“Then why don’t you?”
“Because my mom says I’ll end up a dusty old professor if I major in those.”
“What would be wrong with that if you loved what you did every day?”
“There’s no money in it. No prestige. Mothers don’t push their daughters at the country club toward the nutty professors. They push them on the doctors and lawyers and dentists.”
“What if I promised you that you’ll not be a dusty old professor? And you won’t be a dentist either.”
“Tell my mom that. She has it all mapped out. Even when I should start looking for my future wife. She says sometime around the end of my undergraduate studies is when I should seriously start looking. She gets all up in arms when I mention a girl from school. She shoots them all down fast. None of them are good enough. She’s a bit of a micro-manager.”
Layla looked down at her salad. “At least your mom cares about your future. She’s just trying to get you somewhere good in life before she lets go.”
“Maybe.”
“But she’s wrong about what you’ll become. You will never be a dentist.”
“Because I’m going to discover time travel. So you really are from the future.”
Layla leaned in closer to whisper. “Do you see how hard it is for me to let you pay for my meals? To let you so much as put a bandage on my knee when I can do it myself. If getting to the airport is all I needed to do to get back to my work and my life, don’t you think I’d do it?”
I leaned in to whisper, “So is this confirmation that you really are from the future? That this isn’t a hoax?” I was so close to her again. Her fragrance was everywhere, filling my senses. I could feel her presence and it electrified the air between us. My heart raced as I stared into her eyes—huge saucers of warm hot chocolate.
She was in the same trance, looking back at me and having trouble forming her sentence. “I…can’t…tell…you.” She swallowed.
“I think you already did.” I knew in my heart I was having a moment. It was just like the flashes that I had to jot down in my notebooks. This wasn’t just the attraction between a guy and a pretty girl. This went deeper. This was more. She was my future. Just as much as that vision of how time travel would work. I was seeing into my future and all the potential that came with it.
I leaned in. I didn’t want anyone to hear the craziness of what I was about to say. “What if you are Layla? THE Layla. What if you are the catalyst sent to get me on the path to my destiny? What if you and the time travel go hand-in-hand and there cannot be one without the other? You want me to accept that I’m never going to be a dentist. Well, if all you are telling me is true, maybe you need to accept that you are never going back home. You are Layla.”
She pulled back and took in a quick breath at my last statement. She looked like she was going to speak but never did. Maybe she was having trouble processing the idea.
“If I’m to be a time traveler and it all starts with my great love for the beautiful Layla…and you’ve shown up in my timeline and I automatically call you Layla, then you must be Layla. You either believe the stories you were taught or you don’t. Or maybe you liked them better when they were for someone else and didn’t require anything from you.”
She said nothing as I watched her take it all in. Her blonde hair was messy from the ocean breeze by the pool, but I liked it like that. It reminded me of how she looked when she got up from bed. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I could hardly believe I was sitting at a table with someone like her. It almost made her story unbelievable because there was no way that I’d end up with a woman like her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, her eyes becoming even more wet with emotion.
“Like what?”
She blinked and swallowed. “Like I mean everything to you.”
I thought about her words and what she had told me about my future. I thought about the time travel I’d told no one about. I thought about the notebooks and the Cheerwine and Philo T. Farnsworth.
“Because maybe you do.”
Chapter 6
SHE WOULDN’T LOOK AT ME as we walked back to the motel. She stayed an arms length away until I opened the door to the room for her. She walked in and the air thickened. I grabbed my inhaler for a quick puff.
“It is stuffy in here. I think I’m going to suit up and go for a swim.” She grabbed her things and headed for the bathroom.
I didn’t mind a swim, so I changed quickly while she was in there, grabbed a Cheerwine from my cooler, and stepped out to the pool.
I sat on a reclining chair and rested my face in my hands and let out a long breath. Was all this for real or was it a hoax? No, I did not believe it was a hoax. I could feel it. This was the beginning of my destiny.
Layla stepped out in her suit, wrapped in a towel. She didn’t even look at me as she made her way to a chair, placed her towel on it, and took two steps to the pool before diving in. It was technically too late for swimming, but what could they do but tell us to get out? Besides, I liked having no one else around.
I watched her swim laps back and forth across the pool without so much as a break or a glance my way. I slipped off my t-shirt and jumped in on the other side and started swimming laps too. I didn’t know what else to do. I’d hoped the pool would be colder. The water was too warm to help with my issues. I swam until I was out of breath and finally stood up in the shallow end and looked around. Layla was nowhere in sight. I looked over to where she’d left her towel, and it was gone too.
I hopped out and grabbed my towel, dried off, and put my shirt back on. I looked out at the beach, but didn’t see her. I grabbed my Cheerwine, twisted off the lid, and chugged back a giant swallow. The bubbles burned the back of my throat. I chugged down half the bottle before I headed to the room and peeked in. She was in her bed with a towel draped over the pillow as she slept, or pretended to.
I thought about getting dressed and going to meet the guys at the club, but they might not even be there anymore if they left with the girls they met. I grabbed some clean boxers from the suitcase by the bed and headed to bathroom to change for bed.
