Chapter 9:

The Lovato Home

Demi is sitting on her bed with her guitar. Since she has the day off, that's the only place she's been all day. She hasn't seen or spoken to Joe after their fight. She's trying to let out some of her frustrations in songs…deep, dark, angry songs…confused songs. She gets startled a little as her phone beeps. She stops playing and picks it up. She got a text…from Selena?

"Well, that's a number I haven't seen in ages!"

The text message reads:

"Hey Demi…look…we really need to talk. This is really serious. Please meet me. -Sel"

Demi is shocked by the fact that her long lost best friend finally texted her, but she is pleased by the fact that she is now trying to rekindle their friendship.

She quickly replies to Selena's text and gets up from her bed. She needs to get ready.

In Demi's car

Demi is on her way to meet Selena at a place. A selection of depressing songs are playing and she feels like she could cry. The long drive is giving her a lot of time to think. About her relationship with Joe. About Selena. About Taylor. The confusion is killing her.

The Restaurant

After a while, Demi pulls up into the restaurant's parking lot. She sees Selena's car in the corner of her eye. Since she hasn't seen Selena for ages…she feels kind of nervous…yet a little excited.

She takes a deep breath and enters the restaurant. She walks over to where Selena is sitting, texting someone on her phone.

"Hey…" Demi says cautiously as she stops by the table. Selena looks up from her phone and smiles.

"Demi! Hi! I'm really glad you came!" she replies and gives Demi a hug.

As they sit down, Demi can feel the awkwardness arising.

"So…what have you been up to?" Demi asks, trying to get the conversation going.

"Oh…well…I've been filming Monte Carlo the past few weeks, but I got the week off," Selena says with a smile.

"Oh yeah! I heard about that….it sounds awesome!" Demi says.

After about a half an hour of talking, they finally get to ordering.

After the waiter comes by and takes their orders, they start chatting again.

Demi now realizes that she really misses Selena…all their wacky handshakes…their 3am phone conversations…all the fun they had…she smiles to herself.

"So, what did you want to talk to me about?" she asks, remembering Selena's text.

"Well…first of all…you and Joe!" Selena says with a smile. Demi smiles faintly but the thought of them fighting makes her sad again.

"Yeah…me and Joe…hmmm"

"Well?" Selena says as she waits for Demi to start gushing on about him. No reply…Selena sees Demi's spaced out expression. She knows Demi too well to know that something is not right.

"Demi…" Demi faces Selena. Her face looks as if she's about to cry.

Demi tries hard to hold back the tears. Suddenly, she can feel a tear roll down her left cheek…she quickly wipes it away. She looks up and sees Selena's concerned face.

"I know what's going on…with you and Joe…" Selena says softly.

"It's ok to cry…" she says compassionately. Demi wipes off another tear and softly says, "How'd you know?"

Selena takes a deep breath…knowing that what she's about to say, might just change everything…

"Demi…Taylor is trying to sabotage your relationship with Joe…" she finally gets out.

Demi's tears stop coming. She freezes and looks up to Selena.

"What!" she says totally dumbfounded. She can't believe that Joe was right…

Selena nods slowly with a disappointed look on her face. Demi shakes her head in disbelief. Selena takes a deep breath…she thought about this moment a lot before now. She knows exactly what she's gonna say…

"I know our friendship kind of faded away…I got really close to Taylor after that…she was like my sister…"

Demi shakes her head and she can feel the anger in her arising.

"We started telling each other everything…" Selena continues, "Then…about three weeks ago…she came up to me and showed me a picture of you and Joe in a magazine. I told her to get over him, but she wouldn't listen. Last week, she called me and told me her plan…She was gonna become best friends with you…causing Joe to get angry and you guys to fight…and then…eventually…break-up… She would then be there to comfort Joe…and so on…" Selena finishes and looks down, feeling kind of guilty.

Everything is clear to Demi now.

The rage in her feels like bad heartburn…she can feel it building up inside.

"That bitch!" is the first thing Demi can get out.

"I can't believe I fell for it! Oh my God…I'm such an idiot! Ah! And now Joe hates me! No! She has ruined everything!" Demi starts ranting. Selena sits back in her seat because Demi's rage is coming out like a red hot flame.

"Calm down…relax…" she says.

"Joe doesn't hate you…I'm pretty sure of that…" she adds with a faint laugh.

"Taylor wanted me to take part in her shenanigans, but I refused…" she says bluntly.

Demi, who was still ranting on about Taylor being a bitch, stops talking and looks up.

"You know, your friendship is probably ruined now…" she says in a normal tone.

Seeing as Demi stopped ranting, Selena sits forward in her chair again. She rests her arms on the table and puts her face in her palms.

"I know…" she says with a sigh, "…but I really want to change the situation with us…you and me…I want our friendship back….back to the way it was…." she adds slowly.

Demi looks at Selena's sort of imploring face. She smiles faintly.

"Me too…" she replies. Selena lets out a gasp and Demi can see the tenseness in her shoulders fade away.

"I'm really sor—"

"Don't even worry about it…the past is the past, we'll keep it that way…" Demi interrupts her.

Selena smiles.

"Okay…now that that's out of the way…" Selena says and waddles in her chair, "…I'll help you with Joe."

"Thanks…." Demi says softly.

"It won't even be that hard…I mean it's totally obvious he's madly in love with you…" Selena says convincingly.

Demi can feel herself blushing a little and smiles faintly.