Trashed and Scattered

Peyton had trouble falling asleep that night. She tossed and turned as she actively fought the endless urge to crawl out the window and into the arms of the only true affection she'd ever known. It was strange to know that time had somehow doubled back and led Wiley home. It made for a difficult situation; he was so close but Peyton knew she had to maintain a distance.
Geographically connected or not, he was still romantically connected with someone that was not her. That was enough of a reassurance to stay tucked in her bed. But it didn't stop the compulsion at all. She must have exhausted herself with the torment because eventually, without noticing, she fell into an undisturbed sleep.
She awoke to the world's most irritating sound: her phone.
Fumbling as she hurriedly pressed her hand against the floor in blind search for the real world, she eventually landed on something plastic and snatched it up.
"Hello?" she yawned into the microphone, sinking back down into her pillow.
"Hello!" Joanna beamed excitedly. "I wasn't sure if you were still alive!"
Peyton scrunched her face up in hopes it would somehow muffle the noise that was Joanna.
"Hello?" Joanna urged impatiently. "Anybody home? Do I need to reintroduce myself? Has your time in the sunshine state totally erased your memory of your friends at home?"
Peyton groaned, "Please stop talking."
"There you are," Joanna smirked. "It's noon, Peyton. You said noon was the safe zone for talking to you."
"Uh-huh," Peyton sighed. "But it isn't fucking noon, Jo."
There was a pause followed shortly by maniacal laughter.
"Ah shoot, sorry!" she cackled. "I forgot about the time difference! You're going to be so grumpy today."
Peyton was not an early riser. Never had been, never would be. She was basically not a human being until she'd drowned her intestines with coffee and had shuffled around deadly for a while. None of this could start before the sun had already cast the world into light.
"What do you want?" Peyton grumbled, deciding that Joanna's exuberance would probably not be muffled by disinterest, so Peyton was effectively up for the day.
Joanna babbled on and on about the craziest thing that had ever happened as Peyton proceeded to tune her out. Like the good friend she was, she muttered an "oh yeah" and a "mhm" every so often to feign listening. Joanna wasn't totally clueless, but she liked to let Peyton think that she was. She was mostly rifling off the events of her day as a means of processing. Peyton was just the conduit.
Peyton had already brewed a pot of coffee and sat down with the first cup when Joanna finally wrapped up her story.
"Fascinating," Peyton grumbled from behind her steaming mug.
Joanna laughed, "It was. But enough about me. What have you been doing? It feels like I haven't seen you in a year."
"I've been...painting," Peyton answered awkwardly, her eyes tracing the disarray the kitchen was still in.
Most of the house was still untouched. When Peyton really sat back and thought about the amount of work left to do, it was almost enough to make her cry. For the second time in her life, she was beginning to feel trapped inside these walls. It was made only worse by the sinking realization that she'd done it to herself this time around.
She told herself she'd work harder.
"That's it?" Joanna replied flatly. "You're in California and all you've done is paint?"
"It's a big house," Peyton told her with a mild taste of defense. "I'm only one person. At the moment I'm half a person given that it's nine o-fucking-clock in the morning."
Joanna rolled her eyes, "That's the time normal people are already at work, Pey. Just so we're clear."
"When have I ever claimed to be normal?"
Her friend laughed, "That's a good point. Tell me you've at least gone to the beach though. I'd die to go to the beach right now."
It was raining in New York. Joanna was perched atop the windowsill, staring lifelessly into the street below. She had an exam in an hour but she was reluctant to head out into the rainstorm. Stupid Peyton and stupid California.
"I've been to the beach," Peyton nodded to herself, slamming back a mouthful of java. "I've been, um...reconnecting. With some old friends."
"Oh?" Joanna gasped excitedly, her attention peaked. "Tell me you found fucking Wiley!"
Peyton found herself smiling. The excitement in Joanna's voice was an exact reflection of the way Peyton had originally digested the whole thing. It was wholesome to hear it innocently conveyed back to her, removed of all its depth.
"I may have," Peyton smirked.
"Oh my god," Joanna screeched. "That's so cute! Did you guys have, like, a hollywood reunion? Did you cry? Please tell me you cried."
"I did not cry," Peyton informed her. "But it was..." her mind flashed back to the night they'd truly collided.
The feel of his breath against her neck. His hips against hers. The touch of his hands upon her skin, the sound of her name escaping his parted lips.
Chills ran through her nerves.
"It was...I don't even have words for what it was."
Joanna was gushing, "That's so sweet."
Peyton didn't have it in her to crush Joanna's vision. There had been very little sweetness about it. It had been gritty and sweaty and entirely fueled by lust and desire. The fireworks immediately snuffed out by the reality of where their lives had detached.
"Is he cute?" Joanna asked excitedly. "You said he was cute when you were kids."
Peyton grinned, "Oh, he's cute alright. He's tall!"
"What a perfect story for your children!" Joanna giggled. "Does he have any cute friends you could hook me up with? I'll move to California for a cute boy. No problem."
Her mind immediately sprang to Brian. Brian, as far as she was concerned, was the cutest of all Jimmy's friends. He had a certain sincerity in his eyes that was like the world's most powerful magnet. He'd been so welcoming, so endlessly gracious with her that she'd developed a certain soft spot. She'd neglected it in favor of stewing over her ill-fated love affair with her childhood bestie...But she found herself smiling at her own mention of his name.
