february 17th — tuesday morning
7:12 AM
"Today is not the day! Don't start with me!"
"Not the day? It's a simple question!"
"A question that's clearly not necessary!"
"Not necessary? You're talking to someone behind my back!"
"No, I'm not! We're friends. And nothing happened!"
"What do you mean? You kissed! That's not nothing!"
Pause. Rewind.
february 16th — monday morning
11:17 AM
Tori and Bruno sat at the piano in the studio, trying to grind out another song, but Bruno was getting a little handsy. "Hey," Tori giggled, sliding his hand from behind her on the seat.
"What? I'm just sitting back, watching you do your thing," he innocently smiled. Tori playfully rolled her, knowing that his admiration was veering on the end of lust.
"Bruno, I'm married and you know what happened last time you had that look in your eye," Tori softly reminded. Bruno watched her hands drop from the keys to her concealed bump.
"How are they, by the way?" He asked, running that back of his fingers along her sweater cover stomach. A tingle ran down Tori's spine, although she wasn't sure why. André touched her bump all the time.
"They're good. Growing every day," Tori replied, with a sigh tacked to the end. Bruno picked up on her body language, and focused his body towards hers.
"What's going on, now?" He asked, shutting the lid of the keys and leaning against the dark wood. Tori mimicked his body language and shrugged.
"I don't know. Everything is actually pretty good, but so boring at the same time. André goes to work and comes back. The kids go to daycare or school and come back. And I come here and come back. It's the same thing everyday. Jaxon breaks something. Joey gets hurt, most likely by Jaxon. Ella won't leave my side. And André and Noah are always hungry," Tori tiredly explained. Bruno dropped his outside hand to Tori's hip, gently rubbing it out of comfort.
"I'm sorry. I wish there was a way I could spice it up for you," he semi-joked. Tori chuckled a bit, and dropped her head on her inside arm.
"You just listening to me is definitely spicing it up. Kamari always wants to fight André. Kayla always wants to give me advice. And Jackie always changes the subject back to her. No one ever just listens," Tori complained. Bruno watched Tori drop her head for a moment, before seeing a tear drop slide down the lid of the piano.
"Woah, hey," Bruno said, scooting impossibly closer, pulling his friend into a hug. "Don't cry. It's going to be okay. I'm here for you," he cooed, doing his best to comfort the artist. He hated seeing her so sad. "Tori, look at me," he called, pulling her head up to his.
"Yeah?" She mumbled, drying her cheeks. Bruno, took a shot in the dark and pulled their lips together. To his surprise, Tori pushed him off, forcing him on the floor. "Of course," she muttered, getting up from the piano.
"Tori, wait!" Bruno yelled, as she left the booth and grab her backpack. "Tori! I'm sorry!" He apologized, following her out into the lobby.
"Save it! At least, André doesn't pretend to to care before trying to sleep with me. You are just like Josh. Sweet until you can get your way!" Tori yelled.
"Tori, no. I wasn't— I don't know what came over me!" Bruno pleaded. They two were so into their argument, that they hadn't notice the tree of a man walk into the small establishment.
"Bruno, just stop. I should've known!" Tori cried. André saw his wife in tears, before a man that was supposed to be her friend.
"Hey! What's going on?" André asked, pushing past the musician, going straight for his wife. Instinctively, he pulled her in for a hug and placed his body between the two. "Tori, you okay?" He asked, inspecting her for physical bruises.
"Yes, Dré. I'm fine. I just want to go," she mumbled, with her arms wrapped around him. Bruno watched, realizing why he and Tori wouldn't work out beyond the fact that she was married. They loved each other. The genuinely loved one another and he couldn't manufacture that with Tori. It was close to impossible.
"Tori, for what it's worth, I'm sorry," he mumbled, slumping in a lobby chair as the couple walked out.
"What the hell was that?" André growled, as they hopped in his truck. Tori shook her head, as she clipped in her seatbelt.
"Nothing," she muttered as they headed towards her doctors appointment. André didn't seem particularly settled and was in the mood to dig.
