Hey guys! Happy Tuesday!

As promised, I'm posting every day this week - and since I only have a chapter and a bit left to write, I'll be posting extra on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to finish up the book :3 This is the final tour chapter (for this book ;D) but I hope you enjoy it

Summary: The last few days of tour end with a bang, and a music video

Chapter song: Losers - Aryia

WARNINGS: Language

-

After the show in Louisville, I helped the boys come up with a little interlude for the part of the show where we would play Losers. We decided to stay at an AirBnB that night as opposed to a cheap hotel which had been so much more comfier, as I was able to relax once I had the work done and I got to sleep with Aryia alone again.

We had been brainstorming ideas at the merch table that evening, so we all had a pretty good idea for what we wanted to do for the song intro once we got to the BnB.

Unsurprisingly, they had asked me to play the little keyboard segment that I'd made for the beginning of the song to count them in and had come up with the humorous idea to pretend that Jason was a keyboard for Aryia to play. Part of me felt like they'd shot me down from playing the instrument but I went along with the idea from how quirky and unique it was as none of the other bands we were playing with doing anything like this.

I'd had to run through it a few times since Aryia wasn't as used to playing keys as I was, but he'd got it in the end and we managed to make a fun little start to the new song that the fans all loved when it came to the next show.

...

When we reached Oklahoma, we were all feeling a little tuckered out. Mainly from all of our break days which were so scattered, but also from things like Aryia's migraines, being stuck in a van on the road for six plus hours every day, and even though I didn't want to mention it, my pregnancy was starting to tire me out too.

Aryia and Nick had sat down in the room of the hotel we were staying in that night to film videos for their YouTube channels; Nick filming a Q and A after he'd posted a questions filter on Instagram earlier in the week for his and Aryia's fans to respond to, while Aryia had filmed a confessional.

He'd let slip my pregnancy a couple of times when he was filming and I'd been a little worried - since we were both adamant that our parents and families should know about my condition before the fans and our other friends, but I wasn't too worried since I knew he would cut it out when he was editing. This was also the second time during tour that he'd really had time to himself as I was taking a shower at the time and the rest of the band were out getting food or on the phone outside; so really, it was the perfect opportunity to film an insert video for the tour vlogs.

I felt proud watching and listening to Aryia talk about his feelings and how much he felt he had grown since the start of our tour. I'd seen it myself in the way that he sang and even in the ways that he'd helped me with my pregnancy; even with small gestures like buying me Taco Bell when I had cravings or carrying heavier boxes into venues when I had muscle pains. He'd also been super sweet and gave me a massage one night when I mentioned how stiff my shoulders and back felt. If it wasn't clear before, he was definitely going to win Boyfriend of the Year for the third year in a row this December. There had been a lot of personal challenges, but we managed to get through them all together even though we were all sleep deprived in a van or a shitty hotel with five other people, it just made it even more bearable because we were getting through it together and pushing us to see what kind of people we were under pressure. They were Aryia's words but they really rang true and I agreed with him whol-heartedly. We all loved the tour life, and right now I was happy to be here making memories with my favorite people.

There had been some really rough days. Aryia's migraines had only been the beginning since I'd had to step out of another show after throwing up from morning sickness – which I thought had settled down now that I was getting to the end of my first trimester – though needless to say, we'd taken care of each other and got through it.

One thing I still loved however was meeting the fans. They were all super sweet when they came up to us following our shows and asking how I was during the two shows where I was sitting with Alex at the merch booth. The performances had also been great despite there being not as many Aryia fans at some shows compared to others. When I came out of the shower, I'd caught Aryia talking about there being some really scary men at the shows with their arms crossed, looking at Aryia wearing his signature eyeliner and wondering just exactly who he was and what he was doing, but he also expressed how much he loved it and how he wouldn't change anything for the world.

