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Trashed and Scattered

Chapter Forty-Eight: Voice Your Prophecy

The group trotted down to the shore and then branched off down a narrow path. Roots jutted out in every direction, seeking to trip and destroy any soul not paying proper attention. Peyton kept her eyes low, watching Brian’s heels as he foraged through the wilderness in his sandals.
It was a short distance, dulled by idle chit chat stemming mostly from the testosterone sporting adults. When they came to a clearing, a row of canoes sat lined along the shoreline. Peyton had never actually been inside of a canoe—she’d seen one at a museum once when Joanna had dragged her. But it was hung up on a rafter and was hardly the same as a canoe nested in the shoreline.
“Rock, paper, scissors,” the boys immediately began to chant, coolers abandoned at their toes.
Natalie rolled her eyes, smiling meekly over at Peyton, “They do this every time.”
“No!” Johnny whined. “This is some bullshit! Rematch!”
Matt scoffed loudly, “No way! I had to take him last time!”
“Yeah, man,” Brian nodded. “It’s your turn.”
Jimmy grinned from ear to ear, pulling the shortest dwarf there was beneath his long arm.
“It’s me and you, dude,” he beamed happily.
Johnny pouted, folding his arms across his chest.
“Jimmy has a tendency to flip the canoe,” Natalie explained with a giggle.
“So now they fight,” Crystal added, not quite as amused as the other girlfriend in the crowd.
Peyton snickered quietly, finding great entertainment in Johnny’s disapproval. Turning her attention back to the females in the crowd, Peyton eyed the canoe up nervously.
“In the interest of full disclosure,” Peyton spoke up as Crystal loaded a black cooler into the middle of the canoe. “I’ve never been in a canoe before.”
Natalie gasped, “Seriously?”
She nodded uncomfortably, digging her toes into the soil.
“You’ll love it! We mostly just paddle until we can drift and then we hang around and drink. It’s so much fun!”
“You ride in the middle,” Crystal told Peyton. “I’ll paddle.”
Natalie smiled, leaning a little closer to Brian’s make-believe beau, “She’s the strongest one in the group.”
“It’s true,” Crystal smirked, spinning around to face the men scattered along the shore. “Okay! We’re packed!”
Johnny called back to her, “Us too!”
“Yep,” Brian nodded.
Like some strangely romantic ritual, Jimmy and Johnny came bounding around their respective boat. Peyton averted her gaze as Jimmy pranced up to his girlfriend and stole her into his arms. She wanted to maintain the friendship, but she didn’t necessarily want the Natalie and Jimmy show broadcast in front of her.
To her surprise, and relief, Brian stepped in the way of the spectacle. His grinning face broke butterflies out from their nets deep inside Peyton’s stomach.
“You good?” he asked quietly.
Peyton appreciated the way Brian would check in. He understood how intimidating it could be to be whisked away by a new group, already settled and comfortable in one another’s company. She was practically being fed to the wolves as an unfortunate piece of their collective agreement. He felt responsible for her anxiety; the same anxiety he knew he’d harbor if roles were reversed.
“I’m good,” Peyton assured him coolly.
He reached out, rubbing at her arms. Any excuse to touch her was one he was gobbling up.
See,” he grinned at her. “No flinching.”
Peyton batted her eyelashes to the speed of the butterflies’ wings. Until this point, she’d refused to acknowledge Brian’s touch as anything more than exhilarating. There was no logical reason that he should be exempt from her instinct. But it had happened far too many times to be written off as coincidental.
She smiled, daring herself to make a sound, “I guess maybe I like you or something.”
The words hit Brian like a freight truck. He knew she meant to be tongue in cheek, but he was basking in the validation anyway. He let his fingertips ease in their crusade, gracing the edges of her skin with grace and affection.
“Have fun,” Brian offered sheepishly.
Peyton smiled up at him, letting his doe eyes eat her alive, “Don’t tell me what to do.”
He laughed, “You’re so fucking weird.”
“Okay, go,” Peyton nearly whispered, grinning like an idiot all the while. “Before the others think I’m weak.”
“I’m going,” he smirked, pulling his hands back. “I’m going.”
