A/N: Happy May everyone! :D I hope you have a wonderful month. To any of you who are moms and reading this – happy early Mother's Day!

If you don't already know, you can get updates and sneak peeks on future chapters by following me on Instagram (tiggermom023) and Twitter (tigger_mom023). I've also started a blog on Tumblr called Quotes on Pretty Paper where I write a quote each day on a piece of scrapbook paper that I have, snap a picture and post it along with whatever I choose to say (which usually isn't much) for that particular day. You can find that at tumbler dot com / blog / quotesonprettypaper (take out the spaces and replace the dot with an actual period and you'll be good!). I do quote Divergent (have once so far of the three I've posted) among other things… and I also take quote requests here and there.

A few of you have been telling me "It's about time that…"…. So, this chapter is for you! Enjoy!

Please review! I love reading what you guys think.

Chapter Twelve – I Love You

Kayla

Three months has passed since I left Charleston from my two week vacation spending Halloween with Jai, Keleigh and Miles and things had only gotten worse. The only good thing about being back was that my psycho roommate hadn't tried to come after me anymore, but I think that was just because I filed a restraining order against her after someone came to get her stuff. I was almost to work when the song When You're Gone by Avril Lavigne came on the radio. I put the car in park as I pulled into a parking spot and listened to the rest of the song. As I paid attention to the words, I broke down into tears. I hadn't gotten to talk to Jai as much as I wanted to because of how busy he was, and talking to Keleigh helped a little, but she wasn't Jai. It took me thirty minutes to regain my composure, and I realized I was late. Shit. I took a deep breath, and got out of my car. When I got up to the floor I worked on, the secretary waved me over.

"Amy needs to see you, now." referring to our boss by her first name. Great. I was already on her shit list, what else could possibly go wrong? I walked to the correct office door and knocked.

"Come in!" I heard and I carefully but cautiously turned the doorknob. "Ah, Kayla. Come in and have a seat." she gestured to the two chairs in front of her desk before looking at me.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Well, I'm going to be honest with you here Kayla. You're not pulling your weight around here." Amy said flatly. "And normally I'd just say you're going back to the mail room, but then you were late today-"

"I know, and I'm really sorry about that but-" I was interrupted.

"Kayla, I don't want to hear excuses about your boyfriend being off doing whatever ridiculousness. You're fired." I stared at her in disbelief. Fired? Me? Fuck! "Lisa will give you a box for your personal belongings and walk you to your desk so you can gather your things and then she will escort you out." I sighed in defeat before standing up and walking back to the secretary's desk in shame. She helped me carefully gather my things, apologizing to me and then walked me out as Amy said she would. When I got home, I sat for hours crying before I picked up the phone and called Keleigh.

"Hey beautiful! What are you doing calling me while at work?" I heard her voice on the other end, cheerful and full of happiness.

"If you're near Jai or Miles, make an excuse to get out of earshot. I need to talk to you." I said blatantly. I knew she'd be able to tell by my tone that something was up, we were close enough friends that she knew me really well.

"Okay, what happened?" I heard a few minutes later.

"I got fired." I sniffled.

"Have you been crying?" she asked.

"Uh huh." I burst into tears again.

"What are you gonna do?" I heard her say. I didn't know what to answer until my eyes locked on a picture of Jai and me from the night we went to the haunted house. It clicked in my head at that moment what I needed to do.

"I'll see you guys in a few days. I need to make some arrangements and I'll let you know when I get there. Can you arrange for someone, neither Miles nor Jai, to come get me from the airport when I come?" I asked.

"I can come get you, no matter what day it is." she said.

"Okay. I'll send you a text with the details once I have everything arranged. See you soon. And Keleigh," I hesitated.

"Don't tell Jai or Miles. I know." she answered me. I smiled knowing that I didn't have to tell her because she'd already known.

"Exactly. Last thing I need is for Miles to tell Jai or him to find out on his own. I'm pretty sure he won't like me making a spur of the moment decision like this anyways." I explained before we got off the phone. I started taking pictures of everything in my place that I could get rid of and making postings on local for sale website. After making all the postings, I grabbed my keys and got into my car, heading for my bank. When I got there, I spoke to a teller about closing my account and got the money out of my account. By nightfall I had enough money from the few sales I made to buy a plane ticket and decided to call the airport. After I got off the phone with the airport, I texted Keleigh.

