by A. L. Wood
“So what are you going to do now to win her over?” Gages asks, as if I already have another plan in motion.
“I don’t know, other than telling her flat out that she’s mine. Mind you I really want to. If I thought it would work on her, I would do it in a second and if Liam actually returned my calls, I think I would be able to have a better chance.”
“How in the world could Liam help you?” Gage and Zepp ask at the same exact time.
“She obviously spends most of her time with him.” I say with distaste. “I could ask him what frilly female shit she likes. Maybe I could go all out and do something that would impress her. I have to fix what happened earlier. If I don’t, I have a feeling she won’t give me a shot again.”
“I’ll try reaching Liam. Maybe I can get him to set something up. A chance meeting between the two of you. But you better think of something fast to win her over.” Gage suggests.
I nod my head in agreement.
“Well try to get ahold of Liam, and in the meantime, I’ll put some plans in motion. I’m going to go lay down. This woman makes me exhausted just arguing with her.”
I find my way to my room. Shutting the door behind me, I slip off my shoes and lay down in the lonely king size bed. I fold my arms beneath my head, and ponder what it is that I could do to win this frustratingly beautiful woman over.
Thinking back to the first time we met on stage. Before we sung together, she had told me she hated my music because it had no soul. If I wasn’t already angered by her nose being so high above the clouds, that comment would have done it.
It’s strange how one can go from immense dislike, to attraction so fierce that I lose all control of my thoughts in her presence. The woman infuriates me, but she doesn’t take my shit. She has no problem calling me out, and I know she isn’t as untouched she likes to pretend.
Deep down I have a sickening feeling in my stomach that her overdose had my name on it. That I was the reason behind it, even though a little part of me is wishing it isn’t so.
I have to fix her, us. Myself.
Maybe Liam could get her to meet me somewhere that I could at least set up my guitar and sing. I could write a song just for her. I sit up and pull out the old used ratty notebook that I carry with me everywhere I travel. I take the pen out of the spiral holder and start writing, the song I have named Last Chance.
“I can make it right between us
To you my love I profess
Stop holding onto that stubborn stance
And give me one last chance…”
Chapter 23
Layla
Something is seriously going on inside of Nat’s head. Since we have moved here now almost over one year ago, she has never once just taken off without sending me at least a text message. After coming home to what I did weeks ago, her laying on her bed unresponsive, it worries me that she’s closing up like this, to me of all people.
Liam had come up and told me she was right behind him, maybe she was waiting on the elevator. Fifteen minutes later we’re searching the complex, and he’s on his cell calling his idiotic bandmates. They hadn’t seen her, so we figured we would wait it out.
Three hours later she walks in the door as if nothing had happened, and she excuses herself to go to bed. I know that she wasn’t telling the truth, when she said she just went for a walk. The girl was a mess. Her shirt was inside out, and she had bed head going on.
If Liam for one second believes the story she made up, then he isn’t half as smart as I gave him credit for. I sit back down on the couch and start flicking through the channels, waiting for Natalie to fall asleep.
I am going to get to the bottom of this once and for all.
Once I think it’s safe to start giving Liam the third degree, I start by making small talk.
“Today was hot as a bitch huh?”
“Yup.”
I can tell he has something heavy weighing on his mind, by his short answer. Normally he would go on and on about how intolerable the heat was here.
“Alright, I’m just going to cut the bullshit out of the middle.” I say, while turning the television off then turning my head toward him. “What are you not telling me?”
“Nothing. There is nothing to tell.” He replies again shortly.
“Okay then, tell me how the doctors went.”
“It went fine.” He answers back, dismissively.
“Liam I am not stupid. You’re not answering me truthfully, and frankly it offends me that you think I would be blinded by your short attempts at an answer.” I say, ignoring his outright denials.
He won’t even look me in the eye while answering. He’s bluntly looking everywhere else.
“Just get off my fucking back Layla. Jesus. I. Do. Not. Have. Anything. To. Tell. You.” He punctuates each word with certainty.
“Okay, you might not have anything to tell me, but my instincts tell me that your Princess has something to tell me. So just spit it out now. You know I have known Natalie my entire life, and I only want the best for her. I would like to know today what it is, so I can go on about fixing whatever mess she’s in.”
“There is no fixing it.” He pauses. “What’s done is done.”
He stands up to walk away.
“You think you can run away from me after what you just said? Just fucking tell me!”
“She’s pregnant!” He rubs the back of his neck. “There, are you happy now that you know?”
My jaw drops. What? When? How? Natalie is a virgin. Why wouldn’t she tell me? Oh my God.
“Are you the father?”
He puts his hand to his chest in disbelief that I would ask. Well, he and Nat are close, and they do share the same bed every night.
“Are you serious?” He asks feigning shock.
“Yes. I see the way that she looks at you and you her. It’s not a far-fetched idea. So are you the father?”
“No. There is absolutely no chance that I could be the father.” He says with sullen eyes.
“Then who the hell is?”
Liam hesitates to answer me and looks to the floor.
