Layla

Chapter 5

Layla was startled in the middle of her daydreaming session when she heard the sharp ring of the doorbell. She realised her brother had gone to the toilet and decided to open it herself. She scurried over to the door and stood on her toes to reach the doorknob. She eventually got it open to see two women.
They were each carrying a bag with clothes overflowing out of them.

"Hi, are you Layla?" one of them asked crouching down.

"Mhm," Layla said, nodding her head up and down.

"I'm Deena, Nik's friend."

"What are you doing Layla? Oh God, don't open doors for strangers" Nik said coming out of the restroom.

"So we've downgraded to strangers now," Deena said standing back up. She pushed her short brown hair back to reveal a scowl on her face.

"Don't open the door ever again, okay? Tell me or Hamish if you hear someone knocking" Nik said, ignoring Deena's comment.

"Okay," Layla said and plonked herself on the couch.

Deena and her girlfriend Samara had already come inside.

"My niece grew out of her old clothes, so I got them for Layla," Samara said dumping the huge bag into Nik's hand. Nik had mentioned earlier that Layla came here with barely any clothes.

"Thanks Sam," Nik said smiling. He was very grateful for the set of friends he had.

Samara walked over to the couch to get herself acquainted with Layla, and Deena went to help Nik with dinner.

"Hey Layla, I'm Samara. I've heard so much about you" she said, sitting next to Layla on the brown pleather couch

"Hello," Layla said softly, smiling to hopefully mask the nervousness. She wasn't used to getting so much attention.

There was an unbearably awkward silence that lasted a while until Samara decided to speak up. She wasn't very good with kids either.

"When is your birthday?" That was one question she asked almost everyone she met.

"February 9th"

"Oh, you're an Aquarius! Me too! My birthday is on February third"

"No, Aquariums are non-living things, and I'm a living thing," Layla said as if what she said was so profound

Samara couldn't control her laughter. Never in her life had she heard someone say something so wrong but so confidently at the same time.

"no... no," she said, in between her laughs "Aquarius, not aquarium"

"What's that?" Layla asked, a little embarrassed.

"That's your sun sign. As in, the day you were born, the sun was in Aquarius. That can sometimes tell you your personality traits. And because you're an Aquarius, you can be quiet and distant but you can also be generous, creative, and unique." There was nothing Samara loved more than rambling about astrology. She decided that she would tell Layla all about her entire birth chart when she was a little older.

Layla understood almost nothing of what Samara said but still nodded.

"Already teaching this poor child about astrology?" Deena said, sitting close to Samara and tightly wrapping her arm around her waist, causing Samara's olive green dress to scrunch up.

"Shut up. She's an Aquarius, I got excited"

"Your hair is pretty," Layla said, referring to Samara's pitch black locks. She liked how it grew all the way to her lower back and how it formed large curls at the end.

"Yeah, you love it until you have to deal with suffocation every night" Deena scoffed, thinking about how many times Samara's hair would smack her across the face every time she rolled over in bed.

"Aw, thank you. your hair is very pretty too Layla."

"Oh Sam, can you teach me to braid hair after dinner?" Nik asked all the way from the kitchen, hearing the conversation they were having about hair.

"Sure. Thinking of growing your hair out again?"

***

That night was quite an eventful night for Layla. The group yapped and yapped throughout dinner about things that didn't matter. Nik even managed to braid Layla's hair successfully after many failed attempts.

Layla was very awkward and nervous for the most part, but she still loved every second of it. There was something about the energy of the people around her that was so different from what she was used to. Layla's life had changed for the better.

Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring. I'm still trying to introduce the characters. Let me know if you have any suggestions for the next chapters or if there's something you want to see. Please vote if you liked it <3

-M