Consequences

fourteen

The double doors that opened to Drake's Toronto bachelor pad were glass, and she knew that if he happened to walk past the doors wearing his favorite Fendi robe with his Gucci slippers he would see her. After a pep talk from Lani and making sure that Aiden was okay with staying with his grandparents - he was basically rushing her off of the phone - Demi had taken Drake's private jet out to Toronto and made it right at the end of his show. Her plan was to meet him inside of his house, confess her love for him, and admit that she was ready to be in a relationship with him. But the plan had gotten stalled in the post festival traffic, so after an hour of sitting in an unending line of cars, she was finally at his place. But she couldn't go in. He was home because it seemed as though every light in the house was on. And the door was probably unlocked because Drake was a little bit too lenient with his security when he was in Toronto. But she couldn't go in. She couldn't even knock.

"Miss Demi? You know he's home, right?" Joe said, causing Demi to turn around. Joe, the head of Drake's security, was still sitting in the front seat of the Escalade, waiting for her to go inside.

"Uh yeah, I'm so sorry. You can go now, I'll um, I'll go inside now," Demi stuttered as Joe chuckled then rolled his window up, but the car still didn't move. She was sure that he had a family to get back to, so using every ounce of courage that she had left inside of her, she pushed the door to his house open and stepped inside, closing the door behind her and pressing her back against the cool glass. Okay, so she was in. Now what?

"Nice of you to finally join me." She could literally recognize Aubrey's voice from anywhere but that doesn't mean that she was expecting to hear it.

"Drake!" She squealed, moving away from the door to enter the posh living room. Glass, stainless steel, hardwood, sleek leather...this was definitely a bachelor pad.

"We back to Drake now?" He wasn't wearing anything except a pair of basketball shorts with a wife beater, nursing a small shot glass of what was probably Hennessy or Crown Royal or some other brand of disgusting liquor.

"You scared me."

"You're in my house," Aubrey reminded her with a loose smile as Demi lightly rolled her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh..." good question. What was she doing there? Why was she about to confess to this man that she was in love with him and she wanted to take their relationship to the next level when she wasn't even sure if she was ready to do that? Her mind and her heart were on two different frequencies. Her mind was telling her to stay away, to back off, that she didn't need to be in a relationship. But her heart was telling her that it was finally their time, that somehow she could heal herself while being in a relationship, that Aubrey could be apart of that healing process. And she didn't know which one was right. She couldn't bear to be wrong again.

"Can I ask you something?" Demi started off, causing him to nod as she walked closer towards him.

"You've never seen me as damaged goods, right?" She questioned, and clearly the question took him off guard.

"What makes you ask that?"

"Because that's what I am. And that's a huge reason why nothing has happened between us since I showed up on your doorstep with my teeth knocked out. Because I feel like a burden and you...you can have the world and anyone in it, and I guess it just never clicked as to why you would want me," Demi slowly explained, trying to make sure that she was explaining herself properly because she had never said this to him out loud. Whenever he asked her why they couldn't take their relationship to the next level, it was all hollow reasonings, like she just wanted to focus on herself, on her son, she had other things to worry about, she didn't have time, it would ruin their friendship, etc, etc, etc. And yeah, those were all good reasons but there was always something more to it. And Aubrey finally knew what it was.