Walter stood in his bedroom looking at himself in the mirror trying to decide if he looked alright. He knew Layla and he didn't want a dressing down if she disapproved of what he wore. He wondered just when he had given her so much authority over his habits. The last three days since the last dinner he had with them he hadn't eaten his fish. He'd bought supplements that gave him the same nutrients and was eating regular meals. The waitress at the coffee shop he normally had breakfast on Saturdays had smiled more at him today. She finally whispered to him that she was glad he had changed his cologne as his old one really left an almost sour odor.
He apologized profusely over it even as he blushed furiously at her words. He explained it wasn't his cologne but what had been a part of his normal diet.
She blushed herself and apologized as she shouldn't have really commented on it. But Walter waved it off as he handed her the twenty and told her to keep the change.
Walter took a final look at himself in the mirror and decided he better get to their house early. He wanted a good parking place in case things went south and he wanted to leave quickly.
Paige stood in her bedroom looking at all her outfits in her closet. She really didn't want to go but she let Layla push her into accepting. Of course Toby was quick to agree to go because of free food. Happy was pretty noncommittal and Sylvester didn't want to but Toby bullied him into agreeing. Paige looked at her miniskirts but decided against them. She smiled as she remembered the last time she wore each one. That had been back when she was still so happy with Walter. She'd even bought a dozen more because of how much Walter loved her legs.
But she wasn't ready to wear them for anyone else. She looked at her jeans and shook her head. Layla would definitely disapprove of them. She sighed. She looked at her dresses and finally selected a summer one that was about half the length difference between her miniskirts and her regular dresses. It was lightweight and colorful, the colorful was problematic as she didn't feel like a festive mood but Layla had a point, she hadn't done anything since the break up and maybe she should try something different.
Walter arrived a half hour early and purposely parked the Tesla that Richard gave him in their driveway in a way to ensure he could leave if needed. He got out of the car and pulled the small gift basket out of the back. It had four bottles of wine which the clerk promised him should go well with any cookout meal. Layla greeted him warmly at the door and took the basket from him.
"Oh you did not just park like, are you expecting to have to flee from here tonight?" Layla accused him as she saw his car.
Walter nodded while giving her a sheepish grin.
Layla shook her head even as she gave his outfit a once over and then finally nodded.
"At least you dressed better than I feared. I guess I won't have to have Terry make you change now." Layla told him as she turned and walked on into the house.
Walter frowned as he looked at Terry who nodded.
"She bought an outfit for you just in case what you wore didn't meet with her approval." Terry told him.
"Now look here Layla, you are taking this too far." Walter said loudly.
Layla rolled her eyes before she turned and looked at him.
"Look Walter, like it or not we like you and are vested in you and your happiness. So get used to it, buster. I'm not taking no for an answer. You were going to make a good first impression on my friend even if I had to bathe and dress you myself." Layla told him to a grinning Terry.
"How can you find this amusing Terry?" Walter snapped.
"Dude, she's too cute, plus it has been too long since the last time she competed in the ring, so watching her use Karate against you would be interesting." Terry said walking out the back door even as Walter stared at him, almost slack jawed.
"Oh just so you know Walter, she suffered a bad break up about three months ago. She dearly loved the guy and I believe still does but she is refusing to even give him the time of day." Layla told him as she rearranged some flowers.
"I know the feeling." Walter half mumbled.
"My point, Walter. She's vulnerable, so don't lead her on. If you really don't think you are interested in her after meeting her tonight, don't waste her time or play with her emotions because of how your girl dumped you, okay? I care about you both and I don't want either of you to be hurt further." Layla told him seriously.
"Layla, that isn't the kind of guy I am. I'm the kind that gets involved, screws up and gets dumped. Even the one time I dumped the girl it was more because I had been seeing the signs that she was getting fed up with me so I preemptively ended it. Not that it made it feel any better." Walter told her before walking out back to talk with Terry.
Terry stood at the grill flipping the chicken when Walter walked out.
"Did Layla give you her marching orders about not hurting her friend?" Terry grinned seeing the beaten look in his eyes.
Walter nodded sullenly.
"Don't worry about it man. Layla laid the law down on her friend too. As protective as she is for her, she is equally protective for you." Terry told him.
"I guess. I'm just not used to anyone other than P-P-Paige being so concerned with me." Walter told him.
"Who's Paige?" Terry asked even as he thought it funny she had the same name as Layla's friend.
"Paige, the woman of my dreams. The one who dumped me." Walter told him.
