Let Me Love You | A.G

IX

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"High school graduates huh?" I take a sigh of relief, "I never thought we would get to this point."

Ariana and I were out at some restaurant with Lauren, Mac, and Ari's best friend, Courtney.

Even though Mac didn't go to school with us, I decided to invite him since we were all hanging out. Plus, Ariana wanted to meet him.

Ari's flight was at nine and it was currently five. She's going to be leaving later tonight and I'm not gonna lie, I'm dreading for that time to come.

"Honestly, I never did either. This whole thing is just surreal to me," Lauren speaks up, looking through the menu.

"You should've told them how you got yelled at this morning," Ariana nudges me with a grin.

"Jayce got yelled at? I wish I could've seen it," Lauren smirks.

I give Ari a look, playfully rolling my eyes as she kept the grin on her face, "She found out about the shooting last night, it wasn't that serious."

"Yeah, tell that to her when she saw your medical records on the kitchen counter," Ari mumbles to which I shush her.

"Yo fam, you tryna go to a graduation party tonight?" Mac asks me, showing me the messages between him and the person who's hosting it.

"I might be a little late but I'll be there. They want me to bring anything?" I ask him.

"You'll probably be fine with just bringing yourself man," He says, texting who I assume was the host.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll be there," I respond as soon as the waitress comes over to take our orders.

We spent two hours just talking, laughing and eating. It was pretty cool being around everyone before we all had to leave to go somewhere.

I then took Ariana back to the house so we could spend time with her family before both of us had to head out.

"Are you sure you wanna leave? You can always stay here Jayce, you're apart of this family," Joan asks to which I nod my head. We were all on the couch chilling, having a light conversation.

"As much as I love this house, I think it's time for me to move on with my life. Plus, it wouldn't be fair to you guys if I was still involved in gang shit under your roof," I answer her truthfully.

"Although I appreciate it, we can't stop you from doing what you want," She sighs, "If you think this is for the best then I support it, but don't be a stranger to us."

"I couldn't do that to you, Ma" I smile. She perks up at the name I called her.

"Did you just—There's no way," She covers her mouth, tears brimming her eyes.

"I've been wanting to say that for awhile actually. You've been nothing but the greatest mom to both of us," I say, nudging Ari beside me.

"I can agree to that," Ariana smiles up at me as she was laying her head on my shoulder. I check my phone for the time to see that we had to go.

"You ready to go, love?" I ask Ari as she checks the time on her phone too. She nods and we both head upstairs to get our stuff.

Soon, we had all of our stuff packed in the car that Joan bought me as a graduation gift.

The girls were all on the porch saying their goodbyes so I decided to join them.

"You better come to visit me Jayce, I'm not playing," Nonna says, giving me a tight hug.

"I'm gonna visit you both, I promise," I return the hug and step away to give Joan a hug.

"Get to the airport safe, okay?" She hugs me for what felt like five minutes despite me literally moving two streets over. I think she even hugged me more than her own daughter.

"Alright Mom, that's enough. We have to go," Ariana playfully rolls her eyes, grabbing my arm to drag me to the car.

We said our final goodbyes before I pull out of the driveway and onto the street of our neighborhood, heading for the airport.

"Damn, I'm gonna miss being here," Ariana sighs, looking out of the window.

"We both know you're coming back," I chuckle, "Hey, where's your brother?"

"He was supposed to be here but got caught up in work. He sent his regards this morning," She gives a small smile. I'm really gonna miss that smile.

"I'm gonna miss you so much," I mumble, almost hoping she didn't hear me but as soon as I say it, she perks up.

"You fucking with me?" She says suspiciously.

"I was hoping you didn't hear but no, I wouldn't joke like that when it comes to you," I shrug as we got on the highway.

It took a bit to get to the airport but we made it. I got out of the car to get Ari's bags, handing them to her.

"Guess this is goodbye for now," Tears are brimming her eyes which makes my eyes water a bit.

"Only for now. I'm gonna try to come visit you soon, okay?" I hold her face in my hands. She leans into my touch.

"I love you so much, you don't even know," A small tear escapes one of her eyes.

"Don't cry love, I'm always one call away. Anytime you need me, say the word and I'll be there in a heartbeat. You're my everything, Moonlight," I tell her as I pull her into a hug. Our faces were both covered in tears at this point.

"You better be. I'll be waiting for your call when I land," She pulls back slightly to place a kiss on my lips. I don't even let her pull away, holding the back of her head as she smiles into the kiss.

"You know I'll be there for you always," I smile back at her, pulling away from the kiss as she does the same. She picks up her bags, getting one more good look at me.

"Don't get arrested, Jay. I'll literally kill you," She jokes. We both know there was some truth to her words.

"I won't, I promise. Go catch your plane and let me know when you land, okay?" I brought my hand up to her face to caress her cheek for the last time.

She then nods and pulls away from my touch, taking her bags and waking up to the front doors. She takes one look back at me as I wave with tears coming from my eyes.

Ariana waves back and steps inside as I watch her disappear. This is going to be a long few months.

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A/N: If you thought the drama was bad already, you haven't seen anything yet. Stay tuned for the next chapter and thanks to everyone still reading this shit lol.