Chapter 26- The Boy is Mine
September crawled out and October was replacing it. Pete was barely making it day to day. Leila still hadn't come back, and she was rarely calling. But when she did call, they would talk until one or the other's phone died. He knew she had no plans on really leaving him, but he just wished that she would come back. She told him of running into an old friend from high school, Josh Davis, but was very short about what they talked about and what their past held. Wanting to squash the unpleasant feelings he had in the pit of his stomach, he called the only person that knew anything of Josh.
"Hello?" a female voice said.
"Hey, Casie… its Pete," he said, slouching in a chair in his room. "I have a question that only you would know…"
"Okay, what is it?" she asked, trying to make Andrew quit tickling her. They had stayed in Alabama for a while, on her mom's request; but Casie wasn't all that objective. It felt good to unwind from the busy city. It also kept her close to Leila if she needed her.
"I need to know about Josh Davis and his relationship with Leila… please?"
Casie paused, "How do you know about Josh?"
"Leila told me she ran into him at the airport when she first got to Alabama, but I feel like she wasn't telling everything," Pete said, not wanting to hear anything about how they were a couple and in love and high school sweethearts. It was not one of his favorite subjects.
"Well… They were never really together, if that makes you feel any better," she started off, not knowing exactly what to say to him.
"It would if your tone wasn't so awkward," he said, trying to force out a laugh.
"Well, what do you want to know?" she asked, trying to get a sense of how to word her answers.
"Everything," he said softly.
"Oh… um… okay. Well… They met in sixth grade and became friends through band. She had a crush on him in eighth grade, but he found out, and she got over it. He was real cool about her crush on him though. He didn't treat her any different than he had been. This is why they remained friends. When she was in the tenth grade, she began to like him, and it didn't stop. And this is what she has told me over the years. When Josh got a girlfriend in the eleventh grade, Leila was devastated. She also said that around the same time he got with this other girl, she had fallen in love with him. Her first and only love, until you. I saw how it hurt her to watch him love someone else. But as the time past, the hurt in her eyes died out, and they returned to normal. They are just best friends now, Pete. She doesn't look at you the way she did Josh. When she used to look at Josh, it was with longing… with a look of wanting something she can't have. But the way she looks at you, it's a pure happiness that she never had with Josh. He never returned her feelings, but you, Pete… you did. You make her happier than I have ever seen her. There's nothing that you need to worry about with him now, Pete."
Pete listened on as Casie explain Josh to him. He was Leila's first love. And even though you never forget your first love, he felt confident by Casie's words. Leila loved him now, and only him.
oo
It was a week before Halloween, and Leila was still in Alabama. It was over a month ago when she had left. She had doubled the amount of times she called Pete. She said that her family wanted her to stay a little while longer. They said they never get to see her, and she felt bad. But the more she stayed, the longer she was away from Pete. The media had all but stopped printing stories about them. But they both knew that when she returned, they would resume with vengeance.
Leila had plenty of time to think about where their relationship was going. It got vaguer the further she looked. But the one thing that was rock solid was the media intrusion. Weighing the cameras in her face all the time next to Pete's love for her, it became obvious of what she really wanted. She wanted to be in his arms forever, if that meant having cameras in her face when she's eighty, so be it. She hadn't told Pete about her decision yet; she was going to try and get him to come down without saying anything.
A week before the most haunted day of the year, she called up Pete.
"Hey Pete," she said, lying on her bed in her grandmother's house. She could hear the joy in his voice that she called him.
"Hey Lei," he said, "How are you?"
"I'm good. I love being at my family's house, but it feels like something's missing…" she said, trying to hide her laughter.
Pete paused, "And what might that be?"
"Oh, I don't kno-" she said, when Pete stopped her.
"Shit, let me let you go… I have unwanted company. I love you," he said, hanging up.
"Well, I love you too," she said, a little peeved, closing her phone. "What was that about?" she wondered. Picking up her phone again, she found the name she was looking for and pressed send.
