Our Ghost Adventures

After a few weeks, it was time for the baby shower-the one that Elise was throwing for them. I had taken care of Zak while he was sick and we hadn’t had any paranormal experiences at Zak’s house since the day he came back. It was odd, actually. There was always something going on there. Currently, we were getting dressed and ready to leave.

“Ugh!” I shouted, falling back on to the bed and dropping my shoe to the ground.

“What’s wrong, honey?” Zak asked, walking into the bedroom from the bathroom.

“I can’t put my fucking shoe on!” Okay, I was over reacting a little bit. But it was pissing me off that I couldn’t do anything for myself.

“I gotcha babe,” he smiled and knelt down before slipping on her shoe and tying it. He did the other one next and helped her sit up. She sighed.

“I’ve lost my independence.” Just two more weeks, just two and then I’d be a mother again and I could be independent. “It’s so frustrating.”

“I don’t mind doing things for you,” he said sweetly. “It’s the least I can do. Now we’ve gotta get to my mom’s.”

“Alright.”

We arrived there a short while later. There were already so many cars in the driveway and on the street. We parked on the street before heading in. Zak wrapped an arm around my waist and we walked into the house. He didn’t bother knocking, he just opened the door and we walked in.

“Oh my God, you look fantastic,” Stephanie said, hugging me. Her daughter, Jez came running up and greeted her uncle Zak happily before going off to play.

“Adrina!” I knew that voice. Ellie! I saw her across the room and she came over and hugged me.

“What’re you doing here?”

“Zak called us, had us all fly in…We didn’t want you to have to travel anyway.”

“Us?” I asked.

“All of the girls are here…And Mark, Kyle, Julie, and Sandra,” Ellie replied. Mark was her husband and Julie and Sandra were her daughters. Kyle was Molly’s husband.

“I think Sandra’s playing with Nick’s daughter-what’s her name?”

“Annabelle,” I replied. “Oo, Nick flew in? I finally get to meet his wife!” I hadn’t gotten to meet Veronique yet. There just hadn’t been a time where it seemed to make sense.

“I don’t know what she looks like, so I couldn’t tell you if she’s here or not.”

“Well, where are the other girls?”

“I think Ariel’s talking to Aaron or something and Molly and Kyle are in the kitchen area talking to Nick and Billy.”

“Adrina,” Elise said with a smile, walking over with Zak-who had apparently gone to see his mother when I ran over to Ellie upon arrival.

“Elise, it’s so nice to see you, thank you so much for doing this,” I told her, hugging her lightly. “This is one of my best friends Ellie.”

“Pleasure to meet you.”

“Adrina, this is my step dad, John,” Zak introduced me to a tall man with light brown hair and dark eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand.

“You too,” he smiled.

***

The party proceeded and we played little baby themed games and ate some cake with pink frosting; I did get to meet Veronique finally. Annabelle was one of the cutest kids I’d ever seen in my life though.

“Aaron and Ariel seem…happy,” Zak said with a smirk sitting next to me. He had a beer in his hand and he looked calm and rather happy.

“They do,” they were sitting on the other side of the room laughing. “They have a similar sense of humor…”

“Fart jokes?”

“Sometimes,” I laughed.

“I haven’t seen him smile this much in a while, actually,” he agreed.

“Present time!” Stephanie said, skipping into the room. “Open mine first!” She handed me a pink wrapped present with a white bow. I put the box between Zak and I. We both began ripping the paper off the box. There was a cardboard box under the paper. “You’ve gotta open the box.”

So we did and there were oodles of brand new baby clothes on the inside. “Wow! Thank you so much!” I exclaimed. These would be great for Lorelei. I stood from the couch and gave her a hug.

“Aw, anything for my future sister in-law and my niece,” Stephanie put her hand on my stomach and smiled widely, as did she.

We continued to open gifts. There was a baby gate, a changing table, a crib, a high chair, and anything else we could dream of needing! I didn’t expect everyone to get us so much. Zak and I had planned on going to the store after the shower so that we could get anything else we needed…but I didn’t think that was necessary now. We had bottles, pacifiers, bibs, everything! Someone even got us a pack of newborn diapers. We’d have to buy more once she was born…but that was it. Come to think of it…I wasn’t sure how we were going to get everything home. Zak’s little muscle car was not going to get all of this stuff home.

Apparently, I wasn't the one that noticed it either. “Maybe I should ask Aaron to drive some of this over to our place, huh?” Zak asked. I laughed.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” I replied. “Do you think he'd mind?”

“Nah, I don't think he will. He has to head that way anyway. Besides, if he says no we can always get Ariel to ask him. He won't say no,” Zak grinned. We both looked back over at them and saw them laughing together-again.

“Very true,” I giggled. He looked over at me with that intense look he always got.

