Layla Williams tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She was nervous about seeing him again. They'd been best friends until he decided to move to California. That was when she was only seventeen.
Three years, a graduation and her mother's death later, Layla was following in his footsteps. She was in California going to college. She was living with her father for the time being. She had no money, no job and it was the only place she wouldn't have to pay rent.
Layla pulled over to the side of the road. She stopped the blue pickup truck and walked up the driveway to the beach house. She pulled an old envelope out of her vest. She checked the return address against the house number: 1334 Beachwood. The corners of her mouth raised slightly. She wondered if Mike would be surprised to see her.
Micky Dolenz hummed to himself as her drummed out the beat of "Mary, Mary". For once the pad was empty. Peter was out walking on the beach, Davy was out with his flavour of the week and Mike was out negotiating a gig at the Club Cassandra. So Micky was left to fend for himself. He was just about to start singing "Daily Nightly" when there was a soft knock at the door. He ran to get it. Standing the door was a beautiful girl.
She was tall, a good 5'9. Her long red-blonde hair spilled over her shoulders. She pulled her sunglasses off her face, revealing piercing blue-gray eyes. Her pouty red lips formed a smile. She looked questioningly at Micky, "Does Michael Nesmith live her?" Micky nodded, "Yeah he does, but he's not here right now." The girl pushed a locked of hair over her ear, "Oh, when will he be back?" He shrugged "I dunno. He should be back soon. You can come in if you want." The girl stepped into the pad, her long flowered shirt dancing around her ankles as she walked.
She stuck her hand out towards Micky, "Hi, 'm Layleta Williams. Mike and I were friends when we lived in Texas."
Micky smiled at Layleta, he had thought he had recognized her. Though Mike was very quite about his life before he moved to California, there was a picture of the girl who stood in front of Micky on Mike's wall. Micky shook Layleta's hand, "I'm Micky Dolenz, Mike's roommate. It's nice to meet you Layleta."
"You can called me Layla. It's nice to meet you too. Mike told me all about you, Peter and Davy."
Micky gestured for Layla to sit down, she removed the guitar case that was slung to her back and sat on the boy's therapist couch. Micky smiled at her, he was really wondering why Mike hadn't mentioned her before, Layla was a stone fox!
Layla placed her hands in her lap awkwardly. She hadn't talked to Mike in six months. Six months and two days to be exact. She remembered the exact date of the postmark of the last letter she got from Mike. It was her who had stopped writing.
Layla loved writing to Mike, its just that she didn't want him to know what was going on with her. Mike was having some much fun with the other three Monkees and they were starting to get more gigs. Layla would have been embarrassed telling him what she had been doing. After Layla's mother died She had dropped out of college. She joined an all girl band in Houston that smoked, drank and did mega drugs. She was glad that she never blacked out, or did anything that she would really regret.
The door to the pad swung open and Davy Jones entered, slapped and rejected. He looked moody and upset. He trudged into the the living room, and did a double take when he feast his girl-crazy eyes on Layla "Well 'ello, Luv." he greeted the tall redhead as smoothly as he could. Micky rolled his eyes < Let's just hope Mike and Layla never had a thing. Davy'll be pretty upset if they did." >
Layla shook Davy's hand, "Hi..... You must be Davy Jones. You're exactly like Mike described you. 'm Layla Williams, one of Mike's old friends." Davy flashed her one of his winning "Fall desperately in love with me" smiles. She smiled back at the short Englishman. He was cute. But Layla's heart belonged to one person: Robert Michael Nesmith.
Layla had been in love with him since she was twelve years old. Mike was fifteen and they both had Chem Class together. Layla had skipped three grades in school, and didn't have a lot of friends. She and Mike had become good friends after they discovered that they were both musicians. Layla found a true friend in Michael, and she eventually fell in love with him.
