The next morning I surprisingly didn't have a bad hangover. My mother and I had breakfast together before I took her to the airport for her flight home. The visit went so much better than I expected it to go and I was so happy that we had begun to mend our relationship. Despite all of this, I still had not heard from JC. I began to doubt just how much I meant to him if he could ignore me for a whole day, even after the voicemail I left.

I sat in my car in the airport parking garage in deep thought. Sure, I had told JC about my ex, just left out the marriage part. It couldn't be that bad, right? Did he not want to be with me because I had a failed marriage? No point in seeing this girl long term since she's obviously not marriage material, right? 

No. No. We are not doing the negative self talk today, Layla. Grow some balls and face this. So, I decided I had two choices: I could quit contacting JC until he was ready to talk to me OR I could make him talk to me.

I chose the latter.

I drove away from the airport and towards JC's home. It was now or never.

--

I punched in the gate code and drove up JC's driveway totally ignoring the fact that there was another car in the driveway that was not JC's. I went to the door and rang the doorbell. It felt like an eternity went by before the door was answered.

I was ready to lay it all out as soon as I saw him.

But he didn't answer the door.

Karly did.

I couldn't help the scowl that formed on my face as she looked at me smugly.

"Where's JC?" I asked pushing past her to walk inside the door.

She rolled her eyes as she shut the door after me. "What are you even doing here?"

Bitch, what are YOU doing here? This is MY boyfriend's house!

"I'm obviously here to see JC. Where is he?" I looked around the foyer and peaked into the living room, but didn't see JC. I wasn't in the mood for her bitchy attitude and I was trying my best to remain civil.

"Shouldn't you know where he is? Since he's your boyfriend and all? Oh wait, no he isn't anymore! You made this so easy for me, Layla."

Civil went out the window. I stepped up to her and looked her in the eyes. Who did she think she was? She was not going to intimidate me in my boyfriend's home. I came here to patch things up with JC not argue with this skank.

"You listen here... I don't know what JC has told you, but you can stay the fuck out of our relationship. You are simply an artist that he writes music for. Nothing more."

I stormed past her and made my way towards the studio, but Karly was following right behind me. I swear if JC is not in this studio, I am going to lose it.

I flung the door open and came to a halt as I collided with JC's chest. JC looked at me confused, "Layla? What are you doing here? When did you get here? I didn't hear you come in."

Karly spoke up before I could answer. "Oh, I went to get a drink and I heard the door so I answered it for you."

JC nodded and placed his hands in his pockets. I rolled my eyes. "I came to talk to you. ALONE."

"BUT we still have some verses to finish up. Right JC? We have a deadline to meet." Karly smiled at him and I swear it took all my willpower to not smack her into next week. I know JC and I have some problems right now but if he chooses to finish whatever they're working on over talking to me, I am really done.

"Um, yeah we do...BUT Karly, we can finish that another time though. I really need to talk with my girlfriend. Alone."

HA! Take that! He chooses me!

I couldn't help the smile that was forming on my face. Fuck your deadlines, fuck your song and fuck your nasally voice, Karly.

"Whatever. I'll call you tomorrow, JC." Karly grabbed her belongings from the studio and stormed out leaving JC and I standing there in an awkward silence.

Finally, he took a seat on the couch across the room and I followed suit taking a seat beside him. I gulped and my mouth felt extremely dry.

"JC. I'm sorry. I should've told you I was married before. I just didn't know how to really bring it up. Plus, its still a pretty sore spot for me sometimes. I just don't like to discuss it." I was wringing my hands repeatedly in an attempt to calm my nerves.

"Layla, I don't care that you've been married before. I do wish you would've mentioned it by now. I mean, we've been seeing each other for 3 months now. This isn't just some fling to me."

He doesn't care? Then why has he ignored me for the past day and a half?

"It isn't just a fling to me either. I know I messed up. I'm trying to fix it. Why didn't you answer my calls?"

"I just needed some space. Do you know how embarrassing it is to find out something like that from my girlfriend's mom the first time we are having dinner together? I was completely embarrassed. "

"Wow, I didn't think about it like that. I just thought you were mad at me." I confessed as I finally turned to look him in the eyes. He was already looking at me.

"I was never mad at you. I was going to call you this evening after the studio session so that we could talk, but I guess you kind of took matters into our own hands, huh?" He smiled at me and I smiled back. A rush of relief went through my body.

"I didn't mean to run Karly off.. Ok, I did mean to."

JC just shook his head and chuckled softly. "Its fine. You know that I would much rather be with you." He brought his hands to my face as he looked at me intently.

"Promise me, Layla. No more secrets, okay?"

I looked into those deep blue eyes and licked my lips in anticipation of a mind-blowing kiss that was about to happen.

"No more secrets."