He'd also mentioned moving into the new house with Kévin and Eileen – something I was especially excited about once we got back to LA. The plan of action for after tour was pretty detailed since there was a week where we would be getting over our tour hangover to rest and recuperate before getting straight back to work. First off, we'd be finalizing Aryia and Nick's new album and recording some cover music with Jay, then we'd be looking into filming the Losers music video before finally heading back to LA where I'd be helping Cassie and Reggie pack everything since they were moving back to Kansas and be closer to family. And then after moving into our new house, we would get straight into filming the Sugar, I'm Going Down music video which we were still deciding on a script for. Aryia wanted to make it a somewhat sexy video with me also pretending to be a psycho girlfriend and stabbing him but he also wanted to use it as a means of announcing our baby to the world. I loved both ideas but I was leaning more towards the second one because of how sweet and original it sounded.

He'd also discussed other things like pre-show rituals and how everything he was doing wasn't about validation on his part and was instead about the songs, the music and how we were all just small parts of the bigger picture and how it was his honor to participate in something so much bigger and more meaningful which I thought was so considerate and real. He had gone on a little side-rant too about being self-obsessed but it had been so funny and so Aryia that I couldn't help but smile. I was glad that some things would never change and he was still the bright spark he had always been. He talked about feeling pride in reverse, sometimes thinking that people were judging him and feeling that he wasn't enough which made me feel a little sad and maybe apprehensive about having a baby when we were still pretty young but he also explained how he felt so important to so many people and how much we cared about him which was something he was truly grateful for because despite everything, he was free to be himself.

To finish up the video, Aryia had also taken out his notes app and read one of the quotes that had been on his mind a lot recently.

"I'm going to play for them, so I can live in their hearts forever. That's my reason for existing."

I knew how much it had meant to him and how inspired it made him feel since he was able to connect so strongly with the quote – and most of all with all of his fans. And I couldn't be happier or prouder.

...

When we finally reached Oklahoma City, Aryia had done a whole shirtless tour segment which was extremely hot with his cowboy hat, tilting it at me and winking when I recorded him jumping around and kicking the puddle Nick had parked by, the water going straight into his shoe.

"That just went into my shoe." He said as he was about to do another jump. "That's disgusting! Fuck!"

Jason and I sniggered from behind the camera.

"Where are we right now, Aryia?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, howdy y'all, we're out here in... Oklahomie? Oklahomie City, Oklahomie, and uh... I'm about to "yee" all your "haw"s!" He smiled, pointing into the camera lens and making me giggle.

""Yee" me then."

"What?" He asked, looking a little confused.

"Didn't y'all do that in Costa Rica already?" Alex asked, making me blush.

"Alex~!"

He giggled to himself.

"How'd you know what we did in Costa Rica?"

"That talk in the van we had the other week, duh~" He replied, making my face turn redder.

"Anyway, "yee" hee Aryia." Jason prompted my boyfriend.

"Yeah Aryia, "yee" her." Nick joined in, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Nick~ I don't need you teasing me too~!" I whined, pretending not to enjoy the joking.

The boys all laughed.

"Yee!" Aryia yelled, considering how we were still waiting for everyone else to show up.

"Haw..." I replied disheartenedly as Alex continued to tease me and we waited for Rivals, Dragged Under and the new band – Glasslands – to show up.

Aryia had made jokes about the puddle being everyone's hopes and dreams before discussing how he was actually kind of fond of the hot and dry heat with how at-home his Persian blood felt in the current climate. I felt like he was joking and realized he actually was when he mentioned Persian mountains and how the weather had reminded him of ancient Persia and Persian mountains – considering that as far as I knew, he'd never actually been to Iran. The idea for a trip there had crossed my mind a few times, but I only wanted to go with Aryia since I knew he'd wanted to visit for a while too.

I definitely disagreed with his statement about feeling at home in the heat though. We'd had the air-con switched on for the majority of the ride to the new tour stop and I let out a groan of discontentment when it had been switched off. My belly hadn't really grown too much in the last month, though I had only just reached the four-months stage so it wasn't too surprising. Being pregnant while it was so hot definitely wasn't for me though because of how hot and uncomfortable I felt. And if I was going to have another baby later on with Aryia, I wanted to try planning ahead as much as possible to avoid the discomfort of the summer heat. A winter pregnancy sounded better to me since I much preferred the idea of snuggling up together with Aryia and the baby under a blanket as opposed to baking in the summer sun like a couch potato.

