The Nightmare Of Life

Chapter-22: Prep

The rest of the cruse was amazing and we all had such an amazing time together, Emerald and her friends seemed to have grown extremely closer throughout the cruise, I don't know how to explain it its almost like they are the best of friends and I don't see anything breaking that up anytime soon. Natasha had to fly back the moment after I proposed but we were all glad that she could show up even if it was just for a few hours. Alicia and I have been drawn to each others hips after the proposal and I am really looking forward to what the future holds for us. All I am going to say is seeing her with that ring on her finger and knowing that she's all mine makes me so damn happy. I know our relationship is basically just starting but that doesn't change the many years of us knowing each other and how during those years we have been the best of friends and our bond we have is I believe unbreakable. Now I know we have had some ups and downs over the years but at the end of the day everyone even siblings have problems that they have to work through. When its all said and done I really feel like I made the right choice and in my heart I feel like we are going to build on our family. I am currently in the hospital lunch room waiting for Natasha. Emerald is at Zyra's house and Alicia is at home relaxing. This is just one of a few stops I have today. I need to meet Serena as well and discuss her work hours and if she is willing to work two jobs. The clubs renovations are complete and tomorrow will be the reveal and hopefully it will be everything Emerald has imagined. "Jake!" I hear Natasha's voice. I look up and see her walking towards me with a massive smile on her face holding her lunch box. She sits down in front of me "I'm so happy you could meet me today!" she says with a bit of chip in her voice. This is the happiest I've see her in a hot minute. "Of course Nat, you seem extremely happy today" she smiles as she bites inter her pb and j sandwich. "Of course I am happy you and my sister are getting married, I have a dream job, we live in this awesome city what's not to be happy about" I feel a warm smile crease my lips. "Anyway what's up Nat you wanted to meet me?" She sets down her sandwich. "yes.. I wanted to talk to you about opening night for your club. I am currently on 6 days and will be for probably forever at this point and just need to know the date so I can attempt to take that day off but as you know as an intern its extremely hard to get days off, how I managed to do what I did on that cruise astonishes me. But I really want you to know that I will do everything I can to not miss that night." she pauses and looks away for a moment. I am just about to reply when she begins again this time a little sadness in her voice. "I also wanted to apologize. I feel like I am not around as much anymore and I don't want you guys to think that I don't care or I am choosing work over you." she pauses again and this time before she can talk again I take her hand and rub my thumb on the top of her hand. "Nat its fine I promise. If we really had a problem with it which we don't we would have told you, this is your dream job we aren't going to stand in the way of that. All I ask is that you're available on the days that matter like the club opening which I plan on opening this Saturday and before you say anything I know its such short notice but Sunday is Emeralds birthday and I thought that she could perform at midnight so its like she's performing on her birthday." She looks at me wide eyed like I just said that her cat died or something. "wait Sunday is Emeralds birthday!" I laugh at her and she takes another bite of her sandwich. "yes? how did you not know this?" she chokes back on her food and smiles at me. "I mean I knew it was coming up but shit I didn't think it was that soon, do you already have gifts planned and a party planned?" Her enthusiasm warms my heart. "Well not exactly, I want something special for her, She is my rock after all." Natasha gives me a soft smile as she checks her phone "as I'm sure you are hers, hey I need to go but before I do I just want you to know that I love you and ill see you soon" We both stand up at the same time and pull one another into a warm hug "I love you too Nat" We break the hug and she gives me a reassuring nod "I will be there I promise Jake and if I don't happen to get there right when it opens i will be there before your little girl performs. bye Jake" I watch her walk away and feel a sense of warmth in my heart. She is such a kind hearted person and I am happy that she's in my life but enough about the sappy shit its time to go to Serena's work. It takes me I want to say 20ish minutes to get to Serena's work. I want inside and walk to the front desk. Serena was promoted recently to the store's manager so I know she must be super busy. I walk up to the counter "I'm here to meet with Serena" The receptionist smiles as Serena walks out from the back room. Her face lights up when she see's me. "Hi Jake!" She says with happiness in her voice. She motions for me to follow her so I do. I happen to follow her all the way to the back where her office is. Once I enter she shuts the door behind me and proceeds to sit at her desk. I sit in the chair in front of the desk. "So. What's up?" I ask. She looks at me confused for a sec but