Trashed and Scattered

Cell reception was less than reliable. After sitting through a painfully awkward lunch, which Brian had been kind enough to rush though, they’d retreated back into the bedroom. Brian changed out from his clothes and into something lake-approved while Peyton mindlessly flipped through her phone. Her phone must have glitched the matrix because although she had no service, she’d received a mass series of texts at some point through lunch. All from the same, insane person.
Holy shit.
Holy shit. Holy shit.
He’s fucking CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NO, NOT CUTE. HE’S SEXY AS HELL!
WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!
ANSWER ME!
IF YOU DON’T HIT THAT, I SWEAR TO THE LORD I WILL.
Fine, you don’t like my caps. That’s fine, P. That’s fine.
Okay, friends off.
Peyton snickered to herself, partly annoyed but mostly entertained. The sound filled the otherwise silent room, eliciting Brian’s attention. He spun around, sliding his tee back over his shoulders. Peyton was shaking her head at her phone, lazily stuffing it back into her bag.
“What’s so funny?” Brian asked curiously.
Peyton grinned, “Joanna.”
“Ah,” Brian laughed. “Did she like our picture?”
“She did,” Peyton nodded enthusiastically. “She’s a big fan of yours now.”
He chuckled, “I could use all the fans I could get.”
“Uh-huh,” she responded incredulously, rolling her eyes a little.
With no interest in carrying out that kind of conversation topic, she gestured with her hand for Brian to spin around. He narrowed his eyes at her with confusion, asking what with his hands.
“Turn around,” Peyton groaned. “I need to get naked over here.”
Brian resisted the urge to make some lude comment. The temptation nearly killed him; it was so open for invitation. Nevertheless, he rallied up his finest gentlemanly skills.
“I’m going to go pack us a cooler,” he offered up. “Come out when you’re decent.”
Peyton waved him off, shooing him from her sights. Brian hadn’t seemed to notice Peyton’s over-the-shoulder glances as he’d stripped his shirt from his muscled back. She, unlike Brian, was not a master of self-control. Not when it came to beautiful guitarists; they were a poison she couldn’t help but toss back.
Once Brian had firmly latched the door, Peyton stripped down to nothingness. She stepped into her bikini bottom, feeling a ping of relief from her hurrying. At least now she was mostly decent if some straggler were to happen upon her. Like clockwork, just as she was attempting to tie the strings of her top, a light knock rapped at the closed door. Her fingers moved faster trying to tie knots into the strings, but each time she failed and the top would sink low against her skin.
“Come in,” she groaned, decidedly holding the top in place to cover her indecency.
The door crept open, a familiar blue-eyed being staring in at her. But he’d covered his eyes with his lids, pressing them tight together until they were wrinkled. He waved a hand around in the air, mindlessly searching for something.
“Are you naked?” he asked with a hint of a smirk. “Brian said you were changing.”
Peyton laughed softly, “So you thought now would be the opportune time to come and chat?”
“Where are you?” Jimmy asked ridiculously, still waving the hand around.
“You’re an idiot,” was all Peyton could think to respond with. “Open your eyes, you weirdo. You can come and help me while you’re standing there.”
He peeped one eye open, glancing around the room to gauge its safety. Deeming it clear, he opened the second eye and stepped into the bedroom. Peyton was standing directly in the center of it all, her hands clasped behind her back. Jimmy thought about mentioning what her pose was doing to her chest but decided to just secretly harbor the view.
“Help with what?” he asked.
She sighed, “I can’t get this tied up.”
“No problem-o,” he smiled, making a quick circle with his finger.
Unlike Brian, Peyton knew what this meant. She spun around and let her hands fall away from the strings as Jimmy stole them into his fingers.
“So, what’s up?” Peyton asked as Jimmy fastened the strings at the base of her neck.
“Nothing,” Jimmy replied simply.
Peyton scoffed under her breath.
“I wanted to apologize,” he said quietly.
She cocked an eyebrow, unbeknownst to Jimmy, “What for?”
“For being a disappearing act,” he shrugged, sliding his hands along her back as he made an attempt to fasten the strings.
Call it nerves or electricity, he fumbled. Peyton hurriedly grabbed at the top, holding it in place against her chest. Jimmy quickly regrouped, tying a tight knot into her back.
“Calm your shit,” he snickered. “It’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”
With that, Peyton whipped around. The amusement had vanished from her face, pulling the colour from Jimmy’s.
“Apology accepted,” she stated blankly. “That all?”
“I have to fix it with Natalie,” Jimmy explained, despite the disdain painted into Peyton’s green eyes. “Like you said, you’re leaving and—”
Peyton sighed, “Dude, this is wildly unnecessary.”
