A few minutes later I rushed inside of Kelly's studio. She was sat there, with her feet on the desk and with her headphones on. I didn't hesitate any longer and ran up to her. I pulled her headphones from her ears and turned her seat around.
"I have a problem. Like, a major problem." I said with big eyes.
Kelly frowned and grabbed some chips out of the bowl that was standing on the desk.
"What's the problem?" She calmly asked.
"Oreo is gone." I replied.
"He is what?"
"Gone. I took him to work because Jamie couldn't take him with him today and I wasn't paying attention and now he's gone."
Kelly stood up and locked her eyes with mine.
"Do you have any idea where he could be?" She asked.
I shrugged.
"I'm guessing somewhere in the building. But the thing is, if Ryland sees that Oreo is in this building, it's done for me. The end. Finito." I said.
Kelly nodded.
"Yes and then you'll get fired and I need you here. So what we're gonna do, is search everywhere. Go!" She said as she pushed me through the door.
I ran through the halls, looking in every studio I came across. People got mad at me for interrupting their sessions or invading their privacy. I also bumped into Kelly once, because she was searching for Oreo too.
Elevators, staircases, studios, restrooms, everywhere I looked, there was no Oreo to be found.
After an hour I gave up trying and decided to get some fresh air in the garden behind the building. We have someone working here who desperately wanted a garden to have his lunchbreak in and to get some fresh air. I gotta admit, that garden was a great idea. It helps you to relieve stress and to help you get control over your thoughts again.
I opened the door and walked outside. For a splitsecond the bright sun blinded me, leaving me with my hands covering my eyes. I slowly walked up to the first bench I saw and sat down. I looked at the sky and sighed.
"God.. If you're up there, could you please bring me back the one and only thing I love and care about?" I asked as if the sky could reply any moment.
Ofcourse, as expected, it stayed silent. Another sigh left my mouth as I put my face in my hands.
Suddenly I heard a soft bark coming from behind me. I immediately turned around. My eyes widened. Demi was sitting there on the ground, playing with Oreo.
"Wow, that was fast.." I mumbled underneath my breath. "There you are!" I ran up to them and kneeled down to hug Oreo.
"I found him taking a shit in the restroom so I brought him here. And in case you were wondering: Yes, I cleaned it up." Demi said as she stood up.
She wiped the sand off her leggings and jacket. I gave Oreo a kiss and picked him up to stand up as well afterwards.
"Thankyou for keeping him with you. I was so scared, he could've been ran over by a car for all I know." I said as a relieved sigh left my mouth.
Demi smiled.
"Good thing Oreo still knows me." She said. I nodded and laughed as I continued giving Oreo little kisses.
"Say, what are you doing here? I thought Kelly said you had a few days off to go to your family or something?" I asked out of curiosity.
"That was the original plan, yeah, but then something with a certain female DJ who had to leave town for three weeks came in between and uh.. Yeah. Now I'm here.." She replied.
"I'm not sure if I understand what you mean.." I said confused.
"Lauren and I had a fight last week. Over text. I told her I wanted her to come home and she took it the wrong way. She told me I was only thinking about myself, and that she was having the time of her life right now and that she found it unfair that I wanted to take away her moments of shine." Demi said.
She looked at the ground and sighed.
"But that isn't true, is it?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"Ofcourse it isn't. I only said I wanted her to come home because I miss her and only wanted to cuddle someone while watching the Bachelorette or something. Next thing you know, you feel so lonely your bed is your best and only friend. True story, it happened." She replied.
I nodded understanding.
For a few seconds it stayed silent, until Demi coughed.
"Shouldn't you like.. Uh.. Go back to your studio?" She asked.
Startled I looked up.
"Fuck." Is the only thing that could come out of my mouth.
Demi laughed and turned me around to push me towards the door.
"Go before you get fired, you dumbass!" She said.
I laughed and waved. Then I disappeared through the door and made my way to the studio as fast as I could.
-~-~-~-
"Layla Ahkari." I heard when I stopped in front of the door of my studio.
I knew that voice all too well. It was my boss, Ryland. I nervously went inside the studio and closed the door behind me. I silently sat down on a chair and put Oreo on the chair next to me.
"You first bring a dog into this building when you know that's prohibited, and then you bail on Kevin, Joe and Nick as if they're not important." Ryland angrily said.
"I can explain.." I tried.
Ryland sighed and stood up.
"Layla, I'm starting to think you don't take this job seriously. You got to work with these amazing guys", he said as he pointed at Nick, Joe and Kevin, "and you got a lot of other amazing opportunities. But you keep ruining it for yourself. You gotta stay focused, Layla."
I slowly nodded.
"I'm sorry, Ryland. It won't happen again." I said. Ryland locked his eyes with mine and then sighed with a smile.
"You're lucky you're likeable. But I have to give you a timelimit to make sure you stay focused." He said.
"No, please! Not a timelimit!"
"I'm sorry, Layla. You got three weeks." Ryland said and he walked out of the studio.
I stood up and held my hands on my head as I paced around the studio.
"We got this in three weeks, Layla. We are all here to help you." Joe said.
I looked at them.
"Are you sure? Three weeks goes by really fast." I said insecure.
Joe nodded.
"Easily. Now, what's your plan?" He asked.
"Okay. I was thinking.. What if you guys record yourself singing, just on your phone, and then send that to me so I can create the instrumental already. Then later on we can go record for real." I replied.
They all nodded excitedly.
"Cool, let's do it." Kevin said as he clapped in his hands.
-~-~-~-
Demi's POV
"When are you coming home?" I asked Lauren.
She had a few hours off so we could FaceTime. She sighed.
"Demi. How often do I have to tell you this trip's duration is three weeks? I'm having fun, so please stop ruining the fun with your whiny ass." She replied.
