The Coffee Spill |Demi Lovato|

Chapter 30

Written 2015
Revised March 2021

When Ellie, Madison and I returned from picking Madison up from aerial practice, Dallas was here, waiting patiently with open arms. Ellie and I decided on telling my family about us tonight, the sooner the better. Now that they are all here, it's time.

"Are you ready?" I ask, caressing Ellie's hands with my fingers. We're in the guest room which will hopefully stay vacant this trip once we reveal our relationship status. It's not that I'm incapable of sleeping alone for a few days. I'm a very independent woman. However, I'd much rather sleep wrapped in Ellie's arms.

"Demi I've been nervous this whole trip. What makes you think now I would feel any different?" She asks, eyes widening, regretting the sass she just gave me. "Sorry." She apologizes. "Maybe I need a kiss to calm my nerves." She suggests, trying to hide the smile on her face.

"With pleasure." I say before kissing her passionately. We walk down the hallway, a respectable distance between each other. Surprisingly my mom, stepdad and sisters are all in the living room together. That never happens. Someone is always off doing their own thing. Great start to our announcement.

"Ellie and I want to talk to you all about something." I start off, not making eye contact with any of them. From the corner of my eye I can see Dallas look up from her phone and Madison stop doing her homework. All eyes are on me. On us. "Ellie and I are dating. We have been for over a month." I say letting out a big sigh I didn't know I was holding in.

"I knew it." Dallas says nonchalantly. I look at her. "Unlike the rest of our family, I occasionally watch the news." She says smirking.

"What happened to Wilmer?" My mom asks.

"It didn't work out. Clearly." I say coldly.

"What do you mean it didn't work out? You both were doing so well." She says.

"We weren't doing well, mom. It was all an act. He cheated on me more than once." I say, starting to raise my voice. I never told my family when Wilmer cheated on me the first time. He cried and promised he would never do it again. And because I was fresh out of rehab, I didn't want to be alone. I needed someone. So I forgave him, giving him more chances than he deserved.

"So you decided to give females a go because of one bad relationship with a man?" She asks rudely. Eddie tries to intervene. My heart begins to beat faster at the disrespect I'm witnessing in front of me.

"Mom, I'm not trying out females. I didn't know I was into females until I met Ellie. As a matter of fact, its not even females that I'm into." I say, taking Ellie's hand in mine. "It's Ellie that I'm into." I say proudly. I feel Ellie squeeze my hand.

My mom takes a second before responding. "Ellie, do you love my daughter?" My mom asks, looking at Ellie. I choke on her words. Love? It's been six weeks, mom.

"Well,  Mrs. De La Garza, it hasn't even been two months. But to answer your question, yes. Yes I do love your daughter." Ellie answers, rubbing the back of my hand with her finger. Did she just say she loves me?

"I will accept your relationship under one condition. Please keep the intimacy to a minimum. I don't want to walk in on you both making out on my suede couch when I'm getting ready to watch my soap opera." My mom says seriously.

"Okay we'll wait until we're upstairs to have sex." I say jokingly. Ellie's face turns red and she slaps my arm. "I'm joking! Totally joking!" I say and I can tell by my moms face she's going to have a hard time getting use to this.

My mom didn't appreciate the sex joke I made so she felt the need to sit me down and talk about respect. She wanted to make sure I would still follow her rule of no sex in the house, even though I'm not living here anymore. My mom is very traditional. Sex outside of marriage was unspeakable when she was growing up. She tried passing those customs down to us kids, but failed to succeed. Either way, she didn't want us having sex under her roof.

I follow Ellie to the guest room, grabbing her luggage. We knew we were going to come clean about our relationship, so we didn't worry about unpacking her bag. She was not going to be sleeping down here. Ellie follows me upstairs. We stop outside of my bedroom door. My mom isn't good with change. So instead of redecorating my room to be more sophisticated for when I visit, she kept it just the way it was the day I moved out. And being a child celebrity, I moved out way sooner than most kids do. "Are you ready to see my childhood room?" I ask her.

"Uh, duh!" She says, opening the door and walking in. I observe the space with her, forgetting some of the less important features of my room. The walls are a light pink, almost salmon. She chuckles when she notices the Paramore and Kelly Clarkson posters above my desk. She must think I'm such a dork with stuffed animals and posters on the wall. She collapses on my bed, sinking into the duvet. "It's comfortable. I'm sleeping here." She says, cuddling the stuffed penguin on my bed.

"Well I wasn't going to make you sleep on the roof." I say jokingly.

"Yeah, well with this soft of a bed, you might be the one sleeping on the roof." She says. I grab her legs, pulling her down to the edge of the bed. I straddled her waist, tickling her.

"No Demi, S-Stop. I'm sorry. Stop!" She says in between laughter. I'm too focused on Ellie's laughing to hear the door creak open.

"Demi what are you doing to her?" My mom asks, standing in the doorframe.

"Relax, mom! I'm tickling her, not fucking her." I explain rolling my eyes.

"Demetria! You may be an adult but you are under my house, under my rules. Watch your language and stop with your attitude." She says before turning around to leave.

"Wait, mom." I say softly. She turns around. I get off of Ellie and sit next to her. "I'm sorry." I say genuinely.

She sighs before giving me a smile. "Just don't do it again. And please, keep your clothes on." She says exiting my room and shutting the door, leaving it open a few inches like she would when I was a teenager. I roll my eyes. Ellie raises an eyebrow at me.

"I know that was rude of me to talk to her like that. I just sort of said it before I could process it." I admit.

"She knows we were not fucking, baby. And trust me, if we were I would never tell you to stop." Ellie says sending a jolt of electricity down my body. I lean over and kiss her. I pull away, my eyes locking onto hers.

"Let's go all the way." I say without thinking. Ellie raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"Uh I think we've already done that, baby. Quite a few times, actually." Ellie says giggling.

"No not that. I mean, let's go public with our relationship. Right now. Tell the whole world." I say, smiling. I'm done hiding. I'm done pretending to be something I'm not. Straight? Available? Whatever it is, I'm done.

*Ellies POV*

If that's what you want, it would be my honor to go all the way with you." She says mocking me. I lean into kiss her when she stops me.

"Save your lips for the camera." she says, and taking her phone out of her back pocket. We take various photos of us smiling, hugging, kissing. We look through them trying to find the best one.

"This one." I say. It's a photo of Ellie kissing my cheek while I'm looking down smiling. I log into my Instagram on her phone, posting it with just a kissing emoji. I'm not that great at captions.

"At least now the workers at the Antique Table won't flirt with us now." She says, cuddling into my arm.