golden hour

Part two - hookup scene

3 years later.... (taking place shortly before top gun maverick starts)

Penny wakes up startled when her phone rings at 3 am. Worried about who would be calling her at that time of night and seeing that Layla is calling she is quickly on high alert. Answering the call, she is unable to understand Layla through her hysterical crying. Concerned, Penny tries to get Layla to take deep breaths so that she can tell her what's wrong.

"Honey, slow down. I can't understand you." Finally able to calm her breathing and slow down, Layla tells Penny that she was hurt by her most recent ex boyfriend who she broke up with because he was showing red flags for anger issues.

After her breakup with Bradley, Layla spent the next 3 years dating random guys who never matched the way she felt about Bradley. She was looking for anyone to make her feel the way he did and once she realized they didn't come close to that, she would dump them and move on to the next. Her most recent ex, Tyler had been a bit possessive and Layla was a free spirit who couldn't be kept on a leash. She loved that with Bradley, she could be who she wanted, dress how she wanted and be friends with whoever. When someone asked Bradley why he let her leave the house dressed the way she did, he had responded that he didn't control her and he wasn't worried because he could fight anyone who tried to mess with her. That had only made her love him more. She broke up with Tyler because of this behavior and he couldn't seem to accept the end of their relationship. He knew her touring schedule and had been stalking her for weeks looking for a moment when she was vulnerable.

"Mommy, Tyler hurt me" and then she broke down in tears again. Penny now alert and concerned for her daughter spends the next hour talking on the phone with her, trying to convince her to cancel the rest of her tour and come stay with her so they can handle things together. After convincing her mom that she would be fine, it would only be a week until she was in San Diego for her last show and she didn't want to have to cancel her last 3 shows - she would power through it and be home soon.

—— 1 week later ——

Stepping off the tour bus onto the front lawn of her moms house, Layla takes a deep breath and is greeted by her moms warm embrace. The two stand on her front lawn for a few moments hugging and crying before they head inside the house to talk.

After catching up and discussing how Layla was feeling after the incident, Layla decided she would go up to her room and rest as she had the rest of the day off. Penny had to get ready to open up the bar so she left after Layla had fallen asleep, shooting her a text that she would be at the bar and if she wanted to come by she could hang out in the office.

Layla was at the end of her world tour, her last show being the following night in San Diego. After the emotional stress she had been through recently on top of the exhaustion from touring, she woke up after taking a very long nap. She saw the text from her mom and had decided to head to the bar to grab something to eat and see if there was anything she could do for her mom. Not thinking too much about her outfit, she threw on a pair of old leggings and a cropped tee shirt with some wording on it.

Avoiding any customers, she nods to her mom to motion that she would go back to kitchen so that she could order some food. She makes polite conversation with the older gentleman who works the kitchen and sits on the stools by the metal countertop just listening to the bar start to fill up.

Layla had been in the back of the kitchen eating a sandwich the bar cook had made for her when she heard the commotion of someone being thrown out of the bar and she had rolled her eyes. She worried about her mom running the bar because of the rude men who came in but it sounded like she had things handled and was always throwing people out who disrespected her.

She was just finishing up her food when the commotion had settled down and she heard the sounds of someone playing the old out of tune piano that had been at the bar since her mom bought the place. Wondering who decided to play something so familiar to her, she started to wander out towards the front of the bar and her heart skipped a beat when she realized who was sat at the piano playing.