"Huh, I don't think you have ever said her name before. Hey, that's progress man. Good on you." Terry told him.
While Sylvester rode to Layla and Terry's with Paige, Happy promised to take him home if things didn't go well with this blind date. Paige sighed as she parked the car as Happy pulled up behind her in her truck.
"Nice digs." Toby said as he climbed out of the truck. "Oh damn, look at that. They even have a brand new Telsa. They must have some serious money."
Paige frowned looking at it.
"No, that isn't their car. I doubt they got it in the last two days. I'm sure Layla would have mentioned it." Paige told him.
"Must belong to your date then Paige." Happy teased her as she gently smacked the back of her arm with her hand.
"He's not my date. He's just a guy Layla wants me to meet." Paige blushed.
"Well that's fine with us. The sooner you move on to someone else the less likely we'll have to put up with Walter again." Toby told her as he slipped his arm around Happy.
"What is wrong with you? Can't you ever give Walter a break? Not to mention Paige? She still loves the jerk." Happy shoved him away from her.
"Fine." Toby rolled his eyes. "But Sylvester agrees with me."
Happy's eyes looked to the larger man even though she didn't need to as she knew he did. Sylvester was just nodding even as Paige walked past them and up the front walk to their front door.
"Paige!" Layla almost squealed in joy seeing her show up. "And right on time." Layla hugged her tightly. "Welcome to our home." Layla told the others.
"Thanks for the invite." Happy said as she cleaned her shoes but as she stepped in she saw Paige remove her shoes and so she did the same with her work boots.
Happy frowned looking at a pair of shoes by the door. Something about them itched her brilliant mind.
"He's already here Paige." Layla nearly squealed again. "I can't wait for the two of you to meet. The fireworks are going to explode!" Her hands jerked wide apart in a sweeping motion.
Paige gave her a half hearted smile.
"I hope you won't be too disappointed in what really happens." Paige told her.
"Girl, I'm telling you, the two of you are going to fall in love with each other the moment you both meet. I stake my reputation as a master matchmaker on it." Layla told her as she linked her arm through hers. "Come on, he's out back with Terry."
Sylvester hemmed about it for a moment before removing his shoes. As he did he saw a wall in a side room that had a number of pictures on it. He paused long enough to step to the door and look at them. He saw Layla in them and hanging on to a man Sylvester could only assume was her husband. Some of them looked to be at various parties and with other people. In one of the pictures he saw a face he was trying to forget, Walter. He hurriedly moved to catch up with the others.
"Did you guys know that Paige's friend knows Walter?" Sylvester whispered to the other two geniuses.
"Really? No, Paige has never mentioned it to me. I wonder if she knows?" Happy puzzled.
Just as Layla and Paige stepped into the kitchen to go out back Terry stepped in carrying a large platter of grilled chicken. Walter stepped in behind him with his hand on the door.
Paige's eyes went wide even as her heart began beating faster. Layla looked up at Paige as she could feel the energy and then looked to Walter who stood staring open mouthed at Paige. Layla's grin got bigger at the love on both of their faces and as she could feel Walter's energy as well. Walter couldn't believe who he was staring at. And while the pain instantly flooded his memory his heart pushed it aside as it began beating in recognition of the love of his life.
"Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of sick joke or did Walter put you up to this?" Toby nearly screamed as they saw Walter.
Layla looked back at Toby wondering what his problem was and how he knew Walter.
"You sick bastard, that's what this is isn't it? You couldn't get Paige to give you the time of day so you concocted this to get closer to her one last time. Hoping to use your voodoo to make her fall back in love with you." Sylvester yelled as he charged across the floor towards Walter.
"Whoa hold on a moment. Walter didn't do anything." Layla said even as her arm fell away from Paige as she grabbed Sylvester's arm. She twisted and pulled against him bringing his charge towards Walter to a halt. In one fluid movement she forced him to turn away from Walter by shoving him up against a counter.
Toby moved past them even as he had his hand thrust out with a finger pointing back and forth accusingly at Walter as he went off on Walter. Terry had quickly put the chicken down to intercept Sylvester but since his wife had him he took Toby into his hands and bent him to his will forcing him back away from Walter. All of which broke the spell and Paige looked away from Walter for a moment to see everything going on around her.
Amidst the cries of pain from Sylvester and Toby, they continued to yell at Walter who wasn't even there anymore. Happy had moved up and pulled Toby away from Terry to protect him.
"Calm down everyone." Terry yelled. "Before I have to get rough."
