The Good, the Bad, and the Crazy. //+//A Complicated Love Story//+//

Chapter 7: Branson.

I was woken by my phone. I looked at the clock. How is it possible that I had taken a nap until three in the afternoon?

“Hello?” I answered my phone.

“Hey, babe, I’m here. Come unlock the door for me?” Layla’s’ peppy, excited, loud voice hurt my ears.

“You’re here?” I asked rubbing my eyes and sitting up in my bed.

“Yeah, I have the freakiest thing to tell you.” She gasped loudly “So will you come let me in? I’m standing on your front porch and I’ve rang the doorbell like five times. No body home but you so I decided to call. So come let me in, maybe? It rained like crazy last night and it’s still cold out. I’m freezing, hurry up.” My head couldn’t take in all her words at once. I could only come up with one thing to say.

“The doors unlocked.” And then I thought of Mary and her obsession with locking doors and I smiled. I still had to find her, I still had to make things right.

“Oh, okay. I’m coming on up. See you soon, babe.”

I was about to say goodbye but then I heard a beep on the other end and knew she had hung up.

It would take her two minutes to make it up to my room, maybe even three if she’s wearing heels, so I laid back down and tried to relax before she came in here and stressed me out.

I looked at my clock.

3:05pm

She walked through my bedroom door and I looked at the clock again.

3:08pm

Yep, I was right. Three minutes exactly.

“Hey.” I said.

“Yeah, yeah.” She said waving away the words with her hand and sitting down on my bed “So, guess what I just saw at the market?”

“You were at the market?” I asked bewildered. They only had markets downtown and she lived in the same gated community I did. Why would she drive an hour to go to a filthy market when she could just send the maid?

“I was on my way to a friend’s house on the other side of town, two hour drive but it’s so worth it, she’s so much fun. And I needed a pack of gum so I stopped at this little market downtown. I went in and everything was normal until I heard this girl screaming.” She smiled evilly at me. “I walked around the corner and guess who it was?”

I shrugged my shoulders. Who do we know that would be at one of those markets?

“It was that crazy girl!” She said smiling and laughing.

I stared at her. “You mean Mary?