Chapter Six

Ariana

“Well this is it.” Jamison said as he opened the door to his building. Ariana just stood there looking around the place. “Sit.” Jamison said pointing to the couch. Ariana made her way over to the couch to sit down. “So is it just you here?” She asked. “Yes, it is. But I’m not here some days. Some days I have to travel out of town to train some clients.”

“How often does that happen?” Ariana asked. “Just about every other week. Sometimes I’m away for a month. I never really know until I get the call.” Ariana thought it would be kind of interesting to travel around to train people for a little while but she wouldn’t really want that for a job. Jamison walked down the hall way, into his bathroom, grabbed a towel and said “I’m about to hit the shower. You can turn on the TV or do just about whatever while you’re waiting.” Ariana sat back, turned on the TV, and started flipping through the channels. She couldn’t find anything she wanted to watch so she decided to get up and snoop around the house. She looked through his drawers and cabinets to find he didn’t have much stuff in his place. She heard the door to the bathroom open up when she was still in Jamison’s room. He came into the room with a towel wrapped around his waist. He couldn’t see anything because he was wiping his face with a small towel in his hand. He shut the door behind him, and threw his towel off onto his bed. “Okay!” Ariana yelled as she turned around covering her face. “Ariana! I didn’t see you! I thought you were watching the television or something.” He said, wrapping the towel back around his waist. Ariana got up and headed for the door. After a couple minutes sitting in silence on the couch, Jamison walked out of the room and faced Ariana. “I’m sorry you had to see that, I should have made sure it was all clear in the room.”

“No I shouldn’t have been in the room. I’m really sorry.” Jamison walked into his small kitchen and opened up the fridge, his face was all red. “I’m not much of a cook so I’m thinking about ordering pizza tonight. Is that alright with you?” He asked Ariana. “Yes, that’s fine.” She just sat there, still, quiet, and waiting for the pizza to come. After fifteen minutes, the door bell rang. Jamison took the pizza, handed the guy the money, and sat the pizza on the coffee table in front of Ariana. He went back into the kitchen to get paper plates and then asked what Ariana wanted to drink. “Water.” She said. He brought out their plates and drinks then set them down on the coffee table next to the pizza.

“So what exactly were you doing in my room?” Jamison asked Ariana. It took her awhile to think of an excuse of why she was in his room. “I started getting cold so I was looking for a blanket.” was the first thing that came out of her mouth. “And you didn’t see the one right behind you on the couch?” He said pointing to the blanket. “No, I didn’t.” At 11:30 Jamison watched his TV show that came on every week. Ariana sat there staring at the TV, but wasn’t paying attention to it. She was thinking about what happened earlier. She was glad she wasn’t the one who didn’t have on any clothes in that situation. Although, Jamison being a physical trainer, his body was very nice and muscular. *No! He’s 23! I can’t think of him like that when it would be illegal to do anything in the first place. But who’s gonna know? Then again, I don’t know much about him. I just know he’s good looking. And I’m staying at his place for the night.* Ariana thought to herself. “It would be nice though.” She said out loud. “I’m sorry?” Jamison asked. *Did I just say that out loud?!* She wondered. “No. I mean nothing. I mean I didn’t mean to say that cause I meant to think it in my head. I mean, never mind.” She babbled. Jamison was still staring at her. “So doctors huh?” She said pointing to the TV, trying to focus their attention on the show. “You don’t watch shows like this?” Jamison asked. “Sometimes.” Ariana answered. “I almost forgot you don’t have clothes to sleep in for the night. I could make a quick run to the clothing store to get you something comfortable.” Jamison offered.

