Tell Me You Love Me // Demi Lovato // 1

6. Advice

In the car, Demi asked if I wanted pizza or ice cream.

"Hmm, how about pizza, then ice cream?" I suggested.

"I like the way you think."

So she drove back to the mall where we each got a slice of pizza and watched people as we are. Nobody paid us any mind, but I kept expecting at least one person to run over, screaming, "Oh, my God! It's Demi Lovato!" or something of that nature.

"I really love that wig," she said, through a mouthful of pizza. "It suits you." She nodded as she danced around in her chair, wiping her greasy fingers on a napkin.

"Thanks," I replied with a smile, wanting to touch my synthetic hair. I wasn't used to the longer length and I was really liking it. Looking down and seeing pink was also weird, and I decided maybe dying my hair later on would be fun. I kept watching her as she glanced around the food court.

When I finished my pizza, we went across the floor and ordered ice cream cones. Demi crossed her eyes as she licked hers with the very tip of her tongue. She was always doing something crazy. That was just how Demi was.

"This is literally the best day of my life," I said, without any forethought.

Demi stared at me. "Oh, just wait until tomorrow night. So, I'm thinking I'll do your makeup and you can do mine. Sound good?" She licked the entire circumference of her ice cream, to keep it from dripping all over her hand, and never took her eyes off me the whole time. Another example of Demi's silliness.

I nodded, keeping my own chocolate ice cream from dripping onto my hand. She was watching people again, me watching her, when she flipped around, slamming her hand on the small, round table.

"You never told me who you like!" she cried. She was down to her cone and she took an aggressive bite out of it.

"I never said I liked anyone," I said, defensively.

"But it seemed like you implied it. Why won't you just tell me who you like? We always told each other these kinds of things." She actually looked genuinely hurt that I wasn't telling her, which only made me more nervous to tell her.

But I could only come up with the worst scenarios. They usually didn't end with Demi telling me she loved me too. It was always like, "I love you, but as a friend."

There was no way I wanted to take that chance. I'd only get hurt if I told her how I felt, and those feelings weren't reciprocated. And then she would probably feel awkward and we wouldn't be friends anymore. She just came back into my life, I didn't want to risk it.

I sighed, knowing I had to say something, and fast. But what to say? "Fine, fine. I do like somebody, but I don't know how to tell them," I said, not wanting to say "him" or "her." I didn't even know if Demi knew about my interest in girls, since I'd only shown an interest for guys when we'd been friends.

She shrugged and finished off her cone. "Just do it. What could possibly go wrong?"

Everything! I wanted to shout. "Is that what you would do? Just go up to the person you like, and say, 'Hey, I just want you to know that I like you'?"

She shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess it would depend on how well I knew them. I wouldn't want to go up to someone I barely know and say that. And, actually, maybe instead of just saying it straight out like that, just ease into it."

I began to nibble on my cone, a sign I wanted her to keep talking. Like, give examples, Demi!

"So, you do know this person pretty well?" she asked, and I nodded. "Okay, well, are they seeing anyone else?"

"Not that I know of." Celebrities have secret relationships all the time, I thought. And Demi wasn't all that public with some of hers. But I was fairly certain she was single.

"Okay, so let's just assume they're not. By the way, we are talking about a guy, right?"

I looked down at the table, biting my cone.

"Holy shitballs," she breathed. "Since when do you like girls?" I shot her a look like, It doesn't matter. She held her hands up. "Okay, okay. So, this girl. She's also into girls? Or is that why you're hesitant to tell her how you feel?"

I had to lower my cone to answer. "No, that's not it. She'd be willing to date other girls, but I don't know if she'd want to date me."

Jesus Christ, I couldn't believe I was getting dating advice from the girl I wanted to date.