“I love you so much,” he said out of nowhere. I just smiled and kissed him.

“I love you too.”

***

Luckily, Aaron willingly drove our stuff home. But, before we left the party, Ellie and Molly had to get to the airport to make their flights. They had to get back by tomorrow because they had to work. Ariel, on the other hand was going to stay with Aaron-shocker, since she took off a few weeks of work. I was happy for them. I knew it was coming though, I had always had a feeling that those two would end up together. Nick, Veronique, and Annabelle would be staying with us for a few days before heading home because Nick wanted to spend some time with the guys and there was nothing making them have to go home just yet. When we arrived at the house, everyone helped to unload the cars and take everything inside into the room we'd made into the nursery. It wasn't painted pink or anything, it was still the plain white color that the house had come with. They didn't want to brand their daughter with pink. Maybe she wouldn't even like that color, she could paint it whatever color when she got old enough to choose it for herself.

“Well, it looks like you've got some constructing to do,” I told Zak with a grin, pointing to all of the boxes with stuff that needed assembled.

“I guess so,” Zak said. “Nick, Aaron, you guys wanna help me with it?” he asked hopefully.

“It can give us girls some time,” I said. I knew it was going to be a big job and I sure as hell couldn't help him. Not only was I bad-and I mean really bad-at that sort of thing, but I couldn't really bend down to work on anything.

“Well, we're kinda stayin' here anyway, it's not like I can avoid you,” Nick joked. “So, yeah, we can start on that tomorrow sometime.”

“Why not? I don't have any other plans,” Aaron shrugged, after a nudge from Ariel.

I looked over at Ariel and Veronique with a smile. “Maybe we can go shopping or do something fun like that, what do you think?” I suggested.

“Yeah! That'd be great!” Ariel exclaimed very enthusiastically, making me smile. That was Ariel for you, always so excited for everything.

“That could be pretty cool,” Veronique said. She seemed a lot like Nick, relaxed and kind of chill. “As long as you don't mind a fourth person,” she said messing with Annabelle's hair.

“I don't mind at all,” I replied.

***

We all went shopping the next day. We were at the mall walking through different stores. It was just fun. “So what’s it like, actually being on the road with the guys?” Veronique asked.

“It’s actually a lot of fun. We go out to eat and goof around. You know them-they act like their six and that’s what they do the whole time,” I replied. “You would think that being on the road for hours and hours would be boring, but it can actually be fun with them. They’re funny.”

“I’d imagine they are,” Ariel said. “Some of the things I’ve seen on the Vlogs…”

“Nick always tells me some of the funniest stories from all of you being on the road,” Veronique said. We past by a Victoria Secret store and Annabelle gasped.

“Why don’t those women have clothes on?” she asked. I tried not to laugh; it was a valid question coming from a little kid. We all knew that the store sold lingerie and other under garments. Annabelle didn’t even know what lingerie was. Veronique told Annabelle that it was a store and they were advertising their product, just like every other store did.

Soon, we decided to drive back to Zak’s house. It was getting into the late afternoon-about 3 o’clock, and I was sure the boys were hungry. But, when we walked in I was pleasantly surprised. I smelled…food. I looked over at Ariel and she looked back at me, both of us having a confused looks on our faces.

“Zak?” called out into the seemingly empty house. Gracie and Muffin came up wagging their tails; I pet each of them as they licked me.

“Back here!” he called from the patio area. All of us walked that way.

Zak and the guys had prepared a grill out lunch for us. It was really nice, actually. They set up the nursery rather quickly and had plenty of time after so they went ahead and cooked. We had a rather fun evening even after.

Zak and I were preparing to go to sleep when I thought of something that we hadn’t discussed yet. “Zak…maybe I should just stay here when we start the show back up…” I said. He licked his lips and looked up at me.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we can’t exactly just leave the baby unattended while we’re in a lockdown…And what other option is there? She’s gonna need fed and-”

“I’m not spending months away from you and our baby. I’ll cancel the damn show before that happens. We’ll get a babysitter or someone to go with us.”

“And who do you expect that to be? I can’t just trust anybody with out daughter, Zak. Besides, how are we going to fit another person in that RV? Poor Aaron already sleeps on the pull out couch…”

“Well, if it’s someone that Nick or Aaron won’t mind bunking with-and someone that you’ve known for a long time…Then you could make an exception, right?”

“Wait a minute, are you suggesting who I think you’re suggesting?”

“Ariel.”

“You mean you want to bring Ariel on the road with us so that she can watch our child? I just…I don’t know how I feel about that…I’m supposed to be her mom…”

“And you will be, and I’ll be her dad. Plenty of parents have jobs. Besides, we don’t start again until January. She’ll be a couple months old by then.”

“Okay, I guess you’re right,” I agreed. “We’ll have to talk to her tomorrow…”