"So not only do you disappear for hours, but then you bring your fuck of the day back home with you?" Adaliah greets as soon as Demi, Kelsie, and I enter their home. "Classy, Demi, real classy."
"Ignore her," I murmur in Demi's ear from behind. "Just keep walking."
"I should have known not to trust you enough to let you leave this morning. I should have known you'd go out and act like the little slut that you are."
"I'm seriously about ready to return to the car and get my bat," Kelsie grumbles.
"Let me remind you that I do not have the money to bail you out of jail."
When we finally reach Demi's bedroom, I ask if she wants me to close and lock the door. To my slight surprise, she shakes her head.
"I kind of want her to see me packing. Maybe it'll be more real to her if she does." She looks around the room with a sigh before retrieving a duffel bag from the walk in closet.
She tosses the duffel bag on the bed, then proceeds to stuff it with clothes.
"It would be easier if you fold the clothes, y'know."
"I want to get out here as quickly as possible. Being around her after what she did makes me want to throw up. It's like my skin is crawling when I so much as hear her voice, let alone look at her."
With a frown, I fold her clothes and place them in the duffel bag while she continues to drag more out of her closet.
"Are you sure it's okay that I stay with y'all for a couple of days?"
I chuckle lowly. "I've lost track of how many times you've asked that since we left my house. My answer isn't going to change, Dems. You're welcome anytime."
I pretend to not notice the slight flush that colors her cheeks and the tiny smile that lights up her face for a single second.
"You're honestly going to stay with him?" Adaliah's rude tone has Demi's smile dropping and her cheeks draining of all color.
The skinny brunette hovers in the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest and her face twisted into a disgusted scowl aimed at Demi.
"You're not going to willingly leave, so what else do you expect?" Demi retorts in a quiet monotone.
"I expect for you to be a decent girlfriend instead of being a whore behind my back."
"I don't want to be in a relationship with you anymore!" Demi yells in exasperation, throwing a purple tee shirt into the now overflowing duffel bag. "What part of that do you not understand? I can't do this anymore, Adaliah. It's not worth it!"
"And you think being with him is going to fix everything? You'll just end up treating him exactly like you've been treating me."
"No, Adaliah, I won't. Unlike you, he actually cares about me."
"And you think that I don't?" she scoffs.
"If you did, you wouldn't have made me so miserable. If you did, you wouldn't have cut yourself and you sure as hell wouldn't have sent me pictures that you knew would trigger me."
"I just wanted you to know how much you were hurting me," Adaliah mumbles, her gaze now on the floor, and I resist the urge to roll my eyes.
Demi approaches her and tilts her chin upwards with the tips of her fingers. Adaliah can't even try to look away from the pain and frustration in Demi's eyes now. "Yeah? Well, now I'm letting you know how much you hurt me."
Shaking her head, Demi shoves the overflow of clothes into a large tote bag and zips up the duffel before looping an arm through the straps of each bag. "I'll get the rest of my things tomorrow while you're at work." She pushes past Adaliah and heads for the front door with Kelsie and I close behind.
"You seriously can't just leave, Demi!" I don't know if it's Adaliah's shrieking tone or the cancer robbing my body of life, but a sudden, pulsating wave of pain pressing against my forehead has me stumbling over my own two feet.
"Hey," Kelsie's voice is soft as she grabs my elbow to keep me from falling over, "what was that? What happened?"
"Nothing," I mutter, kneading the tips of my fingers against my temples which seems to do nothing to ease the pain.
"Don't lie to me."
"Seriously, I'm fine, Kelsie," I snap, wanting her to just leave me the hell alone already so we can get out of here.
I place a hand on the small of Demi's back right before we reach the front door. "Are you sure that you're ready?"
"I'm more than ready." When she looks up at me, her eyebrows furrow and her forehead creases. "Banner, how are you feeling, honestly?"
"I feel fine." I force a chuckle that causes my chest and head to ache. "You and Kelsie worry too much."
"You just look really pale all of a sudden."
"I'm fine." I kiss her forehead. "I promise."
"Do you baby him or something?" Adaliah questions. "Is that why he sticks around?"
"He has cancer, you stupid bitch," Kelsie grumbles, then shrugs innocently when I shoot her a look.
"Cancer?" Adaliah echoes with a slight chuckle. "You sure know how to pick them, Demi. Don't you think fucking a man on his deathbed is pretty low, or are you trying to make him feel like a charity case?"
"Would you believe me if I told you that I have never had sex with him?"
Adaliah snorts incredulously. "Of course not."
"Would you believe me if I told you that I love him - right now, in this moment, dying or not - more than I have ever loved you?"
