Laila

      I was greeted with the sight of my best friend looming over me with a ridiculous smile on her face the second I opened my eyes on my 16th birthday.

 “Gah!” I yelped, yanking the covers up and over my head. “What the hell are you doing, Lissa?”

Even though Lissa Meyers was my very best friend and sister in all sense of the word, she could often be enough to make anybody question their sanity from time to time.

 “I came to wish you a happy birthday, of course!” Lissa chirped, wrenching the covers away from me.   

 I glowered up at her and fumbled around on the nightstand, trying to find my alarm clock to check the time. It was seven thirty in the morning.

 “You really had to wake me up this early?” I groaned, flopping back against the pillows.

“Of course, silly,” Lissa babbled on, clearly unaware of my foul mood. “You’re sixteen now! Society has deemed you as a young lady!”

 I rolled my eyes and yawned while Lissa fiddled with locks of her bright blonde hair, smiling widely. 

 “I don’t really care if I’m a young lady or not, Lissa,” I told her sourly. “I just want to get some freaking sleep.”

 “No way,” Lissa exclaimed, shaking her head furiously. “We’ve got a fun day planned today!”

  Before I could even object or shout about how ridiculously unfair this all was, Lissa had yanked me up and out of bed, giving me a shove towards my bedroom door.

  “Go take a shower,” she ordered firmly. “And I’ll pick something out for you to wear.”

“But I – “

  “Go, Laila!”

I muttered obscenities under my breath the entire time I stomped my way to the bathroom, my bad mood worsening. This really was completely stupid. So what if it was birthday? It’s not like I really wanted to do anything, anyways. Save for curling up in a ball in my bed with a pint of Ben and Jerry’s best ice cream for comfort.

But that sort of thing was pathetic, and I’d never admit to that. Out loud, at least.

   I tried to let the pounding flow of the water beating against my back relax me and forget about everything that had happened recently, but it wasn’t any use. Not even my favorite smelling soap and shampoo could accomplish that, either.

   Before the all the hot water started running out, I twisted off the faucet and hopped out, wrapping myself up in my favorite fluffy white towel. After I washed my face with apricot soap and ran a brush through my tangled hair, I left the bathroom, heading back to my room.

  My room was pretty much my favorite place to be at all times.

The walls were painted a dark maroon color and a lot of my favorite band posters were tacked up – like Paramore, Bring Me The Horizon, Black Veil Brides, or Superchick. There were several delicious smelling candles lined up on the window sill, a large bookcase that was filled to breaking point with all of my most loved books, and paper lanterns decorated with cherry blossoms hung from the ceiling.

  The room was decorated in no particular style, it didn’t make sense, and it was completely me. Needless to say, Lissa was really the only one of my friends who had ever been in here before.

  “There you are!” Lissa squealed when she noticed that I was standing in the doorway. “I picked out an outfit for you!”

  I fought back a groan.  

She gestured exuberantly towards the bed where a pair of tan shorts and a long sleeved white shirt in a floaty material lay.

  All things considered, it could have been a lot worse.

“Fine, fine,” I sighed, waving a hand. “Get out so I can change.”

  Lissa flashed me a sickly sweet smile as she pranced from the room, swinging the door shut behind her. I rolled my eyes as I tugged on my clothing, wondering why on Earth Lissa was acting so ridiculous. It’s not that she wasn’t normally bizarre, because she was - she was just a little more so than usual today.   

  I caught sight of a crumpled white envelope lying abandoned on the floor beside the bed as I slipped on my sandals, and I frowned. I’d completely forgotten about the envelope that Emma had thrust into my hands seconds before I left the vacation house back in Ouray.

 Well, now was just as good a time as any to open the envelope.

Biting back a sigh, I scooped up the envelope off the floor and sat down on the bed, crossing my legs underneath me. I slid my finger across the back of the envelope to open it and pulled out a stack of small photographs.

   Emma definitely had a knack for taking the weirdest pictures that was for sure. But even if I did hate having my pictures taken, I had to admit that they weren’t that bad. However, the fact that nearly all of the pictures were of me and Justin made me feel even worse than before.

   Although one of the pictures was of that slug she found outside the vacation house, and I felt no remorse in tossing that one into the trash can.

  One was of Justin and I at the Falls, leaning side by side up against the metal railing, amused looks on both of our faces.

  Another was of the two of us sitting on a bench outside the restaurant where we’d gotten lunch that one day. I had a distracted look on my face while I munched on a greasy hamburger in my hands, and Justin had a cocky smirk in place while he glanced over at me, one of his arms stretched out on the back of the bench.

