▐ : ─ (bad) ⇡ c o m p a n y [private]

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoI KNOW THINGS GET H A R D, BUT GIRL YOU GOT IT
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxgirl you ❛ ♛ g o t ⋮- it, there you go. )

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A rabbit? Julian Reynolds had a stuffed rabbit? Briella tried to stifle a laugh. As funny as that sounded, she honestly didn't buy it. He was just trying to apease Elise and from the gleeful look that she had on her face while they were interacting, it worked. Briella had only hoped Elise didn't get used to Julian. The little girl had a knack for making friends fast. A few moments alone with Julian and she was already keeping secrets. If the young mother could help it, this would be the first and the last time they ever saw each other. For now there was nothing she could do.

She was however surprised when he said everything would be "low-key". There was no such thing as a 'low-key' day when it came to working with Julian. In fact she felt as if she did most of the work when she was here. If he wasn't CEO she was sure that she'd be the one signing off documents and making all the final decisions. Everything came to her first, she always looked through things and formulated ideas before she handed it to him, inserted her two cents. And if she didn't make a suggestion before hand he'd ask her opinion and base his final decision off of that; which she had to admit boosted her ego a bit.

"You're help watching Elise?-" She glanced over at Elise, whose face was still glued to the gaming screen in front of her. She smoothed her skirt down as she slowly stood up. He had some nerve. "I've uh...spent four years watching her by myself. I'm sure I can handle eight hours," She realized how rude that might have sounded a part of her didn't really care. Just because he gave Elise something to keep her entertained didn't make him father of the year and it didn't mean that Briella needed or wanted him to keep an eye on her. She spent the last four years, watching her, taking care of her, feeding her, and doing every thing for on her own. Julian did nothing, he didn't even answer his phone. She didn't need his help then and she didn't need it now.


- Time Skip ;; Lunch -


"So he's never seen her? Come to visit? Nothing?" Savannah asked as she practically escorted Briella and Elise to Julian's office. Savannah's daughter Clarice was practically attached to Elise's hip as she hovered over her should trying to get a glimpse at the gaming screen. There had been a slight change in the day's plans. Because of some last minute changes, Briella had to spend lunch eating and working in Julian's office. There went spending a few minutes away from him. She had just enough time to run and get lunch for her and Elise to eat; Savannah had used that as an opportunity to play twenty-one questions.

"No, he hasn't" It was a lie; in a sense. Elise and Julian had been in the same room for most of the day. But Savannah didn't have to know that. However she was starting to wonder if Julian had put the pieces together. He had to have noticed something, some sort of similarities between then, she knew she had. She had only hoped that no one else in the office did.

"And that doesn't bother you?" Savannah opened Julian's office door then, leaning against the frame. I mean if, Tyler did that to me...I would've been pissed, I would've sued him for every cent!" If Briella could go back in time she would've done just that. "I don't worry about him. He's not much of a factor in either of our lives, you get used to that rather quickly. I've survived this long haven't I?" Savannah shook her head in disbelief. "You're something else Bree," Before anyone knew it Savannah had disappeared with her daughter back to the receptionist desk. Elise had made her way to the seat in front of Julian's desk. She had grown quite familiar with it.

"Okay" She cleared her throat, hoping that'd it'd get rid of the awkwardness she was now feeling. The last thing she wanted to do was mention her nonexistent baby daddy, when he was no less than three feet away from her. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting too long," She glanced over at Elise and sighed.

"YES!" Elise exclaimed giggling, she must've beat another level in the game. "Elise, give that to me," Elise looked up and pouted almost immediately. "But mommy!" Briella didn't utter a word, she just extended her hand out towards Elise, until the four year old gave in hand handed the game to her mother. "You've been playing with this all day," Elise frowned and sank down in her seat crossing her arms. Briella however didn't give her a second glance; she simply just situated the food in front of her, before taking a sip of her ice tea.

"We," Another sip of her ice tea. "Need to look over these documents before the meeting. Also, your Father called and he wants to know if you're still on for golf this weekend? Apparently there will be a couple "important people" there" She glanced over at Elise who was picking at her fries still frowning. "You golf? People still play golf?" It wasn't necessarily a direct question more of an outspoken though. She figured it was a rich people thing, she couldn't even go mini golfing without getting drowsy.



OOC: That ending I'm so sorry, i should have also probs proof read it better

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoIT'S THE PERFECT D E N I A L ...
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxIt's a ❛ ♛ b e a u t i f u l ⋮- lie. )

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"Well, I'm here to listen," Long story? He came here to talk to her so he had most of the afternoon to talk. He wasn't really surprised to hear it was his fault. He knew he was a trigger for the series of events that took place at the ending of their relationship. Granted till this day he still wished they could've worked things out. But Iliana didn't seem to want to try.