I needed to remind myself to rebook my next ultrasound once we were done with tour and ensure that I brought Aryia in with me this time so that he could meet my doctor and see the baby moving for the first time, as well as find out if we were having a girl or a boy. Part of me wanted the baby to be a girl now and I blamed Aryia for that since he had been talking non-stop about how much he wanted to style his daughter's hair, paint her nails and do her makeup; and I wanted to see him happy. He didn't seem too disheartened about the idea of having a baby boy though, and it was mainly because we had close to zero ideas for boy's names if the baby did end up being a boy. Though I also knew that – like me – Aryia would be happy so long as the baby was healthy and no matter what gender our baby turned out to be, he would still be happy. Besides, I also knew that even if the baby did end up being a boy, he would probably end up teaching our son how to be emo and end up painting his nails anyway and I couldn't say that I hated the idea. But no matter what, I was just glad to have a baby with Aryia, because I loved the idea of having a child who was 50% him and 50% me so much even before they had been born.

Aryia continued to talk about Iran before taking his unicorn backpack off his shoulder and flinging it to one side with an "I don't give a fuck."

Jason zoomed in on the bag and then on me and my unimpressed face as I told him to pick the bag up.

"I– I know... I'm sorry ma'am." He apologized, doing as he was told and dusting off the bag before picking it up. "My bad. There's actually some really expensive equipment in here..." He mentioned, patting the bottom on the bag as he slung it back on his shoulders. "I'm already $10,000 in debt 'cuz of this tour." He then turned to the camera with a serious face after realizing it sounded like he was joking, because in truth he wasn't and mentioned this to the viewers. "But we don't care, cuz we're punk as fuck, bitch." He added, nibbling his bottom lip and winking as he held his hand up in the rock-on hand gesture which made me giggle.

We'd probably made back around 75 to 80% of the money we'd spent on merch at this point but wouldn't find out how much profit we'd actually made until we sat down and worked out our revenue in Boston. I really did hope there was some profit though, since for one; I didn't want to move into the new house with barely any money, and secondly because we still had a lot of things to sort out in preparation for the baby's birth and all the supplies we needed. I still had some money left over from my Spotify streams, side business and YouTube channel, so it wasn't a major red flag but it was always a good thing to have some extra cash in our banks. Part of me wanted to set up a new joint bank account to ensure stability too as this way, we would be able to merge our finances. I didn't know how he would react to the idea however, so decided to save mentioning it to him until we were back in Los Angeles and settled into the new house.

...

A few days later, we had just finished setting up for your second Texas show when Seb from Rivals and Fluff from Dragged Under had seen us outside and pretended to act like fans for Aryia's vlog. The interaction had been fun when Aryia had played along, pretending they were actual fans and had made me laugh quite a lot from the crazy symptoms I had been experiencing all day.

I'd ended up taking my anti sickness tablet after being sick that morning but still felt sick even after drinking so much water and ginger and green tea. Aryia had been such a help throughout the day though and made me feel a lot better than I had that morning, giving me pain relief for my muscle pains and rubbing my back and singing to me when he was practicing for the set, getting me breakfast and just being overall amazing.

I felt bad though and part of me felt like I was making out that this was a bigger deal than it actually was since me nausea wasn't nearly as bad as it had been in Costa Rica or when we'd got back home after the flight, though with Aryia being as concerned for me as he was I decided to let him take care of me as helping me to feel better was also making him worry less. Though it wouldn't change the fact that I was definitely going to find some way to pay him back for all the help he had given me one way or another. He definitely deserved something positive after helping me out so much.

...

Before our final Texas show, Aryia had sat down in the back room of the concert hall. Glasslands had just started their setlist for the night, so he had a little bit of time to record another segment of tour and an update for the fans at home.

The back room was similar to a mini kitchen-dining area, with a microwave, kettle, cupboards and a small circular table with some chairs. And we had set the camera up on the table before sitting down to film.

"Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Let's do it."

"Yeah." I agreed, sitting with him.

"Oh god."

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He nodded, giving me a smile. "Welcome to the green room. Or should I say the green..." he paused, looking around before gesturing to the silver fridge freezer behind him. "The backstage uh... kitchen."

