Chapter 25:  About Cats And Bags

The Shrouder Residence, The Histmare Gardens, Temperance, South Dakota....

Derrick Shrouder's place had always been one of the more fancy hangouts for their little group. His parents were quite wealthy and always seemed to have some stash of food or drinks no matter the time of year. Layla found it comforting to be at Derricks, especially with her father being home. He greeted her almost immediately the moment she knocked on the front door. Amy had arrived right after and climbed the stairs to enter their best friend's apartment as well. Casey had been on the way, so she claimed and it was looking to be a pretty decent day after all. The trio had been pleased to have Casey back among them even when it was on a day they all were hold up at Derrick's place for a project.

"So what did I miss?" asked Casey wondering how her friends had got on without her the past few days, due to cheer practice and other outside activities that her mother made her endure.

"Well..." began Amy trying her hand at teasing Casey and Layla at the same time.

"Don't you dare." said Layla narrowing her eyes at Amy.

"Oh girlfriend it's already done." added Derrick with a smirk. "Layla kissed a big bad biker man and she liked it."

Casey seemed to have been thrown through a loop.

"What?" she asked looking at Layla in the same obnoxious manner as the their other two friends had. "When did this happen?"

"It wasn't like that..." Layla tried to explain through embarrassment at how they made it sound.

"Since when are you into biker men?" asked Casey with an arched brow and a hand on her hip. "Last I checked you were totally into Kerry."

Layla once more narrowed her eyes at Derrick whom had been pretending to be interested in the soda can he had casually popped open.

"It wasn't like that." said Layla once more.

"Well, you kissed him." added Amy with a smirk. "I wouldn't say it wasn't what it was."

Casey gasped when she heard this.

"NO FREAKING WAY!?" she said nearly giggling at her friend's expense. "Was it hot?"

"I don't want to talk about..." began Layla.

"Oh it was most definitely hot." replied Derrick breaking his silence with a giddy smile. "She couldn't stop thinking about him and Phoebe told me they were hot and heavy before the kiss."

Layla's cheeks turned bright red as she narrowed her eyes at Derrick and made a mental note to strangle Phoebe when she returned to work following her scheduled off day.

"Come on Layla, spill it." said Amy once again pushing for more details. "What was it like kissing a real live biker man and don't skimp on the details girly, we already know you enjoyed it."

"You guys are the absolute worst." replied Layla unsure herself of what she even thought about the kiss, her first kiss at that.

"And that is why you love us." said Derrick with a grin.

Layla sighed trying her best to come to terms with what happened.

"It wasn't like we knew each other." she explained. "Not really, it just happened after he stopped some homeless junkie from trying to slit my throat is all."

"Wait what?" asked Casey making a face that was a clear indication that she had not heard this part of the story.

"I went to get some fresh air, being around him...it...made me know things about him that I shouldn't have been able to know and I freaked out and went outside the back to breathe and make sense of what was going on." continued Layla. "Then the junkie came and held me at knife point, Brick....he came out of no where and folded the bastard in two with little to no effort but he was furious about the weirdo attacking me and I was so grateful and he was so upset that we just couldn't help it."

"So that's when you kissed." said Casey looking at Derrick and Amy with low eyes due to them leaving this part of the story out.

"It happened so fast...we didn't know what we were doing." replied Layla honestly.

"But was he a good kisser though?" asked Amy still not budging on the aspect of Layla admitting she enjoyed it despite the circumstances.

"Yes alright, he was a really good kisser but that wasn't the point." replied Layla.

"Told ya." said Derrick with a grin as he passed sodas to all the girls.

They started giggling at Layla's expense and she rolled her eyes and threw an ice cube from the container on the countertop at each of them.

"He was handsome form what I heard." said Derrick with a dreamy eyed expression filed across his face.

"So what if he was?" asked Layla sipping her soda. "He's long gone now."

"Really?" asked Amy with an arched brow.

"They left town a few days ago." replied Layla. "Some business with Sheriff Tillman."

Amy seemed to be watching her closely for a few moments.

"You miss him don't you?" she asked with a grin. "You're big bad biker left and didn't even say good bye."

Layla rolled her eyes.

"It's not like he isn't coming back." she replied. "I already told you he has business with Sheriff Tillman."

"Keeping tabs on her man already." teased Amy with a smirk. "This is turning out to be quite the year for our girl here."

"Shut up." replied Layla as she rolled her eyes and sipped her soda.

"Well I for one am proud of her." said Derrick with a grin. "A few of those years had been sort of touch and go when it came to romance, I thought she'd be forever in love with Kerry."

Casey shook her head.

"Kerry already has a girlfriend." she said annoyed.

"And now Layla has a boyfriend." replied Amy giggling like the stereotypical school girl that she sounded like. "Sounds like you missed the boat on her becoming your future sister in law."

"Yeah, now Layla has a big bad biker boyfriend." added Derrick giggling along with Amy. "With big hulking muscles and gorgeous six pack abs."

"Both of you are assholes." replied Layla before getting up and making her way toward the bathroom.

She apparently had too much soda and secretly wanted to no be in the room when her friends had decided to gossip about what they perceived to be her love life and the lack there of before this kissing incident.

"I heard her man is like six feet all with all kind of gorgeous tattoos along his arms." said Amy.

"You think he's got any good looking friends?" asked Derrick suddenly. "I mean I do love the idea of a big strong man hosting me in his massive tattooed arms."

Casey and Amy both casually tossed empty cans in his direction.

"We're not talking about you and your causal hookups." said Amy rolling her eyes.

Layla shook her head and headed into the bathroom leaving her friends to gossip without her for a while. Due to the nature of the previous conversation, she had not been able to get Brick Kenneally off her mind even at this time.