"Nah, what the hell was that?" He pressed. "What happened?" Tori saw that they were nearing the freeway and was about get comfortable. She dropped her bag on the floor of the backseat and pushed her seat back a bit.
"It's nothing. Dré calm down," Tori replied. Irritation started to set in and while her counter part wanted to fight, she wasn't in the mood. "This isn't a huge issue. He kissed me. We got into it. It's over." André glanced to his wife in disgust.
"How can you be so blasé about this? If the rolls were reversed—"
"Don't!" Tori interrupted, shooting him a glare. "Don't forget that they were at one point. But, you deliberately fucked me over, so we are not the same. I'm so "blasé" about this, because it's over. The situation happened and now it's dead. Just like that." Tori's phone started to go off, text after text flooding in.
"Who is that? Is that him?" André nosily asked. Out of pettiness, Tori flipped her phone over un her lap.
"And what if it is?" Tori baited. It wasn't. It was her mother, but André didn't have to know.
"You're seriously going to forgive him like that? And talk to him in front of me?" The basketball retiree question. Tori chuckled a bit, sliding her phone in between her thighs and folding her arms.
"I have the right to do whatever I want," she smirked. While irritating, it was sort of hot to see her man trying to be macho.
"That ring on your finger says otherwise," he muttered, focusing in on the road again. Tori turned her body away from André as the thought off all of his conquest swarmed her head.
How does he have the audacity to compare this to him cheating with Katie? Ugh, Katie. And I don't have to explain anything because I didn't do anything! Okay, I know I'd be mad if some girl kissed him and he acted chill, but I have the right too because I don't know his intentions. He has no reason not to trust me. Unless he's projecting. Is he cheating again? Is that why he's pressing so hard? He would do this again while I'm pregnant again. But this time it doesn't make sense. Our sex life is clearly not dead, but maybe he's bored too. I don't know. But what I do know is that I do t want to talk about Bruno anymore. Especially, when I shouldn't raise my blood pressure.
Tori finished her mental rant and shut her eyes. Sleep was necessary since the night before was, to say the least, rough.
february 16th — monday morning
1:15 AM
Tori woke up to a baby in her back and cramp in her stomach. She didn't think much about it, but the discomfort was a sleep killer. Tiredly, the mama walked out of the messy bedroom in the equally messy living room. She was going to clean it, but stopping only allowed her to feel the pain. So, she kept moving, from the kitchen to the living room to the game room, to the junk room and back.
After three solid laps, Tori felt the pain subside and took her self back to bed. But as if on queue, as soon as Ella felt Tori enter the bed, the baby girl sat up, stared at her mother and threw up all over herself and the sheets.
Tori took a deep breath and stared at her child through the dark. "Seriously, God? What did I do to deserve this?" She grumbled, taking the sick child from her bed and directly into the bathtub. "Stay," Tori instructed, before going back to her room to inform her husband and hopefully enlist in his help. Hopefully was the keyword. Not happening was the reality.
1:30 PM
Finally back in Temecula, Tori sat on the table of the exam room as André scowled at her from the corner of the room. "What?" Tori asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"You know what. Over there all giddy about kissing your boyfriend, while our baby is at home sick. Not to mention your growing two more of our children," André spat. An eye roll left Tori, smacking André in the face.
"First of all, I'm not giddy about anything. And secondly, you can go somewhere with that attitude. There's a difference between giddy and over it. And I know what my body is doing, but I think you forget sometimes," Tori hit back. André screwed up his face.
"What are you even talking about?" He scoffed.
"This morning! You made me clean up Ella, clean our sheets, give her a bath, change her, pregnant and all. You moved to the couch!" Tori reminded. André waved her off, slumping lower in the chair, pulling out his phone.
"Man, whatever. You know I had to work today," André dismissed.
"And I didn't? Kay, whatever," Tori grumbled. Thankfully, Arizona came in not too much later to break up the tension and start the appointment. Sadly, Tori would soon wish the appointment never started.
