Just One Yesterday.

Pete's POV

I was so excited I could barely contain it. I was going to see Layla today. Sure, I see her pretty often and it's not like I haven't seen her in a while, but I just needed her today. It has only been three days since I've seen her but it felt like infinity to me. I missed the way her perfume smelled, I missed the way her nose crinkles when she laughs and I miss every small thing about her. God was Layla the most beautiful girl I'd ever laid eyes on. She was so mesmerizing and every time I saw her I was under her spell. As a lyricist, I've written plenty of songs about her. I have and probably won't ever let her read any of them because she doesn't think of me like that. I have to try though. As insane as it sounded, I needed Layla to be all mine.

"Pete. Are you done day-dreaming about Layla yet?" Patrick's fake annoyed face looked at me. He elbowed me in the side. I tried to repress a smile.

"Uhh, I wasn't thinking about her." I lied.

"Sure you weren't. Just wait. You'll see her in like, five minutes. But until then we need you to focus." Patrick spoke seriously. He had his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. I had totally forgot what we were doing. Shit. We were practising and I really needed to focus on my bass. We were playing another small gig tonight and we had to be ready. Right now our band Fall Out Boy is very small and only does covers. The name was thrown at us one night at a bar and we liked it so much we called our band it. We also are working on the whole 'we only do covers' right now. Me and Layla have been writing together a lot recently and Patrick, Joe and Andy had been playing beats and working on some new things. On top of being beautiful, Layla was an amazing song writer. Her words came out poetically and wonderfully. Everyone says that about mine as well but I prefer Layla's words.

"Sorry. I'm just kind of tired of doing this right now. I'm going to go pick her up a bit early. I'll see you guys in like, fifteen minutes." I said flashing my grin.

Joe rolled his eyes at me. "Love sick I swear." I smiled and set off.

It only takes a few minutes to get to the spot where we meet. We decide to meet here, not at someone's house because it gives us time to be alone. I think we both like that very much. I figured it would be a couple more minutes until Layla got here so I pulled out my lyric book that I always keep with me and started to write.

'I wanna scream "I love you" from the top of my lungs, but I'm afraid that someone else will hear me.' That was a great lyric. Not to be cocky or anything but the second I wrote it down I knew it would fit into an important song. That lyric describes me and Layla perfectly. I heard footsteps and I looked up.

Wow was she gorgeous. Her face was covered mostly by a black hoodie but the parts I could see still looked amazing. I frowned to myself when she got closer and it looked like she had just been crying. I stood up and smiled.

"Hey Layla! You look so beautiful today." I said. I noticed her face was sad and twisted. I grabbed her and hugged her like she was going away for a long time.

"What's wrong Lay?" I asked my voice thick with concern. She pulled away from me and turned around.

"Nothing. Nothing"

I knew she didn't hear it herself but she had hesitated. I was also very good at telling when she was lying. ""Please don't push me away. You know how much I love you." I said. I tell Layla things like that all the time and I know she only takes it as a friend but I mean it with all my heart. I loved Layla so much.

Layla turned around. "I don't want to do this here. Please take me to the house." She requested.

"Anything for you." I scooped her up and carried her. Layla was very light and sometimes I wondered if she has had enough to eat so I make her eat at my place.

She giggled in spite. "You didn't have to carry me." She smiled.

"I know. But a princess deserves only the best." I grinned.

Her cheeks flushed pink. In fact her one cheek was a bright red. I stared at her face while continuing to walk. It was a little bigger than her left cheek. I was puzzled. I would ask her the second we were alone.

In no time we were home and I brought her through the front door. I walked through the front door and into the living room where the boys were practising.

"Hello!" They didn't seem to hear me. "HELLO!" I yelled and they stopped playing. "I would like for you guys to be a bit quieter, Layla has a headache. We are going to my room, nobody bother us please."

I could see Patrick raise an eyebrow at me and smirk. Joe laughed and I glared at them. I kind of lied to them just so we could be alone. I didn't want anyone distracting me and Layla from talking. I needed to find out what was going on. I opened the door and dropped Layla gracefully to my bed. She sat up, criss-crossed on my black bed sheets and I did the same. I used my soft, understanding voice.

"Layla, what's wrong? I can tell you've been acting very differently lately and you always wear long sleeve things and you are suddenly very jumpy.. I'm worried about you." I said

I could see the tears form in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak but she closed it. Then she started to sob. Tears that had been kept inside for a long time. I grabbed her and she cried in my shirt. She grabbed my shirt and balled it up in her fists like I wasn't ever going to see her again.

"Let it out. It's alright. I promise you everything will okay. Cry for as long as you need to." I said quietly. I started to play with her hair to calm her down. We sat quietly for a few minutes with Layla crying and me telling her things to make whatever wrong seem better. I hated to see my baby so upset.. I know she struggles with anxiety but this was something else. I heard her breathing regulate and I looked at her with sad eyes. "Are you ready to talk?" I asked.

She inhaled a deep breathe. "Yes I am." She exhaled.

"My parents. They have. They've been. Abusing me for a long time. Ever since I was young I knew what they did to me was wrong but I didn't know how to stop it. They lock me in the basement a lot. Punch me, kick me, whip me. Anything they can do to harm me, they do. It's often over little mistakes." She put her hood down and took her hoodie off. She was wearing a purple short sleeved shirt. Her arms were full of black and blue bruises and bright red marks. She looked at me with her big, vulnerable eyes. "They told me if I ever told anyone they would kill me. Please don't say anything to them. Pete I'm begging you."

The anger boiled inside of me. When I'm angry everyone knows. I balled my hands up into a fist and punched my cream-coloured wall. "What the fuck Layla? I understand they said they'd kill you but they can't! I need to go to the police right now. What the fuck's wrong with them?" I was screaming now. I was beyond furious. I should have known. Suddenly I felt like the shittiest human being on earth for not knowing my best friend was being abused by her awful parents. Layla started to cry even more.

"Pete.. I'm begging you please don't." I could barely make out what she was saying, she was crying so much. A part of my heart broke. I inhaled deeply.

"I'm sorry Layla. I just. I just love you so fucking much y'know? This is totally wrong and it makes me feel awful that this is going on. I somewhat feel responsible. I'm sorry I got so upset. You don't need that right now." I spoke sincerely. "Lay down with me."

Layla sniffled and lied down. We were facing each other and we were so close, I though I might kiss her. I knew better not to though, she was dealing with all this shit and I didn't want to make anything worse for her. I started to stroke Layla's beautiful long, brown hair. I could tell she was tired and knew she was getting more exhausted. It looked like she hadn't slept in years now that I really looked at her face. "I promise I will wake you up before nine babe." I continued, now lightly touching her back.

She then mumbled something inaudible but it sounded like "love you."

Good. I really loved Layla too.