Ever After Awaits (Layla) novel Chapter 18

Ever After Awaits

Chapter 18: Layla POV

I pull away from AJ but don’t release him completely, our fingers still clasping each other’s.

My eyes flick over his face, down to his chest and even take in his long muscular legs. A smile grows on my face the more of him I take in.

“Well look at you: AJ Rhodes, all grown up.”

He blushes slightly before dipping his head. He always was a bit shy around me, but I always found that endearing about him. He never was as brash and boisterous as all the other boys at school.

“Layla Kincaid, as charming as ever, I see. Still beating up boys who look at you in the wrong way?” he smirks, and I chuckle at him.

“Maybe.” I wink at him. I’m still trying to comprehend how he’s here – in my town, on my campus, standing in front of me.

For eight years we were glued to the hip and then he up and disappeared on me. I know why and I don’t blame him for it. But it didn’t make it hurt any less.

He was dealt a bad hand, first with his mom basically working all day long, then with her alcohol dependency after she lost her job, and then with that creep Stephen that traipsed into their life. From thereon, everything completely went downhill.

At the time, I was too young to understand what was re happening over at his house. But after he was taken by the social worker, I asked my parents what was going on. Thinking he might be coming back. But it was then that they started to explain to me what his mother became and how she let Stephen, alcohol, and drugs take over her life.

It broke my heart, and I mourned the loss of my best friend for months, shutting out the world. I stopped hanging out with other kids, and buried myself in the ache of missing him.

After my grades started to slip, Dad tried contacting social services to see if he could find AJ, not necessarily to take him in, but to at least get some contact details of where he was. Even if I couldn’t speak to him over the phone, maybe I could write to him and tell him how sorry I was and that I’d always be

there for him.

Unfortunately, because we were not family, they were not allowed to provide us with those details. And so, I had to give up and move on, no matter how difficult.

Now, standing here, staring at the boy, I feel like I’ve been given a second chance. My heart thuds with the possibility of getting my best friend back.

“What brings you to Saxonsea University?” I asked, stepping back and clasping my hands around my backpack straps. The campus around us hums with students heading to class, but all I can focus on is AJ,

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Chapter 18: Layla POV

standing here, real and solid, after all these years.

Al kicks at a pebble but then answers, “I got a scholarship and started classes this week.”

“What? That’s amazing! I always knew you were a brainiac.” I smirk at him, remembering the times he tried his best to make maths and science make sense to me. I was hopeless, but he never gave up on me.

He gives a self–deprecating laugh but doesn’t respond. He always struggled to accept compliments, and it seems nothing much has changed.

I decide to put us both out of our misery and hold out my hand. “Give me your phone?”

He looks at me skeptically but slowly pulls it from his back pocket, unlocks it, and slides it into my hand. The moment our skin touches, warmth spreads to certain areas that shall not be named in respectable company. I dip my head to try and hide the blush that I can feel creeping up my neck. Darn hormones!

A few taps on the screen later my phone chimes in my backpack. I go to hand his phone back, but don’t let it go immediately when he takes it, “Now you have my number, but don’t go stalking me, you hear.”

He smirks at me and a sly smirk tips the corner of his mouth, “You would be so lucky.”

“Ha! I need to go, but I’d love to catch up sometime. Call me, if you have time, and we’ll set something

up.”

I lean in for another hug and I swear he hugs me just a bit longer than would seem appropriate – but you won’t hear me complain.

“It was good to see you, Layla,” he whispers in my ear, his voice soft and familiar, stirring up a rush of memories. He pulls away, offering a small smile before strolling past me, heading wherever he was bound before our unexpected reunion.

His figure grows smaller as he moves through the crowd of students, and I stand rooted to the spot, watching him go, lost in a wave of nostalgia that feels like a warm ache in my chest.

It’s been nearly seven years since I last saw him, and I know we’ve both changed in countless ways–time and life have a way of reshaping people. And I realize we’ve both changed in so many ways, but I truly hope we can recapture even a semblance of the friendship that we had shared.

But I slam the door shut on any foolish thoughts of us being more than friends. Back then, just before he was taken away, I’d started to feel something deeper for him, a quiet crush that made my heart race when he’d smile at me. I never said a word, though, because I knew he didn’t see me that way. And I would never risk our friendship by alluding to those feelings.

Besides, he deserves a girl who would give him her undivided attention and unfortunately due to two very handsome young men, that won’t be me.

Chapter 18: Layla POV

So, I’ll settle for being his friend again, cheering him on like I always did, ready to smile and support him when he finds the girl who’ll hold his heart. Even if that stings, even if I have to swallow the ache of watching him love someone else, I’ll do it. Because that’s what you do for someone you care about.

With a heavy sigh, I turn and walk to my car, shrugging my moment of melancholy off, and imagining what might be in store for me tonight.

Even if Cade is mostly occupied with entertaining his roommates and most likely some of his football buddies, I get to spend some time with him, and maybe, just maybe, we will be able to get some time alone. Be in each other’s company without any people around or distractions like at the coffee shop – a nice, quiet, drama–free evening.

But as we have established before, the universe is a vindictive bitch and likes to turn my life into a dogsh