bailey, ana

[ana isabel bailey]

ANA isabel BAILEY .
twenty, university student, the undercover sweetheart

- - oh hey there, i really like your name.

Gee, thanks. I actually really like my name, too. The Ana is after my mother, Mariana, and apparently she's always been very fond of the name Isabel. My mom is Spanish, so she wanted me to have a Spanish name. I've always gone by Anabel though; my mom coined it when I was little and it just stuck. Some people go with just Ana though, which is fine. I also let a few people get away with Annie, though I really only like it when Jason calls me that. I have a second middle name, Katarina, which my dad picked and I've never been especially fond of. Actually, what my parents put on my birth certificate is Ana Isabel Katarina Bailey Villalobos. It's an insane mouthful and at some point they had the Villalobos legally dropped since in confused people. When I get married though I'll be dropping Bailey altogether and just going to Irving and I think it'll be best to drop the Katarina too, then. We'll have to see.

- - hmm, you look like you're twenty-one. am i right?

I'm twenty, now and glad I'm not a teenager anymore. I was born in Morgan City, Louisiana on July twenty-seventh. My birth I don't guess was very exciting since I've never heard much about it, though interestingly enough I was born right on my due date. That's not very common, like one in twenty I believe. The story I did get to hear was how I was an accident, which every kid wants to be told. Get this though: I was concieved during a hurricane when the power was out and my parents were bored. I guess it was dark and they couldn't find a condom. Who knows. I forget how that came up, but I was twelve and a bit speechless at that story.

- - so i'm guessing you're in college then? or are you going the job route?

I'm a University of Utah girl. I never dreamed of going to a big school so the U was my choice. It let me live away from home, but getting into the U isn't too tough. I mean they let me in, right? Just kidding, I'm not what you'd call stupid exactly. I don't really consider myself that smart either, though. Something about dating and thus spending a lot of time around an aspiring doctor can put you in your place. That's fine though, I don't mind. He's not annoyingly smart... usually. I officially declared my major this year to be social work. Yes, I'm going to be a social worker, and I'm still pretty sold on geriatric social work. It's not a very common field and I really do adore old people. I can't wait 'til I get to be old, honestly.

- - well that's good. if you don't mind me asking, how is your love life?

I'm straight and that's that. I simply can't imagine the sex being half as good otherwise, haha. I really have a thing for the classic tall, dark, and handsome look. You could have guessed that if you've seen my fiancé. He's basically my definition of sexy. The one thing that really gets me is when I happen to see him in a lab coat. He makes a hot doctor, what can I say? And I have a bit of a thing for chest hair, too. I'm not entirely sure why, I just like it. Turn off wise I don't have a lot of complaints at least where Jason is concerned. The messy hair and the yellow jeans I learned to get over I guess you could say.

Anyway, so I guess as far as past relationships I can't say much. I dated casually forever. I didn't really want to try the love thing for one. I didn't want my heart to be broken like my mom's. I prefered the never have loved road to the loved and lost one. Honestly, I was kind of a slut. I'm not really going to powder that one over. I had a lot of rejection issues with my dad and they just kind of turned into me giving myself away because they would make me feel special. I just never felt special enough. I would give anything to have a do over of that time in my life. I was only fourteen when I gave up my virginity and I'm really ashamed of that fact. I stopped sleeping around when I got to college. I wasn't required to be around my dad all the time, which made things a bit easier I guess, and I wised up a bit too. Sort of weird what a few years can do.

A year ago I met Jason Irving and he's really my only important relationship. I met him one night in the school bookstore. He tripped over himself, I said something teasingly because I thought that was kind of cute for whatever reason and we just started talking. He could make me laugh, something I've always loved in a man, and I ended up asking him if he wanted to get coffee. I remember we talked until it was pretty late and we remembered we had class tomorrow. And then we just kept seeing each other. We were never really just friends I don't think. I mean I didn't call him my boyfriend for a month or two, but we liked each other and most of the stuff we did together was very date-like. So anyway, things were going great. I wasn't at all thinking about that four letter word, but that's not surprising for me. At least I wasn't until his wreck. The words critical condition scared me so badly, especially when they said he should have died. I realized I definitely did love him at that point, that I didn't want to be without him. I didn't say anything because it scared me, but I was there every day he was stuck in the hospital just to be near him and I made the decision to move in with him so he could finish his recovery at home. I had to do everything for him at that point, but I didn't really mind. He was the first to say those words, but mine came back without hesitation. Everything felt right after that for a long time and I just stuck around. He's great to snuggle up to at night and there are, well, quite a few other things he's good at in a bed too, if you know what I mean.