Peyton watched him retreat back to his own vessel, amused and swooning like you wouldn’t believe. Over Brian’s shoulder she caught Jimmy’s sullen face, ridden with jealousy and regret. Natalie had obviously been distracted sooner than Peyton, turning her back on her boyfriend in lieu of girl time. For the first time since their reunion, Peyton didn’t care about Jimmy’s burdened features. She was still annoyed by his back-alley tactics and sincere lack of honesty. With one last run through of Brian’s body, Peyton retreated into the lion’s den.
“Ready?” Natalie asked happily.
Peyton nodded, taking Natalie’s arm gesture as permission to step inside the boat. Her eyes fluttered over as Natalie climbed inside. The boys pushed each canoe into the water before stepping in. Crystal wasn’t having that—Peyton and Natalie were already seated before Crystal had the boat floating along the crystal-clear lake. She was strong.
To her amusement, Brian climbed into the middle seat like Peyton. Matt paddled as Zach began passing out beers. Jimmy and Johnny hadn’t gotten away from the shore yet, which was made only more hilarious by Johnny’s frantic yelling.
“They’ll be another fifteen minutes,” Natalie giggled, slipping her sunglasses down to her peaked nose.
Crystal nodded grimly, “At least.”
As Matt’s canoe of miscreants caught up to the girls, they all tipped their heads, mumbling an ever iconic, “Ladies,” as they passed.
The women were quiet, save only for the occasional splash and rippled from the paddle in Crystal’s hand. They drifted slowly along the lake, with no real destination in mind. Peyton tried her best to seem calm and collected, despite the intense discomfort flooding around her ankles.
“Oh! They’re off!” Natalie clapped excitedly, pointing over Peyton’s shoulder and toward the shore.
Crystal turned around, grumbling to herself.
“Twenty bucks says they make it passed us,” Natalie smirked.
Her friend scoffed, “No way. I’ll take that bet. Not a chance in hell that Jimmy sits still long enough to get them all the way out here.”
Natalie giggled, “I don’t know, Crys. He napped on the drive.”
“I’m sticking with my guns,” she maintained, slowly lowering her glance to the awkward brunette stationed in the middle of it all. “Peyton?”
“Hm?” she hummed, seemingly not been paying attention until the mention of her name.
Crystal tried to smile, “We make bets on how far Jimmy’s team will make it out.”
“It usually isn’t very far,” Natalie added.
“They’ve caught up twice…and passed us once.”
Natalie nodded giddily, “Every other time they’ve ended up in the water.”
Peyton laughed softly, “I really want to see someone get capsized.”
“It’s pretty funny,” Natalie smiled, her excitement growing as Peyton stuck one foot out from her shell.
“I don’t have anything to go on,” Peyton thought aloud. “But…I’m going to say they catch up but don’t pass.”
Crystal beamed, “Ballsy! I like it!”
An awkward silence fell over them as they made their way toward the center of the lake. Brian’s crew faded further and further into the distance but the J’s were making decent speed in their efforts to catch up. Natalie fiddled inside her pockets, eventually pulling out her cellphone. She loaded up her music, hitting the play button before setting the phone carefully down onto the seat next to her.
“So,” she spoke then, eyeing up the nervous brunette. “How are you enjoying California?”
Peyton looked to Crystal and then to Natalie, silent all the while.
“She’s not talking to me,” Crystal snickered.
“Oh,” Peyton blurted, both women burning holes into her cheeks. “Um…It’s nice.”
Natalie smiled, “Are you always this shy? I swear we don’t bite.”
Peyton wasn’t sure how to respond to the pointed question. While she wasn’t necessarily shy, she certainly wasn’t the most talkative human on the planet. She flip-flopped from monk vows to boisterously animated—there was no in between. But women made her nervous, they had all her life. She’d always gravitated toward men as though trust in them was deeply embedded into her DNA. Joanna was the absolute only exception to this rule.
Beyond Peyton’s personal tactics to approaching social lives, she wasn’t keen to bond with Natalie of all people. There was a pinching guilt lingering over her neck each time she’d exchange pleasantries. She’d slept with Natalie’s boyfriend, regardless of who he was to Peyton separately. There could be no friendship—Peyton could never live with the strain. She knew she’d need to maintain a distance. How to do that while trapped inside a boat, though, was a whole other issue.
