Stray

by Solveig Yrsa

  Layla tried to listen as Samantha told the operator where they were but she could feel her panic level rising. Was she dying? She began to try to get up but Samantha pulled her back down and leaned Layla back against her chest. “You have to calm down,” Samantha said soothingly. “I know you feel like you can’t breathe, Lay, but listen to me, you panicking is going to make it worse. Lean against me and try to take slow breaths. I hear the sirens, they’re coming, just keep breathing.”

  Layla tried to do what Samantha said, she was starting to feel dizzy and she felt like she was about to pass out before she heard people running over to them. Layla looked over and saw the two paramedics kneel down in front of her. She was trying to listen but there was a ringing in her ears that was making it impossible to hear. She saw Samantha’s mouth moving, she must’ve told them what was wrong because they started moving. One paramedic placed a mask over her nose and mouth, while the other took her blood pressure and stuck a device on her finger to measure her pulse and oxygen in her blood. It wasn’t long after that they lifted her onto the stretcher and wheeled her to the ambulance.

  Layla kept trying to take her mask off to talk to Samantha. “Ma’am,” the paramedic said sternly. “You are in the middle of what appears to be a severe asthma attack, you have to leave this on.”

  Layla locked eyes with Sam and held her right hand up, putting her thumb across her second and third fingers, she then stuck her two fingers out. “What are you doing, Lay?”

  The paramedic noticed. “S-P-… it looks like she’s signing something.”

  “Oh, Spencer? I’m going to call him as soon as we get there. Don’t worry about it, babe.”

  ***

  Spencer rolled his stiff neck as he looked away from the screen. With Layla training for the marathon and studying for her driver’s exam, they hadn’t had much time together, but on the plus side, he was flying through his new book. He stood up and stretched as he walked out of his room, he walked down the hall and tapped on Layla’s door. “Hey, Lay, you want to go grab some lunch?” He opened the door but saw no one. He raised a brow when he saw the clothes she had picked out for the day still folded on the edge of her bed. “Weird, they’re usually back by now,” he muttered, then jumped when his phone rang from his pocket. He grabbed it, and when he saw Samantha’s name, he instantly got a bad feeling.

  “Samantha?”

  “Okay listen, don’t freak out, Layla is in the ER.”

  Spencer’s heart sank, he instantly ran down the stairs and to the garage. “WHAT HAPPENED?” he roared as he jumped into his Land Rover and sped off.

  “I don’t know exactly, we were running and I think she may’ve had an asthma attack. I didn’t know she had asthma.”

  Spencer thought for a moment. “No, she’s never had an inhaler except for when she was sick in the hospital. But the doctor said it was temporary and should clear up. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” He hung up his phone and continued to speed through the streets to get to the hospital.

  When he arrived, he parked his vehicle and ran into the entrance where he found Samantha waiting for him. “Where is she?”

  Samantha pointed to the room down the hall. “Room 17, I’m waiting on Liam.”

  Spencer ran into the room and saw Layla lying in the bed with a mask on her face and an IV in her hand. “Oh, sweetheart.” He walked over to hold her hand and kissed the top of her head. “What happened?”

  Layla looked at him with tired eyes. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “I haven’t been running well lately, and today I felt like I couldn’t breathe. Sam said it sounded like her mom with asthma?”

  Spencer pulled up a chair and sat next to her. “Well don’t worry, whatever it is, we will get it figured out and you’ll be good as new.”

  Layla gave him a chuckle. “I would believe you more if your face wasn’t so scrunched up.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m a natural worrier.”

  Layla rolled her eyes. “You? Really? I had no idea.”

  “Was that sarcasm, my dear?” Spencer laughed at the pale girl before squeezing her hand. “I finished a great deal more of the book, I was hoping to take you out to dinner to get a break from it. Guess that might be out of the question.”

  Layla sighed. “Sorry, kind of screwed up our first official date then, didn’t I?”

  Spencer looked at her. “Holy shit, I haven’t taken you out yet. What a shitty boyfriend.”

  Layla’s eyes widened and she looked at him. “You’re my boyfriend?”

