Age Of Innocence (AOI) [Sequel To IR]

Chapter 91 } Cher

Part 3:
Ala's POV

I woke up to obnoxiously loud ringing. As I opened my eyes I realized it was my phone. And when I grabbed my phone I saw Matthew was calling. Who else would decide to be annoying and call me at seven o'clock? I groaned and stood up answering the phone as I made my way out of the room.
"What on earth could you possibly need from me at seven in the morning." I answered making sure he knew I wasn't happy.
"I'm in trouble." He breathed heavily.
"I know. You're in trouble for waking me up this early." I groaned once again.
"Ala this is serious." He obviously meant business so I cut to the chase.
"How much?" I asked.
"What?"
"How much money is it going to cost me to bail you out of jail?" That was my best guess at what was happening here. And I planned on taking the money from his bank account.
"I'm not in jail." He replied, seeming a little offended. "Look, can we talk." I sighed.
"I thought you were in trouble?" How did being in trouble and waking me up turn into, just talking.
"I am. Ala would you stop being such a grump. We need to actually have a serious adult conversation." I laughed lightly.
"You, acting like an adult. That's really funny." I laughed more at the thought of him being responsible.
"Quite it, I'm serious. Please."
"Fine, but you're buying me coffee." I protested.
"Whatever meet me at that coffee place on the beach." He hung up. I took my time getting ready, trying not to wake Nash, because I didn't want to torture someone else by waking them up this early. Finally I had to wake him so he knew where and why I left.
"Nash." I whispered. He didn't move. "Nashley Grier." I said louder. He shot up, then plopped his head back down rubbing his eyes.
"What?" He groaned into the pillow.
"I'm gonna go meet Matthew at the beach. He's in trouble apparently and needs to talk. Will you be okay here with Tyler?" He nodded. "Thank you. And make sure you watch him a little bit, I dont know if he's feeling any better." Nash gave me a thumbs up, his face still planted in the pillow. Finally he lifoted it.
"Love you." He muttered as I opened the door.
"Love you too." I closed the door back and walked down the stairs. I grabbed the keys to someone's car and when I made my way to the parking lot I had to push the button to see which car I had stolen. I saw it was Tyler's and figured he wouldn't care. I hopped in the drivers seat and pulled out. I drove and and drove until finally I reached the parking lot for a little coffee joint placed on the beach. I smiled at the thought of free coffee and locked the doors. I walked in and the workers smiled at me before turning back to their work. I saw Matthew sitting at a table staring out the window. I sat across from him catching his attention. "I really hate you right now." I said.
"Why?" He straightened his slumping posture and pushed the cup of coffee toward me.
"Cause you woke me up." I sipped the coffee and noticed how he had already added the perfect amount of creamer, and smiled a little.
"So, you wanna talk about what happened two nights ago?" He asked fixing his SnapBack.
"There's not much to talk about." I shrugged. "I thought we were supposed to have a serious adult conversation?" I asked wanting to get to the point. I was still a little mad about what happened two nights ago. It made me mad that he used me. Of course I can't load all of the blame on him because I never told him to stop. But I was vulnerable, he knew that, and he took advantage of it. I couldn't forgive that.
"Yeah."
"So get to it." I grew impatient.
"Bailey told her dad about what happened, when I went all nuts. Now he wants me to stay away from her and threatened to throw me in jail. He kind of hates me now."
"I can't blame him, I kind of hate you too." I joked. I'm not sure why I couldn't take him seriously about this. Maybe it was because he didn't seem to take his relationship with Bailey serious.
"Ala, it's not funny. Goddammit, I came to you because I needed support. And I thought that sense we both moved on we could put everything behind us, but I guess you're just so stuck in the past that you can't help me out here." I couldn't help but want to laugh.
"If you wanted to put everything behind us then you wouldn't have used me at my most vulnerable state." I admitted.
"What are talking about?" He asked obviously growing annoyed with me.
"Two nights ago. You knew how vulnerable I was, you knew how much I wasn't thinking about anything. You knew my head wasn't working right. So you had to swoop right in and take advantage of it. I wanted to have an honest relationship with Nash but you just couldn't stand me being happy. You had to ruin everything for me."
"You don't get it do you?" I didn't answer him. "I know it was a mistake. And you can't blame me. You could've said no you could've told me to stop, and I would have. But you didn't. I knew how to make you feel better, I knew how to distract you." He explained.
"No Matthew. You knew how to distract yourself. That's your method, having mindless sex to think about something other than your problems. But it doesn't work. Because as soon as you put your clothes on again the problems are waiting. They're still there. It helped none. you knew plenty of other ways to get my mind off of things."
"I'm sorry okay. You're right, I did take advantage of you, I knew what I was doing. And I feel bad, I feel really bad. But I don't regret it." I closed my eyes for a second.
"You said it was a mistake."
"That doesn't mean I regret it. Because I don't. I love you, so I don't care. But I am sorry. I really am." I decided to just go off of the topic and help him because the truth was, I loved him too. And he needed my help.
"What do you want me to do about Bailey's dad?" I asked after a few moments of silence.
"He doesn't trust me anymore. And I'm not supposed to be around her anymore. But I want to be around her. So how do I get him to ease up."
