Damaged

Chapter 7

The clock struck 6pm and I closed my songbook, trudging up the stairs to make dinner. Aaliyah and Justin were both asleep, Titan was at his grandmother's and his parents were still working. Yup, I'm the only one to feed as of right now. Grabbing a can of Pringles, I plopped myself on the couch and flicked through the channels finally deciding to watch Disney because I'm that in touch with my inner child. "Hey girly, how's it goin?" Darci was in a cheery mood. "It's goin, how about you?" Hearing hollering in the close distance, I figured the guys were watching football again. "It's goin pretty good, better if you could come up here." I laughed, "How about you come down here? We have a lot of work to do." Agreeing, the line went dead and I headed to the laundry room to change into some old clothes; blue jean overalls with white and lavender paint splotches and a white cap-sleeved shirt with a red baseball cap backwards on my head. I slipped in to my work boots and put my hair in whimsical curls making it look naturally stunning. Meeting Darci at the door, we went to the hardware store and then Walmart. Tonight, we would be building a bookshelf, painting the new nursery, and buying the essentials for a baby room like a crib, rocking chair and changing table. Normally the baby daddy would be the one to help you out, but not this time. With his wrist in such a shape, it's not an option. "Alright so, how about this?" Racing red, a beautiful and bold color. "Then we could do something like this?" She showed me a room with red on the walls, a black tile stripe going horizontal across the walls separating the red from the white. The room was done in a truck theme, holding pictures of fire engines and race cars. It was perfect, if only I was having a boy. "Darci, that's beautiful but I'm having a girl, remember?" She stared at me like I had three heads, "And you know for sure how?" I shook my head in disbelief, "Um, my visions?" Realization hit her, "Right! Oh my, I'm sorry! But I have the perfect idea to make up for forgetting!" Since we are naming her Amber, Darci thought that it would be clever to paint the room that color. Amber. To be honest, I would have never thought about it and I personally loved the idea. "That's perfect!" Amber colored walls, black furniture, and white carpeting with pink rugs and decor. "You know what theme you wanna do?" I nodded, "Paris theme. It will be amazing and convenient. It could work for a nursery then when she grows older, put a queen size bed in there with a matching comforter and pillows, and it could easily be transformed to a teenagers dream bedroom." She smiled, "Paris is beyond beautiful and I imagine that you and Justin will raise your daughter to be like Paris." I stifled a laugh, "Thank you." Wandering aimlessly around Walmart, we decided to drive on over to the mall and look at maternity clothes and baby clothes as well. With Aaliyah, I never really needed maternity clothes because I could pass with an oversized t-shirt or a regular sweatshirt; I didn't get very big with her. With Amber, I have a feeling that I'm going to be huge. I don't know why, I just have that gut feeling. "Wait," Darci's arm flung out to stop me, "is that Justin?" I followed her gaze to see a 5'10" handsome man wearing a navy dress shirt and slacks. "Woah, I think you're right." Hiding behind a small cell phone kiosk, we watched as he bought the most beautiful necklace I've ever laid eyes on. Hurrying into Abercrombie&Fitch, I dragged Darci to the side so that he wouldn't see us spying on him. "Where's he going now?" Watching closely, he made his way in to Victoria's Secret and came out shortly with two bags, one small and the other a little larger. "What could he possibly be buying all this for?" She shrugged and I yawned, "Well, let's get home and get to work before I fall asleep. Hopefully, we'll make it home before he does and I can find some clues to what may be going on."

Singing loudly with Darci to Sam Smith's song Stay With Me, the front door slammed shut and footsteps stomped up the stairs slowly. I glanced at Darci with a smirk and went back to finishing the final-touch details on the Eiffel Tower that took me an hour to sketch out and paint. "Woah.." I heard a gasp come from the door and stayed focused on my painting instead of turning to face him, knowing who it was already. "Y'all this looks gorgeous." He sounded truly amazed and I'm glad he likes it. "Wow, babe," He chuckled and I felt his arms twirl me around, "you must really take painting seriously." I looked myself over seeing that I was covered head to toe in black and white paint from the strenuous work. "You know how I am," I smiled and kissed his cheek, "now what's gotten into you?" I checked him out for the second time today and had the breath momentarily stolen from my lungs. "I had a formal meeting with Keaton." I nodded, "What'd he want?" He shrugged with a grin, "Something about us starring in another one of his movies, not much." I nodded again letting him know that I understood. "I'm going to get changed then I'll be right back to help you gals out." Kissing me, he left the room and it took everything in me not to explode with excitement. Darci hugged me and squealed for me, "Oh my!" I laughed, "Thank you for that." Getting back to painting, Justin walked in and took a seat in the rocking chair advising our work. "Oh this is so helping us alright," Darci, being the smartA she is, remarked as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Hey, I was he one who called your mate to bring a huge fan for you two." I laughed at that one, "No, you're the one who called your friend to bring over a fan to help the paint dry." He crossed his arms and kicked his feet up on a bucket, "Just get back to work." Bossy, much? I glared at him that silently told him to shut his trap. He mumbled a sorry as I turned to observe my artwork one last time, moving on to paint her name in bubble letters. Time flew and the clock struck 2AM, Darci and I were still painting. Justin had fallen asleep in the chair and Kal was sleeping in the floor with a hammer in his hand from helping with creation of a changing table. "Just leave him here, he can keep Justin company." I joked as we both stumbled to my room where we both crashed on my bed, passing out instantly.