“Kind of,” Peyton shrugged, wishing she could sink down to the bottom of the lake to swim with the fish.
“We’ll break you of that,” Crystal assured her proudly.
Natalie waved her friend off, “What’s New York like? I’ve always wanted to go there.”
“It’s…busy,” Peyton replied slowly, forcing her trembling hands into her lap. “Loud…But it’s incredible. I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.”
“What do you do there?” Crystal asked flatly.
Natalie leered at her friend, “She’s a tattoo artist.”
“Oh yeah,” she shrugged.
Peyton smirked, “Yeah, I…um, I run my own shop.”
“Really?” Natalie gasped. “That’s really impressive! Good for you!”
While Peyton assumed Natalie meant to be encouraging, her tone came off unsavorily condescending. She felt like a child who’d just hung their art on the fridge—not that Peyton had ever actually experienced that.
“So who’s running your shop while you’re here?” Crystal pried.
Peyton glanced around the open water, praying for intervention, “A colleague of mine…Hannah.”
“I’d love to own my own business,” Natalie swooned, blissfully washed away by the imagery.
Peyton considered, out of learned politeness, asking what Natalie did for a living. However, she rested back onto the ground rule: do not befriend the enemy. The less Peyton knew about Natalie, the better. She didn’t want to tangle herself up into the complication that was Natalie’s life—knowing fully well that she’d complicated it further. Peyton just wasn’t sure if Natalie knew that or not.
Judging by the friendly demeanor she boasted during their conversation, Peyton assumed Natalie didn’t know a thing.
“It has it’s advantages,” Peyton nodded along. “But it sucks the life out of you.”
Natalie’s ears perked up, “How is that?”
“Well,” she hesitated, accidentally breaching the short word answers policy she’d set out for herself. “It’s all you think about. If you don’t keep business coming in, you don’t get paid. It’s a lot of pressure…Especially once you bring in a second person. It’s a lot of responsibility…A lot of sleepless, stressful nights. But I’ve had it for almost two years and it’s profitable…So, that’s a good sign.”
Natalie smiled, “Good for you. I’m so jealous. Your job sounds incredible.”
“It can be,” Peyton unintentionally smiled back.
“How did you learn to draw?” Crystal asked, earning the strangest look from Natalie.
She giggled, “What kind of question is that?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged lazily. “I can’t draw…I’ve seen your doodles; neither can you. So…How did you learn?”
Peyton’s mind fluttered back to her tortured youth. Wiley’s smiling face as he lingered over her shoulder, watching meticulously as she scratched and scribbled monsters into lined pages. Perhaps she’d inherited the talent, but Wiley had nurtured it. He’d encouraged her and pushed her to improve. She wanted only to impress him—so she worked her fingers to the bone, swapping ink for blood.
“I’m not sure,” Peyton finally answered, dragging her kicking consciousness back to reality. “It’s just something I’ve always been able to do.”
Crystal seemed satisfied with the response.
“Are your parents artistic too?” Natalie asked curiously. “My dad’s an architect…They’re kind of artistic.”
Peyton found herself floundering all over again. She couldn’t very well offer up the truth about her parents—partly out of protection for the no-bonding rule and mostly because she didn’t want to risk blurring the line between Peyton and Lexi. The last thing Peyton wanted was for Natalie to piece together the puzzle; especially while they were all but alone in a canoe.
“No, I don’t think so,” Peyton answered slowly. “My dad is a musician though. I’ve never seen my mother draw…so, I can’t say for sure she isn’t artistic. But I’d assume she is not.”
Crystal laughed to herself, “Yeah, my mother was the furthest thing from artistic.”
“Are your parents back in New York too?” Natalie moved on with the interrogation.
Peyton figured one lie was usually best followed with another, “Yeah.”
“Okay, wait,” Crystal thought aloud, her arms ceasing up on the paddles. “You live in New York but you’re dating a Californian? How does that work?”