I'm taking the early morning flight Friday. I'll be bringing all of my stuff, which means my suitcase, a backpack and a duffel bag. Can you get the vehicle without Jai and Miles interrogating you?

I waited and a few minutes later I saw a response.

I'll borrow the makeup artist's SUV. She and I are pretty good friends from a fashion show she did my makeup on. We'll be fine, no worries.

I started typing a response and clicked send. It said:

Okay, I'll see you early Friday morning then. My flight lands at nine. See you then.

When I landed in Charleston and got past security, I saw Keleigh waiting for me. I embraced her in a hug and we started walking to the baggage claim, my backpack on my back. I spotted my duffel bag and reached for it, and soon after my suitcase. She took my duffel bag and led me out to the car. We put my suitcase, duffel and backpack into the trunk and went to the cottage.

"So, what are you going to tell Jai?" she asked me as she helped me get my stuff upstairs and into the bedroom. I dug out my chevron print purple sundress and purple flats before going into the bathroom to change and pin my hair in a half up-do.

"The truth, minus the fact that you helped me conspire this plan behind his and Miles backs." I said before washing my face, brushing my teeth and coming out of the bathroom. "Okay, let's go shock the love of my life." I told her. It wasn't anything she didn't already know, so she smiled brightly at me. We got into the car and made our way to the movie set. When we got there, I walked with Keleigh to the makeup trailer and thanked the young woman, who looked to be just a little older than me, for letting us use her vehicle. She smiled at me and we chit chatted for a little bit before going to find the guys. Jai was filming a scene, but Miles was standing off to the side and when he saw Keleigh and I coming, got up and hugged me.

"Does Jai know you're here?" he asked and I quickly shook my head no. "Oh he's going to love this." he smiled at me. A few minutes later, the director called for a ten minute break and Jai caught my eyes. He didn't look very happy to see me, which was unsettling to say the least. I took a deep breath as he walked over to me.

"What are you doing here? I thought you had to work today." he had no problem cutting straight to the point, a blessing and a curse thrown into one.

"I, um," I really didn't want to talk about this here. "Can we talk about it when you're done for the day?" I asked, trying to put off the conversation until later when I had him alone.

"I guess so." he replied distantly before walking off. My heart sank into my stomach and a lump began to form in my throat. This wasn't going to be good. Miles got done early, so he and Keleigh went back to the cottage in the vehicle the studio was letting Miles use. A few hours later, Jai came back up to me.
"Okay, I'm done for the day. Let's go." he didn't hold his hand out to me and he didn't wait for me either. I walked quickly to catch up with him and when I did, he was holding the door for me to get in the car. After closing it, he got in and started the car.

"Jai, are you okay? You seem upset." I pointed out.

"Tell me why you're here." he demanded. I remained silent. "You told me the other day when we talked about it that you wouldn't be able to come back out any time soon because you'd used up all your vacation time, but yet you're here, in the seat beside me. What happened that freed you up to be able to be here instead of there?" he asked. I sighed, realizing there was no turning back now.

"I got fired, okay?" I said simply.

"What do you mean you got fired?" his voice went up half an octave.

"I heard a song on the radio, it made me upset so I sat in the car until I regained my composure and because I've been doing a shitty job they were going to put me in the mail room, but because I came in late they chose to fire me instead." I explained to him with an annoyed tone. What crawled up his ass all of a sudden? I knew we didn't get that much time to talk since the last time I was in town, but I didn't think that was good cause for him to be so detached towards me. I didn't understand it.

"Wait a minute, how long are you here for then?" he asked. I didn't answer. Instead, I looked out the window.
"You just packed up all your stuff and left LA?" I felt like he was glaring at me, but I was trying to ignore him and focus on the surroundings outside the car. We pulled into the driveway and I got out of the car and went inside before he could even shut off the car. I ran up the stairs and started packing up my stuff I'd unpacked before Keleigh and I went to the set. I realized that all the sweet things Jai had said didn't really hold as much meaning as I thought they did. I felt like a fool for falling for it, falling for him. How could I have been so stupid?
"What are you doing?" he asked calmly as I put the last of my stuff into my duffel bag.