recomposes herself. "Ah yes. I still want to be apart of Emeralds band but that might be hard because of my work schedule. What do you propose?" I lean back in my chair. "Well, I was thinking that Emerald only performs on Friday and Saturday so that way she can also focus on school. Can you make those days?" She also leans back in her chair and raises a brow at me. "When is the club open, when does the club close and most importantly when would we perform?" I give her a sweet smile and lean back in my chair "well I still need to talk to Theo and the rest of the gang but I plan on having the club open 6pm to 1am every day a week and as for when we perform I was thinking Friday and Saturday nights so that way Emerald can focus on her schooling as well as her singing career." her eyes light up as she leans on her desk. "Dude! That's perfect I normally get off at 6 so I can just head over after work on Friday and I normally have Saturday off so count me in!" Her excitement makes my heart happy as it amazes me how good of friends I have. "In other news how are you and the new fiancée?" I feel a small blush form on my cheeks "We are good! She's at home relaxing. How have you and Tiffany been since you know?" She looks down at her phone for a second then looks back up at me. "Its time for me to go back but lets talk later okay?" I stand up and raise my brow at her. "are you okay?" she doesn't answer at first but then looks at me and seems to fake a smile. "I'm fine Jake see you later" She guides me out of the building and waves me off before dashing back in her work. Now that was weird and very unlike Serena but for not until she comes up to me I am going to stay out of it. Now that I have Natasha and Serena taken care of I think I want to go home and be with my fiancée. The drive home was beautiful as it always is as the scenery of Raleigh is such a beautiful sight. I park my car next to Alicia's and make my way up to my apartment. As soon as I open the door Alicia greets me from the kitchen stuffing a spoon into a tub of ice cream and basically eating straight out of the tub. I laugh as I close the door behind me. She looks at me and laughs. "What you're not the one who's pregnant I have cravings!" I throw my hand up jokingly. She rolls her eyes jokingly and looks back at her ice cream, I walk up to her and put my hand underneath her chin and pull her to face me then I press a soft kiss on her lips. Once we finish I take in her beautiful eyes "I love you Ali" She blushes "I love you too Jake" After a few more moments of taking each other in she sticks the spook into the tun and scoops up some ice cream then she turns to me I open my mouth and she shoves the spook into it and laughs. Once I am finished eating and taking the spoon out of my mouth I give her a dirty look. She just laughs and walks away tossing the tub back in the freezer. "Oh great now you are spreading your germs to everyone" she just rolls her eyes and grabs my hand and pulls me to the couch. We both plop down and she cuddles next to me leaning her head on my shoulder and wrapping her arm acrost my stomach as I wrap my arm around the back of her neck. "What would you do without me?" she asks in a nice and sweet tone. "that's a random question but probable nothing. What would you do without me?" she looks at me a presses a soft kiss on my cheek. "I would absolutely fall apart without you babe" I chuckle at her comment and hold her a little tighter. "I mean think about it babe, I have you, we are raising a beautiful bright little girl and we have a baby on the way, we are building the perfect little family." I lean down as she leans her head back and we share a soft passionate kiss, once we pull apart the look in her eyes is passionate as Natasha is right this is the happiest Alicia has been the whole time I have known her. I really feel that we are in love. "That's all I want Ali. As long as I have you the rest will come after" she smiles and closes her eyes as I stroke her hair. "We should plan another cruise that was really fun." she says in a soft voice. "maybe this time you won't make me cry like a little bitch" we both share a small laugh as we continue to hold each other. Suddenly my phone rings in my pocket. I pull it out notice its Theo. "Hey man what's up?" i answer. "hey Jake sorry to bother you bro, I'll make this quick, could you text me the details about the clubs hours and what days you prefer me to work just so I know and I can gameplan for everything" Theo says with a passionate tone. "yeah man I got you" I respond. "thanks boss talk soon" with that we hand up and I begin to text him in front of Alicia. "Are you excited for Emeralds birthday?" Alicia asks with her eyes still closed. "yeah, of course I am that's why I need to make opening day special." she smiles as I finish the message. "I can't believe that kid is going to be 11 in a week" I smile at her comment "Me too, she's growing up to fast" I respond. We hold each other tighter just looking up at the ceiling. "You know babe, I wonder what both of our lives would look like if we never met one another. Like would we be where we are now as people, would we be worse off or would we be better off. Its funny to think about" I look down at her and press a soft kiss on her forehead. "I think that if we didn't have one another we would not be who we are today because we have always