golden hour

Part two - what doesnt kill me

The next morning, Layla woke up with her hair smushed against her face, a raging headache and still in her full outfit (heels and all) on the floor of Bailey Kazanskys bedroom, with no blankets.

They had all spent the night dancing and just trying to have a carefree night, not wondering what the upcoming weeks would mean for them.

As much as Layla had tried to be there for her friends, she couldn't help the nagging feeling that she knew how dangerous the mission Bradley may potentially be going on was. She knew there was a very real possibility he wouldn't make it back. If anything happened to him, it might actually kill her too. She barely held on without him the last few years. This thought made her sick to her stomach, but also led her to take a longer sip of her drink. Hoping to forget the harsh truth waiting for her at the end of these few weeks.

The reason she had woken up was because her phone had been ringing. She thought that Bradley might've been calling to check on her during a break at work, but she had seen her friend Brett was calling her.

He was her trainer while she was on tour but he had left tour a few weeks ago to deal with something going on in his family, though she missed him a bunch during her last few weeks on the road. She also hadn't been the best at keeping up with her workout routine.

He had surprised her that morning, letting her know that he had just gotten into town and was at her mothers house. He had told her he would be picking her up so they could do a beach workout, he had some of his equipment with him and felt like the sand would give her the extra intensity to makeup for her lack of dedication recently. He knew she wasn't doing the best job at sticking to her intense training sessions without him.

She decided she needed to work off her sins from the past few nights of drinking with her other friends and agreed to the early afternoon workout.

The two of them got along extremely well, clicking immediately and always talking about their experiences dating the male species. Their friendship thrived off of tales of their dating horror stories, and they were much closer than just gym trainer and trainee.

Gathering her belongings and looking for some clothes that didn't scream "walk of shame" she snuck out of Baileys room and was nearly out of the house before she was spotted by Sarah.

"Good morning" Layla told her, "sorry if we disturbed you at all last night.."

Sarah just smiled, "thank you for getting them out and brightening things up a bit. Please don't be a stranger honey." Layla nodded her head in agreement, and closed the distance between them, embracing her in a hug.

"I promise I won't..I love you, and sorry I'm sneaking out, but I definitely need to get back. A friend just got in town and he's waiting to torture me with a workout on the beach"

She visibly shuddered at her own words, thinking about the lingering taste of alcohol in her mouth from the night before.

She definitely needed a shower and something greasy..but both of those things sounded like a bad idea before a California beach workout with the trainer from hell. He always pushed her to her limits in their sessions, and that was when she woke up sober.

After being led out to her car, Layla drives the easy drive home almost on autopilot and remembers the conversation she had with Lee last night while he was eating dinner at their spot.

She felt guilty for forgetting that he was audibly upset when they spoke last night, having something to do with her dad (but what else was new). She hasn't checked in on him since, and she hadn't heard from him either. She was starting to worry.

After she had gotten home safely, she pulled out her phone just to shoot him a quick text.

Hey, Lee. Just got home, hope everything is going okay with you. I feel like such a jerk for not pushing harder to check in on you last night. Call me when you're done training and we'll talk. Love you xx