  Hopefully no one would ever see that picture.

Setting those pictures aside, I turned to the rest of the pictures.

  There was a picture of me curled up one of the small couches in an antique shop that we’d wandered into. I was reading a book that I’d found on a shelf, and Emma was peering over the back of the couch at the book, too. Clearly, Justin had taken the picture.

  And the last photo was probably the most surprising one of all.

It was a photo of Justin and I at Ashleigh and Mitch’s wedding, when we’d been dancing. His arm was around my waist and my hand was on his chest, and we were both looking up at each other with small smiles in place. We actually had content, happy looks on our faces instead of looks of disgust or loathing.

  It definitely made a nice change for once.

 “Happy Birthday, Laila!”

  I looked up in surprise to see my mother standing in the doorway, smiling, and a thinly wrapped package in her hands.

  “Hi, Mom,” I said quickly, tucking the photos away out of sight. “Thanks.”

Mom’s smile widened as she sat down beside me on the bed, handing me the present.

  “And how does it feel to be sixteen now?” Mom asked as I ripped off the wrapping paper.

“Not much different,” I answered honestly. “Hey – thanks, Mom!”

  Mom had gotten me a book of music sheets for classical piano, my absolute favorite. Nothing got me more relaxed and in a thinking mood than playing piano. Maybe my crude piano lessons from Aunt Deborah really had paid off in the end.

  “Of course, Laila,” Mom replied with a warm smile. “Anything for my baby girl on her sixteenth birthday.”

  I smiled halfheartedly while I set the music book down beside me.

“Laila, what’s wrong?”

  I glanced over at Mom in confusion. “Nothing’s wrong, Mom.”

Mom didn’t look convinced. She simply frowned and raised her eyebrows, her lips pursed. I’ve seen this look before. It’s a look that says she isn’t going to leave me alone until I tell her what’s bothering me.

 Like she even needed to ask what was wrong, actually. 

“Mom, you were right,” I blurted out, biting my lip.

 “I usually am right, since I’m your mother,” Mom said humorously. “But what am I right about this time?”

  “Me and…and Justin,” I admitted, taking a deep breath.

 “Ah,” Mom said. “You’re afraid that you did the wrong thing, leaving the other day.”

I nodded sheepishly, feeling embarrassed. There was nothing more that made me feel like a stupid teenage girl when I actually had to talk about my ridiculous “guy problems”.

  “Did you know it was the right thing to leave Dad?”

I had no idea where these questions were coming from. I’d never even asked Mom about her and Dad before, and I wasn’t sure if the topic was one that was even allowed to be broached.

 Mom didn’t look surprised. She just gave a small sigh as she clasped her hands together in her lap.

  “Honey, your father and I both decided that getting a divorce would be…for the best,” she answered in a quiet voice.

  I nodded again, biting my lip, not knowing what to say.

 “But I don’t want you to think that just because mine and your father’s relationship didn’t work out, any relationship that you have won’t work out. You’re strong and brave and a beautiful young woman who can accomplish anything in your life if you put your mind to it.”

 I looked at her in surprise, never expecting a statement like that to come from my mother.

Mom gave me another smile before she reached out to kiss my head and then was up on her feet, heading towards the door.

  “Oh, and by the way, we’re going out for breakfast,” she tossed over her shoulder. “So come on. Our reservations are at nine.”

   I got shakily to my feet and followed after her, wondering when on Earth things were going to start making sense for me.

  Fifty seven minutes later, I was now a proud new licensed driver of the state of Washington. I’d been more than surprised when Mom had insisted taking me to the DMV before we went out for breakfast, and Lissa – sitting in the back seat – had only agreed whole heartedly.

  I’d done nothing but go along for the ride. I’d gotten an examiner named Harriet, who looked really stern, but was nice enough, and I ended up passing.

  Now I was just hungry and ready to eat breakfast.

Mom and Lissa kept up a babble of conversation while I drove towards the small family owned restaurant, Hana’s. They weren’t really paying attention that I wasn’t keeping up with the conversation, and I was okay with this.

 The sooner this day was over, the better.

The breakfast was well enough – a nice plate of scrambled eggs and wheat toast with strawberry jelly. Lissa kept dropping hints that I was going to absolutely be in love with today and that it was going to be the best birthday I’d ever had.

  “I’m sure, Lissa,” I’d said in agreement, biting back a sigh.

