june 9th— friday morning
6:15 AM
Tori sat on the couch with her fussy daughter in her lap and her fussy husband in her face. "No! That's not happening! Veto! Incorrect! New plan!" André shouted. Tori couldn't have rolled her eyes harder if she wanted to.
"This is not a discussion, Dré! If I'm going on the road, I'm taking Ella with me. She is not being separated from me for four months!" Tori fought back. The 6'9 man shook his head, folding his arms.
"The road is no place for a baby!" He tried. Tori finally got the three-week-old latched and quiet enough to think.
"You weren't saying that when we had the boys on the road!" She claimed. André pointed to a picture on the wall of the 9-month-old boys in a Seattle park.
"Are you talking about those boys? The same boys who were 9 months and not 3 weeks? Really Tori? Don't be delusional," he said. Tori dropped her head with a heavy sigh, before looking up to him.
"Fine. But just know that if I can't go on tour, our funds have just been cut in half. Say goodbye to your food, water, house, and anything else that goes along with living the life we have!" Tori yelled. André stood before her unphased and dropped his arms.
"You're not taking my daughter on the road. New plan," he said, leaving out of the gated living room to head to the gym. Tori scoffed and glanced to her daughter.
"That's what he thinks," Tori muttered, scoring back and getting comfortable, knowing that she was stuck in her position for a minute.
—
André hopped into his truck and started his hour-long drive towards the gym when his phone rang. "Hello?" André answered, not checking his caller ID.
"André," the pissed voice called. The husband could tell it was his wife and dramatically rolled his eyes.
"Yes, dear," he calmly replied.
"Did you know the twin's doctors appointment was rescheduled?" Tori asked. André nodded, confused as to what she was talking about.
"Yeah, baby. Remember we rescheduled because we weren't sure if Ella was going to old enough to leave the house?" He reminded. A mumble came from the other line as Tori remembered that she unexpectedly had a baby three weeks ago.
"Okay, I'm not going crazy, then. That's fine. I'll take the kids to your parent's house. Your mom has been begging to see the boys," Tori decided. André stared at the semi-open road, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel.
"Okay. When you go, can you take the blanket from the side of Ella's crib? It's Addisons and I want to make sure Michelle gets that back. I forgot to grab it this morning," he requested. Tori made a mental note as Jaxon started to fuss in the background. André could hear his wife reprimand their son and then youngest twin burst into tears. "What happened?" The concerned father asked.
"Jaxon being rough again. He snatched a toy from Joey and pushed him. I made him give it back and he's in the time out chair," Tori replied as the crying got further away. André heavily rolled his eyes. It wasn't even 7 and Jaxon had already found a way to get in trouble. That was a new record for him.
"Damn. Well, kiss Joey for me. I'll be him around 3:30-3:45. I get off at 2:30 today instead of 4," he beamed. André hated driving home so late, but he loved working every other day. So, he rolled with the punches and enjoyed the spare time.
—
The couple parted ways off the phone and André down the highway, Tori traveled up the stairs. Joey was in his playpen eating breakfast. Ella was in her swing asleep. And Jaxon was strapped to the time out chair. So, Tori took the opportunity to run up and check on Noah. First mistake. As she entered, Tori forgot to knock. Second mistake. And what she saw haunted her. "Ahh!" Noah screamed. Tori shielded her eyes and shut the door.
"Noah! Why?" Tori yelled from the other side of the door. Some shuffling was heard before the door opened and Noah was in sweat pants.
"Knock next time!" He yelled. Tori grimaced, trying not to gag.
"Dude, seriously? How long has this been going on?" Tori asked. Noah shook his head and backed up in the room sitting on the edge of the bed.
"We aren't talking about this. Why did you come up here?" Noah gripped. Tori shook her head and took a deep breath. Questions were floating through her mind, but she needed to push them to the side, because did she honestly want to know that much about her baby brother? No.
"I just came up here to let you know, I'm leaving in ten minutes." Tori went to shut the door but swiftly came back. "Really? Does mom know?" Tori asked, before getting a wad of socks thrown at the quickly closing door. A giggle left her mouth as the mother of three ran to the boys' rooms and grabbed their outfits for the day.
She decided to have them all match and picked jeans and black t-shirts. Then headed to the closet to grab the boys Van's, since Ella had a pair of socks that looked like Van's. After acquiring all of the necessary supplies to get her kids out of the house, Tori head back down to the living room. "Why God?" She whispered. Joey was making a mess of his oatmeal in the playpen. Ella was awake and staring at Joey. And Jaxon had fallen asleep in the timeout chair. Tori quickly dropped the kid's stuff and moved into mommy mode.
"Mom!" Joey smiled, handing her the silicone spoon.
