Setting Layla Up

Layla ordered a bottle of water. As much as she would have loved to order tequila or something as strong, she didn’t know who she was meeting tonight. She didn’t know if she was going to need to fight her way out of an attempt to sleep with her or if she was going to be meeting someone respectable. 

“If he is meeting me privately and will only text me the room location when he arrives then that means he has been blackmailed in situations like this because he was trying to help a lady, he is trying to prevent a scandal or something, or maybe he doesn’t want anyone else to know where I last went so he can kidnap me?” he thoughts churned.

Layla was still thinking when someone came up to her.

“I knew I smelt something foul,” the person said, it was a lady’s voice, and it was laced with hatred and disgust.

Layla turned around, wondering what enemy of hers was at the club tonight. “Um… who are you?” she asked, a bit confused.

“Are you seriously going to pretend you don’t know me?” the lady replied with a sassy tone. “This girl is crazy,” she turned to her friends behind her.

“Oh… I recognize you,” Layla nodded. “You are Harison’s new toy, right? What was your name again? Evil-in? Eve?”

“Girl, don’t play petty games with me,” Evelina snapped. 

“Evelina,” Layla snapped her fingers like she just remembered the name. “It’s been a while, I almost didn’t recognize you behind all that… makeup you are wearing. Are you hiding from someone under all that color? Or wait… is this the real you? Is that what you really look like?” she taunted.

“Girl, if you say one more word about my girl’s looks again, You getting your consequences ” one of Evelina’s companions threatened, chewing bubble gum. “You are gonna remember the day you were born.”

“I’m sure that gum in your mouth has lost its freshness,” Layla replied with a calm, unperturbed tone and drank from her bottle. “Anyways, what can I do for you?” 

Evelina breathed heavily, trying to keep herself from acting too rashly.

“You are happy now, aren’t you,” Evelina said with a frown.

“Well, I was happy before you came to me,” Layla shrugged.

“You ruined his company, that puts a smile on your face, doesn’t it?” Evelina’s frown worsened.

“What? What are you talking about?” Layla asked, genuinely confused.

“Oh please, don’t play dumb. Harison’s company suddenly crumbles and the next night you are here celebrating?” Evelina fumed.

“Harison’s company collapsed? When? How?” Layla was shocked, but Evelina wasn’t buying it.

“I know you did it Layla. You can’t make me look like I don't know what I am saying.”

“Wait, wait, wait a minute,” Layla shook her head and laughed. “If I am not mistaken, Harison’s company collapsed, and you decided I am responsible because I showed up at a club the next day?”

“Yes,” Evelina nodded boldly.

“And I came to celebrate my victory… alone… with a bottle of water?” Layla squinted, trying to make Evelina see how stupid her analogy is.

“W-Well, Well… y-you are one lonely botch…. You don’t have friends, so you came alone,” Evelina tried to defend her conclusion.

“With a bottle of water?” Layla laughed mockingly.

“Y-Yeah… I-I mean… y-you are a weird woman with… with weird in-inclinations… who knows w-what makes you happy?” Evelina stuttered, starting to see her own stupidity, but she was too proud to admit it.

Layla scoffed and shook her head. “You are so dumb I don’t know what Harison sees in you,” she laughed. “Maybe you are just not it after all.”

“What did you just call me?” Evelina frowned, taking offense.

Layla stood up slowly and looked Evelina in the eyes. “ I can't repeat myself.”

Evelina frowned and raised her hand to slap Layla, but Layla caught her wrist, stopping her. “You want to insult me? Go ahead. You want to call me names? Go ahead…” Layla said, squeezing Evelina’s hand tighter and tighter with every word. “… I will take your insults, but if you ever lay those hands of yours on me… I will make your eyes see,” she said and slammed Evelina’s hand on the counter, forcing her to shout in pain and run into her friends’ arms.

Layla looked around and sighed, everyone was looking at her now. She didn’t know what else to do when a text came in, it was the familiar stranger from before. 

“Perfect timing,” Lilian smiled and left to enter the room to meet him.

“I will make that little woman pay,” Evelina sneered as Layla walked away.

~.~.~

Layla got into the private room. The rooms weren’t rooms per se, they were still part of the clubhouse’s hall, but they were partitioned with thick curtains that kept the noise from the party music out, and kept what was happening in one private room a secret from those in the next. A security guard was stationed outside every door to ensure unwanted guests didn’t interfere.

“Layla, good to see you,” the man said as she came in, “Please sit,” he offered and she sat on the couch opposite him.

“Good evening, sir,” she said and sat down. She tried to hide it, but she still couldn’t recognize who it was.

“You don’t recognize me, do you?” he chuckled. “No surprise there. The first time we met was when you came to Canada with your mother for her surgery. You were only… seventeen then right?”

“Mr. Carlos?” Layla asked in shock as she realized who he was. “Oh my God… I knew I knew the voice was familiar, you look… different.”

“You don’t have to lie my dear,” he chuckled. “I look fat,” he laughed.

“Well, wealth can be a tricky thing,” she chuckled.

“You look so much like your mother,” he smiled. “I am really sorry I stopped calling after she passed,” he apologized “I just didn’t know what to say. And when your family went under… I am really sorry.”

“It is fine sir,” Layla smiled.

“Please, call me Carlos,” he said and dropped an envelope on the table between them. “Your mother was a really good friend to me, she would have done this for my family if we were in your situation, and I am sorry I didn’t sooner. Please accept it.”

“Thank you,” Layla smiled and put it in her purse without checking what it was.

“I will be leaving back for Canada tomorrow evening, but I would like to talk more in a more respectable place. I had a meeting here with a client, that was why I asked you to meet me at such a place,” he apologized. “Maybe lunch tomorrow?”

“Thank you for the offer, but granddad’s surgery is scheduled for tomorrow. I’d have to be there.”

“I understand,” Carlos nodded. “Well, I guess till the next time our paths cross, this is goodbye,” he said and stood up.

“Thank you for your assistance, Carlos,” she smiled and turned to leave.

As she left the private room, a smile on her face, the DJ suddenly stopped the music and she was suddenly surrounded by numerous reporters with cameras flashing.

Evelina stood in the distance watching with a smirk. She had called the reporters, promising them a juicy story. ‘Former Millionaire become intimate To Make Ends Meet’.