  Spencer raised a brow. “Well, I thought I was, but judging by your tone, I’m thinking I may be wrong.”

  Layla shook her head. “No, I mean… we just never discussed what we were… we’ve never been out, you never said you wanted me to be your… girlfriend.” She muttered the last part. Spencer went to respond but the doctor walked in and interrupted their conversation.

  “Alright, Miss Williams, it appears that you had a very severe asthma attack. It says here that you were training for a marathon when the attack occurred? Now, you can most certainly run with asthma, but only if you have it under control. You have to keep your inhaler with you at all times.”

  Spencer stood up to silence the doctor that was lecturing Layla. “Layla didn’t know she had asthma.”

  The doctor raised a brow and looked down at the computer he held in his hand. “It says here that you were hospitalized back in April for, oh wow, several very severe illnesses, but it says that the doctor then mentioned to you that you should see a pulmonologist.”

  Layla looked at Spencer and shrugged. “I don’t know what that is now, there’s no way I would’ve then.” She looked at the doctor. “I was homeless until then, so obviously I didn’t do what I should’ve.”

  The doctor sighed and started typing. “Alright, I want to keep her overnight just to make sure the medication that we are giving her continues to help open her airways. I recommend scheduling an appointment with a pulmonologist, I will put orders in for a couple of inhalers in the meantime.” The doctor turned to leave.

  Layla looked at Spencer. “What…what does that mean? What’s an inhaler?”

  Spencer patted her leg. “It’s nothing scary, don’t worry, it will just help you in case this ever happens again.”

  Layla laid her head back and sighed as she looked at Spencer’s worried and exhausted face. “Stop looking so upset, you’re making me nervous.”

  Spencer snapped his head up and gave her a smile. “I’m not upset, just thinking. Close your eyes and get some sleep.” Once Layla did as he asked, Spencer went back to thinking. How was he going to trust that Layla would take this seriously? What if she forgot her inhaler and was alone next time? He wanted to explain everything to her so that she was aware, but he knew how sensitive she was, and the last thing he wanted was to scare her. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair, a shot sounded amazing, he patted his jacket for his flask, even though he knew it wasn’t there. He hadn’t used it in months. Hell, he hadn’t had any alcohol since before Layla’s birthday, he knew she didn’t like it and so he tried to stop, but right now, his old habit seemed comforting. He looked at the slumbering girl and reached out to grab her small, pale hand and placed it in his large, tan one.

  ***

  Layla sighed as she sat on the couch flipping through the channels on the television. It had been three days since they discharged her. She had an appointment with a doctor the following day who, after several tests, said that she definitely had asthma. So now she had to carry around her inhaler and couldn’t exercise until she had her asthma under control. Of course, Spencer took that as, she was not allowed to move without his permission.

  She turned off the television and sat the remote on the coffee table before getting up. She had been stuck watching television, alone, for three days. Liam was at the hospital or with Jensen, Samantha was working extra hours, and Spencer had been at the hospital with his mom because she had to get a port put in and had an all day round of
chemo. Walking out of the living room, she bumped into John. “Oh, sorry, John,” she laughed lightly.

  “Miss Layla, what are you doing up?”

  She sighed, Spencer had put John on babysitting duty, and every time she stood up, he was right there. “John, I’m so bored, can I please just go sit outside?”

  John shook his head. “I’m afraid not, miss. You could have an asthma attack out there, and I can’t let that happen on my watch.”

  Layla rolled her eyes. “You have to sleep sometime,” she muttered while heading to the steps.

  “You’d be surprised just how little I actually need to sleep, miss.”

  ***

  Spencer helped his mother up the front steps, her frail body was weak and shaking. As he opened the door, he was greeted with John. “I’ll carry her, Sir.” Spencer helped get Catherine situated in John’s arms. “Miss Layla is in her room, I had to stop her from going out, again.”

  Spencer sighed and rolled his eyes. “Thanks John,” he said before running up the stairs and going to Layla’s room. He opened the door and saw her sitting at her desk chair reading his second book. “Hey.”

  Layla looked up and smiled brightly.