I giggled. "It's a break room. See?" I pointed out, "Coffee." I held up a can of roasted coffee that was on the table, presenting it to the camera.

"This is no time for advertising Nescafé, Evra, we're on tour!"

I laughed as he rolled his eyes jokingly with a small laugh and continued to vlog. "A lot of these venues have very weird "backstages" or green rooms. Actually, some of them don't even have a backstage, it's just like a... meth alley – as I call it. Just like a back alley with pee and uh... you, you know other..."

"Other substances." We both said together before laughing again. "Fuck~."

"San Antonio, Texas was... amazing. I don't know about you Babe, but I wanna do this forever, I wanna do this constantly"

"It totally was, and I 100% wanna do it forever with you as well." I agreed with a smile, resting my head on his shoulder and smiling up at him which was when he kissed me softly.

"I'm a workaholic, okay." He then said. "And I don't say that in a romantic way, like: "I just work so hard". Like no, it's not... good." He admitted.

I shook my head in agreement. Obviously the fans still had no idea about my condition and weren't going to find out for another few months, but it didn't mean that neither of us could give the subtlest of hints. Though I wasn't agreeing with him in a bad way, I was so proud of Aryia, how much joy he brought to those around him, and how much he would continue to bring even with and after the baby was born.

Aryia was arguably one of the most hardworking people I knew. I wondered how he was a Slytherin instead of a Hufflepuff like I was. It was admirable to see his ambitious side, but I understood that work could be a lot for him at times, especially with wanting to support me as much as he could as well. Though that was the reason why we had agreed to work things out together and support each other. I truly wouldn't change anything about us or our lives because making music, meeting and connecting with people and seeing them on tour was our lives' work and one of the greatest highlights of my life so far.

"Like seriously, you need balance in your life, you need to..." His words trailed off as he looked up at the ceiling as if it had all the answers to the universe and then looked at me, smiling so sweetly. I could see just how happy he was and wrapped an arm around him and gave him another sweet kiss to show him just how much support I was and would continue to give him.

He gave me a smile, looking at me lovingly.

"I don't know..." He then admitted, but he was still smiling.

But maybe he was right, maybe we didn't always need to have it all figured out. Maybe we should just go with the flow.

"Like yeah, it comes as a cost, but for me, I can't help it. And I'm pretty sure you're the same, right Evie?"

I nodded. "Yeah, like... I don't know either but, life's great right now and I wouldn't change it for anything."

He smiled. "I'm glad you agree."

The viewers couldn't see, but this was the point where he held my hand comfortingly between our seats.

"I love it." He reiterated. "I love every second of it. I love the pain, because... I– I don't know, I just do." He shrugged, scratching an itch he had behind his ear.

I smiled. Even though he couldn't quite put how he was feeling into words, we both knew what he meant. The feeling was mutual like everything else between the two of us. I didn't know how to explain it either, but what really mattered was that I understood.

"I wish I could explain it." He admitted. "I love this music life."

"I know what you mean." I nodded. "I feel it too."

"Okay, that makes me feel better." He smiled, holding my hand again. "I'm glad you know what I'm talking about, babe."

We stared at each other lovingly for a few more moments, blushing as I rested my head on his shoulder again. I was getting a little tired now; kind of a bad thing since our set was in less than half an hour, though I managed to wake myself up a bit, mostly to listen to everything Aryia had to say but also because I knew I needed to stay awake for at least another hour. Part of me blamed it on adjusting to a new time zone again, but the fact that I was pregnant also had a role in my drowsiness. But as I said, I loved life just the way it was right now, and just like Aryia, I couldn't wait for what was in store for us in a few month's time.

"In the best way possible, I just never want the party to stop. I'm okay if it does, even if it's just brief. I know I'm okay, that we're both– all okay." He said, looking at me and giving a subtle glance at my tiny bump. "I just like it."

I smiled.

"It's not even that deep. We just do."

I nodded in agreement. "It feels right."

"You feel the same?" He asked, more out of confirmation than anything else.

"The exact same." I nodded.