“Just tell me, who is the father?” I ask again.
“Ryan.” He says so low, I almost missed it.
“Oh. My. God. Ohmygod. Ohmygod. What was she thinking? How did this happen? When did she sleep with him?”
He walks into the kitchen area, and I follow him. He takes a glass out of the cabinet and turns the faucet on, filling it with water, procrastinating from giving me an answer.
“Stop prolonging the answer. It’s hard enough imagining Nat being attracted to anyone, least of all Ryan. When did she sleep with him?” I say, wanting to get to the bottom of this.
He sits his glass down on the counter and looks me in the eye.
“The day you found her?”
“Yes…”
“The night before.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Is he why she tried killing herself? I’m going to fucking kill him!” I yell.
“Listen, don’t rush to judgment. I don’t have all of the answers. The only one who has those is Natalie. She refuses to talk about it. I have had to put together the answers myself. Natalie would only tell me that Ryan is the father, and when I try questioning Ryan about Natalie, he won’t tell me anything. But I’ve put two and two together, the timing of her running away, the pregnancy. All of it makes sense now.” Liam explains.
“Not counting the way she came in tonight, she didn’t just take a walk. Something happened.”
“I knew she was lying, and our best bet is that it had something to do with Ryan.” He agrees.
“What are we going to do? Does she want to be with Ryan? These secrets that she’s keeping are only going to eat at her. We need to help her Liam.”
“Maybe an intervention type of thing?” Liam proposes.
“She can’t keep lying, or holding it in. Especially now when she’s pregnant. She has to tell him, if she hasn’t already.”
“I alre
ady suggested that to her. She wants to wait. For what, I have no idea. So when do you want to do this?” He asks.
“Tomorrow. I don’t have to work, so hopefully we can sort this mess out and figure out what she’s thinking.”
“Okay. I’m headed to bed. Tomorrow it is.” Liam says, as he makes his way out of the kitchen.
I watch Liam walk down the hallway to Natalie’s bedroom. Needing air, I step out onto the balcony that’s off the living room. I slide the door shut behind me.
My heart is hurt, that Nat obviously didn’t trust me enough to come to me. If I had known that Ryan had a responsibility in her hospitalization, I would have beat his ass weeks ago. I would have driven to Boston myself, had she called me the second something went down.
You ever have one of those days, where you wish that you could simply forget the past and wish others around you would forget too? So that you could move on with life, get over the pain. Overcome the struggle of living again. I feel like that every single day, even though I know it’s not reality.
I can only imagine that I feel a fraction of the pain that Nat does, pain she has never hidden from me. Pain that I hide from her. Day after day I try lending my strength to her to take one more step, one more leap into life. My heart feels betrayed. That she would feel more comfortable going to Liam and disclosing any of this to him.
Not me.
The one who has been there for her, her entire life.
Chapter 24
Liam
I had no place in telling Layla that Natalie was pregnant, but I couldn’t hold it back from her. She deserves to know, and Natalie needs that kind of support from another woman. As often as Ryan angers me, or upsets me, the guy is my best friend. It’s something that Natalie has come to terms with, not so much Layla.
I can’t share in the conversation about hurting him, or hating him. Even if Natalie felt that way, I could never share those same sentiments. I shut the door to Natalie’s room and glance over to her sleeping form. In sleep, she looks so peaceful. I wish I knew how to make sure she knew the same form of peace when she was awake.
I grab my bag from Natalie’s closet and walk into the bathroom, shutting the door behind me to change into flannels for bed. Before pulling my jeans off, I take my cellphone out of my pocket and place it on the bathroom sink counter.
As I pull my flannel pajama pants on, my cell starts vibrating on the counter. I glance at the screen and see that Zepp is calling me. Well at least it’s a break from Ryan. I pick up my phone to answer.
“Hey.”
I can hear Zepp hushing someone in the background, and I am really hoping it’s not Ryan.
“Listen, Ryan came in here not long ago looking a mess. The guy is torn up.”
I cut him off.
“Ryan’s a mess? Maybe you should have been here to see Princess walk in. The girl is split in two.”
“Dude, you know Ryan. He’s never had to work at all getting a girl. This is all new to him.” Zepp says, defending Ryan.
“Yeah well he could just as easily move on from her. She’s not one to be playing games. She has too much going on.”
“Liam I don’t think you’re getting what I’m saying man. Ryan isn’t playing games. He thinks she’s the one.”
“What?” I ask, utterly dumbfounded.
“He feels that she’s the one. He hasn’t been the same since she ran off in Albany. You would see that, if you stopped in once in a while. He’s a walking mess. The only time he wasn’t, was right before he had planned to see her.”
“And we see how that ended.” I state.
“Anyways, I was calling because I think that you should help him. Give the guy a chance. If he fucks it up again, then it’s on him. You’re in a position to help him. Ryan said she barely leaves the house, only for some doctor appointment.”
“How do you suppose I help him?” I ask.
“When’s her next appointment? I can make sure that he’s there. I’ll make it clear that he better do something big, and not fuck it up in the process.”