Layla
I SAT IN THE MOTEL bathroom listening and waiting for Mommy, just like I always did. The normal banging and moaning had happened—sounds that always made me cover my ears and sometimes hide in the shower curtain.
The man had yelled, “Hey lady! What’s the matter with you?” a long time ago. Then he yelled a bunch of curse words and slammed a door. But Mommy’s rule was that I had to stay put until she came to get me. I wasn’t to open the door or peek out. None of that until she came to get me. But she never came to get me this time.
My tummy rumbled. We’d just gotten a Happy Meal on the way to the motel for Mommy to meet one of her boyfriends. But I was hungry again. I’d used my hands to get some water to drink from the tub. When was Mommy coming to get me? I grabbed a couple of towels and used one for a pillow and one for a blanket and lay down on the floor. I hoped Mommy would come to get me soon.
I think I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew, the bathroom door was opening. A lady stood in front of me. At first I thought it was Mommy. She looked like Mommy, but younger and prettier. She had Mommy’s golden hair, not muddy hair like mine.
“Hey sweetie. I need you to come with me.”
“Where’s Mommy?” I wiped my eyes as I stood up from the floor.
“She’s sleeping on the bed. She wants me to take you to your grandma’s house.”
“I don’t have a grandma.”
The pretty woman smiled wide. Her lips were very pink, and her clothes were fancy. Like something people in movies wore when they sat behind desks. “You do have a grandma and she loves you very much. She hasn’t seen you since you were a baby.”
“But what about Mommy?”
The woman took my hand and led me out of the bathroom and past the bed, where the sheet was pulled up over Mommy’s face.
“Mommy’s been sick. She throws up a lot everyday and her tummy always hurts.”
“Sleep is good for you when you’re sick so we need to leave her alone. She got too sick and she can’t take care of you right now. That’s why she wants me to take you to your grandma. I bet you’re hungry too. Are you?”
I nodded.
“Do you like pancakes? I will take you for some on the way.”
The woman led me to the door and let go of my hand. She walked over to my mommy’s purse and pulled out her wallet. “I need this to show your grandma.”
She took my hand, and we walked to her shiny black car. “Let’s get those pancakes.”
I thought we would get McDonald’s pancakes, like Mommy always got me, but we went to a place where you sit down and they take your order. The lady watched me eat and smiled.
“You will love living with your grandma. She’s going to teach you a lot of important lessons. Remember them all and obey them all. Do you hear me?”
I nodded as I took a big bite of banana pancake.
“You were always a good girl for your mommy, staying in the bathroom and never coming out when she went to see her boyfriends. Now I need you to be a good girl for me and do what I say. Can you still be a good girl and obey me?”
I nodded again.
She pulled out a notepad from her purse and wrote something down. “I know you can’t read yet, but I need you to take this paper and keep it forever. I need you to look at it and memorize it when you get old enough to read. It will save your life.”
I took the paper from her and looked at the words and numbers. I folded it and stuck it in my pocket.
Then the lady leaned across the table and took my hand. Her eyes were big and brown like mine. Her forehead scrunched before she finally spoke. “I need you to know that today you waited and I came to rescue you. And that was good. But that is the last time someone else will ever step in to rescue you again. You have to make sure that you are brave and strong and learn to take care of yourself. Not only that, but it’s all on you to rescue everyone else. And if you really love them, you can’t ever let them see you scared or sad. You suck it up and smile at them. There is no need for them to suffer with you. So when you grow up and find yourself waiting in a motel for someone to come save you, just forget it. No one will ever come to rescue you again like this. No one is coming. It’s all on you from now on.”
I shot up from the bed, blinking in the dark, trying to orient myself. This wasn’t my apartment. I swallowed hard. I was in a motel room, and I shuddered.
“Hey, what’s going on?” a soothing and familiar male voice spoke in the dark. Soon the light next to that voice was on.
I let out a sigh and rubbed my eyes. David rubbed his too, and he came to sit beside me in my bed. He put his arm around me. I grabbed hold of his neck and clung to him. He didn’t smell like a kid. He smelled musky and male, and his back muscles were hard and solid. I felt so safe there as he encircled me with his strong arms. I felt like crying but I sucked it in. …you can’t ever let them see you scared or sad.
David pulled me closer. “You screamed and it woke me. Are you all right?” His voice was so mellow and soothing.
“Yeah. I had a dream…a memory.” I swallowed. “I’m sorry I woke you.” The last line of the dream echoed over and over in my head. ‘No one is coming. It’s all on you from now on.’
I pulled away just long enough to look into David’s blue eyes. No one was coming for me. I was Layla.
If I was Layla, I knew the story from beginning to end. The pull toward David was real. It was always real. The childhood dream had come to reality there holding me. I moved my hands to the back of David’s head and pulled his face to mine until his lips were touching mine. I kissed him softly at first, breathing him in as I did. I continued the kiss but more deeply and more animalistic. David crawled onto the bed. His knees were on the outside of mine as he pressed into me, pushing me down onto my pillows. The weight of him felt more like armor covering and protecting me than like a cage hemming me in. His lips moved from my lips to my cheek, then to just under my ear, and down my neck. I gasped for air. I’d never allowed this before with anyone, but I’d never felt this for anyone before either. The kisses trailed to the rim of the t-shirt as David’s hand had moved to rest on my outer thigh.