"I mean, you can't blame him for not wanting you around her anymore. It makes sense. I think maybe you should go over there when Bailey isn't around and talk to him. Explain to him that you have some anger problems. Tell him you only have good intentions and you didn't mean to hurt her, you didn't know what you were doing. Respect whatever decision he makes, or give him time to trust you again. But until he does you've got to kind of distance yourself from Bailey, you don't want to cause anymore trouble." He nodded.
"Would you come with me to talk to him?" He asked hopeful.
"I don't really think it's my place to be there. As your ex girlfriend and stuff." He nodded. I suddenly got a text from Nash.
~Conversation~
Nashley Grier- pleaze come home
Ala Dausonn- why??
Nashley Grier- Tyler's going crazy, something about a dude named Jacob Idk man but he's freaking out and I feel weird
Ala Dausonn- why do you feel weird?
Nashley Grier- cause I banged his girlfriend
Nashley Grier- while they were dating
Ala Dausonn- okay I get it I'm coming just keep him under control
Nashley Grier- 👍🏻
~End Of Conversation~
I groaned knowing exactly who Jacob was. Tessa's dad.
"Matthew I've gotta go, Tyler isn't doing so well." I told him standing up. He stood up too and hugged me.
"Thanks for the help." He smiled.
"No problem, call me and tell me what happens." He gave me a thumbs up and I left the small building. I drove back to the loft and rushed up the stairs knocking on the door, figuring Nash would answer faster than I could get the keys out and unlock the door. He answered pretty quickly, almost as if he'd been waiting at the door. As I stepped in I saw Tyler tugging at his hair and pacing back and forth. "Ty?" I called to him. He turned to me and rushed over. "Ty what's wrong?" I asked.
"Jacob called me. He's arranging the funeral. Why the hell would he do that? He knows nothing about her, it's going to be so bad, it'll be insulting to Tessa. This isn't what she would've wanted, we should be doing what she would want. This is all wrong, it's all wrong." I knew this whole thing was driving him crazy, me, not so much. I've tried not to think about it, I've tried to distract myself.
"Tyler Wright listen to me." He looked into my eyes pleading for me to make everything okay again.
"Jacob is an asshole, okay. And when we get there we'll make things right for Tessa. Okay?" He nodded.
"The funeral is in two days." He said softly. "It's on her least favorite day of the week." He was being a little excessive with this but I didn't want to upset him more.
"It's okay Ty, we'll fix everything when we get there. Okay?" He nodded.
"I think I'm going to go somewhere, just try to clear my mind a little." He sighed.
"Okay. Be careful and don't do something bad. If you need anything call me." He nodded then took the keys to his car exiting out of the loft. Seconds later someone knocked. I almost got up until Nash stopped me telling me he would get it. I watched the door as he opened it. My cousin Alexander Dausonn stood there with his girlfriend Deela and a baby. I ran over and hugged him. Two years ago he left South Africa and lived with us for a year before getting a scholarship to Stanford. Although he was on my dads side of the family he had never met my father.
"Why do you have a baby?" I asked side hugging Deela so I didn't crush the child.
"Um, Deela and I kind of had a baby." Alexander answered awkwardly.
"Kind of? Dude why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I was already living here and I didn't want to make a big deal about it."
"It's a human, that's a big deal." He shrugged. I stepped aside letting them come in.
"She was born June twenty-third. We named her, Cher." I almost dropped to the floor.
"Are you kidding me?" Alexander asked me what I would name his child if he ever had one, I told him Cher in honor of the singer, not thinking he would take it literally. He nodded and i smiled. "So are you going to introduce me to the boy standing there looking confused or are we going to continue to ignore him." I forgot about Nash. I waved him over and he joined, standing beside me.
"This is Nash Grier, my boyfriend." I smiled. He smiled too. "And this is Alexander Dausonn, my cousin, Deela Jorgenson his girlfriend, and Cher Dausonn, they're child apparently." Nash and Alexander shook hands.
"Wait weren't you dating that Matt guy, what happened?" Alexander asked sitting on the couch.
"We broke up." He nodded taking Cher from Deela's tired arms.
"Well I can warn you Nash, Ala is practically my sister, so watch out, I'm a little protective."
"Me too." Nash answered. Alexander smiled at him in response.
"So I heard what happened with Tessa. Cloe told me, and asked me to come make sure you were okay." His tone turned sympathetic.
"Yeah, I'm upset of course, but my life is pretty hectic so I've done a good job of distracting myself." I explained.
"When's the funeral?" He asked bouncing Cher up and down on his knee.
"Two days."
"That quickly?" Deela cut in.
"I think everyone just wants to get it over with." The conversation halted. I was glad to change the subject. "So now that I know about Cher. Does that mean she gets to spend time with me?"
"She'll get to spend a lot of time with Aunt Ala." Deela smiled tickling Cher's stomach making her cringe with a smile and snuggled into Alexander. I smiled. They are a family now.
"You can babysit her all the time when Deela and I want to go have fun." Alexander pointed out.
"But you guys live so far away."
"Not right now. We wanted to be in the city so we saved up and rented a small house in L.A."
"Really?"
"Yeah, we just finished moving everything we needed and when summers over we'll go back."
"Yay." I cheered.
"Ala." I turned to Nash. "I gotta go, I'm late."
"Acting class?" He nodded. "Okay, I'll see you later." He walked over and kissed me quickly.
"Love you babe, see you later." Before I could answer he was out of the door.