8. Laila
Laila
My head is pounding. I crack my eyes open and the onslaught of the bright sun streaming through my curtains makes the thumping in my head more intense.
The room is spinning slightly but just enough to make me nauseous.
I send a quick thanks to past Laila who had the forethought to leave Advil and a glass of water on my nightstand.
I pick the Advil up and pop two of the pills into my mouth and drink all of the water.
I groan and force myself out of bed and to my bathroom to do my morning routine.
Shower. Teeth brushed. Skin care. Moisturize.
I feel slightly better after all of that but my head is still pounding.
I open the door to my bedroom and walk out to the living room and kitchen.
Zara is in the kitchen, humming to herself.
“Morning.”
“Good morning,” Zara says with a smile that drops as soon as she turns around and sees me. “Oh boo, you look rough.”
I glare at her as I sit in one of the stools at the kitchen island. “You’re chipper this morning.”
“Good dick will do that to you,” she replies, a mischievous look in her eyes. “Which I thought you would relate to this morning buuut..”
After Bryce left to hang out with his friends I went back downstairs to find Zara.
One of her guys, Aaron I think, or maybe Ashton?
Shit, I can’t remember the man’s name. We danced and drank but eventually I was ready to go home.
Zara offered to leave with me but she was still having a good time so I told her to stay with Ashton/Aaron and I took a rideshare home by myself.
“Oh shut up,” I say laughing. “I didn’t sleep with Bryce.”
“Wait a minute.” Zara turns to face me with an accusing finger pointed at me. “Don’t think you’re getting out of talking about him. Why didn’t you tell me you had run into him again?”
“I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t want to make it a big deal.”
“It is a big deal though.”
I groan and lay my head on my arm on the counter. “You sound like him.”
“Well then both of us are right because that doesn’t just ‘happen’.”
“People run into each other all the time. It’s nothing special.”
“So running into a fine ass celebrity multiple times has happened to you before.”
“Well no, but -”
“Exactly!” she says, cutting me off. “You’re acting all nonchalant like its normal shit for you.”
“It doesn’t matter what it is because I’m not interested in making it anything and neither is he.”
“His fine ass is definitely interested in you.”
“Shut up, no he’s not.”
“Friend, I saw the way he was staring you down across that table. I’m not tryna hear any of that. He looked like he would’ve taken you right then and there on that table if you said you were down.”
“Zara!” I exclaim.
“What?” she says, shrugging. “I’m just telling you what I saw.”
“No matter what you saw it’s not happening. He said he just wants to be friends.”
“So if he just wants to be friends and that’s what you want too, why is your face all scrunched up.”
I relax my face, now acutely aware of the frown I was making. “This is why I didn’t want to talk to you about him.”
“You didn’t want me to call you out on your bullshit. I get that. But as your best friend it’s kinda a part of my job description.”
My phone dings with notifications and I grab my phone to check them.
“I bet you that’s him right there.”
I’m glad that I didn’t take her up on that bet because there it is right at the top of my notifications, a text from Bryce. My face must give it away because Zara does a little shoulder shimmy and says in a singsong voice, “I told you.”
sonny
I want to see you again. What are you doing today?
Friend.
“He wants to see me again,” I say, chewing on my bottom lip.
“Why do you look so upset about that?”
“I’m not upset, I'm just…”
I let my sentence trail off because I have no idea what I feel. Anxious? Nervous? Confused? Shit, all of the above? I take a deep breath and lock my phone, leaving him on read.
“I’m not upset because I’m not going to see him again,” I say.
“Why not?” Zara asks, confused.
“Because I,” I pause, grasping for a reason, any reason. “Just because!”
“Oh shit, you like him,” Zara says in a singsong voice.
“I do not! I don’t even know him.”
“Then give me one good reason why you don’t want to see him again. You’ve apparently been texting him for weeks. And ‘just because’ is not a good reason.”
“If you really don’t want to go then don’t, you know I will always support your decisions,” Zara says. “But I think you’re just scared of whatever this ‘thing’ is between you two. And you shouldn’t let that stop you.”