  “How are you?” he asked as he walked in and sat on the bed.

  “I’m fine, extremely bored.” Spencer chuckled and laid his head on her pillow. “How’s Catherine?” Layla asked while closing her book.

  “Tired, sick, weak, in pain, the usual. She’ll be fine after a couple of days. The home nurse that she and I actually like is going to be here in a few hours and will be helping me care of Mom so that I can get some sleep.”

  Layla sat on the edge of the bed and furrowed her brows, though Spencer couldn’t see her face due to his arm being slung over his eyes. “Why didn’t you ask me to help?” she asked.

  “Because you don’t know how to help?” The words came out snappier than Spencer meant for them to. He was exhausted and starving and just not in the mood for talking.

  “Well, I’ll let you sleep,” she whispered and stood up.

  Reaching out, Spencer grabbed her wrist and looked at her. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  Layla gave him a smile and nodded. “It’s fine.” That was a lie, but he looked exhausted and she felt bad for him. She bent over and pressed her lips over his cheek. “Just take a nap. I promise I won’t do anything.”

  Spencer gave her a tired smile. “Thank you,” he said before closing his eyes.

  Layla walked out of her room and sighed, what was she going to do now? She headed down the stairs and went to the study. Once inside, she looked at the burgundy leather chairs sitting in the middle of the room. She walked over to the large wooden table and grabbed a pencil and a notebook before taking a seat in one of the chairs. She opened the notebook and started practicing different words, shortly after she started drawing the outline of an eye. She liked to draw, she thought she was okay at it. Though she didn’t have much to compare it to, but she used to sketch if she found a writing utensil and paper and would try to sell the drawings.

  Spencer gasped as he woke up. He hadn’t remembered falling asleep. He looked around the dark room and realized he was in Layla’s bed. He turned on her light and looked at his Rolex and saw it was 8:30pm. “Shit, I’ve been asleep over three hours.” He got up and opened the door. He was about to head to his mom’s room but he heard Vanessa, his mother’s home nurse, talking with her and decided not to bother them. Instead, he headed downstairs, he was starving and figured Layla may want to go grab some dinner. He looked at his phone and scrolled through all the messages he had, he wasn’t paying attention and ran right into someone, causing them to fall. He looked down and saw Layla, on the floor, covered in food.

  “Holy shit, I’m so sorry.” He kneeled down and looked at the girl who was still trying to piece together what had happened.

  “Umm… yeah it’s okay.” She started picking up the food off the floor and placing it on the plastic plates. “So, that was your dinner I had made,” she said pointing at the lunchmeat on the floor.

  “Well, don’t I feel like a dick.” Spencer helped clean up the mess and followed her to the kitchen. “I’m really sorry,” he apologized again. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  Layla smiled and shook her head. “No, silly, I’m fine.”

  “Well let me make it up to you, I’ll take you out for dinner.” Spencer couldn’t help but smile when he saw how she lit up.

  “You mean, like a date?”

  He chuckled, this wasn’t how he envisioned their first official date, but he couldn’t say no to her when she looked that excited. “Yep, go get dressed in something that doesn’t have mustard on it, and we will head out.”

  She looked down at her shirt that was covered in condiments from the fallen sandwich. “Okay, give me a minute.” She ran upstairs and wished like hell Sam was there to help her. She quickly stripped down to her bra and panties and ran to her closet, grabbing a black, long-sleeved high neck shirt, and a thin-strapped button down black and white plaid dress. She put on the clothes, the dress stopped mid-thigh, so she decided to wear a pair of charcoal gray high knee boots, then she fluffed her hair and ran out of the room.

  “Is this okay?” she asked running down the steps.

  Spencer looked at her and his mouth dropped. “You did that in ten minutes? Holy crap, yeah, you look beautiful.” Layla blushed and smiled as she followed him out to his mustang.

  “Anything special you feel like eating?” he asked as he drove out of the gate.

  Layla shrugged. “What do people usually eat on dates?” The only other date she had to go on was Landon’s, and she did not want to revisit that.

  Spencer shrugged. “Anything from steak to sushi to pizza to burgers.”

