Ceremonials

Chapter 11: All this and heaven too

One month after reuniting.

It was a Saturday afternoon and Will was calling again. He averaged about five calls a week. Always from his cell phone. He never tried to trick her by borrowing someone else's phone or something like that. It was his number that showed up on the display, so that Layla could decide if she wanted to talk to him.

I should, she thought, but she did nothing. For a long time, she had been hopelessly in love with Will. It had been the worst. Or so she'd thought at the moment, at least. It had been extremely painful. Even at the time, she'd tried to persuade herself that it only felt like that because she was so young. The pain you felt as a teenager was amplified. Huge and dramatic every time. Unfortunately, that wasn't true. Unrequited love simply hurt; no matter what age you were.

That was the way Will loved her now. Layla remembered that desperate, passionate all-consuming feeling all too well. She'd rather be on the other side of it, honestly. She'd rather be the one hurting than the one causing the hurt. The thought of having to tell Will how things stood brought tears to her eyes, but they needed to talk. He was her best friend, after all. The phone was still ringing. Layla answered it.

'Will, are you free right now?'

There was a brief silence at the other end of the line.

'I am,' Will eventually replied. He sounded startled, as if he had been caught off guard by her picking up the phone. Layla shared the feeling.

'Do you want to come over?' she suggested.

'Yes. I want to talk to you to explain…'

'Tell me when you get here,' Layla interrupted him. Again he didn't speak for a few seconds. She thought that he might have been collecting his thoughts.

'See you in fifteen minutes,' Will said.

'See you.'

Feeling nervous, Layla wandered around the house. Warren was out on an unspecified errand. He'd been acting secretive again, lately. When she'd asked him about it, he'd told her that he'd tell her soon. Five minutes after Layla had ended the call, the doorbell rang. Well, that was quick, she thought. When she opened the door, however, it wasn't Will.

'Layla! I'm so glad that you're home,' Magenta exclaimed. Zach and Ethan stood next to the beautiful brunette; towering over her and looking awkward as hell.

'Hi guys,' Layla said, a little confused. 'I didn't know you were coming.'

'You weren't supposed to. We're here to do an intervention of sorts,' Magenta announced, impatiently gesturing for Ethan and Zach to enter. Zach mouthed 'I'm so sorry' at Layla while going past.

'A what?' Layla stammered, still holding the door open. Magenta took Layla by the arm and led her into the sitting room.

'Is Warren home?' Magenta inquired. Dumbly, Layla shook her head.

'So, the two of you are back together. Don't answer that. It wasn't a question. We, okay, I think that might not be the best idea. Wouldn't you rather be with Will?' Magenta suggested. Layla managed to extricate her arm from her friend's grip and turned on Zach.

'Did you…?'

'No, I swear I didn't!' he protested, embarrassed.

'Then why?' Layla questioned. To her surprise, Ethan was the one who answered.

'We ship you with Will. I'm saying this in the dumbest possible way, because it is dumb. We like Will. We like you. We want you to be together. Obviously, you don't want that or you wouldn't be with Warren. In other words: everything I just said is basically nonsense and you should ignore it. The thing is, though, that we have seen you be with Warren and he hasn't always treated you well. We're worried about that.'

They all looked really embarrassed after Ethan had spoken.

'You ship me with Will?' Layla demanded, incredulously.

'I don't,' Magenta replied. 'I like Warren. More than Will, really. It's just that some of the things Warren has done… I think that Will wouldn't do that. I get that opposites attract. I'm with Zach, after all. An easy relationship would probably bore me because I enjoy a battle now and then, so Zach is perfect for me. You don't like fighting, which is why I feel that Will would be much better for you. You two fit.'

Speechless, Layla gaped at her friend. To be ambushed like this, by Magenta of all people, was incredibly hurtful. Not to mention that you didn't ship actual people. You shipped fictional people and let real people decide for themselves who they wanted to be with. You didn't go: 'Hey, we like this better so - screw who you love – change your life to accommodate us.' Furiously, Layla retorted.

'It's not about what fits; it's about what works. Warren and I work. Yeah, we didn't always, but we do now. So, stop it. Just stop. Oh, and, by the way, you're right. I don't like fighting, but when it is necessary I am a fighter. I will always fight for what I want and for who I love.'

Stricken, Magenta glanced at Zach and Ethan, who avoided her gaze and both meekly apologised to Layla.

'I didn't mean it like that,' Magenta offered. 'I, we, only want what's best for you.'

That softened Layla somewhat, though she was still pretty angry.

'I don't love Will that way, so how could he be best for me?' she asked. Behind them, someone coughed. Layla turned to find Will standing there, looking like his heart had been thrown into a wood chipper.

'That's clear. Hi, the door was open, so…' he said, letting the sentence trail off into nothingness. No one said anything. Will's lip started to tremble. The only one of them who knew what to do was Magenta. She practically leaped into Will's arms. Will stumbled back with amazed laughter.

'What are all of you doing here?'

'Telling Layla that we ship her with you, like the idiots we are,' Zach dryly replied. Taken aback, Will chuckled; setting Magenta down again.

'You did? Really? But she loves Warren,' he pointed out, looking at Layla while he said it. Magenta poked at his side in an affectionate manner. Will, faintly smiling, ignored the constant prodding. Magenta's reaction is the only thing that saved him from breaking down, Layla realised.

'I do, even though he can be so rude sometimes,' Layla responded.

'You're telling me?' Will joked, blinking rapidly all the while. Layla smiled.

'I'm sorry about telling Warren about something that didn't happen,' Will quickly added. 'Afterwards, I tried to tell him I was wrong, but he wouldn't believe me.'

'Yeah, I imagine that it was hard to convince him that nothing happened. He saw us kissing, you know.'

'He saw us? How? Wait, if he was there, then why did he think that we slept together?'

'He left too soon,' Layla explained. Zach and Ethan were looking even more embarrassed than before, while Magenta appeared to be intrigued. Will, though, caught Layla's eye, which caused them both to burst out laughing. It was finally seeing that the situation had been almost soap opera-ish in its set up that did it. Absolutely everything that could have gone wrong had gone wrong and then some. The others regarded them strangely as they laughed until they cried.

'You don't blame me?' Will choked out, trying to catch his breath.

'No. I should have told him about the kiss and he should have trusted me,' Layla replied with tears streaming down her face.

'How's this funny? I swear, you two are on the exact same weird wavelength,' Ethan decided. Zach nodded sagely. Magenta rolled her eyes. Never one for politely coughing to announce his presence, Warren startled everyone by stepping forward and speaking up.

'Reunion?'

'Kind of,' Layla told him, drying her tears. Warren studied the lot of them. Zach and Ethan sighed. Will seemed to shrink until Magenta poked him and he batted away her hand in a sudden show of assertiveness. After that, he raised himself to his full length.

'You two have made up? You are friends?' Warren asked, addressing Will.

'We are,' Will admitted, glancing at Layla to confirm that this was true. Layla nodded.

'Good,' Warren replied and went down on one knee in front of Layla.

'What are you doing?' Layla whispered. Taking a blue velvet jewellery box out of his pocket and opening it, Warren gazed up at her.

'Asking you to marry me again.'