"He has some cute friends," Peyton answered vaguely. "You really should come out here, though. Not for a boyfriend."
"Oh! Is that an invitation?" Joanna grinned widely, mentally scanning her packed calendar.
Peyton laughed softly, "It's an open invitation. I'll probably be here for a while...So...If you get bored, come on down."
"That's tempting," Joanna thought aloud. "That's very tempting."
A loud series of knocks at Peyton's front door startled her heart out of its cage. She gripped at her chest as her brain worked to settle the nerves that had sprung into fight mode. Joanna was nattering about how nice a trip to California would be and how she'd never seen the coast. Peyton was half listening as she sauntered through the house and pulled open the door.
There was a grinning Jimmy, escorted by a beautiful Brian. Jimmy shook a towel toward her as if that would somehow explain the situation.
"Joanna, hold on," Peyton grunted into the phone, sliding it down from her ear and holding it against her chest.
"We're going to the beach!" Jimmy told her enthusiastically. "Come on!"
Peyton raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "It's nine in the fucking morning."
"We haven't slept!" Jimmy informed her happily.
She hesitated, unsure what to do with that piece of information, "That's...promising."
"Come on!" Jimmy said again, gesturing with the towel toward the road.
"I'm not even awake yet, dude," Peyton groaned. "I literally was just pulled out of bed by a long distance phone call."
Insistent screeching from the cell against her collar bone broke through the awkward invitation decline.
"Sleep at the beach," Brian suggested with a smug grin.
Before Peyton could rebut that wonderful suggestion, Joanna's nonstop screaming demanded her attention.
"What are you doing?" Joanna screeched into Peyton's ear. "Why are you saying no? Of course you should go to the beach with those boys!"
Peyton stifled a laugh, "You don't even know who they are."
"Well who are they?" she asked like it mattered. "Are they cute?"
"Jimmy and Brian," Peyton replied like Joanna would know. "And yes."
"Which one is Wiley?" she asked knowingly.
Peyton smiled, "The primary."
"Jimmy?"
"Yes."
"And he's cute?"
"Yes."
The boys stared helplessly as Peyton obviously slipped into code. Her lack of detailed responses was a dead giveaway that there was a second female on the other line. The friends exchanged shrugs, waiting for Peyton to wrap up her indecision.
"Is Brian cute?"
Peyton nodded, "Yes."
"Cuter than Wiley?"
Peyton hesitated.
"Okay, okay," Joanna giggled. "I thought I could get you with that one. So, they're both cute. You need to go to the beach. Go on, go get your stuff on."
"Jo," Peyton whined.
"Go get your stuff on!" Joanna reiterated, pausing after each stern word. "I'll slap you if you don't go! I need to live vicariously through you!"
Peyton groaned, rolling her eyes as she shifted the phone away from her lips and told the boys she'd need a minute. Joanna let out a satisfied 'yes!'. Jimmy led Brian inside and they lingered awkwardly inside her doorway as Peyton bolted up the stairs.
She wanted to confess the awkward day this invitation would spring on her but figured there simply wasn't enough time. Joanna would make for a turbulent audience and Peyton would be plagued with endless questions. She'd never get through the story in a reasonable amount of time.
"I'm going to the stupid fucking beach," Peyton grumbled into the phone. "At nine in the morning. This is your fucking fault."
"You mean thank you, Joanna," her friend grinned. "You're so welcome, P!"
"I'm hanging up now," Peyton grunted before flipping her phone closed and tossing it onto the bed.
She rushed herself to look presentable, like the boys hadn't just seen her as a morning goblin. She shoved a change of beach appropriate clothing into a bag and then tossed it over her shoulder. Grabbing her sunglasses from her nightstand as she headed out from the room and back downstairs, she tossed them onto her nose.
"I'm going to need breakfast," she informed them.
"I could do breakfast," Brian grinned, nodding in approval.
Jimmy flung the door open with determination, "Well, let's go fucking eat then!"
Peyton lingered for a second, as if she could still change her mind without looking like a total asshole. She silently cursed Joanna for pressuring her into being a person so early in the morning. It never boded well for her to enter the world before noon. But she figured it was noon in New York, so maybe she could skirt by this one time.
"Jimmy insisted we ambush you," Brian told Peyton with a smile as they walked slowly to Jimmy's car.
He was already inside, calling to them to hurry up.
"I'm always up for a good ambush," Peyton nodded, annoyed with herself for being so god damn awkward.
Brian laughed nervously.
"It's early," Peyton explained feebly. "I'm not a real person in the morning."
"Neither is Jimmy," Brian laughed.
Peyton smirked, "Unless he hasn't slept, I gather."
Brian nodded, "Pretty much."
"I promise I'll be more interesting once I've had a pot or two of coffee," she joked lamely.
Brian just laughed, opening the passenger door for her and waiting on the curb as she climbed into the back seat. Once Brian was seated inside and his door was closed, Jimmy sped off.
"Where are we eating?" Brian asked the pilot curiously.
There was no debate. There was no discussion. Jimmy was set in his path.
"We're going to fucking IHOP," Jimmy grinned, glancing at Peyton through the rearview.
She smiled, reminiscing in all the years of IHOP pancakes she and Jimmy had ingested in their youth. There was no qualm too large that a stack of IHOP pancakes could not cure. Morning zombie mode included, Peyton hoped.
"You and fucking IHOP," Brian groaned with a distinct laugh, lighting a Marlboro from his pack.
Jimmy chuckled, still entranced in Peyton's jade gaze, "I love me some IHOP."
"Me too," Peyton nodded firmly.
She'd never admit it, but for a quick second she found herself thanking Joanna's omnipresence. Maybe mornings weren't so bad afterall.

Notes

Three in one day? Why not.


xx