Chapter 5- Case of the Ex
Leila woke up as the sun was going down. She rolled over to an empty bed. Groggily, she sat up and looked around for Pete. She didn't know where he was, until she heard the shower water turn on. Leila laid her head back down on the pillow and reflected on the earlier events. She still felt really bad for Pete, but thought that he was going to be ok in time.
Shortly the shower turned off and the bathroom door opened. Pete walked out wearing nothing but a towel. Leila looked up and her mouth dropped a bit. Pete, who just noticed Leila was awake, blushed a fair shade of pink.
"I didn't think you would wake up before I got out, and I forgot my clothes," Pete muttered, quickly grabbing up some clothes and hurrying back to the bathroom.
Leila's mouth was still open when the door closed again. Then the corners of her mouth curled into a wicked smile. She let out a little giggle and shrugged it off.
The guys came back from eating dinner soon after. Leila was sitting on one bed and Pete was on the other; Hemingway was asleep on Leila's lap.
"He's taken quite a liking to you Leila," Patrick said. Leila didn't really know what to say, so she just smiled and shrugged.
"I guess so," Leila said. "I'm thinking I'm wanting some treats, who wants to go with me to get something to eat?"
"We just got back from eating, or we would," Cara said, stretching out on the one beds.
"I'll go with you, I could eat a horse!" Pete exclaimed.
Casie and Leila looked at each other and both knew they were thinking of that commercial and busted out laughing. Pete looked confusedly between the two.
"What? What did I say?" Pete questioned.
"Nothing, let's go get food," Leila laughed.
Three days had gone by since Pete and Ashlee broken up, and Pete seemed to be getting along just fine. Nothing could have prepared them for the night ahead. Casie and Parker went out on a date to celebrate their one year anniversary and Patrick was about to take Cara out on the town; Leila and Pete were just going to hang out, maybe order a pizza and rent some movies. Pete had just walked out to take Hemingway on his nightly walk when there was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it," Patrick said, sliding off the edge of the bed.
The girls heard Patrick utter a swear word followed by a shrill girly voice.
"Where's Pete, Patrick? I know he's here, where is he?" the girl almost screamed at Patrick. When Patrick didn't reply right away, the door was slammed open and Ashlee Simpson walked into the room.
Leila felt her blood run hot as she looked at this woman in front of her. She wanted nothing more than to run at her and cause her the same pain she had caused Pete; but she knew that was not the way to go about things. Things like this have to be handled in an adult manor. And if that didn't work, she would wind up kicking her nose job.
"Pete?! I know you're here! Talk to me, we can work this out, baby," Ashlee ended in an attempt to sound seductive. It made Leila want to throw up, and by the look on Cara's face, she felt the same.
"He's not here Ashlee. He's out walking Hemingway," Patrick said from the door, not completely closing it in hopes that she would leave.
"Well, then, I'll just wait," she said and plopped down onto the same bed Leila was on. Leila got up and moved across the room to sit with Cara. There was no way that she could be that close to her without putting her hands on her.
Cara was watching Leila closely. Ever since Ashlee came in the room, Leila had gone very quiet. Her face had tightened and her eyes were narrowed in Ashlee's general direction. Leila's arms were crossed across her chest and her leg's were crossed with one leg bouncing up and down. It didn't take Ashlee long to notice her disposition.
"What's wrong with you?" Ashlee inquired.
Leila looked her as if she was offended to be addressed by her, "Nothing's wrong with me," Leila spat out.
"Whoa, okay. You have no right to talk to me that way!" Ashlee said, throwing her hand in Leila's face. "Don't you know how I am?" That just drove Leila over the edge. Leila jumped up off the bed and got right up next to the infuriating woman standing in front of her.
Pete had to get out and clear his head. He loved taking his dog for a walk at night because it's harder for people to recognize him in the dark. The past couple of days had been really hard on him, but his friends have been his guiding lights. Especially Leila. He loved Patrick; but with his budding relationship with Cara, he didn't want to interfere with that. However, Leila was doing everything he needed. She was just there for him. Not digging at him to talk more than he wanted. She was there for him and he appreciated her more every day.
Pete looked down at his watch and guessed he should be getting back to hotel so Patrick and Cara could leave. He called Hemingway over and hooked his leash back up and walked back to the hotel room. Once he was right outside the door, he noticed that it was a jar about five inches. As he got closer to the door he heard a voice that chilled his bones. He wondered what brought Ashlee to Alabama. He had made everything quite clear that it was over. But right after he heard Ashlee's voice, he heard Leila's. He had never heard Leila so mad before.
"I know who you are, and if you put your hand in my face again, I'll break it off at the wrist," Leila's voice said, floating through the crack in the door.
Pete edged closer to the crack, getting a good visible sight and trying to hear everything that was going on.
"I don't take well to threats," Ashlee said.
"First of all, if you don't go putting your hand in stranger's faces, you won't have to deal with it, and second of all, it's a promise, not a threat," Leila said, glaring up at Ashlee.
Ashlee was seething. You could see the wheels in her head turning to find something witty to say, because she had nothing to go on.
