"I can't do this. It's kind of late, maybe we should come back tomorrow," Demi said as they sat in Sterling's car in front of Odell's house.
"Demi, we're already here. Would you please go in there and get your man?" Sterling demanded as Demi looked at the front door again.
"But what if-"
"Get out of my car, Demi. The sooner you do this, the sooner we can eat."
"But I'm not hungry," Demi moaned as she opened the door. She grabbed the shirt that Odell had been asking for her to return since they slept together, the one that Kierra had given to him. Demi wanted it to sort of be a peace offering. If she gave him the shirt, he would let her explain without interrupting her.
Demi said a quick prayer before ringing the doorbell. She counted to twelve Mississippi before the door opened, but it wasn't Odell who opened it. It was Kierra.
"It's Demi, right? You're Shep's friend," Kierra said as Demi slowly nodded. Kierra didn't intimidate her at all. But what did intimidate her was her protruding belly. It was new. And Demi knew that it was because she definitely hadn't been pregnant last time she saw her.
"Yeah, um, is Odell home?" Demi asked as she ran her tongue over her teeth to keep herself from crying. Kierra was pregnant. There was no point talking to Odell now. He had clearly moved past whatever he was going through with Kierra and they were expecting their first child together.
"He's a little busy right now. But I can tell him you stopped by," Kierra politely said. Clearly, being pregnant by Odell erased any insecurities that Kierra had because she was so confident. She even placed her hand on her small belly as she smiled at Demi.
"No, it's fine. Just give this to him. Tell him I'm sorry that I kept it for so long." Demi knew exactly what she was doing when she gave Kierra the shirt but she didn't care. Kierra looked down at it in shock but before she could say anything, Demi was walking back to Sterling's car.
"Please take me to my hotel," Demi breathed out before bending over so that her head was in her lap and she could cry in peace.
"Demi-"
"Please take me to my hotel," she sobbed. Maybe she didn't have the right to cry over losing Odell because she was the one who pushed him away, but she had been trying to make it better. Now there was no going back. Kierra was pregnant. They were probably gonna get married. He would forget all about her. He would never try to contact her ever again. And maybe it was for the best. She was only 19 years old. Odell was 23. What would they do together anyway?
"If you need anything, just call me," Sterling said as they pulled up to her hotel. She nodded and exited the car with her duffle bag. She took the elevator up to the top floor and as soon as she made it to her room, she collapsed on her bed.
How could she be so stupid? She should've never left that morning after they had sex. Why did she always have to be so closed off? If she could've just explained to Odell why she had left and why he had freaked her out, then Kierra wouldn't be pregnant.
She suddenly didn't feel like being in her hotel room anymore. Instead, she cleaned her face and changed into something a bit more comfortable. Thinking that her and Odell would actually see each other and get to talk, she had gotten all dressed up. Now, she threw on the Giants shirt he let her sleep in last time they were together and a comfy pair of leggings. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail and called an Uber before going downstairs.
Thirty minutes later she found herself at the cemetery where her father was buried. The only reason why he was buried in New York was because he hated Los Angeles. There were a lot of things about her dad that she still didn't understand, and she never got to ask him about it because he had died before she could. And he was never around much when she was little anyway. He wasn't really around until she was in high school, but even that was for a brief period of time.
She plopped down in front of his tombstone and released a deep breath. There were always fresh flowers on his grave, even though she had only been there twice. Her mom didn't come to visit his grave and neither did she. Demi just felt like if she didn't get caught up always having to visit his grave and the rock and roll hall of fame, and listening to his music then she would be able to get over his death in a quicker and easier manner, but it wasn't working. There wasn't a day that she didn't think about her dad and all of the moments that she didn't get to spend with him.
"I miss you," she breathed out as she wiped at her eyes. When he died, all she could think about was all of the times she had yelled at him for not being around instead of appreciating when he was around. Every time he came home they had a sweet reunion until it was time for him to leave again. They fought until he walked out of the door. Then she would call and apologize and beg him to come back. He never would, at least not when she asked him to.
"I miss you so much," she whispered, looking at his tombstone. It only had been a year but she was still so hurt by his death. It still caused her so much pain. She would give anything to hear him singing "Demi Smiles" in the morning to wake her up after coming back from being out of town.
She thumbed her locket as she sat in front of his tombstone. She wasn't sure how long she was sitting there until someone tapped her on her shoulder. She turned around and Odell was standing there with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
"What are you doing here?"
"Shep told me you stopped by. I went to the Plaza but they said you had left. Then I found out today is the anniversary of your dad's death, so I figured you'd be here," Odell explained as Demi looked back at her father's tombstone.
"Go away. I don't want to talk to you."