"What is wrong with you guys? What did Walter do to you?" Layla asked, dismayed.
"Don't act like you don't know. Walter and Paige used to be together." Toby spit out.
"What?" Layla looked at Paige who was nodding. "Walter?" She spun to look at Walter but only saw the open back door. Just about then they heard the soft electric whine of his Tesla start up.
"Damn it, Walter." Layla said, looking at Terry.
Terry took off running but as he opened the front door all he could see was the back end of his car as it turned the corner down the street. Terry slammed the door as he turned in disgust.
"Great, just great. Thanks to a couple of idiots, the evening is ruined and I'll have to apologize to my boss." Terry complained.
"Yeah? Well our evening is ruined too thank you very much. And what does your boss have to do with this?" Toby complained.
"Idiot, Walter is my boss. We've been trying to help him recover from the break up, with apparently Paige here. How did you not know this Layla?" Terry accused.
"Neither of them ever said the other's name. How was I supposed to know?" Layla replied.
Terry slowly nodded.
"Yeah, that's true enough. Walter only ever half said her name for all of the pain it brought up." Terry sighed.
"Paige, are you okay? I'm really sorry. I honestly didn't know Walter was your ex. I would have told you if I had known." Layla told her as she released Sylvester and took Paige's hands in hers.
Paige slowly nodded and then her eyes opened.
"Wait, where'd Wah- go? I have got to talk to him." Paige said, looking around.
"He's gone, took off as quickly as he could." Terry told her.
"Then I have to go to the Garage and talk to him." Paige said as she moved to go back to the front room to put on her shoes.
"The garage? What garage? And why would you go to a garage to talk to him?" Layla asked confusedly as she followed along behind her.
"Sorry, it isn't a real garage. We always called it the Garage. It is more of a warehouse. It is where his loft is, where he lives." Paige told her as she slipped her heels on.
"No he doesn't. He's got a really nice condo." Layla frowned.
Paige looked up and saw Terry standing there nodding.
"Yeah if you mean that place he used to run Scorpion out of, he sold it a month ago now I think it was. Shortly after coming to work for Richard." Terry told her.
"Wait, what? He sold the Garage? Scorpion doesn't exist anymore?" Paige gasped as realization came to her.
Terry and Layla both nodded.
"Yeah, just over a month and a half ago Richard brought him to our work space and introduced him. Said our old boss had been transferred to another position and Walter was going to be our boss moving forward." Terry told her.
"So that is why our business took off. I knew we hadn't seen Wah- at any bids, but I didn't think of that, he's got to be hurting so much right now. How am I supposed to go talk to him? There isn't any way he will answer the phone now." Paige said exasperatedly.
"I can go with you and give you directions." Layla told her as she began slipping on her shoes. "I need to apologize to Walter. He's probably thinking I set this whole thing up to hurt him."
Paige just nodded as they both grabbed their purses.
"Wait a minute. You can't run out on me and leave me with frick and frack here." Terry complained, thrusting his thumb at Toby and Sylvester.
"No problem, I'll take frick and frack with me. I want to give them both a good piece of my mind for doing that to Walter anyway." Happy told him. "Uh, thanks for an almost lovely evening."
"Wait, no, we prepared a ton of food. You guys eat." Layla told them as she left with Paige.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! The first of the year broke the website, haven't been able to tell how the metrics have been going for any of my stories. Thankfully sometime yesterday they fixed it, but it looks like all the data from after December is missing or was never recorded and only about half of yesterday's was recorded, at least going by December's data. So the comments chapter 1 got were especially appreciated as I had no other means of seeing what was going on. Glad you guys like the story so far! Still in a writing slump, not sure why, but hopefully something will click before I post chapter 7. lol
Railman - I'm not sure I see Graduation in this myself, but that doesn't mean you can't. lol As long as you are enjoying it.
RiseofDespair - hehe Well, I you're welcome then!
Guest - Thank you! Hope you continue to enjoy it!
Guest - No, they are just friends. Layla is a business partner with her friend Penelope. They run a New Age type shop. She specializes in relationships.
Margaret - Thank you! I'm not sure if they would or not, but I thank you, I'd have been thrilled to have helped write for the show. As you can see, the cookout didn't go too good. lol Typical Scorpion fashion! lol
Susan - Well, it is Scorpion, so who knows how it will play out! lol Hopefully it will be fun! Poor Layla...she feels bad now.
Pearliegirl - Thank you! I'll try! lol
To the Adventure! -Tim