"It feels right." We agreed

...

Since we had the next day off and driving to Mesa Arizona would take 16 and a half hours, we decided to use it as an opportunity to get to our next stop.

It had been absolutely sweltering inside the van; even with the air conditioning on, and I was finding it a little difficult to adjust to a warm climate again. Thankfully, I wasn't feeling or being sick as I had been for the last three months. I'd experienced some light travel sickness here and there over the last couple of days but it hadn't been as bad as the morning sickness had been and was a clear sign that I was now in my second trimester. So while listening to some music playing through Aryia's Spotify on the van speakers, I looked up what symptoms I could expect throughout months four to six of my pregnancy.

Although when I looked, I wished I hadn't. The symptoms actually consisted of: swollen or bleeding gums; round ligament pains on the sides of my belly – which were caused by my womb expanding; headaches, nosebleeds, bloating, constipation, heartburn and indigestion; soreness around my upper chest and leg cramps; feeling hot – check, dizziness, swelling of my hands and feet; increased risk of infections – or actual infections, brown patches on my skin; greasier and spottier skin; and quite possibly the only good thing on the whole list – thicker and shinier hair.

Despite knowing that my doctor would probably update me regarding second trimester symptoms during my next appointment, I started to wish that I never looked them up. I just hoped that the symptoms wouldn't be too painful because I didn't want Aryia to stress more than he already was. It was enough to make my morning sickness come back again, though maybe that was something to do with mood swings? I really didn't know. All I did know was that I was craving oreos.

I couldn't tell if the show cancellation that evening had been a good thing or not. Obviously, the security concerns were an issue and canceling the show meant that we wouldn't get to meet any local fans. But as Aryia had said, everyone's safety came first – especially considering how protective he was of me in my current condition.

I felt devastated for the fans though, especially those who had booked hotels or came to the venue early. Though we were still able to get some photos with them, I still felt bad for not being able to perform for them. But after the announcements we posted on Instagram, we promised that we would be back to perform for them soon.

...

Before the end of tour, I realized that for over a month Aryia and I had shared a bed almost every night with not only the baby, but also with Jason due to the lack of room and how expensive it would be to get another room. I'd laughed about it with the two guys on our next day off.

"Dude, what're we gonna do after tour?" Aryia asked.

"Dude, I'm not gonna sleep the same." Jason admitted, wiping his mouth after just finishing brushing his teeth. "I'm gonna look over at my girlfriend and say: "why aren't you Aryia?""

We both giggled before I realized something. "Ya know, it might not be too different for us in a couple of months."

"Yeah?" Jason asked. "Are you gonna sleep with the baby in the middle?"

"Well, we have to have some cuddles!"

The two guys smiled before I realized what I'd just done and turned to Aryia.

"Oh God, please tell me you didn't just record that."

"Don't worry, I stopped the recording." He winked, pulling me into a cuddle as I let out a sigh of relief and got ready with me now that our bassist had finished in the bathroom.

After brushing my teeth and styling my hair, Aryia took a shower while I packed all of our stuff together and laid out an outfit for him on the bed. Since it was still so hot, I'd decided to pick out a moon merch shirt from his bag, his white shorts and black high top converse, matching the outfit I was wearing as I was also wearing a black sleeveless vest with black and white striped shorts and a pair of black Converse high tops.

The small activity was fun and made me realize just how excited I was to have the baby since it meant Aryia and I could pick out as many outfits for them as we wanted after they were born and I couldn't wait to pick out so many cute outfits.

...

On the way to the next tour stop, Jason repeated Aryia's joke about getting turned on by seeing a cactus – which he didn't find amusing because it was his joke – though it still made me laugh. The actual venue itself had looked like the building from the What's up Denny's?! video which Aryia had also pointed out when we had all set up for our show that evening.

