Hills & Valleys : The Sophomore Sequel || Tori Kelly

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A Week Later — tuesday evening
4:30 PM

Tori came home from a long day of rehearsals to see her mom in the living room with her kids watching Sing for the umpteenth time. And while ready to ignore it, Tori couldn't see why her mother was there instead of her husband. "Mom, what are you doing here? Where Dré?" Tori asked, setting her purse on a bar chair and moving behind the couch. She looked over her awake daughter, and took her onto her shoulder as the boys played on the coffee table.

"He'll be back in a minute. He has an orientation at some new job, and he wanted to run to the uniform store before they closed at 5," Laura replied. Tori vaguely remembered the mention of a job, but was half asleep when he said something, so she only heard bits and pieces.

"Oh okay. Well you can go or stay or whatever. I have to write out a grocery list for tonight, so we can stock up for the next week," the mother of three and wife said. With one hand, Tori grabbed Ella's bouncer and sat it on the large island space, then strapped her little girl in. "Your brothers and daddy are going to eat us out of house and home," she cooed, making the baby crack a smile.

As Tori wrote out a list for her house, Laura was doing her own list making. André gave her a list of their finances to see if she could help them move money around and so far, there was a lump some of money that wasn't being used. Sadly, Laura couldn't ask Tori without getting André maimed and decided to just stay quiet. It was safer for everyone that way.

5:18 PM

Tori carried Ella around as André steered the boys in the cart around Walmart. "Did you get your uniform today?" Tori asked as she moved them towards the back of the store. André nodded, pulling Jaxon's hand back in the cart every five seconds.

"Yeah, all I needed were some pants and shoes." Tori glanced at him confused before stopping in front of the milk fridge.

"What's the job? I feel like you told me, but I legit can't remember," Tori asked, skimming for the milk she was in need of.

"I got a coaching position at Loyola. They want me to be a trainer during the off seasons and an assistant coach during the season. That will give us enough money for all the kids and put us higher than we were before," he said. Tori hummed, as she grabbed two gallons of milk. Tori crossed off her first item with a sigh.

"Should we get a half gallon? To cook with?" Tori asked. André went to answer when an older woman came up to them. She gently grabbed André's shoulder causing them both to look back at her.

"I don't mean to intrude, but are they twins?" She asked. Tori glanced to her similarly dressed boys and did her best to control her face.

"Yep," Tori replied as Ella started to wake up from being still for too long. The woman looked over André's shoulder and watched Tori coddle the baby, throwing a blanket over her shoulder to feed the newborn.

"Oh my goodness, she's so little. How old is she?" The woman cooed. Tori awkwardly shied away as the woman got closer to her.

"She'll be three weeks soon," Tori answered. The woman looked Tori up and down in disbelief.

"You look amazing!" She complimented. Tori slid a small smile to her and continued to rock the baby, hoping the woman would leave them alone. Sadly, she continued to pry. "How old are you?" She asked. Tori wanted to say 17 really badly, but didn't want the woman to freak out on André. So, the mom of three shrugged.

"I'm 21," she honestly answered. André did his best to wedge the cart between the woman and his wife to signal they were leaving, but the woman couldn't have cared less.