Suddenly, my grandmother’s voice was in my head, along with all the promises she asked me to make before she died. I moved my hands until my palms rested on David’s chest and pushed him away. He sat up; his gaze was dreamy, like he was in a trance.
“I’m sorry, I can’t.” If we didn’t stop now, I’d break one of my promises to my grandma, and that was something I had never done. “We need to stop before we get carried away.”
David rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes and clenched his teeth together. It made the muscles and his strong jaw line more pronounced under his stubble as he let out an agonizing groan. “Okay. Right. Sorry.”
He moved back and stood, but I reached out and grabbed his hand.
“No, not sorry. Just… not yet. This is hard for me too.”
“You aren’t mad at me?”
“No, of course not.” I pulled him back to me. “Could you hold me while I sleep?”
“Yeah, sure.” He tucked the blanket around me and curled up next to me, but on top of the blanket. He lay on his side, facing me, and draped an arm over my abdomen. I rubbed his forearm, feeling the ripples in the muscle as I felt them tense. He felt strong and male, and it made me feel safe for the first time in a very long time…maybe ever, and I drifted off to sleep with lovely dreams.
David
I COULDN’T SLEEP, NOT AFTER that kiss and not with being so close to Layla. It had been hard enough to sleep in the same room with her, but this was torture. I brushed her hair away from the back of her neck and leaned in to kiss the spot, but changed my mind as I heard her breathing become even again. Apparently, she wasn’t having the same trouble I was having.
If she could read my thoughts, she would not think me the gentleman she believed me to be. Maybe I was more like Michael than I wanted to believe. I listened to her breathe and watched the clock for most of the night until sometime into the morning, sleep finally overtook me.
Chapter 7
I SHOT UP AND GLANCED around. I was alone in Layla’s bed. I stood and made my way to the bathroom, but she wasn’t there. Only a little sunlight made it through the heavy curtains. I ran my fingers through my hair, over and over, before grabbing my glasses from the night stand, trying to think of where she’d gone. I slipped on my shoes and grabbed the room key and walked out the door.
It was early afternoon, and the breakfast table had already been taken up.
I tapped on the door to the guys’ room. I got no reply, so I beat harder. “Michael, Joey, Travis, open up!” Joey opened it, his eyes half shut and smelling of alcohol. “What?” he whispered.
“Have you seen Layla?”
Joey rubbed his eyes and slurred, “Yep, she’s in here with the four of us. Got tired of nothing happening in your room. It was a blast. Wanna see the pictures?”
I shoved him with both hands. “I’m serious.”
“Dude, we just got in around six this morning. I haven’t seen anything but the inside of my eyelids, and I want to see more of ’em. Go look on the beach. Maybe she went for a walk.”
“Good idea. Thanks.”
He shut the door, and I turned for the beach behind me. I was stepping onto the sand next to the other end of the white stucco motel when a door opened above me. I glanced up to find Layla coming out the door with a bundle of towels in her arms. She lugged them to the laundry cart and dumped them into it. She was in a blue housekeeping uniform with her hair pulled back in a bun.
“Hey, what are you doing up there…dressed like a maid?” I used my hand to block out the sun so I could see better to make sure it was really her.
Layla rubbed her forehead with the front of her hand and smiled
at me. “I’m working. What does it look like I’m doing?”
“Since when do you work here?”
“Since this morning. Come up here and talk to me while I work. I just got the job. I don’t want to lose it just as fast.” She grabbed a stack of towels and walked back into the room she had just come out from.
I jogged to the stairs and took them two at a time until I made it to the landing. I got to the room just as she was putting the towels down on the bed and propping the door open with a chair.
She smiled at me as she picked the towels back up and headed toward the bathroom. “I don’t want the boss to think we are up here doing something else while I’m on the clock. This way if he walks by, he sees I’m doing my job as you talk to me.”
“So why are you working here?” I follow her to the bathroom where she started hanging towels on the racks.
“I was thinking that if I’m stuck here for good, I need to find a way to make a living for myself. I can’t keep Michael out of his room forever. So I went to the office this morning and asked the manager if I could work for a room this week. He agreed. There is a room behind the office designed for the night clerk, but they don’t have a night clerk since the owner lives on site. I can use that in exchange for doing a few hours of housekeeping each day I’m here.”
She made her way back to the cart covered in cleaning bottles, mops, and brooms out on the landing, and I followed her. “But why? I don’t mind sharing a room with you, and Michael can go hang for all I care.”
“That’s nice, but you planned on this trip with your friend.”
I followed closely behind her. “But I like sharing a room with you better. You don’t snore like Michael. And I bet you’d never fart over me while I sleep and shout, ‘Ah, that felt good.’”
She laughed as she grabbed up a can of air freshener and sprayed it just inside the door of the room before returning it to the cart. “Probably not, but you never know. We haven’t had Mexican while here.”
“If you leave, he comes back to the room.”
Forever Layla: A Time Travel Romance Page 6