Carlos couldn't hold back a chuckle when Iliana said she was oblvious to how much her parents disliked him. "I really don't get how you never noticed it," Carlos slouched in his seat and rested his head back, staring up at the celing. "It was painfully obvious. Or maybe it was just because I was on the receiving end of it, that I noticed? " He put his feet on the table again and shook his head. No, that was a horrible excuse. Her parents always had a knack for making some sorta of snide comment towards him, even in the midst of conversation. They'd mock his ambitions or make some comment about how his dreams of being a 'rock star' wouldn't support Iliana the way they wanted it. They were most definitely wrong.

The party...

He didn't even want to remember that. There was no hesitation in how quickly her parents turned to humiliate him in front of everyone. "You know that really showed how fake they are. I mean I know they're your parents but damn," He sat up in that moment, resting his elbows on his knees. "It wasn't like I didn't get it. I knew I wasn't some rich guy. I knew I couldn't give you all this fancy s**t, but it wasn't like I didn't try" The effort didn't really matter now they weren't together anymore. So money or not her parents still won. He was no longer in Iliana's life. Granted now; they were face to face for the first time in years, but that didn't mean their relationship was going to go anywhere.

"I'm not going to lie and say that I think cutting yourself off from your parents is a bad idea. They never did me any favors. And they sure as hell didn't care about you and your personal dreams since they wanted to force their own agendas on you. You cutting them out of your life is the best thing you could do. It's obvious that they're still bitter about it, they'll come to terms eventually. They'll realize that their relationship with you is more important than their egos," That was probably a stretch but even though her parents weren't the nicest to him and were pretty damn selfish, if they really cared about Iliana like they say they do, they'd make an effort to be in her life again.

Carlos' relaxed in his seat again, slouching. "You know everyone still asks about you. Especially my mom and Rosie. Rosie's always saying how she 'misses her big sister' She was always pretty attached to you," Roselia had chewed his ear off more than his mother did when he and Iliana split. She was too young at the time to really get it; she was only nine when they split. But at thirteen she put the pieces together rather quickly. It didn't really help that his mother was hell bent on giving him hell for ruining her relationship with "her daughter-in-law" My mom's not too happy with me about everything. And I think she's kind of upset that you two don't talk anymore, she really liked you," Which said a lot, because his mother was never usually too fond of his girlfriends. She was quite over protective of her son and no doubt gave Iliana a hard time at the start of their relationship.




OOC: OMG ewww that ending was bad if you want me to change it I'll try XD

[justbluefairy]

tab tab tab ι ғєєℓ ℓιкє ʀυɴɴιɴɢ αωαч tab tab tab tab (чσυ sαч тнαт ι'ℓℓ ɴєvєʀ cнαɴɢє)
tab tab tab tab tab tab (ι'м sтιℓℓ sσ ғαʀ ғʀσм нσмє) tab tab tab tab вυт ωнαт тнє ғυcк ∂σ чσυ кɴσω?

It was understandable for Carlos not to understand why Iliana didn't notice her parents' hatred of him--mainly because Iliana didn't understand either. For months after she practically flipped her parents the bird and went her own way, she kicked herself over and over for not seeing what was right in front of her. It wasn't as if she could have stopped them from acting the way they had or anything, but Iliana could have been verbal about her wish for them to treat Carlos with respect. Had Iliana known perhaps things would have turned out a little differently?

Iliana sighed and shook her head. "I don't know. I was naive; I was so in love with you, I just figured there was no way anyone could dislike you. And I thought my parents would see how happy I was and not care that you weren't like them. If you were good enough for me you should have been good enough for them. Now I know that's not how they operate, though. If it isn't good enough for them it most definitely isn't something I should associate myself with."

When Carlos sat up a bit and started ranting about her parents in regards to their behavior at the party, Iliana couldn't help but to smile a little bit. Not at the fact that he was angry per se, but because she'd always loved how passionate he was about everything. It was because of his passion that Iliana never cared about his money (or lack thereof). There was a point during their relationship where Iliana just knew Carlos would take care of her whether he was a struggling musician, pizza delivery guy, or a playboy millionaire. They could have lived in a box for all she cared. As long as they had each other, none of that mattered to her.

"Well hey, look at me now." Iliana gestured to her surroundings with an amused expression on her face. "Not a fancy thing in sight. This coffee table was a whole 25 dollars. I think together you and I could have done a little better than this. Something with a little more support and a lot less chipped paint." Speaking of chipped paint, Iliana paused to pull off a flakey piece from the coffee table. She had been meaning to sand it down and give it a face lift, she just didn't have the time. "I don't think my parents will ever get over their egos. But that's okay. I've accepted it. The only reason they're bitter now is they've lost their trophy daughter. Plus, I'm ruining their reputation with my filthy waitress job. They think they can pay me off or something."

