Darlin | E.DIAZ

Chapter Fourteen - What Friends are for

Lately, Kayla has been in pain. Not physical pain, but emotional pain. It's been two weeks since Jamie brought her the photos of Eddie and Shannon but he has still yet to tell her anything. He acts like nothing has changed! He still flirts with her and jokes around, and it makes her feel gross. Thankfully, she has some special people in town for a few days to make her feel better. "Your place is so nice, Kay! It's majorly quieter than I thought it would be." Ava says, walking out of the guest room to the smell of breakfast.

Ava and Elijah have been in town for a couple of weeks because it's training week back in Pinehaven for the new recruits, so they have some time off.

"Yeah, when you first started talking about moving here I thought you'd be in a shoebox apartment or something." Elijah says, petting Delia who is laying in his lap with her tongue out. Enjoying her life. "I was. It's called being smart with money and saving a woman's life who is a landlord for amazing apartments. That's how I got this place." She explains as she flips a pancake.

Usually, Kayla loves to sleep in but since this whole Eddie and Shannon thing, she's been getting up super early. Today, she decided to make breakfast for her and her friends. "Well, as they say, the lord works in mysterious ways." Ava jokes as she kisses Delia's head. That makes Kayla smile as she finishes up the pancakes. Bacon and sausage are already done and on the counter as she puts the plate of pancakes down.

"Alright you little heathens, food time." Ava and Elijah walk over to the counter. Everyone gets their plates full of food and enjoys some chatting and catching up as they eat breakfast.

After breakfast, Eli volunteers to wash the dishes which both girls let him do. "So, when do we get to see this amazing 118 station?" Ava asks, excitement evident in her voice as she sits on the couch. "We can go later today, if you really want to."

"She has been foaming at the mouth to see it since you first told us about it." Eli jokes, making Ava roll her eyes. "I haven't been foaming at the mouth, I just think it would be cool to see how the big city people do it."

"You just wanna see the hot firefighters." He smirks, "I already have a hot firefighter, why would I need another one?" Kayla watches with a small smile as Eli walks over and kisses Ava's nose. It warms her heart to see her two best friends happy with each other, even if she is heartbroken a bit herself with the whole situation going on.

"So, has anything interesting happened that you haven't told us about?" Kayla's hands get sweaty at Ava's question. "Well, Vince stopped by a while ago."

"Kayla!"

"He did what?!" Is the questions and exclamations thrown at her by her friends. "How did he even find you?" Ava asks, the brunette gives her a look. It should be obvious. "How else does he find people? He used Jamie. Had him follow me. That's how he found out where I live, work, everything." She mutters, playing with her fingers and looking at her hands.

"Why is he even in LA? Shouldn't he be back in Pinehaven with that one girl? What's her name? Shally, Sharon?" Ava asks, "Shelly. And he's here because his dad is sick. He's got cancer and is having him stay in LA to start slowly taking over the company." She answers, still looking down at her hands. "I knew his dad was sick, but cancer? That's awful." Eli says, sitting back into the couch as the news hits them. "He had the audacity to come into my home and explain it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He also said...ugh! Sometimes I wish I wasn't so stupid!"

"What did he say?" Eli asks, still looking in shock from the news. "He said that the reason he came over was to tell me that I needed to marry him. Shelly takes care of his needs but when his dad dies he needs a wife, and I need to be her." Ava and Eli are silent when Kayla finishes telling them what Vince said. The couple is in shock that he had the nerve to even show his face to Kayla.

"Have you told anyone about this?" Ava asks, Kayla shakes her head. "I haven't been able to. Buck is super busy and so is Maddie. Then Eddie..." She chuckles. "I can't tell him. He's dealing with his own stuff."

"Layla, we can't help you if you don't tell us what's going on. We're your friends." She looks at the two people in front of her as she bites her lip. She knows it's true but she can't stomach it. "Jamie came here a few weeks ago. Told me that Vince had him look into everyone that was associated with me and who would be associated with them." She gets off the couch and walks over to the desk a few feet away and grabs the familiar envelope.

"He gave me this." She hands it to Ava and lets the two look at what's inside. She sits back down on the couch and Delia climbs over to her. The corgi snuggles into her and she pets the dog softly. "Who is this girl? I thought he was all into you." Eli asks as he looks over the photos.

"His wife. Her name is Shannon. She's Christopher's mom and Eddie's first and only girlfriend. They met when they were in high school, she got pregnant so they got married. She struggled a lot because Eddie was deployed and she had to take care of a kid with CP. After he finished his time in the military, he came back and she left a few months later. Didn't talk to him or Chris for years but now she's back I guess." Her friends look at her shocked. "He had a wife this whole time?!" Ava asks, her voice rising in pitch. "He said they were basically not together anymore since she hadn't talked to them for so long. He just never wanted to find anyone else, until he found me at least. But she definitely found other people." She whispers that last part.

"Okay, he's an asshole and doesn't deserve you. Plain and simple."

"Not plain and simple, Ava. Plain and simple would be he did all this and had her at home, but he didn't. She left them. Now, he's in town and she suddenly wants to be back with him."

"Kayla, look. He obviously does like you. From what you've told us, it's obvious. I don't know what crawled up his butt to make him decide this was better but something did. You need to move on. I sound like an ass but I love you like my sister. You need to not worry about this stupid asshole anymore until he is begging on his knees for forgiveness from you." Eli says and Ava nods agreeing. "That seems like a bit much, Eli." Kayla says, not really liking what he said.

"It's not. This guy made you feel as though he was genuine. He probably was, but now this woman has come back and all of a sudden you're left confused." She listens to his words and takes them in. One of the best things about having Eli as someone so close is he's always brutally honest with her.

"Has he even said anything about this?" She shakes her head no and it makes him even more upset. "He's an asshole. Plain and simple."

"Look, I'll figure it out. I'll keep your advice in mind when I do, okay?" He nods and leans onto Ava. "Now, how about we go do a tour of the 118 station?"