the silver lining playbook// a. irwin

chapter ten

"Luke?" I spoke as I walked through the frame of the door. He was not in front of me, yet to my right, looking into the fridge, tears glossing over his eyes.

Luke slammed the fridge door close and groaned, "Why don't we have beer in this place?"

It was a rhetorical question, but I still felt the need to answer it. So, I sighed, "It'd be highly unprofessional."

Luke gave me a dirty look, then walked across the kitchen to go to the other side of the island, pressing his arms on it and giving himself support. I spoke up, since he clearly wasn't going to, "What's going on?"

"I'm from Australia, I barely passed college, and I'm getting thrown off my team," Luke snapped, his voice raising by the second. "do you legitimately think I will get drafted again?"

"I think so; you just have to have a little hope," I explained, trying to reason with him as much as possible, "and we don't know for sure if this thing will work out. Don't fret yet."

Luke shouted at me as he slammed "How can I not? My career is on the line."

Then, there was a slight knocking at the door. We couldn't ignore it or people would have thought that Luke was in someway hurting me, which he wasn't. So I yelled out, "In a second."

Luke looked down, shielding his face from my gaze. I felt for this boy; I understand how devastating it can be to almost lose your job. Walking around the isle, I got to Luke and placed my hand on his back, making him stand tall once again. Keeping my hand on his chest, I told him, "Listen, even if Mr. Irwin works all his shit out and he does drop the team, I will make sure you come with, if you're not drafted first though."

Luke nodded, his eyes softening as he bit down on his lip and began formulating an excuse for his outburst, "I'm really sorry for yelling at you."

"I'm used to it. Mr. Irwin tends to do so often," I explained, a smile coming onto my face. However, this statement made Luke frown a bit.

Luke shook his head in disappointment towards me, "You shouldn't let him treat you like that."

"He tends to practice having the upper hand, I understand that."

Luke understood this, "Thank you, anyway."

"My pleasure," I grinned, and then, tapped his chest and moved away from him. "Don't doubt yourself."

As soon as I opened the people were standing outside, as if this was a hospital and someone was having surgery in the room I had just come out of. Ashton pulled me aside almost immediately as the guys distracted themselves with Luke and how he was feeling.

Ashton's feelings were unreadable from my perspective. His face was so rigid, so strict. Frankly, it was impossible to find out what he was thinking. So, I just had to listen. But due to the fact that he wasn't going to start talking, I began, "Did you need something, Mr. Irwin?"

"I don't appreciate your attitude and your constant surprises lately, Layla," Ashton sternly said. Was he serious right now?

I scoffed, not even caring that I was actually backing up his point. At the time, I was more worried about my pride, "I just convinced your best player to stay on the team and this is how you repay me, by lashing out at me?"

"Just-" Ashton began, now his expression was clear. I had made him so mad. His cheeks were flushed red, and his eyes dimmed in color. "take the rest of the day off, Layla."

"Can I take the week off while I'm at it?" I sarcastically said. But Ashton took this very seriously.

Ashton rolled his eyes and raised his tone with me, "Not unless you want lose your job."

"At this point, I wouldn't mind."

I snatched my purse and walked out of the room, then out of the centre. Not even realizing that Calum's driver had gotten us here in the first place, I looked for the car and found the black truck parked not too far away.

Walking toward it, I sat in the back seat, closing my eyes and covering my face with my hands as I cooled myself down. What made my eyes snap open was Calum's voice speaking to his driver, "Take her to her house, here's the address."

Then, he moved to the second window, where he could see me clearly now that the driver had rolled down the window. Calum sniffled to make his presence known, and my head snap up, "I know I'm the last person you want to see right now, Layla. But, please don't leave the team, we still need you."

"You're just saying that 'cause you can't afford another executive assistant."

"That hurts, but you're right. However, no one in that room could have made Luke feel happy to be on this team, and you somehow did. So, take the night off, but be there tomorrow. We all need you."

--/--

"How you doing, kid?" Josh said, speaking empathetically over the phone. I had gotten home not very long ago and the only person I felt like speaking to was Josh, my older brother.

I shrugged, picking at a loose strand of thread on my sweatpants that I had switched into before calling Josh, "Been better."

"What's up?"

"My boss was all- well, bossy," I sniffled, and breathed. No, I wasn't going to cry over Ashton, but I was trying to keep myself calm and relaxed as I spoke to my brother, for I did not want to make it seem like I might be about to lose my job.

"That's what bosses do, Layla."

"I know. I know," I groaned, knowing this conversation was headed absolutely nowhere. "I just didn't expect him to lash out like that."

Josh chuckled, making me smile. He was just one of those people that his emotions and feelings radiated off of him. So, if he was happy, we all were. "Shit happens, I suppose."

"Yeah, thanks Josh," I smiled, looking down as he had somehow made me feel better. How the hell that happened is nowhere in my line of comprehension. But it happened.

"Just have some beer and some ice cream and show up tomorrow with your head held high." I could almost feel the teasing in his voice, so I rolled my eyes, but smiled.

"Shut it and leave me be."