Iliana frowned at the mention of Rosie and Carlos' mom. She loved his family. After his mom stopped giving her a hard time, she invited Iliana over to eat dinner nearly every night. She was the mother figure Iliana never really had. "I'm sorry we don't talk anymore, too," Iliana replied somberly. "I miss them. I just didn't think it was appropriate to keep talking to them after everything that happened. I just wanted to block it all out and move on." Iliana never claimed she wasn't a stubborn person when it came to some things, so she knew it was partly her fault she and Carlos hadn't worked things out. The cheating she could forgive and could have moved past ... but raising some other woman's kid was different. Iliana tried not to think about it just because it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"I'll be back in a second. " Iliana stood up from her seat and went to the kitchen. Not only did she need a break from how intense the conversation was starting to get, she also needed something to drink. Of course she realized that they definitely needed to have the conversations they were having, painful or not. The apartment was set up so that you could see whoever was in the kitchen from the living room, so Iliana didn't bother trying to take her time. She found the glass she usually drank out of and poured herself some filtered water, then mindlessly grabbed a glass for Carlos and filled it with what she figured he wanted to drink. She walked back to the living room and put his glass on the table in front of him. After sitting and taking a long sip of water, Iliana cleared her throat.

"So ... there's something I want to ask. I know we attempted to talk about this years ago, but that clearly didn't really work out. Was it my parent's fault? How they treated you and made you feel like you weren't good enough--is that why you cheated on me? Because if it is, I wish you had... I guess I still don't understand what went wrong and when it did."


ι'ℓℓ вυʀɴ ιт αℓℓ тσ тнє ɢʀσυɴ∂ вєғσʀє Ι ℓєт чσυ ιɴ
Ρℓєαsє ғσʀɢιvє мє, ι cαɴ'т ғσʀɢιvє чσυ ɴσω.
ι ʀємємвєʀ єvєʀчтнιɴɢ.

[justbluefairy]

ɪ ᴄᴀɴ·ᴛ sᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ
ɪ ᴄʜᴏsᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ɪ ᴀᴍ﹐ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ
ɪ ᴡɪsʜ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴀs﹐ ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ·s ɴᴏ ᴡᴀʏ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ɪᴛ
ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ɪ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ᴅɪᴇ ᴀsʜᴀᴍᴇᴅ

Julian wasn't sure why, but he actually wanted to do his job for once. While he had the title CEO, he most certainly didn't do a CEO's job. His parents hadn't hired him for his brains or work ethic (although surprisingly enough, he graduated from business school with a 4.0 GPA)--they hired him to keep the business under family handle. If it were up to Julian he would simply show up for his paycheck rather than lift a finger at work. Knowing full well that he'd lose his parents' support if he did that, the least he could do was act like he was trying. On this day in particular, he was doing more than his usual "get the assistant to do everything." And it was actually his assistant that was the reason for his newfound interest in work. She was the first assistant to actually focus on work rather than make googly eyes at Julian all day. It was as if -gasp- she didn't give two shits about sleeping with Julian. Except for the fact that Julian had slept with her before. Bedroom behavior aside, Julian thought Briella did fine work in the office. He didn't like to give credit where it was due because he was a gigantic douchebag, but when his parents asked him what he thought of his new assistant, he rightfully told them she deserved more money than she was making. If not because she was a great worker, because she did a good job at dealing with Julian's s**t day in and day out.

"I've uh...spent four years watching her by myself. I'm sure I can handle eight hours,"

Raised an eyebrow at that statement and looked back up from his paperwork which he really wanted to get back to on a serious level. Rude. Then again, he supposed it. That wouldn't stop him from opening his mouth on the subject, though. "Right. I'm sure you could handle eight hours if you weren't at work, but unfortunately you are at work. Unless you want to take her with you anytime you have to get out of your chair ... I think I can help just a little bit." Though he wanted to say much more than that, he let it slide for the simple fact that there was a child around. That and his parents warned him if he didn't watch where he stepped, either this assistant would quit before she had the chance to get fired.

ᴛɪᴍᴇ sᴋɪᴘ

As promised, Julian tried to keep the morning pretty low-key. Tried being the key word. A group of people involved with the company were quite angry from some unknown reason and demanded a last minute meeting. In his working mood, Julian had actually taken a phone call from the angry party and tried to talk them down a bit. He managed to calm down the man on the phone without getting snappy himself, which was a miracle. Julian usually had Briella or his father handle phone calls because he had a mouth on him and simply didn't want to deal with anyone else's bullshit if he could avoid it.

While Bree was off getting lunch, Julian was printing off the papers they had to go over for the meeting. He also did definitely thought he would never do--think about somebody other than himself. He didn't have long before Bree would be back, but he wanted to find something else for Elise to do the rest of the day. The looks of disgust on Briella's face every time she looked at Elise playing video games were hilarious. At the same time, he understood wanting to provide a kid with something educational to do and he had to admire that Briella cared that much about her kid. It was a quality that could have rubbed off on Julian if he had any desire to be a parent, which he totally didn't. No chance in hell.

After he had his own lunch, Julian was able to get a few books from the daycare. While it was technically closed, he convinced one of the people working on delousing the place to hand him a few books for Elise to look at, as well as one of the handheld systems that contained only educational games. He didn't see the appeal in that, but whatever. With the things in a bag, he returned to his office and sat in his chair with a sigh. 'Look at yourself, Julian. You're doing things for other people. How pitiful.'

