Chapter 1: You Are Such A Five Year Old
•Leilani•
"Come on, Leila, we don't want to be late for science!" My friend, Renee hurried me.
"Ugh, but I do." I said. I hated science with a passion. I was slowly walking to class when all of a sudden, everything went black. Someone had their hands over my eyes.
"Guess who." Spoke a voice with an unforgettable australian accent. I turned around with a huge smile on my face.
"Cody!" I yelled, wrapping my arms around his waist. Cody Simpson had been my best friend ever since he had moved to LA. We met surfing and the only thing that we felt between us a friendship. A BEST friendship. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Leila, it's great to see you." He said, hugging my head with his hands in my hair. He was so much taller than I was. "I missed you!"
"I missed you, too, Cody." I said into his chest. Cody had been gone for 9 months on a tour. His second one with Greyson Chance. Sometimes, it did seem as if we were a couple. Everyone around us thought so. But we knew we were just friends. He broke the hug and took my hand.
"Come on, we're getting out of here." He said.
"Cody, I have sci-"
"You're mom called the school. She told them I was picking you up because of a family thing."
"THANK GOD." I yelled to the sky. Cody chuckled.
"I know, I know, you hate science." He said.
"OMG, You know me so well!" I said, laughing and mimicking the head cheerleader at my school. We went through the office and out to his car. It was nice. New. A light blue convertible corvette. God damn pop star.
"I see you have a new ride!" I said, trying to sound gangster and failing miserably. Cody laughed.
"I miss your weird voices." He said. "Especially the one you sing with."
I loved to sing. And not to brag, I was pretty good. But not good enough to get signed.
"Why, thank you!" I said. I got into his car. "Put the top down!" He rolled the top of the car down and I turned up the radio. It was almost at full volume. "I LOVE THIS SONG!" I yelled. It was an old song, but it was still amazing. "You a dime, so beautiful, top of line, so unusual, words can't define, you're running through my mind all day."
"Aaay!" Cody joined in and smiled, turning the corner and approaching our favorite ice cream parlor. We used to come here every saturday. We came here so much, that the workers knew us by our first names and vice versa. I clapped my hands excitedly. Cody laughed at me and turned the music down.
"You are such a five year old." He said, chuckling.
•Cody•
I parked the car and we both got out. Leilani was smiling like an idiot.
"You know," she started, "I haven't been here since you left." I looked down at her.
"Seriously?" I asked. She nodded. "Why?"
"It's our thing! I can't do it without you!"
"Oh, yeah, huh?" I said. We walked into the parlor. It was the same as we had left it. Just a small cozy little parlor with the ice cream flavors lined up against the wall. It was one of those ice cream parlors where you served yourself and payed by weight. I got myself a scoop of vanilla ice cream while Leilani got a a scoop of chocolate, a scoop of cookie dough, and a scoop of cookies and cream. She always got more than I did. We payed for our ice cream and sat down at a booth.
"So, Simpson, how was the tour?" She asked.
"It was great. So much fun!" I told her.
"But it would have been so much better if I came with you guys." Leila commented.
"Of course." I laughed.
"How's Greyson?"
"Good."
"Alli?"
"Annoying." Leila laughed. "I'm not kidding!" I told her.
"Oh, come on, Cody, you love her." She said.
"I know." I said, chuckling. "What about you? How have you been?"
"Good, I guess." She said, then took a bite of her ice cream, trying to avoid saying anything else.
"You guess?" I asked.
"Well, you know, with Zane." She said.
"Oh." I hated Zane. He was a player and all he did was cheat. I didn't want Leilani with someone like that.
"Yeah."
"What did he do this time?"
"Nothing, it's just hard, you know?" She asked. "Knowing the person you love doesn't love you back." A tear rolled down her cheek.
"Aw, Lei, come on, don't cry." I said, getting up from my side of the booth and sitting next to her. She wiped away the tears that were on her cheeks.
"I'm not, Cody, I'm fine." She told me.
"I know you enough to know that's a lie, love." I said.
"No, seriously, I'll be fine." She said. She took a bite of her ice cream then put her head on my shoulder.
"If you say so." I said. "But, you know that Zane isn't worth it, right?"
"Yeah, I know, you've told me at least 10 times." She said and giggled. "What was that quote you used to always tell me when this stuff happened?"
"The one that makes you cry isn't worth your tears; the one who is won't make you cry?" I asked.
"Yeah, that one." She said, smiling. "I like that." I smiled and took the last bite of my ice cream.
"Do you wanna go?" Leilani asked.
"We can stay here if you want." I offered.
"No, it's ok, I'll take it home." She said. "Can we go see Alli and Tom?"