It wasn’t that it was unnecessary; Peyton simply couldn’t bare to hear it. Every time Natalie’s name slipped passed his tongue, Peyton was sure she was on the verge of death. Every reason she’d offered to Jimmy about their ill-fated connection was only a half-truth. She’d buried the emotion beneath the logic and accidentally sold Jimmy on the principal.
His explanation felt somehow like rejection, further wounding Peyton’s already bruised ego. It was hardly the time for such a conversation and she suspected Jimmy knew that. There would never be enough time to get into the workings of their lives, both collective and apart.
“I shouldn’t have just bailed though,” Jimmy added solemnly. “We’re supposed to be friends.”
Peyton shrugged, “It is what it is.”
“You and Brian seem to be cozy,” Jimmy tried his best not to scowl, tripping profusely over the word cozy.
“Don’t do that,” she hissed lowly.
He pursed his lips together, fighting to keep his declarations internalized. She shouldn’t be there with Brian—she should have been there with him. As much as he pushed and worked at Natalie, something in the paradigm had shifted. Peyton had unraveled their relationship with her existence and Jimmy wasn’t sure how to work passed it.
The most reasonable angle seemed to be Natalie. But as Peyton glared at him, challenging his flip-flop nature, Jimmy was at a loss.
“Sorry,” he finally said.
“Thanks for…helping,” Peyton rushed, stepping into a pair of denim shorts. “But we should get out there.”
Jimmy nodded, “I’ll catch up.”
Peyton’s head tilted, studying him long and hard.
“I’m supposed to be in the bathroom,” Jimmy told her meekly.
She laughed starkly, “Of course you are.”
As she went to slip passed him, annoyed by the same old annoyances that had plagued her since the start. But as she rounded his side, his fingers slipped around her arm. To his horror, she slapped at his grip immediately, panic rippling through her tensed muscles.
“I needed to see you,” he said shortly, reeling from the sting gracing his knuckles. “I needed to—”
“Stop,” Peyton insisted, feeling the weight of it all catching in her throat. “Wiley, stop.”
The use of his former self had him caught in ice. Her eyes pleaded with him for mercy, begging him to stop pulling her in so many directions. He’d once been her protector, but now, he knew, he was only causing her harm.
“I’m sorry,” was all he could think to say.
“Me too,” she sighed, lingering on for only a second before disappearing through the open door.
Peyton let herself wallow for exactly ten seconds. Just long enough to get down the hallways and back into Brian’s viewline. He smiled at her and she blushed as his eyes explored every inch of visible skin she possessed.
Brian was so much less complicated. He was open and shut; a textbook case of lust and conviction. Peyton never had to guess what was on Brian’s mind, she never had to pull at teeth to have meaningful dialogue. Brian was warm and Brian was shelter.
Jimmy was the storm.
Burned from his electric shock, Peyton was exhausted. She did her best to straighten her shoulders and smooth out her imperfections. She was nothing else if not an expert actress. She polished her mask and tightened the screws.
“Ready to go?” Brian smiled.
Peyton smiled back, “Ready.”
They slipped out the back door, Brian’s hands burdened with the weight of the small red cooler he’d packed full of beer. Peyton watched him cautiously as they made their way down the infinite wooden stairs—she was nervous he might slip since he couldn’t see his feet. She held her hands out with each step, cringing further and further into permanent stress lines.
“Stop,” Brian finally laughed. “You’re freaking me out more.”
She stifled a laugh, “I don’t want you to fall and break your neck.”
“And what?” he grinned, peering at her over the top of the white lid. “You’re going to catch me with your skinny ass arms? I don’t fuckin’ think so.”
“Hey! Maybe!” Peyton objected. “I’m stronger than I look, you know.”
He scoffed.
“Fine,” she cackled, hastily jogging down the remaining steps. “I hope you fall!”
“Well that’s rude,” Brian called to her coolly.
Peyton lingered around the base of the stairs, watching with frozen horror as Brian continued to make his way down. The bottles inside clinked and clattered, offering instrumental dismay to the danger.
Finally, though, Brian’s feet hit land and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. Once they were near enough to the lake that Brian felt a suitable camp could be made, he nestled the cooler into the dirt and promptly snatched two bottles from its belly.
“So,” Peyton breathed, cracking the cap from the beer and stuffing it into her pocket. “This is Big Bear.”
Brian nodded, letting his gaze trail along the glistening waterbed, “This is Big Bear.”
“It’s beautiful,” she commented fondly, memorizing the line of trees across the lake.