been each others rocks. I mean think about it Ali without you I probably wouldn't have been able to come to terms about what happened to me and I don't think you would have been able to escape the hypnosis from Chad. Honestly babe I don't see a future without you." she doesn't respond for a moment then she sits up and looks me in the eyes "promise me you'll never leave me" I look at her wide eyed. "Where is this coming from love" she seems to bypass my question "Jake just promise me" I take my hand and put it on her right cheek. "I promise Alicia that I will never leave you. You're stuck with me" She smiles and gets on top of me. "I love you so much Jake" before I can respond at all she presses a deep kiss on my lips and keeps pushing in what was a truly passionate kiss. The rest of that night we just took advantage of having the house to ourself. The next few days have been absolutely crazy, I have been everywhere in a day it feels like. Lets see, Tuesday I had to meet with a few vendors to get the name brand drinks like soda and juice and for some reason that took all day, I needed to set up a payment plan so they can constantly fill my club. I set it up to do a drop two times a week which comes out to a hefty amount a month. I have already set up my business bank account and invested most of the rest of the money I had. I went from several thousand dollars to I want to say 7 grand. I paid the apartments the rest of the years worth of money so at least for the rest of our lease We won't have to worry about rent. Wednesday Emerald and I spent the whole day at the club decorating and making it into something somewhat homy in a sense. So how the club is designed is when you walk into the door on your right is a bunch of tables with booth seats, same for the left. The stage is located in the middle of the club but all the way in the back. The bar is located on the right hand side in the middle between the booths at the beginning to the stage. The bathrooms are located on both sides of the stage. There is a massive dance floor in front of the stage. The floor is silky wood with a bit of gloss to it. We decided to flood the club with booths so that way when Emerald is performing everyone has a choice to either dance at the dance floor or sit at a booth and enjoy the music that way. I made sure that the dance floor was a good size because I know there are going to be some crazy crowds and now a days people love to dance. Oh a cool thing too is the word Vision is directly above the bar in big green and blue letters so its definitely going to be recognizable. Lets see Thursday I went over everything with the crew and had Theo train Tiffany on everything she needs to know in bartending and Alicia and I trained how to be a good host. All week Emerald has been practicing singing but I can tell she is very anxious and nervous singing in front of a crowd again. I need to talk to her and I will but I've just been so busy with the preparations for not just the club but her birthday as well its been a crazy ride. Thursday came and went and now its Friday morning and of course I am awake and at the club making the final preparations. Emerald and Alicia are at home resting and Natasha wasn't at home so I'm assuming she's at work. I slowly walk out from the back room holding a clip board when a figure walks towards me. I look up startled and breath a sigh of relief when I find out its Natasha holding a massive ice cream cake. "dammit girl you scared the shit out of me. She laughs and sets the cake down on the bar counter. "You forgot this, it was in the freezer." My eyes go wide as I rub my head. "Shit. wow thank you Nat I've been a bit overwhelmed as you can tell." she gives me a sly smile. "yeah I would have been here sooner but I needed to get my oil changed and get the tires rotated. "Are you nervous about tomorrow?" I sigh loudly as I take a seat on the one of the bar stools. I put my face in my hands, she walks over and sits next to me then begins rubbing her hand on my back. "Are you okay? You need to slow down and take a moment. Is there anything I can help you with" I look up at her and give her a week smile. "I'm fine Nat, Just trying to make sure that everything tomorrow goes exactly as planned." She gives me a concerned look before intertwining her hands together. "I don't mean this in a bad way but tomorrow won't go exactly as planned and that's okay because this is a whole new thing for you, You're a new owner of a club and people are going to get drunk and I'm sure you're going to have to break up a few fights but I promise you that when tomorrow is all said and done you'll be happy about the result and as for Emerald, I wouldn't worry as much. You are doing all of this for her and giving her a birthday party on top of that. If you ask me she's a little spoiled in a good way" I take everything she said just now in and give her a sweet smile. I hold out my hand and she takes it. "I love you Nat" she gives me a wide smile before pushing herself up. "I love you too, Now lets get this cake in the fridge here and let me help you set up whatever needs to be set up. and I won't be taking no for an answer." She takes my hand and gives it a light squeeze before pushing herself up and grabbing the cake. I follow her to the back room and the rest of the day she helps me finish the final preparations for the opening.