"I just miss you, okay? Don't forget about the fact you just left out of the blue, without a warning or something. What would you do if you'd think you'd be spending the night with your girlfriend and you walk upstairs to seeing an empty bed?" I angrily asked.
"Well, I'd for sure as hell not freak out as bad as you're doing right now. You know where I am and when I'll be back." She replied with a sigh.
"Yes, I do, but that does not take away the fact you just don't give a shit about me." I said.
Lauren gasped.
"When the fuck did I ever say I don't give a shit about you?" She asked.
"You don't have to say that to make it clear. Everytime we're together it's always about you and your job. Yes I'm happy that you're thriving and all, but can we just talk about other stuff for fucking once? I'm sick and tired of hearing about how your set was bomb right after I asked you what's for dinner, and then you stay silent when I talk about how my day was. Just think about other people and their interests too, because it's not always about you." I said.
A relieved yet annoyed sigh left my mouth. We've never had a fight like this and things were starting to get real. Maybe a little too real..
"You know what? I'm done with this bullshit. Goodnight, Demi." Lauren said.
She hung up. I looked at my screen with open mouth. Did she really just hang up? I sighed and threw my phone on the ground, backing down on my bed with my hands on my head.
It wasn't much later when my doorbell rang. I stood up with a sigh and went downstairs to open the door. My eyes widened as I saw who it was.
"Layla?" I asked surprised. She nodded with a smile.
"Yeah, I just wanted to thank you one more time for keeping Oreo with you." She said.
"Yeah, no problem." I replied.
She smiled as goodbye and then turned around to walk away again.
"Wait, Layla!" I said.
She turned back to me.
"Yes?" She asked, looking at me with a puzzled face.
"Don't you want a drink or something?" I asked.
She looked at me for a few seconds to make sure I was serious and then nodded. I welcomed her inside and closed the door behind us. She slowly walked through the hall as she looked around. When she arrived at the place where I keep all my shoes when I come home, she looked from her own shoes to me.
"Oh. There's no need to take them off, don't worry." I said.
She smiled and walked inside of the living room.
"Your house is fucking beautiful, Demi." She said, admiring some paintings on the wall.
"Thankyou! I got to decorate it myself, so I used that opportunity for good and made it like this." I said.
I walked inside the kitchen and opened the fridge.
"What do you want to drink? I obviously got no wine or beer." I said.
She looked at me.
"Do you happen to have.. Mountain Dew?" She asked.
I looked in my fridge and smiled when I saw one last bottle. I grabbed it out of the fridge.
"Here." I said.
I threw the bottle through the room, knowing she'd catch it.
A few seconds later we made ourselves comfortable in between the lots of pillows on the sofa on my balcony. It was more like a bed combined with a sofa, because you could use it as a bed too. It stayed silent for a few minutes. Layla was checking the view I had from here and I was just drinking my Redbull as I looked at her.
"Nice view, huh?" I asked.
She nodded without looking at me.
"I'd die for this view.." She said with a dreamy sigh.
"What kinda view do you have then?" I asked.
She turned her face towards mine and started laughing.
"The view we have is a wall." She replied.
I chuckled.
"I assume it's pretty interesting to watch the bugs crawling up and down the wall from your bedroom window. I think that's everyone's dream." I sarcastically said.
She nodded and laughed even harder.
"So.. How are things going between you and Kittens?" She suddenly asked.
I glared at her and then decided it was better to just be straight up honest with her.
"Still not so great, to be honest.." I said.
"What happened?" She asked.
"We had another fight, but this time it was way worse. Sometimes I can't stand that girl." I replied, taking a sip from my Redbull.
It was hard for me not to start crying in front of Layla. She'd think I'd be exaggerating or something.
Unfortunately, after a good two minutes, I felt the first tears rolling down my face. Before I knew it, my whole face was covered in tears and mascara.
"Oh my God, Demi, come here." Layla immediately said when she saw my tears.
She pulled me in a warm embrace and slowly ran her hand through my hair as she layed her head on mine.
"It's gonna be alright between you two. Y'all are just frustrated because of your jobs. Maybe take a break and go on vacation with just the two of you, I don't know." She said.
I slowly pulled myself out of the hug and locked my eyes with hers. A little smile spread across my face.
"Thanks." I said as I wiped away my tears and mascara.
She nodded.
"Always." She replied.
Suddenly I heard the well known sound of some clicking cameras. I nervously stood up and looked over the edge of the balcony.
"Shit.." I mumbled underneath my breath when I saw a group of paparazzi standing right outside my house, taking pictures of us.
"What?" Layla asked confused.
"There's paps who took pictures of us together. America's gonna flip if they see us together.." I replied.
Layla's eyes widened. Also she stood up to look over the edge.
"Maybe it's better if I leave.." She said.
"I hate that I have to agree with that statement." I said disappointed.
We walked inside of the house and went downstairs.
"Thanks for the drink." She said right before leaving.
"Yeah, you're welcome. I'll text you later today. Bye!" I said.
"See ya." She said and walked away.
I closed the door and hurried to my backyard to see if the paps were still standing next to my garden. When I couldn't hear the sound of clicking cameras and couldn't see anyone standing there anymore, I sighed and sat down on a bench next to my swimming pool. I looked at the water as I nervously bit my nails.
If Lauren sees these pics of Layla being here while she is in Canada, she's gonna kill me for sure..
-~-~-~-
hey guys
i just wanted to thank you all for the ongoing support on this book (and the first part ofcourse). im just glad i dont write for nothing and actually get to entertain most of you with my stories.
i have summer break now, so i can finally write a lot again and i for sure as hell will do that continuously, so dont worry!
have a nice day and dont forget to smile :)
x britt