Chapter 24- Rumors

It didn't take long for the outlandish rumors to start flying about Pete and Leila. Every magazine had their faces on it. Leila's family was calling, asking her why they had to find out she was pregnant in Wal-Mart. It took her a while to get them convinced that she was not pregnant, and that she could take them to doctor and have him prove that she wasn't; for she and Pete hadn't even made that big step in their relationship. They couldn't even go to a local gas station without someone taking their picture. Pete could see Leila's resolution thinning with every article. She was having constant headaches, and was very irritable all the time. Not even Casie had seen her this irritated; and that was saying something. She was losing sleep, worrying about what they were going to say next. What her family was going to have to read.

"You don't understand Pete! Things are very different where I come from. Everything's an open book down there, and if you try to keep anything secret, they try harder to figure out what's going on. It's just like a backwoods Hollywood. And my family is getting caught up in it. People bombard my grandmother with questions about her "rowdy" granddaughter and when the baby is due. And you're not the type of person that's really accepted in that part of the south, so that adds to the flame. Not that I give a damn what they think about me or who I associate with, but they run their mouths more than a motorboat, and word spreads like wildfire. They are making me out to be some two-bit whore, and it's weighing on my family!" Leila ranted on one day, after another magazine posted something about her and Pete's quickie wedding.

Pete stood there in silence as Leila finished blowing up again. He knew Leila was just angry, but he felt like he was being attacked for something that he couldn't control. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed.

"What do you want me to do, Leila?" he said, barely having enough strength to get his voice to work.

Leila stopped pacing, and wheeled around facing Pete. Her face seemed to soften.

"It's not your fault. I know there's nothing you can do. This is just like Harry Potter," she said with a smile at her lips. "You're Harry Potter, and you have all this attention thrust upon you, that you don't want. It's just getting a little hard being your Ginny."

"Well, at least a dark wizard is not out to kill us," he said, trying to lighten the mood. Leila tried to smirk at him, but it wasn't coming to her.

She was physically and mentally tired. She sunk into a chair close by, her hands closing around her face. Casie and Andrew hand in hand walked into the room, and immediately stopped in their tracks. Feeling the high tension in the room, they knew they had walked into the middle of something that they shouldn't have. Casie made to turn around, but Leila stopped her.

"You don't have to go… You'll find out sooner or later. Apparently Pete and I are married," Leila said, with mock enthusiasm.

"We just need to escape from all of this," Pete said, waving a hand over the crumpled newspaper on the coffee table. Leila stood up from her chair and walked to the window. She wrapped her arms around herself, the way she always did when she felt vulnerable.

Still facing the window, she said, "I want to go home."

Casie nodded her head, "That's a good idea. You two get away from all of this for a while. Take a break."

"I want to go home… alone," she said, turning around slowly. Casie's jaw fell to the floor and Andrew's head snapped to Leila's. Leila slowly walked to Pete, placing a soft hand on his unshaven cheek.

"I just need time to think, Pete. About this, and us. We haven't been separate since we got together. It's not healthy to stay at each other's side twenty-four/seven. I need to be myself for a while."

Pete didn't look surprised, or upset. He had a look of bittersweet acceptance on his face. His eyes were full of sadness.

"If that's what you want, then we'll get you on the first flight to Alabama tomorrow," Pete said, slowly.

Leila smiled at him and embraced him. He closed his arms around her tightly, creating muscle memory of how it felt to hold her. Leila was the first to end the embrace. She gazed into his eyes again, kissed his cheek lightly and left the room. Casie gaped at her as she walked out, and shortly followed behind her. Andrew was still in a stunned silence. He didn't know exactly what had transpired in front of him. He watched as Pete flopped down on the couch, groaning. Andrew walked to the chair that Leila had vacated and sat down.

"Pete, are you going to let her just walk out?" he said after a few minutes.

Pete contemplated the ceiling for a while before answering.

"Yeah."

"But, man, do you want her to leave?" Andrew said, reeling from his brother's attitude. Pete's head snapped towards Andrew and he glared at him.

"Of course not!" he spat out. Andrew threw up his hands in defeat.

"Then, what are you doing? March up there and tell her you can't let her leave; that you love her and you will see this through; you can't live without her… anything!"

"I want to tell her all those things, but that would be selfish. I want her to be happy, and if that's not here with me, then it's not. Besides, it isn't like we're breaking up. Just taking some time to ourselves. ­Leila's right; we have been spending too much time together. Maybe a break is what we need to get back on track," Pete said, trying to convince himself more than Andrew.

