Man, I shouldn't have let Bethany kiss me. What does Payton think of me now? I've seen her around but haven't had the nerve to look her in the eye. I hopped into my Audi TT and drove home. Once I pulled in and park Channing come up to me, "Hey, have you talked to Payton today? She seemed a little off when I dropped her off at Tara's."
"Um, not really, I've been a little occupied today with Bethany in town. Wait, why did she go to Tara's, cause I really need to talk to her about the Bethany kissing me thing." I started to get worried, she's not settled yet and I'm already messing stuff up by kissing her and Bethany within twenty- four hours.
"Well she is over there if you wanna talk to her. Good luck man. She looked kind of upset." Channing replied clapping me on the back. This will be a fun conversation...
~~~~~~~~
I walked up to Tara's front door and knocked, waiting for eternity.
"Eion, hey, um come in I guess." Tara motions into the house. "Not to sound rude, but why are you here?"
"I came to get Payton and talk to her about what happened between Bethany and me. She kind of kissed me this morning when I told Payton I was going for a run. Now, can I speak to her please." I looked around to see if any of her stuff is here, but it wasn't.
"Look, you majorly messed up if you lied to her. Plus, she isn't here. I haven't seen her since lunch. She said she didn't feel good today." She looked at me like I was supposed to know what to do.
"Channing said he dropped her off here after school. Where else would she be?"
"I don't know! She lives in your house!" Tara looked a little pissed.
"She's your best friend," I half yelled, then stopped. Rubbing my hand over my face in exasperation.
"We are the only ones that she has, her crazy Aunt carol just came back to try and take her from mom and dad. She's under a lot of stress. She doesn't exactly fit in yet." I started pacing and keep thinking.
"You don't think she would run away do you?" Tara asked with her eyes wide. Oh gosh I hope not. "You should call your mom."
I quickly pulled my phone from my pocket as Tara and I ran toward my car. Mom picked up on the second ring.
"Eion? Is everything okay?" She asked concerned.
"So Payton isn't at Tara's. I'm on my way home now with her, we think she may have ran away. Some things happened today that Im not proud of, and Im pretty sure it made her upset," I replied hitting my hand against the steering wheel.
"Eion calm down. We'll find her. Just get home," Jamie replied before hanging up.
We got back to the house and everyone was standing in the living room talking amongst themselves. I walked in with Tara and Dad started freaking out.
"Where is she Eion? What happened?"
"I dont know Dad! God, its all my fault. I lied to her this morning about going running, and I went to go see Bethany. But when I saw her, she took the greeting too far and kissed me. Payton found out..and got quite upset because just the other night, I had kissed her too." I confessed to everyone.
The look of surprise on their faces wasn't shocking. What was, was that Channing nearly slapped me if it hadn't been for James stopping him.
"Payton is such a great girl. How could you do something like that to her Eion!"
"I wasn't thinking! It wasn't like I wanted Bethany to kiss me! I didn't even kiss her back," I replied at Channing's yelling.
"Then you're right. It is your fault she's gone," Channing replied with more anger in his voice than I had ever heard out of him.
"Hey! Everyone calm down! It's no one's fault that Payton left. If that's even the case. Let's just figure out where she is!" Jamie yelled, quieting everyone down in surprise at her rising voice.
Tara spoke up from the silence, "I think I have an idea where she may be.."
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Payton's POV
"Alright sweetie, we are about two hours from home. I have some ground rules." Carol puts the car in park at a little run down dinner and opens her door. "First, you have curfue at ten o'clock. Second, you will no longer have phone privlages after eleven p.m. You chose to live with me now. That is how it's going to be, no going back. Third, no boyfriends you are only sixteen. Finally, you will answer me with yes ma'am not with any attitude, you were obviously not raised right, so I am going to straighten you out. Understood." Aunt Carol looked at me with a cold glare. This is not what I expected...
"Yes ma'am." I look her in the eye and follow her to a booth and sit to order a quick bite to eat.
"Nothing over ten dollars, now that I have your pathetic mouth to feed I wont have as much money to spend on myself. I hope you have your things, because I'm not going to be buying you alot of personal items" I nod stunned and kind of hurt. I thought we were family and she was going to take care of me.
We ate in silence then continued on the long drive to Athens, Georgia. Around four a.m we pulled into a small single story house with a small porch in the front and a white picket fence. It looked pretty normal from the outside. We walk inside and she throws her keys on the table beside the door and points down the hall to the door on the left, "That is your room, don't bother decorating it. I most likely won't let you keep the things you put in it. Go straight to bed, you have school tomorrow. It starts at eight and I expect you to be there before then. Got it?" She looks at me sternly.
"Yes ma'am." I turn and head toward the room on the left and open the door. There was a matress to the left corner and a dresser on the back wall, the rest was empty. What did I walk into?
YOU ARE READING
Life with the Ryan Boys
Teen FictionAll her life Payton Reeves had wanted the perfect family, but with her alcoholic mother and drug dealing dad that was kinda impossible. A couple of times she had wished they would die... but she didn't really mean it, so when it actually happend she...