Worth Saving(54)

“Turning twenty-two,” she replies. “Getting old.”

“Oh my gosh! You shut your mouth right now!” Jordan snips. “Do you know how old I am? I’m f*cking thirty-seven, turning thirty eight in two months. I’m pushing forty, god dammit!”

“Aww, well at least you don’t look old,” Layla replies with a playful giggle.

“Ugh. Don’t talk to me the rest of the night,” Jordan jokes. “Anyway, well if you can’t kick it with us tomorrow, it has to be Saturday, Austin, because we leave on Sunday.”

I nod my head in approval. “I can do Saturday. Layla has to go back to work that night anyway, so I’ll be free.”

“Perfect!” Jason exclaims.

“Okay, so where are we gonna go?”

“I have no f*cking idea, but we’ll figure it out. Just don’t cancel on us.”

“I’m not gonna cancel. It’s your last night in town, so we’re gonna make it a good one,” I say as I push my plate aside. My stomach feels like it definitely has a small child in it.

“Alright, that’s cool with you, Layla?” Jordan asks.

The three of us turn our attention to Layla just in time to see her staring at her phone. She looks like she’s both pissed and scared at the same time. I think to say something, but before I can, I see her shut off the power to the phone and toss it back into her purse on the floor.

“Yeah, of course it’s cool with me. Austin can do what he wants, I’m not his mom,” she says to Jordan with a blank stare on her face. “I have to be back at work that night anyway. So, I’ll be busy.”

We spend the rest of the night engaged in conversation about everything from politics to sports—especially basketball—but Layla never seems to fully recover. Something about the phone bothered her, and then stuck with her the rest of the night. Even while the four of us laughed and took shots of all kinds of alcohol, I could see she wasn’t quite herself.

The first thought I had was that Damien was trying to reach her and it was pissing her off. When she told me it was Marlene, I tried to believe her and go along with that, but I could tell it wasn’t Marlene. I haven’t met Marlene yet, but I know they’re friends and they enjoy talking to each other. I don’t have any confirmation that it was Damien, but I have a feeling in my gut that says it was. Nonetheless, I go on with my night and act like I’m not thinking about the weird shit going on with her phone and how it affected her. I even do a good job of hiding my suspicion when the night is over, and I realize I never saw her turn the phone back on.





Layla

“Hello?”

“Happy birthday, honey.”

“Aww. Thanks, Marlene. What’s up? How have you been, sweetie?”

“I’ve been good,” Marlene answers, but I can hear something’s different in her voice. She sounds worried, which makes me worried, and I think I have an idea why she’s calling, and it’s not to wish me happy birthday.

“It’s my birthday, you shouldn’t sound so depressed,” I say, choosing to get straight to the point. “What’s going on?”

Marlene hesitates and takes a deep breath before answering.

“Umm, did Damien try to get ahold of you yesterday?” she asks like she already knows the answer.

“Yeah, he did. Why?” I reply, remembering how my phone wouldn’t stop going off last night at dinner.

I remember sitting there with this feeling of annoyance and fear because Damien sent some weird text about needing to talk to me. I also knew he wouldn’t like it that I wasn’t responding to him, but I was out with Austin, and I didn’t want the night ruined because of Damien. He has already ruined one date, and I wasn’t going to let him ruin another one. In hindsight, I don’t regret it either. I did what I had to do so I could enjoy my night, and I’ll deal with whatever Damien wants to do when I get back to work tomorrow.

“Yeah, I overheard him talking earlier today about him trying to text you and then trying to call you, but you weren’t answering,” Marlene says as I place the phone on speaker so I can use both of my hands to finish putting on my dress.

“Well, I was busy, Marlene. I didn’t have time to deal with Damien.”

I hear her sigh.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Why?”

“I mean, it’s just not like you to be so defiant, especially when it comes to Damien. So, is everything alright with you?”

I feel my forehead scrunching out of confusion.

“I’m fine. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Look, all I’m saying, sweetie, is that you and I both know how Damien can get,” Marlene says, and the worry in her voice is even more obvious now. “You know how he is, Layla, and he wasn’t happy about last night.”

“Look, I’m off from work,” I reply, feeling bothered by the fact that my good mood has been hijacked by a conversation about Damien. “I’m not obligated to answer him when I’m off. I was enjoying one of my last nights off before I have to go back to that hell hole.”

“The thing is, Layla, I guess there was a client that came in and asked for you by name. They wanted you in particular, so Damien was calling you to try to get you to come in for the client. The guy was gonna pay, like, two or three grand for you to spend the night with him. So, Damien was going on and on about how you made him lose money, because when he couldn’t get you, the guy didn’t want anybody else and left. The last time something like this happened and Damien lost out on this amount of money, I had to stand there and watch you get burned with a cigarette. That isn’t anything I want to see ever again, Layla.”