At that moment, he heard voices. Briella was back ... and apparently talking about him to another coworker. Boy did she have balls. Julian wasn't offended, of course. He had a heart of stone, after all. He did, however, feel doubly stupid for actually going to get more things for Elise to play with. Damn kids, they knew just how to creep up on him and make him feel like helping them.

"No, you didn't." Julian spoke briefly. After the conversation he overheard, he didn't really know what to say. Any normal person would have acknowledged his mistakes and try and make up for them, but Julian usually reacted to his mistakes by denying he ever made them and telling the accusing party of being a liar. Yet the product of his mistake was staring him in the face and all he could do was play it cool and eat the food he had. The corner of his mouth twitched with a smile as Elise crossed her arms in rebellion after having her toy taken away.

"Yes, we do." He gathered the papers he printed off and started sorting them, pausing for a moment to take a sip of his drink. "This weekend?" Ugh. Julian really did not want to go golfing with his father. He had far more important things to do, but as important people would be there he really couldn't say no. He chuckled at her questions. Though he knew they were rhetorical, he answered anyway after taking a bite of his food. "You don't actually play golf to play golf. You play golf for the connections it makes. Chat the old men up, get on their good side, and they treat you and your company well. The game itself is boring and I would be happy to never play golf another day in my life. I'll call my dad and let him know I'll be there."

Julian took out a pad of sticky notes he found in his desk while looking for the pen he liked to write with and jotted a note. He then cleared his throat and reached for the bag of things he got from the daycare and held them out to Bree. "I got one of the ladies delousing the daycare to bring these out. It's just a few books and one of those teaching game systems, but I figure this way you won't murder my PSP. I actually like playing it." Once she took the bag from his hand, he pushed the stack of documents she had to look at over to her and stared blankly down at his own pile.


ɪᴛ·s ʜᴀʀᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ
sᴏ ɪᴛ ʜᴀs ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ʜᴀʀᴅ ᴀs ʜᴇʟʟ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoI KNOW THINGS GET H A R D, BUT GIRL YOU GOT IT
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxgirl you ❛ ♛ g o t ⋮- it, there you go. )

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Briella honestly wasn't interested in his answer. It wasn't surprising, big people talking about big important things. As long as she wasn't there, it was none of her concern. The last thing she wanted or needed, was grass stains on her clothes and to spend who knows how many hours with stuffy rich snobs whom she didn't want to associate with. "Sounds like fun" She said sarcastically as she took a sip of her ice tea again. "Better you than me,"

The groaning of Elise caused Briella to divert her attention from Julian to the still frowning little girl. She chuckled as the four year old's brows knited together. "Your face is going to get stuck like that if you don't stop it" The young girl stuffed a french fry in her mouth before shrugging. "You really don't want that game back do you?" "Mom!" Elise pouted causing Bree to chuckle. "Tone the attitude down and eat your lunch and maybe you'll get it back" The pout on her face didn't go away but she sat back in her seat and nibbled on her chicken strips without a fuss.

"I got one of the ladies delousing the daycare to bring these out. It's just a few books and one of those teaching game systems, but I figure this way you won't murder my PSP. I actually like playing it." Julian to the rescue so it seemed. Granted he most likely only did this so she wouldn't throw his game out the window but she'd rather of Elise read or play the leappad games than kill brain cells with video games.

"Thanks" Briella couldn't hide the surprise in her voice. For the sake of his PSP or not, it was still a nice gesture that he went out of his way to do. And that wasn't like him, Julian Reynolds didn't have a selfless bone in his body. "You didn't have to do that," She took the bag away from him, this would keep her entertained for the rest of the day, at least she hoped it would.

"Is that for me!?" Elise spoke as she licked honey mustard sauce off her lips. She looked from her mother over to Julian with a smile. "Yeah, Julian got you something to play with after lunch, what do you say?"

"Thank you Julian!" She smiled and happily sat back in her seat, licking the remneats of the honey mustard sauce off her fingers. Briella had now felt like the bad guy in this situation. Here she was taking the games away from Elise and Julian was bringing her more toys to play with. Sighing she reached for her sandwich thinking it was best she eat before lunch is over and the meeting begins. However she didn't even take a bite before the sound of splashing water and Elise's squeals could be heard.

"Mommy!" Elise had spilt her soda all over the desk and herself.

"Oh no! Elle!" Standing up suddenly, Briella stood her daughter up moving her away from the still dripping soda.

"I'm sorry!" The four year old's lip trembled.

"It's okay Elle. You just have to be careful okay," Turning back to the desk any hope Bree had, for the papers being salvageable were gone. "Damn it" She mumbled under her breath. There wasn't even much hope in using napkins to dry anything, since those had been caught in the crossfire. "Okay! We can reprint those. We didn't start on them yet and not...all of them wet" It was just most of them. "I will get someone to clean this up and..." She looked back at Elise who was already crying. "Baby girl don't cry it's okay. Avoiding the puddle of sticky soda Bree knelt down in front of Elise "Mommy's gonna change your clothes it's going to be fine," If there was one thing she learned about being a mother was was that children were messy. She knew better than to let Elise leave the house with just the clothes on her back.

