Chapter 21
Daniela
Crafts are not my thing. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.
Regardless, I’m doing my very best to help Layla bedazzle champagne bottles and table lanterns, and glue flowers to some giant letters.
Could all of this be bought in a store? Probably.
But she’s having fun with it, and I kind of am too.
Even if mine are turning out twice as bad.
“You’ve never been in love, have you?” Layla asks out of nowhere.
Yes, we’ve had one or two glasses of wine. We also made our own charcuterie board. It’s tasty, not pretty.
“No.”
“It’s not all bad, you know… ”
I roll my eyes and smirk at her. “I’m sure it isn’t. You two seem very happy. Liam is great.”
“He is,” she says grinning to herself. “What’s the longest relationship you’ve ever been in? Was it Jake the firefighter?”
I scoff. “I’d hardly call that a relationship. It lasted, like, two months, and we never made anything official. I don’t think I ever have with anyone. And he was already asking me to move in. I bolted out of there faster than that time we thought we saw One Direction in the wild.”
We both laugh at the memory.
“Why have I known you most of my life and I’m still surprised by this?” she ponders.
“I don’t know.”
“I think it’s because I know how loving you really are. How loyal you are. You’d be an amazing girlfriend, wife, whatever you wanted. Anyone would be lucky to have you.”
“Hey, I offered a couple weeks ago. You turned me down, remember?”
She laughs. “That’s right. Sorry. My answer is still no, though.”
“Damn.”
“How’s teaching going? Still liking it?”
“Yeah. It’s good. I only had, like, four students call me a bitch last year. So things are looking up,” I joke. It doesn’t get to me. I can handle those kids and all their angst. “And finishing my master’s last year was good. Maybe I’ll move into counseling one day. I don’t know.”
“You’d be amazing at that,” she says, her tone softening.
“Yeah. Maybe. We’ll see.”
“Miles would have loved that for you,” she says tenderly.
“I know.” I clear my throat, gluing another flower onto a letter. “Anyway. I guess, technically, if you count high school relationships, my longest was Luis.”
“Ooh, yeah. Luis. What a jackass.”
“Yeah. He only cheated on me with, like, three cheerleaders. Could’ve been worse,” I joke.
She laughs too, but then her expression turns more serious. “Not all of them are bad though, you know.”
“Yeah…I know. I think it might be me that’s the problem, to be honest.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I just…push everyone away. And I don’t know why. I never set out to be this way.”
“Maybe it’ll just take the right person to make you want to try. You never know.” She smiles, hopeful.
“Maybe,” I smile back.
I’m not sure I believe it.
After a moment, Liam walks in.
As usual, Layla’s face lights up. It’s the same for both of them—any time one of them enters a room, the other can’t help but brighten .
“Hey, honey,” she says, giving him a quick peck.
“Hey, Liam,” I add.
“So, the lake was fun the other day,” Liam remarks. He has a mischievous look on his face, and he’s directing it at me.
“Yeah…” I reply cautiously.
“Everyone had a good time…”
“Liam,” Layla says, eyeing him with a hint of amusement. “What are you up to?”
“Nothing,” he smirks. “Just seemed like everyone had a good time. That’s all.”
“We did,” I say, grinning. “My favorite part was when I pushed Dex into the water.”
“Yeah, that was good,” Liam chuckles. “Knocked him down a peg. That fucker.”
“You guys love to tease him,” I comment.
“Yeah well…obviously you know I grew up with the guy, and he’s like the best dude ever, but constantly shitting on each other is what we do. It’s how we show our love.”
“You guys are crazy,” Layla says. “We don’t do that.”
I nod in agreement, then turn my attention back to Liam. “Best dude ever, huh?”
“Yep,” Liam replies without hesitation.
“You only say that because he’s your best friend. You’re biased. Ethan said the same thing.” I roll my eyes and smirk at Layla.
“You’ll see,” Liam responds.
“Okay.”