It was sort of pathetic that I was in the worst possible mood ever on my birthday. It only gets worse as Mom and Lissa insist on dragging me out to every possible place in Seattle that they can think of.

 First we went to Mom’s studio downtown and take a look at her latest works. I’d always liked Mom’s paintings, even if they were what people would call abstract or something. She used a lot of watercolors and darker shades of purple and blue or black, but then there would be paintings that she’d go full out with the brightest colors imaginable.  A lot of people enjoyed her work because they hadn’t even ever seen it before and that was the only reason she’d managed to keep up with her pay for the studio she shared with a friend of hers.

 After we visited Mom’s studio, Lissa insisted that we go to the mall. I point blank refused at this, but both Lissa and Mom had pleaded with me that this was my birthday and I needed to go along with that they said and just enjoy having things bought for me.

  I was hardly okay with this, but ended up giving in. There was no point in arguing with them when they really had their mind set on something.

  By the time we were walking out of the last department store in the mall, laden with several different bags full of clothing, it was nearing seven. Under normal circumstances I would never even go along with an entire day of shopping, but Lissa had bribed me with a pretzel and two slices of cheese pizza from the food court. I couldn’t say no to pizza.

  “Mom, can we please go home now?” I whined as Lissa shoved all of our shopping bags into the back of Mom’s car.

  Mom pursed her lips and exchanged a look with Lissa. Lissa checked the time on her cell phone before she gave a small nod.

 “All right,” Mom said, all cheery again. “We can go home now.”

 I was more than confused at Mom and Lissa’s secret behavior, but pushed it to the back of my mind. I was just thankful that we were finally going home after an entire day out.

  Lissa was practically bouncing in her seat as I drove down the familiar streets towards home, and Mom kept tapping her fingers anxiously against the window. And to even add to the suspicion, there were several more cars than usual parked against the curbs down the street as I pulled up into driveway outside our familiar blue house.

 “All right, what’s going on?” I demanded as soon as I killed the engine.

 Something was definitely up, and they sure as heck couldn’t deny that.

  “Nothing!” Mom and Lissa both exclaimed, looking at me with wide eyes.

  I, of course, did not believe them.

   I rolled my eyes and climbed out of the car, walking around to the back to grab our shopping bags from the trunk.

  Mom was humming loudly as she leisurely took her time fumbling around with her key rings and slowly unlocked the front door. It probably would have been too dramatic to tap my foot impatiently.

  “I’m going to start making dinner,” Mom called as she wandered her way into the kitchen. “Girls, could you go grab some chicken legs from the freezer outside?”

  I shrugged a shoulder as I dropped my shopping bags on the floor and wandered outside… only to be greeted with the most unexpected sight possible.

  “SURPRISE!”

   My mouth dropped open and my eyes wide as I took in the sight of scattered clumps of my class mates all crowded around in the small backyard. Some were kids I only knew by sight, others were kids I had classes with, and some people I didn’t even know at all. Yet here they were, all clapping and shouting, wishing me a happy birthday.

  “This is what you had planned?” I demanded of Lissa, my voice pitching.

Lissa grinned like a maniac, shoving me forward onto the back porch. Somebody had strung up twinkle lights around the fence and the oak tree, so the entire place was lit up brightly.

  “You deserve it, girl,” she laughed. “So just let go and enjoy, okay?”

It was insanely loud in the backyard, especially since somebody had just turned on the stereo, so nobody could even hear me loudly objecting to all of this.

  Honestly, who even wanted surprise birthday parties in the first place?

Somebody had shoved a plate full of chips and a hot dog into my hands and then forced me into a lawn chair by the thick old oak tree.

 Clearly, after the few times I tried to shout that this was so not okay with me, I realized it was futile. I was just going to have to go along with all of this and force a smile onto my face and accept defeat gratefully.

  I had too much pride to even admit that something was bothering me, anyways.

I quickly forced down the food somebody had handed me and the plate was immediately whisked away, only to be replaced with a largely wrapped present.  

  “Oh, no!” I shouted angrily. “No, no, no! No presents!”

“Come on, Laila,” Lissa pleaded, clasping her hands together. “It’s your birthday! You need presents!”

  “I do not – “

“Laila!”

  The pouting look on Lissa’s face was so absolutely ridiculous I couldn’t even stand to look at her for longer than a few seconds.

  “Fine, fine,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. “But only because you’re my best friend.”

Lissa let out an excited whoop and pumped a fist into the air. “Good! I promise you, you won’t regret this!”

