Welcome Home Beautiful (Book 2)

Chapter 15: Silence

Rowan's POV:
Sabrina told me to be at her house at 6 before I left the studio. I'm not sure why, but I listened to her anyway. My mom dropped me off at her house. I waved bye to my mom and walked up to her front door. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. It only creaked open so I decided to just enter the house. It was dark, so I was hesitant walking in.

I was almost startled half to death when the flights turned on and everyone jumped out to yell, "Surprise!" There were streamers everywhere and a big sign in the middle of living room that said 'Welcome Home Rowan!'

I ran up to Sabrina and gave her and everyone a hug, making sure to thank them for participating and throwing the welcoming back party for me. Before I could thank Peyton, he looked at me, then at the floor, and walked outside. Maybe he had something going on, I thought. So I just pushed it aside for the moment and went back to seeing some of my other friends.

I got to catch up with old friends and couldn't help but wonder where Peyton was. I haven't seen him for the past few hours. "Hey Sabrina, wheres Peyton?" I asked. She simply smirked and then pointed towards the backyard. I opened the back sliding door and saw Peyton with his head some and his eyes locked on the gravel ground.

I slowly headed over to the swing that he was currently sitting on. I sat down next to him and quickly/awkwardly said, "Hi.." He kept his eyes down and said, "..hi," back. "You okay?" I asked him. Peyton sighed, "No, not really."

This was probably a really dumb thing to ask, yet I asked anyways. "What's wrong?" After I asked that, he finally looked up at me. "What's wrong? What's wrong?! What's wrong is that the girl that I loved, moved away without telling me until the day she left. Over a note Rowan! A note! I'm not okay because seeing you is making me fall for you all over again and I don't know if I can forgive you because of how you broke my heart. You seriously think that breaking up with me was better than telling me the truth?! Well you're dead wrong Rowan." He tried storming out with the last word but I wouldn't let him.

"You know why I did what I did! I was afraid to say goodbye to you Peyton! It would've been too painful for me!" I yelled back. "You made me believe that I did something wrong. I felt like I was the reason you broke up with me..you made me feel so much pain and heartache." He turned around took a few steps away from me, but then stopped to finish what he needed to say.

"And somehow, throughout everything you've done, I still love you..and that's what scares me the most." His last words held me there in a shocked state. When he left, I didn't stop him. I just stood there...

..realizing what I did to him.