"Awesome. This is exactly what I wanted." Tori was glad that the consistency of the oatmeal was thick enough for her scoop it back in the bowl and wipe down the sticky surfaces. "Come here," she said, holding her hand out. Joey immediately threw his hands up and allowed his mother to take him. Tori took the almost two-year-old onto her hip and checked his diaper. "Oh my gosh," she whispered. "Joey, why is there oatmeal in your diaper?" Tori could see this was shaping out to be a long day already.
9:40 AM
Tori sat in the studio with Scooter talking about the future of Tori's career. "So what are you thinking about?" The manager asked, hearing what happened between his client and her husband. Tori shrugged, glancing at her baby girl in her manager's arms.
"I don't know. I want to do this tour, and get another album out right now, but getting an album out while trying to be a mom of three kids under three is hard. Especially when my husband isn't as supportive as he was," Tori honestly spoke. Scooter nodded, patting the little girls back to get her back to sleep.
"Well, we can keep book sessions, keep doing local shows, and just kind of keep your momentum going, so that when you're ready to jump back in, you can," Scooter decided. Tori could live with that. She could do her music, be a mother, and be a wife. Her fans might be a little upset, but it was only temporary. No more than 6 months or so. Right?
While in her meeting Tori got a text from a person she didn't think she would ever hear from. Shocked couldn't describe her reaction. But, she decided to indulge the person and respond in hopes of either getting them off her back or getting them back.
11:25 AM
Tori sat at an outside table of an LA café waiting for the second party to show up with Ella on her shoulder. The cool air was a bit much for the baby, but as Tori was grabbing the blanket from the stroller the person she was waiting for finally showed up. "I honestly didn't think you'd want to meet up," Katie said. Tori covered her child and shrugged.
"You called, and I wanted to give you a chance to explain yourself," Tori simply replied. "So what's up? Why'd you do it knowing he had me?" Tori asked. A long sigh left Katie's mouth, making Tori uneasy.
"I never intended for it to go that far. We talked because we both had similar dating histories and—" Tori held up her hand, immediately getting pissed off.
"Similar dating histories? Your dad hated your boyfriend for months for no reason?" She asked, a bit sassily. Katie shook her head. "Oh okay. So, you and your boyfriend got pregnant after four months of dating?" Tori asked. Once again, Katie couldn't agree. "Oh wait. You and your boyfriend made a vow to your parents and each other to be faithful and committed, right?" That one oozed sarcasm. Katie fell silent once more. "Katie, sweetheart, I'm not seeing how you and my boyfriend have anything in common past dating someone in general. So please, elaborate," Tori griped. Katie flicked her long red hair back and sighed.
"We were both scared of the next step. He told me about how your career was taking over and he was worried you'd leave him for someone better, because he was retired so early," she answered. Tori scoffed. Every second she spent listening to Katie was another second deducted from André's life.
"So while we were planning baby number three and the wedding, he was telling you about his fear of the next step? Something isn't adding up," Tori calculated. Katie shrugged.
"I don't know. All I know is that we didn't plan on sleeping together. We were drinking, and hanging out. He said he was frustrated with the babies and taking care of them. And he also said you weren't trying to put out. And that is obviously no excuse to cheat, but I felt bad for him. What would you have done in my position?" Katie rhetorically asked. Tori couldn't even think straight after that. Was the girl serious? That's her logic?
"I would've thought about how hard his girlfriend was working to take care of twins by herself while I was inappropriately chatting up her man. I would've thought about the fact that he has a family. And then I would've have sent him back. I would not have slept with him out of pity. Lowering yourself worth for what? Was it worth it?" Tori shot back. Katie has tears in her eyes. Tori could tell she genuinely felt bad, but in that moment, she was heated all over again. The drugs, the sex, the lying. It never stopped.
Buzz. Buzz.
Tori looked down to her phone to see a number she didn't recognize, but because she has kids she answered anyways. "Hello?" She chirped as if her husband's ex-mistress wasn't sitting before her.. "This is she." Tori listened for a moment. "My father?" She said, staring to pack up her child. "Is he okay?" Panic started to set in. Tori jumped up from the table and moved towards the exit with her stroller. "I'm on my way, thank you," Tori said, doing her best not to cry. Her daddy was in the hospital and she didn't know why. All she knew was that she had to stay strong. If not for herself, then for her brother. Oh, her brother.
1:07 PM
Tori pulled into her drive way with all of her kids asleep in the back seat of her car. It took her a split second to decide whether or not to leave them, but what was the harm? She was going to be gone for a second and the windows were down.
Tori ran into her house and immediately cane face to face with a sight she had never wanted to see. "Noah!"
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To Be Continued...