I don't really want to talk about it but one night a conversation that started very simply just ended up scaring me to the point that I said we needed to take a break. I thought my heart had broken having to do that. It was really just a crack. A couple nights later my heart truly did break, and it has to be the most horrid feeling in the world. I don't like talking about it, but long story short he cheated on me. At that point I just ended it completely. I couldn't deal with it and a lot of that has to do with some stuff from my past. It took time, but I slowly let my wall against him crumble, more for the sake of saving him from an early grave than anything. It's kind of complex, but I eventually chose my happiness over being miserable for the rest of my life and we got back together. He asked me to marry him a month and a half after that while we were visiting his family in New York and of course I said yes. When we got back home we ended up deciding to move back in together. It was more because my apartment had become the seventh level of hell with no air conditioning that anything, but like before it's something we chose to do for more than that and I'm really very content with the way things are now.

- - ah, i see. i hope i'm not getting too personal, but are you particularly religious?

I am Roman Catholic. It is my mother's religion and she raised me with it while my dad rolled his eyes. Catholicism is what I've always believed and I don't see that changing. I don't really go to mass as much as I should, haven't really since college. I try to go once a month though, to please my mother, and I drag Jason along too sometimes. It makes her happy so it's worth getting up a bit early.

- - you know, i just noticed, but you really are quite attractive.

I guess the most noticeable thing with me is my height. I'm rather short, just barely over five foot two, and just tiny in general. I have very light coloring; pale skin, light blond hair, and bright blue eyes. My hair is one of my favorite things about myself. I wear it long and I go back and forth with scrunching or straightening it. I also sometimes dye a streak of it pink. It's just sort of fun and I like it. You'll almost never see me with my hair pulled up though. I'm not fond of it that way. I also have contacts, but occasionally I just wear my glasses which are blackish purple plastic frames. Jason is usually the only one that sees me with them. My ears are pierced like most girls, one in each lobe and I also have my belly button pierced. Jason is really one of the only people that knows that though, and anyone that has seen me in a bikini. I've been inked, too, seven times total. My first was a big black star on my inner left wrist when I was seventeen. I got a black star outline on my hip next. My calf was next; I got a small blue star on my outter left one. I then got a reddish star on my right outter forearm and not long after the same arm got a little blue star on the inner part. I figured I would stop at six when I got a blue star on my right shoulderblade, but I ended up getting a seventh and final tattoo. After Jason and I had been dating for a pretty long while, nearly eight months, I made up my mind that I wanted to get something for him so I had a black J with a pink heart permanently marked on the outter part of my right wrist. I think that's my favorite of them all, for obvious reasons.

- - so what kind of things just brighten your day?

My fiancé would be number one on this list most definitely. I love being with him, even if we're not doing anything special. I'm especially fond of cuddling with him though. I like the rain and I like sunshine; they are polar opposites but they both make me happy. I enjoy sunbathing with tons of sunscreen so I don't burn. Snowball fights are really pretty fun too though. I really like vacations. I think New York was one of my favorites. I really like it there. Someday I want to go to Spain, too, since that's where my mom is from. I adore my dog. He's a great dane named what else Dozer and he's just awesome. Such a cutie. I always have a camera out and shoe shopping is the best therapy there is. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I love to cook so big holidays like that with me mean a lot of food. Oh yeah, and I love star gazing. I always have, but now especially it brings back a really great memory.

- - anything that just makes you frown?

I can't stand getting in trouble. I get so embarrassed, even if it's just something really little. I'm more of a goody two shoes than I look. You know what else I don't like? Headbands. They like squeeze your head until it hurts. Chunky jewelry is really ugly. I don't get why people wear it. I hate hair dye. It always smells so gross and it gets everywhere. I don't like fighting with people. I always end up feeling guilty, even if I really didn't do anything. Nail polish is gross, for pretty much the same reasons as hair dye. I hate pants that make noise when I move; it's just irritating. I don't like having things whispered in my ear. The tickling feeling of their breath is just not worth it. I don't like kissing in public, it's just kind of embarrassing to me. Not pecks and stuff but actually kissing. And on the topic of kissing I hate razor stubble. There is nothing less arousing than having your face rubbed raw. Ugh.

- - now, tell me a bit about you. your personality and such.

