Lauren’s drink was in her face before Charlie could say another word.
Charlie tried to run Demi down, she was so livid.
“You got me fucked up!” She shouted as she lunged for Lauren.
“Yo! Bird! Bird!” Demi shouted. “Fuck, Bird, chill!”
“You’re here playing house while I’m home waiting for you to walk through the door! I’ve been dying without you and you’re here doing what?!”
“You know what he was doing, little girl, you been stalking my story,” Lauren said. “Take the trash out, Demi.” Lauren tossed the whole damn mug at Charlie, narrowly missing her head. It shattered against the wall, and Demi spun on her. Demi’s head was fucking spinning. This moment was inevitable, an altercation between his mistress and his wife. The dynamics under which things had begun wouldn’t allow anything else except for this moment to happen.
“Take DJ and go find you some fucking chill!” His tone was enough to rein in Lauren’s anger.
“Next time that bitch comes to this house, I’ma beat her ass like the child she is.” Lauren grabbed her son’s shoulders and steered him to the back of the house.
“Bitch,” Charlie mumbled.
“What the fuck you doing, huh?” Demi barked. “You don’t bring no static where my son live. Have you lost your mind?”
“Have you lost yours?!” Charlie snapped back. “You beg me to keep your baby one day and then go MIA with your ex-wife the next! You know why DJ treats me like a side chick? Because you treat me like one! I wasn’t worth coming home for? It’s just fuck me because I made a decision you didn’t like?”
“Say, man,” Demi muttered in frustration as he blew out a sharp breath. She was shouting at the top of her lungs, pushing him, losing it on him. She might as well have been fighting a giant the way he towered over her.
“I told you what I was gon’ be on,” Demi stated. “You decided this shit by yourself. I put a ring on your finger and built you a house. You the one sucking babies out of you like you fucking a nigga that ain’t yours.”
“Look where you are!” She screamed, eyes betraying her as stubborn tears burned her cheeks. “I am!”
“Demi…”
Charlie turned to face the yard when Lauren came back. As if she hadn’t already embarrassed herself enough, she didn’t want Lauren to see her tears. She wiped at them, but they just kept flowing, kept drowning her. Jesus, she couldn’t even breathe. Yup, she detested this love shit.
“I know, Lo,” Demi said. “My fault, man, damn! Just give me a minute!” His wife and his side bitch. Wait. His fiancée and his ex-wife. The technicalities and emotions were complicated.“She’s pregnant, Demi,” Lauren said.
Charlie turned to face them. Mr and Mrs. Sky. They really were lovely together, and Charlie felt low.
Her chin quivered, and she looked away, then broke out in sobs. “I couldn’t do it, Demi!”
He stepped out onto the porch, placing both his hands on her face.
Lauren watched with a mixture of resentment and awe as he used his fingers to clear her tears. He was never this way with her. Never this passionate. Never this loving. No soft touches, no elevated voices during disagreements. Demi had been on autopilot in their marriage, and seeing him with Charlie confirmed that he had checked out of their relationship long before Charlie ever even entered the picture.
“While you were here cheating on me, I was home waiting for you!” Charlie cried.
“Wasn’t nobody cheating on your ass, Bird,” he said.
“She threw a fucking cup at my head!” Charlie cried.
“Yeah, Demi, this dramatic-ass girl is good and pregnant,” Lauren said sarcastically. “Get all this drama off my porch before she have the police pulling up to my house. Come in, Charlie.”
Charlie looked at Lauren in shock and then up at Demi unsurely. She had imagined this standoff many times. She had dreaded it because a child was involved and Charlie knew she would have to be very careful how she handled things, but her emotions were all over the place. She was at a disadvantage. This wasn’t the right moment.
“This conversation is long overdue,” Lauren said.
Demi pulled Charlie into his arms, and she wrapped her hands around his waist.
“You didn’t do it?” He asked.
Charlie shook her head. “I couldn’t,” Charlie whispered. “I wanted to, or at least I thought I wanted to, but I couldn’t. I can’t. I don’t know, Demi, I’m so scared.”