I let out a deep sigh, making up my mind and pick up my phone. I type a quick text.
me
What did you have in mind?
sonny
I was thinking brunch
***
I am still unsure about being friends with Bryce but even with all my reservations, I wanted to see him again too. So I agree to brunch because ‘if a nigga wants to wine and dine you, who are you to stop him?’. Zara’s words, not mine but she’s not wrong.
Bryce sends me the address and I look it up when I see it's a place I’ve never been to before in downtown Rosewood. The weather has warmed up enough that all of the snow has melted so my train ride and walk to the restaurant isn’t bad.
He told me that it would be private and that I didn’t have to worry about anything, but my guard is still up when I reach the restaurant.
I open the door and step in, expecting the loud hustle and bustle of other people eating and being served but I’m met with just the soft background music of the restaurant.
The dining room is completely empty. Off to my right a couple of employees are talking and laughing while they roll silverware in napkins.
One of them notices me and steps away from the group towards me.
“Laila?”
“Um, yeah,” I reply. “I was supposed to meet someone here, but I must have got the address wrong.”
“Nope you’re in the right place, follow me,” he says.
He leads me to the back of the restaurant to a secluded area.
When we step through the glass doors, my breath catches.
The room has windows on three of the walls and the roof, allowing tons of natural light to filter in.
Plants and greenery are all over the room, in planters, hanging from the ceiling, climbing up the trellises against the walls.
It’s magical. I’m sure the space is usually filled with multiple tables but today there’s only one, right in the middle and sitting in one of the chairs is Bryce with a big smile on his face.
The hostess leads me to the table before he leaves, telling us that our server will be with us in a minute.
Bryce stands and walks around to my side of the table to pull out my chair for me and the act catches me off guard.
A guy has never done that for me before.
I unzip my coat and slide my arms out, hanging it on the back of my chair.
Bryce takes his own seat and just looks at me, his eyes locking intently with mine. My face heats and I try hard to stop the physical reaction I feel from Bryce’s eyes on me, but my body decides not to listen.
“So, what do you think?” Bryce asks.
I take another look around, admiring the beauty of the room before I respond.
“It’s really pretty. I know you said it would be private, but I wasn’t expecting you to empty out the entire restaurant.”
“You stated your conditions. And I wanted to see you again so I found a way to make it happen.”
I check my nonexistent watch. “It's been like 12 hours.”
“My point still stands.”
I jokingly roll my eyes at him and he chuckles. Our waitress comes up to our table, setting down two glasses of water for us and handing us each a menu as well as a specials menu.
“Hi, I’m Charlotte, I’ll be taking care of you. Would you like anything else to drink? We have coffee, tea, fresh squeezed juice and mimosas.”
My stomach churns at the mention of more alcohol, my body barely recovered from last night’s drinking.
“Can I have some orange juice, please,” I say.
Charlotte nods and turns to Bryce for his response.
“I’ll have some orange juice as well and coffee, black.”
“Great, I'll go grab those and give you some time to look over the menu.”
We quietly look over our menus and place our order when Charlotte comes back with our drinks.
Bryce picks up his mug and I can’t help it when my face scrunches at the large sip of coffee he takes.
“What? You don’t like coffee?”
“No I do, I just like my coffee to not taste like coffee.”
“Oh so you want milk and sugar with a dash of coffee,” he says.
“Precisely, why would I ever want to drink that bitter bean juice straight.”
Bryce shakes his head, amused, and sets his mug down on the table.
Without the menu to occupy my hands I don’t know what to do with them, so I just fidget with them in my lap.
We sit in quiet, not talking and not looking at each other until Bryce clears his throat and I look up meeting his gaze and when our eyes lock, we both burst out laughing.
I laugh hard, at just how awkward things have started out, covering my face with my hands until the laughter subsides.
“Soooo,” Bryce says. “This is awkward huh.”
“You could say that.”
“I did all the work to get you here and then ain’t got shit to say.”
I giggle again. “Why don’t you tell me about you? We talked about me when we ran into each other but not about you.”
Bryce takes another sip of his coffee. “There’s not much to tell.
I finished my tour and decided not to resign with my label.
Well I guess I knew before it ended that I didn’t want to sign.
