The Choice

.19

*Next day*
we were meeting with everyone at 11:30. we planned to get some lunch. I got Bella dressed. I put on a simple outfit. Joel called saying he was outside ready to pick us up. we walked to his car and he fastened Bella to her car seat. the ride to the mall was silent. Bella had fallen asleep and Joel nor I said a word.

*at the mall*
all the guys were waiting for us at a restaurant inside the mall when we got there. Joel had to carry Bella since she was still asleep.

"aye there she is!"

"where you've been?!"

"we missed you!"

"why the hell you leave without saying anything?"

they all yelled at me all at once.

"well it's nice to see you guys too." I hugged every one of them.

"what Joel? music industry isn't leaving enough money so you have to babysit now?" asked Yoandri laughing. oh boy.

"yea Joel who's that little girl?" Richard took a sip from his soda. we took a seat. they all looked at us confused. Joel and me just turned to look at each other.

"um okay. y'all acting strange af. what going on?" asked Zabdiel.

"okay well I'll sta-"

"mommy?" I turned to look at Bella who had just woken up. probably by all the noise.

"hey princess come here." I sat her on my lap.

"mommy?" they all yelled in unison.

"surprise?" it came out more like a question.

"okay I can explain. four years ago, I left the country because...well I found out I was pregnant and well I couldn't stay her after what happened with Joel and um you know who. so I left to Paris. and there I gave birth to this gorgeous princess." Bella was playing with the napkin on the table.

they were all shocked and speechless.

"well congrats. I'm happy for you two. after all you guys can finally be happy together." Allison sent me a small smile.

"um no. Joel and me aren't going back together."

"oh. sorry" I sent her a small smile.

"okay how about we eat?" I was pretty hungry so...we all ordered our food and chatted. the boys asked Bella questions like what she liked and what her favorite color was. I was glad that she was getting to know my friends. they were like brothers to me. After we finished eating, we headed to the stores. Joel was with Bella while I chatted with Allison.

"I'm glad you're back, I need to talk to you." she looked sad and worried.

"what's wrong? is everything okay with you and yoyo?"

"um yea it's just. I have a problem deciding something" she was fiddling with her fingers.

"I applied to The University of Southern California, USC my dream school. I applied thinking I wouldn't get accepted....but I did. I don't want to leave Yoandri, but-I don't know what to do. it's my dream school."

"talk to him about it. if that's your dream I'm sure he'll understand. he'll support you no matter what bc he loves you." I felt weird giving relationship advice when I couldn't even fix my own. haha oh well.

"thank you. I'll talk to him today." she walked towards yoyo. I turned to look at Joel giving Bella a piggy back ride. I walked towards them.

"hey missy. almost time to go home."

"aw mommy. but why? I want to stay with daddy." he hugged his leg.

"daddy has to go too. maybe you can see him tomorrow." all of a sudden, a mob of flash and yelling surrounded us. great. they had spotted the one and only, Joel Pimentel and his band members. I grabbed Bella and began heading the other way.

"Erika wait!" he grabbed me by the wrist.

"isn't that Erika? his ex girlfriend from 4 years ago?" I heard a fan say.

"yes didn't she like disappear out of no where?" great. the last thing I wanted was to be on the magazines covers the next day. reporters began showing up out of nowhere.

"Joel! can we please get a word." they began asking Joel all sorts of question.

"Joel I have one last question." a reporter said. he turned his attention towards me. "who are these lovely ladies?" i turned to look at Joel, waiting for the answer to come out of his mouth. was he going to say the truth? the fans wouldn't be happy to find out that he had a daughter.

"they are...."
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so I decided to continue the book. it's almost coming to an end so it wouldn't make sense to just leave it off right now. so don't forget to vote and comment :) ALSO THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR 3K READS. I honestly thought this would get like 0 reads.