Chapter 20

I woke up alone in James's bed. I had fallen asleep vulnerable in his arms. I felt as if I was naked this morning. I didn't want to face James yet. I didn't want to be that girl who cried herself to sleep in her boyfriends arms. I wanted to be that fun girl, not the emotional one. I hadn't said anything after James gave me his little speech, he simply made me feel special and allowed me to feel a real connection with someone who cared for me. I got up to the freezing air of the morning. It was six in the morning and James wasn't here. I got up and threw on my sweatshirt again and stood next to the fireplace to warm up a little before venturing into the rest of the house. I sighed not getting fully warm and slipped on my slippers out of my bag at the foot of the bed. I opened the door to the living room and could see James's body at the computer in the corner on the desk. He was in dark jeans, a blue-gray tshirt, his glasses, and an olive green zip up hoodie. Oliver was on his lap as he clicked on the computer. This made me happy, just watching this was enough. I mean, I loved my cat, he was my only companion for all these years and now he got along with the man who said he was in love with me. I walked slowly towards James as he turned his head and saw me. He smiled, such a sweet smile.

"Hey." James said picking Oliver up and setting him on the floor. I smiled and walked up to him. I wrapped my arms around his midsection and just stood there enjoying his warmth as he put his arms around me.

"Thank you." I whispered to him.

"For?" He asked rubbing my back.

"Being you. Making me realize I'm not alone." I told him squeezing him tighter. James then took my face in his hands and brought my forehead to his lips. He lingered there as I closed my eyes enjoying the gesture of endearment.

"I'm always here." He finally said. I nodded looking up in his eyes. I wanted in that moment to say 'I love you', I wanted to shout it or everyone to hear in this universe, but I held it in.

"What do you want for breakfast?" James asked finally breaking our embrace. I shrugged not really sure what I even wanted to do. He smiled sweetly. "Anything your little heart desires." James insisted. We walked down the stairwell to the kitchen and stood in front of the fridge together. I looked up to him.

"Let me make you breakfast." I smiled. James shook his head.

"You're suppose to be resting, you need to heal." He said. I sighed.

"Not like making breakfast will crack open my head again." I said grabbing a carton of eggs. James sighed.

"Fine, but I'll sit over here and watch you like a creep." James teased letting his finger tips linger on the small of my back as he walked over to the island and sat on a barstool. I smiled happily as he sat with his head on his arms resting on the counter. I scrounged around in the kitchen finding pancake mix in the cabinet and fresh blueberries in the fridge. I cooked James's first and then presented it to him.

"Wow, she's fabulous, smart, beautiful and can cook? Dang." James said to himself but winked at me. I leaned across the counter and gave him a kiss.

"Dang, he can be sweet and taste just as sweet." I winked then making my own breakfast. I sat next to James as we ate. Afterwards, we did and put away dishes and James smacked my butt telling me to get dressed and that we had some grocery shopping to do.

"Well then." I said blushing as I climbed the stairs in front of James. I went back into the bedroom and checked out my hair, the braid was loose but it looked like it had intended to look that way. I left my hair in the braid, put on dark jeans, put on fuzzy socks on my freezing toes, white Converse, a yellow blouse with a white cardigan. I covered up my bruised face with foundation, realized my left eye was a little swollen when I put on eyeliner and mascara. I had a natural cat eye going on with a pretty pink lip stain. I grabbed my phone from the nightstand to see it was indeed cracked, most likely from when I was pushed.

I sighed and walked into the living room. "What's the sigh for?" James asked on the computer again as Oliver was eating out of a bowl next to him on the floor. I held up my phone which was cracked from the camera down to the home button. James looked over and made a sorry face.

"Oh, well you can get a new one." He said. I scoffed.

"With what money?" I asked him. James rolled away from the desk.

"With your insurance money. I made sure you claimed your phone too. You can go pick one up when we go run errands." James said feeling pretty heroic.

"What else did you claim for me that I didn't know about?" I asked him.

"Personal insurance, you get money from me." James said smiling and raising his eyebrows like a game. I giggled.