“No thanks. I’ll be fine.” Ariana answered. “In a sweat suit that’ll keep you hot? You could use a T-shirt and some shorts of mine for the night. If you would like to shower, the bathroom is down that hall. Towels and wash cloths are in the closet beside it.” Jamison said. After awhile, Ariana got up to take a shower. After coming out of the bathroom, wrapped up in her towel, she remember she didn’t ask Jamison for clothes before she got in. She walked down the hall and into the family room where Jamison was, and peeked her head around the corner so he could only see her face. “I need clothes.” She said slowly. Jamison got up from the couch and walked back into his room, opened up his drawers and got out a big black T-shirt and black loose shorts. “This should do.” He said as he handed the clothes to Ariana. “If you need anything else, I’ll be on the couch.” He walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Chapter Five

Giatta

“You having fun so far?” Adam asked Giatta. “Yeah I am, although we’ve only been to one shop on the beach.” Then she laughed. “That’s true. There is a carnival opening tonight, how bout we say we go?”

“Alright. How bout we do.” She said. Giatta and Adam walked around the beach until it was time to get headed towards the carnival. Adam even bought Giatta some new clothes, including a light blue dress, above knee length, that had some floral pattern on it. He also bought her new shoes to go with the dress. “It’s almost 10; we can leave now to go to the carnival if you’re ready.” He told Giatta. They went to get in his truck then drove off down the street to the carnival. It was only 10 minutes away. They had a huge Ferris-wheel, swinging ships, a drop tower, and other rides and attractions, and the place was filled with food stands. Adam lead her around the place, searching for a food stand. “What do you want?” Adam asked her. “To eat?” Giatta asked. Adam had this “well-obviously” look on his face. Giatta answered “Of course 'what do I want to eat.' I’ll have one of those hotdogs. Oh and a small coke.” Adam ordered a hotdog, small coke, a double thick bacon cheese burger for himself, and a large orange soda. “Do you want drizzled cheese on your hotdog?” The guy asked with a lousy “I-really-don’t-wanna-be-here” voice. “Uhmm sure.” Giatta said. When they slid down to the next open window, they handed out their food. A huge cup came through the window, it was filled with coke.

“I think they got your order wrong, Adam. This coke is a large.” Adam laughed like Giatta was stupid. “No, that’s the small.” If this big cup was the small, she couldn’t imagine what the large looked like. When it came out, it was ultra huge. Adam asked Giatta if she would hold it for him why he took the change for the refreshments. She could barely hold it with one hand, she had to grab it with both of them. Adam took his drink and picked up his burger as they headed towards the humungous Ferris-wheel. They got in the long line and saw a sign that read “NO FOOD ALLOWED!” “Well there goes us eating on the ride. We’ll catch it when we’re done.” Giatta said. “Well that’s one big bag you carry around your shoulder.” Adam said. Giatta knew what he was up to. She opened up her bag and they put the wrapped up food in her bag. “Now what about the drinks?” She asked Adam. “Those are not going in my bag.” She told him. “We put them in there, until we get on the ride. Just keep the bag still enough so they won’t move around.” Adam suggested. She did what he said and got it in there with no problem.

Her dark black bag that she carried around her shoulder, made it look like there weren’t even any cups in there. They got away with it and hopped on a seat. The Ferris-wheel shook when it started going up. As they were half way to the top, they took out the food and drinks and started eating. All the way at the top, the Ferris-wheel got stuck. Giatta and Adam would see almost all over Fletcher city and all over the beach. It was beautiful. All the city lights and houses lit up in the back yards with parties going on. Giatta turned around to see what was behind her. More lights and big buildings, people walking on the beach, and the ocean going on forever and ever. The breeze was a little chilly at the top but it was fine. “So what am I to you?” Giatta asked Adam after she bit into her hotdog. “Like, I know we aren’t any more than friends but am I just another girl you hang around for a while, and then take off when someone else comes along? I mean come on, you’re good looking to be honest, and I know you aren’t gonna be all on your own when I can only imagine girls throwing themselves at you.”