"Uh, sure." I said, getting a cap for her ice cream cup.
"Do you not want to go?" She asked.
"No, it's fine, it's just..." I started, heading out of the parlor and to the car.
"Yeaaaaah?" Leila asked, opening the car door. She sat down as I just stood outside of the car.
"Well, Greyson and Alli are like a thing, now." I said. "It's just kinda awkward."
"FINALLY!" She yelled. "They were meant for each other, I just know it. So, Greyson is at your house right now?"
"Yep." I said and jumped in the car.
"Show off." Leila said and smiled. We drove over to my house and walked in, to find Alli and Greyson sucking face in the living room.
"Ew." I said.
"Oh my gosh, you guys are so cute together!" Leila cried as they pulled away. Alli and Greyson got up and walked over to us.
"Leilani, I haven't seen you in forever!" Alli said, hugging Leila.
"I know, I missed you!" She replied. She broke the hug with Alli and went over to Greyson.
"Long time, no see, Lei." He said, smiling. "I missed you!" Leila hugged Greyson.
"I missed you, too, Greyson." She said.
"Come on, Lei, let's go upstairs." I said. We started walking upstairs when Alli called up to us.
"You guys love each other!" She said.
"Oh, yeah, totally." Leila said in her weird sarcastic voice. Alli and I laughed and Leila and I went into my room.
"So, anything new?" I asked.
"Well, I dunno. Mary is starting to act kinda bitchy..."
•Leilani•
After our little catching up session, we walked back downstairs to get food. When we reached the living room, Greyson was at the door, kissing Alli goodbye and holding her waist. They were super adorable together. Like, legit adorable.
"Bye, love." Greyson said, pecking her on the lips one more time. "Bye, Cody! Bye, Lei!"
"Bye, Grey!" All three of us said at the same time. I looked at Alli and she was smiling like an idiot. She sat down on the couch and I sat down next to her.
"OH MY GOSH! You guys are adorable. How long has this been going on? Do you love him? Has he told you that he loves you yet? OMG TELL ME EVERYTHING." I said, bouncing up and down on the couch while I babbled on.
"Leila, calm down!" Alli said, giggling. "I'll tell you everything, just calm down."
"I'm outta here." Cody said. "I've heard this story way too many times. Hell, I lived it." He got his food from the kitchen and went back up to his room. I turned back to Alli and smiled, waiting for her story to start.
"Well, it started about a month ago while him and Cody were on tour." She started. "I always overheard them talking about me. Greyson telling Cody that he liked me and asking if he could ask me out. I almost screamed when I heard Greyson say that, to be honest. I've liked him for a long time. I loved how he asked Cody for permission to ask me out. He knew Cody was always overprotective of me. Kind of like how he is with you." I nodded and she continued. "Well, at the show in Boston, Cody and Greyson called me up on stage by surprise. I freaked out. I had no idea what they were doing. When I went onstage, Cody said, "Alli, Greyson has something to ask you." And I knew what that question was, so I was, like, freaking out inside. I was thinking, "Oh shit, he's going to ask me out in front of thousands of people, holy crap.". And Greyson came over to me, took my hand, looked me in the eyes, and said, "Allison Simpson, will you go out with me?" and inside, I died. Seriously. I smiled like a freak and just nodded. He smiled and hugged me, picking me up and twirling me around. It was amazing." I sat there with a grin on my face. I poked Alli's side.
"Yoooou looooooooooooooove himmmmm." I teased.
"Maybe? I don't know, he hasn't told me he loved me yet." Alli said.
"Well, I think he does and he's just waiting for the right time to say it." I told her. Then I realized something. "WAIT, THAT HAPPENED A MONTH AGO?"
"Yeah, about a month ago, why?" Alli asked.
"What day?"
"Uh… the 23rd…" Alli said.
"It's the 18th… I need to talk to Greyson." I said and ran upstairs.
"Leilani, what the hell are you talking about?" Alli called after me. I didn't answer. I ran into Cody's room and shut the door behind me.
"Whoa there, killer." He said, quoting Pretty Little Liars. He knew I loved those books and sat through me reading them out loud numerous amounts of times.
"We have to call Greyson." I told him.
"What? Why?" Cody asked.
"BECAUSE, Cody, it's almost Greyson and Alli's one month anniversary and I need to make sure Greyson does something special!"
"Why?"
"You're kidding me, right? IT'S THEIR ONE MONTH ANNIVERSARY." I almost yelled.
"Alright, alright, calm down. We'll call him right now." Cody said. He got his iPhone out – god damn pop star – found Greyson on his contact list and called him.
"Hey, Cody, what's up?" Greyson answered.
"Hey, Grey, it's Leila." I said.