Natalie silently scolded her friend, offering a death glare instead of a verbal condemnation.
“What?” Crystal chuckled nervously. “You’re totally thinking it.”
Natalie rolled her eyes, offering a friendly smile to Peyton, “You don’t have to answer that.”
It took Peyton a quick second to understand exactly what Crystal had even asked her. Without Brian, Peyton was always forgetting about her alternate life.
“We’re just having a good time,” Peyton replied simply.
“I guess that makes sense,” Crystal nodded along. “Brian doesn’t really do the girlfriend thing.”
This caught Peyton’s attention. She was wildly interested in dirt on Brian’s dating habits—a revelation that wasn’t entirely lost on her. Peyton knew she was quickly slipping under the current, but she had reserved to float for a while.
Natalie’s face fell a little, “That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t.”
“Well obviously,” Crystal snickered, gesturing to Peyton’s being.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Brian smile so much,” Natalie confessed fondly, staring Peyton down. “I know that friends always say that…But I mean it.”
Peyton felt her cheeks flushing. Her eyes instinctively wandered along the lake’s surface until they found the distant silhouette of her should-be suitor. They appeared to be heading back toward the women—boredom reigning over curiosity. That, and Zach had improperly packed the coolers. This meant they needed to pilfer from the estrogen camp in order to starve off their dehydration.
“That’s true,” Crystal concurred, taking up the paddles once more. “Brian’s a softy after all, who would have thought.”
“Does that mean you spend a lot of time with Jimmy?” Natalie asked then, her tone falling slightly grimmer.
Peyton tried not to shift in her seat, “No…Should I?”
Natalie bit at her lip, “No…Maybe. I’m not sure. He and Brian are attached at the hip and Jimmy’s been a little wayward lately…So, I just thought…Never mind.”
“Peyton,” Crystal spoke sharply, startling the awkward brunette. “Since you hang out with Brian, you will inevitably hang out with Jimmy. When you do, if you see him sniffing around any other women, you’ll tell us, right?”
Peyton was immediately put out by the entire encounter. She seriously considered diving into the lake and swimming off, never to return again. Surely drowning would be less painful than enduring this conversation, right?
“Crystal!” Natalie barked in her squeaky voice.
The green-eyed beauty looked helplessly between the two women.
“Jimmy’s been acting like a total idiot for a few weeks,” Crystal explained, despite Peyton’s serious desire not to hear it. “I’m pretty sure he’s fucking around.”
“He’s not,” Natalie insisted. “He wouldn’t do that.”
Oh yes, he would.
“I don’t know,” Crystal sang incredulously.
Peyton swallowed down the overwhelming guilt, letting it rip at her esophagus on the way down.
She rallied up her mock courage, “Maybe it isn’t what it seems. He, um…Seems to love you. So…There’s that.”
Natalie perked up a little, “Really? You think so?”
“You don’t need some outside—” Crystal started but Natalie’s hand cut her off.
“Yeah,” Peyton managed weakly. “I obviously don’t know you guys very well…But he was pretty enamored with you when Brian and I got here. You don’t fawn over someone like that if you’re not in love with them.”
She was openly breaking her cardinal rule—it pained her to comfort Natalie. But the half-truth was not designed to sooth Natalie’s insecurities; it was meant to protect Jimmy. Under no circumstances was Peyton going to let a promiscuous rumbling dismantle his life. She was sure that once she’d left California, Jimmy would forget all about her.
It seemed as if he already had.
“He wouldn’t cheat,” Natalie announced, convincing mostly herself.
Crystal frowned sympathetically, “I hope you’re right, Nat. I really do.”
“I am,” she decided, pushing the entire subject aside.
Acting as some cruel twist of fate or perfectly timed intervention, Jimmy’s voice broke through the still water. It echoed and bounced effortlessly along the limbs of the trees miles in the distance.
“Look who’s catching up,” Crystal smirked, easing on her pace again to make the J-boat’s life a bit simpler.
Within a few minutes, Johnny and Jimmy were leering over at the women like pirates eying up a beauty of a ship.
