Don't Let Us Go

Old Friends, Old Problems Pt.1

"Do you think Daddy will like my nails, Mommy?" Gigi squealed, waving her unicorn themed manicure around as her mother tried to hold her hand. "I got pink and purple glitter on my big fingers to match the mane of the unicorn sticker on my pinky." She giggled, wiggling around her littlest finger like a worm.

Simone snickered at her goddaughter humor as Olivia smiled, lifting her hyper daughter into her arm and onto her hip as they continued on the path out of the nail salon, on their back to Simone's car.

"I think you dad will love them, baby girl." Liv assured her daughter, kissing her cheek.

They finally reached the outside of the vehicle within the parking lot, and Simone unlocked the doors with her smart key. As Olivia adjusted Gracianna into her carseat, and Simone began the engine, Olivia worked up the nerve to ask her bestie something she avoided all morning during their nail appointment, and facials.

"I have a favor to ask." She announced, climbing into the passenger seat up front and closing the car door behind her.

"You want to get some food?" Simone laughed, thinking Olivia was hungry after their 2 and half hour long appointment. Putting the car into reverse to pull out of her parking spot, she listened for Olivia's request.

"So you how we invite the whole gang to Gigi's birthday this weekend because she wanted to meet mine and Spencer's high school friends she grew hearing so much about?"

"Yeah, so?" Simone dragged out as she faced both directions before gearing out into the busy traffic.

"Well, Layla arrived in L.A. last night and texted me this morning asking to meetip for lunch today. I thought it may do us all some good to break the ice before we all get together during a kiddie function." Olivia suggested as Simone kept her eyes on the road.

"You want to have lunch with my former friend that snuck behind my back while I was away at school and sunk her homewrecking claws into your brother, then lied to me for weeks when I confronted her for having feelings for your brother? The same Layla who crucified you for having the audacity to fall for Spencer simply because she dated him first, despite the fact that you were into him from the very beginning of sophomore year. That Layla." Simone grumbled, clenching her hands on the steering wheel, trying to keep her cool, knowing her impressionable goddaughter listened to them from the backseat.

"Yeah, but Jordan and Layla broke up years ago," Olivia shrugged, figuring it was time for them to let bygones be bygones. "Plus, you got your lick back when my brother came to visit Shay in Atlanta, and you guys slept together despite the fact you were both seeing other people." Olivia snorted, recalling that momentary lapse of judgment on her twin's and best friend's part.

"Karma's a bitch." Simone sneered, rolling her eyes, unremorseful for being the catalyst that ruined Layla and Jordan's short lived romance. "She let him go. It's not my fault." Simone concluded, based on how quickly Layla was to remove herself from Jordan's life entirely after finding out he slept with his ex-wife. "And doesn't she have a new man now. Jace...Chase..."

"Clay. His name is Clay." Liv corrected with a  chuckle. "And that's my point she has moved on, and you're moved on....sort of."

Giving Olivia a side eye, Simone quickly turned her sights back to the road as the light turned green.

"I am not bitter that she and Jordan fell for each other, Liv. I left Jordan alone and vulnerable when I left for school in Atlanta. I admit that,"  Simone owned up to her faults.

"Then what is it?" Olivia inquired, not understanding the stubbornness to not forgive.

"I came that winter break after your brother officially ended things with me that year, remember. And what did I do? I went to Layla, woman to woman, and I asked her if she had feelings for your brother. Remember, and she lied straight to my face and said nothing was going on. I asked her again before I left that same visit, and she gaslit me and said it's all in my head." Simone snarled. "As if I am stupid. Then she and brother kept their little fling a secret for  weeks until you caught them. Remember that? I asked outright as a friend had she fallen for the man I was raising a child with, and she had the nerve to call me paranoid! All I wanted was the truth, and as my friend, I thought she'd allow me it, but she made me out into a fool. She shunned you for weeks for falling for Spencer when they weren't even together, yet did the same thing to me, only worse because your brother and I were still together when she made her move on him. I can't be friends with someone like her again. Layla is a good friend when it benefits her; but if you get in the way of something she wants, she steamrolls you. I won't do that to myself."

"That's fine. Don't come as her friend. Come as mine." Olivia plead. "Unlike you and Jordan, Layla is one of the people I kept in the dark about my pregnancy. She will have too many questions, and I will need a buffer."

As they stopped at a red light, Simone faced a doe eyed Olivia, begging for assistance.

Rolling her eyes, Simone groaned, "What is the address that we are meeting her at? And who all is coming?"

'Well, Patience is still signed with Layla Recording label, so they stayed in touch, and by extension, so did Coop. They will be coming to."

"Jesus, Liv. That's a whole firing squad. None of them knew about Gigi. They are going to eat you alive with questions." Simone scolded her bad decision.

"Better today than in front of the party guest this weekend," Olivia retorted.

"Mommy, am I going to meet your friends?"  Gracianna questioned from the backseat, kicking her feet excitedly.

"You are going to meet some of your mommy's acquaintances from high school, Gigi." Simone corrected her goddaughter immediately," and tomorrow you me and Mommy are going to some meet some of our real friends who are really close to your Dad too, Kia, and Davita."

"Ok." Gigi nodded, satisfied with her response.

Olivia gave Simone a glance of disapproval.

"What? Coop and Patience are Spencer's childhood friends who couldn't even be bothered to reach out to you after the breakup. You are friendly with them. Civil." Simone drew a line. "Kia and Vita. Those are our friends, Liv. They checked up on you after you came home devastated from the breakup. They tried to keep in contact after you moved, but you understandably kept your distance for Gigi's sake. And when they heard about the press releases when you were in New York, they wasted no time, flanking to your side with open arms as soon as you got to Portland. Those are your friends, Liv. We will go to this lunch as pld high school friends, but we have to remember we aren't in high school anymore. Agreed?"

"Agreed." Olivia nodded, knowing that whatever discussions came up at this lunch, she owed no one an explanation as a mother. She'd speak with them with respect,  answer the questions she felt willing to, nothing more.