"Finally!"

4 months later....

Jaylen POV

  "Way to use up the hot water." I grumbled to Bobby as I was shivering walking to my room. "My fault. Forgot you had to work." he laughed as I just went to get dressed. I've finally got everything situated. My bank account now has all of my money in it. When I say it's healthy, y'all that shit is EATING. I have been paying Bobby $200 a month for rent. Though he didn't charge me nor wanted the money, I figured I still had to pay my way. He said as I long as I continued to bake things, that was all the payment he needed. "Hurry up before I fall asleep!" "I'm coming. A nigga was just frosty the snowman a moment ago. Sheesh." I said as he laughed. If it wasn't obvious he  was my ride to work today. I told him I had no problem but he insisted and I wasn't gonna turn down a free ride. 

  Roman sent the other half of the money as soon as I told him I had an account. He was gonna send the same amount every month but I had to stop him because I had my own money and didn't want him to feel like it was an obligation or something. Thought I know  he still does it because every month, there's a random $500 deposit in my account. Well at least that'll come in handy when it's time to pay my tuition. Speaking of that, I haven't told Bobby that I was moving out next month. He and I have both been super busy so we never had the time. I know I have to do it soon though. "OK. Let's go." I said as I walked in his room. "Finally!" he said from the living room, scaring the shit out of me. He has a habit for doing this shit. 

  "You're annoying." I laughed as I walked out the door. "Eh, what else is new?" he shrugged. "The fact that ya fat ass ate all of the damn cheese cake. I only had a slice." "I told you I was gonna fuck it up though. You just said OK." he rebutted. I must've been tired as hell to say some dumb shit like that. "Ah well, I'll take that L then." I said as he laughed. "Don't think I don't be noticing you sneaking slices to peasant annoying ass either". Now it was my time to laugh. "It's not my fault. It's like he don't want to give your props nor be caught by you.  I don't know." he shrugged as he began to drive. "I honestly have no problem with him but he clearly doesn't trust me or something. I kinda get it but it has been 5 months now, I think I've proven to be a good person. So I'm not gonna keep trying. He'll just have a personal problem." I said as he nodded his head. 

  "Which leads me to the next part. Since we didn't get to celebrate you getting the job, I was thinking of a vacation. You can invite anyone you want to." he said as I lit up. I've never been on one of those before. Hold on a second. "That means he's coming too huh?" I said as I burned a hole in the side of his face. "Yeah." he mumbled lowly. I should've know but I don't care. "Where to?" I asked. "Cabo?" he asked as if I was gonna have problem with it or something. My ass never been out a state more the once so let's do it. "That's why yo ass made me get a passport two months ago. I'm with it. How much do I have to put up?" I asked. "Nothing. It's your celebration so everything is handled on your part. Now for your friends, its $450." he said as I nodded my head. "OK. Well I'll see who wants to come and get back to you tomorrow." I said as he parked the car. "Bet. Have a good day." "Thanks." "Lemme get a strawberry shortcake!" he yelled out the window. 

  "I knew it was some shit." I shook my head as I walked into my job. "Ready to start the day?" Angela said to me with a smile. "Let's do this this." I said as I got ready. We had a huge catering order today so we didn't have anytime to waste. Luckily since I started, Angela rebuilt the entire staff. Now it was more of equilibrium. She also had expand the shop into the second build seeing as though our clientele shot up. "Mikey you almost done the cupcakes?" she asked. "Yeah. Jade is actually icing the last one." he responded. "Cool. Jay, you have the cake to make." she said handing me the order sheet. It was for a three tier marble cake made with two specific flavors. The top tier being cookies and cream, the bottom tier being strawberry crunch cake with the two melting together on the second tier. I figured to just mix plain vanilla cake with the first two tiers. I wasted no time making the batters. Once they were done I placed the in the the designated pans to and into the oven. Once they were done, I handed them to Jade for her to stack and ice them. "This looks so good Jaylen. Imma need you to make me one." She said as I smiled. 

