Jordan and Layla is a relationship on All American, portrayed by Michael Evans Behling and Greta Onieogou.
Jordan and Layla have known each other for most of their lives, as she has been his twin sister Olivia's best friend since childhood, thus having always been basically part of their family. Over the course of season four, Layla and Jordan grew increasingly closer, developing an undeniable and strong connection which even Simone, Jordan's at the time girlfriend, observed, leading to her breaking it off with Jordan since it was clear that he and Layla had fallen for each other, something which both initially tried to deny, insisting that they were just friends. However, after some much-needed clarity, they both soon realized they had to be honest about how they really felt, admitting that Simone was right and confessing their feelings to each other, which led them to finally start a relationship at the beginning of season five, even though they agreed to initially keep it a secret in order to avoid the Vortex’s opinions. As their relationship grew increasingly stronger, they finally told everyone they were a couple later in the season, soon after Billy's death. In the season finale, Jordan also admitted to Layla that she was his first crush and, in the same episode, he proposed to her, who happily accepted. Still together and engaged, in season six the two focused on planning for their wedding as well as dealing with Layla's resurfaced mental health problems. They eventually got married in "Victory Lap" once Layla was finally in a good place.
Relationship Arc[]
Background[]
Jordan and Layla have known each other for most of their lives since she has been his twin sister Olivia's best friend since childhood, which meant that Layla always spent a lot of time at the Bakers' house, to the point of her being practically considered as part of their family by all of them and her viewing Billy and Laura as surrogate parental figures. Having such a strong connection with the Bakers was very important to Layla, who unfortunately grew up almost alone since her mother tragically died in an car accident when she was a child and her father was always busy with his job as a successful record producer, which prevented him from being very present in his daughter's life. Throughout the series, some anecdots from Jordan, Layla and Olivia's childhood at the Bakers' were brought up, such as forts made with blankets for sleepovers ("Survival of the Fittest") or family movie nights ("Hate Me Now"). Also, it was revealed that Layla was Jordan's first crush ("Now That We've Found Love") whom he hadn't actually given up on until high school, when she became the girlfriend of his best friend Asher ("Draft Day") and Jordan moved on and started having casual flings with some other random girls.
Seasons One-Three[]
At the beginning of the series, it was made clear that Jordan and Layla had known each other for a long time, but due to Layla and Olivia distancing themselves from each other during Olivia's stint in rehab and then mainting a strained relationship for quite some time because of other issues which rose between them (such as Olivia's one-night-stand with Asher before she got clean and the love triangle involving both of them and Spencer), they ended up spending less time together too. However, the two still had some moments during which it was showed that their closeness was still there, such as when Jordan reassured Layla that Spencer and his ex-girlfriend Kia were just friends at Olivia's cottillion and then got her on the dance floor with him ("Protect Ya Neck") or when he checked up on her after her definitive break-up with Spencer even though Olivia was involved due to being worried about her: on this occasion, he told her he thought she was the strongest person he knew, then they hugged and reaffirmed their bond ("Canceled").
Season Four[]
The turning point in their relationship came after Layla's life-threatening experience with Carrie at the end of season three, which left her traumatized. Since Layla wasn't able to recover, Olivia, who had finally patched things up with her, and Jordan offered her to move in their house so that she wouldn't be alone: Layla, after talking to her father, accepted. During this time, both Olivia and Jordan did everything they could to make Layla feel at home and help her overcome her trauma, but the issue turned out to be more serious than expected as Layla started to increasingly close in on herself and push everyone away. However, Jordan was the only one able to see thourgh it and kept being there for her, no matter what. The two spent the first major moment together during their senior prom, when both Layla, who didn't have a date, and Jordan, whose girlfriend Simone was away, had to go alone: before the night, Jordan gave Layla the bouquet he had bought for Simone, then at the prom, when Jordan was about to leave due to feeling lonely, Layla stopped him and told him he couldn't go away unless they had a dance together first, which he happily accepted. While dancing, they shared an undeniable chemistry and even openly flirted with each other, which was the first sign of their growing attraction to each other. After graduation, Simone moved to Atlanta for college and she and Jordan decided to go long distance, which in turn resulted in him and Layla becoming increasingly closer: they started being constantly there for each other and became one another's confidant. Layla encouraged Jordan not to give up when he was struggling with a crisis regarding football and his college team and Jordan kept pushing Layla to face her unresolved trauma while also giving her advice about her father's new girlfriend. One day, while they were locked inside her recording studio, Jordan finally got Layla to admit that she never overcame her trauma and that she had to face it by talking to Carrie. Then, he decided to accompany her when she finally brought herself to do it in order to support her: the two spent an amazing day together, during which Layla cleared things up with Carrie, finally being able to move on, and then they went to an outdoor projection of 17 Again, which was one of the films they used to watch during their family movie nights. At the end of the day, Layla thanked Jordan for never giving up on her and being there for her like no one else during this tough period, much to Jordan's delight. By this point, the two had already developed feelings for each other, but kept denying it because Jordan was still technically committed to Simone, who however immediately noticed the undeniable newfound connection between Jordan and Layla when she came back home during her freshman year fall break, prompting her to face Jordan about them having clearly grown apart and his having fallen for Layla: their argument ended in them breaking up. After taking some time to figure out how he truly felt about Layla, Jordan acknowledged that Simone was right, prompting him to confess his feelings to Layla, who was caught off guard and didn't answer. After some hesitation, she admitted to Jordan that she reciprocated his feelings, which led to them sharing their first kiss. However, she immediately backed off, claiming that his break-up with Simone, who was also one of her best friends, was too recent and that she didn't feel ready to pursue a relationship, to which Jordan flirtatiously replied that he would wait for her.
Season Five[]
For several weeks after their kiss, Jordan wooed Layla to try to win her over and convince her to give into their mutual feelings, but she was still reluctant and Jordan respected her position without crossing any boundary. However, as their bond kept growing stronger, she soon realized she couldn't back off anymore and thus decided to give her and Jordan a chance to explore things between them romantically under the condition that they would take things slow and keep their relationship a secret in order to avoid the Vortex's opinion. Jordan was overjoyed to finally take things to the next level between them and also very comprehensive about Layla’s request, but the two initially struggled to find their footing as he felt that Layla was not into the relationship as much as he was, but she soon reassured him that she was just worried that if they immediately came out as a couple, the others’ judgments could affect their feelings for each other and their growing relationship, which was the one thing she really didn’t want because she was falling for him as much as he fell for her. From then on, their romance started blossoming as they faced their first difficulties as a couple such as beginning to consider themselves a team by involving each other in their own important decisions and finding a balance in this new arrangement of their life-long relationship. However, they were successful in overcoming these first obstacles as they quickly became a solid and loving couple, which was shown in particular when they were both hit by the devastating news of Billy's sudden death: in such a tough moment, Layla stood by Jordan every step of his going through his grief, knowing how to help him handle it due to her having to deal with her mother's death years before. Around this time, more and more people found out they were together despite their attempted discretion: first JJ (who caught them while they were kissing), then Spencer (who figured it out on his own because he noticed that the two were acting weird around each other recently), Billy himself (who also figured it out on his own simply by seeing how happy Jordan recently was around Layla and, as the last thing he told Jordan before he died, gave his approval to Layla and their relationship) and lastly Olivia (who caught them holding hands at Billy's commemoration at South Crenshaw High). The two finally came out as a couple in front of everyone during a family dinner following Billy's death and then told each other "I love you" for the first time not long after. While their relationship kept growing stronger over the following months, Jordan felt sure about Layla being the one for him enough to surprise her by proposing, which she happily accepted, much to his joy.
Season Six[]
Jordan and Layla had been engaged for over a year and their relationship kept going strong. However, Layla started feeling the pressure of preparing for their wedding and took some step backs, which didn't go unnoticed by Jordan, who, although she was claiming that everything was fine, soon realized that something was actually off. He tried to talk to her about this, but she kept asserting that she was ok, despite being clear it wasn't true. Jordan started thinking that she was having doubts about their wedding and even about their relationship, until Layla told him that she was not fine because the medications for the depression she had been suffering from for years were no longer effective. Worried about her, Jordan tried to help Layla by doing research regarding alternative treatments she could follow, but nothing seemed to be helpful and Layla’s mental health kept worsening, until a new therapist suggested her that there might have been a deeper reason behind her problem. Through a particular technique, Layla was finally able to find out what was the real unconscious reason which had triggered the fragile balance of her mental health: the fear that, once married, Jordan would become like her father, who hadn't been able to help her mother while suffering from depression like her, and she would become like her mother, who had become miserable and lost her will to live during that period. After explaining the situation to Jordan, Layla told him that she couldn't marry him with all this emotional buggage triggering her and thus asked him to postpone the wedding, which he was completely supportive of. From then on, Layla started focusing on her recovery and gradually got better, despite not without some step backs along the way, which Jordan helped her go through. Eventually, Layla came to feel good enough that, when she and Jordan were unexpectedly told their dream venue had become available the following month, they decided to jump into it. The two finally got married as planned in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in front of all their friends and family. As a married couple, Jordan and Layla initially moved into the beach house together, where they lived for over one year before starting to search for a house of their own. However, the research went nowhere as they both felt that none of the houses they had seen was the right one due to not feeling at home, until Laura decided to give them the Bakers' family house in Beverly Hills so that it would become the home of a new and happy family as it had been in the past. Both Jordan and Layla were grateful to Laura and overjoyed at the idea of starting their life together right where it all began.
