Sugar, Baby?

I still don't know why I'm here!

A/N: well, well, well. here we are. (high key nervous to post this cos i'm worried none of y'all care anymore🙃) this chapter may seem like a massive detour in the story, but i promise, we're almost finished. it's a little sickly-sweet and self-indulgent, but hey, at least it's SOMETHING, right?

catch u at the end💛

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Eight Days Earlier

"Pez, we're gonna be late! If you're not ready in thirty seconds, I'm going down without you!"

"Going down? Without me? Don't be ridiculous, baba," I tease, finally emerging from the hotel bathroom with my backpack in tow.

"Not funny. You ready to go?"

"Born ready, babe."

—

"Where is everyone?" Jesy asks once we reach the lobby and no one else is there. I pretend I just got a text on my phone and sigh dramatically.

"I'm so sorry, bub. Jade says they're already on their way to the rehearsal space and that our ride is ready to go. We just need to let the concierge know so that he can take us to the premier entrance."

"For real?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry! I guess I didn't realize how late I was running," I say, doing my best to look contrite. "Are you mad?"

"Yes," Jesy says, then sighs. "Ugh, no. It'll be alright. We'll just have to do our warmups in the car."

I press a kiss to her cheek, then one to her lips before I run over to the concierge. He greets us then leads us to an elevator. Once he keys in a code, we're on the move. Jes looks a little concerned when the motion of the elevator makes it clear we're going up, not down, but she doesn't say anything. Well, until the doors open to the hotel helipad.

"Pez, what is this?" Jesy asks, yelling over the noise made by the helicopter that's currently perched on the roof.

"The reason why I wasn't worried about being late. I thought it could be fun to arrive in style," I say, hoping Jes buys my little story.

Jesy swallows, and for a moment, I'm worried I've been found out. Then, she grins big and takes my hand.

"I suppose we should make our entrance, then."

—

I don't think it's any surprise to Jes that the helicopter doesn't take us to our rehearsal space. It might be a bit of a surprise that it drops us in a plot of open land, though.

Jesy'd been dozing half-asleep on my shoulder since the beginning of our hour-long ride, but she's proper attentive by the time we exit the chopper, surely eager to see where we've gone.

Wide green eyes scan the landscape around us, but I can tell Jes is still a bit confused.

The pilot walks us over to a little gazebo, hands me my suitcase and Jesy's, then gives me a copy of his card and instructions to call from the landline once we're settled to confirm our pick-up time. I thank him and he wishes us both well before he walks back to the chopper, starts it up, and flies away.

Jesy gnaws on her bottom lip and squints at me a little, but she doesn't ask any questions.

I just shoot her a toothy smile, too excited about my surprise to reveal all the details. We sit on the little bench under the white gazebo until we hear the sound of crunching gravel and see an older man in a well-kept orange Bronco driving toward us.