Strength Of The World

Once they got to the mall, they went straight to finding a dress for Peyton. "So, I hear ZV sure is happy now that a certain blue eyed girl is home." Michelle said with a smirk, looking right at Peyton. "Oh no," the younger girl laughed, "Not you too. I thought mom was going to start planning our wedding this morning." "This morning? What do you mean this morning?" Leana asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "I woke up in the middle of the night screaming and crying because of a nightmare, it took daddy a minute to calm me down. Apparently while he was trying mom called Zee, and he came right over and stayed with me for the rest of the night. I started having another one, but he woke me up before it got too bad. It's not a big deal guys, really." Peyton explained, while the other girls looked at her with smiles on their faces. "Sure sure, what ever you say P." Val said with a huge smile. "Oh no. No no no. I know that look Valary. Whatever you're planning, shut it down." The other girls laughed while Val just smiled innocently, "You got it Pey. Shut down." She turned back to the rack of dresses she was looking at. Peyton sighed, knowing Val wasn't going to let this go anytime soon.

Peyton finally found a dress, a short black dress with long lace sleeves. She wasn't going to try it on, but the other girls insisted. She turned away from the mirror and changed into the dress. Once she had it on, she slowly turned and looked into the mirror. To her surprise, the dress looked great on her and hid most of the bruises. There was a small one on her collarbone that would have to be covered, but other than that, the black lace did a great job of covering her bruised arms. "Sooooooo are you going to hide in there all day, or can we actually see it?" Michelle asked with a laugh. Peyton rolled her eyes and opened the door to the dressing room, and smiles broke out on her three friends' faces. "That looks amazing on you." Leana said. Val had her turn around to show her the back, and once she was facing her friends again the blonde said "It looks awesome. And it did exactly what you wanted it to do. We can cover that one right there," she pointed to the bruise on Peyton's collar bone, "But this is definitely the one. Change back into your clothes and we'll go find some shoes." Peyton smiled at her friends and shut the door. Once she had her clothes back on she went to pay for the dress, but frowned when she found out that Val had already paid for it. "Matt told me to," she said with a smile, "Consider it a welcome home gift. Now let's go get shoes."

While the girls were shopping, the guys gathered at Matt's house to jam in the basement. They were sitting around, talking and drinking beer, not really making much music. "So ZV," Johnny started, "Care to share what you were doing at Becky and Dan's house early this morning?" Zack cleared his throat and looked down at his guitar, while the rest of his band mates looked at him smirking. "Becky called me in the middle of the night. She had a nightmare and was screaming, I could hear her in the background, yelling at Dan, begging him not to hurt her." The green eyed man explained sadly. "Oh man." Brian sighed, rubbing his hand down his face, "It's worse than she lets on, that's for sure," Zack explained. "Anyway, Becky asked me if I could come over and calm her down. When I got there she was crying in Dan's arms. We turned on a movie and she almost instantly fell asleep. I figured it would help her sleep if she felt safe, so I stayed." He shrugged. "Man, why do you two keep denying this shit? You two are supposed to be together." Jimmy said with a laugh while the other guys agreed. "Yeah man," Brian said, "Grow a pair and get your girl back." "Guys she just got out of a three year relationship. She was engaged, then he beat the shit out of her. She just got back yesterday, give her space before you start trying to get us back together." Zack sighed. "She's been through a lot, she needs to breathe and find herself again." "Man, I hate it when you're right." Johnny huffed. "Yeah, but when the time comes, you better get her back Zee. Or I'll kick your ass. She was always the happiest when she was with you." Jimmy spoke up, while Matt nodded. ”Okay, okay. I get it. When the time comes, I'll be ready," Zack told his friends. "Now are we gonna sit around and talk about me and Peyton all day or are we actually going to try and make some music?"


Peyton and the girls had finished shopping, and were currently at their favorite Mexican restaurant drinking margaritas. Peyton had found a pair of gorgeous nude heels to wear with her dress, and after a few more stores they decided to call it a day and go have lunch before it was time to get ready for the party, Val's wedding coordinator was in charge of setting everything up, so all they had to do was show up. "So Val, are you getting excited?" Peyton asked her best friend, "Yes! Only a few more months to go! And then a few weeks after the wedding is someone's birthdaaaaay!" She sang, looking at the younger woman. "Oh come on, I don't need a huge party for my birthday." She tried to argue. "What? You're kidding right? You're back home for good and ditched your loser fiancée, why would we not want to celebrate?" Michelle asked her. "Besides," Leana spoke up, "You know Jimmy isn't going to let your birthday pass by without a party." "Yeah. You're right." Peyton sighed. "Just nothing too crazy!" The girls laughed at her, because they all knew any kind of party they threw was bound to get crazy.

Once the girls' bellies were full and their margaritas gone, they decided to head back to their respective houses to get ready. Peyton was riding with her parents, because she knew her friends were going to be passing her a lot of alcohol. With the help of her mom, she managed to cover any visible bruising with concealer. She applied her makeup and curled her long brown hair in loose waves. She put on a pair of diamond earrings her parents got her for Christmas one year and slipped into her nude heels. Grabbing her clutch, she walked downstairs where her parents were both waiting, and they all headed to Matt and Val's engagement party.

Notes