Layla had her first kiss with Mike. It was Mike's seventeenth birthday. A couple of his friends threw him a big birthday party. They decided to play "three minutes in heaven" and Layla had been picked to go in the closet with Mike, much to her delight. Once the door to the closet was closed they stood in the dark awkwardly. Mike leaned towards her and gently kissed her on the lips. It had been the most exhilarating experience in her life. The soft, near chaste kiss became more serious. Mike wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. Layla remembered everything about that moment; Mike's scent, the feel of her small body against his 6'1 form. She kissed him harder then, their tongues met. She felt like it really was three minutes in heaven.
After their time was up, Mike and Layla had been nervous around each other for about a week. That was until they were sitting together in Layla's room working on a new song. Mike had leaned toward Layla to help her on a chord, when their lips met. Immediately they shed their guitar, the music forgotten. flurries of kisses landed on their lips, cheeks and necks. It was as close to erotic as Layla had ever gotten. It was incredible, and Layla still remember everything, as if etch in her mind like a movie on film.
They didn't persue a relationship. Mike was very honourable, and didn't wish to take advantage of a girl three years his junior. Though in her mind she was much older, Layla was only fourteen. And neither of them wanted to ruin their great friendship. She also thought that Mike might have not been interested in her in that way. But for the next two and a half years they never came close to kissing again.
Layla's train of thought was broken when the door to the pad opened and Peter Tork entered. He smiled at Micky and Davy. Davy introduced Peter and Layla "Peter, this is Layla Williams, Mike's friend. Layla, this is Peter Tork."
Peter shook hands with Layla and sat down next to Micky. He couldn't help but asking "So, were you and Mike sweeties back in Texas?" Layla thought for a moment, then sadly shook her head "Nah..... Just friends." Peter and Micky exchanged funny looks. It was blatantly obvious by Layla's melancholy reply that Layla was hung up on Mike.
Michael Nesmith pulled into the driveway of the pad. He stopped the engine of the Monkee-mobile and climbed out. He noticed the blue truck parked next to the beach house. It must have belonged to Davy's current girlfriend; though Mike noted that Davy usually didn't go for the old pick-up truck kind of girl. That was more Mike's style.
He ran into the pad, he excitedly spoke to the others, "We've got a gig tomorrow night at......" He trailed off when he laid his chocolate brown eyes on Layla. His jaw dropped, no way it was really her. Layla took in a sharp breath, "Nesmith...... It's been ages." She ran to him and he engulfed her in a huge bear hug. She felt awesome against him. He had forgotten how much he missed the young musician.
Of all of the things Mike regretted in his life, Layla was probably the greatest. He had been majorly hung up on her. Sure, they had almost had a thing, but nothing ever came of it. When Mike decided to go to California he almost worked up the gun to tell her that he loved her. But he chickened out at the last minute. They'd written to each other a lot for the first two and a half years. But She'd stopped answering his letters. He guessed that she had better things to do then write to an old friend who she hadn't seen in two years. When he and the guys visited Mike's aunt Kate he'd tried to see her, but she had been in Houston at the time. Mike didn't find out until he'd gotten back that her mother had died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Mike and Layla pulled apart, he stared at her for a few moments until asking "Why are you here?"
She smiled at him with a smile that made his knees turn to jelly "'m goin' to school here. I thought I'd stop by and see how you were." Mike ran a hand through his long, dark brown hair "'m fine..... Have you met the guys?"
She nodded, "Yeah, they introduced themselves. Wow Nez, it's been forever." He sighed "It has been. Where are you staying?" Layla fidgeted with one of her bead necklaces, "My dad. He lives near here. 'm stayin' with him until I can afford my own place." Micky, Peter and Davy all exchanged uncomfortable glances. Peter finally broke the awkward silence that was now plaguing the room, "Hey Micky, Davy, can I show you guys something interesting on the beach." The drummer and singer quickly replied "Sure. Groovy." before high-tailing it out of the pad, leaving the two old friends behind.