8 PM
Noah and Natalie sat on identical twin sized beds across from each other quietly. André had just dropped them off and they were bored. "So," Noah whispered.
"So," Natalie replied. A deep sigh left both of their lips as the settled into the silence. Neither of them was quite sure why Andrè didn't make this arrangement the other way around, but there was no denying that Noah wanted to take advantage of the situation. And Natalie was so disapproving.
—
Tori sat on the edge of her bed patiently for André's return. He ran all the kids to their undisclosed destinations, careful not to tell Tori where he left Noah and Natalie. He couldn't have anything ruin his night.
15 minutes passed before André finally came home to find Tori laid in the middle of the bed, playing with the ends of her hair. "Honey, I'm home," André recited from a movie he'd never seen but heard referenced a lot. Tori sat up to see a bouquet of roses and card. A look of surprise washed over her face as André sat the gifts on the nightstand. "I know you're not a fan of cards, which is why this one is blank. And the flowers are from my mom's dining room table. And their fake. I have to give them back when I pick up the kids tomorrow." Troi chuckled, not caring about the presents. The fact that her husband knew her well enough to play off of her dislikes made her night.
"You're too kind," she smiled. "Now get over here and consummate our marriage," Tori smirked.
—
"Is this a good idea?" Noah asked as Natalie moved closer to him.
"I swiped this from Dré before we left. We're good," he smirked.
—
"You are amazing," Tori smiled.
That night, the two couples partook in the same act, but one was covered by God and the other was sanctioned by the devil. Both acts were the same but differed in so many ways.
8 AM
Only 12 hours later, Tori paced back and forth in front of André and Noah, who sat on one of the beds in the hotel room. "Wait, so you brought them here for — what exactly?" Tori fumed. André started to see the error of his ways. "This has to be the stupidest thing you've ever done," she continued, before glaring at Noah. "And you! You just woke up and she was gone?" Tori asked.
"Yup," Noah answered. The twenty-one-year-olds hands flew through her hair.
"Tell me you didn't sleep with her." Silence. "Noah!" She yelled causing both men to jump. Noah couldn't even face his sister. He did the one thing he despised her for. From where he sat, sex ruined his family. Yet, with that understanding, he still couldn't resist. "Damnit, Noah!" She whispered. Tori dropped onto the bed behind her.
"Babe, it's gonna be fine," André tried. He didn't fully get why Tori was so stressed. He was glad Noah told them.
"If she comes back, do not engage with her," Tori said, pulling her phone out and checking Instagram. It was looking like Natalie was just like JoJo. Clout chasing user. And just as Tori suspected, Natalie posted about being with Noah and her followers and likes were much higher than before. "I swear, Noah. Do not," Tori warned. "Get your stuff. Let's go."
8:30 AM
Tension coated the family as Tori flew down the highway towards her house. Today was supposed to be relaxing. She was supposed to be floating on her high of finally being with her husband as a married woman. But with everything Noah just confessed to, her high was turning into a subtle buzz. And it was about to get worse because none other than her mother was sitting outside her house. "Damnit," Tori whispered, parking the truck and getting out with the boys.
"You and I need to talk," Laura sternly said. Tori rolled her eyes and opened the door allowing everyone to enter the cool house. Laura dropped her bag by the front and followed her daughter up to her grandson's room.
"Missed you too, mom," Tori muttered. Quickly, she tossed the keys to André. "Go get the kids." With that taken care of, Tori headed into the room to finish the laundry she had started before she had to get Noah. "Did you have a great time lying in the sun?" Tori grumbled.
"Don't play with me, Victoria. Who the hell is Natalie and why am I just now finding out about her?" Laura yelled. Tori dropped back into the middle of her laundry piles on the floor, pretending as if her mother wasn't talking to her.
"She's no one. She's not around, don't worry about it," Tori muttered. She didn't give two f's about her mother's anger. "Why the hell are you back? Don't you have a mojito waiting for you on a beach or something?" Tori sassed, folding her daughter onesies. Laura's hip popped out as her arms folded.
"Excuse you?"
"No, excuse you. You showed up at my house. You dropped your son off here. I'm doing the best I can to raise my kids and yours. Nobody told you to come back. So, don't come in her finally wanting to act like the mother. I handled it. So you can go back to being single and leave the parenting to me." Laura was appalled Tori had never spoken to her in such a disrespectful manner.
"When did you become so hateful?" She asked. Tori looked up to her mother with disgust and grief in her eyes.
"When you became absent." Laura swallowed her tears and exited the room quietly. Tori hated making her mother upset, but she was fed up. There was no reason for her mother to come at her as if she was irresponsible. She was doing the best she could with the resources she had. And if her mother was going to treat her like the bad guy maybe it was time to act like it.
-
André and Noah came into the house as Laura almost took their arms off. "Woah, mom! Where are you going?" Noah asked, setting Joey down inside and letting him go with André, before shutting the door. Tears ran down Laura's face as she looked her youngest in the face. He wasn't a little boy anymore. He'd aged.
"I have to go. I can't-"
"Wait, you're leaving? Again?" Noah's voice cracked. Laura tried not to let the hurt in his voice affect her, but it was nearly impossible.
"Noah right now is not a good time," she tried, grasping lightly to the highschoolers arm. Noah glanced down to his arm as the realization hit, that the woman before him was no longer his mother, and tore it from her grip.
"It's never the right time with you!" He screamed through tears. "Tori was right. The only person I can count on is her."
"Noah, no it's not like that," Laura pleaded. Noah slowly backed away placing his hand on the doorknob. His head shook as he used his free hand to dry his tears on the sleeves of André's sweatshirt.