Its I want to say 9pm and Jake and Natasha are still at the club and right now Emerald and I are sitting on the couch watching a movie. She is currently laying her head on my shoulder. "Mom?" she asks in a sweet soft voice. "What's up kiddo" she doesn't move and keeps her eyes on the TV. "I know I already performed for you on the cruise and I know we have been practicing all week for tomorrow but I am still super nervous. Is that normal?" I press a soft kiss on the top of her head. "Of course its normal. You are still just a little girl and you want to know a little secret" she takes her head off my shoulder and sits back giving me her full attention. "Every singer or actor or hell every football player they all feel what you feel just before they go out and do what they do. Its normal. Le me ask you Why weren't you as nervous when you sang that song for me?" She shrugs "I don't know. I think its because it was for you so for most of the song I was just looking at you." I give her a sweet smile before looking down at my ring . After a moment I give her my full attention again. "Well I will be there so if you need to just look at me again. Let me ask you another question. How much do you love to sing?" She raises a brow at me and for a moment her face falls "Can I tell you something mom?" I give her a nod and she takes a deep breath. "I know its been a while now but when I was in the hospital I couldn't do anything except play on my phone, eat, and sleep, so I turned to YouTube and watched Birdy and it inspired me to do what she does. So I've spent the majority of my time watching detailed tutorial videos on how to play the piano, I also watched Birdy interviews and she would explain why singing is a passion for her and its a way to escape reality sometimes and honestly in that moment mom all I wanted to do was escape reality. There were some nights where I would sing to myself. So to make a long story short and actually answer your question singing means everything to me and its something I want to do for the rest of my life" She gives me a stern look as I process everything in. After a few more moment I take her hand and squeeze it. "Well then you will be just fine. Think about it kiddo, You really have nothing to be nervous about because you are talented. To think that you are so good playing the piano and you just watched tutorial videos is amazing and you have a beautiful singing voice. Emerald you're a very talented little girl and think about it you are so good now, imagine how good you will be in the future. You got this kiddo" She gives me a wide smile. "Thank you mom. That really helped." I give her hand a soft kiss "of course kiddo, if you ever need anything I will always be here" She smiles just as my phone rings. I let go of Emeralds hand and grab my phone thinking its Jake but I don't recognize the number. "Excuse me kiddo" she gives me a stern nod as I walk to my room shutting the door behind me. "Hello?" I answer. "Is this Alicia?" for a moment I don't respond. "Yes? Who is this?" Its a females voice that sounds very familiar. "Its me Abby. We met on that plane a while ago. You said to call you and it took me a while but here I am." I smile to myself and sit on the bed. I feel a rush of excitement as I remember our talk on the plane. "Oh my god Abby How are you!" "I'm good Alicia. I called to tell you that I'm back in town and would love to see you!" "I would love that too Abby. Hey tomorrow my fiancée is hosting a grand opening of a club, you should come" "Wait? Fiancée, what did I miss and I would love to. What time?" "Yes, life has been a little wild for me since the last time we talked and it opens at 6, but maybe we could meet up sooner and catch up before it opens." "I would love that Alicia. Hey I gotta go but I'll text you. It was good to hear your voice again Ali" With that we both say our bye's and I fall back on the bed with warmness in my heart. I never thought I would ever hear from her again but I am glad that I did because she has changed some perspective for me and that's based on meeting her once. I was already ultra excited for tomorrow but now that excitement just went up more. I have a great feeling that Tomorrow is going to be a great day!