THIS COULD BE US, anna shumate

strangers again

layla looked at her phone where she sees a message come through of her other childhood best friend mellisa messaging her about how they are strangers since they don't talk anymore.

layla made a tiktok with the audio she found on the app seeing someone doing a tiktok about them and their best friend not being friends anymore and strangers again..

"strangers into friends,"
"friends into lovers,"
"and strangers again.."

she felt a tear come down her face at all of the memories she has on her laptop and phone from when she lived in arizona before she started playing soccer and hanging out with her brother more.

"he-bub, are you okay?"

anna furrowed her eyebrows coming towards her girlfriend who had her head in her hands sniffling, she comes over to layla, putting a hand into her girlfriend's shoulder, "bubba, what happened?"

layla moved her hand from her red puffy eyes looking at her girlfriend, "we're strangers again," anna raised an eyebrow, "who's strangers again?" layla sniffled again, "me and mellisa,"

"i don't understand, who-who's mellisa?"

another tear comes down her face, "she was my childhood best friend beside liberty, she just messaged me saying that we're strangers," anna frowned bringing layla more into her embrace, "it's okay,"

she rubbed layla's back comfortably when layla's puppies come into layla's bedroom jumping up onto layla's bed coming towards the couple starting to look at their owner's face.

"it's okay, everything's is gonna be okay,"

____

anna comes downstairs seeing emma, zack, fred, charly, jean and chase were in layla's kitchen since they were supposed to go out for dinner, "um, layla isn't feeling too good so we're not gonna go but you guys can go,"

emma looked at her best friend, "you're not just saying this because you two wanna have some alone time.." anna shook her head about to say something when zack said, "look.."

he turned his iphone where layla's recent tiktok she made upstairs played about her and mellisa being strangers again showing mellisa removing layla as a friend on snapchat when they see their friend's teary eye face.

emma clears her throat, "we're not going out," anna furrowed her eyebrows, "we're staying in with you guys, we'll make layla dinner and put some movies on, we'll cheer her up," they all nod their heads with anna looking at their friends, "are you guys sure? you don't have to.."

everyone shook their heads, "we all know layla would do the same for us, so we're staying in," charly stated half smiling, "operation cheer up layla is a go,"

they chuckle at zack's comment, "okay, me and emma will go and get ingredients to make dinner," emma smiles, "charly and jean, you two go to target and get some movies for us to watch and blankets,"

the two nod their heads, "fred and chase," the two boys hummed, "go and get cooper and sab, they are like layla's coping mechanism along with anna," chase saluted emma getting his car keys coming out of layla's apartment along with fred, charly and jean.

"let's go motherfuckers,"

layla who was upstairs looked through the videos and pictures she had on her instagram before she was famous for mellisa's birthday, seeing a video of mellisa falling in her vampire costume for the halloween party she threw.

she half chuckled leaning her head against her soft blanket with her puppies laying near her stomach, she rubbed her puppy's fur.

____

sab and cooper stood alongside each other outside of layla's bedroom door, coming inside the girl's bedroom after hearing layla's "come in".

cooper half smiled at his girl best friend, "hey lele," layla clears her throat looking at her friends, "hey guys," she furrowed her eyebrows, "not that i don't love you two being here but what are you two doing here?" she asked them, "we saw the tiktok you made,"

layla frowned looking down at her slightly shaky hands, "do you wanna talk about it?" she shakes her head when sab lets layla rest her head aganist her chest with cooper rubbing the girl's back, "whenever you do, we're here... we're always here for you," he stated.

sab felt tears starting to soak her t-shirt pulling back to now see tears coming down her best friend's face, "we're always gonna be here for you," she stated kissing layla's forehead, "um, everyone's downstairs,"

layla raised her eyebrows pulling back from sab's chest, "wh- they were supposed to go to saddle ranch without me," cooper shook his head, "no one wanted to go without you, you're our wednesday," she chuckled feeling sab wipe her tears, "just come downstairs, we'll be waiting,"

sab takes her boyfriend's hand moving away from layla who sniffled, standing up from her bed coming to her bedroom door in her plaited pyjama trousers and anna's black sweatshirt.

she comes downstairs following after sab and cooper went when she rounds the corner seeing everyone in the kitchen with her girlfriend cooking alongside emma, "uh, what's going on here?"

"layla!"

charly jordan comes towards layla embracing the girl in her arms, "whenever you want to talk, i'm here always," layla hummed looking at her friends who all looked at her nodding their heads, "we're making you dinner," emma stated.

"and we're gonna watch movies,"
"scary, halloween movies,"

layla chuckled, "i'm not the one who's scared of horror movies that's anna," everyone chuckled seeing anna's blush state, "whenever something scary pops out, she hides behind me or oscar,"

chase nods his head, "that is true," layla high fived chase, who smiles seeing his friend smiling, "i'm only watching these movies for you," anna stated making layla smile coming up behind her girlfriend kissing anna's cheek, "mm-hmm, i love you,"

"i love you too,"

everyone started to move to the living room whilst emma stayed in the kitchen alongside her boyfriend still making their dinner, "or is it because you just want to be close to me?" she asked smirking at anna who playfully rolled her eyes, "uh, you caught me,"

layla chuckled looking at her girlfriend's blue eyes, "i'm so in love with you," anna smiled leaning in kissing layla's lips, "me too," she turns back to stirring the pasta with layla humming.

she leans close to her girlfriend's ear, "your birthday is in two weeks," anna nods her head smiling at the feeling of her girlfriend's breath on her ear, "dinner's almost finished!" emma stated loudly to where layla moves away from her girlfriend looking at emma.

____

layla cuddled into anna who's arm was around her girlfriends waist rubbing at her girlfriend's bare skin with layla's blanket of multiple pictures of her and anna on it, "and here we go,"

everyone ate dinner at the dinner table with everyone now cuddled together on the sofa with emma near layla and anna, layla loved the way anna's hand ran over her bare skin on her hip.

"hmm,"

clearing her throat paying attention to the movie in front of them in her theatre room, trick or treat playing since it was near halloween.

layla needed to figure out what costume her and anna are gonna do together, she was thinking about anna being a police officer and layla being a prisoner.

since anna has loads of experience handcuffing layla. (smirking face)

anna hides her face behind her girlfriend's back with layla looking at emma over her girlfriend's head who chuckles seeing how scared their friend was, "i didn't believe you guys when you said anna actually does that,"

chase nods his head, "she used to do it all the time with me," layla furrowed her eyebrows as someone paused the movie, "what do you mean used to?"

chase opened and closed his mouth, "i-i ugh..." anna looked at her girlfriend, "it's nothing bub," layla furrowed her eyebrows at her girlfriend, when zack unpaused the movie, "it doesn't seem like nothing," she mumbled looking back at the movie.