"You came all the way to New York and went straight to my house. You did all of that and you don't want to talk?" Odell questioned as she shook her head.
"I just want to be alone with my father. Will you please go away?" She quietly begged. Odell took the hint and went back to his car. He wasn't just gonna leave her alone in a cemetery when it was about to get dark outside. He waited for her to be finished with whatever she was doing so that he could at least give her a ride back to her hotel. She really fucked him up but he wasn't heartless.
It wasn't until nearly midnight when Demi walked towards his car with her arms wrapped around herself. She opened the door and slipped inside as he turned the car on. For once, he wasn't playing any obnoxious music or hanging his leg out of his window. Instead they rode in silence.
"Congratulations on your baby," Demi said it so quietly that he could barely make out what she said, but he heard her.
"Thanks," he replied as he clenched the steering wheel. "Not sure if I'll get to be there for my baby though, since you told Kierra about us sleeping together."
"I didn't tell her anything. I just asked if you were home then-"
"Gave her the tee shirt that she got me for my birthday. You've got perfect timing. It's whatever though. She packed up all her stuff and left. I think she's moving back in with her mom," Odell said with a shrug of his shoulders. Demi knew exactly what she was doing when she gave Kierra that tee shirt but she didn't think it would change anything. Kierra was having Odell's baby. Why would she pick up and leave without trying to work things out?"
"You should still fight to be in your child's life. A father's role is irreplaceable," Demi replied before looking back out of the window.
"Why don't you ever talk about your dad? Like ever? Every time someone brings him up, you freeze up and you get this look on your face like you're about to break down into tears. I know he just died, but you don't like talking about him at all?" Odell interrogated as Demi pulled her knees up to her chest. It was clear that Odell wasn't taking her back to her hotel. She didn't know New York well enough to know where they were going but she didn't question it. Odell was petty, not crazy.
"Because last year I found my dad in his bath tub with a bullet in his head. There were empty prescription bottles on his counter but I guess they weren't working fast enough so he killed himself. That's why I don't like to talk about him," Demi admitted as she played with her fingernails.
Only a few people knew her dad's real cause of death because his lawyers had paid a lot for a fake autopsy. They had a closed casket funeral. And no one ever talked about the mental illnesses that he had been dealing with or anything else like that. It was all kept a secret.
"And then, the first guy that I ever admitted to being in love with used that against my family to get money and to try to get me to marry him. So, there," Demi finished off, cringing as she remembered her first and only serous boyfriend: Braxton.
His name alone should've been a warning sign. What kind of name was Braxton? They had dated all throughout high school, been crowned homecoming king and queen every single year, and he was practically apart of their family. But as soon as her dad died, it was like a switch flipped in him and he began blackmailing them for money until her father's lawyers shut him up with the threat of a lawsuit. She hadn't heard from him since.
"Shep said you probably have daddy issues..." Odell trailed off, but he smiled when he saw the ends of her lips tugging up.
"I wouldn't call it daddy issues. Commitment issues...maybe. But you really did scare me when you told me that you loved me. Even if it was just your dick talking, you freaked me out, Odell. But I should've explained that to you instead of leaving, and for that I am sorry," she apologized...finally. It wasn't like she hadn't been trying to apologize for the past two months. He had been the one ignoring her, not the other way around. And she may have chickened out once she got to his house, but at the end of the day, she was still gonna end up explaining to him why she had left.
"I forgive you. I forgave you a long time ago, actually. I was hurt but...I think I was more hurt being away from you than by what you did to me," Odell said as Demi tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear.
"So...what now?" Demi asked as Odell finally pulled up to Hard Rock Cafe.
"Well now, we get something to eat. I never got my spinach and artichoke dip," Odell said as Demi furrowed her eyebrows.
"Seriously?"
"Deadass."
"Odell, I look like a hot mess. I didn't even do my eyebrows," she stressed as he exited the car, and walked to her side to open the door.
"You look great. That shirt looks amazing on you, blue is really your color." He took her hand and closed the car door behind her.
"And as for us, baby steps. I'm not about to pressure you into something that you're clearly not ready for," Odell said as he guided her into the restaurant.
"Baby steps," she repeated as they got seated at the same table that they had last time. That was enough for her.
"Besides, if you pull some foul shit like that on me again, I might have to get my groupies on you," Odell threatened as Demi rolled her eyes and kicked him in the shin underneath the table.
"Hmm, kiss my ass."
"Don't even play because you know that I gladly would," Odell replied, causing a string of loud giggles to escape Demi's throat. All that Odell could do was set his menu down and smile at her, because even if she wasn't ready to say it back, he really did love her.
Happy NYE! I'll be posting the epilogues tomorrow if you guys like the story ☺