So I’ve just been on my own taking a break and then realized there wasn’t anything keeping me in LA anymore, so I moved back home to Chicago. ”
Our waitress, Charlotte, comes back to our table with our food, setting our plates down in front of us.
She asks if there’s anything else she can get for us before leaving again.
We pause our conversation to take our first bites of food.
I do a small happy dance when I take my first bite because the food is delicious and I was hungrier than I thought.
“Does that little dance mean I did a good job picking the restaurant?”
I hadn’t realized he was watching me.
“Nah don’t get bashful now,” Bryce says.
“That seems like a whole lot of change for you,” I say, changing the subject back to what we were talking about before.
He shoots me a look that tells me he knows what I’m doing, but he goes along with me anyway.
“In some ways it has been, but everything has just felt right. Making music will always have my heart, but I lost myself for a while.”
I nod in understanding. “I get that.”
“What about you? If that awkward silence told us anything, we really don’t know each other,” Bryce says. “You work for a beauty company right?”
“Yeah, I’ve worked there since my senior year in college. It was just an internship then, but the owner and I became really good friends so I accepted the job when she offered it after I graduated.”
“It sounds like you really like it.”
“Yeah I do,” I reply. “My job has kind of become my life lately, but I really enjoy the work that I do so I don’t mind.”
My phone rings, interrupting our conversation. I grab it from my purse but quickly decline the call when I see that it’s my mom.
“You can take that if you need to,” Bryce says.
“No it’s just my mom.”
I’m cut off by my phone ringing again. I sigh heavily and send my mom to voicemail again, certain that it isn’t anything I can’t deal with later.
This time I put my phone on ‘do not disturb’ before I drop it into my bag.
Anyone important will still be able to reach me, but she is not one of those people.
“I take it you guys aren’t close.”
I scoff. “You could say that. She usually only calls when she needs something from me.”
“Damn, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It is what it is,” I reply nonchalantly. “Are you close with your family?”
“For sure. My sisters are a lot older than me so sometimes it felt like I had three moms growing up but we all get along well.”
“What’s the age gap?”
“Lauryn is twelve years older than me and Shannon is thirteen years older,” Bryce says.
“Oh you’re really the baby and the only boy,” I say. “I bet you were spoiled rotten.”
“Shit, if you let my sisters tell it, hell yeah,” he says laughing. “According to them I could get away with murder and my parents wouldn’t have batted an eye.”
I giggle at his exaggeration. “So are you denying it?”
Bryce gives a devious grin. “I was an angel child and I deny all allegations otherwise.”
“That tells me all I need to know!” I say.
“Are you speaking from experience or are you just being a youngest child hater?”
“Hater? I would never,” I say, taking mock offense. “I grew up as an only child, but I have younger siblings on my dad’s side.”
“You firing shots at me is crazy considering you’ve probably never had to share anything in your entire life.”
“Oh whatever,” I reply laughing. “My sharing skills are just fine, thank you very much.”
Bryce grins, the dimples in his cheeks appearing.
Charlotte returns to clear away our empty dishes. She asks us if we need anything else but we both shake our heads no and she leaves again.
“Are you close with them?” Bryce asks.
“Hmm?” I ask, not sure what he’s referring to.
“Your dad and siblings.”
“Oh. Umm not really. My parents weren’t ever technically together and my dad moved to Texas when I was young so I never saw him that often. He got married a while ago and he and his wife had twins.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
I haven’t thought about my dad and his family in a while. Some sadness tries to creep up but I shrug it off, firmly pushing the emotions away.
“It's really not that big of a deal.”
“So, friend ,” Bryce says, shifting the conversation. “What do you have planned for the rest of the day?”
“Honestly, I don’t have much planned. I have some things for work to do, but nothing exciting.”
“Work on a Saturday, your job really is your life. We can’t have that,” Bryce says, tossing his napkin onto the table. “How about we go on an adventure instead.”
“Adventure?” I ask, confused. “What would we do on this adventure?”
“I would tell you but that would spoil all the fun.”
I chew on my bottom lip, unsure if I want to accept his offer or not. Bryce looks at me, waiting for a response and the hopeful look in his eyes sends flutters to my belly.
“I guess our adventure awaits.”