Annie's POV
"Ann.. Annie." Someone was shaking me. Someone is repeatedly telling me to wake up. Someone is pissing me off.
I shot my eyes open to see Demi walking into her closet and immediately my anger disappeared. Relief fled through me as I remembered that last night I confessed my troubles and she was understanding. Slowly, our relationship is going back to normal.
She walked back into the room and looked surprised that I was actually awake.
"Your clothes are on your bed, I picked them out. Be ready in less than fifteen. I'll be waiting downstairs or in the car."
She started quickly walking to the door in her yoga pants and long sleeved fitted Nike shirt.
"Wait!" I called after her, "Where are we going?"
She was already out the bedroom door. Damn. I feel like I could sleep fourteen more hours.
I picked my phone off the bedside table and hit the home button. 5:00 IN THE MORNING?! 5 AM?! WHAT THE SHIT?!
I new it was dark in here, but I just assumed it was the curtains! Is she crazy?! Has she gone insane? What the hell are we doing at 5?!
I threw the covers back and walked down the hallway to my room. I made my way to my bed and saw my own set of yoga pants and tennis shoes laying out.
Frustrated, I snatched the clothes off the bed and walked into the bathroom. After changing, I threw my hair into a ponytail and quickly covered up the bags under my eyes.
I walked out of the bathroom and began to bound down the stairs.
What is she thinking? I can't even get up at 10! 5 is crazy! I'm going to be a zombie. This is not okay.
"Mom?!" I called out as I got to the bottom of the stairs.
Silence.
She must be outside.
I walked out the door and into the pitch black, seeing Demi behind the wheel typing on her phone. The only reason I can even see her is because of her phone light illuminating the darkness.
I made my way to the car and slid in the passenger side. "Where are we going?"
"It's a secret." She cheesed.
I would usually get really annoyed by this, but considering everything I've put her through lately, I decided to just go with whatever she's planning. Even if it's at five in the morning.
I pulled out my phone and hit my home button. My lock screen is a picture of Demi and I from a while ago. I love this picture because it's from summer and this picture you can tell we're both genuinely happy. We're outside about to get a good picture, but Wilmer captured us in mid laugh. A candid. The smile that's on my face is so real, and I can only hope and pray that soon I can smile like that again.
My screen went black.
Out of curiosity, I picked up Demi's phone out of the cupholder and clicked on the button. Her wallpaper was me, her, and Wilmer. I remember this day perfectly. We were making cupcakes and what not and Marissa was going to take a picture of us three. I was smiling with Demi on one side and Wilmer on the other, but then they both shoved icing on my face, then leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.
I looked over at Demi who was fully concentrated on the road. Her hands were firmly tight around the wheel with the occasional bounce of fingers. I love her.
I love her. I.. I love Wilmer, too. I regret taking him for advantage and being such a little bitch to him. At the time, I thought Demi would focus all of her attention on Wilmer and forget about me. Now that I've accepted him, I've realized that isn't the case. Demi loves me unconditionally and I should've known that Wilmer was only going to make a positive affect, rather than a negative.
For some weird ass reason, I still feel sad. I still feel pain and no matter how much I try to love myself, I always find a way to hate on me. I wish I could go back a few months and redo a few things so I wouldn't be like this.
"Almost there!" Demi said, leaning up in her seat, breaking me away from my thoughts. It's still pretty dark, and I can't tell where we are yet.
I know where we are now. Runyon Canyon.
She pulled into a parking space and shut the car off.
"Ready?" She asked.
"Uh, sure."
I stepped out of the car and walked over to Demi's side. She locked it, then we began walking.
"What are we doing exactly?"
"Hiking!" She smiled.
"Uh, why?"
"You'll see." She said.
I was a little hesitant, but nevertheless I followed beside Demi on a dusty trail, rounding up and around the hills.
I'm not sure why we're doing this, especially at 5, well now 5:45, in the morning. We could easily get kidnapped or something. Both of us left our phones in the car, so we only have little light from the sky making our path visible.
After about ten minutes, it was getting a little lighter. My legs were aching and sore and I was all sweaty and gross. Demi was doing just fine, though.
"Almost there!" She said.
She said that a while ago. I nodded, and tried hiding my struggle to keep up with Demi. I should probably start working out with her or something because this is ridiculous.
We've only passed few people on the way up here and I was very cautious, making sure they didn't look like a cereal killer.
"Here we are." Demi said.
Instead of the trail being winding, it seems we've came to a flat platform.
Confused, I looked over at Demi.
She smiled, "Follow me."
She walked up a few feet away from the edge of the cliff or hill or mountain or whatever you wanna call it, and sat down. I copied her movements and sat down beside her.
"Demi, I-"
"Look." She whispered.
I looked ahead and saw the sun coming up. This was different from watching it from my bedroom window, though. It was humongous! We were eye level with it and it was yellowish orange, and just beautiful. It lit up the whole world and I could clearly see the rest of LA below us. It was the most breathtaking thing I've seen in a while.
After a few minutes. Demi turned to me and smiled. "Beautiful, huh?"
I smiled in return, "Yeah."
"One time, when I got out of rehab, I was having a horrible night. Terrible. I didn't sleep one bit the whole night. I found myself at 4 in the morning wishing I could still see the beauty in the world, people, especially myself."
She continued, "So, I put my gym shit on and I came here. I sat right over there on the edge and watched the most beautiful thing rise up. No one can tell me God isn't real when something like that exists, you know? Somehow, that sunset made me believe a little more. Believe in recovery, and believe in myself."
I suddenly see why she brought me here and I'm very grateful. I realize what she says about the beauty in people, recovery, and myself. I understand that my problems were no where near as severe as hers were. I need to be more accepting with recovery.
I nodded and looked at her, "Thank you for bringing me out here and telling me that. It means a lot."
She cheesed, "Anything for you. I hope it helped.."
"It did!" I said, "It really did. I love you."
"I love you more, baby girl." She said, wrapping her arm around me.
We sat in comfortable silence for a little bit before Demi spoke up.
"I think Wilmer is mad at me." She said.
"Why?" I asked.
"When you were in the hospital he said I should've noticed the signs, and I should've, but he didn't have to be an ass about it." She shrugged. "So, we got in an argument."
I feel guilty that I was the cause of the argument. All of this is just messing everything up.
"I did my best to hide it so you didn't notice, though. It's not your fault." I said.
She slowly nodded. "Yeah, but I should've noticed anyway. I guess you don't see the things you don't wanna see, ya' know?"
"Yeah." I agreed. "When Madison said those hateful things to me, it triggered a part of my brain because the things she was saying were the things I was telling myself. I thought, 'Well, if she thinks it too, then it must be true.' But you made me believe otherwise."
A smile spread across her face as she brought me into yet another tight hug, "I love you more than anything and I'm so, so, so, proud of you!"
I cheesed and hugged her back, being more thankful now than ever that God chose Demi to be my mom.
"You know," I said after a little while, "You should probably go make things right with Wilmer."
"I'll go talk to Wilmer if you go talk to Madison."
After a minute, I said, "Deal."
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That picture is actually from Runyon Canyon & it's where a lot of celebrities go to hike n stuff in case you didn't know idk asdfghjkl
PLEASSEEE make sure you COMMENT WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE NEXT BC I TAKE ALL SUGGESTIONS AND TRY TO FIT THEM IN SOMEWHERE
THX FOR READING I LOVE YOU