  Layla thought for a moment. “Hotdogs,” she finally answered.

  Spencer let out a laugh. “What? You want hotdogs?”

  Layla nodded. “I’ve never had one, I saw a commercial for hotdogs yesterday, I want a hotdog.”

  “Well, alright, I guess we’re eating hotdogs.” Spencer drove a few more miles before arriving at a burger restaurant. Once he parked the car, they walked in and up to the cashier, who could not stop staring at Layla. Spencer glared at the man and stood between Layla and the guy’s gaze.

  Spencer ordered Layla’s hotdog and got himself a burger before they took their seats.

  “If that asshole doesn’t stop staring at you, I’m going to rip his eyes out.”

  Layla raised a brow. “Do I look weird? Why is he looking at me?”

  Spencer’s glare went from the cashier to Layla. “Look weird? You look gorgeous, that’s why he’s looking.”

  Layla blushed. “Oh, well okay.”

  Said cashier walked over with their tray of food and placed it on their table. “Excuse me,” Layla smiled at him. “I appreciate that you think I’m pretty, but I’m on a date with him and it’s making him feel awkward, so if you could please stop staring at me?”

  The young man turned red and ran away, making Spencer bust out laughing. “Lay, sweetheart, you can’t just say that…”

  Layla looked around, obviously confused. “You…you said that he was looking at me, was I not nice?”

  Spencer smiled at her and rubbed her hand. “No, you were nice, it’s just, people aren’t usually as upfront and honest as you, so people won’t always take it as nice.”

  She looked down at her food. “I feel bad now, I didn’t mean to sound mean, I just wanted us to have a good date.”

  Spencer got up from his seat and walked around the table, sitting in the space next to her. “Hey, don’t be upset. It was fine, and I thought it was sweet. All the other girls I’ve dated would’ve liked that I was jealous or uncomfortable, and probably would’ve flirted with the guy to piss me off. You didn’t. You saw I was upset and you fixed it. I really appreciate it.”

  Layla nodded. “I still don’t know why you want to date me, you have so
much more experience with this stuff. I feel like I’ll always be playing catch up.”

  Spencer frowned, he looked at the little menu on their table advertising their new very berry milkshakes. “Lay, what does that say?” he asked gesturing to the menu. She looked up and scanned it for a moment.

  “Try our new very berry milkshake for a l…limited time.”

  Spencer kissed her temple. “Good job, there was a time, not long ago, that you couldn’t have gotten past the first word, now look at you. So I’m further along than you, who cares? You’re better than me at so many things it’s ridiculous, and I feel like I’ve got to play catch up to you.”

  Layla took one of his fries and popped it in her mouth. “What could I possibly be further along in?”

  Spencer sighed and playfully rolled his eyes. “Well, the big one is, you’re a good person,” he said as he slid back to his side of the table and grabbed his burger.

  Layla shook her head. “I’m not, but thanks for thinking that.” She bit into her hotdog and smiled. “This is delicious!” she said with a mouthful of food. Spencer chuckled and shook his head as they continued to eat their meal.

  Once they finished and walked out into the cool night, Layla stretched and smiled. “That was great, thanks for taking me.”

  Spencer smiled back. “Sure, no problem. Maybe next time I’ll take you to a nice restaurant.”

  Layla raised a brow as they walked to the car. “Why would that matter? I went on a date in a fancy restaurant, I hated it.”

  Spencer’s mood darkened as he thought about Landon. “Let’s not rehash that, I might break something,” he muttered as they reached the car.

  Layla stopped and looked around. “Let’s go for a walk, we passed a park when we drove here.”

  Spencer looked down at her. “You shouldn’t be exerting yourself.” He was met with an eye roll.

  “Please, I’ll walk really slow.”

  “Did you bring your inhaler?”

  Layla made a face and smacked her head. “Shoot, I forgot it.”

  It was Spencer’s turn to roll his eyes as he got in his car and pulled one out of his gym bag that was in the back seat. “Don’t count on me always having one, they aren’t supposed to be left in the car.” He shoved the inhaler in his pocket and motioned for her to start walking.