Limelight (2 page)

Two Years Later

S
eth and Layla emerged from their high school graduation ceremony into a rare, sunny gorgeous day.  Others lingered around inside the gym, emotionally and nostalgically reminiscing with friends and family.  Many were hesitant to leave and officially embark into their futures.  Many were sad that high school was officially behind them.

But that certainly wasn't the case for Seth and Layla.

For one thing, neither of them had a single family member come to support them in this milestone achievement.  Layla's mother had barely spoken to her in two years, outside of her frequent demands for money.  She doubted her druggy mom even realized it was her graduation day.

And Seth's father remained critical of his son.  Even though it was almost unheard of for an eighteen year old to be making good money playing music, Mr. St. John scorned and rebuked his son's profession.  It was clear music would be Seth's path and the military was decidedly not in his future.  And for that, Mr. St. John hated his son.

Popular and well loved by their classmates, many told Seth and Layla they felt sorry or sad for them and their unsupportive family lives.  But the couple no longer allowed themselves to be brought down by it.  Graduation day represented nothing but freedom and a bright future to Seth and Layla.  Eighteen had finally arrived and in one week, they would implement the plans they'd been making for years.  But for the moment, all that was set aside because they had a show to prepare for.

A group of parents had rented a banquet hall at a ritzy hotel in downtown Portland for the graduation party of the century, and Victim Unknown had been hired to play.  Seth and Layla raced to the truck to hurry downtown and meet up with the rest of the band who were already there setting up.  Seth drove fast, drumming on the steering wheel and singing his heart out along with the radio.  Layla pulled the outfit she intended to wear to the gig out of her back pack and then began stripping out of her graduation gear.  She plucked the mortar board off her head and tossed it out the window of the moving truck.  Seth gave her a shocked sideways glance and laughed uproariously.

"Litter bug!" he exclaimed.

She grinned mischievously.  "Oh yeah? Watch this!"  She shimmied the white graduation gown she wore up over her head and tossed it out the window too.  They both laughed watching it flutter away from the rear view mirror.  Cars honked behind them.

"Alright miss, quit throwing your clothes out the window," Seth chided, still laughing.

She was more discreet changing from the plain white sundress she wore into her gig clothes.  She peeked at Seth out of the corner of her eye to find him peeking at her as well.  Though they'd been together forever, spent endless alone time together, and even spent nights together in the various crash pads of their bandmates, she had yet to let him see her naked, and she wasn't about to start while rolling down a crowded freeway.  She pulled the old, put the shirt on over the head without placing arms through holes, then remove the other shirt down over the waist, and then finish putting on new shirt routine.  And a similar method to don her short black leather skirt.  Seth smiled at her modesty, even though she came out looking like a hardcore rocker in the end.  His smile triggered her blush. 

After changing, she took a couple minutes to let down her hair and apply some makeup in the passenger side mirror.  She wore smoky eye makeup and heavy liquid eyeliner.  She left her cheeks pale, but accented her lips with bright red lipstick.  The end result aged her ten years and the look in Seth's eyes went from sweet to sultry.

Time passed in a whirlwind once they arrived at the venue.  Before she knew what hit her, people poured in, the room's lighting went down, and the limelight came up.  Victim Unknown had played much bigger venues than this, and for much more musically exciting occasions, such as opening for major bands.  However, she'd never felt quite this excited.  Graduation day was the doorway to achievement.  Layla fully intended to rise straight to the top.  The sense of everything changing; and for the better, was what made this particular show the most important, exciting, and special she'd ever played.  She looked over at Seth, washed in the purple light.  He gave her a nod and a grin.  Her heart skipped and the band ripped into their opening song.

Six feet below them, a crush of people filled the place and responded instantly to Victim Unknown, as crowds always did.  The music of the song she'd played a thousand times over simply poured out of her.  She didn't even have to think about it anymore.  She didn't have to look down at her fingers as they wildly picked the strings.  She didn't have to close her eyes, as she once had, to desperately recall lyrics.  They were ingrained into her being at that point.  She didn't feel nervous.  She smiled broadly and belted out high harmony to Seth's husky melody and scanned the crowd. 

It excited her to pick out the people among the throng of moving bodies, who stopped and stared open mouthed up at her and the band.  Those faces…  Those were the ones that made her sing a little louder.  Made her move her body.  Made her bang her head.  Those were the ones that made her tick.  The look she saw in their eyes told her beyond a shadow of a doubt, she and Seth were special.  They were meant for something bigger than the usual.  They were put on the Earth to be somebody.

Layla let go of all inhibition, and together, they played the best show of their life yet.

***

Layla cradled into Seth's right arm as he drove, resting her head on his shoulder.  The energy that blasted her through their amazing performance had all but drained.  It was one a.m.  She was sticky with sweat, groggy, and could barely keep her eyes opened.  Seth placed a quick kiss on her head and then returned his attention to the highway.

Soon they pulled up in front of her house.  "I'm gonna stay with you tonight, Layla," Seth said quietly as Layla yawned and sleepily pulled away from him.

"Seth…  You know my mom…"

He frowned.  "Yeah, so?  What's she gonna do, Layla?  She probably won't care and in a week, we're leaving anyway.  I'm staying."

She stared at him for a long moment then finally relented.  "OK, baby," she agreed.