"I hate you."
-
In a rush, André came in with both Jaxon on his hip, Ella on his shoulder, and Joey pushing past his leg. "Mommy!" he called, making Jaxon squirm to get down and join him.
"Babe, where is your mom going?" André asked, taking a seat in the rocking chair. With an eye roll, Tori placed Ella's folded pile in the basket, while trying to catch her sons' feet to keep them from ransacking her clean clothes.
"Don't know. Don't care." Tori bluntly replied. André drove his hand over his head, frustrated with his wife's apathy.
"Bro, meet me outside in ten minutes," André said, getting out of his seat, putting the baby in Tori's lap, and leaving out of the room. Tori took Ella on her shoulder and left the baskets of clothes on the floor.
"Boys lets go," Tori called, leaving a few beats behind André.
"Kay!" Joey yelled as Jaxon followed. Now that the boys were almost two, they were speaking better and getting around the steps just fine. However, as always, the boys went down the steps first Inc case they slipped, so Tori wouldn't be wiped out with Ella.
"Jaxon!" Tori called watching her son flip the wrong direction to go down the steps on his butt.
"Hmm," he mumbled, as always when some called his name. Tori pointed to her oldest, so Jaxon could get a visual of what to do.
"On your tummy, like Joey," Tori said. Jaxon looked over at his twin, recognized that he was the wrong way and quickly flipped around.
It made Tori's day to see her boys learning. And as enthralled that she was the boys were picking things up for their age, she was trying to get prepared for whatever it was Andrè had up his sleeve. She would've rather sat on the couch watching movies and hanging out with her little brother. It wasn't every day that he was used and then abandoned by two people on the same day. It was sort of like a cruel joke he couldn't seem to escape.
8:45 AM
Tori pulled back the curtain of her sliding door to see André sitting at the patio table. His back was to her, so she couldn't exactly see what she was doing, but the cloud of smoke indicated that he would be feeling good. Tori rolled her eyes and placed Ella in her pack and play. "This was your idea of... what exactly?" Tori asked, leaving the sliding door cracked. André released his last hit as Tori came and sat across from him at the table. There was a spread of alcohol and a lighter laid before her.
"Pick your poison," he smirked. Tori popped open a wine cooler and sat back in the seat. "I think to take—" the sliding door opened wider with a creek. André looked back to see Noah in his pajamas with a slice of pizza.
"Isn't it a bit early to be getting messed up?" Noah asked sitting at the head of the table between them. Tori was going to fight for Noah to go back inside, but decided a little contact high wouldn't kill him.
"Yes, but to take your minds off of earlier, I think we should play a game," André proposed. The siblings glanced at one another for a moment, with a short shoulder shrug. "Alright, never have I ever. Who wants to go first?" André asked. Tori sipped her drink and slid one to her brother.
"If you've done it, you have to drink or take a hit and tell us what the situation was," she declared. The guys didn't seem to mind and got cozy. "I'll start. Super easy; never have I ever got suspended," she said. André took a hard hit as Noah sipped his Mike's hard. "I figured you, but Noah? Really?" She laughed.
"Yeah," a low smile slipped past his lips. "Last year, when the twins were first born, I used to show up late and try to use you as an excuse. They eventually found out that you didn't live with us and I got suspended for lying and being late," Noah shared. That was something Tori could totally see Noah pulling off. He hated school so any reason to spend less time there was fun for him.
"How about you?" Tori smirked to her husband. André rubbed the back of his neck with a short chuckle.
"I used to forge notes from our parents for Michelle and I so we could get out of school early. And one day my parents came to actually pick us up and we weren't there. She was in middle school and I was a senior," he explained. Tori couldn't believe such deviancy. André wasn't the most honest person, but she never thought about forgery.
"Okay, my turn!" Noah squealed. "Never have I ever got arrested," he said fully directing the question at a certain someone.
"That's not fair!" Tori said, before taking a swig of her drink. André was in shock, but he really didn't know high school Tori, so what could he say.
"What did you do?" André asked. Tori's cheeks went red as she slid her knees to her chin.
"I was at a huge party once in my junior year. Josh and I had just got serious and he took me two towns over. He said it was the party of the century. Well he didn't say it was at an ex cons house, and there was alcohol, drugs, underage everything. At about 1:30 AM the cops showed up and arrested as many people as they could. Josh caught his first of many drug charges. And I got a drug charge and had to go to an alcohol abuse class if I wanted the records expunged," she replied. Noah choked on his spit from laughing so hard.
"She was brought home by the cops! And the next day they charged her! It was the funniest thing ever! Bro!" He cried. Tori kicked her brother's shin as her husband tried not to laugh, cover it up with a fake cough from his drag.
"Hey, it was not funny! I literally was scarred from that until I went to college," Tori replied through a smile, letting her brother and husband know she wasn't in her feelings. "Fine, why don't you go," Tori taunted, hoping André would tell on himself.
"Never have I ever had sex in public," André shrugged.
"Wow!" Tori laughed. All three participants shared a look before two took a drink.
"In public? What the heck?" Noah almost freaked. Tori starred her husband down for a moment then turned to her brother. "Where? When? With who?" He rapid fired.
"Oh plenty of times. Right Dré? Always in his truck, but there was time in the field after we got engaged. Or that time at the bottom of the hill past your parents house. And we can't forget the time after we told your parents, in the drive way. We do it all the time to spice things up," Tori smirked. Noah was shocked. He never suspected his sister to be that promiscuous. But at the same time, since she's been with André, he's seen more sides to her than before.
🧸🧸🧸
To Be Continued