“Well you sure get straight to the point.” Adam said. “No point in wasting time.” Giatta answered. Adam opened his mouth, about to answer her question, but nothing came out. Giatta looked at him waiting on his answer. “I had a whole bunch of girlfriends. Slept with a few of them. I was never too serious about any of them, except one. She went off with some other guy though. I recently bumped into one of the girls I slept with. One night we were at a party on the beach. We barely even talked around the fire pit where everyone was drinking but she came over to sit by me and we chatted for a little bit. We were both wasted when we decided to go back to my truck and do each other. I only knew her for not even 2 hours. That was about 3 weeks ago. Since then I haven’t had much to do with girls except the ones I’ve been with before, they keep calling me.” Giatta wasn’t so surprised to hear something like that. Then Adam added, “And I don’t hang around girls until some other one comes along, just to let you know. I plan to have one friend who sticks around. So far I haven’t had much of those.” Giatta knew exactly what he was talking about. Though she hadn’t slept around like Adam had, she knows how hard it is to find a good friend who sticks around. “I get that, and I promise you, I’ve been through dealing with people who turn their back. And it always end up happening when you’re going through one of the toughest situations in your life. I can also promise you that, as much as I can help it, I will be here for you. There’s gotta be a reason you went off with that one girl you barely knew.”

“It isn’t that anything was wrong with me. I was totally wasted.” Giatta laughed, “Wasted. Wasted huh? ‘Oh I was wasted’ that’s your excuse? I know it’s a little harder to control things when you’re under that but come on. Some control can happen.” She said. “This is true,” Adam started, “But it’s harder than you think. But you really wanna know why I was always out drinking and getting into things I know I shouldn’t have gotten into?” Giatta then nodded. “I thought I was perfect. I had everything. I played football for the school, my dad made a lot of money, my mom was the coolest mom ever, and they let me do just about anything I wanted. My sister was married, had kids, I had the greatest nephews. I had the most perfect girlfriend ever. She was gorgeous, she was smart, she was the perfect size, and she had these blue eyes. These killer blue eyes. She was Korean mixed with white so she had perfect straight black hair. We were always together, always going out, always attending each others big events in our lives, always talking on the phone when we weren’t together, and people thought nothing wrong between us would ever happen. We were crazy freshmen in love, so we thought. When she turned 15, she told me she was pregnant. It was definitely mine.” He stopped there but Giatta wanted him to keep on going.

She stared at him and nudged his shoulder for him to keep on going. He looked away from Giatta as if he didn’t want her to see him. It looked like he had tears slowly coming to his eyes. “It’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Giatta said. “No, you asked. So I’ll finish my story.” He cleared his throat and only let a couple tears come out. “I was scared. I couldn’t be a dad at 15. I had my football career, I had all the friends, I had this awesome relationship with my whole family, and I couldn’t let it go to waste just because I had a baby to take care of. So I didn’t take care of it. I left my girlfriend. I told her I wasn’t gonna be the dad cause it wasn’t even mine. I knew the baby was mine, but I just couldn’t do it. She got so mad at me, she stopped talking to me trying to contact me for 5 months. I’ve tried talking to her for the past year. All I want to do is see my kid. I don’t even know if it’s a boy or a girl. She won’t let me in. She’s answered the phone once and hung up when she found out it was me. Ever since then, I’ve been messed up about it. I’ve just been out; doing a couple girls I’ve picked up along the way, and wasted my time with nothing but alcohol and football. Football is the only thing keeping me up right now.” Giatta knew his life was a little twisted but never knew it was this bad. “I wanna help.” Was the first thing that came out of her mouth. “You wanna help? I don’t think there is anything you can do.”

“Yes there is. I’m gonna help find your ex girlfriend and get you to see your baby. Well he, or she is about 2 now so I think it’s been long enough. Your old girlfriend, she still lives here in town right?” Adam nodded, “As far as I know. When I called her home phone, she was at home. I called about 3 months ago. You don’t have to do this. I can do it all on my own.” Giatta still wanted to help. “Oh I think you’ve done enough on your own. Let me help. I’m gonna help. You can’t put me out of this situation now even though it isn’t any of my business.” She said. Giatta almost forgot about her food, she was so caught up in Adam’s story. She continued eating her luke warm hotdog sipping on her coke through her long straw. “I’m only letting you do this because I wanna see that baby. My baby.”

