A/N: This chapter was a little awkward to write and I hope it doesn't show too much. I have to set up the story for the next phase of this little love triangle so this is kind of a transitioning step ie: not as fun as we would like! But there are some parts that I'm fond of. I hope there aren't too many errors.
BTW thank you to my reviewers! It seems that most of you are anonymous so I can't respond to you individually, but still, it's nice to know some of you are enjoying this story and aren't just going "meh".
Thanks to everyone who has favorited and followed as well!
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.
At some point Layla opened her eyes to almost total darkness, disturbed only by the street lamp's orange glare coming in through the window. She felt her cheek pressed against a soft cotton tee shirt which was currently being worn by a sleeping Warren. Somehow they had ended up stretched out on the couch, his arm around her waist and her head on his chest.
She lifted her head slightly and blinked to clear her eyes of sleep, looking around for the glowing numbers of the clock on the cable box. 2:40 am. Her head jerked up a bit higher in surprise. She hadn't planned on staying over and had that feeling of confusion when waking up somewhere other than one's own bed.
Her mouth felt like she'd been chewing on cotton and she had to pee. absent-mindedly pressing her hand down on Warren's chest, she lifted herself up, and swung her legs onto the floor. She shuffled into the kitchen, squinting against the light of the refrigerator, and drank straight from a gallon of bottled water. Her mind was still a bit foggy as she made her way to the bathroom in the darkness.
She sat down to pee, and rubbed her face. Last night, or this night, whenever it was, had been intense. Layla began to smile when she thought of seeing Zach glow like he was radioactive. She also thought of Tara, and was glad Zach's power seemed like a hallucination at the time, or else they'd have some real explaining to do. Tara was right, this had been one of the most amazing experiences of her life.
She flushed the toilet and washed her hands and the smile froze on her face when she remembered the rainbow of colors that poured over her and Warren's hands at this sink only a few hours ago. The colors that had caressed them had seemed so real at the time. It was like nothing could be more real or true in that moment than her pale hand being wrapped up in a liquid prism with Warren's.
She opened the door to the bathroom and saw that Zach's bedroom door was closed and figured he and Tara were probably sleeping inside. Her eyes went to Warren's open door. She turned away quickly.
This time her stomach did flips as memories assaulted her. God, we kissed ! Layla bit her bottom lip, hard. That kiss was so.. so... beautiful. She remembered it being like every sweet emotion in existence had been transferred to her through Warren's lips. She just wanted to stay in that memory because the more she thought about it the less she knew what to do next. They kissed, and she knew it was more than a kiss, like, they were practically having some kind of telepathic communication.
She wasn't sure if she was making this all up in her head, but she felt so close to Warren now, closer than she ever had felt and now she had no clue what to say or do. Her feet felt stuck to the floor. Warren was laying on the couch, sleeping, just a room away and she had this guttural urge to go and lay on top of him and nestle into his neck. This was crazy! What if all of those feelings were just a product of the the chemicals in the mushrooms? What if they weren't real at all, and not only did she hallucinate flowers and rainbows, but she imagined all those deep emotions as well? What if Warren didn't even share in that experience? And all of the sudden Layla began to panic that none of it really happened at all.
But no, she had woken up sleeping on top of him, something must have happened. This shouldn't have made her feel relief, but she did, she did. This would make her life really complicated, but she wanted that kiss to be real, because it just felt so.. good.
Her head was fuzzy, but she knew she couldn't just stand in the hallway all night. She kept her footsteps light as she made her way back to the living room. Warren was leaning back on his arms, still sprawled out on the couch , but no longer sleeping. Layla stopped short a few feet from him, unsure of what to do.
"Hey." His voice was gravelly from sleep. She had only heard it sound like that when she'd awaken him with a phone call, but now she was here with him. She had slept on him. Oh God.
"Hey." She whispered back.
"I thought you got lost."
She smiled, but wasn't sure he could see it in the darkness.
Warren began to sit up while Layla just stood there like an idiot. His jeans were worn in from sleep and hung low on his hips, and the glimpses Layla got of his lower abdomen made her think of things she should not think of- things further south of his abdomen
Warren stood up slowly, and cracked his neck to one side. He began to walk towards Layla, and heartbeat sped up in a panic. Was he about to kiss her again? Her mouth parted in nervous anticipation. He walked past her and said " C'mon , I'll get you a t-shirt to change into."
When seeing the confused look on her face , he explained.
"Layla, it's three o'clock in the morning. It's too late for you to go home, you're staying over. C'mon." and then he walked into his room. She felt herself following him even though in her head she was chanting I am not a bad person, I am not a bad person. I care about people, and the planet, and animals, and I always want to stand up for what's right... Yeah, and I cheat on my boyfriend by making out with my best friend. As she watched Warren rummage through his drawers, she realized that life wasn't as black and white as it used to seem when she was a kid.
Warren held up a v-neck navy tee shirt out in front of him, eyeing the length and then eyeing Layla, deciding if it would fit her. Obviously he deemed it suitable because he threw it out on the bed and said "Here."