I'm a very friendly kind of person and I love to talk. Once you get me started I don't shut up, especially if I know you. I am very much a sweetheart once you get to know me, though at first I don't really come off that way. I am rather vain though, more so than I like to admit. Appearance really matters with me. I love romance and I'm a complete sucker for it. It's sort of a weakness of mine I guess. Like if Jason and I get in a fight over something, it's not hard to win me back at all. Flowers or saying something sweet have me back in a moment, though I can't really stay mad for long with him anyway.

- - huh, sounds like we should hang out some time. so what are you looking forward to in life?

College sort of bores me and I can't wait until I actually get to work. It's only two more years though and I guess I should be glad I only have to endure four years of college instead of eight like Jason. I share his desire for a family too, though that's something else that is still a bit in the future. School takes up so much of his time right now and we both agree we'd rather just wait on that. What I'm most looking forward to right now though is my wedding. We don't have a date yet, but I'm still super excited. I've been dreaming of this since I was four; how can I not be? Not to mention I'm marrying my best friend, so that really is pretty spectacular. I just can't wait to be Mrs. Irving. It's all very exciting.

- - oh that's neat. so i'm sure there's something that makes you a bit paranoid, right?

My biggest fear has always been being cheated on, but I guess I've faced that at this point. It hurts so much worse that I ever would have thought and you know everyone always says 'once a cheater always a cheater' and that just kind of scares me. I mean I know Jason would never mean to do that again, but it would kill me if he did slip up like that. I don't know, I think it's just paranoia more than anything else.

- - are you hiding anything? it won't leave this room, i promise.

I don't really talk about Jason's infidelity at all. I'd prefer to just keep it between us and the few people that have found out the real reason for our split. People hold grudges and I wouldn't want that for him. He's mad enough at himself. Something else I never intentionally share is what my dad did to my mom. When I was thirteen he told her he'd been sleeping with prostitutes for a while and that ended their marriage. It really hurt me on a deep level and I keep it in. Jason didn't even know until I accidentally blurted it at my mother in front of him a couple months after we'd broken things off. Oh yeah, and I also keep the one night stand I had after Jason and I were officially over to myself. It was just really stupid and I'd give anything to have a do over.

- - wow, that is juicy. so your family, what are they like?

I absolutely adore my mom, Mariana Villalobos Narvaez. She's sort of a funny woman and she takes some getting used to if you don't know her, but I love her. She was born in Spain and moved here as a teenager and she's very... Spanish. She won't really speak in English unless she absolutely has to and she's a very militant Catholic as you might expect. She cooks in her friend Eligio's restaurant to earn a living now that there's no alamony money coming in, but I think she gets money from Eligio regardless. They're friends with benefits, but, well, she's not his only so yeah. It's kind of weird. I like Eligio though. He's kind of like a step-dad in a way, I guess.

My actual dad is deceased. He died not too long ago, a couple months ago actually. I hated him from the time I was thirteen, when he cheated on my mom and walked out on us. I still had to see him after that until I was eighteen and then I just stopped because being around him wasn't good for me. We never really had any kind of reconciliation before he died. I kind of regret that because I knew for a while he was dying, but I could never bring myself to see him.

- - i guess that's about it. before you go though, could you tell me a bit about your life thus far?

I loved my childhood. Until about age thirteen it was great. Like I said, I grew up in Louisiana (where my mom had moved with her family as a teen). It was hot, so hot, all the time. I remember that more than anything. I looked like everyone else so I didn't get too bad of a rough time, but when I was a kid I spoke in Spanish a lot like my mom. My dad was a Spanish teacher so he spoke to her in Spanish a lot, and I just didn't hear a lot of English at home. I knew English, I just wasn't used to it, so I had this heavy accent as a kid and I got teased for it. But otherwise I liked my childhood.

When my dad left my mom things got messy. He pulled a lot of crap during the whole mid-life crisis thing, like dragging us across the country to god-foresaken baren wasteland Utah and then divorcing my mom less than six months later. Anyway, I acted out a lot after that and did a lot of stuff I regret now. Like this tattoo thing on my arm. What was I thinking? I dated a lot of guys and drank too much more than once. I figured if it was ok for my dad to do it and get away with it, then I could too. I guess more than anything I wish I would have waited longer, a lot longer, to lose my virginity. I was way too young and it wasn't even for the right reasons.

I'm not like that anymore, at all. I've grown up a lot, especially in the last year. A lot has changed for me with meeting the man of my dreams and all. I already told you all about that though.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

hola! it's me, larkie. i've been making people smile for twenty years, though i only started pulling the puppet strings two years ago. oh, and did i mention i'm a big fan of avril lavigne? yep, i am. well, that's enough about me. oh, wait, one last thing: SPRINGFIELD!