"No, not taking your money." I said smiling and walking out of the living room. I headed to the door and got out the door to a semi truck pulling up. "James, there's a semi in your driveway." I yelled worried.

"Good, they have what I ordered for you." He smiled rubbing his hands together and walking past me. I gaped. This man...James shook the drivers hand and then they headed to the back of the semi. I sat on a brick flower bed James had next to his house and watched. What the hell did he order that would fill a semi? I had a nice car, I had my life, what else would I need? The man lowered a ramp and both him and James climbed up it and into the truck. What was in the truck needed multiple trips. First was a rack, like a clothing rack with clothing bags hanging from it. They rolled that down the ramp and past me, into the kitchen. Then they made another trip with things cover in sheets or in non-marked boxes or hidden somehow. They finally finished with a smaller box that James carried under his arm. He signed the mans clipboard and then waved the man off. As the semi pulled out of the driveway, James walked back to me and smiled like he knew I disapproved of him ordering me things.

"James, the hell is wrong with you?" I asked. He chuckled.

"I'm just a man." James said offering me the small box. I shook my head.

"How much did you spend?" I asked him.

"Ten dollars." He lied. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the box. I opened it slowly to see a brand new Prada bag.

"Ten dollars my ass!" I shrieked feeling shocked at the value of this purse. I wanted to be mad, but I couldn't do it. Although with the other things in the house, I had a feeling I was going to be upset. My mouth hung open staring at the purse. "This isn't even out yet." I whispered staring at it.

"Just so you know, this was free. As you know, I'm a once famous boy band member and now actor, and news about my new girlfriend getting hit by a robber and robbed in her dumpy apartment in the ghetto of LA gets around quickly. Prada sent me an email telling me they'd like for you and I to go to Young Hollywood fashion show and for you to get the pleasure of revealing a signature piece from their new line. They sent me a link to their line and they told me to pick something out as a gift from them to you." James said sitting down next to me. I was still in shock. I was getting attention for being normal? For being one if many women who get robbed in America? This didn't feel right, but hey, this was publicity for my foundation.

"Are we going then?" I asked quietly. He nodded.

"In September." He said.

"Do they even know I'm more than your girlfriend?" I asked him. He nodded.

"I told them about your foundation. They are fascinated." He smiled excitedly. I screamed.

"No way!" I said hugging the bag without noticing. He nodded happy for me. "Oh my God. James this is starting isn't it?" I asked. He nodded.

"Everything is happening for a reason babe." He said calling me something other than my name for the first time. I then reached for his face and pressed my lips to his.

"You're still not getting away with that whole personal insurance scam." I told him. He licked his lips and looked down smirking.

"I figured." He whispered.

He lead me into the house as I clutched the Prada purse to my chest. He then walked over to the rack."This is the most expensive stuff but I didn't buy this either. A website, made specifically for curvy women, such as your beautiful self," James winked making butterflies flutter in my stomach. "Sent these over and would like to promote you with your foundation. Meaning you wear their clothes and shout them out on social media and they give you free clothing. It's the perks of being well known. But, they asked me to get your sizes, which I did, and I then told them your favorite colors and what pieces of clothing you looked gorgeous in, and that was everything, so they sent you an outfit in every style for you to mix and match." He smiled grabbing the first bag on the rack and handing it to me. I hesitantly set down the Prada on a chair and then carefully set the clothing bag on a chair.

"I'm scared." I whispered smiling nervously. James chuckled as he rubbed his five o'clock shadow. I sighed and then unzipped the bag. I gasped and jumped back. "That shit is expensive stuff!" I shrieked freaking out. James nodded as if I was nuts.

"That's the perks of being well known. People send you free things to promote their products. Even if it's worth a thousand dollars, or even five thousand, they still send you things because they're greedy." James said taking a seat in the sitting area opposite the kitchen. I walked back up to the bag and pulled out a taffeta floor length gown in yellow. It was embellished with silver gems around the neck and the bust.

"I-I, I have to return these." I said taking the dress out of the bag and holding it up in front of me and felt as if I was holding a piece of art from the museum worth more than my life. James shook his head.

