The Sophomore || Tori Kelly

My Own Decisions

7 PM

Tori and André sat outside of an Italian bistro, right on time for dinner. Nervously, Tori played with her bracelet André gave her as an early birthday present. "Are you sure you can do this? We can turn around a go home," André tested. Tori perked up a bit at the sound of just going home since she had a bunch to pack anyways.

"Really? That's an option?" She beamed. André rolled his eyes and took the keys out of the ignition.

"Of course not. Let's go," he said, pushing them out of the car and towards the restaurant. Involuntarily, Tori followed her man to the table that sat just her parents, telling Tori this was serious. If they didn't want to include her brother they meant business.

"Hey, guys," André tried. Laura shot him a glance while Allwyn didn't even bother to bat an eye. Silently, everyone sat around the round table awkwardly staring at the perfect wrapped silverware and worn menus.

"If we aren't going to talk, I can go home for this," Tori rudely cut through the silence. Laura took a deep breath and sat up straight.

"Tori, your father and I want you to come home. We're glad you found refuge at your boyfriends and that you were safe—"

"We can assume," Allwyn said under his breath forcing Tori's head towards him.

"But," Laura quickly diffused before everything could blow up, "we would like to put this whole mess behind us," she said. Tori bit her lip and placed her hands in her lap.

"I can't go home. André and I are actually moving," she paused. Tori was trying to get a good read on her parents, but it wasn't working. So, she kept going. "We are moving to Germany for his basketball career," Tori revealed, pushing herself into her shell of a child. Her fathers face was heated. But her mother seemed more like she was processing. She didn't think that telling her parents something so crucial would be so scary after everything they went through.

"No," Allwyn immediately declined.

"It wasn't a question," Tori rolled her eyes, ignoring him completely.

"You aren't going. You have to finish school. What about your career?" He pestered. Tori rolled her eyes harder.

"Daddy, I'm signed now. When I come back I'm dropping my album and going on tour. I'm not a little girl anymore. I can choose for myself what I will and won't do. I've made up my mind and would rather you be behind me than in my way," Tori calmy said. "I have chosen to follow my boyfriend to his dream, just like he's going to follow me with mine. We are a team now and wherever one goes so does the other. You guys taught me that," Tori continued. "We support each other wholeheartedly. This isn't some schoolyard crush and once you realize that this relationship is out of your power the sooner you will jump on board," She finished. For once, Allwyn had nothing to say. She was right, but he wasn't going to allow himself to admit it. She was almost 20, but he couldn't see her past 4. But, now he had no choice.

"So, you're an adult now, huh? You have sex a couple of times and that makes you an adult? You shack up with your boyfriend, and that makes you an adult? See, Tori, I don't know if you realize that what your doing isn't pleasing God and will only please you for a while. But, you said it yourself. You make your own decisions now, so I'm not going to lecture you about this anymore. If you know what your doing prove it. Show me and your mother that you can be responsible enough to go to Germany, and come back and be a better version of the person you're displaying now, because we didn't raise the person sitting before us. The world did. So, when you come back if you can show us that you did what you said you would and didn't do what you said you wouldn't we will talk about how serious this relationship will get," Allwyn finalized. Tori glanced at André who couldn't take his eyes off of her father. She couldn't tell if he was serious or baiting them. She wanted to show her parents how responsible she was, but she couldn't tell if that's what he was getting at. So, she nodded with a short smile.