Layla

by Colleen Hoover

Who is the most important person in your life?”

“I guess you,”

Drugs make things hard to explain.

“It’s called aspirin.”

“It’s not drugs making you feel like this, Leeds.”

no matter how beautiful she was, her insecurity was the loudest thing about her.

“You’re being selfish by keeping your songs to yourself. It’s better to be a selfless somebody than to be a selfish nobody.”

I miss just being myself around her. Lately, I feel like I’ve been inching away from the person I was so that I can become the person she now needs.

I can’t be the Band-Aid for her wounds. I need to be what helps them heal.

The D key is pressed for no. “Are you a ghost?” I don’t know. “Are you dead?” I don’t know. “Do you know me?” No.

W . . . i . . . l . . . l . . . o . . . w . . .

“She joined us for dinner.”

“I’m not the one who stopped you from leaving last time, Layla.”

It’s Willow.

“I think you need to tie her up again.”

“Is Willow making you do this?” the man asks as I take a seat.

“Why won’t either of you let Layla leave?”

“All right. How often do you and Willow use Layla’s body without her knowledge?”

Allowing Willow to use Layla’s body is a terrible form of deception.

What am I doing? And why do I not want to stop?

“The most expensive coffee in the world is made in Indonesia. It’s expensive because the beans are eaten and digested by a cat before they’re used to make the coffee.”

don’t want to go back.” “Back where?” I said. “To nothing. I like being inside of Layla. I like spending time with you. It gets harder every time I have to leave her body.”

“We always think that when we’re in it. But then someone new comes along, and we forget how good we thought it was before, and the cycle starts all over again.”

Falling in love with her was weightless, like air was breezing through my bones. Falling out of love is fucking heavy, like my lungs are carved from iron.

Because I’m the reason she is the way she is. I’m the reason she’s so unhappy now. Because I failed to protect her.”

What if Willow really doesn’t remember being Sable? What if who she is in this realm is different from who she was in her past realm?

“Leeds tried to explain to her why she couldn’t leave, but it still didn’t calm her down. So . . . we thought the best way to get her to understand would be to show her.”

“It’s the only body I could find when I got into town.”

there’s a strong possibility that the wrong soul entered that body.”

Perhaps what we desire can sometimes be so strong it overpowers our fate.”

It would mean Layla is dead.

“A human dies every second, and they don’t always die the right way.

“Because . . . you’re Sable.”

They’re merely a spirit trapped in the wrong body.

Hold me under until I’m no longer struggling for air. Check my pulse. When it stops, call 911 immediately. Wake up Aspen. Start resuscitation. You only have five minutes to save my life.

“You look like you’re dying inside.”