Gonna Wanna Tonight

Chapter 7

This chapter refers to a real event in Mooresville, NC hosted by the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation called Catwalk for a Cause to raise money for pediatric cancer.

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Layla woke to the sound of her alarm at 6am the next morning and groaned. She had stayed up until 2am texting Chase and was not ready for the day her and Monica had ahead of them. They had promised Sherry weeks ago to help with one of her charity benefits and their job was to get everything set up for the next evening.

Her phone started going off again and she smacked at it. She lifted her head up when she realized it wasn't her alarm going off. Picking it up, she quickly rolled over and answered the phone.

“Hello?” she said, trying to hide the tiredness in her voice.

“I woke you up, didn't I?” Chase said on the other end.

Layla let out a small laugh. “Sweetheart, we just went to bed four hours ago, what do you think?”

“I'm sorry, I really just wanted to hear your voice,” he said, apologetically.

“It's okay. I need to get up anyway. You on the road already?”

“Yeah. Just hopped on 77. I'll be in Columbia by 8 at the latest.” Still on the phone with Chase, Layla got out of bed and headed downstairs to get her a cup of coffee. She nodded at Monica, who was sitting at the table with her coffee. She quickly poured herself a cup and headed back up to her room. After about an hour on the phone, they said their good-byes and Chase promised to call her after the show.

A knock at her bedroom door told her Monica was ready to get over to the warehouse to set up for the event. “I'm coming,” Layla yelled from the bathroom to her.

“I'm exhausted,” Monica said as they walked into the house. They had spent the past twelve hours getting everything ready for Martin and Sherry's annual charity event the next night.

“I second that,” Layla said, flopping down on the couch and closing her eyes. That four hours of sleep she got was definitely biting her in the ass right now, but she wasn't going to complain. Chase had sent her a couple texts throughout the day telling her how much he wished she was with him tonight.

“Don't fall asleep there. Lover boy should be calling you soon, shouldn't he?” Monica said, sitting on the arm of the couch. Layla mumbled something into the pillow under her face. With a swift move, Monica pulled the pillow out from under her.

“Seriously?” Layla said, lifting herself up into a seated position. Monica laughed and headed to her room. Layla took that as her cue to head upstairs as well. She had just made it to her door when her phone started buzzing in there pocket. She smiled as she pulled it out and answered it. “Hello?”

“Hey, pretty girl. What are you doing?” Chase said on the other end of the phone.

“Just got back from setting up everything for tomorrow night. How was the show?”

She could hear the excitement in his voice as he talked about the venue and how many people had come out to see him play. He was still on that energy buzz and she wished she was there to share in it with him. Layla could feel her eyes getting heavy as they talked and Chase could sense she was close to falling asleep on him.

“Babe, you should probably get some sleep. You got a busy day tomorrow. Text me tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, I will. I gotta go to work in the morning, and I'll try to call you before the benefit tomorrow night.”