I think back to earlier, at Natalie’s doctor office. They had her set up an appointment for her first ultrasound. There’s no way she wouldn’t tell Ryan by then.
“She has an appointment in two months. That’s the only one scheduled so far.” I suggest.
“That should give him more than enough time to think of something.”
“Okay. Give me a minute I’ll find her appointment card and text you over the date. It’s sometime in October.”
“Thanks Liam. Later” Zepp says, before disconnecting the call.
I hope that whatever Ryan comes up with doesn’t make me regret this.
Chapter 25
Natalie
As usual, I wake up alone. I toss the covers off of me and grab some clothes from my dresser. I step into the bathroom to change out of yesterday’s clothes, and neaten my hair a little before I walk into the kitchen.
Looking at myself in the mirror, I can see a light purplish bruise in the valley of my neck. I hadn’t realized he had bitten me hard enough to leave a mark. I run back into my bedroom to grab a shirt that would cover it up. Just to make sure Layla, nor Liam, will ask any questions.
I throw the new shirt on and step into the hallway to go to the kitchen. I can hear Liam and Lals talking quietly, but as soon as I step into the kitchen to make my coffee, they immediately stop.
The silence is deafening.
“Go on with your discussion. I’m only here to grab a cup of coffee.” I say, implying that they had stopped talking because I entered the room.
“Nat it’s not what you think, but maybe after you get your coffee in, we could talk?” Layla says.
“Sure.” I say, wondering what’s going on.
I take a coffee cup out of the cupboard, and turn the Keurig on. While waiting for the water to warm up, I grab the creamer and milk out of the refrigerator, all the while Liam and Layla stay silent.
Once I finish my cup of Joe, Layla starts first.
“Liam told me.” She spits out.
I look at Liam in anger. I know what she’s talking about. “How could you?”
Before he has a chance to reply, Layla jumps on.
“What do you mean how could he? I’m your best friend Nat, or at least I used to be. What happened to the time you used to come to me with everything? We never hide anything from each other. Something this big Nat, you should have come to me. And Ryan? You should have told me about him. Why didn’t you?”
“For one Layla, you liked Steele. If I remember correctly, you made a not so subtle hint that you wanted to join us when you could at certain stops, so you could try to seduce him. You practically drooled over an album cover that had him on it.”
“Nat that doesn’t mean shit. I thought the man was sexy, I still do. It doesn’t mean that I would go after him, if you and he had something going on. Also, it still doesn’t explain you keeping it from me for so long.”
“I really thought you would have been upset.”
“I don’t think that’s the whole story. We need to sort this out. You’re pregnant with his baby, for fucks sake!” Layla yells, her patience wearing thin.
After last night, you wouldn’t think I would still be trying to protect him. I know that Liam and Lals must have talked after I went to bed last night, or while I was with Steele. Liam knows I slept with him while they were on tour, so I am sure that he and Layla put the idea together.
“I know I am pregnant. Last night he made it very clear that he doesn’t want children now, and probably not in the future. He made his decision in all of this.”
“So you weren’t just walking? I knew it.” Layla says, calling my lie out. “See Liam, I told you.”
“Yes, I was with Steele. He actually grabbed me and shoved me into his car, if that’s any condolence. I didn’t go with him by choice. Hell I didn’t know it was him to begin with.”
“He just grabbed you up, and shoved you into his car?” Lia
m asks in disbelief.
Now you jump in, I think to myself.
“He came up behind me and dragged me backwards. I didn’t know it was him until I saw him walk across the front of the car to get in. He child proof locked my door, so I couldn’t open it.”
“Why did he do that?” Layla asks.
“Because he wanted to become friends or something. He wanted us to bury the hatchet.”
“What did you say?” Liam questions.
“Well I wanted to smack him across the face for being such an asshole back in New York, and after thinking about it, I thought why not try to be friends with him. I am pregnant after all.”
“Did he bring you anywhere? Did you tell him you were pregnant?” Layla quizzes me.
“He brought me to a house that he recently purchased, and no I didn’t tell him.”
“Why would he buy a house in Massachusetts?” Layla asks, but this time the question is directed at Liam.
“I have no idea. I barely talk to the guy. It’s easier ignoring his phone calls while I’m here, than answering him. Anytime I do answer, I end of hanging up on him because he wants to play twenty questions.” Liam replies.
“Twenty questions, about what?” I ask.
“About you.” Liam replies.
“What about me?”
“I don’t know, everything. It’s the first thing out of his mouth when I answer, he always asks who you are. What you’re into. That sort of stuff.”
“Why haven’t you told me this?”
“Would you really have cared Princess?”
“Maybe, I don’t know. When I went into the house with him, I thought maybe I had misunderstood back at the hotel what happened. Maybe I was wrong about him. Turns out I was right.” I say on a sigh.
“You went into the house? Natalie, you slept with him again, didn’t you?” Layla asks.
“It just happened. One minute we were talking, the next I was arguing with him and backed into a corner. I just caved. I can’t deny him.”