Brian set his beer down long enough to pull his shirt over his head. He realized then that it had been foolish to put it on in the first place—but he’d felt somehow bashful under Peyton’s watchful eyes. He didn’t want to discomfort her in any way, especially given that they’d be sharing a room for the next few days. Peyton was difficult to read, so he relied on pure instinct. Anything he thought might make her leery of him, he refrained from. His drummer’s looming threat sounding off in the back of his mind didn’t help much either.
“I’m going in,” Brian announced as he promptly headed into the cool water.
Peyton paused for reaction, trying her best to judge the temperature of the lake before heading in herself. Brian winced a little as he trudged deeper, the frigid water curling up his nerves. The way the sun danced across his back was a spectacle to behold. Peyton caught herself drooling, drowning the affection immediately with a long swig of beer.
“Come on, Winchester!” he called to her playfully.
Eternally up to a challenge, Peyton downed half the bottle and slid out of shorts. Deciding haste was the best speed, she barreled into the water without a second thought. She passed Brian quickly, pushing herself from her feet to dive beneath the cool surface.
The cold closed around her lungs like a vice. As she emerged from the depths, she took a deep breath to combat the ice freezing over in her chest.
“Shit, that’s cold!” she laughed loudly.
Brian snickered, giving her one approving glance before diving beneath the waves Peyton had created. He swam until he’d reached her, pushing at her hip as he broke through the surface. She was pleasantly surprised to see him.
“Well, hello there,” she grinned, marveling at the way his doe eyes grew only deeper with his lashes dripped in droplets.
“Hello back.”
“Can we go out there?” she asked, lazily gesturing toward the center of the lake. “I want to be in the thick of it all.”
“I’ll race you,” Brian beamed, instantly tearing away from her in a splashy mess of competition.
Peyton pushed herself to catch up, but the guitarist’s athleticism gave him a definite edge. She conceded to the loss, slowing her pace until she eventually caught up—only once he’d stopped moving in favor of treading water.
“You’re slow,” he noted cheekily.
“Slow and steady.”
“Loses the race,” Brian finished for her.
Without a care for her balance, she pushed a wall of water his way. She was pleased as he sputtered and coughed the lake from his lungs.
“Don’t retaliate,” she begged with a laugh. “We’ll fucking drown.”
“You’ll drown,” he noted smugly. “I’ll be just fine.”
She snickered, “Right…but then you’ll have to live with the knowledge that you’ve murdered me.”
Brian shrugged, locking his eyes on hers for reaction.
She gasped, “Okay, Ted Bundy.”
“I wouldn’t go that fucking far,” Brian laughed sharply.
She chuckled, spinning in slow circles to take in the magnificence of their adventure. There wasn’t another cabin for miles—she could hardly make out the structure of it from its place within the trees. She wondered if anyone was staying there or if it had been abandoned for the season.
“I love it here,” Peyton breathed. “I love naturistic shit like this.”
Brian smirked, “And yet, you live in New York.”
She rolled her eyes, “I’ll give you that. But…my dad is still in Connecticut. And Connecticut in the fall is painfully beautiful.”
“More beautiful than California?” Brian challenged, knowing she couldn’t argue the California charm.
“Not even close,” she mused. “But it’s the closest thing to home, so it’ll have to do.”
Brian moved his eyes around the shoreline, squinting to see Matt and Zach hunched over the deck railing. He was pretty sure it was Matt and Zach, anyway. Johnny would have been too short to make out, he was sure. And Jimmy would have towered over all of the windows. Process of elimination.
“What’s your life like in New York?” Brian asked curiously.
Peyton considered the question briefly, “It’s…hectic. I spend most of my time at the shop.”
“Which you own, right?”
“Right,” Peyton smiled. “It’s my baby. I’ve slaved over it for years to make it what it is…It’s honestly killing me to be away this long.”
Brian smiled a little, “I get that. I’d go crazy if I couldn’t play guitar.”
“Thus, the job,” Peyton grinned. “Which, I guess, means you’re stuck with me for a bit.”
“I’m okay with it,” he chuckled.
Peyton glanced over at him, “Hey, Brian? Why aren’t you here with a girlfriend?”
He furrowed his brows, a playful smile tugging at his lips, “What?”
“That’s a weird way of wording it,” Peyton laughed. “I’ll give you that. But…Why don’t you have a girlfriend? That’s what I meant.”
“I do,” he grinned smugly. “Remember?”
She rolled her eyes, “Ha-ha.”
“I don’t know,” he sighed, leaning back to float for a while. “I’ve just never found a girl worth committing to, I guess. My life’s kind of crazy at the moment…Seems easier to do the solo thing.”
“I get that,” Peyton parroted, swimming slowly over to Brian’s side.