My eyes widen simultaneously with Adaliah's.
She actually loves me.
I'm fucking dying, and she said that she loves me.
This is exactly what I was trying to prevent.
I'm in even more shock when Adaliah studies me with a tilted head and curious eyes, then asks me calmly how much time I have left.
"Two months if I'm lucky," I respond hesitantly.
"And there's no treatment?"
"There's a surgery that is risky and a liver transplant that has years worth of wait time - years that I obviously do not have."
She hums before returning her attention to Demi. "Do you even realize how stupid you are?"
"I'm seriously about to bash her pretty face in with my metal bat," Kelsie mutters as she moves so that she's standing beside me.
"I could ask you the same thing," Demi retorts. "Are we ready to leave?" she asks me and Kelsie.
"If you are," I reply with a nod that sends the entire room spinning and me bumping into Kelsie.
"Banner, we're taking you to your doctor," my sister hisses in my ear as she helps me stand upright.
"I'm just a little dizzy, Kels. It's nothing to worry about." I don't tell her that the pounding in my head hasn't ceased up at all.
"Demi, you're not leaving!" Adaliah shrills. "You'd only end up crawling back here once his time runs out!"
"I would never stoop that low, Adaliah," Demi tells her before opening the front door.
"I'll kill myself if you walk out that front door."
My breath catches in my throat at Adaliah's words, but Demi seems completely unfazed, as if she has heard this threat a thousand times before.
"I don't care anymore, Adaliah. I can't care anymore. I'm done, don't you get that?"
Before I can even blink, Adaliah grabs a steak knife off of the kitchen counter and points it towards her chest, both hands wrapped firmly around the wooden handle.
"I'll fucking do it, Demi, if you walk out that front door."
I return my hand to the small of Demi's back, not once taking my eyes off of Adaliah. "Dems -"
"She's bluffing," the popstar flatly dismisses my concern. "She's totally bluffing. Let's just leave."
I warily take my eyes off of Adaliah and follow my sister and Demi outside. We are barely able to step foot onto the front porch when a short scream sends us running back into the house.
Adaliah lays in the middle of the foyer with the steak knife protruding from her chest and her blue shirt rapidly staining red. As Demi runs past me to crouch down beside Adaliah, I realize how the room is not only spinning, but is now also blurry, especially around the edges of my vision. My peripheral eyesight is nothing but shadows and blurred together colors. I squeeze my eyes tightly shut and open them again to find that the blurriness has worsened.
"Banner, call 9-1-1!" Demi's voice sounds weird, as if she's trying to talk to me from underwater or from the opposite end of a very long tunnel. Fading. Everything's fading.
Blood gurgles from deep within Adaliah's chest and spews from her mouth like a tiny crimson geyser.
Where the hell did I put my phone? Did I leave it in the car? Did I even bring it?
My hands feel too large and clumsy as I fish my cell phone out of my jean pocket. The phone feels heavy in my weak grasp. Why can't I clench my fingers around the tiny device? An involuntary spasm in my hand sends my phone skittering across the dark hardwood.
"Kels," I try to gain my sister's attention, try to point to my phone, but my entire body feels sluggish.
What the fuck is happening to me?
"I told you that I'd do it," I can just barely hear Adaliah say to Demi. "If only you hadn't tried to walk out that door...this is all your fault, Demi." Her breathing is wheezy, her voice raspy and strangled by blood.
A sharp pain that blossoms from the back of my skull sends me to my knees with a cry of agony. I see Kelsie scoop up my phone, her frantic, worried eyes shifting back and forth between Adaliah and me. She presses my phone to her ear, and I can see her lips moving fast, but I can't hear anything. Everything is dead silent for a few seconds before an annoying, high-pitched whistle tone has me trying to cover my ears. The high-pitched noise is only worsening the pounding in my skull.
"Banner, can you hear me?" Kelsie's voice now sounds like Demi's did earlier when she told me to call 9-1-1. My baby sister is crying; I can clearly see the tears sliding down her flushed cheeks.
I lay on the cool, dark hardwood, pressing my cheek against the smooth surface, hoping to alleviate the pain that has now spread throughout my entire body.
My entire body now feels like a heavy weight that I can't even attempt to move.
The occasional spasm - a new symptom, I suppose - causes my limbs to flail on their own accord.
Kelsie cradles my head in the palms of her hands, forcing me to look into her sad eyes. Behind her, I notice Demi watching me with a similar expression.
The last thing I want is for them to be sad over me.
That is my last thought before my eyes roll back into my pounding skull and darkness finally consumes my aching soul.
ns 15.158.2.213da2
