More Than Just A Friend (A Bruno Mars Fan Fic)

Chapter 77

Wed

5 days later

He calls himself a fool as he stands outside the office and listens to Leila talk to her mom on the phone and Bruno's glad that Leila has her mom on speaker on her phone so he can hear both sides of their conversation, he hates how sad Leila sounds and he can't stand there and listen anymore and he walks into the office as Leila's mom tells her, you can't put it off any longer, you need to talk to Bruno and tell him honey and Bruno can see that Leila's surprised to see him and he tells her as he walks over to her desk, I agree with your mom and there's complete silence in the office for a minute and Leila's mom tells them, i'm going to go now, you 2 need to talk and she ends the call and Leila tells him, I thought you were working in your studio all day and he shrugs and tells her, I am, i'm just taking a break, I wanted to see you and now I know why you've been quiet and a bit distant with me since your birthday, you've been blowing me off when I ask you what's wrong but you've obviously had no problem telling your mom that I fucked up and you're mad at me and Bruno can see that Leila looks guilty and shocked and he tells her, talk to me, please baby and Leila tells him, ok, just give me a minute and he tells her, ok and he walks behind her desk and leans against it.

She knows that determined look on Bruno's face and she knows how stubborn he can be and ready or not Leila knows she needs to tell him now and she tells him, I kept blowing you off because i've been dreading telling you what I need to tell you because I know it's going to upset you and hurt your feelings and I hate knowing that, i'm not mad at you Bruno, i'm disappointed and hurt because I told you a week before my birthday how I feel about my birthday and birthday parties and you threw me a birthday party anyway and I know you made it prom themed because I didn't go to prom and I know you were being sweet and thoughtful and your intentions were good and you went to a lot of trouble, but ignoring how you know I feel about my birthday has really fucking hurt me and made me feel like what I want and how I feel doesn't matter, it's made me feel insignificant and pretending to enjoy the party and hiding how I was feeling was so fucking hard and it's been eating away at me and Leila can tell she's shocked Bruno and raising his voice he walks over to her and tells her, you must be out of your fucking mind, you're the most important, significant person in the world to me Leila and how you feel and what you want matters to me and I debated with myself about going ahead with your birthday party after you told me how you felt and I went ahead with it because I had your party arranged and I didn't know what else to do for your birthday and I wanted to celebrate the first birthday you've had since we got together, I wanted to try and make you see that your birthday is special, you're special and your birthday deserves to be celebrated and I stupidly thought that since you haven't had a birthday party since you turned 10, that as an adult you might enjoy it and i'd hoped that the masquerade masks would stop you from being the centre of attention which I know makes you feel embarrassed and uncomfortable and they did work to a certain extent, I knew something was fucking bothering you since your birthday and I thought it was about me trying to have sex with you after your birthday party, man, did I get that fucking wrong, and when I decided to go ahead with your birthday party I thought if I got it wrong then i'd feel like shit and I was right, because that's exactly how I feel right now and Leila swallows the lump in her throat and tells him, I hate seeing you hurt and upset Bruno, this is why i've been putting off talking to you about this.

He walks over to the window and runs his fingers through his hair and tells Leila, you fooled me baby, I really thought you'd had a good time at your birthday party, I hate knowing that i've hurt you and disappointed you, all I wanted to do was to make you feel special and Leila gets up from her chair and walks over to him and asks him, how could you think after all the sex we've had since my birthday that you trying to have sex with me after my birthday party was a problem, we didn't have sex after the party because I had a headache and we dealt with that, it was squashed and Bruno shrugs and tells her, I know but I just couldn't think what else could be bothering you and she tells him, you don't need my birthday to make me feel special Bruno, you make me feel special everyday in so many ways and Bruno finds that hard to believe right now and he asks her, how and Leila strokes his jaw and tells him, knowing i'm the only woman that you've ever been in love with, proposed to and married makes me feel special, knowing and hearing you tell me that you love me makes me feel special, the way you look at me, touch me and kiss me makes me feel special, I feel special when I make you smile and laugh and knowing that you know you can confide in me, the way you stand up for me and the way you care for me makes me feel special and hearing the truth in Leila's voice makes Bruno feel relieved and Leila starts to cry and he wipes her tears away and tells her, please don't cry, you do all that for me too, you make me feel special too, I feel like I can accomplish anything and get through anything with you by my side baby and Leila tells him, me too and he asks her, why did you pretend to enjoy your birthday party Leila and she sighs and tells him, because I realised too late that you were throwing a party for me and I felt I had no choice but to go along with it and Bruno feels confused and he tells her, I don't understand.

