in your arms

t h i r t e e n

james's pov.

"we're on in ten!" john shouts, walking over to us. "yous ready?"

i nod. i'm going through an extreme 'i. need riley right now' type of thing and it's dragging me down a little. but i try to forget about it.

"dude, will you man up and stop missing her so much?" luke says, rolling his eyes. "she's probably fine without you."

"i guess so—" i say, being cut off by my phone ringing. probably riley ringing to wish me good luck.

but when i grab my phone, emily's contact pops up on the screen.

yeah, you heard me. emily.

as in the girl who hates my guts.

i hesitantly hit answer. "uhh, hey emily," i say. "what's up?"

"james—oh, thank god, i thought you wouldn't answer. rileys in labour," she says frantically. and i swear to god my heart stops for a minute.

"wait-w-what? when? right now?" i say, panic rising in my chest.

"yes, right now," emily says. "i mean there's nothing you can do, i just thought you'd like to know—"

"emily— i'll be there as soon as i can."

and i hang up.

i turn to the boys. "guys– oh my god, rileys in labour," i say, full on panicking at this point.

"really?" luke exclaims.

"yes, really!" i practically shout. "oh god, why don't we ever listen to theo?"

"well, dude you have to go!" luke shouts.

"but... the show—"

"oh, who gives a shit," john interrupts. "we only have three more shows left and one of them is in toronto, you can just play at that one. but right now, YOUR GIRLFRIEND IS GIVING BIRTH."

luke nods. "now, get going you bozo or you'll miss the next flight!"

"okay, okay. thank you guys," i say, practically out of breath in panic.

"no worries— NOW GO!" john shouts, and i take off, the last thing i hear is theo shouting for the drum machine to be set up.

~~~

the whole plane ride is spent re-evaluating my whole life. i know that when i land, that's it. i'm a Dad. i have a baby to take care of. and all i want is not to screw it up like my own dad did. i seen how my mom was after he took off. i couldn't do that to riley.

~

"hey, pardon me, i'm looking for riley raymond's room?" i say to the lady at reception, trying not to freak out.

emily called me two hours ago and i'm only just getting here.

"of course... room 114, down the hall to your left," the woman smiles.

"thank you so much," i pant, taking off running once again. when i get to the room emily's outside it with her phone, obviously texting people. she smiles slightly when she sees me. "you acctually came. i thought you wouldn't."

"can..." i stop to breathe. "can i go in?"

"of course, of course, go on in," emily says, and for the first time in her life she doesn't say anything rude to me. "she probably needs you."

i stop and breathe for a minute, then i walk in. rileys lying on the bed looking exhausted, but still breathtakingly beautiful (which doesn't help the fact i've been running a lot in the past two hours.)

but in her arms is the smallest, most adorable baby i've ever seen in my life.

riley looks up and sees me. "james, you're here," she smiles, tears pouring down her face.

"i couldn't miss this," i say, grinning. "when was she born?"

"about an hour ago. do you want to hold her?" she asks.

do i hell.

i nod and she hands me our baby girl, and i cradle her in my arms. god, she's so fucking beautiful.

she opens her eyes and looks up at me. with her eyes open she looks a lot like me. with the darkest brown eyes i've ever seen.

"great, now i'm gonna cry," i say, laughing. "so, have you thought of a name?"

"i have a few. i can't choose," she tells me. she bites her lip.

"tell me."

"well, i like paige, and clara, and jessica," she says. "they're a little dainty but adorable."

"i like jessica," i tell her.

"it's my favourite too," she smiles.

"jessica," i repeat, looking at my tiny daughter. "jessica. it suits her."

"and she's gonna have your surname. i decided. so jessica tordjman it is, then?"

"yeah. yeah, it's perfect."

"this is so surreal," riley speaks up.

"why?" i ask.

"becuase. i just had a baby. and i'm 19. we aren't even married and we weren't even dating a few months ago. it's just crazy."

"good crazy or bad crazy?"

she looks at jessica and smiles. "good. definitely good crazy."

suddenly the door opens, and west, emily, eldon, michelle, giselle and chloe walk in, the girls all super excited.

"oh my god, she's adorable!" giselles says, coming over next to me to look at her. "awh, what's her name?"

"jessica," riley tells her.

"hey, jessica," giselle cooes. "i'm giselle and i'm gonna be the cool aunt."

emily cuts in. "well giving im the actual aunt, i'll be the cool one," she says.

"you? the cool one? i think you'd be the scary strict one," michelle says, laughing.

"hey!—" emily says.

"guys, guys," west says, holding out his hands. "i think we all know who's gonna be the cool aunt," he says, pointing to himself smugly.

i roll my eyes and we all laugh.

these people will make amazing kind-of-aunts and uncles. technically not by blood but, really, who cares?

~~

guysss next chapter might be the last chapter 😩 i know this was a super short book but we all remember what happened in 'his little girl'... i dragged it on and i got bored 😂 i might come up with some more ideas and a few more chapters will come out of it but idk yet! thank you for reading!
- emma ❤️