"But you and-and Julian are mad at me!" She rubbed her eyes with her now sticky hands.

"I'm not - " She half glanced at Julian and could tell he was furious. "We're not mad at you. Okay, Julian's not mad - ," Elise looked up at Julian tears still in her green eyes. She was sticky and miserable and just wished she was still playing little big planet.

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoIT'S THE PERFECT D E N I A L ...
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxIt's a ❛ ♛ b e a u t i f u l ⋮- lie. )

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Iliana was right she was naive when it came to her parents. Sometimes he felt like they didn't even try to disguise their dislike for him even in front of her. There was always some snide remark that would be passed off as a joke and as much as Carlos would chuckle and take it, that didn't mean that it didn't bother him or upset him. At the end of the day, he had feelings just like anyone else did.

But what was he going to do? Go to Iliana and complain? Back then he couldn't bare the thought of telling Iliana that her parents were uppity snobs. Mostly because of the fact that he knew she wouldn't believe him. She loved her parents, hung on to every word they said. Saying they disliked him or calling them out for who they actually were would've most likely blown up in his face. Though it didn't matter at this point because his own actions caused the relationship to implode.

"So what if you don't live in some million dollar condo? It doesn't matter. And the place isn't bad. Maybe a little too girly for my taste but ... " He shrugged as he watched her take chipped paint off of the coffee table. He assumed it was something of a DIY project she might have done. Back when they used to live together she was constantly turning the furniture in to her next art project, which used to drive him a bit crazy. Coming home to paint stains on the carpet was never fun and usually resulted in an argument. Though those themselves never lasted long.

""You know I didn't come from much Iliana" He came from a humble blue collar family that at the time didn't have a dime to their name. Just because he had somewhat moved up in the world din't mean he had become so arrogant greedy jerk. He wasn't brought up that way

"And honestly, I think I don't have to tell you that I would've done anything for you, you know that already. If I didn't screw us up ... ," He let the sentence hang before starring off in to space. She would've had more than she did now. Then again she would've still be close to her parents. But he would've been able to get them a new place, not that their apartment was bad. In fact it was actually pretty decent. He just knew she was used to the good things in life and he had wanted to give that to her.

"I'll be back in a second." She stood probably needing a moment away from him. Granted getting up from her seat and heading to the small kitchen didn't do much when it came to distance. The rooms were open to one another and he could see her easily just as long as he twisted his torso a bit. When she brought back drinks - a surprisingly enough a root bear for him - she asked something that in the back of his head, he had hoped he'd be able to avoid.

"Was it my parent's fault? How they treated you and made you feel like you weren't good enough--is that why you cheated on me?

"It's complicated ... ," It wasn't, but it was hard to explain. Carlos had never been the type to explain his feels or what was going on. Even with Iliana it was always one of those things where his issues were his and his alone to bare. But this was different, she was affected by his actions as much as he was, even more so.

"I left for tour the day after the party your parents threw. And I wasn't in the best mind set. Which honestly isn't an excuse and I know that, hell I knew it then ," He took a swig of his root beer almost wishing it was real liquor. "So, I needed to take the edge off. Drink a cold one forget about it. It'd honestly been a habit I had been falling in to for a while," He took that moment to stare off in to the distance before speaking again. "Then a few days later after leaving a show my car got screwed up; keyed, egged. I didn't know what I even did to deserve that. But that you knew already" That Camaro was his baby, he had worked on it with his dad for four years. His dad had surprised him right before he left with getting the last few parts. Granted the band had a van of their own to drive from place to place but he had preferred the roar of the classic car's engine.

"The night you showed up, I had gotten a call from your ol' man. Which really threw me off my game. Needless to say I didn't go on stage with a good mind set and I was nowhere near sober either. The set didn't last very long and honestly everything was a blur up until you showed up. What I didn't wasn't your fault. And honestly I can't really blame your parents for it either, " He ran his fingers through his hair again, not because it was a habit but because he was nervous and uncomfortable.

"I can't blame anyone but myself for cheating on you. It was my fault. I didn't handle the situation properly. I let the stress get to me and instead of turning to you or just anyone I went to alcohol instead. I regret what I did I mean...., " He didn't want to lie he couldn't at this point. "I regret what I did, I regret cheating on you. It was one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made, But even with that, I don't regret Carlos Jr. I know that probably hurts to hear. But he's my kid. Not born in to the best situation sure but " Sure he would've preferred Iliana be the mother of his child, but that wasn't the case. And there was nothing either of them could do about it.

