Baby, baby.

N I N E

I make my way down the stairs with slight difficulty, the dress I picked out for the party was slightly risky and showed almost all of my legs. The neck plunged and i usually wouldn't have gone anywhere near it but I need to start venturing out of my comfort zone. Loosen up, just like my Mother said.

David sits on the couch with a hard look on his face and almost looks as if he's going to cry. "Why are you wearing that?" He looks up at me with his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What the hell, Layla?"

"I like it." I say meekly and he sighs deeply, throwing his head back.

"I think you should go change." his eyes stay shut for a moment, but one eventually opens to see if I'm still standing before him. I shake my head at him and take the spot in the couch beside him.

"You don't like it?" I press.

"No, it's not that. I just-Layla, go change. Please go change." I laugh at his words and cross my arms over my chest.

"So, do you wanna talk about it?" I suggest.

"No-yes, I don't know." He rubs his face with his hands and it makes me uncomfortable how upset he is over the events of earlier.

"Just tell me why she's so... how she is." I offer him a smile.

"Alright." He pauses. "None of it was a lie. Everything we showed our fans was real. That was us, we were so in love. But then I got the call that.. that she died." I place a comforting hand on his shoulder urging him to continue. "I mean it wasn't like we were madly in love yet, we really bonded though. I did love her in some type of way and I ignored it. She was just sort of... great, you know? If it weren't for working and the fact that I knew Liza would call me begging for me back then I would have moved there the night we met. She was exactly the type of girl I would have wanted to raise my kid. That night it wasn't even all about sex, and it hurt to leave. I truly believe that she was the one I was supposed to be with. "

"Maria's mom?" I question and he nods in response, his eyes filled to the brim.

"Liza expected me to be angry, angry at the baby, angry at her, angry at Maria's mom, at her grandparents. But I wasn't, i was scared. She was pregnant for months and went through it alone. She went through all the appointments and sleepless nights without me. All that damn pain I could have helped with. The guilt eats away at me. I should have been there." He rubs his temples, obviously stressed. "Liza didn't want to raise a child and she said some horrible things. I spent an entire month locked in here with Maria, not knowing what to do. I canceled my events and shut off my phone. And when I started working again I realized that she's not the girl I met when I was 19, now she wants to take it all back and be together, but I don't love her anymore."

"David," I begin but he shakes his head.

"I love Maria so much more than I loved Liza, and that's why she's so angry. Does t make me a bad person that I don't care at all?" He slowly turns to me and I see tears rolling down his cheeks. "Maria is my everything, Layla. Thank you for giving her the mother she deserves."

Before I can respond David's phone rings and I'm assuming it's one of the boys saying something about the party. And my suspicion is confirmed when David stands and wipes his face, clearing his cheeks from the tears that lingered. "We should go. Yeah, let's go."

Within the next 15 minutes we're parked outside the enormous house that's filled with life and loud music. There's almost no room to move because every inch is covered by a strangers feet.

David's death grip on my wrist doesn't leave as he pulls me through he crowd of people and into the slightly less crowded kitchen where Alex, Jason, and Trisha sit laughing together.