  Oh, I had a feeling I was definitely going to regret this.

There was no point in telling Lissa this, however, since she was just going to annoy me, anyways.

  So it was with a thoroughly disgruntled look on my face that I sat in the rickety lawn chair with my arms and legs crossed, opening present after present that was quickly thrust into my grasp.

  A lot of things I got were a little useless and I doubted I would ever even use them – like a brand new flat iron – but there was a gift card to Barnes and Noble that I would most certainly use as soon as possible.

  It felt as if I’d been opening presents for hours upon hours, but in reality, it had only been at least a half hour.

  “Am I done now?” I groaned, dropping my head back against the lawn chair. “I swear I opened, like, twenty seven presents or something.”

  “Oh, you’re so dramatic,” Lissa sighed, reaching over to ruffle my hair.

I gave her a withering look, of which she promptly responded to by sticking her tongue out at me.

  “All right, it’s time for cake!” I heard one of my math classmates – Sara Edwards – shout from somewhere by the back door.

  “A cake?” I squeaked loudly. “Who made got me a cake?”

“I made you a cake, actually,” Lissa piped up, sounding oddly pleased with herself.

 “Oh, great,” I muttered under my breath, rolling my eyes. “Now we’re all going to get food poisoning.”

 It was safe to say that Lissa could not cook to save her life.

“Ha, ha,” she scoffed, giving me a nudge. “I’m sure you’re gonna love it.”

 I sure hope so, I thought with a sigh.

 Lissa yanked me up to my feet and started dragging me towards a long row of tables set up on the opposite side of the yard where plates upon plates of food were. We were half way across the yard before she threw her arms up in the air in a stop everything motion.

  “Has everyone given the birthday girl her presents?” Lissa shouted loudly, catching everyone’s attention.

  “I haven’t.”

I stopped, freezing to the spot, nearly falling forward on my face. Hearing that familiar voice was the last thing I expected at this point.

  Yeah, this had been a day of surprises, but I’d never expected a surprise like this

Taking a deep breath, I turned around slowly and saw the last person I thought I would see for a long time, leaning up against the oak tree with his arms crossed over his chest. He was regarding me with a cool expression in his blazing green eyes, but there was a calm expression on his face that I’d never seen before.

  “Justin?” I said breathlessly. “What’re you doing here?”

Justin Richards leaned away from the tree and walked forward, brushing a strand of his wildly wavy black hair out of his eyes.

  “I told you I would be here for your sweet sixteen, didn’t I?” Justin said, shrugging a shoulder.

Well, I mean, he had said that, but –

  “Wait, you drove eight hours just to be here on my sixteenth birthday?” I blurted out, momentarily distracted.

 That seemed like a lot of unnecessary work for nothing.

“Well, not only that,” he answered sheepishly, his hands tucked in his pockets. “I had to say goodbye, since you left before I could.”

 I swallowed hard, my eyes dropping from his face, not sure what to say to that.

He’d called me out on one of the stupidest things I’d ever done, in front of more than thirty people I went to school with, no less.

So, now what was supposed to happen?

 “Here,” Justin said abruptly, catching me off guard. “Happy Birthday.”

I glanced up at him as he handed me a small folded up photo he’d just pulled out of his pocket. I opened my mouth to ask him what all of this was about, but he cut me off with a small smile.

  “Just look at it,” he ordered.

I slowly unfolded the photo and examined it with weary eyes before I had to crack a smile.

It was a photo of Justin and me on what looked like our first day of kindergarten. I was dressed in a clean pleated skirt and a white blouse while Justin was wearing jeans a black t-shirt with a monster truck. Our arms were linked and we both wore identical, cheesy smiles, which was definitely a first since we weren’t trying to strangle each other with some ridiculous prank.

 “Would you look at that,” I said in surprise. “We’re not playing some stupid prank on each other in this picture.”

 “I know,” Justin agreed, grinning crookedly. “That’s why I thought it appropriate to give to you for your birthday.”

  “Well…thank you.”

I folded the photo back up and tucked it into my pocket before looking back at him awkwardly.

 “Look, Justin, I don’t know why you’re here, but I’m – “

“Laila, please don’t apologize,” Justin cut me off, a strained look on his face. “You don’t need to apologize. If anything, I’m the one who should be apologizing.”

 “What for?” I demanded sharply. “You didn’t even do anything! I was the one who – “

“For letting you go.”

  I stared up at him in surprise, not expecting him to have come back with an answer like that.