"I've tried before, they send them back." James said playing with something that rolled in the collection of things from the semi. I put the dress back on the rack.

"James, where do I wear these things to?" I asked. James shrugged.

"Weddings, events with me, foundation gala stuff, around the house when you wanna feel extra special." James smiled and winked. I giggled and unzipped all the other dress bags. There was an olive green gown, a red gown, and a black gown. Some weren't dresses however, some were business attire such as a yellow skirt with a matching blazer, a pink blouse and matching black with pink pin striping skirt , and then an all black pant suit that looked very intimidating just on the hanger, I could only imagine what it'd look like on.

"James, I'm really honored to get these things, but uh, shouldn't someone else more deserving get them?" I asked him with my hand up on the rack. James shrugged and entertained himself with the circular object still wrapped.

"You are deserving, you weren't handed anything in life to get where you are now. I mean, aside from Carlos and Lex helping you get a meeting, you are the one who won those men over with your personality and beauty." He said furrowing his brow and looking at the circular thing.

"Just open it." I told him. James smiled like a kid on Christmas and from the back it looked like a large circular sign of some sort. "What's that?" I asked. James was grinning so large and excitedly.

"Oh my God, that's amazing. They said they'd make it to see if you liked it, but I didn't expect for it to be this amazing." James said running a hand through his hair.

"What? What is it? Who made it?" I asked. James smiled standing and still looking amazed. He turned the sign around only for me to be astonished and breathless. Tears welled up in my eyes as the sign was beautiful in every way.

The metal sign was a bright yellow, with turquoise lettering both painted and raised in old fashioned Neon bulbs that read 'Be Perfection' in cursive letters, but to dot the 'i' they used a hot pink heart. The tears were streaming now and I felt so humbled. It was real, the foundation I had dreamed of was real.

"Babe, it's beautiful." James said fascinated as well. I covered my mouth and got close to James. I touched the sign carefully as if I was going to break it.

"Wait, why would they send me a sign when I don't even have somewhere to put it?" I asked. James then hid his lips as if he knew or did something. "What now?" I asked overwhelmed. James sat the sign down and then held my hands.

"It wasn't my doing." James told me. I laughed as if I knew it was his doing, which it was. "Alright, I helped. It's just to get you back on your feet." James said swiping some loose hair off my forehead.

"What did you do?" I asked. He smiled.

"Alexa, Carlos, and myself put together a down payment and first three payments down on a little house for you, it's not far from here, just down the road and to the left, down Meeker Court, it's the little white house on the very end, so you'll be close to me and the PenaVega's." James said excited. My mouth instantly fell and I smacked James's arm. "Ow! I thought you'd be happy!" James exclaimed flinching.

"YOU DONT JUST BUY SOMEONE A HOUSE!" I said angrily. He threw up his arms in frustration.

"I can't win with you! You get upset you don't have money for anything then you get upset when I try to help you live somewhere safe!" James said angry now too. I scoffed.

"NORMAL people offer to buy you a few groceries or spare a couple bucks for gas! No one I know from normal-ville would buy someone a house!" I exclaimed. James shook his head and crossed his arms. I shook my own head and turned my back on him. I grabbed my old purse, keys, and phone and walked out the door. I walked angrily to the Soul and got in. I turned on the car as James came out of the house yelling. I sped out of the driveway. I didn't have anywhere to go, well unless I went to my own apartment, but that wasn't an option. I didn't want to go in there alone just yet. I also didn't want to go to Carlos's either, he and Alexa were at fault too.

I drove aimlessly around until I hit traffic. I then parked my car in an abandoned stores parking lot. I sat quietly, with no radio to distract me and just listened to the buzzing of my phone in my purse. I wasn't someone who took gifts nicely, especially if they weren't really gifts. A house? Really? Who buys their brand new girlfriend/friend a house without her consent? I had always worked for what I had, I never was given anything in life which might be why I am where I am. I fought for what I wanted, I didn't like not having to fight. A little struggle builds character. At least it does until the struggle kills you.