"There they are!" Grace calls out, smirking at us as we walk in, laughing in each other's arms. "And what were you two doing for so long?" She asks suspiciously, wiggling her eyebrows as we sit down on the big armchair in the living room. I sit on Trent's lap, curling into his chest.
"Trent's friend called." I say. It wasn't exactly a lie. But now I've mentioned it..what did he want? Because Trent said he'd 'bring everyone'.
"Yeah. It's his birthday this weekend and asked if we all wanted to join them for a week." He says casually, capturing everyone's attention. "Where?" I ask him.
"Oh, yeah.." Trent smirks down at me. "He's always wanted to go to Italy. So he's rented like ten houses down the same private street in Venice. Asked if we'd join him."
My eyes shot open as I turned to look at him. "Italy!?" I say loudly, excitement washing over me as I swat his chest. Trent chuckled, nodding in agreement as I turn back to look at my friends. "Oh we're sooo going to Italy together!!" I tell them as everyone's now laughing.
"Even me?" Aria asked as she walks into the room. "Of course!" Trent says, making her hop in excitement. "You think I'd go on holiday without my little cowgirl?" He adds, as she dives onto the chair with Trent and I.
"Family trip!" Ellie says excited before her face drops. "Wait. When did you say we're leaving??"
"Saturday. We'll take my jet and meet them there."
Ellie glared at him. "And what day is it today?" She asks, waiting for him to realise. "Thursday..why?"
"You expect me to go shopping for a week in Venice and pack in a day? Are you insane!?" She says stressed as we all laugh. "Then you better go shopping." Hudson laughs.
"I don't know what you're laughing about, you're coming to carry my bags." Grace smirks down at Hudson, planting a brief kiss on his lips as she walks away.
Oh yeah. They finally decided to make it official last month. Considering they've clearly been in love with each other since we were 15, it's about time!
"Come on, cowgirl." Trent said as we all stand up. "Let's go do some shopping."
We drove into Dallas, getting everything we'll need for our week long vacation. After putting some of our bags in the trunk of his car, Trent, Aria and I walk down the main high street, looking for a few more things we need for Aria. She had outgrown most of her summer stuff, so she was the one who needed the most.
She walked in between Trent and I, holding both of our hands as she babbled on about everything she wanted to do in Venice.
That was, until her rant trailed off as her eyes landed on something coming towards us in the distance. "Who's that?" She said quietly as a few different guys came towards us, their eyes fixed on the three of us.
I looked over to Trent in search for an answer to the same question. But his face kind of told me what I needed to know. Without even thinking about it, he scooped Aria up in his arms.
"Hey cowgirl. I'm just going to pull this up for a minute ok? Just until we get into the next shop." He smiled at her, acting as natural as he could as he pulled the hood of her jacket over her head.
He plants a gentle kiss on her forehead before grabbing my hand. And, the second his fingers intertwined with mine, cameras began to flash brightly at us.
Aria buried her face into Trent's neck as he guided the two of us past the few paparazzi who had finally caught up to us. They kept asking questions, their words morphing into one loud sound as they all spoke over each other.
Their cameras were blinding as we tried to make our way through the crowd. The store we were heading to seemed to get further and further away as I gripped onto Trent's hand. I didn't want to get separated from him in the rapidly growing crowd of cameras.
"Excuse me. Back it up thank you." A familiar deep voice shouted out, shoving their way through the crowd as they stood in front of me, blocking the flashes from my eyes.
"That's one way to find where you guys are." Hudson chuckled, helping clear the path as we finally slip into the store. Grace and Ellie stand there with some workers in the store. Every one of them looking shocked at the huge crowd of flashing cameras outside the wall of glass.
"Found them." Hudson laughs as Trent walks over to one of the women who work there. "I'm so sorry about this.." he says, putting Aria down on her feet as her little eyes scanned the clothes around her.
"It's no problem sir. We have an exit around back. You guys can slip out there if you want." The young woman smiles at us all.
"Thank you." I tell her as we pick out a few items for Aria. After paying for them, I look at Trent. "You take Aria. Slip out back. I'll go out front with the guys and meet you back at the car."
He furrows his brows as he looks at the crowd still waiting. "No, just come out back with me."
"There's no point. They'll just run round back. At least if I go out there, they will be a bit distracted so you can get Aria in the car without her picture being all over the news. Take Ellie with you. She doesn't like big crowds, remember?" I smile at him, placing a brief kiss on his lips.
Before he can argue, I lift Aria and put her in Trent's arms. "See you in a minute Ree." I kiss her forehead as I head out the door with Hudson sticking closely to me, his hand on the small of my back. His other hand gripped onto Grace as we walk through the crowd of cameras. They shouted different questions at us as we quickly walked down the street.
"Giovanna, how are you feeling?"
"Giovanna, how serious are you and Trent?"
"Are you planning on keeping him here in Texas forever?"
"Thoughts on Demi Fisher?"
"You guys look great together!"
"Is the kid his?"
Some of them were positive. Those were the ones I always try to cling on to. That's what Trent taught me anyway. There's been a few occasions where someone would tweet that they saw him. And then cameras would turn up not long after.
But he taught me the best way to ignore them is to just pick out the positive things they say and hold onto those. So that's what I've been doing. And it does help. Although the questions about Demi and me being with him for money..they still sting a little.
Finally, rounding the corner i see Trent closing the back door to his car, sliding in the drivers seat as the engine begins to roar. Hudson looks down at me. "Go on. We'll meet you back home." He says as I slip into the car.
Trent speeds away, whipping past the crowd as we disappear down the street. "You okay?" He asks, concerned as his hand rests on my thigh."
"I'm all good. I promise." I smile up at him before looking back at Aria. "See? That's what happens when the whole world is in love with Trent Donovan too, Ree." I laugh, as her giggles fill the car too.
I can finally see him relax. He hates when cameras come around any of us. He doesn't care if they catch him. But he's so protective over the rest of us. He always feels guilty. But we all continue to reassure him that we don't mind. Yeah it's kind of annoying. But it's only temporary.
"Dad's famous!" She laughs, making him chuckle deeply.
YOU ARE READING
Beside You
Romance***BOOK ONE OF THE SERIES!!*** (Book 2 currently being written) Giovanna Romano, having been abandoned by her husband as she learns about carrying his child, she spends three years raising her child alone. A single mother who had completely given up...