  "I got you baby!" Shortly after, it was time for my break. I decided to play Benji's EP for like the 100th time (he finally gave it to me 3 months ago). Right as the first song started to play, he actually called me. "What's up good luck?" he said as soon as I connected the call. "Your so corny but I was about to play your EP again. When am I getting a new one?" "Geez, you're so demanding. That's why I was calling you. I'm coming to get you after work. I got some things I need your input on." "Aww shit I'm getting exclusives?! Say less. I gotta ask you something though. How do you feel about going to Cabo?" I asked. "How I feel? My man's I'm packing my shit tonight! I'm long overdue for some fun. When we leaving?" "Hold on." I quickly texted Bobby. "Three weeks." "I'm game." he quickly answered as I laughed before continuing the conversation. 

  He said he'd give me the money when I meet him at the studio tonight. "Just like that my break is over." I said as I looked at the clock on the wall. "Ight. What time you off?" "6." "I'll be there. See ya later." he said as before we hung up. One thing about this job is that time flies! One minute it was 11, now its 3:30. I had to finished two more orders before it was time to go. As promised, Benji was right outside waiting for me. "You brought me a treats. Thanks." he said reaching for the bag as I yanked it back. "This ain't even yours hype ass. Where my follow up EP?" I asked with eyebrows raised. "So pushy. I just gave you one. Bad enough you ain't bring me anything." he said as I laughed. "Here." I said handing him the other bag. He loves my pies so I made him a strawberry apple one. "Aww shit you love me!" he danced. "Sir get in the car before these people think you on something." I said as I sat in the passenger seat. 

  "Ight so tell me what you think about this. Ty, play that song." he said to the engineer as I took a seat. "Wanted to be the king but couldn't hold the crown. Oh, you never thought shit was heavy bet you know now." he sung as I was instantly captivated. "    I won't be the one to let you know nothing. Imma hit the floor and imma start to run. I been flying high straight through the weather" the song continued as I was now bobbing my head. When the song ended, I didn't even notice that I was crying until he asked me if I was OK. Guess it resonated with me more than I thought. "I LOVE THAT! GIMME!" I yelled as I wiped back tears. "You heard him T." he said as Ty laughed before he emailed me the track. He played a few more songs for me and each one of them I loved. "You are seriously talented. I'm happy as hell i get all the new new." I said as he laughed. "Seriously though, you don't think about putting it on streaming services?""That's what I've been trying to tell em." Ty interjected. 

 "Nah. I told you, I don't want the fame or notoriety. I just want to do this for fun." he said as I nodded. "Welp as long as I get the songs, I don't care." "Of course you don't" he laughed as we bid our good byes to Ty. Before he started the drive, he handed me the money for the trip.  "Couldn't forget about that." he said as I laughed. We made more small talk as he drove. "Thanks for the pie." "You welcome fat ass. Thanks for the song and listening session." "I'm actually going back to finish a few before heading home." "Well be safe." "I got ya. I'll text you when I make it in." he said as I waved to him before  making my way in the building. "Of course yo ass is sleep." I mumbled as I walked past a sleeping Bobby. I put his cake in the fridge as I went to turn the TV off. "Where's the cake?" he jumped up scaring the shit outta me. "What in the- It's in the fridge. I'm going to sleep." I said flagging him. I'll give his greed ass the money tomorrow.                    

Day of the trip...

  "I told you to make sure you were fully packed last night." Bobby sighed as I scrambled across the room. "I mean you didn't work a double last night." "Yes I did. That's why I packed last night." "Oh. Well still shut up." "Smack cam." he laughed as he walked out the room. "OK OK I'm ready." "Good because our ride is here." he said as I looked at him confused. "You not driving?" "Nah. Rude too long and parking is a bitch now let's go." he said as he pushed me out the door. Just in case you were wondering, neither Dion or Malika could come because it was finals week and they needed to study. "You OK?" Bobby asked me. "Yup. Just excited." I said as he laughed. Benji texted me and said he was already at the airport. I smiled as I looked out he window. My first actual vacation, should be fun. "Come on before we miss our flight." Bobby said as I snapped out of my thoughts. 

  Once we made it through that long ass security process, we met up with our respective friends. There was a couple of people I haven't met before but Bobby made sure to introduce me. "Benji!" I said as we dapped each other up. "I'm glad you love the song. I heard it playing on the speakers at your job when I came in last week." he laughed. "I must've been super busy. Sorry. Everyone kept asking me who it was and all I could say was it was song I found off the internet. You should've seen they trying to shazam it only for it to say no results found." I said as we laughed. I introduced him to the everyone  including peasant. He of course didn't respond nor even make an attempt to shake his  hand. "Don't mind him, he's always miserable." I said as everyone snickered. Shortly after that, we boarded the plane. 

8 hours later....

 "This is nice!" I said to Bobby as he smiled at me. "Yeah this is dope as hell. Look at that view" Benji said pointing in the distance as we surveyed the house. "Well it's your celebration, so what do you want to do first?" "Take a nap. That plane ride exhausted me." I said as everyone agreed. Once we woke back up, I decided to take a tour of the city as well as get something to eat. This place was beautiful. "When are we going to the clubs?" P said sounding bored. I guess he forgot that I'm only 19. "Y'all can go ahead. I'll find something to do in the meantime." "Nah this is for you so whatever you wanna do, we down." Bobby interjected. "Well I want y'all to enjoy yourselves so go ahead." "We can go on the dune buggies." Benji said as I smiled. "Always looking out for the cookout. Let's do it." I said getting up from the table. 

  "You're such a dick." I heard some girl said to P as we walked away. Seeing as though Benji was the only one with a license, he was the driver. This place was amazing!We took a bunch of pictures the whole time. "That wolf scared the shit outta me." he said as I laughed. "Screaming like a little girl. She was a nice one." he just shrugged. We were now on our way to get something to eat. "May I have the shrimp and sausage diablo? for my appetizer, I'll take a shrimp quesadilla." I said ti the waiter as Benji ordered his food. "This has been a good day." I said as he agreed. We continued to talked about the excursion while we waited for our food. "Oooo that looks good. Lemme get a piece of lamb." "You got a whole- lemme get a piece of the quesadilla then." "Deal." I said as we exchanged foods. Y'all everything was good! "We gotta come back here." I said to him as we paid for our things and headed home. "Good night Ji! Tomorrow we're bungee jumping." I said as he shook his head. "Got me playing with my life and shit. Good night kid." he said as we went our separate ways.

  I woke up the next morning to the smell of good ass food. I quickly went to brush my teeth, I saw everyone pitching in to make breakfast. Benji was cutting fruit, Bobby was making the french toast, the girls were making the sausages as well as fresh fruit juice, peasant was making eggs. I'll pass on that. "That's our boy. We already made your plate." Bobby said as I looked at the table, sure enough there it was. I noticed that there wasn't any eggs. They knew! Shortly after that, everyone came to join me at the table. "What's the move for today?" Alicia asked. "Bungee jumping!" I yelled. "You act like your five or something." peasant mumbled. "Shut the fuck up! You always got some shit to say." she snapped. "That's sounds cool. I'm with it." Bobby agreed as did everyone else. We quickly ate and went to get dressed. "I wanna go zip lining afterwards." she said as we all were in agreement. 

  "I would be the first one to jump." Benji said face palming himself. "Let's go Ji! You got this!" I cheered as everyone joined in. "Here goes nothing." he said as he jumped. I must say, watching him jump had my adrenaline pumping. Once he came back up, he was happy as hell. "Safe ground." he said as he kissed his hand and high fived the ground. "Me next!" I said jumping to the front. Once I was a hooked up, I said a quick prayer. "Don't tell me you scared." Bobby teased. "Shut up. I got this." I turned and a fell. As I was falling, it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. "You OK?" everyone said as they ran up to me. "Yes. It was just so much fun." I said smiling. I watched as everyone went after me. "That was fun!" "I swore my cord was gonna snap." Peasant said excitedly. "I mean if it did, we would've been fine." Alicia said as everyone snickered. "That's not funny." he mumbled. 

