Stay For Me - Megan Smith Page 0,38
over. It’s not a big deal.”
“No, it’s okay. I’m about to go to bed and hope when I wake up in the morning this will all be over with.” Oh, how I wish that were true.
“Okay I’ll call and check in on you tomorrow after classes are over.”
“Thanks, Jay.”
She disconnects the calls.
This day can go to hell.
Eli
“Hey, Eli,” Jaylinn says knocking on my office door. She’s been stopping in every day asking if I need help with anything since Layla hasn’t been here.
I put my pen down on the desk and lean back in my chair. “Hey, what are you up to?”
She drops her purse on one of the two chairs in my office and takes a seat in the other. “Just finished my last class of the day.”
“Layla show up?” I’ve been asking the same question all week. She must have one hell of a stomach bug because she hasn’t come to work all week. I’m getting actually a little worried.
“Nope,” she crosses her legs. “Do you think I should just go over there? She’s not even taking my calls now.”
I shake my head. “No, if she really is that sick you don’t want to catch it. I’ll give her a call in a little bit if I don’t hear from her before then.”
Jaylinn starts biting on the side of her thumb.
“What’s the matter?” I can sense something is wrong.
She huffs. “I don’t know. Something just doesn’t seem right. She never just blows off school like this without calling me or anything.”
“Have you seen Brian?”
She shakes her head.
“Maybe he’s got the stomach bug too then?” I offer.
Jaylinn gives me a pointed look.
“Alright, maybe not.”
“When you took her home Saturday night everything was okay between you two, right?”
“Yeah, things were fine. We had a great time.” We even shared another kiss although it was nothing like the first time. It was a friendly kiss on the cheek.
“And…”
I scrub my face with my hands. “She has a boyfriend, Jay.”
“But you like her.” She states.
“I like her.” I sigh loudly. “Has she ever talked to you? Like about her parents, does she have any siblings? Do you know anything personal about her?”
“No. I tried once talking to her about her mom and she changed the subject. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her talk about her family, come to think of it.” Jaylinn curses. “I’m a shitty friend.”
“You’re not a shitty friend.” I lean forward resting my elbows on my knees. “She gave me a little piece Saturday night. Not about her family or anything but something she’s never told anyone.”
Jaylinn raises her eyebrows.
I roll my eyes. “It was just something she wanted as a little girl.”
Jaylinn still has her eyebrows raised.
“What?”
“You really like her.”
I don’t respond.
“You really, really, like her.”
I’m still quiet. Honestly, yeah, I do. I like her a lot but she’s also got a shit ton of problems and I don’t know if I’m ready to take them on.
“Hmm.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Don’t start your psychoanalysis shit.”
She fakes being hurt. “I would never.”
“I have work to do.” I pick my pen back up and start looking at the numbers from last night. Jaylinn sits there for a while playing with her phone before finally growing bored that I won’t talk about Layla with her anymore. She walks around my desk and hugs my head. “Call me after you talk to her.”
“I will.”
The second she leaves I clean up my desk, grab my keys and take a ride over to Layla’s house. If Jaylinn is a little worried, I’m really worried. She knows her better than I do and I would think if she was in any kind of trouble she’d call her first but that hasn’t happened so now it’s time I make a trip over there.
I pull up in front of Layla’s tan two-story house. There is a car in the driveway and the front door is open along with the windows, the April breeze flowing through the house. Layla’s mom is probably trying to air out the house considering the stomach bug is so bad.
I take the steps two at a time and knock on the front door. Mrs. Del Luca smiles as she greets me.
“Hi, Mrs. Del Luca, I just wanted to swing by and check on Layla. Make sure she’s okay.”
She places a hand over her heart. “Oh dear, I’m not Mrs. Del Luca. My name is Kathy Stein.” What the hell? “I’m a friend of the family.” Oh, okay, well that makes a little more sense, I guess.
“Sorry