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“Yes, Baby,” she says automatically, getting up to come over to me. I can see the relief in her eyes as she leaves the room, and I tap my lips for payment with a wink.
Layla enthusiastically kisses me before leaning back with a grin. “What’s up, love?” she asks.
“You need a break,” I tell her, so low I’m barely moving my lips. Raising my voice, I say, “Your sister texted me, wanting to know if you could call her. She wants to know how things are going.”
There’s silence in the next room, and Layla’s eyes say volumes in response to her gratitude. I can tell she’s raw. This will give her some much needed space. I’m sure Lennon wants to know who her new bandmates are too.
I’m sure she’ll want Jordan’s head for it too.
Get him, Lenny.
“Thanks! I’ll go call her, and then figure out something for lunch. I’m starving,” Layla sighs with a smile. Leaving the room, she blows me a kiss before closing the door to our bedroom.
“Well, if that wasn’t masterful, I don’t know what was,” Draven murmurs from the doorway. Mav and Atlas can’t hear him as they have a conversation amongst themselves. “She was amazing just now.”
“Lay always is.” I shrug. “Her words are so personal, I think that’s where she gets tripped up on. There’s so much noise in her head, she second guesses everything.”
“I can see that,” he says, moving further into the room. “The song needs a name, but it’s about those two, huh?” Draven juts his chin in the direction of his friends and I nod. I’m not telling her secrets, it’s clear to anyone willing to pay attention.
“Layla had some inspiration,” I grunt. That’s an understatement, the poor girl was shaking from more than just the cold as she stabbed at the notebook paper last night. “There’s no shame in letting her recollect herself, and she probably really does need to talk to her sister about all of this.”
“The chick has a lot of talent, and she could have been petty, you know? Told her uncle to tell us all to shove off,” Draven says contemplatively.
“Layla isn’t like that at all,” I snort. “A part of it is that she’s the golden girl. Layla will make shit work even if it shouldn’t, especially if it’s work related. She doesn’t like to let people down.”
Mav’s head pops out as my words die away, and since I didn’t say anything wrong, I don’t feel badly about it.
“Is she gone?” he asks, his eyes tracking to the closed bedroom door.
“Yep,” I say, going back to working on the phones. I can multitask well.
“I just want to say that I’m not an idiot and neither is Atlas,” Mav begins as Atlas gets up to stand beside him. “We didn’t handle a lot of things right five years ago. Layla is complicated for us, but the truth is nothing has changed.”
“She’s twenty-six years old, and really has no business being with you either,” Atlas says, lips pursed in disgust. There’s nothing wrong with my relationship with Layla, because there’s no one else I would rather spend my life with. Feeling a bit annoyed on her behalf, I drop a bug in each of their phones, so that I can track their phone calls, texts, and everything they search or email.
Don’t piss off the nerd.
Handing back phones, I work on their computers. “Not to be rude, but you’re projecting,” I tell Atlas, adjusting my glasses. “Anyone who has two eyes in their head can see that Layla was meant to be mine. I understand her, know when to give her space, and have no problems letting her do her own thing.” Raising my gaze to theirs, I shrug. “Even when I know she may be making a mistake. Loving someone means loving them despite their mistakes or missteps. It’s how we learn.”
“Is that why you told her Lennon was texting her?” Atlas asks, brow raised.
“Yes, because you would have wanted to keep going through her notebook,” I snort. “She wrote a lot of songs last night before she fell asleep. She’s insanely hard on herself, so she’s going to tell you they’re shit when they’re not. They are, however, intense and full of unprocessed emotions.”
“It wasn’t a picnic for Mav or I, knowing we stirred up the chaos of her words, either,” Atlas sighs. “I figured it would be easier to ignore the pain she was experiencing when she wrote the song in an effort to help her score it to music.”
“It’s been five damn years, but there are moments when it feels as if it was yesterday,” Mav mutters. “I want to give her space, let her be. It’s just… are all of her songs like that?!”
“No,” I chuckle. “They are all emotional though. Layla feels everything deeper than other people. I think she’s very like her sister in this, and I feel comfortable drawing this comparison. However, her fans love her music. Sometimes it’s sultry, other times there’s something about it that makes you want to burn down the world.”
“Recording this is going to suck,” Atlas huffs. “The music is incredible, her voice is amazing, but the way she weaves her words together feel like a punch in the gut.”
“Sounds like you two deserve it, mates.” Draven shrugs. “I’m grateful we met, but finding out you’re cowards sucks.”
Walking off, he climbs into his bunk, closing himself off to the world. It’s the closest thing I imagine to a mic drop possible for him.
“Fucking great,” Mav sighs. “Another one is biting the dust. These interviews are going to be fucking interesting this week.”
Smirking as they take over the front of the bus, I finish up the work on their computers before starting on dinner for Layla and I. At the last minute I have a change of heart and make a big pan of chicken enchiladas. They’re my little flower’s favorite, and I have a feeling comfort food will help.
