LEILA

10. realization and a new hope

LEILA

I woke up when the bed creaked, and I recognize Kellin's voice talking to somebody else. I don't have the energy to open my eyes so I rolled to the other side until I slowly drift off to sleep again.

The next time I woke up was when someone pulled the curtains to the other side and the sun rays directly hit my eyes. I grunted and held my pillow tighter, "What the hell?!"

"Wake up, Leila. You have to tell me why you didn't utter a single word about what was worrying you since last Monday!"

I open my eyes and see Kendall standing in front of me with her arms over her chest. I sigh, and slowly bring myself up to straighten my posture. It’s coming now. I can sense the calm before the storm.

“Kend-“

"I got freaking surprised when your freaking big brother freaking called me at freaking eleven in the morning to freaking keep you company all freaking night!" she rants on and on, pacing around the room and stops again in front of me. “And what’s worse, you’ve been ignoring me! What kind of best friend are you?”

I gulp. "Are you here to lecture me about how much of a loser I am?" I ask, looking anywhere but her. "Because if you are, I already know."

She deeply sighs and takes a seat beside me in my bed, suddenly embracing me tightly. "You don't have to be ashamed of what happened, love. It was Professor Luke fucking Hemmings, were you that drunk you're not aware? Do you even know how hot he is?!"

My eyes widen in surprise and I break the hug. "I, wha- what do you mean? Why are you saying that- I- I don't understand?"

She’s staring at me intently but then she suddenly breaks into a laugh. I continue staring at her, dumbfounded. What the hell is happening? What is she trying to say?

"D-do you still not get it? I’m not mad, Leila! I was only pretending that I am!" her laugh becomes louder this time. She even slaps the bed sheets while clutching onto her stomach.

"Oh." I say with a straight face.

She giggles, pointing at me. "Yeah, you should've seen your face! It was priceless! Harry would've laughed so hard too if he's only here!"

"What? Who’s Harry? That name doesn’t ring a bell." I wiggle my eyebrows at her, laying back down on my bed but avoiding the part where the sun rays are hitting on. "You got yourself a boyfriend?"

She snorts and waves her hand around as if I just told a lame joke. "I told you, he's the one Brianna introduced to me. He works at a bakery and he's got an excellent voice. Like an angel." she sighs dreamily and I start to laugh because I’ve never seen her looking so enchanted like that.

"I better meet him soon, then. You look so in love." I joke once more, but jokes are half meant and we all know it.

She smiles and nods. "Yeah. I will go ask him about that."

"Ahuh."

"So," she sits up straight and looks at me with some kind of expression. "What are you going to do with Sir Luke? How’s he treating you for the past few days?"

I felt like I got kicked in the gut and tears automatically sprang in my eyes. I remember sleeping on Kellin's arms, crying and now I’m back to crying again. I just woke up for god's sake.

How pathetic.

"He’s been acting like nothing happened." I mumble, wiping my eyes. My tear ducts never seem to run out of water. I must have some kind of a source or outlet inside me or something.