“Ladies,” Johnny grinned.
“Nat,” Jimmy called over. “Did you bring snacks? Tell me you brought snacks. Short shit here forget the sandwiches.”
Natalie groaned, “We just ate!”
“Like thirty minutes ago,” Jimmy retorted sternly. “I know you’re packing snacks. Hand ‘em over!”
“No,” she refused with a distinct grin.
To Johnny’s horror, Jimmy climbed to his feet, “Natalie! Snacks!”
“No!” she cackled, taking solace in the safety of her own canoe.
Peyton tried not to let it bother her that Jimmy didn’t seem to notice her at all. It didn’t come across as a masquerade either; there was no performance here produced only to spark reaction from the crowd. No, it was more honest than that. This was, entirely, Jimmy and Natalie’s life. This was their relationship; their comfort. The glow in Natalie’s eyes as Jimmy said her name was undeniably love. Peyton’s soul died a little with each glimmer lit by the wrong sun in Jimmy’s crystal blues.
“Jimmy, sit the fuck down,” Johnny instructed firmly as the boat began to rock.
Jimmy’s lips spread into a grin as he purposefully stepped with his entire weight.
Johnny yelped, “Jimmy! I swear to god, we’re not playing this game today!”
But the drummer wasn’t listening. With a pointed cackle, Jimmy stepped up onto the edge of the canoe and flung himself over the edge, disappearing beneath the still waters. The boat instantaneously capsized, sending Johnny spiraling down after his tall friend.
“They’re not allowed to bring coolers anymore,” Natalie giggled over at Peyton, her eyes skimming the surface for Jimmy’s black hair to make its appearance.
Without warning, a sea creature emerged on the opposite end of the canoe from where it had disappeared. It lunged with determination, latching onto Natalie’s arm and sending her toppling over the edge and into the blue water. Johnny emerged from the depths of the lake, grunting and raving about Jimmy’s ridiculousness.
“Another capsize?” Matt’s voice boomed from the distance.
Crystal laughed, calling back to him, “It would be weird if there wasn’t!”
Matt paddled the three boys closer, Peyton finding immediate relief when her eyes landed on Brian’s and found they were close enough now to pick out the golden flecks in his irises.
Natalie and Jimmy swatted at each other from within the water, genuinely enjoying each other’s affections. Zach, without warning, decided it looked like a good time—abandoning his post in lieu of the cool lake.
“Winchester!” Brian called over to Peyton, a daring grin stitched into his chiseled face. “Let’s go!”
Peyton studied him for seriousness. But the study session was cut short as Brian quickly dove overboard and into the blue. He surfaced by Peyton’s side, his dark lashes beckoning her to join him. Craving the safety of Brian’s company, Peyton didn’t give it a second thought. Careful not to pull a Jimmy, Peyton stepped over the edge with as much grace as she could manage.
The world beneath the lake’s surface was quiet. The lusting screams and loving qualms muffled into disarray. Peyton basked in it for a second, opening her eyes to watch the sunlight dance along the current until it faded out into nothingness. As her lungs tightened, she relented in her blissful drowning and climbed to the blue sky.
She positioned herself next to Brian, daringly close considering the watchful eyes lingering against her skin. But Peyton didn’t care. All she could focus on then was the comfort that came with Brian’s shoulders—the security she felt in her own existence by his side. She would never say it aloud but she was forever grateful for Jimmy turning up to wreak havoc on his girlfriend. Despite the nauseating realness of Jimmy’s adoration for Natalie, Peyton was glad for the disruption.
It had brought Brian back to her.




Notes

Poor Peyton; always put in the world's worst positions.

xx

Comments

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RamonaFoREVer RamonaFoREVer
6/18/19

@fyction
It is one of my favourite things. I melt every time!!

kiss my sas kiss my sas
6/11/19

@kiss my sas
I know! Isn’t it sweet?! Guh. Pellivan <3

fyction fyction
6/11/19

@fyction
BUT PELLIVAN IS TRUE LOVE!!!
I still get giddy when Peyton says 'I love you' to Jimmy... urgh! Such a long time coming!

kiss my sas kiss my sas
6/11/19

@kiss my sas
I mean.... Breyton could be revived... never say never ;)

fyction fyction
6/11/19