Andrew just watched his brother as his heart was slowly breaking. His voice sounded extremely sorrowful as he called the airlines, booking Leila a one-way ticket to Alabama. He heard the ceiling squeak and looked up. Hopefully Casie would have better luck in talking to Leila. There had to be some other way to deal with this.

oo

Leila tried quickly to get to the bedroom she shared with Pete and close the door before Casie reached her, but failed. Right as the door went to a close, Casie's fingers clamped on it, pushing it back. Leila knew she was in for a speech, but really didn't feel like hearing it. She went on the other side of the pushed-together beds and picked up her suitcase, plopping it on the bed. As Leila went to folding dirty clothes on the floor and placing them in her suitcase, Casie began to speak.

"What are you doing?" she asked, watching Leila in disbelief.

"Packing," she replied shortly.

Casie walked up to her, closing the suitcase, "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

Leila stood back up from her pile of clothes, and stared at Casie. This was killing her more than she was letting on, but she had to be strong. She needed to clear her head, and it wasn't going to happen here. She didn't want to leave Pete, but she would see him again. This was not good-bye.

"I have to get out of here. I can't stand being watched around the clock by someone who is just hoping I kiss Pete," Leila said, her voice rising despite herself.

"I'm your best friend Leila, and I love you, but you're being extremely selfish! Don't you know that Pete's going through the exact same thing? Have you even thought about that?" Casie said.

"But he's used to it! He has gone through it with all his other girlfriends; this is my first time be thrust into the limelight. Coming from a small southern town, it's a very hard adjustment, believe me," Leila said, deciding to put her clothes next to the suitcase, unable to actually put them away for Casie's hands on it.

"It's going to kill Pete, having to watch you fly away from him," Casie said in a whisper.

Leila shot up and threw her clothes across the room, startling Casie.

"Don't you know that I know that? It's not easy for me, either Casie! I love him more than anything, but I feel that to save what we have, I must leave! It's for our own good! Just be thankful that Andrew doesn't call attention like Pete does; it's cute at first but then you realize that you have no privacy at all! Enjoy what we don't have, Cas," Leila said.

"You've made up your mind?" Casie said, sounding defeated.

Leila could feel emotion building up in her throat. She needed Casie to leave her, or she was going to start crying. And then Casie would go get Pete, and he would convince her to stay. No, she had to do this. For her; for Pete.

Leila cleared her throat, and turned back to Casie, "Yes."

oo

Cara searched the radio again for a more local channel, as they were losing the one they had been listening to. Micah was asleep in the backseat, clinging to his stuffed wall crawling hero. They were just inside the Wilmette city limits, minutes away from Pete's house, when Cara's phone went off. Instantly knowing who was calling, she flipped the phone open.

"Hey, Cas," she said, smiling. It had been a long time since she heard her friend's voice.

"Hey Cara. Are you guys about here?" Casie asked emotionless.

"Yeah, about five minutes, what's up?" Cara asked, catching Casie's tone.

"Leila's plane departs in an hour."

"Her what? Where are her and Pete going?" Cara was confused. They hadn't said they were going anywhere any time soon.

"Leila's going to back to Alabama with her family. Leila doesn't want Pete to go," Casie explained what Leila had told her last night. Her heart reached out for Pete, and she felt extremely bad for him.

He hadn't been seen out of his room all day. Leila had been in the living room all day, avoiding questions from everyone, especially Mrs. Wentz. She didn't understand why she was leaving her son. She wasn't quite happy with that, but there wasn't much she could do. Andrew tried getting him to come out for breakfast, but his knocks at the door went unanswered.

"Oh my… we'll be right there," she said, and hung up the phone. Cara turned her head to look at Patrick. Patrick kept glancing at her, not being able to fully watch her and drive at the same time.

"Well, are you going to tell me?" he said, with a slight smirk. The look he saw on her face, wiped his smirk right off.

"Leila's leaving," was all she could say.

"Say what?" Patrick said, hoping he had heard wrong. Leila leaving?

"She's going back to Alabama today and Pete isn't going with her. Let's just get to his house, and we can figure this out."

Patrick and sped up slightly. A left turn followed by a right landed them at the Wentz's house. Cara waited long enough for Patrick to pull to a stop and shot out of the car, heading straight for the front door. Knocking on the door, Andrew answered, letting her in.

"Where is she?" she asked, referring to Leila. Andrew sighed and pointed to the living room. Cara headed straight for the living room, and spotted Leila slouching on the couch, flipping through the TV channels. Leila looked up and saw Cara. She groaned a little, knowing Cara was going to try and change her mind.

