan. Luckily they were speaking English and their accents weren’t as heavy as the others she had heard. They were discussing something that happened at a mechanic shop that Lucas worked at, instantly piquing Ainsley’s interest.

“He was such a nice guy, always happy, never down… It was such a shock when we heard the news.”

Ainsley immediately associated his words with Jeric, Felicia’s father. It had been a few months since he had taken his own life, and although Ainsley had moved forward from it, she figured that the people closest to him probably hadn’t gotten over the fact yet.

“Did he have a family?” Arturo asked before taking a drink of his beer.

The two men were silent for a split second and Ainsley chimed in, without even realizing it. “He had a daughter, Felicia. She’s fifteen. His wife took her own life several years back after their newborn baby didn’t make it.”

The men all paused to look at her, surprised that she knew all that information. “Where is she now?” Hernan asked.

“She used to live her Aunt, Jeric’s brother, but they had to move and so now she lives with…well, me.”

“You were close with Jeric?” Lucas asked, his eyebrow raising slightly. “Actually, your name sounds quite familiar. I think he told me about how he had to pick you up in San Diego.”

Ainsley immediately flushed. How much did Jeric tell him about that night? “Yeah, we weren’t super close, but we were starting to become good friends.” The conversation died shortly after that, and the men moved on to another topic, but Ainsley didn’t quite move on. She was flooded with memories of Jeric and when she first met Felicia. She used to be so sweet and happy – always so happy.

Ainsley’s life felt like a blur to her now. She felt like she didn’t know Felicia at all and almost felt as if she lived alone again – Felicia was hardly home and she rarely spoke to her anymore. It had been ages since Felicia had agreed to hang out with the boys and Ainsley, and because of that, Ainsley stopped inviting her. Ainsley knew that she wasn’t supposed to be a mother to this girl, but she couldn’t help but feel that her role was diminishing in Felicia’s life and that she needed to amp up the motherly instinct that Ainsley never knew she had until she had taken Felicia in.

A hand on that small of her back brought Ainsley from her thoughts, her mood still altered, but her mind now in the present. “Hey,” Jaime said, giving her a weak smile. Ainsley knew that his conversation with his mother hadn’t gone well and although Ainsley felt like utter shit for knowing that his mother had some sort of issue, Ainsley didn’t care to try and resolve it right then and there. Her mind was too busy reeling through old memories.

Jaime walked Ainsley through the backyard to meet the rest of the people in attendance, and Ainsley could only remember the first three men she had met. She met an array of Tios and Tias and Cousins and friends, and Ainsley had no idea that it was possible to have so many people considered family. She was starting to feel more at ease as she participated in several conversations with the various family members, and Jaime’s little cousin Liliana grew especially attached to Ainsley. By the time she made her rounds to the last group of people, Liliana was being held up on Ainsley’s hip. One arm held the three-year old while the other held a corona.

“Ainsley, this is my father, Javier,” Jaime held his arm out to a man who had his back turned to them. Jaime tapped his shoulder. “Pa, I have someone I want you to meet.”

The man turned around and Ainsley immediately saw where Jaime had gotten his warm smile and deep dimples. Ainsley thought that Jaime’s dimples were deep, but now his dimples looked tiny compared to the deep smile lines that his father had. Javier leaned in and narrowed his eyes, looking at Jaime and then letting out a “huh?” before Jaime repeated what he said in Spanish.

Javier smiled and then looked to Ainsley.

“Pa, this is Ainsley. My girlfriend,” Jaime said, this time a bit slower so his father could keep up with the English.

His eyes opened wide and a smile spread so far across his face that Ainsley was concerned that his muscles were going to cramp up. He moved forward and pulled Ainsley into a hug, which then resulted in him hugging Liliana as well. “She like you?” Javier asked, laughing and rubbing Liliana’s head as he pulled away.

Liliana said something in Spanish that Ainsley recognized to be ‘she is a princess and I love her.’ Ainsley couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head.

“No way,” Ainsley said. “Your majesty.” Ainsley bowed slightly, causing Liliana to laugh as she dipped down.

“I am the queen and you can be the princess!” Liliana exclaimed.
Jaime and his father were chatting away in Spanish so quickly that Ainsley couldn’t keep up so she continued to talk to Liliana. Liliana explained what her dream castle would be like, and Ainsley agreed, telling her that her ideas were perfect and that she should hold onto them as long as possible. In the middle of Liliana explaining how she would eat oreos for breakfast every day, she snapped her head over to Jaime and Javier, something that they said seemed to catch her attention. She replied to something in Spanish before quickly looking back to Ainsley with a large grin. She turned back to Jaime, and then back to Ainsley again.

Ainsley gave Jaime a quizzical look, to which Jaime blushed and shook his head. “My dad likes you,” Jaime explained. “He says you’re good with kids…and…yeah…”

Ainsley could only imagine where that conversation was going and the idea of it gave her butterflies. At least one of Jaime’s parents seemed to like her. And although she would rather be appreciated by both, it was nice to know that she had some sort of acceptance, and that thought alone brought her peace.

Notes

Ainsley's Outfit

Wow, it's been five months since I have updated this and I cannot apologize enough. Here is a long chapter to make up for the time that has passed and I'll try to update again ASAP!

I love you all and hope I haven't lost too many of you in my absence.