[justbluefairy]

ɪ ᴄᴀɴ·ᴛ sᴀʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴠɪʟ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ
ɪ ᴄʜᴏsᴇ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ɪ ᴀᴍ﹐ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ɪ ᴀᴍ ᴛᴏᴅᴀʏ
ɪ ᴡɪsʜ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴀs﹐ ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ·s ɴᴏ ᴡᴀʏ ᴀʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ɪᴛ
ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴᴅ ɪ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡɪʟʟ ɴᴏᴛ ᴅɪᴇ ᴀsʜᴀᴍᴇᴅ

Julian smirked as the two started bickering. Elise was adorably getting worked up over her game being taken away and Briella was being the hardass no child wanted their parent to be. He reacted similarly to such happenings at Elise’s age. Like father like daughter, he supposed. Except not. He didn't think Bree would let Elise grow up like him--spoiled and self-righteous. He knew he was an arrogant asswipe, he just didn't really care. There was also the fact that Elle wasn't really his daughter. For all intents and purposes, she was Briella's. He didn't raise her and, despite her charisma and cuteness, he didn't really want to be a dad. If he wanted to inconvenience himself with a kid, he'd have picked up the phone one of the many times Bree tried to contact him.

He honestly didn't know how to react to being genuinely thanked for something. It wasn't often he did things "thank you" worthy outside the bedroom. And if entirely honest about it, he didn't like how doing things for other people felt. It was unnatural, took a lot of effort, and just ... no. After a moment's hesitation, Julian nodded with an added "Mhm." Thinking he was in the clear, Julian started ruffling through a few of his papers as he ate. Of course he couldn't escape from being thanked, once again, by Elise. He couldn't just nod at her, though. She was too adorable. "You're welcome ... I think these new toys will be much better than the PSP. You won't miss it at all."

The mildly happy expression on his face quickly changed to one of horror. He hadn't taken one more sip of his drink before there was soda spilling quickly across the desk. Julian's first instinct was to scoot back in his chair to keep the soda from dripping onto his suit. Anything but his suit. Being worried about his attire, however, didn't stop him from being furious about the business papers being ruined. Not only that, but there was a lot of s**t on his desk. Important or not, this was a disaster.

What Julian really wanted to do was spout out every single curse word he knew. He was painfully aware that there was a child in the room, though, and he didn't want to say something to upset the girl further. As Briella assured Elise that they weren't mad at her, Julian continued to look royally pissed off. He finally stood from the chair and picked up his phone from the soda mess. After wiping it off with a tissue, he put it in his pocket to determine its functionality at a later point.

"Not mad. No. I'm not mad at all," he said through gritted teeth. Bullshit. He actually prepared notes on his own for once and this was the thanks he got? Granted he realized it was an accident and Elle couldn't help it. Yet and still, he really needed to cool off. He put a collection of assorted fast food paper towels on the desk and grabbed the flash drive the notes were on. Gritting through his teeth again, he spoke up. "I'm going to reprint these. I'll be back in ... however long it takes."

He left the office. As soon as the door was closed behind him, he let loose all the obscenities he'd been holding in while he walked to the main printer. Fortunately, his employees scattered as he cursed his way through the building. If any of them had stopped him to talk, he'd have lost his s**t and fired somebody. Anybody. The obscenities and muttering quieted as the papers printed and he was able to take a few deep breaths. He didn't know how he was going to deal with Elise. He couldn't yell at her--she was only a kid. He didn't even really know how to interact with children in the first place.

Julian let out one last "s**t ********] after he had the freshly printed papers in his hands. He wanted to run the notes through a laminating machine, but was too lazy. Still frustrated, but not quite as furious, Julian returned to his office. Elle was still visibly upset. He sat back in his chair and started cleaning up the desk a little more and was silent for a few moments ... until he could feel Elle's eyes on him. He looked up and at her, then sighed and put a smile on his face (maybe not a smile, but at least something that didn't look angry). "I'm not mad, Elise. Really. It's okay. How about you let your mom change your clothes and get you clean, then we'll get you something new to drink?" Something new with a sealed cap and a spill proof straw, if possible.


ɪᴛ·s ʜᴀʀᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴍʏsᴇʟғ
sᴏ ɪᴛ ʜᴀs ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ʜᴀʀᴅ ᴀs ʜᴇʟʟ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ

ooc; bleeeeeeeeeeh

[justbluefairy]

tab tab tab ι ғєєℓ ℓιкє ʀυɴɴιɴɢ αωαч tab tab tab tab (чσυ sαч тнαт ι'ℓℓ ɴєvєʀ cнαɴɢє)
tab tab tab tab tab tab (ι'м sтιℓℓ sσ ғαʀ ғʀσм нσмє) tab tab tab tab вυт ωнαт тнє ғυcк ∂σ чσυ кɴσω?

Iliana laughed a bit and shook her head. Carlos was just saying her place wasn't so bad to make her feel better. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't even as good as their old apartment. The only thing that hadn't changed about her new apartment and the old was that she still turned everything into an art project. Admittedly, her projects turned out a lot better now than they had been. She couldn't count how many times Carlos came home to paint stained carpets she promised she'd clean up. Nowadays she would just load up her car and take her projects to the studio she rented. Mess free!

