At Last

VIII

"Mommy's sick," Nicholas whispered to Dorinda, tugging on the end of her cardigan after he had come back downstairs. He had gone to wake Demi up but she wasn't in her room. She was in her bathroom throwing up but it was nasty so he didn't go in there.          

"What do you mean?" Dorinda stirred the oatmeal that she had made for Nolie before sliding it in front of her.

"She's throwing up," Nicholas said, climbing onto one of the bar stools as Dorinda got him his bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Demi never let the twins eat sugary cereal in the morning but she was preoccupied so Dorinda decided to let Nicholas have some.

"Can you be good while I go check on her?" They both nodded their head so Dorinda went upstairs. The twins really were well behaved. If Demi wasn't so busy all of the time then her services wouldn't be necessary, but she had been with the twins since they were six months old, and Demi obviously didn't have any plans of letting her go anytime soon.

"Ms. Demi?" Dorinda called, knocking on the door of her bedroom but deciding to just walk in. Demi lived like a queen and she wasn't ashamed of it. Dorinda didn't blame her. She worked hard for everything that she had.

"Ms. Demi?" Dorinda called out again, walking into what she assumed to be the bathroom. She saw Demi leaned against the toilet but she wasn't throwing up anymore, even though it smelled like she had been.

"Ms. Demi, do you need anything?" Dorinda rushed to her side, helping her sit up a little bit as Demi groaned and clutched her stomach.

"Just some ginger ale...can you call Marissa and tell her I'll be in a little late. I know that's not your job but-" Dorinda shushed her and helped her off of the floor. She let her rinse her mouth out and brush her teeth before helping her back into her bed. Dorinda placed a trash can next to her bed just in case then rushed downstairs to get a bottle of ginger ale. The twins were still sitting at the counter and behaving so Dorinda took her time going back upstairs and making sure that Demi was okay.

"Just grab my phone and I'll text Marissa," she pointed to her shiny iPhone on her nightstand and Dorinda gave it to her.

"Do you need anything else? Like do you want me to call your doctor or something?"

"No...I already know what's wrong. But thank you Dorinda. I really do appreciate you," Demi said as Dorinda pursed her lips but nodded anyways and returned back to the twins.

Wilmer was shuffling around in his apartment, looking for the new memory card that he just bought but he couldn't find it anywhere. It was times like this when he wished that he could be more organized. He could've sworn he left it on the coffee table in the living room but he had turned his apartment upside down and he couldn't find it anywhere. He had a cover shoot for Vogue at the end of the week and he had bought the memory card specifically for that, and now he would have to get another one just because he misplaced it.

The buzzer to his apartment rang and he absentmindedly pressed the button to let the person in. It was probably just the mailman or Isa coming back from school because she forgot her dance bag or something. But when he heard a knock on the door he knew that it wasn't either of those people.

"Hey Wilmer." It was Marissa. Her hair was still blonde but she had cut it so that it reached her shoulders. Black framed glasses covered her cerulean blue eyes and she was holding that iPad that she never seemed to let go of.

"Uh, hi?" What was she doing at his apartment? No, better yet, how did she even get his address? He hadn't had any contact with her or Demi in months so it was a little suspicious that she was suddenly popping up at his apartment.

"I know it's weird of me to pop up here like this but it's an emergency. It's about Demi," Marissa said. And Wilmer tried not to care but whether he wanted to be or not, he still was in love with that woman despite how much she drove him crazy.

"What about her?"

"She's pregnant, Wilmer. At least three months along. Or that's what her doctor said at her last appointment. But with the way she's going, she's going to lose it. She's not sleeping and she's barely eating and she's so stressed out with everything and we all try to be there for her and help her but she won't let us. I know you guys are broken up but I'm just letting you know because she won't tell you herself. And I don't want her to have to go through this alone. Do with that what you will," Marissa said before walking away, leaving Wilmer stunned in the threshold of his apartment. How could she tell him something like that and then just leave?

"It's hot," Demi whined as Marissa attempted to fan her with her folder, but it wasn't doing Demi any justice. She had a cover shoot and despite how awful she was feeling, she had agreed to it months ago and couldn't back out now. It wouldn't be fair to the magazine.

"I think I'm sweating my makeup off. I'm going back to the hair and makeup tent," Demi said, picking up the ends of her dress as she walked back into the slightly cooler tent. She sat down in one of the chairs and looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was puffier and her jawline wasn't as defined as it usually was. They had contoured her face so much to try to get that defined jawline back but with the weight she had gained, it wasn't coming back anytime soon. Not only that, but they had to go with a completely different look for the shoot because the clothes that she had designed for it no longer fit. She was supposed to be wearing her own clothes but now she was wearing clothes by some other designer that she wasn't very fond of. She knew why she was gaining weight and why she was sick and why she was in such a terrible mood but she didn't want to address it because then it would be real. Then she would have to face the facts. Then she would have to acknowledge the thing growing inside of her and that was the last thing that she wanted to do.

"Demi, the photographer is here and he's ready to start," Marissa said, waiting for her to exit the tent before following behind her. They walked up the small hill that they were starting on and Demi saw the back of the photographer before she saw his face.

"Ah, Demi! Are you ready to begin?" Mark, the director of the shoot, questioned as Demi nodded and handed her Ugg slippers to Marissa.

The photographer turned around and Demi saw his face, but she wished that it was just the universe playing a sick joke on her. Out of all of the photographers in New York, out of all of the photographers in the world, it had to be Wilmer? Vogue couldn't find anyone else for this photoshoot? It had to be her ex?

She could've sworn that he had gotten even more handsome in the time that they had been apart. He definitely grew his facial hair out some more. His muscles were defined in the white v neck that he was wearing and even though they ended on a sour note, his eyes still held the warmth and the love that they always did when he looked at her. She felt that dull aching in her chest that hadn't gone away since he left her. She had missed him so much and now he was standing right in front of her and she had no idea what to do.

Demi was more beautiful than he remembered. That was obvious. And her face was fuller now, thanks to her being pregnant, but she was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him. She had cut her hair shorter, and it was choppier than it was before. Even with all the makeup on her face he could tell that she was absolutely exhausted, and he wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and hold her close, to let her listen to his heartbeat and sing to her in Spanish to soothe her to sleep. He had missed her so much. He tried to push her to the back of his mind and pretend like being away from her after being together for so long didn't bother him but it did. He loved this woman, and he probably always would. They were a few feet within each other but she felt so out of reach. She had pushed him away but he was ready to fall at her feet and beg for her to take him back because all he wanted was to be with her, especially now that she was pregnant.

"You guys ready?" Mark asked, snapping both of them out of their daze. They both nodded and Wilmer pointed to a spot on the middle of the hill and got his camera all set up. This was going to be a long day.

I know it's short but I just wanted to update smth since I haven't in a while