"Well, hey to you too," Cara said in response to her groan.

"Sorry, I just thought you were going to try and change my mind like everyone else in this house has," Leila said, a little snippy. She learned that if she treated this situation with rudeness and being short, it made it easier.

"I'm not going to try and change your mind; I just want to know why… Give me a good excuse, and I won't second guess you," Cara said softly. Leila looked up at her, still flipping through the channels. The one she stopped on was E! Hollywood News.

Leila looked up in time to see her face on the screen, next to Pete's. And beside their faces was a caption that read, "Where Are They?" Leila groaned as she listened to them spouting off rumor after rumor, none of them true. Cara watched on in pity. She had had her own problems being followed, but not once had she sees herself on the TV. It made her stomach churn to think about how much this was killing Pete and Leila, and she knew right then, that Leila was leaving to cool off, and regroup; for the sake of her relationship with Pete.

"It's not like I have a problem being on TV, I have many times before," Leila said, rolling her eyes in reference to her Million Dollar Band days, "it's just never been with people trying to dig into my personal life."

"I think you're making a smart decision. Nothing good comes from hiding what's happening and not dealing with it. Are you going to be at your grandmothers?" Cara asked, sliding over to sit next to Leila.

Leila looked over at Cara in surprise. She didn't expect to get away with leaving that easy from her. But it gave her a sense of relief. She nodded to Cara, and went back to flipping through the channels again. Soon, it was time to leave to get her to the airport. That seemed to the only thing that brought Pete out of his room. They all piled into Andrew's Range Rover with Casie driving. Leila sat in the front seat with Casie and Pete, Patrick and Cara got in the back. Andrew offered to stay home with Micah, and the fact that his mother made him stay behind, because it's going to awkward enough without him there.

The ride to the airport was a quiet one. Pete sat in the seat directly behind Casie, with his hood up and big black sunglasses on, not saying a word. Leila sort of mirrored him. With her arms around her chest and equally big sunglasses in white, she radiated the same sadness Pete did. Cara and Patrick sat in semi-silence, aching for their friends. They all knew what Pete and Leila had been through. It was dramatically heart breaking for this to happen. But Patrick understood how Leila felt. Coming from a small suburb of Chicago, going from one that wasn't extremely popular in school to becoming someone that millions of people loved were unbelievingly strange. It took him quite a while to adapt. It's still very overwhelming at times, but he's learned what battles to pick, and the ones to let go. He knew that Leila would figure that out. Because what they shared was stronger than the press. He looked to Cara, thinking about how he would react he she wanted to do what Leila was. And that made him ache even more for Pete.

Casie pulled into a spot outside the airport, turning the car off. Pete shuffled out of the car and got Leila's suitcase out for her. Smiling softly at him, she took the handle and led the group to the correct terminal. It was already boarding. The group waited as Leila let a worker check her ticket, and pointed her towards the entrance. Rolling her suitcase to a stop and setting down her over head bag, she walked back to the group. She hugged Casie good-bye, happy that she didn't try to make her stay. She followed suit in her good-byes with Cara and Patrick. She was holding up fine until she got to Pete. The lump of emotion was back in her throat. Pete still had his sunglasses on, so Leila couldn't see his eyes. She reached her hands up and took hold of the rims, pulling his glasses off. She saw complete sadness. She had to blink hard to fight her tears. Tucking his glasses on his hoodie, she grabbed his shoulders and lightly pulled him into a hug. His arms slowly embraced her. He was afraid to open his mouth, for he knew he would try and make her stay. And he didn't want to make her do anything she didn't want. Leila took a deep breath and pulled away, but staying close to him.

"This is not good-bye, Pete," she whispered in his ear. "I still love you, and always will. I just need to clear my head. You have done nothing wrong. Call me if you want to, because I'm going to call you. Don't ignore my calls for 'my-own-good'. I know none of this is your fault, so don't blame yourself. I will see you soon."

Leila went to pull away, but Pete gripped her back. Leila's heart raced, praying that he wasn't going to try convincing her to stay.

"I love you, Lei," he said, letting her pull away, and he placed a long kiss on her tender lips.

Leila felt electricity run through her veins. She pulled away, knowing that if she stayed in his embrace any longer, she couldn't make herself leave.

Picking up her bag and grabbing the handle to her suitcase, and wheeled it to the entrance. She turned back to see Pete, who already had his glasses back on, and not looking at her. She waved one last time, and turned around to head to Alabama.

-note form the author-

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!