secrets ↠ demi lovato / 5h

[51]

early December 2014

the next morning, I decided to push the thoughts about Katelyn away for a while. I sat in the hospital bed, racking my brains. I needed to explain what had happened to people. I couldn't just waltz out of hospital and back into the studio like that. people would think it was staged, and it was just a stunt. for more than a year, details about my family were foggy. people knew that Dad died of a heart attack and Katelyn had somehow passed away too, but they knew nothing of my mother. no one knew why I was living with Demi. not even my team. sure, my team knew more than the average fan, but they didn't know a lot. Demi, Naya, the girls and Jaycee knew the most about me. how was I going to do it? a twitlonger seemed a bit insincere, but I didn't want to go on talk shows and break it there either. I wouldn't cope.

Nurse Bri came into the room, jerking me from my thoughts. she held out a phone, presumably Demi's. "Naya wants to speak to you, Lea," she said, passing it over. I received the phone, feeling it slightly warm in my hand, before lifting it up to my ear.

"hey, Ny," I said, falling back onto my pillows.

"hi, darling. how're you?"

"as good as I'll ever be, I guess," I replied, wedging the phone between my shoulder and left shoulder as I resumed twiddling my thumbs around and playing with the comforter.

"that's good, mija. listen, I have a surprise for you."

"what is it?" I asked, perking up.

"Demi and I have got you a joint, early Christmas present... you know how your phone got wrecked?"

"yeah?" I asked, sitting up, intrigued.

"we may or may not have gotten you a new phone"

"OH," I gasped. "OH. OH MY GOD."

"we got you the iPhone 6, baby, and when you come home, it'll be all ready for you to use."

"are you serious?" I asked, feeling my face light up. "you guys did that for me?"

"of course," Naya said, and I could just hear her giggle over the phone. "anyway, I've put your camera to charge up and changed your bedsheets and I'm ordering cupcakes and rented out a bunch of movies and cleaned the piano and watered all of Demi's damn houseplants."

"... did you water the cactus as well?"

"yep."

I decided to leave it. "I can't thank you enough for the phone, Ny."

"don't even mention it, Lea. can't let my baby girl out into this big scary world on her own without a phone. you've got all your contacts in there. I even synced it with your iTunes. it only took me, like, fifteen minutes to figure it out."

I laughed. "thank you, Naya."

"you're welcome, Lea."

after we said our goodbyes and hung up, and Nurse Bri brought Demi's phone back to her, I resumed my train of thought. then it hit me.

"I've put your camera to charge up"

I could make a video to explain everything.

---

the day they unwrapped the bandage from my head, removed the dressings from my body permanently and cleared me to leave the hospital felt like a breath of fresh air. although the wheelchair was a bit of a bother, I still was grateful that I was at least out of the hospital. Demi and I were escorted into a car as soon as we left the hospital, driven back home by Max and welcomed warmly by Naya. although I was still under orders to rest in bed as much as I could, it still made me ecstatic to be back in the New York apartment that I loved.