They were both silent and eating their food. The Ferris-wheel was still stuck and they were still at the very top. “You know, it’s been hard with just my mom and me.” Giatta said. “I used to have all these friends when I was little, they all had dad’s, and I was always wondering if I had one. I never knew every kid had a dad out there somewhere. I don’t even know if he’s still alive. I know I hate him though. I hate the fact that he left my mom all on her own. I hate the fact that I grew up with no male role in my life. The closest thing I got to that was all my mom’s boyfriends and sometimes when we went to Germany, my grandpa.”

“You have grandparents in Germany?” Adam asked. “Yes, my mom’s parents. They’re German.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“People like me. Guys who leave when they can’t handle it. Even if they can afford it, could take care of it, and would be okay with it. We still left. And now she won’t even let me see her.” Then Giatta asked, “How do you know it’s a girl?”

“I have a feeling it’s a girl.” Another silence swept through with neither one of them speaking. “I know I screwed it up but I’m gonna be one of those dad’s who go back and stay.” Giatta was half convinced. “Just promise me one thing.” Giatta said. “Anything.”

“Don’t give up looking for her. And once you find her, don’t you ever let her go. I’m just saying this because I know that’s all I need sometimes.” Adam nodded, agreeing to what she was saying. “I promise.” He said, “Oh yeah, back at the house last night, you said you had boyfriend drama. What’s with it with you and your boyfriend?”

“Oh, he isn’t my boyfriend. He used to be. Back in Virginia we went out. Then my mom and I moved here less than a month ago and we just kind of split. We had our hard times even before I moved but it’s even worse now. We haven’t talked in a couple days. But it’s not really something I wanna get into right now.” It was silent between the two of them. Adam broke it by saying,

“So it’s supposed to rain tonight. Not until late but it’s almost 11. I hope we don’t get stuck up here in rain, or miss that party by midnight.” He said. “If we’re still up here in the rain, I’m some how using you as a cover.”

Chapter Four.

Veronica

“She’s trying to make me jealous.” Veronica said. “No she isn’t. Just because she throws herself out there, doesn’t mean anything.” Jacqueline said. “No Jacquie. I know her. Teresa is this, hideous, 2 faced, backstabbing model and no one thinks she’s even pretty. I mean look at her. You’ve known me for 13 years. You know I wouldn’t just jump to conclusions like this without there being a reason.” Jacqueline laughed. “Actually, you do jump to conclusions without there being a reason. You think you’re so amazing that everyone who is actually better than you, is jealous. Get over yourself.” Jacqueline and Veronica had been together since they were young. Veronica’s mom and Jacqueline’s dad got married when the girls were 4. “I was only trying to make conversation and tell you what’s going on. Get out of my room you monstrous bitch.” Jacqueline made one of her ‘mad-as-hell’ look at Veronica. As she was walking out, she took a flower vase from Veronica’s dresser and shoved it at Veronica’s face. “What the hell?” Veronica yelled. She continued her work on the computer. Looking for Teresa Long’s modeling photos she came across one and murmured to herself “I want her dead.” Veronica and Teresa were never good friends but a couple months ago, Teresa humiliated Veronica in front of the whole stadium at the rally. Veronica never got her way with people, unless there was a threat involved. That usually got her in even more trouble. This time, she was determined to get her way with Teresa.

“Veronica.” Her step-dad said as he knocked on the frame of her bedroom door. “What?” She yelled. “Get dressed. We’re all going out to dinner in about 30 minutes.” They were always doing something on a Friday night but this time, Veronica didn’t feel like doing anything but plotting revenge. “Jack, I’m not going anywhere with any of you. I’m going to a party tonight. Have fun at dinner.”She said with attitude. “A party huh? And when is this party?” Jack asked. “Midnight.” She answered. “I don’t think so. You better be ready in 30 minutes.”

“Or what, Jack? What are you going to do?” Jack had basically been her male role in her life for 13 years but she’s never treated him like anything more but her mom’s husband. She’s never really respected him or listened to a word he says. “Veronica! Not tonight. You’re going with us. I will take your computer, your phone, your money, your car, your make-up, your everything. Now get the fuck up and get dressed.” Veronica was always getting into arguments with Jack too, but she never listened to anyone if she didn’t wanna do it. Veronica sat there on the computer still looking through photos and thinking of ways to get Teresa back some how. “Oh okay, I see. You’re gonna take my money so basically steal from me. And you’re so pathetic, one of the things you’ll take is my make-up. Good punishment Jack.” Jack walked up to her and pulled his hand back, about to strike. She turned around and gave him a serious look. “Hit me.” She said. He stood there with his hand in the air. “What are you waiting for? Scared? Hit me.” Veronica said. He put his hand down but was obviously pissed at her. He saw Teresa on the computer screen. “Oh, Teresa. She one of my models I’m making big. She’s sweet, nice, kind, respectful, and beautiful.

Something you’re not. You know, the total opposite of you. Maybe you should be a little more like her.” She scolded him with the worst look she’s given to him only a few times before. Jack stood there staring down on here while she was staring up at him, like they were having a staring contest. “We’re leaving in about 20 minutes.” Jack said. “Do you really think I’d wanna go anywhere with you right now? Plus you took up 10 minutes of my getting ready time.” Veronica said. “You know what?” Jack started, “I don’t want to be around you either. Stay home, go to that party, get drunk, do stupid things, get knocked up by any guy you see. Seems to me right now, that’s all you’re worth for anyways. And if I get a call that you’re hurt, or even dead, I may just be a little relieved that I won’t have a nagging stoner to deal with anymore.” At that point Veronica had it. She took the vase Jacqueline threw at her, and slung it as hard as she could at Jack’s face. She grabbed her desk lamp and hit him with that too, burning him with the light bulb after she was done. Jack had yelled so loud, Veronica’s mom came running upstairs. “What did you do Veronica?” She screamed. Veronica stormed out the room, grabbing her purse, blackberry cell phone, her car keys, and a couple small outfits she could find laying around her room, and took off. “Where do you think you’re going?” Her mom asked. Veronica didn’t answer. She pulled out of the drive-way, down the long road, and just drove for hours. Thinking. Blasting her music very loud.

She checked her watch. It was 8:15pm and she had nothing to do. She felt like calling one of her friends and seeing if he’d like to get together but she wanted to be alone at the same time. At that second she thought about it, her friend, Chris, called. “Hey Chris.” She said quietly and slowly. “Hey dimples. You okay?” He could always tell when something was wrong, and he always called her dimples since she had these cute deep dimples. But not many people saw them since she didn’t smile much. She always seemed to smile around Chris though. “How did you know to call me?” she asked. “I wanted to talk to you. I want you to come over tonight. And my friend, Brandon, got that party going on tonight. So I was thinking we could head over there after it starts going on.” Veronica sighed; she had nothing else to do. Plus time alone with Chris may be all she needs right now. “Sure Chris. I’ll be over there in about an hour.” She started backing out of the parking spot she was in. “An hour? Where are you at?” He asked. “The beach. I had to get away.” Veronica said. “Alright dimples. I’ll see you in an hour then.” She hung up the phone and headed towards Chris’s place. He was staying with his older brother for the summer. Veronica was driving 20mph over the speed limit in her black corvette. She was hoping there wouldn’t be any cops around the area at the moment. She just wanted to get to Chris’s house soon. She pulled into his drive way around 9:10 while he was outside shooting basketball hoops.

As pulling in to park, he looked at her at the same time he was shooting. He missed the hoop; it bounced off the rim, and came back at his head. Veronica laughed at the sight of his head moving back when he got hit. Chris laughed but didn’t think it was the best thing to do in front of one of the prettiest girls he’s ever known. He went up to the car, opened the door for Veronica, and took her by her hand and walked her inside. Chris had always been so sweet to all the girls he knows, but something about Veronica made him do it a little more. “So while I was waiting for you to come over, I made you something.” Chris said. “You made me something?” Veronica couldn’t think of anything he could have made for her. “Actually I was finishing something for you.” He added. He ran to his room and came back with his acoustic guitar. Veronica loves it when he brings out his guitar. He always plays it so beautifully. He started to play his song titled ‘Dimples’ and smiled the whole time. “Wow. Dimples huh? Nice title. I’m guess this is for me?” Veronica said. “Duhh, that’s why I said I made you something, you may be cute but sometimes you aren’t the brightest.” He said jokingly. She laughed along with him and shoved his arm. Veronica liked moments like this because she always got them when she was with him. But that was the thing. With him, she only had those kinds of moments. Nothing more than cute little nick-names, fun guitar playing, laughing at stupid jokes, and being totally innocent like a little kid. She wasn’t at all innocent though, but being around him made her feel like she’d never done anything wrong before. He put his guitar down and pulled her close, as they were sitting on the couch. He had never done that before. She kind of liked it. He lay back on the couch and still had her in his arms. They were both facing the ceiling but she was more on top of him. *Well this has never happened between us before, but I think we may be getting closer.* She thought. “I’ve been missing you Veronica.” He said with his sweet and low deep voice. She turned over to face him, but was still on top. He ran his fingers through her long , red, straight, silky hair. She had these amazingly bright blue eyes that he loved to look into. His hair was perfect to Veronica. It was wavy, dark, shoulder length hair that was really soft. It always smelled good too. He also had blue eyes, but they were dark but very bright at the same time. He had small but muscular arms. She almost forgot what he had said. “What do you mean? We saw each other for a couple hours, 2 weeks ago.” Chris smiled his bright crooked smile. He looked deep in thought but didn’t say anything. He pulled her up more, holding her close, her face almost buried in his chest. He then kissed her forehead. Veronica didn’t know what to do. *Okay should I be romantic or keep calm, just incase he isn’t trying to do, what I think he’s trying to do?* She asked herself. “What do you want from me?” He asked her. “I’m not exactly sure what you’re trying to ask.” She said.

“I mean, we’ve known each other for 3 years and 5 months. I’ve been counting. I know you, and I know how you are, I know who you are, I know your favorite song, I know your favorite perfume, I know your life story, I know how you think, I know you like to wear those black ripped skinny jeans, I know you like coming to those little $5 road side concerts my band an I have, I know I can tell you anything and you won’t judge, I know you think it’s a secret that you have a soft girly side, and I can tell you like spending time with me. I’m telling you I wanna be with you but I don’t know what I’d do when I go away for another year of college. But I’m asking you, what do you want from me?” Veronica had to dig through her brain to find the right words to say, so she wouldn’t say anything stupid. “Well like you said, we’ve known each other a while, and I just light up inside every time I see you. I know I’d miss you when you go off to college again, and I have one more year in high school, so maybe we shouldn’t get too caught up.” She couldn’t believe what she just said. *Why the fuck did I just say that?! Of course I wanna be with him! He’s amazing! He’s just perfect! He has a job, he’s working on a better future in his life, he’s extremely sexy, he’s so sweet, he’s the age I want, 2 years older than I am, and he’s just . . . it.*”Okay so it’s settled. We won’t date until we have a lot of time together.” He said in a some-what sad way. “No, Chris. I want you. I want to be with you, I want to know that you want me to, I want to have you and call you mine, I don’t wanna think of you as just a friend. I should have told you that. Can we just, be together?” She asked.

Chris smiled like he’d never smiled before. “And we still have about 3 months together. We could be together all the time.” Veronica added. “Move in with me.” Chris said. “What? Move in with you? You mean when I graduate? Okay, I definitely will.”

“No Veronica. Now. Here. Move in with me. We can go by your house before the party and pick up some stuff. Come on, it’ll be fun. You, me, living together, plus my brother but he’ll barely be here. 3 months. Alone. We can do whatever we want. Nothing can go wrong. Trust me.” It all did sound fun but how would Veronica get this past her mom and Jack? “You know how my parents are. They wouldn’t let it happen.” Chris had this mischievous look on his face. Veronica knew he had another one of his plans he was working on in his head. “Unless you get into so much trouble, they’ll wanna kick you out of the house.” Veronica knew he probably had a good plan. “I’ll do just about anything to get out of that place.”

Chapter Three.

Ariana

"No mom, I'm not gonna have dinner with you and dad. All you two do is judge me on everything I do. I'm sick of it. But I'm going into the gym. Bye." Ariana walked into the Fletcher Fitness Center and headed straight toward the exercising bike. Looking around she noticed a young guy who was helping most of the people at the fitness center. She looked back down, already sweating as she pedaled as fast as she could. "Whoa you may need to slow down a bit." He said with a slight British accent. "I'm –­­­­­­­­trying to work all this off." Ariana replied. The trainer looked at her funny. "Work what off? Staying in shape I see but you have no meat on your bones." Ariana gave a little laugh of sarcasm. "Are you kidding me? Look at me." The trainer's face expression became more sad. “Yes, look at you.” Ariana scoffed. "I'm Jamison. I'll help you with whatever you need but trust me, you are not big or masculine what so ever. Stay here and don't push yourself so hard." Ariana nodded but passed over his suggestion. Still pedaling as fast as possible, she became dizzy. Her phone rang but she could barely see what the caller I.D said - everything was getting blurry. Pressing the green answer button she said "Hello?" She was breathing pretty heavy and could barely keep the phone up to her ear. "Hey girl! Meet me at the mall today around 6. I have some major news to tell you." Ariana huffed, still breathing heavy. "Can't." She said. "Got other plans, but I have to go now, text me tonight to tell me what it is." She hung up the phone then dropped it on the floor from her shaking hands. After only 10 minutes of pedaling, she slowed down, coming to a stop. She put her head on the front of the machine. Slowly making her way up, she toppled over, falling to the floor. Jamison ran over to Ariana to help her up. "Ariana, I told you not to push yourself. Are you alright?" She opened her eyes and said "How do you know my name?" He laughed, "It's on your membership card. That's what I was looking for when I left you here. Let's get you up now." He said pulling her up to her feet. She was still shaking and her knees wouldn't lock in place. Another instructor came along and picked up her phone. She went over to Ariana's information papers to call the first emergency number, her mom. "Hello Mrs. Delfinko, your daughter has passed out at the gym. We are taking care of it but maybe you should consider coming down to see her. It says she's on medication but nothing for health care."
"I will be down there right away, thank you." After almost 15 minutes, Ariana's mom showed up. Ariana was sitting in a chair in the back room. "What are you doing here?" She asked her mom. "I got a call you passed out. I'm coming to check on you." Ariana rolled her eyes. "Well I'm fine. You can leave now." Jamison stood up to greet her mom. "Hi I'm Jamison. Ariana is fine but stay as long as you'd like."
"Thank you Jamison. I'm Cheryl Delfinko. Ariana's mom." Ariana stood up to face her mom. "Mom. I am fine. I don't want nor need you here right now. Please just go." Ariana's mom walked out of the back room and out of the fitness center. Ariana turned around to get her purse and started walking out of the room. Jamison grabbed her arm and asked "Where are you going?" Ariana shrugged. "I don't know. I'm supposed to be going to my grandmother's house but my parents will be there for dinner so any place but there."