Now that tour was coming to a close, I felt bittersweet, the feeling being a mutual one among our friends as well, since despite the long drives, late, sleepless nights, being stuck in a boiling hot van with five sweaty guys, and feeling pregnancy symptoms, I was going to miss this. I knew that Aryia had planned to go on a few of his own tours in 2023, though had ended up having to conceal or cancel ideas for earlier ones since he wanted to be there for me and the baby, and to my dismay, would probably cancel the later ones as well since he wanted to be there and support the two of us as much as he could. We'd made so many fun memories on our nationwide tour: going to Buc-ee's, introducing Aryia to my grandparents for the first time, meeting so many amazing people and fans, stealing Jason's oreos when he wasn't looking... the list went on.

However, I was surprised during our final show.

Once Glasslands had finished their set in Anaheim, it had been our turn to set up. And after plugging my keyboard in, I gazed out at the crowd as I always did to ensure that the lightning wasn't too strong for my eyes. The effects of the lighting had made my eyes water during a few shows and I had to ask the tech guys to tune it down a little so that I could actually see my keys and make eye-contact with the audience. Though it wasn't until I looked out at the crowd until I noticed them however. Four heads about half way through the flood of people below us. And not just any four people: Ava, Max, my mom, and my dad.

I was surprised that they were there. I knew how much Ava loved our band after the LA show at The Mint last year, but the fact that she and my mom had managed to drag my dad down to Anaheim made me feel happy and surprised. I wondered if any of Aryia's family were at the show as well before I noticed his mom and dad standing closer to the back of the room where they were talking to Kévin and Eileen. I was glad that they were all here to watch and support us. I just hoped that my dad wouldn't argue with Aryia if or when he spoke to us after the show – as he undoubtedly would.

When we did our little huddle before the show, yI mentioned to Aryia how my parents and siblings were in the crowd and how yI spotted his own parents at the back of the crowd. He looked back and noticed them, asking me if I wanted to all get them to meet each other for the first time that night and tell them about the baby or if we should talk with them after the show and invite them over later. I decided to go with option two since it would give us a bit more time to prepare and I wanted to use the idea Nick had given me at the start of tour during our talk in the back of the van. Aryia agreed with my decision and after giving us all a rousing speech and telling us all to rock out, we began the show, hearing Ava shout "That's my future brother-in-law!" at a few points which made me feel both embarrassed and warm. Ava was Ava, and I was glad that she would probably never change.

...

Now that tour was officially over and we had scheduled a date and time for our families to come and see us at the new house when we would tell them about the baby, it was time for our road trip back to Boston from LA. Aryia and I made the drive back with Nick, Alex and Ryan after spending a day with Kate and dropping Jason off at his house. The boys all insisted on taking turns throughout the 48 hour-long ride. We only took one night stop at a motel halfway back to Jay's house because we needed to freshen up and were all so tired that none of us could drive the van. The night after our stay at a motel we'd driven through something sharp, leading us to get a flat tire so ended up sitting in the van with Nick's drums, the keyboard I'd borrowed from Jay, Ryan's guitar and the merch boxes – two of which were still full – while we waited for the tire to inflate. I talked to the boys and ate some of my leftover snacks while Nick chased Aryia with a torch as payback for spilling water all over him when he'd asked him to pour some that morning.

Other than the flat tire and a little sleep deprivation, it had been a fun 48-hour trip and we'd reached Nick's house in Massachusetts at almost 2am, going straight to bed after Mariah had stayed up all night waiting for us. The next day, we dropped off the music equipment with Jay and returned the van to the company after packing up the leftover merch, spending most of the day sleeping and trying to get over the post-tour hangovers we were all feeling.

The next day, it was straight back to the studio – as planned – to finish the Viral album and record my song covers with the boys before Aryia and Nick decided that they wanted to film the music video for Losers in New York. Of course, I knew I had to tag along with them when they went to film it, so did just that. We contacted a building in the city and rented out a room which had been decorated in pink and black Losers texts using spray paint and looked absolutely epic. In preparation, the guys had also got a few shirts printed and posted an advert on Aryia's Instagram story, asking for help from anyone in New York who would be available on the selected dates to film, giving them each a shirt and splashing acrylic paint all over them on the set when it was time to film. When it had been my turn to get paint thrown at me in my Broke Bitch t-shirt, I'd almost had paint fired into my mouth.

"Evie! Don't eat the paint!" Aryia yelled jokingly as a reminder. "It's not good for the baby!"

