bad idea

Chapter 68

Ariana's Pov (two years later)

After Courtney's funeral, things progressively got worse until they were better again. It was only two years after what happened that year, with Christmas approaching in just a few weeks. The Jaureguis and Chipolones moved away for the sake of their families since the ongoing problem we had now was Courtney's ex, Sean.

Many of the people involved with us over the last few years were getting investigated and cracked down on. So for many of us, that meant keeping a smile and staying together until they had any real evidence, meaning that the Jaureguis got away with what Lauren did, and I think I was okay with that. Most of this past year for everyone was spent in therapy, Kai and I would go three times a week, a personal session for us both and then a couple's one just because.

Victoria and John separated for a while, before ultimately deciding they wanted to work their family out. I think Victoria just needed space to process Courtney and couldn't do that with the pressure of a relationship, which did her well, considering Hazel was almost three and seemed happier than ever. Zayn and his little family of three were doing good too, especially since he was able to spend more time with them while everyone was laying low.

Aside from that, Shawn met someone new, so he had been preoccupied with getting to know Nina and she was great from the few times we met her. Camila was a little more distant than everyone else, spending a year back in Cuba to properly heal. She was different ever since losing her ex, so we all respected her space until she was ready. But it was safe to say that everyone was doing better and at least on their way to being happy, especially Kai, who had been working on cleaning up the mess Lauren left and keeping Sean further away from solving his case.

Most of the families we worked with, started doing more "over the counter" things, Dalton got into "architecture" for the time being, Charlie and Liam were running a music shop, Niall was teaching back in Ireland, Dinah and Normani had another baby, while Ally was off the grid, after just purchasing a farm.

My fiancée and I were doing the same, starting with first purchasing a new house. At first, we couldn't bring ourselves to sell our old house, so we kept it but still decided to start somewhere new, leaving all of our stuff there. Besides that, our wedding was on the 18th of December only three weeks away and we were excited, to say the least.

***

Early Wednesday morning, the house was freezing since we had been snowed in. We were both still in bed, being woken up by our power turning off. And I didn't exactly want to move since I was right in her arms, with the blankets up to my shoulders, leaving just a little skin.

"Shit," my girlfriend said, lifting her head just a little to take a peak at the windows, which were covered in snow, "I was supposed to go grocery shopping today,"

"I think we can deliver some here, babe," I told her, looking over at the snow too.

"You know what, I could probably drive in that,"

"No, it's supposed to be a blizzard today,"

"I'll be quick,"

"Or you could stay," I offered, sitting up just a little, "The rest of the house is cold and I'm warm here,"

She smiled, rolling her eyes, "You didn't care about it being cold last night,"

"Being cold at night and being cold in the morning are two different things," I added, with a playful smirk, watching her laugh.

"So what are we gonna do today?" Kai asked, looking at me for answers.

"Christmas movies?"

"Our power is down, babe,"