The Coffee Spill |Demi Lovato|

Chapter 43

"And your love life, how is that going? We've seen some romantic photos surface of you two lovebirds."

"We're doing great." I say, smiling, dropping my head in embarrassment. "She's here with me, right now."

"Will she be accompanying you on tour?" Matty asks, taking a sip of water.

"Ellie has her own responsibilities and a job of her own. But she will be visiting me as often as she can." I say, letting everyone know how supportive both Ellie and I are of each other's careers.

"We'll we're all so happy for you, Demi." Matty says, supportingly. "Alright, let's get down to business. We're going to play a quick game of never have I ever."

***

"Are you sure I look okay?" Ellie says, adjusting the sweater around her neck. January in Boston is a hell of a lot colder than January in Los Angeles that's for sure. Ellie settled on a tan sweater, black skinny jeans, black combat boots and the leather jacket that I replaced for her. The sweater was a last minute addition as she realized how cold it was this morning.

"You look amazing." I say, bringing her hand up to my lips and kissing it.

The best thing about having Max with us is that he acts like our chauffeur. That means I can focus on Ellie without having to focus on the road.Ellie and I are in the back seat of the rental car, watching as we pass by apartment building after apartment building. To say we're in a rough neighborhood is an understatement. Graffiti covers almost every concrete wall and the occasional stop sign. There is an abundance of litter in the street and I wonder when the last tie a cleaning van drove through here.

Max takes a right turn before slowing down. We approach a white four story building. Saving Grace Group Home is written on a sign on the front lawn. Max pops the trunk before getting out of the car. We couldn't come empty handed, so we brought more toys, and this time winter jackets as well. They were all packaged neatly in shipping boxes.

"Are you ready?" I ask Ellie, holding her hand tightly.

Her gaze is fixated on the house. The house needed some TLC. We could see broken blinds in the windows, a broken front step, chipped paint on the shingles and some overgrown vines on the left side of the house. However, if you looked past all that, it was a nice building. It was set back further than the other buildings around it, giving it almost double the front lawn than the other buildings had. There was a tall tree that was decorated with Christmas lights.

I open the car door as soon as I see two gentlemen and a women walk down the stairs. I extend my hand out for Ellie, helping her out of the car.

"Hi, Demi and Ellie." The women says with enthusiasm. She walks up to us, shaking our hands. "I'm Jill, we spoke on the phone." She introduces herself. Ellie and I didn't want to show up unannounced, so we called before booking our flight. She was somewhat starstruck and skeptical, thinking someone was pranking her. But all it took was a letterhead document from my management team to convince her. "I'm so glad you could make it." She says, almost with tears in her eyes.

Over the phone, Jill informed us about Sacred Heart Group Home. Being in a poor community, the children in her care are overlooked. The group home is underfunded and understaffed, yet they more kids in their care than they do beds. Jill  could barely form a sentence over the phone without breaking into tears.

"We brought some holiday gifts for the kids." I say, signaling to the popped trunk. Her eyes go wide, this time letting tears fill her eyes. She instructs the two gentlemen who are with her to help Max unload the trunk. She wipes her face on her sleeve.