"Hey Patrick, are you with Pete?" she asked quickly.
"Y-yea," he said, a little unsure.
"What's going on? Tell me Patrick," Leila said, getting frustrated.
"Well –now don't freak out- but, Ashlee's here," Patrick rushed, "She's dropped by everyday this week, with a different excuse. Pete's trying to get her to leave, but she won't listen."
Leila saw red. She felt her blood beginning to boil. The very thought of Ashlee being in the same room with Pete, without her being there, made her sick.
"Do something Patrick, go help him… I'm going to try and figure something out here," she said, and hung up abruptly.
She jumped from the bed, furious. She needed to get to Pete, now. But how? She didn't have the kind of money to buy a plane ticket to Chicago. She tried calling Pete back, but he sent her call straight to his voicemail. Feeling completely helpless, she flopped on the bed, running her hands in her hair in frustration. Her phone rang, recognizing Casie's personalized ring tone, she answered.
"Hey Cas," she said, groaning.
"What's wrong with you?" Casie asked, concerned.
"Ugh, Ashlee has been pestering Pete all week, and she won't leave him alone!" Leila practically screamed into the phone. "And I can't be there to help him, because I don't have the money to get a ticket to Chicago. I swear, if I get my hands on that –" she yelled.
"Hang on," Casie said, and Leila heard a rustling sound and a man's voice came through her phone.
"Hey Leila," Andrew said. "So, here's the plan. I hate the fact that Ashlee is even feet from my brother as much as you do, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to buy you a red-eye ticket to Chicago tonight, and you get up there and take care of her."
Leila gasped, "I couldn't do that. Don't spend your money on me."
"Leila, please. Ashlee is like poison for my brother, and I don't want her near him. And I don't hit girls, but I have been told that you are good in handling her. She's only near him because she thinks you guys broke up. You can pay me back later, if you want, but I need to you do this for me."
Leila sat in silence for a minute, before saying a quick "okay" and hung up. Packing her bag up, she headed for town. She drove as fast as she could; the thoughts of Ashlee near her Pete drove her through her tired state.
oo
"Old Flames?"
"Pete Wentz's old flame, Ashlee Simpson, was seen coming out of his home in Chicago late last night. Has Wentz moved on from Leila Grint? It looks like it. As you know, there were rumors with Simpson/Wentz when they were dating; like being engaged. Could the embers be rekindling? Time will only tell, and we'll be here to tell you first!"
oo
Pete sat on the couch at his mom's, flipping through the channels, nothing popping out in his mind. He heard the soft chatter of Cara and Patrick in the kitchen. They had left Micah with Patrick's parents, for some grandparent/child bonding. Micah loved being with his family. It was a complete 180 from the way he was used to being treated. And Patrick saw the look of content happy in his son's eyes when he was with his grandparent's. They doted on the child, spoiling him rotten; but isn't that a grandparent's job?
Pete was growing weary of the daily visits from Ashlee. She came by to give him something each day. Something he left at her place or something like that. But he saw through her charade and wasn't falling for anything. She had been following his and Leila's media attention and she was trying to get back with him. It wasn't going to work. The only thing she was achieving was pissing him off. But this time was going to be different. Something in his stomach told him this was the last time Ashlee would visit him.
Sure enough, not even an hour later, there was a knock at the door. Sighing heavily, he shuffled to the door. His heart dropping to the region of his navel, he opened the door. There she stood. Flipping her rinsed red hair over her bare shoulder, Ashlee smiled at him.
"Hello Peter," she said, trying to sound bubbly sweet.
"What is it this time Ashlee?" he more or less groaned out.
"I found something else you left behind, silly!" she said, opening the screen door, forcing herself inside. Patrick stopped short coming out of the kitchen. Making a noise that soundly awfully like a retch, he threw a glance at Pete.