I knew he was serious – despite the joke – but the paint was so cold as it splashed over me that I couldn't help but open my mouth from the shock. However it also reminded me that I needed to arrange my appointment when we got back to LA where we would be able to tell how well the baby was growing and finally find out its gender – which Aryia was also excited for since he wanted to find out the gender and get around to decorating the baby's room as soon as possible.

...

When we finally returned to Encino a week later, I wasted no time in helping Cassie pack everything she was taking with her to Kansas. I was going to miss having her company around LA. The last two years had been so fun and we had made some unforgettable memories together – getting Aryia to wear her dress, surfing the alpaca floatie in the rain being just a couple of examples.

Aryia had been worried about me overworking myself even more following our tour, but I insisted on helping Cassie since I wanted to spend as much time with her before she and Reggie moved back to their home state. I also ordered her something for when she and Reggie did move however, just a simple collage of some of our favorite memories together from the past couple of years which she absolutely loved.

In the coming weeks following the move to Van Nuys, Aryia had become a little more worried about me during my pregnancy. Not just because every day that passed meant that we were a day closer to telling our parents that we were expecting a baby, but also because my symptoms had been getting a little worse lately. Saying this, I had managed to rebook my appointment to a date a few days after coming back to LA. There wasn't any availability until the day after our parents came over and found out about the baby which was another reason why I'd put it off and why I was so nervous about them finding out.

I wasn't the one who was worrying most though. As bad as I felt, Aryia was doing enough of it for the two of us. I could sense how concerned he was just from how he was acting. Part of me thought it was a little difficult to breathe from how he insisted on doing practically everything for me and while I knew that he was worried, I had to sit down to discuss it with him during dinner one night.

"Are you excited for filming the Sugar music video, Evie?" He asked, eating some lasagne.

"Yeah." I replied, picking at my food with my fork.

He stopped eating, knowing that something was up since I wasn't really talking or eating and spacing out instead. "Are you okay?"

"Fine." I shrugged, eating some salad.

"Evie, please. Tell me what's wrong." He pleaded, putting his hand on top of mine.

"Like I said, I'm fine."

He sighed. "Evra, please–!"

"I told you, I'm fine..." I grumbled, resting my head on my hand after propping my elbow on the table.

"Is this about the baby?" He asked, "Cuz I wanna help you out as much as I can."

"Really, you're helping a little too much..." I admitted.

"Hm?"

"I just... I feel like you're spoiling me too much and I can't do anything for myself anymore. I go to tie up my shoes and you do it for me, I go to make dinner and you order take out or say you prepped it earlier; I try and help with stuff around the house and you end up doing it instead." I sighed.

"I just want you to take it easy after tour."

"I know. And I'm grateful that you wanna help me and take care of me but..."

"It's a bit too much?"

I nodded.

"I just feel bad that your symptoms are getting worse, and I wanna help."

"And you're amazing at it." I told him. "Maybe just... help if I need it from now on?" I asked, letting him down gently.

"Okay, but if I see you struggling, I'm helping."

This was becoming troublesome. "If you mean you'll help me like you did during tour, that's fine. Just please don't work yourself too hard or do too much."

"Cuz it's annoying?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No, it's just... I need a bit of independence..."

"So yeah, it is annoying."

"Aryia~" I laughed.

"Glad I eased a bit of tension." He smiled. "But seriously, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me."

"Okay~" I agreed with a smile. "And thank you. For everything, I mean it."

"No problem babe." He smiled. "Now eat up so I can spoil you both some more."

"Ary~" I giggled.

His promise made me feel light. And no matter what happened I felt like everything would be okay. And I loved him for it and everything else he was.

-

Thank you so much for reading this chapter guys, it really means a lot. And a special thanks to all of you who have read every chapter of this book up to this point :)

As always, please let me know you thoughts on this chapter through comments, votes and messages or let me know what your favorite part of the book has been so far! As I said earlier, I am posting every day for the rest of this week, so I hope you guys look forward to reading the final parts of Sweet Rhyme, Smooth Rhythms and that you also look forward to the future I have for this series :D

See you all tomorrow,

Lyra