Falling for You

Layla gasps and my tunnel vision widens enough for me to see her tear stained cheeks and bloodshot eyes. They’re too red and puffy for her to have just started crying. Something happened. Shit.

Layla runs past me, her shoulder brushing against my arm as she disappears to God-knows-where. Sam steps closer, blocking me from chasing after her and points behind him. “That chick drove almost two hours to be with you tonight. She likes you, even if she won’t come out and say it yet. And what do you do?” He pauses, likely waiting for me to respond. When I don’t reply, he adds, “You decide to ignore her the moment Amanda shows up.”

“I don’t give two shits about Amanda.”

“Yeah?” Sam chortles. “Well you could have fooled me. Layla saw you sneak into a back room with her. I did too.”

I feel my frustrations boiling inside me. Tonight has gone to shit. Between the drama with Amanda and now this, I’m ready to throw in the towel and go home. If Sam wants to be with Layla so badly, she can stay at his house. I may like the girl, but I don’t play with cheaters. “Amanda was starting shit, as usual, but Layla came here with me and then kissed you. She was the unfaithful one, not me.”

I turn to leave, but Sam grabs my arm. “I convinced Layla to dance with me because she downed two shots of tequila faster than Landon finishes, and we both know his longest lay is three minutes. She was spiraling and that bartender was more than happy to enable her. I kissed her and she pulled back, more upset than before because she was worried someone would tell you. Even though she was hurting, she didn’t want to upset you. Then your shitty ass comes down here and starts acting like a jealous prick.” Sam pokes me in the chest with his finger. “Tighten up before I steal your girl for real.”

My stomach drops, the rage I felt only a moment ago replaced with shame. “Hell.” I run my hand through my hair and tug at the roots. I need to feel something, to make sure this isn’t some jacked nightmare. It’s not and the feeling of knowing anything I could have had with Layla is tumbling down the drain guts me. “I’m fucking this up, aren’t I?”

“Majorly.” Sam rests his hand on my shoulder and looks me in the eye. “But I think you’ve still got a chance, if you let Hattie run damage control.”

“That’s probably a good idea.” I sigh and pull Sam in and clap him on the shoulder. I have to tell Layla something if I want to save whatever this is we’ve got going, and Hattie will want answers too. “Thanks, man. Even though you’re a dick for kissing my girl, I appreciate you looking out.”

“Anytime.” Sam slaps me on the butt and turns toward the bar. “Now, go get her!”

Sitting on the sticky floor of the handicapped stall in the girl’s bathroom isn’t where I thought I’d end up tonight. Yet, here I am, crying my eyes out, ruining the makeup that I worked so hard to make perfect.

“Layla? Are you in here?” a voice echoes. “It’s Hattie.”

I suck in a breath, desperate to choke back my tears and be as quiet as possible. I don’t want to talk. I want to curl into a ball and disappear.

My first real date is a disaster. I didn’t think anything could be worse than going into anaphylactic shock in the middle of my parents country club the day they announced Ashley and I were in love, but this takes the cake.

With Ashely, I was worried about embarrassing my family and ruining the partnership they’d worked years to forge through us. Tonight, I feel naive and betrayed by both Josh and Sam.

“I know you’re in here. I can hear your sniffling.” Hattie pushes on the stall doors until she reaches the one I’m in. The lock clangs and rears against itself. She bends down, sticking her head under the door, and frowns. “Open up or I’m crawling under.”

I shift to stare at the cheap tile on the wall. I’m not moving until this bar closes and everyone leaves. I have exactly eighty-seven dollars in my bank account. That should be enough to get an Uber to Josh’s place, where I can grab my car and drive home. There’s nothing in that house I can’t live without. I’d rather replace everything in my backpack than see him again.

With a huff, Hattie crawls under the door and finds herself a place on the ground beside me. “Oh, God, I need a shower. This floor is nasty.” She wrinkles her nose and wipes her hands on her pants, as if that would magically make the germs disappear.

A laugh escapes me, but it’s choked by a sob. Hattie puts an arm around me and I let my head fall against her shoulder. She doesn’t try to talk. Instead, she sits there, letting me cry until I run out of tears.

“He likes you, a lot, you know.” She runs her fingers through the curls I struggled to make only a few hours ago. They tangle in the hairspray, pulling every now and then, but the pain reminds me that there’s more to me than an aching heart. So, I don’t mind.

“Who?”

“Josh.”

I shake my head, convinced anything that could have been between Josh and I is ruined. I bite my lip to ease the pain in my chest. I don’t know why this hurts so much. We’ve shared a handful of kisses, that’s all. “He probably thinks I’m a slut for kissing Sam.”

Hattie grips my shoulders and pushes me upright, forcing me to look at her. “First off, Sam is a dog. Everyone knows he can’t keep his hands to himself. And Josh wasn’t mad at you, just shocked. Although, I’ll admit, he should have handled himself better.”

“I don’t know.” I bury my face in my arms and ugly cry again. If knowing the mess I'm in was Sam’s fault was supposed to make me feel better, it doesn’t. I’m now just one of the many girls he’s kissed and passed on to his friends. Oh, god. I’m sloppy seconds!

“I’ve been around a while now,” Hattie says, rubbing my back. “I’ve never seen Josh try this hard. He made me watch him try on eight different

outfits today. Eight! All because he wanted to impress you.”

I sniffle and look up at her, the vice-grip on my chest loosening. I want him to like me, but I need him to tell me why he ran off with that chick. I refuse to be with someone who cheats. I deserve better.

“Josh has a lot on his plate.” Hattie wipes the tears from my cheeks with the back of her finger. “And believe me when I say I know he can be hot-headed and has a temper like no other, but Josh is the most amazing guy I’ve ever met. If I wasn’t with Landon, he’s one of the few men in this county I’d consider being with. Give him another chance.”

“What about that girl he disappeared with?”