  Zip lining  was cool! I swear! Seeing the lush green forest and city from that height was breathtaking. We actually went twice since the group that was scheduled after us didn't show. "It's official, I'm no longer afraid of heights." Benji said as I laughed. "Glad I could help with that." I smiled. "I'm really having fun." Alicia said as everyone agreed. "Why haven't we brung him with us sooner? All Prince wants to do is party." she added as he sucked his teeth. "Cuz he's a loser." he answered. "Oh. I guess I was a loser when ya ass was screaming like a girl on the zip line." I said as I shrugged. We all went to eat before turning it in for the night. 

A few days later...

  I can't believe that it's our last day here. It felt so good not to be looking over my shoulder.Nor worry about being found. I guess all good things come to end sooner or later. Right now, we were by the pool. I spotted Bobby on his laptop. "We're on vacation. That can wait." I said playfully closing his laptop. "Why the fuck would you do that?!" he yelled causing me to jump back and everyone to turn their attention to us. "You OK?" Benji asked as Bobby had an intense gaze on me. I was frozen at the moment. "Hey come on, we're about to go parasailing." he said nudging for me to move. My body started to cooperate with him as we walked back to the house. I went to change into a new pair of swim trucks and a tank when I heard him a Prince talking. "See I told you we shouldn't have brought him. He just cost you a good ass trade. See you should listen to me and my instincts. He isn't to be trusted. To make matters worse, you got him thinking this vacation was for him when it actually isn't. You just decided to invite him because you felt sorry for him." he said as I pulled away from the door, tears stained across my face. 

  "You ready- what's wrong?" Benji asked as I shook my head. I wiped my tears and left out with him and the rest of the gang. The whole time though, I couldn't get that conversation out of my head. He thinks I'm a charity case. Wow. "Cheers to Jaylen!" Alicia said as everyone raised their glass. I was no longer in the mood to celebrate but I put on the best fake smile I could. The whole flight/ride back home, I didn't say anything to him. I immediately text Angela and put in my last day notice. I also texted Dion and Malika letting them know I would be there in the morning. I made sure to pack all my shit. I left while he was at work in the morning. 

  "This is too familiar I gotta leave. Imma lace my shoes pack a bag and run away." The Amours sung as I boarded the plane.

Bobby POV                           

  "Hey Jay, I just wanted to apologize for how yelling at you in Cabo." I said as I walked in the house. I've been feeling like shit for that these past few days. "I hope these- Jaylen?" I said confused by the deadly silence. I looked around the house but there was no trace of him. Maybe he still at work. I walked to the kitchen to get something to drink, when I noticed a piece of paper on the table. It read: 'Thanks for everything but I got it from here. Hope this covers my stay' as $500 and a key fell out. Shit!

Jaylen POV

  "He's finally here!"  Malika said as I ran to her. I went to hug Dion but he slightly pushed me away which and offered his hand instead which caused me to look at him weirdly. He moved toward the side revealing a girl in front seat. "Uh Jaylen this is my girlfriend Katrina. Katrina, Jaylen." he said as he scratched his neck. "Oh hi! Nice to meet you." I smiled offering her a hug. I wonder why he never mentioned her before. "So where are you staying?" Malika asked me. "This nice little apartment. I managed to snag it right in nick of  time." I said as she nodded her head. She took me to her place as we continued to catch up and on things I missed. "I'm so happy my baby is here with me." she hugged me. "M, you're suffocating me. I gotta go get my keys and get settled. Bye you guys." I said as I called me a Lyft. Once I got my keys from the front desk attendant, I dropped all my things and passed out on the couch.     

3 months later...

  I was fully settled in and into the swing of things. I made it my business to pay that 15k in loans immediately. Angela opened another bakery up here and brought most of the team here. She wasn't letting me go. Benji cursed my ass out for leaving and came up here too. I was now clocking out of work. I decided to go and enjoy a night on the town since I completed all my assignments earlier in the week. I quickly got changed. This club was popping tonight, playing all the hits. "Had to put the stick in a box, mm, pour up the whole damn seal, I'ma get lazy." Roddy rapped as I danced. The song then switched to Almeda by Solange. " Pour more drank, drank. Sip, sip, sip, sip, sip." she sung as everyone was lit.

  "We gonna slow it down a minute." the dj said as he changed the song. "So many things I'm goin' through, so much that I wanna do. It startin' to become so clear to me tomorrow ain't really what it seems." Amerie sung as I slow danced. I felt someone come up behind me but I didn't really pay attention to who. I was in my own little world. This song was taking me to another world. It then switched to Rewind by Brooke Valentine. "Keep it up and I'll be coming back. Keep it up and I'm coming back to you." she cooed as we danced. "It's gotta be love and I want it back. Keep it up I'll be coming back to you".

Unknown POV 

  I was really enjoying this dance with him. It was like we were in our own little world. That was until my phone rang. "Hello?" I said as I stepped outside. "Yeah I know. I'm coming." I guess we gotta cut this dance short. Hope to see you again baby.

Jaylen POV

  "Hey, you're a really good- uh OK" I said as I realized no one was behind me. My phone started to ring. "Hey are you doing anything?" Malika asked me. "No. Wassup?" "You want to go to this fashion show tonight?" "It's kinda late for that but OK." "I'm sending you the address." she said as she hung up. I put in in the Lyft app and requested a ride. "We managed to meet each other here." she laughed as we walked in. I felt someone looking at me so I turned to see who when we locked eyes:   

  The hell is he doing here?! I was about bolt for the door when Malika grabbed my hand and lead me to our seats. I watched as the models walked down the aisle. I must say the clothes were amazing but each time he walked, I adverted my gaze. Once the show was over, I got my ass up outta there. Quickly. I don't even think Malika noticed. I was now watching Netflix when there was a knock at my door. I looked through the peep hole and saw nothing but flowers. Against my better judgement, I opened the door. "Hey." he said as he poked out from the side of them. I just stared at him. "I got these for you. I wanted to apologize for how I acted on the trip. That was disrespectful of me and you didn't deserve that."

  "How did you find out where I was and where I live?" "I asked your friends Benji and Malika. I really wanted to talk to you." he said handing me the flowers. They smelled so good. "Talk." I said returning my attention to him. "Uh I was wondering if you would let me in." he said as I laughed. "Yeah no." I said opening the door, setting the flowers down and looking at him. "Well here goes nothing. Jaylen I know I acted like an ass on the trip and you didn't deserve that. These past 3 and half months without you fucked me up. I was so use to coming home and messing with you that it felt weird without you there. Nobody to tell me to get in my bed or bring me something to eat. I was at work scribbling your name like a lovesick teenager. The time I spent with you on the trip was the most fun I had in a minute. Watching you leave to go on those buggies with Benji hurt because I wanted to do that with you."

  "I can honestly say that in these few months that we've spent together all I was missing was you. I took you leaving for me to realize that. Now I'm just hoping I'm not too late." he said as I stood there speechless. Did he just confess his feelings for me? "Uh..." I said stuck. "I want to do something if that's OK with you." he said as I simply nodded my head. He cupped my chin and kissed me. I was over here going through a range of emotions but to be honest, I felt happy and whole.      

  "I missed you too." I smiled as I kissed him again. 

Finally! Some of y'all gonna be pissed with me. Oops.

Thoughts?

Jaylen?

Prince?

Bobby?

Benji?

Dion?

That was Bobby he was dancing earlier with if y'all ain't guess. 

Music from the chapter:

Walking Home (song that Benji sung):

https://youtu.be/OymSR_Z7mF8

The song Jay was listening to on the plane:

https://youtu.be/Yi5xTOc7oLU

Rewind:

https://youtu.be/-jWqxyK67js

Should I introduce y'all to more music from here on out?