HARD TIMES ━ lip gallagher²

extra | logan & payton

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𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 02 - 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐒
𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐍'𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖

It wasn't often I caught feelings, and when I did, the crush usually lasted four to five days before I got bored, and moved on. Payton Ortega was not the case. She didn't fit any of my usual crush categories, in fact, she wasn't like anyone else I had ever met before.

And much to my complete shock, I was frozen at the door of my room when I saw her standing there in the hallway with a backpack within her grasp.

All those emotions that I had felt for her a summer ago, I thought they had faded, but clearly my crush on her was more than just a three month's fling, because my insides nearly burst with having her so close.

My head whirled with some sort of greeting, a hug, maybe. After all, she clearly came all this way just to see me. I should've smiled, welcomed her inside my dorm, but I was at a loss for words. The only thing I managed to let slip out of my mouth was her name, in a stunned whisper.

"Guilty," came her clever response, as always. Payton raised a slender brow that made my heart lurch, and I was suddenly so very tempted to lean forward and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "So, are we just gonna keep standing in your doorway awkwardly, or are you gonna let me in?"

"Shit, yeah," I moved out of the way to give her space so she could walk in. I shut the door behind her and leaned against it, watching as she glanced around my room, trying to calm my rapidly beating heart down. "How've you been?"

Payton looked over her shoulder at me. "I'm better now."

My legs nearly gave out at that. For a moment, I let myself consider what other meaning that statement could have. Was she better now because she was with me? Was it possible that she felt the same? Was I overthinking? Most likely, but perhaps there could have been double meaning to that. Payton turned back to face my desk, and I let my thoughts fade into nothing but a glimmer of hope—because of course she didn't like me back.

"Surprised to see you," I admitted. "Is the school not rebuilt yet?"

Payton lifted her shoulder into a shrug. "We have a week to get back into the dorms. I figured I'd come visit you. See your campus."

"Nice, isn't it? I love it."

Payton was facing me now. "No roommate?"

"Oh," I shook my head, my gaze landing on the empty cot on the opposite side of the room. "Drug overdose a couple of weeks ago. Haven't found a replacement. Hey, your accent is gone."

"Is it?" Payton cocked her head to the side, eyeing me like a cat watched a mouse. I had to grip the door handle before I fell over. "Don't tell me I sound like a stupid American now."

"Unfortunately so."

She snorted, fiddling with one of the pages on the open notebook that laid atop my desk. It was the first time I noticed how fidgety she was. Payton never got nervous. What was going on?

"I was in Chicago for a little while," she told me, suddenly very interested in the carpeted floor. "Living with my ex-girlfriend."

I choked. "Girlfriend?!"

Payton's lips turned into a small smile. "Yeah, I visited Amara, too. On my way there, and on my way back."

"How's she?"

Payton nodded. "Good, I think. I can tell the whole breakup thing is getting to her. She thinks she's good at hiding it, but she's not."

"Distance does that to people, I suppose," I said, and Payton stepped closer to me. I hoped she couldn't hear my strained breathing. It was always like that with her, I felt like my insides would burst even with the simplest glance in her direction.

"I hate long distance."

I swallowed. "Yeah, me too."

"It's why I want to transfer my credits over to University of Maine."

I sputtered, and did a double take. Was I imagining things? Surely this had to be a dream. Maybe I needed to clean my ears. "What?" I managed to choke out.

"Jeez, old lady. We've been apart a year, did you go deaf?"

"I think so. I mean, I swear I just heard you say..."

Payton took her hands in mine, and I was almost so sure she could hear my heart thundering in my chest. I was positive this was some sort of twisted joke.

"I want to stay here. With you. If you'll have me."

I felt my jaw drop. "Are you serious?"

Payton dragged a finger down my jaw. I refrained from shivering, and she stared at me with an emotion in her eye that I couldn't quite place. "I've never been more serious in my life."

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a/n

surprise ;) i wanted to do a little chapter on these two for AGES, i figured for those of you who liked them decided to see what happened between them + they will be making more appearances later on in the series, and this is important towards their development. hope u enjoyed!