"I see what's going on here. You like Pete, don't you? And that's the reason for all this hostility towards me and the reason you obviously don't like me," Ashlee shot at Leila, smirking.
"Actually, I lost all respect for you when you lip-synced on SNL," Leila said calmly.
Ashlee's eyes bugged out of her head. "I was sick! I couldn't even sing!" she screamed.
"Well, then you should have cancelled, instead of cheating," Leila said, as if they were having a cup of coffee.
Ashlee's chest was heaving up and down with anger. Leila was enjoying pissing her off, enjoying every minute of it.
"I'm not leaving until I see Pete," Ashlee said, reverting back to keeping her mouth shut.
"Oh, I don't think that's such a good idea. I want you to leave right now, please," Leila demanded.
"You and what army?" Ashlee yelled, standing back up.
"Well, me for one," Cara said, standing up right beside Leila.
"And me," Patrick joined Leila on her other side.
Leila looked over at Cara then to Patrick and back to Ashlee, and smiled.
"Don't even stand there and pretend like you know anything about what I have done for him!" Ashlee screamed.
"Oh, I know plenty more than what you give me credit for. I know that you should have been there for him instead of getting jealous over him hanging out with his friends and taking care of his dog. You should have known that he loved you and the fact that he didn't see you every day didn't mean that he didn't. I have no problems getting along with Patrick, he's amazing and Hemingway is totally awesome. If you would have stopped being a bitch for two seconds you would have seen it too," Leila said, her breathe increasing with the intensity of the conversation. "I'm not going to let you stay here and wait for Pete to come back so that you can bombard him with promises that you don't intend to keep. Honestly, I don't think he would not believe you in the first place. He broke up with you, Ashlee. Try to be a lady and walk away. You don't belong here," Leila finished, pointing one finger at the door.
Hemingway was walking around Pete's feet and walked into the light from the crack in the door. Upon seeing Leila standing there, he went crazy trying to get inside; and Pete knew that they knew that he was outside. Giving up, Pete walked through the door.
Ashlee looked around and saw Pete, walked over to him and slapped him on the cheek. Leila let out an audible growl and launched herself at Ashlee, but was caught back by Cara and Patrick; restraining her from causing damage to Ashlee. Ashlee walked back over to a restrained Leila, and got right up in her face.
"Don't play with the big girls if you can't handle it. I'm leaving now," Ashlee said in a low voice.
She walked past Pete and glared at him, but before she could make it to the door, she heard this grunting noise and turned around. Leila had broken free of Patrick and Cara's restraints and was heading straight for her. Before anyone could stop her, Leila threw a punch right at Ashlee's lower jaw. Ashlee was slung back and fell to the floor by the force of the punch. Leila stood over a cowering Ashlee Simpson, and you could feel the hate and rage radiating from her. Pete was in shock, his mouth was half open. Patrick was just as stunned as Pete, but Cara was smiling despite herself; she would have loved to have done the same thing.
"I can play just fine with anyone. Looks like you're the one that can't keep up. Don't ever lay a finger on Pete or anyone of my friends again, or I'll break your nose job, do you understand me?" Leila whispered, hatred dripping from each word. And slowly, Leila walked into bathroom and slammed the door, leaving a heavy tension in the room. Ashlee crawled to her feet and stared around the room one last time, as if she expected some sympathy from one of them. When she got none, she huffed out of the door, pulling it too.
"Why don't you go on? Get your date started. I'll take care of her," Pete said, gesturing towards the bathroom door.
"Yeah, c'mon Patty Cakes, lets go!" Cara said, giggling at her nickname for Patrick. Patrick looked at Cara and busted out laughing. He knew that only Cara could get away with calling him that. Pete was giving them both a weird look before smiling.
Patrick and Cara thought it was for the best and left out, leaving Pete to contemplate on what had just happened. Ashlee obviously came to get him back, and in the process, angered Leila (he made a mental note of how angry Leila could get, and not to get on her bad side). He sat down on the bed and waited for her to come out.
The bathroom door opened and Leila walked out. She sat down next to Pete, both of them staring straight ahead. Leila was the first to talk, breaking the comforting silence that had fallen over them.
"How much of all of that did you see?" Leila asked.
"All of it, I believe," Pete answered her.
"Oh…" she said. She didn't know how he would react to her after what had just happened. After all, she yelled at and punched his ex-girlfriend of three days.
"I just want to say… thanks Leila. Thanks for taking up for Patrick, the guys, Hemingway and I. It was really sweet of you," Pete said.
She didn't expect that reaction however. Leila looked over at Pete.
"I knocked out your fairly recent ex-girlfriend and you're thanking me?" Leila asked, puzzled.
"That was pretty awesome, if I'm being honest," Pete smiled.
Leila busted out laughing. Pete was glad to see a smile on her face. He didn't like seeing all that anger there.
"So, pepperoni or bacon?" Pete asked, reaching for his phone.
-note from the author-
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Again, I don't know the name of the next chapter... I hope I don't get into a pattern... paha... comment on it!