Nonetheless, she knew Carlos didn't come from much and that he would never judge any other person for having less. Despite the fact that she came from a lot more, she never saw him as inferior for not growing up in a mansion with more rooms than were necessary. She did remember how confused she was visiting his house for the first time after they started dating, though. All her friends before Carlos had been as rich as she was, so learning that his house only had one kitchen and not every bathroom had bathtubs the size of hot tubs was shocking.

Even with the knowledge that Carlos would never look down on her, she was still embarrassed that she'd fallen so far from what they grew up with. Over the years it had taken a lot of adjustments to be okay with sacrificing the really fancy things for those that were more practical. Now it was almost as if she and Carlos had switched roles. She wasn't sure what lifestyle he was accustomed to, but with his bands success he had to be doing better off than she was. Iliana tried not to pay attention to how his band was doing after their split, but ... they got increasingly more popular over the past two years. She had to get crafty with why she didn't like the band in casual conversation.

"I know," she responded to him saying he'd have done anything for her. Not wanting to linger on that painful notion too much, she switched the subject back to her apartment. "I like this place better than I did my parent's house, actually. It's simple."

Of course at that point she had to get away from Carlos and take a breather. As she got the drinks she thought about how much she would have preferred to be sharing this apartment with him instead of Cecilia. It was for the best though. Their breakup happened for a reason, even if she had been a little irrational in doing so. Cecilia was a good friend and Iliana was glad she finally made a friend that wasn't as snooty as all the other girls she knew growing up. When she got back, she thought she was prepared for the answer Carlos was about to give her. She wasn't.

"It's complicated..."

Iliana nodded her head. Of course it was complicated, but complicated or not she wanted to hear what he had to say. She made herself as comfortable as she possibly could have and let him talk without interruption. That wasn't to say she didn't want to interrupt, though. When he said he had taken to drinking, she frowned and really wanted to ask him why in the world he'd do that instead of talking to somebody about his problems. She guessed she understood why. If her parents were his main problem, she probably wouldn't have believed him fully back then. She'd have wanted to believe him, but she adored her parents for some stupid, stupid reason. Besides, she knew what it was like to want to take the edge off with liquor. Iliana didn't have a problem with alcoholism, but there were definitely long days at work that caused her to kick back and relax with a glass of wine at the end of the night.

Even though Carlos said it wasn't her fault or her parents fault for what he did, Iliana couldn't help but think things would have been different if she had known about how her parents--particularly her father--treated Carlos. She could have done something to get them to knock it off or ... Realistically, Iliana knew there wasn't anything she could have done differently. Things happened the way they happened and there wasn't anything either of them could do about it. At least they had the chance to grow up more and learn from both of their mistakes--Carlos from cheating and Iliana from more or less shutting him out.

Iliana's frown deepened when Carlos said cheating on her was a mistake, but that he didn't regret having his son. She vaguely understood why that was, but he was right in that it hurt her to hear. They were supposed to have children together, not Carlos and some groupie. It was no fault of the kid's, Iliana just wasn't sure how she was going to maintain a friendship with Carlos if Carlos Jr. was there to serve as a painful reminder. She was quiet for a moment, unsure of how to respond to that revelation.

"I don't know how I feel about that," she finally spoke up. As much as she knew Carlos couldn't have abandoned his son, the fact that he chose to take care of Carlos Jr. was essentially the reason Iliana didn't want to try and patch things up with Carlos. It just hurt too much to deal with. The fact of the matter was that if she wanted to be on good terms with her ex, get rid of the bitterness, and forget her regrets ... she had to get over herself. "I don't like it," she said referring to him not regretting his son "but I understand and can get over it. I think four years is long enough to hold a grudge."

She sat there awkwardly and fiddled with the glass in her hands for a moment. "So ... where is he now? Your son. And uh. How ... is he?" This was not her preferred topic, but if she didn't get to know more about him she'd just continue to think of him as "the kid that unintentionally ruined an entire relationship" , and that was selfish. She just wish she knew something about children, even if it was how to talk about them. Over the past four years she made it to point not to involve herself with kids of any age outside of waitressing.


ι'ℓℓ вυʀɴ ιт αℓℓ тσ тнє ɢʀσυɴ∂ вєғσʀє Ι ℓєт чσυ ιɴ
Ρℓєαsє ғσʀɢιvє мє, ι cαɴ'т ғσʀɢιvє чσυ ɴσω.
ι ʀємємвєʀ єvєʀчтнιɴɢ.

ooc; bluuuuughhhhh

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoI KNOW THINGS GET H A R D, BUT GIRL YOU GOT IT
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxgirl you ❛ ♛ g o t ⋮- it, there you go. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

This was a disaster, Elise was a sticky mess, and so was the desk and the floor. Briella was at least thankful that Julian managed to some how keep his composure and not lash out. "See, he's not mad okay. Now mommy's gonna clean this up and get you changed in to some dry clothes and you'll be fine. Okay?" Elise rubbed her eyes and nodded. "Okay!" While Julian left the room get new copies of the paper work, Briella focused on cleaning the sticky floor and grabbing clean clothes out of Elise's backpack.

