Only Forever

5

Demi's POV

Throughout the past month, Jay and I hung out when we could, but he had to fly back to his home in the Netherlands last week and I'm not sure when he will be back yet. We still talked and we FaceTimed when we could. It was just difficult because of the major time difference. I was trying my hardest not to fall for this guy, but that was proven to be very difficult because it seemed like every day I was falling harder and harder. He says the sweetest things and he's always asking about Mayla which also makes me swoon. One of the reasons I was so hesitant to start dating again was because of her and people not accepting the fact that I'm a mom first. He totally understands that though and has no problem when I have to a cut a conversation short.

Today, I decided to go to the zoo with Mayla and my mom and sisters. We all met at my house and then we drove together to the zoo. I have taken Mayla before, but she was younger and didn't really care. She's super into animals now though so I know she will have a blast. On our way there, Jay texted me that he was going to bed for the night and he will call me when he wakes up in the morning if I'm still awake tonight. When we pulled into the parking lot, Dallas got Mayla's stroller ready for me so I can quickly transfer for her without worrying about anyone trying to sneak pictures. Luckily, we made reservations for the zoo today so there isn't a lot of people here and those that are, are occupied enough with their own kids. Once we pay, we walk through the gates and down the path that leads to all the animals. I kept a large smile on my face the entire time because Mayla was so excited. She would gasp and point at every animal she saw and when we were by the lions, she was mesmerized. I let her get out of her stroller for these ones and she stood right by the window and smiled big at them. At one point, one of the lions walked right up to the window and stopped right at Mayla. Instead of getting scared like I thought she would, she just jumped and giggles ecstatically.

"Big cat!" She says pointing to it as she looks up at me and I chuckle and nod.

"It is a big cat, huh? It's called a lion." I say bending down to her height and she smiles as she looks up at the lion with a complete look of aww.

"Lion." She says and I smile and nod. We stood by the lions for a good while too because Mayla didn't want to leave and the lion didn't walk away from the window. Instead, it laid down right there and it was a pretty awesome sight. I had Maddie take pictures of us and after about thirty minutes, I finally convinced her to leave so we could see the other animals. Once we went through the whole zoo, Mayla was complaining that she was hungry so we all decided to go to one of the restaurants at the zoo to get some food in us. When we all sat down with our food, I put a mat on the table in front of Mayla so her food wouldn't get on the dirty table.

"So, how have you and Jay been?" Dallas asks and I roll my eyes discreetly as a small smile creeps up on my face.

"Ooh, you're in love." Maddie teases and I glare up at her as they all give me smirks.

"I'm not in love." I mumble. "We're fine though. Just hanging out." I answer as I help Mayla take a sip of my water.

"Hanging out. Right." My mom speaks up.

"We are." I say defensively.

"So when are you guys 'hanging out' next?" Dallas asks and I shrug ignoring her sarcastic smile.

"Don't know. He's back home right now, so when he gets back I'm sure we will do something." I answer as I tear off a piece of my pretzel and bring it up to my mouth.

"Where's his home?" Maddie asks.

"The Netherlands. That's where his team and family is now. There's talks about him trading to a team here in the states though. He's not sure yet though." I explain and they nod.