Consequences

twelve

"Do you have tiramisu?" Demi asked the woman behind the counter in the bakery that she was at with Drake. After the week she had, he decided to take her out while Aiden was spending some time with his grandparents.

"Yes we do, would you like some?" The lady with the curly bun and the chubby cheeks questioned as Demi eagerly nodded her head.

"Yeah, can I get one for here and one to go?" Demi asked as the woman nodded and began to pack it up for her.

"Can I get a dozen cannolis, half a dozen lemon bars, and a dozen glazed donuts?" Drake ordered as he pulled a wad of cash out of his pocket.

"You're gonna sit out there and eat all of this, right?" The woman, Sue, joked as Drake smiled.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Why do you carry money around like that?" Demi  questioned as Drake looked down at the wad of cash in his hands and shrugged.

"Everybody does," Drake said as Demi giggled.

"No they don't."

"Well, you're not hanging with the right people then. Hold this for me," he said, causing her to giggle again as he handed her the wad of cash then handed Sue the $100 bill and told her to keep the change. He grabbed the boxes with their food in it but still held the door open for Demi as they walked out of the bakery. Since they weren't in downtown LA and there weren't a lot of people around, they decided to sit outside in the little eating area.

"Can I ask you a question?" Drake asked as he took a forkful of her tiramisu.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Are you ever gonna get back into modeling?" He asked but Demi quickly shook her head.

"I don't think so. I stopped on such bad terms. I don't even know an agency that would sign me. And I'm old," Demi explained as Drake chuckled.

"You're barely 30!"

"Yeah, but...I don't know. I don't know if I would have the confidence to do it again. I loved to model, it's all I wanted to do with my life and I wanted to do runway and high fashion and...it just doesn't seem feasible right now," Demi admitted, poking at the sponge cake with her fork with a frown on her face.

"Can I ask you a question?" She said after it was  quiet for a bit, and Drake nodded his head.

"What message did you give to Trey...the morning that we went to Disneyland?"

"I heard he was getting out on bail. I was pissed off so I went over to his house. You can guess the rest," Drake said as Demi pursed her lips. "I just feel guilty."

"Why?"

"Demi, this is the second time that I've seen you in casts like this. And your mom was right. You could've died. How many times did you almost die at his hands? And what did I do about it? Nothing," Drake huffed as Demi set her fork down.

"Can we go?" She asked.

Drake wanted her to say something in response, anything, but it was just like Demi to change the subject. And he didn't want to fight with her. She had been through enough. She was still going through enough. He didn't want to make things any harder for her. So he gathered their things and walked with her back to his Range Rover, making sure that she was inside before he turned the car on.

"There was nothing you could do," Demi said after she turned the radio down.

"What?"

"There was nothing you could do. Nothing you would've said or anyone would've said would've made me leave Trey before I made that decision for myself. Before I realized that even though I had seen the good in him, the bad part overpowered it and that was never going to change. That he was going to keep beating me until one day he went too far and I just...died," Demi shrugged, looking out of the window as she bent her good leg against her chest.