“It’s okay, Stass,” Charlie said. “I’m feeling better now.”
Stassi was reluctant, but she gave in. “Okay, keep me updated. Do you want me to call your dad?”
“Please don’t,” Charlie whispered. The strained relationship with her father and Stassi’s mother was not something she wanted to put on top of the tension in this room.
“Okay. I love you,” Stassi said.
“Love you too,” Charlie replied.
“I’ma get with you, bruh. Congrats,” Day stated. They tapped elbows and Day led Stassi out the room.
The silence between Demi and Charlie was heartbreaking. They were two souls interwined so deeply that they normally knew what the other was thinking. As they stared at each other now, they felt like strangers.
“How long you been on birth control, Bird?” Demi asked.
“Six months.”
Demi scoffed and turned away from her, rubbing the top of his head with both hands before turning back to her.
“All this love we make. Every time I talk about making babies with you. Having a family with you and you on fucking birth control.” Demi turned again because he could barely look at her. “In this nasty-ass hospital.” He was in his head, OCD kicking his ass, the haunting of her deceit jumping into the fight. Demi couldn’t even defend himself from his own emotions. All he felt was betrayal.
“I can explain.” Charlie was overwhelmed. She was caught in a big lie that had started as a little lie. When she had first decided to visit her doctor, she hadn’t thought twice about it. Now it felt like she had maliciously hurt the man she loved.
“Can you?”
“I just didn’t want a baby, Demi. My album hasn’t even dropped. My career…”
“The career I gave you,” Demi scoffed.
“The career I earned!” She protested. She was defensive because how dare he. He hadn’t sung one song. He hadn’t shed one pound to fit into the superstar mold Day told her she needed to fit in. He hadn’t lost one night of sleep to the studio. Damn it if she didn’t work for this. What she didn’t realize is his leverage of ownership in the company was what had walked her through the door. His love for her allowed her introduction into the industry. Without him, she would have still been singing in smoky bars where he had found her. Both had valid points. Both perspectives were layered in truth and laced inpassion, but like many couples before them, they couldn’t see the situation from one another’s vantage.
“So you let me think one thing when it was really something else?” Demi asked.
“I tried to tell you I didn’t want this!”
Demi was so thrown that he had to choose his words precisely.
“When you try to tell me that, Bird? When I left my wife and son for you? When I gave up my life to make a life and home with you? What did you think I was doing that for? To play boyfriend/girlfriend and go to the movies every now and again?”
His sarcasm ignited her rage.
“I didn’t ask you to do any of that! I didn’t even know that baggage existed when I fell in love with you! I’m young, Demi. You’re in your 30’s, but I’m in my 20’s! I still have a lot of shit I want to do before I become a mom!”
“It’s a fucking mute argument now, Bird. You’re a mom. My baby’s growing in you right now,” Demi said. “And as mad as I want to be with you, it don’t even matter,” Demi stated. “You’re pregnant. Like, what we doing all this yelling for, Bird? My baby is having my baby.” Demi sat on the edge of her bed and leaned over, cupping her face, caressing her cheeks while planting appreciative kisses on her lips. “Do you know how well I’ma do my job with you now? Like, I loved you before, but I’m indebted to you now, Bird. You know how much I love you? How much I already love this baby?”
Charlie felt like shit. Why was her feelings the exact opposite of his? She felt doom and fear in this moment. She felt regret, like she should have done a better job preventing this from happening. His excitement was suffocating.
“Demi, you’re not hearing me, baby.”
He pulled back.
“I want a baby with you but I don’t want this baby right now. We need to discuss all the options.”
He stood. His entire body tensed as he looked at her in disgust.
“I gave you a pass the first time because I was on my bullshit,” he said. It was what they didn’t speak about. The baby she had chosen to abort after finding out about his wife and son. A tear slid down her cheek because she knew he resented her for it. He had never said it, but she had felt all along that he thought about the what-ifs of that decision. This was confirmation.
“Don’t do that. Don’t bring that up.” She was pleading, voice cracking.