"Hi there Pat," she said, secretly begging him to say a cross word to her. She really wanted to scratch his eyes out. He was part of the reason Pete had broken up with her. Narrowing his eyes at her, he kept his mouth shut. "Have you nothing to say?"
"Maybe he doesn't, but I do," Cara growled, joining Patrick's side. She had not forgotten the last time she encountered this woman. It ended up with Leila nailing her in the face. Cara might have to make up for Leila not being here.
"Oh really? And what exactly may that be?" she taunted.
"That you better thank God that Leila isn't here this time. But that still doesn't save you from me."
"Leila huh? That's funny you should mention her, because I have some news to tell Pete," she said smugly, reaching into her gigantic bag pulled out a brown envelop, and she handed it to Pete.
As Pete opened the envelop, Ashlee began talking again, "As you can see from these pictures, Leila was getting cozy with another man. Not just any other man however. Her ex-boyfriend of all people! So, so much for the almighty Leila coming to save the day. She got caught cheating on you Pete!" she said with a smile on her face.
Pete looked down at the pictures of Leila having dinner with a tall blonde headed man. He looked back up to Ashlee in disgust.
"What do you have to say to that?" she blurted out.
"That I already knew about this, and you are wasting your time," Pete said, throwing the pictures back in Ashlee's face.
"What?" she said, looking at him perplexed.
"You heard him," came a voice by the doorway.
Every head in the living room turned towards the stairway… all but Pete's. He had a smile plastered on his face, watching fear flash across Ashlee's plastic face.
"Leila?!" Cara forced out. She, along with Patrick had no clue she was back in town.
Leila surveyed the room. It took everything she had not to run at Ashlee, but she maintained.
"When I heard that 'she' was trying to get back in Pete's life, I had to come back," Leila said, not taking her eyes off of Ashlee.
Pete stepped back a little, giving Leila a clear path to Ashlee. He looked on lovingly at Leila, seeing the anger welling up.
She had showed up on his doorstep last night and immediately fell into his arms. She confessed to him that she never wanted to leave again, and this is where she belonged always. They would smile and hold their heads up high when the cameras were about. He had never been so happy to see any one in his life. They stayed up almost all night, catching up on lost times.
"W-when did you get back in town?" Ashlee stuttered.
"That's not the issue here. You're too late. I already told Pete everything about that dinner. He knows everything about that man in the picture. So you're wasting your breath," Leila said slowly, still walking towards Ashlee. Ashlee took a step back with every step forward Leila took.
"Now here's what you're going to do. You are going to leave here, and I don't want to see your fake ass back around Pete again. If you, so God help me, come near my boyfriend again, you're going to wish you hadn't spent all that money getting your face redone. So, stop your guys following me, or I'm going to-"
"You're going to what, exactly?"
Leila blinked, still walking slowly to her. Ashlee bumped into the wall, and looked around for an escape. Leila could feel her family pride welling up inside her. She knew she should say something profound and witty, but her country side was shining through.
"I'm going to take you out back, and show you how a real country girl fights. And it's not by hiring men with cameras. In short, I'm going to kick your ass. Clear enough?" Leila asked, getting inches from her face.
"The boy is mine, try and let it soak through all that plastic and never show your face around here again."
Just then, Ashlee's arms came swinging up, aiming for Leila's face. Seeing it out of the corner of her eye, Leila caught her arm in her hand, twisting it uncomfortably in the wrong direction.
"Don't even try it, you can't beat me," Leila whispered deadly.
Ashlee met Leila's gaze and twisted free from her grip. Heading towards the door, she looked around the room.
"I hope you're happy with that bitch!" she yelled and stormed out.
Leila stood there, watching the spot where Ashlee was just standing. Slowly coming out of her daze, she walked to Pete, wrapping her arms around him.
Smiling down at her, he said, "I love you."
Leila felt her heart fly to her throat. She was back in Pete's arms and it felt good.
"I missed you too."
-note from the author-
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Now, the next chapter is going to be called "Thriller"