"Daddy's little girl paints the world with her magic wand. Daddy's little girl breathes new life to the morning time for me. Though we're apart, her thoughts follow me." Even though she had been peacefully sleeping, as soon as she heard the guitar down the hallway she woke up. It meant that her dad was home and he was singing her favorite song, the song that made his solo career so successful.
"When I come home, Demi smiles with the dawn. When she plays, Demi smiles. On a summer day, Demi smiles. A new day, Demi smiles." She could tell her dad was next to her bed now and she nearly jumped from underneath her covers as she saw him standing next to her four poster canopy bed with his favorite guitar ever. He was back from tour, finally, and he would be home for a while.
"Daddy!" She squealed, almost tackling him to the ground as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Hey love," he said, kissing the side of her head as she buried her face into his neck.
"Promise you'll stay home for a while," she said, squeezing her arms around him as tight as she could.
"I promise, love. This time, I'll be home for a while."
Demi thumbed the locket that her father had given to her when she was little. It used to be too big for her but recently she had to buy a new chain for it because it was too small. Inside of it was a picture of the two of them and the words "Demi Smiles." It was the only thing of his that she allowed herself to keep around. The rest was in museums or locked away in storage.
As usual, she grabbed her phone off of her nightstand and started the day with a snapchat selfie. A lot of people snapped her but she didn't bother to open them because she didn't feel like it. As soon as she was about to lock her phone, an Instagram message from Odell appeared on her screen, so she opened the app.
OBJ3: you still have my shirt. Kierra gave that to me.
ddlovato: if you want it, come and get it 😏
Demi could respect the fact that he had a girlfriend, but that didn't mean she wasn't gonna mess with his head a little bit. Odell clearly didn't respect his girlfriend because he didn't even mention her when they were at that party. If Kierra was that important to him, Odell would've turned her down. But he didn't. And they had mind blowing sex in his hotel room.
Next she went to her text messages and noticed she had a few from Sterling. He was three hours ahead of her so of course he texted her at six in the morning and expected her to actually respond to him.
Shep😜: yo, why you got O all up in his feelings?
Shep😜: deadass this nigga over here tripping
Shep😜: come to NY this weekend for our game
Instead of texting him back, she decided to call him.
"It's about damn time you woke up," he said as soon as he answered the phone.
"You're so dumb. I'm three hours behind you. It's only nine here. What's up?"
"I don't know what you did or said to him at that game but he's been tripping ever since. You really got this nigga shook. What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything. I just said hi to him and his girlfriend. Who are you playing against this weekend?"
"Fuck if I know. But it's my birthday so that should be a good enough reason for you to come out here," Sterling said as she put him on speaker to check her calendar.
"Well lucky for you, my weekend is clear. I can fly in on Friday then leave after the game on Sunday. What are you doing to celebrate?"
"Strip club. Shit, all I wanna see all night is pussy. You good with that?" Sterling questioned as Demi crinkled her nose.
"Sure, birthday boy. I gotta get ready so I'll talk to you later," Demi said. Sterling said his goodbyes then they both hung up and Demi got ready for the day.
After attending all of her college classes during the week, Demi decided that the trip to New York would be her reward. She tried to get her mom to go with her, just for something for her to do, but she said she just wanted to stay at home and relax for the weekend. So she picked out a nice birthday present for Sterling before packing her Louis Vuitton duffle bag and boarding a plane for New York.
When she got there, it wasn't Sterling that picked her up, but Odell. He was in a red two door Lamborghini with "YAAHHH" as his license plate. It honestly made her question why she ever hooked up with him in the first place.
"Nice plate," she said after he put her bag into the trunk. "And I thought Sterling was picking me up?"
"Nah, he's busy. I got him an early birthday present." Odell winked before driving off as she crinkled her nose in disgust. Sterling was nasty as fuck, something she had quickly learned.
"Where's your girlfriend?"
"Busy. Where's my shirt?"
"Like I said, if you want it, you have to come get it," Demi replied before focusing back on her phone. She didn't see the crooked smirk on Odell's face but she knew it was there.
"Where are we going?"
"To get some food. I'm hungry as fuck and Hard Rock Cafe has the best spinach artichoke dip," Odell said as Demi nodded and took a quick selfie. Hopefully, no one would notice whose car she was in.
An hour later they pulled up to Hard Rock Cafe and were instantly seated. Odell quickly ordered appetizers and drinks for both of them before setting his menu down.
"So Donny Lovato is your father?" Odell started off as Demi slowly nodded, her hand instantly flying up to her necklace.
"What was it like?"
"What was what like?"
"Growing up with a rockstar."
"Fine," she simply responded as she played with the ends of her hair. She didn't like to talk to anyone about her dad and she didn't know Odell well enough to talk to him about her dad.
"What'd you go to school for?"
There was clearly an age difference between them. Odell was 23 and out of college while Demi was 19 and still trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.
"I was mainly there for football. I majored in something stupid and got a degree I'll never use," Odell said as Demi chewed on her bottom lip.
"So you're just set for life with these NFL checks?" Demi questioned as Odell nodded his head.
"What about you, miss Instagram famous? You got like 20 million followers and you're cool with the Kardashians. How did that happen?"
"I have my own YouTube channel. It got pretty popular so a lot of companies send me their stuff to model and advertise in videos and on my Instagram. That's how I met the Kardashians...because Kylie asked me to advertise her lipkits in my makeup tutorials," Demi explained.
"And you get paid for all of this?"
"Yeah. I walk red carpets, do advertisements, stuff like that. It's my job. I just enjoy doing it," Demi replied as their waiter came and set their drinks down. They quickly ordered their food before their waiter took their menus away.
"So why didn't you tell me about Kierra?"
"Honestly? I wasn't thinking about her. Vic dragged me to that party and I didn't even want to be there. Before you showed up, she was all that I could think about."
"And after I showed up?"
"You know how that went. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about her. I didn't mean to put you in that position but from the way you approached her at the game, you clearly didn't mind."
"I don't want to be your side chick, Odell," Demi said. She was a lot of things, but she wasn't a hoe. "But we can be friends."
"I fucked your damn brains out, made you lose the feeling in your legs, and you wanna be friends?" Odell questioned, causing Demi to release a loud laugh.
"Shit, even your laugh is cute," Odell complimented as she shook her head, trying to control her laughter.
"Friends, Odell. Even though her weave is fucked and she doesn't know how to dress, your girlfriend seems like a nice girl," Demi said. Just as Odell was about to say something else, he was cut off by someone speaking into one of the microphones.
"I heard we have Donny Lovato's daughter in the house. In honor of the late and great legend, here's his most famous song, Demi Smiles!"
The opening chords of the song began to play and Demi could feel her throat closing up. She tried to drink some water but nothing was helping. She literally felt like she couldn't breathe and it didn't help that everyone was looking at her.
"Demi...you okay?" Odell questioned but she shook her head. Before he could say anything she pushed her chair back, grabbed her things, and made a quick exit out of the front door. Odell barely had time to throw down a wrinkled $20 before following after her. She was searching for his car but valet had taken it. He handed the man his ticket and waited for him to get his car as he grabbed Demi by both of her arms to stop her from pacing.
"Hey, it's okay now. You're alright. You just gotta breathe," Odell coached as she nodded and broke free from him to comb her fingers through her hair. He saw her start to calm down so he approached her again.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. He just died last year. I can understand why you're not over it yet. That was your father," Odell soothed as Demi slowly nodded her head. She didn't say anything else to him as they got into his car and he drove her to the hotel that she was staying at.