When Julian returned, Elise still looked at him with sad eyes. He still didn't look too happy and it just made the little girl feel worse. When he reassured her that everything was fine, she allowed her mother to whisk her out of the room in order to change her sticky clothes. They had bumped in to Bryant on the way back who had promised he'd bring Elise a surprise once he got back from his lunch break. Briella didn't waste much time after that changing her daughter's attire and shuffling back to the office with a new drink in tow. It didn't take long for the girls to settle back in to their positions. Despite the sticky conditions of the table and the floor, Ellery sat in her seat finishing her lunch and sipping her hopefully spill proof juice box. And Briella sat wishing this day was over and she could go home.

A knock on the door captured their attention and low and behold is was Bryant keeping his promise. "Sorry, if I'm interrupting," Peering around the chair, Elise squealed in delight as she jumped out of her seat and ran it Bryant's direction. "Bryant!" She giggled as she wrapped her arms around his legs. "Hey kiddo!" Crouching down to Elise's level, Bryant pinched her right cheek lightly. "Brought you something," He showed her the ice cream filled container, getting another gleeful squeal out of the child. "But, you have to promise me you'll share with your mom and be careful not to spill it," Elise nodded and stuck her pinkie finger out. "I pinky promise," He hooked his pinkie finger with hers and they the let go, they wiggled their fingers.

In the past few weeks, Briella found herself doing something she was avoiding since Elise was born. Dating. She wasn't fond of the idea that she'd date a guy, Elise would become attached to him, only for things to fail miserably and both of them being heart broken. Briella's main concern was making sure that any man who came in to her life realized that she and Elise were a packaged deal. Her daughter and her well being came first. She didn't want to bring a main in to Elise's life only for him to leave like Julian did. Then again Julian was never around to begin with. It was bad enough Brielle needed to get creative whenever Elise asked about her father, she didn't need to come up with any other excuses every time another man walks out of their lives. Bryant was different, or at least she hoped he was. He really liked Elise and she adored him.

"Thank you Bryant," Elise gave him another hug before taking the ice cream in her hands. "No problem princess. You be good for your mom okay," He gave her a kiss on the crown of her head and she nodded with a smile before jogging back over to her seat.

"Yes, thank you Bryant. For giving my four year old ice cream before her nap" Briella spoke sarcastically as she smiled back at him. "No problem, you know I never disappoint," He smirked and then his expression turned a bit more serious as he gave Julian a curt nod before excusing himself. Briella chuckled to herself as she sat back in her seat and took a sip of her ice tea. She cleared her throat trying to get the silly smile off of her face.

"Julian!" Elise sat up in her seat and placed her ice cream on the table. "Do you want some ice cream?" Maybe it could be a peace offering. She split juice on his papers, she gives him ice cream to say sorry. "You can share with me and mommy"

[Keely Que Linda]

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoIT'S THE PERFECT D E N I A L ...
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoo━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
xxxxx●xxx●xxx●xxxIt's a ❛ ♛ b e a u t i f u l ⋮- lie. )

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░


Carlos' scoffed. She didn't like it? She didn't have to like it; she could either suck it up and move on or this conversation would end here. "Look, I'm not telling you to drop everything and...play mommy Iliana. But June and I are a packaged deal," He sighed shaking his head. She was right, four years was too long to hold a grudge. Especially if she was - but hopefully not - holding it aganist a child who had no clue about the situation. "You gotta just...remember. He's not to blame for what happened okay, I set everything in motion. He's innocent in this too,"

Carlos knew there was a possibility that Iliana would have a hard time with this situation. Of course why wouldn't she? He was unfaithful and fathered another woman's child. But at the same time he thought she'd handle it a lot different than she did. Of course he didn't expect her to come to him with open arms, hold him tight and never let him go. He didn't expect her to forgive him for his mistakes without a second thought. He didn't expect her to smile and say "Hey Carlos, I'll be that kids mom no worries,"

At this point he didn't know what to expect from her. With how she just up and packed her things without a word and cut him off cold turkey, he still couldn't believe he was sitting on her living room couch. Nonetheless it was nice to see that she was making an effort to at least ask about Carlos Jr.

"He's fine. He's with my mom and Rosey right now," He blew his bangs out of his face before shrugging. "June's pretty attached to them, my mom especially," His mother spoiled June, rotten. Always talking about how he looks exactly like Carlos when he was that age. Which he was thankful for. Carlos didn't know how to live with himself if June looked like his absentee mother.

"His mother isn't exactly around so...," Her shrugged taking a sip of his root beer. "I'm honestly just glad to be back from tour. To spend a lot more time with him. Granted, I saw him here and there but I wasn't too fond of bringing him with me yah know.," What was he saying? She didn't know. "If you want to, I mean you wouldn't have to if it made you feel uncomfortable. You could come hang out with us some time. He's a smart kid, real cute too. Gets that from me of course " He wiggled his eye brows a bit. Trying to lighten up the mood.

[Keely Que Linda]

NUMP