3:17 PM
André shut the door of the bedroom with Jaxon on his shoulder. "How is she?" Laura asked. André stood before his parents, Tori's mom and Noah. His heart hurt as he shrugged.
"She'll be okay," André answered, wiping his own tears, as Jaxon laid his head on his fathers shoulder.
—
Tori laid one the bed, with Ella curled on her chest. "You were almost a big sister," Tori whispered through tears. She stroked her child's hair, as the baby girl watched Coco on the tv. She had just posted on her Instagram, and shut off the notifications.
She didn't want the sympathetic apologies. She just wanted to go back and go to hospital when she was cramping. She wanted to pretend that nothing had happened. That her babies hadn't suffered from blood clots, cutting off any oxygen to her placenta. That she was still carrying a viable pregnancy. But as off tomorrow morning, she would be the mom of three, officially.
9:15 PM
"Babe, you want me to take her?" André asked, stripping from his shirt, getting ready to take a shower. Tori shook her head, taking her eyes off of the ultrasound on the nightstand, and trailing them to her husband. Word's weren't necessary in that moment. A tear dropped from Tori's eyes.
"I know you probably don't want to hear this, but Bruno sends his condolences—"
"I don't give a shit what your boyfriend sends."
"Dré,"
"Don't Dré me! It's his fault! The clot was stress induced! If he hadn't forced himself on you and stressed you out, we'd still have our twins!" André blamed. Tori rolled her eyes and adjusted Ella on her.
"Okay," Tori simply agreed, knowing that wasn't true, but not wanting to fight in front Ella. Sleeping or not. André stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind himself. "Ugh," Tori sighed, watching her baby girl sit up, startled. For a split second Tori thought her almost one year old would go back to sleep. But, her lip started to quiver and before Tori could coo her back to sleep, she was screaming. The thought crossed Tori's mind to take her in the bathroom and leaver her with her father, but she didn't want to hear her sick baby screaming for her. So she had to suck it up and be mommy.
february 17th — tuesday morning
7:12 AM
Tori packed the diaper bag for Ella, as André finished getting the boys ready. The morning was spent quietly, knowing that today was the day their twins were being delivered. Tori had already taken the pill that Dr. Robbins gave her to start the process of inducing labor for her D&C. Meaning, she was having contractions, and ready to get the procedure over with. "Dré! Can we get a move on? We have to get the boys to day care before 7:30!" Tori called from the kitchen.
Slowly, André came down the steps holding his sons and the backpack. "Do you rush your boyfriend like this?" He muttered.
"Today is not the day! Don't start with me!" Tori snapped, zipping up Ella's bag and picking her up from off of the kitchen floor, along with her purse.
"Not the day? It's a simple question!" André humorlessly chuckled, grabbing his keys.
"A question that's clearly not necessary!" Tori fought back.
"Not necessary? You're talking to someone behind my back!" André fully accused, as they reached the truck. Tori stepped up on the lifts and placed Ella in her seat between the boys chairs.
"No, I'm not! We're friends. And nothing happened!" Tori replied, strapping their daughter and waiting for Joey to walk around to her.
"What do you mean? You kissed! That's not nothing!" André fought, as he strapped in Jaxon. Tori silently strapped in Joey and hopped off the lifts. The parents shut the door, but only one got in. André watched Tori breath through a contraction, for a solid thirty seconds, before she got it.
"Which one is it? Did he force himself on me or did we kiss?" Tori muttered putting on her seat belt. André sat for a moment still staring at her, examining his wife. It was clear she was in pain by the way her leg was shaking, and it was also clear that she didn't want this fight.
"It doesn't matter," he gently caved, taking her hand. "Today is not about him. It's about you, and them." Tori was glad to have the warmth of his hand as another contraction hit. She was really doing this. She was the leaving with five and coming back with three. It was hard not to blame God, but when they looked at the grand scheme, God knew they weren't ready for more kids. Not at that moment. Maybe not ever, but definitely not then.
🙃🙂🙃
To Be Continued...