She can tell that Bruno is confused by her answer and she tells him, I first suspected that you might be throwing a birthday party for me when I came home Friday and you had Lonnie get me to wear a blindfold and drive me through the gates and drive way and you helped me out the car and lead me into the house and straight to our bedroom, but it wasn't until you turned down having sex with me and gave me a masquerade mask that I knew for sure that you were throwing me a birthday party and since you didn't want me to see the house when I came home, I guessed it was happening here and despite how I felt about it, I didn't want to embarrass you and I decided for just this 1 birthday party, for you, i'd act like I was loving the party and having a good time, but acting like that all night in front of you and our friends, not being true to myself or you, smiling through feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable all night killed me, it was so fucking draining and I know there are women who say they don't want a fuss made or anything special on their birthdays but they secretly do, but i'm not like that, I don't play games Bruno and if i'd found out about the party before Friday or on Friday morning or even in the afternoon, then I would have told you to cancel it, I wouldn't have gone to it and Leila feels like she's had a great weight lifted off her from finally telling Bruno the truth about how she feels about her birthday party and he tells her, i'm truly sorry, 1 of the many things I love about you Leila is that you don't play games and to know how badly I fucked up by throwing you a birthday party and how it made you feel kills me and he asks her, can you forgive me baby and he tells her, tell me what I can do to make it up to you, i'll do anything you want and Leila can tell Bruno's serious and that he feels bad and she tells him, I know you had good intentions and I forgive you and if you truly want to make it up to me then promise me that you'll never throw me another birthday party and she can see the relief on Bruno's face and he tells her, I promise that i'll never throw you another birthday party and Leila feels relieved and she tells him, good, it's for the best, just like she knows it's for the best that she doesn't tell Bruno that what he'd done by throwing her a birthday party when he'd known how she felt about it had been like what his sister Jaime had done to her with the video of her singing, except Leila knows Bruno loves her and respects her and had meant well and she hopes doing what they want no matter who it hurts isn't a family trait and Leila really hopes this time with Bruno was a fluke.

He can tell that something is still bothering Leila and he clasps her hands in his and strokes the back of her hands with his thumbs and tells her, tell me what's still troubling you baby and Leila bites her lip and tells him, love, honesty, trust, respect, being faithful, chemistry, communication and give and take is what I think a relationship needs to work and he smiles and tells her, I agree with you, we have all that and Leila tells him, yes, and being respectful of each others feelings is important too and Bruno winces and tells her, I know i've failed you on that 1 but I promise you that I won't fail you again, I won't do anything I know you don't want or don't like again Leila and she tells him, thanks, I needed to hear that Bruno and I really need you to not do that to me again, it hurts too much and he squeezes her hands gently and tells her, I won't and he asks her, tell me what I can do for your birthdays in future since parties are out and Leila laughs a little and tells him, you don't have to do anything for my birthdays Bruno and he kisses her and tells her, but I want to and she sighs and tells him, waking me up with sex then giving me breakfast in bed and having sex in the shower like you did on Friday morning would be good and Bruno laughs even though he knows that Leila is serious and he tells her, I can definitely do that, we can do that every morning and he asks her, what else and she tells him, then we can take a nap and you can wake me up with sex again and serve me lunch in bed and you can do the same for dinner and he laughs and Leila tells him, please keep it low key Bruno and remember it's just another day to me, be thankful that i'm low maintenance buddy and he smiles and tells her, i'll remember and i'll keep it low key, i'm thankful for you Leila, you amaze me and she asks him, how do I amaze you and he tells her, because I hurt you and let you down but you went along with the party for me and you've been putting off telling me that i've hurt you because you knew when you did it would hurt my feelings and upset me, you put my feelings before your own, you humble me and i'm sorry that I did what I knew you wouldn't like, I won't make that mistake again, i'll keep my promises to you and he kisses her and tells her, I love you baby and Leila smiles and strokes his neck and tells him, I know you're sorry, I love you too sugar bear and she kisses him and he asks her, are we ok now and she tells him, yeah, we're good now and Bruno feels the tension he's felt since he heard Leila talking to her mom on the phone go away and he wraps his arms around Leila and she puts her arms around his waist and rests her head against his chest and he rests his head against hers and tells her, you've no idea how glad I am to hear you say that Leila and Bruno closes his eyes feeling relieved that they're ok now, but he still feels like shit for making Leila feel so bad.