"Thanks" she went to grab it and saw Warren taking off his own shirt. She looked away not wanting her thoughts to run away with her again, or God forbid, get caught staring! Instead, she hurried into the bathroom to get changed. The shirt fit, coming down to the middle of her thigh, but Layla knew that it wasn't as modest as her usual pajama pants. It didn't matter. She silently insisted that nothing inappropriate was going to happen, they were just going to go to sleep. How could anything bad happen with Warren? He was her safe place. Yes, weird stuff had been going on over the last few weeks, but that was probably because she was just feeling so screwy lately. Warren probably hadn't even noticed anything. We kissed... Shut up!
Back in the bedroom, Warren was lying on his side facing the door. When she came in she couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed, but she could tell that he still wasn't wearing a shirt. She gingerly walked over to the bed, lifted the covers and climbed in next to him. I'm lying in bed with Warren. I'm practically naked! Sort of. She felt him shift beside her and on her back she could feel the heat emanating from his bare skin. It made her want to lean back into him. She kept herself still.
"Goodnight, Hippie." he said softly.
" 'night Warren."
When she awoke, sunlight filled the room. She noticed the sound of deep breathing behind her and remembered that she wasn't alone. She knew that eventually they'd have to talk about last night but she just couldn't do it now. Hopefully Zach and Tara were still in bed so she could slip out unnoticed. She looked at Warren and took in his sleeping form- his arm over his eyes, mouth slightly parted, tan skin peeking out from under the covers- and her stomach did a flip.
Layla grabbed her things and left.
Tara was curled up in the covers, kissing the side of Zach's jaw, who was feeling like the luckiest guy in the world. They had just made love, and Zach was of the opinion that morning sex was the best thing ever. This girl had come into his life and turned it upside down in the greatest way. Not only was she sexy and smart, but she was also way cool. And she liked Zach - like, really liked him.
"I really like you." he blurted out. Tara paused in her ministrations and smiled. Because she was already in close proximity to his ear, she breathily whispered into it " I really like you too." Zach had to keep a smile from bursting onto his face. He tried to play it cool by changing the subject.
"Last night was fun. It seemed like Warren and Layla had a good time too." At least Zach thought so, from what he could remember.
Tara laughed. "Yeah, I think they did too. " Tara rolled over onto Zach's chest and looked up at him. "How long have they been together?" she asked.
Zach looked confused for a minute before he actually understood the question.
"Huh? Oh, they're not together." he said.
Tara nipped him lightly on his pec and he smiled down at her.
"So, what are they, just like friends with benefits or whatever?" she asked innocently.
"Ha! What? No way, are you kidding? What makes you say that? They're just friends." Zach was looking at Tara like she was out of her mind. Warren and Layla that was something too weird to even think about!
"What? Don't look at me like that!" she smacked him playfully. "It's not such a crazy question. They're always together, I just assumed they were a couple. Plus I hate to break it to you, since it's obviously happening right under your nose and you seem to have no clue about it, but I walked in on them making out in Warren's room last night. So, there!"
That got Zach to spring up into a sitting position, effectively knocking Tara off of him. "What do you mean making out?" he asked nervously "Are you sure?"
"Uh, like they were laying in Warren's bed and had their tongues in each others mouth." She said flippantly, not getting what the big deal was.
"Holy shit. Holy, holy, holy shit." There was nothing else he could think of to say at this moment.
"I don't get what the big deal is. So your friends are secretly screwing. Who cares? It probably just makes it more exciting for them to sneak around."
" Wait, you think they're ...sleeping together?" He squeaked out.
" Well,... yeah. Are you gonna tell me what's freaking you out about this? You don't have a crush on Layla or anything, do you?"
"No.. God, No. It's just that Layla has a boyfriend." he paused when he saw her eyes widen. "Yeah, and he's actually one of my best friends." he divulged.
"Well, where the hell is this boyfriend? We've been together for a month and I haven't heard a peep about him."
" He has a job, that er, takes him away for long periods of time. Will- that's his name- Will isn't around as much as he used to be." Zach said. And suddenly it dawned on him. Layla and Warren... It kind of made sense. God damn them, he thought. If what Tara said was true, it was going to cause some big problems.
"Yikes. Should I be sorry I told you about what I saw? This puts you in kind of an awkward position."
"Yeah, yeah it does."
When Layla got back to her dorm it was after ten. She had stopped for a coffee at one of the carts on campus and drank it on a bench, letting the crisp Fall weather become the backdrop for her morose thoughts. She was definitely feeling out of sorts and the caffeine was not doing much to help the sorting. Her emotions were jumping around inside her and the one that was stomping the hardest was Want. She wanted Warren. She kept playing the kiss over and over in her mind, feeling his warm mouth on hers, wishing it had lasted longer.
And that's when the second largest emotion kicked her in the gut - guilt. She cheated, and that was something Layla could never had imagined herself doing. She always said if a relationship wasn't working then the couple either needed to talk and work things out, or split up, but cheating should never enter the equation. Gee, was she naïvely stupid! It was becoming more and more clear to her that her relationship with Will was crumbling, but she was no longer sure that she even wanted to put it back together. But, a life without Will? She couldn't imagine it. If she told him what had happened, he'd hate her forever and that thought was so horrible that it brought tears to her eyes. She needed to talk to Warren. She needed to talk to Will. She just had no idea what to say to either of them.
She distractedly took out her cellphone to check the time. It looked like someone had wanted to talk to her as well. She had six missed calls. Four from Magenta and two from Will. So, when she walked into her dorm room that morning she was only slightly surprised to see Will sitting on the edge of her bed holding a cup of coffee and picking at a corn muffin.