He turned his head to look at her, admiring the way her darkened hair lined her perfect face, “Not saying I wouldn’t take on a girlfriend…you know, if I found the right one.”
She smiled, trying to hide her blushing, “I get that too.”
“And what about you?” Brian quizzed, pushing his legs back beneath the surface to allow for proper eye contact.
The question warranted proper eye contact.
“Why don’t I have a girlfriend?” Peyton grinned. “Well, you see, I kind of play for the other team…Women talk a lot.”
“Shut up,” Brian laughed.
Peyton smirked, letting out a long breath, “I don’t know. My last boyfriend was a fucker.”
“Jared,” Brian remembered.
“Yeah,” she muttered. “He kind of ruined boyfriends for me, I guess. So now I just…don’t really date.”
Brian frowned, “He was that bad, huh?”
She nodded, “I was really fucked up for a really long time…But I think I’m better now. I’m trying anyway. That’s all any of us can do, I guess.”
“Amen to that,” Brian concurred.
“I like where I’m at now,” Peyton smiled, daring to dance her eyes around the sun.
Brian neared her, daring her to abandon her reasoning and give into him, “Figuratively or literally?”
She set her jade eyes upon him, drowning under his gaze, “Both…But an emphasis on the literal.”
“I’m pretty pleased with where I’m at too,” Brian cooed lowly, beginning their familiar routine.
Peyton looked from his lips to his eyes, the current moving her body closer to his. He looked so particularly delicious in that moment that she struggled to fight back the savory allure.
Brian opened his mouth to begin trying to unravel the wall he’d helped to build between them. But Matt’s husky voice cut through the still water and echoed off the banks.
“Come in!” he screeched louder and louder, Zach joining in on the fun.
Brian groaned wildly, another mood squandered by his friends. Peyton just laughed, shrugging it off as another saved by the bell experience. They swam slowly back to shore, taking their time this way around. By time they hit the shore, Matt was rummaging through the cooler.
“We’re going out in the canoes,” he explained as Brian and Peyton dripped all over the muddy ground. “Nat insists she’s stealing Peyton.”
Peyton hated the obligatory girls things. She didn’t want to be severed from Brain. She was unsettled to find she was longing for more time with Brian, preferably alone. The allure of his lips was proving to be a conquest Peyton was curious to explore. She’d been denying it to the point of frustration—but her main objection had been Jimmy.
Judging by his partial sentiment, which rattled Peyton’s bones down to dust, Jimmy had removed himself from the equation. So, what then, did that mean? Was Peyton free and clear to do what she wanted? She wasn’t sold on Jimmy’s absolution. She didn’t want to overstep a bound she couldn’t retreat from.
She needed to be careful, despite how very careless Brian had her feeling.
“Want me to save you?” Brian offered quietly, sensing Peyton’s hesitation.
Peyton shrugged, forcing a smile, “No…But you owe me big time.”
“Deal,” he grinned. “I’ll make it worth your while.”
She hid the red from her cheeks, reaching out to snatch up and finish her beer. Tossing the empty to Brian, she waved to Matt and headed slowly up the stairs. If she was going to be subjected to the torture of womanly bonding, she sure as shit wasn’t going to do it soaking wet.
As she slid dry clothes atop her wet bikini, all Peyton could think of was Brian’s deal. Her imagination ran wild with possibilities. Despite her numerous attempts to rein in her thoughts, Peyton’s skin ran hot. One way or another, she knew she’d have to seek a more plausible remedy to the situation. Friendship was obviously not working—but she wasn’t entirely ready yet to abandon the idea of Jimmy. Destiny was a hard thing to let go of.
Distraction at its finest, she journeyed back down the hall and into the lion’s den. The group had all gathered and split, the women quietly chatting at one end of the kitchen and then men on the other. Peyton’s heart quarreled as she found both Jimmy and Brian giving her the once over. Unable to choose, she focused on the women—not that she wanted to spend any real time with them. But it seemed simpler to pretend than to fight.
“Oh! Peyton!” Natalie smiled happily. “This means everyone’s ready to go!”
Her enthusiasm gnawed at Peyton’s skull like a migraine. Crystal must have shared the same sentiment because she leaned into the newcomer with a grin.
“Don’t worry, I packed tons of booze and weed.”
Peyton laughed softly, deciding then to really make the most of it. Maybe first impressions weren’t always solid—maybe Crystal wasn’t quite the bitch she’d come off to be.
Or she was and Peyton would suffer. It wasn’t clear at that point.
Nevertheless, she smiled.
“Okay!” Natalie cheered. “Let’s go!”

Notes

xx