Smoke Screen

Chapter 24

    As soon as she saw Tony, Layla immediately pulled her red leather jacket on top of herself so that it was covering her arms. By the look on his face, it did not seem like noticed any of the marks or bruises. Layla was relieved by that, but still could not rest easy as she had to make sure that her arms stayed out of view.
    "I'm sorry about Rafaela." Tony said. "She's a jerk."
    "It wasn't your fault." She said.
    "I still wish I could've done something to stop her." He said. His eyes were glued to the ground as he kicked at the dirt. She could tell how upset and regretful he was.
    "You saved me, didn't you?" She said. She was not sure exactly what happened, but she knew that she owed her life to him.
    "That was the most terrifying thing ever. When you... I... I did everything I could. I had to." His mind kept wandering back to the memory of her drowning. Him pulling her out of the water. Her lying there, still.
    "Thank you." She said. He looked up and was snapped out of his thoughts by the sight of her. She was there. She was safe. He could not help but smile.
    "Of course. I'm just glad I was there and that I made it in time." He said.
    "Me too."  She said. His smile widened as a sly glint sparked in his eyes. "What?" She raised an eyebrow at him.
    "You admitted you're glad to have me around." He teased.
    "You know what I meant." She rolled her eyes at him.
    "So, do you want me around now?" He asked.
She shrugged. "I don't care." Tony frowned slightly. That was not the answer he was looking for. Layla noticed a shift in his behavior and her expression softened. "You can stay if you want."
    She was trying to be nice, but that still was not the response he was looking for. He could not tell if she actually liked him or actually wanted to be around him and he was tired of it.
    "Do you like me?" Tony asked.
    Layla's eyes widened with surprise as she grew flustered at his sudden question. "What? Where's this coming from?"
    "Because it seems like you hate me." His shoulders drooped as he spoke.
    An upsetting feeling squeezed Layla's heart. She could tell he was hurt and it was because of her. That was reason enough why she knew she had to stay away from him. She hated seeing him like this and hated how she was the cause of it.
    "I don't hate you." She said.
    "Then why do you avoid me? Why do you act like you don't want to be anywhere near me?"
She was not sure how to respond. "I-." She started but was cut off as he continued.
"I thought we were getting along! But you keep pulling away. If you don't hate me, then what's going on?"
Layla bit her lip. Her jaw tightened. So many things rushed through her mind. She settled on the thing that was at the forefront of her thoughts.
"Why does it matter? You have plenty of other friends that are surely better to hang out with than me. You don't need to act like you care. Just forget about me." She said.
Tony was silent for nearly a minute. "And do I get a say in what I want?" He finally asked. She was silent. "What if I want to be around you?"
"If you knew me, you wouldn't want to." She said, looking away from him.
"I disagree." He said firmly.
"Why? Why me? Why do you care?" She asked, looking up into his eyes.
"Why not?" He said. "Why can't I? Why do you find it so unbelievable that I care about you?"
Layla looked away. She could not continue looking at him. His words echoed in her head. She wanted to argue against him, she wanted to continue to put up her wall. But he kept tearing her barrier down and refused to stop.
"I can decide what I want for myself. Don't push me away because you think it's best." He told her. "I want to be friends with you. Unless you don't like me and don't like being around me. Then I'll understand and I'll leave you alone."
It all came down to Layla's answer. Whether she would finally let him in or permanently shut him out. She was still nervous to let him into her life, but she also did like the thought of losing him.
    She had no idea what she wanted. She had no idea how to respond. But there was something pulling at her heart. Something she could not deny.
She turned to him. She had her answer.