They grabbed their guitars and headed to the door, Seth holding her close with one arm as they walked.  When they came upon the front door, she was surprised to hear the TV on the other side.  Her mother wasn't normally up so late.

And when they walked inside, the sight of Phil Cox sitting on the couch holding her mother much the same way Seth had just cradled Layla in the truck caused hot bile to raise in her throat.

Seth stopped in his tracks and stepped in front of Layla.

"What in the hell are YOU doing here?" Seth barked.

After the frightening night her step father had left their home, Layla had waited several weeks before revealing the situation to Seth.  But once she was confident he really would stay gone, she told Seth everything.  About the inappropriate attention, about the bad feeling he'd given her, and the horrible disaster she'd narrowly avoided.  Seth had been livid.  If Phil had still been around at the time, she shuddered to think what Seth might have done to him. 

And now, there the bastard sat.

Bess's head lulled and her eyes darted around.  She mumbled incoherently, but she was clearly out of it on some sort of controlled substance.  Phil didn't appear in much better shape, but he was still in control of his faculties enough to be an ass.  He gave Seth an ugly grin.  "The fuck is it to you, boy?"

"Seth," Layla said softly.

Seth reached behind himself to place a hand on Layla's thigh, as though to hold her back.  He didn't answer her but stood in a stare down with Phil.  She could feel the tension and anger rolling off him, and Phil continued with his antagonistic grin.  A pounding headache attacked her from nowhere in the time she stood there simultaneously sick with the shock of seeing Phil again after so much time had passed, and the anxiety of wondering what would happen.

Finally Seth hissed a sigh and turned enough to be able to look at her without letting Phil out of his sight either.  "Baby," Seth said, obviously working to control his rage.  "Go pack whatever you can.  Get whatever you want to take for good.  I'm getting you out of here tonight.  We're not coming back.  I'll stay right here to keep my eye on this evil fuck."

Layla began to tremble.  She glanced at her mother who looked like she was trying to focus on Layla.  Bess moaned, but still couldn't manage to communicate.  Layla knew there wasn't anything between her and her mother to miss, but she felt overwhelmed with grief in that moment.  She just hadn't thought she'd be leaving that night.  And, despite her mother's treatment which was and always had been shabby
at best,
the fact that she'd spent and evening with Phil instead of attending her graduation crushed her beyond measure.  She barely made it to her bedroom before breaking down.  She packed her bags through bitter tears, and deep, heaving sobs.

Nonetheless, sooner than she'd thought, she climbed back into Seth's truck.  The engine roared to life, and Layla Dane pulled away from her childhood home for the last time.

***

"Hey."

Layla yawned and became vaguely aware of a whispering voice.  But she still didn't open her eyes.

"Hey," said the voice again.

She smiled but still couldn't seem to open her eyes.  The bearer of the voice kissed each of her eyelids.  "Hey, you," Seth said.  "Wake up.  I have a question for you.  She finally dragged open her eyes to find him perched on the bed next to her with an open ring box in his hand, where a small diamond ring caught the sunlight and twinkled.

Layla sprang up in the bed onto her knees, instantly awake.  She gasped and tears sprang to her eyes.  With her mouth gaping, she stared at Seth, the breath frozen in her lungs.  He gave her a sexy grin.

"I thought maybe we'd get married.  Today."

She let out a scream and launched into his arms.  Together, they tumbled backwards, falling into the soft folds of the bed clothes.  They'd shown up unexpected the night before at the home of Victim Unknown's drummer, Jake, and had been graciously allowed to crash in his spare bedroom.  Their initial plan had been to begin staying at Jake's within the week anyway, so their friend had been happy to help them out. After the shock of her life the previous night, she'd thought she could never be surprised again.  But this, she certainly had not seen coming.

Jake meandered into the doorway of the room.  "She say yes, man?" he asked.

Layla erupted into laughter even as Seth kissed her.  When they finally separated, she looked at Jake.  "You knew?" she exclaimed.

Jake smirked.  "Yeah, we all knew.  He's driven us nuts about this for months."

Layla giggled again, even as happy tears bubbled up inside her.

***

Seth and Layla showered and dressed then headed straight for the Multnomah County Office of Assessment, Recording and Taxation.  It was a big red building surrounded by busy streets and huge parking lots.  Seeing it gave Layla a shiver up the spine of nervous excitement.  Hand in hand, the couple blustered into the building, full of laughter and life.

The clerk who collected the necessary paperwork from them couldn't help but smile at their joy.  Layla was glad they employed a friendly clerk.  Seth paid for the license and they signed on the dotted lines.  Then he paid an extra fee and they filled out more paperwork to apply for a waiver of the three day waiting period.  The lady instructed them to take a seat in the waiting area while she submitted their request.

It took about an hour for the waiver to pass through the chain of command and come back approved.  In that hour, they shamelessly made out.  They laughed.  They tossed around the names "Song" and "Strum" as names for their future set of girl and boy twins.  They went over their plans for the rest of the day and Seth made crude but hilarious remarks about looking forward to finally getting some that night. 

Finally, the laughing clerk returned their license and sent them on their way, free to marry at will.

They burst back out into the sunlight beside themselves with excitement.  They considered heading for the court house and finding a justice of the peace, they were so eager to become Mr. and Mrs. St. John.  Or at least on paper.  They both agreed for stage purposes, she'd retain her own name.  But, much to Layla's delight, Seth informed her that he had made some plans for a wedding if she was interested.