"If you really don't feel comfortable with going home, how about you come to my apartment for the night?" Ariana gave Jamison a confused look "Your apartment? Like stay the night over at your house or something?" Jamison nodded slowly "Well - Yeah I mean you say you don't want to go home or be around your parents so maybe you can crash at my place for the night." Ariana nodded and smiled. "Okay. If you won't mind, but just one problem. I have no other clothes." Jamison took Ariana's arm, "It's okay. I have something you could sleep in. I'll be done with my shift in 20 minutes so how about you go shopping or something. My treat." Jamison said as he handed Ariana $250. "No I couldn't spend your-"
"Don't worry about it." Ariana shook her head "I can't."
"Go." He said. "Okay. Thank you." Ariana took off to shop at her favorite store, Chic Boutique, which is expensive but she could pick up at least one small outfit. She chose a tiny, mini, black skirt with a grey tank top and a bigger-see-through zebra print tank top to go over that, with black leather ankle high boots. Walking up to the counter, she reached into her purse to get out her money. "That'll be 651." The cashier said when she rang up the items. "Ahh shit I'm $400 short." Ariana said as she tried figuring out what she could put back. "Actually, just put the rest on my card." She said as she handed her credit card to the cashier. She took the black shopping bag out and headed back for the fitness center. When she got back she saw Jamison getting into his car. "Oh Ariana! I was thinking of getting something quick to eat before dinner. I'm a little hungry."
"Okay well I'll follow you to wherever then to your place." They both got into their own cars and drove off to Caffeine, a coffee shop. They went in and found a booth on the side wall beside the dark stones and the mini waterfall. A couple minutes after they sat down a waiter came to take their order. "Hi, I'm Jacob and I'll be taking your order this evening. Already know what you two want to start off with?" Jamison looked at Ariana with a questioning nod to see if she was ready. "Uhh sure. I'll have the iced caramel cappuccino." Ariana said.

"And I will just get the all black large coffee." After the waiter left Jamison looked at Ariana, smiled, and grabbed her hand across the table. "So-" he started. "So you know this isn't going any further than us two just spending a casual day as just being friends right?" Ariana butted in. "Right." He said as he let go of her hand and pulled them back to his chest. "But what were you saying?" She stuck her head up with her huge brown eyes staring down Jamison. "I was going to ask you why you were so mad at your mum earlier?" She let her head down and sighed. "My parents are these huge Christian freaks and they always expect too much from me. They push me so hard I always feel like I'm not good enough. They're always nagging me about every damn thing but I just can't live up to their standards. They get mad and yell at me for one little thing so I'm just always angry at them. I can't find a way to fully forgive them." Jamison nodded, understanding what she meant. "Why don't you tell them that?" Ariana laughed "Oh trust me- I have before. They don't get it. They say I'm too young to understand anything."
"Well if you don't mind, How old are you actually?" It took a minute for her to answer. "I'm 17." She said. "And you?" his eyes got wide in amazement. Ariana looks older for her age. Her short brown hair made her thin face look more mature, her slim figure made her look like she took extra good care of herself, which she did. And her make-up was done just right. Not too much- not too little. "I'm 23 actually."
"Oh. Wow." Ariana said as Jamison butt it "But age is just a number." He said. After a couple silent minutes Ariana broke it with "So this cinnamon roll looks good. But I don't need it." The waiter then came by the table, "Ok here are the drinks. Ready to order food?" Jamison put down his menu and said "Get me the chocolate drizzle cheesecake." He said as he was handing the waiter his menu. "And I'll have a salad." Ariana said putting the menu into the waiters hand. About to turn around to leave the table, Jamison grabbed the waiters wrist. "She'll have the large cinnamon roll instead." Ariana started to shake her head while Jamison just smiled.

After they were done eating, Jamison paid up front then took Ariana by the waist and walked out to the parking lot. “You know, if you keep doing those things, people are gonna think we’re dating or something.” Ariana stated. “Well it wouldn’t matter what people think, now would it?” Jamison added. “Just show me to your house my tough-British-flirty guy.”

“I’m not flirting. I don’t see how being polite is called flirting now-a-days.” Ariana rolled her eyes and got into her car. She followed Jamison around town for 25 minutes before she came across some apartment buildings. Turns out, that’s where Jamison’s “place” was. Ariana was used to having money, and big houses, and almost everything she could dream of having.