"Oh, hi, Lei. What's going on?"
"You and Alli started a month ago, right?"
"Yeah…"
"What day?"
"The 23rd…"
"And today's the 18th…"
"Our one month anniversary is in 5 days…" He whispered through the phone
"GOOD JOB GREYSON." I said.
"Could you guys help me plan something special?" Greyson asked.
"That is why we called." I said.
"Cody's there, too?" Greyson asked. "He hasn't talked."
"Yeah, he's being silent." I told him. "ANYWAY, do you have any ideas yet?"
"Uh, the beach?"
"Kind of typical." I said.
"Um, dinner?"
"You can just do that on any regular date…" I said. "Do you guys have, like, a special place or anything?"
"We have this one cliff thingy with a cave that we climb up to sometimes."
"Can you see the sunset from it?"
"Uh, yeah."
"PERFECT." I said. "We'll decorate the cave and get a table and two chairs so that you two can have dinner and then you can lie on the cliff and watch the sunset!"
"You're a freaking genius." Greyson said. "This is why I'm friends with you."
"No, you're friends with me because you love me." I told him.
"That's another reason!" He said, laughing. "Thanks, Leilani."
"Anytime, Grey." I said and smiled, even though he couldn't see.
"One thing…"
"Yeah?"
"How are we gonna decorate the cave?" He asked. I thought about it for a while and turned to Cody for ideas. He just shrugged.
"Thanks, Cody, that helped." I said sarcastically. He stuck his tongue out at me and I mimicked him.
"Well…" I said to Greyson. "We could get some battery powered twinkle lights and somehow hang them from the top… candles… rose petals… Yeah, that'll work."
"Okay… and what about the food?" He asked. "You know I can't cook."
"Cody and I can cook."
"I DON'T WANNA COOK." Cody whined.
"You're cooking!" I told him. He pouted and flopped on his bed. "You're such a five year old." I said. I could hear Greyson laughing over the phone.
"Thanks, Leila, You're amazing." Greyson said.
"I know!" I said. "And you're welcome."
"We'll talk about it more later, okay?"
"Gotcha." I said. "Bye, Grey!"
"Bye, Leila! Bye, Cody!" Greyson said.
"Bye." Cody mumbled into his pillow.
"He said bye." I told Greyson.
"Okay." He said, laughing. "Bye."
"Bye." I hung up the phone and threw it at Cody. "Get up, five year old."
"Don't hurt my phone!" He said, grabbing it like it was his own flesh and blood.
"You're almost as protective over your phone as you are with Alli and I." I said.
"It's an iPhone. I have to be protective." He said, throwing a pillow at me.
"Whatever." I said, rolling my eyes and throwing the pillow back.
•Cody•
"Well, what do you wanna do now?" Leila asked.
"I dunno." I answered. "We could… watch a movie?"
"Nah." She answered. " I've seen every movie you own." We sat in silence for a while. It was a comfortable silence, since we were only thinking.
"LET'S PLAY KARAOKE!" She exclaimed.
"Okay!" I answered. We went downstairs and hooked up our Karaoke Machine. I ran over to the computer and went on YouTube to download songs onto the machine.
"Whaddya wanna sing?" I asked.
"Um… LITTLE LONDON GIRL." She answered. Hold On Til The Night was one of her favorite albums. She was always a huge fan of Greyson.
"Of course!" I said. I downloaded the song and the music started blaring from the tv. I grabbed the second microphone from her hand and she started to sing.
"I shut the door, and I step outside. It's close to midnight and the fog is in and the streetlights."
"With the sound of Big Ben," I took over. "It reminded me. It was only yesterday when we first met in that café."
"And our worlds entwined." We sung together. Before the chorus started, Alli ran downstairs from her room with a brush in her hand and started to sing with us.
"Oh, don't you know? I'm gonna shout it from the rooftops now, baby. I'm ready to go! Oh, don't you know?" Alli grabbed her phone and called Greyson. "It doesn't matter if the sun's going down on me, you light my world, my little London girl."
"Hey, babe." Greyson answered. We all sang into the phone.
"Sunglasses on. You take me to Camden town, as you share your headphones with the Kinks and the Rolling Stones. As you walk around in your leather boots. All the boys are staring but you're not caring cause you're so rock and roll." Greyson joined in after that.
"So rock and roll! Oh, don't you know? I'm gonna shout it from the rooftops now, baby. I'm ready to go! Oh, don't you know? It doesn't matter if the sun's going down on me, you light my world, my little London girl." We all started laughing after that.
"You guys are amazing." Greyson said.
"We know!" Leilani, Alli and I said together. I missed my best friend. I loved having her back.