“But I – “

  “Look, Laila, what happened in the kitchen with Maggie was a mistake. She was the one who kissed me first. I never would have done that, not with you in the picture. You have to believe that. Please.”

  There was this pleading, desperate note in Justin’s voice that I’d never heard before, something that tugged at my gut, making me realize that he was telling the truth.

  But even so, that still didn’t change the fact that –

I cut off my frantic, wandering thoughts and forced myself to come up with a response.

  “Why are you here, Justin?” I asked him slowly.

“I told you,” he answered curtly. “I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

 “Oh, come on, really – because you didn’t get to say goodbye? There has to be some reason why you decided to drive eight hours, and not only that, but you must have left Ouray early, too! Oh, my God! You left early? What would Kim and Laurence say? Do they even know? Oh, my God, Justin, how irresponsible could you - ?”

 “I left because I’m in love with you, you stupid woman.”

I blinked, staring up at Justin with wide eyes, not even sure if I just heard what he’d said correctly.

 Justin was looking at me with a duped, stricken expression on his face, like he couldn’t believe what he’d just said, either. He was actually blushing for once.

  “I mean, you d-don’t have to say it back, but – but, I-I mean – “

  “Justin!”

 I burst out laughing, reaching up to clamp a hand over his mouth, and effectively cutting off his frantic babbling.

  I couldn’t stop smiling and there was this warm, tingly feeling curling in the pit of my tummy that made me feel beyond words.

  “I still owe you that penny, don’t I?” I asked him with a grin, eyebrows raised.

Justin stared down at me with a blank look on his face, letting things in, before he cracked a smile so breathtaking the twinkle lights wrapped around the backyard looked dim in comparison.

 “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, you do.”

And then just like that we were kissing. It wasn’t like our first kiss – gentle and sweet – or our last one, which had been completely full of desperation. There was something different about this kiss that I couldn’t put my finger on, like somehow I knew that I was finally home. I knew that we wouldn’t ever talk about what had happened again, because there wasn’t any need. That was a chapter that we could firmly close in our lives and move again.

  I supposed, perhaps, that we owed everything that had happened to this beyond crazy, stupid, unimaginable, completely wonderful summer.

  It was a loud, piercing scream that made me jerk away from Justin, looking around wildly for the cause of trouble.

  Lissa was standing a few feet away with her mouth hanging open, looking as if someone had just whapped her upside the head with a frying pan.

 “You’re Justin?” she demanded in a high pitched voice, staring at Justin with wide eyes.

Justin shot a confused look in my direction before he nodded, grinning slightly. “I am.”

 “Look at you, girl!” Lissa squealed, her eyebrows shooting up her forehead.

I flushed bright red, narrowing my eyes. “Thanks, Lissa.”

 “All right, everybody,” Lissa called, waving her arms around. “Let’s give the happy couple a few minutes alone.”

  Huh. I could go for a few minutes alone with Justin.

I turned back towards him with a small, sheepish grin, not knowing where this was going next.

  “I have a proposition for you,” Justin said almost conversationally, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear.

  “And what’s that?” I asked briskly.

“You frustrate me to no end and you’re completely annoying,” he began in a serious voice. “But then I’m a jerk 95% of the time and I like antagonizing you.”

  I scowled at him, rolling my eyes. “Your point?”

“What do you say we give this whole dating thing a real go?”

  I couldn’t help but grin at that was I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“Why, Justin Richards, are you asking me, Laila Hayes, to be your girlfriend?” I asked him teasingly.

  Color dotted his cheeks, but he rolled his eyes and gave a small smile. “Yeah, yeah, that is the general idea.”

 “Eh, why not?” I shrugged. “It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.”

  He looked offended for half a second before he realized that I was joking with him.

  “Very funny, sweetheart,” he said humorously before leaning down to press his lips against mine.

  I leaned up on my tiptoes to kiss him back, unable to keep from smiling.

I was lost in my own little piece of heaven, and – if I was lucky – I had a feeling I was going to be staying there for awhile.

______________________________________________________________________________

 LAST CHAPTER!!! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update - my nephew was just born on Monday and it's been a crazy week!!

  So, what do you guys think? Was it a worth last chapter?

Your thoughts and comments and ratings are greatly appreciated! Thanks so much! :D

  And by the way, I'm still not sure if I'm going to write an epilogue, but if I do, it should be posted within the next few days!!

  Thank you so much for all of the support! I couldn't have done it without you!

 - HonorInTheRain (: