“I’m going to spend some time with my meddling sister and family. Then, I am back on a plane to LA after my meeting if it sucks.”
“You’re making a mistake. Don’t let her get away. You guys belong to together. If you leave…”
“Well it’s what I’m good at.” I mess up her hair and jog back home, leaving her in my dust.
Inside the house, I take a seat on the couch and click through the channels. I can hear Ruby and Thea in the kitchen talking about Peyton’s wedding.
“You saw her, J, wasn’t she to die for?” My sister calls out, dragging me into the conversation. One I was hoping to avoid. I don’t want to talk about it. About Peyton and her damn wedding plans.
“Yeah, I guess,” I lie, pretending to be disinterested. Truth is, Peyton in her wedding gown was stunning. I can’t get the image of her walking down the aisle out of my head. I always thought that one day I’d be the one to spend my life with her but that was before everything changed. Before I had a career.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get married. Not with the way I travel. A life on the road kills a relationship. I’ve seen the guys go through too many breakups and divorces. Finn only sees his daughter every other weekend and that’s when we aren’t on tour or recording. It kills him, but Shayla is good about letting him have her when his schedule clears on days that aren’t his.
I don’t want that kind of family life. Fuck, that’s a lie, I do want it, and I’ve always wanted it with Peyton, but obviously that’s never gonna happen now. Who the fuck is this Wes guy anyway?
Brayden, that dude goes through more boxes of condoms than should be legal. One day some chick he doesn’t remember bagging is going to show up with a baby on her hip and her hand out. I’m surprised it hasn’t happened already.
The only one of us who semi has his shit together is Austin. He dated the same chick for two years before she gave him an ultimatum to either marry her or she was done. He let her go. Said she wasn’t the one. I continue flipping through the channels until Thea says that dinner’s ready.
After dinner my sister plops down on the couch next to me and turns on a movie I swore I’d never watch again. I’ve not watched this movie since I was probably fifteen, with Peyton.
Flashback
I feel like a boiled lobster. My stupid ass forgot to put on sunblock, and I mowed four lawns without a shirt on before I noticed I was turning pink. Rodney will be all over my ass if I complain. He warned me. I didn’t listen. My head was too busy thinking about Peyton. I was hoping to see her when my Mom told me I was coming back for the summer. She is one of the only people around here I like to hang out with. She isn’t into being noticed and being fake. She is just my Fancy. The girls at my school are always getting in my face, sending me pics of them getting ready in their bathroom with their lips pouted out like a duck’s bill. They don’t get how stupid and ugly it makes them look.
Looking at my phone I am half an hour late meeting up with Peyton. I didn’t even ask her where she wanted to meet. Stupid. I still want to know who made her cry. I wince trying to put another shirt on. I wasn’t about to attempt a shower. Hope she doesn’t mind me smelling like grass, but something tells me she won’t. My skin is hot to the touch, but I have chill bumps, hope I don’t have sun poisoning.
I look out the window and see Josh, a boy from the next street over, and he is walking with Peyton. I don’t know why, but I don’t like it.
“Yo,” I call from the porch. They are holding hands and laughing. My fists clench. Is he the one who made her cry?
“Hey!” Peyton spins on her heel, her face lighting up seeing me. “There you are. I had given up on you.” She’s left him standing alone and it makes me happy. She looks different today. I guess I didn’t notice yesterday that she has gotten taller...her once chubby cheeks are more defined; she looks…like a girl. I mean I know she is a girl, but she appears more like a girl.
“Got burnt.” I turn, showing her my back, trying to get over how much she has changed since the last time I lived here.
She sucks in a hiss between her teeth. Josh is standing shoulder to shoulder with her when I turn back around.
“What are you guys up to anyway?”
“Nothing much, just walking around. My Nana and her friends are at bingo and my Pappy is off fishing at the lake. You should come to my house. My Nan has an aloe vera plant. She swears by it for burns.”
Josh looks irritated. Does he like her? I don’t know why I care. At the end of summer, I’ll be out of here and back home so I can focus on my band. A couple of buddies of mine like to mess around, but I am hoping to get them to take it more seriously.
I have a plan…focus on my band and get through school, then who knows. But I know I want to play professionally.
It hurts my arms, but I nudge between the two of them and call over my shoulder, “Come on, Fancy.” She grins, and Josh rolls his eyes.
We get to her house and she has me seated at the kitchen table rubbing cold aloe over my sunburn. “Nana cuts off one of the stalks and keeps it in the freezer for times such as these,” she explains softly as she rubs the goop in, being considerate of my pain. This stuff feels amazing.
“You owe me a movie.” I remind her, and Josh pipes in.
“What movie?”
“Two teens with cancer,” she answers him, washing her hands in the sink. “Take these.” She places two white round pills in my palm and fixes me a glass of water.
“That’s a chick flick. I’m not watching that shit. Karson Finster is having a party for freshmen. You wanna come with?” He looks to me, clearly excluding Peyton.
“Nah, I am gonna hang with Fancy here and watch our movie.”