"This was a mistake, me coming here. You have made that perfectly clear. So, I'll just get in touch with a friend in LA and get out of your life. Maybe they'll let me crash on their couch." I grabbed my phone and tried to walk out of the room but Jai blocked my way.
"Jai, please move." I asked calmly. I wasn't in the mood for this bullshit. I already felt like an idiot, and didn't need to stick around to see anything more.

"No."

"Jai, I'm not going to ask you again-"

"You need to listen to me Kayla-"

"Jai, I'm not in the mood-"

"Kayla please-"

"Jai, just move-"

"Babe-"

"JAI!" I yelled at him finally. I was impatient and had enough of this. I just wanted to leave and never look back so I could lick my wounds and start the achingly slow healing process.

"No!" he said firmly, staring me straight in my eyes. "I need to talk to you about this. I'm sorry for being an asshole, and I shouldn't have been like that but please sit down and talk to me about this." he gestured to the bed. I exhaled and sat down on the bed.

"What Jai? Are you gonna tell me you don't feel the same way about me? That we took this too fast? Are you gonna tell me I was a fool for thinking that I could move here and expect that you'd tell me we could make it work despite the ugly circumstances? What is it you want to tell me?" I asked him.

"This all scares the shit out of me." he said simply, catching me completely off guard.

"What does?" I ask, my voice going from annoyed and hurt to concerned and curious.

"This. Us." he clarified. "I love you, Kayla. And it scares the hell out of me because the last time I loved anyone that wasn't family, I got hurt really bad." I knew this was a monumental moment for us. I knew at this second was when I fell harder for him than I previously had. I knew this because he was baring his heart to me. His feelings. His emotions. His soul. And in that moment, I knew exactly what to say.

"I love you too." I smiled at him, feeling almost as if I was glowing. I watched for his response, and he walked to me and pulled me into a hug.

"That feels like it was long overdue." He chuckled.

"What do you mean?" I pulled away to look up at him with a smile still resting on my face.

"It feels like I should have said that that day we were at the supermarket and I protected you from that jerk, or when we said our goodbyes the first time you went back to LA." he explained.

"You felt this way all this time?" I asked. He nodded, remaining silent. "You were waiting for the right time, weren't you?" I asked, figuring that he was doing it because that's what I was doing.

"Plus I was afraid." he added.

"You didn't want to get hurt again, and you were scared it was too soon." I guessed, and grinned when he nodded at me because that confirmed I was right. I touched his face with my hands and kissed his lips softly, but full of meaning. When I pulled away I looked into his gorgeous blue eyes. "I love you, Jai." I said bravely.

"And I love you, Kayla." I felt my heart flutter when he said the words. The best feeling in the world is to love someone and know that they love you in return. No wondering, questioning or second guessing. I walked over to the bed and laid down, he followed suit. I curled up to him and used his chest as my pillow before closing my eyes to relax in his embrace. Before I knew it, I'd fallen asleep.

Three hours later I felt him move and I jumped my head up, startled.

"It's okay baby, I've got you." he soothed. I melted back into him and sat there for a few minutes before I spoke.

"What am I doing about my situation?" I asked him. He looked at me confused. "Getting fired in LA, selling my non-important belongings and moving out of my apartment to come be here with you." I clarified. That reminded him, I could tell by his response.

"Stay here." he said simply. I looked at him like he had three heads and he rolled his eyes with a smile. "Live here with me, for as long as I'm here on set and when I go back to LA you can move in with me." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Were my ears deceiving me or was my boyfriend, the Jai Courtney, telling me to live with him while he's on set, and then when he goes back home to LA to move in with him?

"Wh-what?" I asked, knowing I needed to hear it again for confirmation. He chuckled at me.

"Live here with me, til the end of the movie when I go home to LA, and then move in with me. If it'll make you feel better, we'll pick a mutual place we both like and I'll sell the house I have now." I still could not believe my ears.

"Am I hearing you right?" I asked in disbelief. He chuckled at me.

"Yes babe, you're hearing me right. Just move in with me. Let's take that next step now that we've told each other how we feel." I grinned. I couldn't help it. I tried to hold it back, but it wouldn't stay away.

"You're serious?" I asked. I still didn't know if I believed him.

"Yes."

"Completely?"

"Completely."

"You're not gonna get tired of me?"

"No Kayla, I won't."

"Why's that?" I asked finally.

"Because I love you." those words were like music to my ears. And just like that, it was decided. When we got back to LA, I was moving in with my boyfriend.