The Truth ✔

Chapter 19 ~

Kaleb's POV

Jumping off of my bike, I run behind the diner where Layla and the girls are. Whitney is trying to comfort her while Summer and Winter watch  with fear written all over their faces. I shove past them not trying to be rude, but Layla is so upset that I can feel her pain. I crouch down in front of Layla and stare at her for a moment. This isn't the same Layla who has been living with me for the past two weeks. This is the Layla that I bumped into freshman year. This is the broken girl who was hiding from the world in the library on the second day of school. This is the Layla I found beat up at the park.

Whitney sits beside her looking scared. "I don't know what happened." She whispers to me.

"Can you give me a minute alone with Layla please?" I ask the three girls. They are hesitant to leave her, but the three eventually walk away.

Layla is sitting with her back against the wall of the diner. Her legs are tucked up into her chest and she has her face hidden in her knees. "Layla," I whisper her name, as I gently place my hand on her shoulder. She flinches causing a pang of pain to shoot through me. She never gets scared of me. I thought she trusted me and knew I would never hurt her in a million years.

She slowly raises her head where she can see me. Her big brown eyes are full of fear as the tears drip down her face. "Kaleb." She whispers with relief before jumping on me and latching her arms around my neck tightly in fear as if she let's go, I will disappear from her for forever. I end up falling onto my back side with her on top of me from her jumping onto me. I protectively wrap my arms around her feeling relief that she isn't afraid of me. I don't know what made her flinch a few moments ago, but what I do know is that at that moment she didn't realize it was me.

She continues to cry in my embrace soaking my shirt with her salty tears, but I don't care. I'll let her cry for as long as she needs too as long as I can keep her in my arms. Once I am standing up, I help her stand up and place my arm around her pulling her into me as close as humanly possible. "Do you want to go home?" She nods her head. "I didn't bring my car. I'll have Whitney give you a ride home, and I'll meet you there."

"N-no." She stutters with more tears welling up in her eyes. "P-please don't l-leave m-me." She says brokenly gripping onto me tightly.

She's never rode on my bike before. For that matter, no one besides myself has. My bike is one of my most prized possessions and I never let anyone touch it, but Layla means so much more to me than my stupid motorcycle. "Are you okay with riding my bike with me?" She nods her head while never loosening her grip on me.

Together we walk over to Whitney, Summer, and Winter. "Layla wants to go home," I tell them.

"Okay, I'll giver her a ride," Whitney says still looking distressed.

Layla doesn't say anything to the girls, just sniffle as she hides her face into my side. "No, I'll take her home." I let Whitney know

"But you brought your bike," Summer says, seemly confuses.

"Yeah, and she will ride with."

All three girls look at me in disbelief. "You never let anyone touch your bike much less ride it." Winter says.

"Yeah, well it's different for Layla," I say before turning around and walking to my bike with Layla by my side.

I get on my bike and Layla climbs on behind me. She places my helmet on her head and wraps her arm securely around my torso. When I know that she is ready, I speed out of the parking lot and drive us home. The entire I drive home I have an eerily feeling that someone is watching us. I constantly keep an eye out, but I don't see anything unusual.

As we get off of my bike once we are home, my mom comes rushing outside to see what happened. Layla rushes past my mom not giving her the time of day. My mom watches worriedly as Layla runs upstairs and we hear a door slam. "Kaleb, what happened?"

I shrug. "I don't know. Whitney called saying they were at the diner when something spooked Layla and she ran out the back. When I got there, she was having a full-fledged panic attack. Don't be upset that she just ignored you and ran upstairs." I tell my mom. Layla has never been rude to my parents.   She doesn't ignore them when they talk to her, but she's acting really weird right now. "Whatever caused her to get upset had to be bad because she even flinched when I first touched her."

"Kaleb, I'm not upset with her, just worried. I know she isn't rude or anything like that. I agree with you, whatever upset her it must have been something serious. Go check on her. Dinner is ready, but y'all can eat when y'all feel like it."

I thank my mom before running upstairs to Layla's room. I knock on her door and wait for her to answer, but she never does. Tired of waiting, I open her door, but she is nowhere in sight. I start to panic not knowing where she could be. I check her bathroom, but she isn't there either. As I start to freak out, I run across the hall to my room. Where could she have gone?

Stepping inside my room, I nearly scream when I see someone sitting on my bed. After having a mini heart attack, I realize that it is Layla. She looks at me with her red puffy eyes. "I-I don't want to be by myself tonight. Can I stay in your room?"

I'm baffled by her request. "Yeah, of course, you can." With tonight's events, I'm not hungry, and just by looking at Layla, she seems too exhausted to eat. "I'm going to change my clothes," I tell her as I walk into the bathroom.

In my bathroom, I change into some basketball shorts and a t-shirt. Normally I would sleep without my shirt, but I don't want Layla to feel uncomfortable in any way. The room is quiet when I walk out of the bathroom and my heart drops when she is no longer in the room. I'll admit I was more than happy to have her sleep in my room. She probably changed her mind and left. The door to my room opens up and Layla walks back in, but this time she is in one of my shirts that she had borrowed and short shorts. "I wanted to change clothes too," is all she says before getting into my bed and slipping under the comforter."

I quickly switch the light off and get into bed. There is a decent size gap between the two of us, and I debate if I should move closer to her or not. I want to be close to her but at the same time, I have to think about what she wants. I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable in any way and she probably just wanted to sleep in here so that she is not alone in her room.

The debate in my head continues to go on, on rather I should get closer to her or leave the space between us. Before I can decide on what I should do, she scoots as close as she possibly can to me and wraps her arm around my torso. Well, that was one way to solve the battle in my head. Gently I wrap my arms around her pulling her closer to me if that is even possible. For the first time since I've known her, she is completely relaxed. "Thanks." She whispers into the dark.

"For what?"

"For making me trust you." She says so quietly that if she wasn't right next to me, I wouldn't have heard it.

"Layla," I whisper. She hums in response. I want to ask her what scared her tonight, but with her being so calm and relaxed right now I don't want to ruin the moment. "Nothing. Good night."

"Night, Kaleb."

As her breathing evens out and she falls asleep, my mind is conflicted with thoughts. Something freaked her out, I feel like someone is watching us, and her paperwork still hasn't been approved. I'm starting to think that these things are all related and that it isn't some computer glitch that is keeping her paperwork in limbo. Could there be someone out there causing my parents not to be able to get custody of her? My dad said she had no other family members left beside her dad and he signed his rights away. It's not like he can just change his mind and get her back, right? My parents would never allow him to take her back. I'm overthinking this. I'm tired and need my sleep. I shouldn't be thinking about things when I have the girl I like laying next to me. I should be cuddling with her and having the best sleep of my life.

Through the darkness in my room, I can still make out the features on Layla's face. She's beautiful. She always has been, but now that her bruises are gone, she's gained a little bit of weight and since I can actually see her face since she's not hiding it, she has to be the most beautiful person I've ever laid my eyes on.