Heaven Help Us

Layla

The next week, I found myself at their house again. It had become a frequent thing.

Jeph called me every night to say goodnight, and Rain and I would talk for a while.

Things were getting so much better. I planned on asking Rain on a real date tonight, after I told Jeph the next part of the story.

As Jeph got ready for bed, he told me about his playdate with Bronx Wentz and about meeting Pete.

"It was so much fun, Daddy. Bronx told his dad, Pete, that he wants me to come over again sometime, so me and Bronx and Xavier and Arthur are all gonna play again sometime." He said excitedly, referring to Xavier Way, Gerard and Frank's son, and Arthur Way, Mikey and Alicia's son.

"What about Arthur's sister?"

"It's a boys only thing, but I like playing with Leia, too."

"Ah," I said, thinking that he was smart not caring too much whether he hung out with boys or girls more.

He finished pulling his Gryffindor pajamas on, and crawled into his bed, where Batman was next to the pillows. "So, story time?"

"Story time." I confirmed.

He grinned and pulled the covers up to his chin.

"Did Andrew move on from Scout?"

"He did, actually. He wasn't completely sure what he wanted at the time, but he met a nice girl named Layla. She herself was just coming into the music business, and was being signed to the same label as Andrew. She was a super sweet girl; made great music, too. He started to talk to her more and more, and he began to be friends with her."

"Did he fall in love with her?"

"That's a tough question. You see, Jeph, sometimes it's easy to think that you've fallen in love with someone, when in reality they are just really great friends."

"Is that what happened with them?"

"Well, Andrew showed her the ropes of the music business. He saw a lot of potential in her band. And after a while, he asked her out. She agreed to give it a try. So they went out and they had a great time together. They had similar music tastes, dressed in similar ways, understood each other's humor."

"There's a 'but' somewhere in there, isn't there?" Jeph asked knowingly.

"But, no matter how much they enjoyed being together, it wasn't love. It felt like a kind of love...but they definitely weren't in love. They did change each other's perspectives on some things, though. I guess it was a love like..friends."

"Like with Scout."

"Yeah, like that. In the end, they decided to part ways. They did remain great friends though. Layla even met one of her future bandmates through Andrew's band."

"That was a short story tonight, Daddy. It was good, but short."

"Don't worry, kiddo. Next time it's a little longer. And then it's definitely a longer story. And then we reach the end of the story..hopefully." I told him.

"So Andrew finds real love in the end?"

I smiled wryly. "We'll find out eventually."

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I'm working on dragging this out...I'm doing horribly at it, huh?