You and I

Chapter 21

Rowan POV

My Harmonie costume covered my burns very well so I didn't have to worry about that.

But the one thing that I was worried about was Peyton and Brian being in the same room. Yes, they might just ignore each other, but they also might kill each other. And I didn't think I'd be able to distract Peyton because he was obviously mad at me.

AND today was the day I was going to tell Peyton that I still have lots of burns left on my arms and that's why I've been hiding them. I don't think it helps that today I scraped my arms on the kitchen counter by accident and now they were continuously bleeding.

I pushed all my thoughts aside when I opened the car door and said goodbye to my mom. I was at the party now. No going back.

"Hey Row!!!" Corey ran up to me, with Sabrina at his side.

"Hey guys. Sooooooooo is Peyton here yet?" I asked.

"No not yet. But shouldn't you know? I mean, you are his girlfriend." Sabrina said.

"Yeah, but we kinda got in a fight. And I need to talk to him." I answered, hoping that they wouldn't ask any more questions.

"So that means I should distract Brian?" Corey said, pointing at Brian, who was at the punch bowl staring at us.

"Definetly." I said. "So since Peyton isn't here yet, let's go check out everyone's costumes!!!" I said excitedly. "By the way Corey, I love your Draco costume. Peyton actually tried that one on."

"Hahaha. But I bet I look way better in it than Peyton did." Corey joked.

I rolled my eyes and smiled. Then we walked over to the rest of the people. I saw Sabrina run over to Bradley and I smiled. They're such a cute couple.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and expected it to be Peyton. It wasn't.

"Oh, uh hey Brian." I said. I was still pretty uncomfortable around him, seeing as he's the one who set the fire.

"Hello. I love your costume." He said looking at it.

"Oh ha thanks. Yours too." I said then turned around to see Peyton walking into the party.

"Hey, I've gotta go. See you later." I ran over to Peyton, who was now talking to Jake Short.

I didn't want to interrupt them so I grabbed a cup of punch from the table, which Peyton was right next to. I was hoping that he would see me and come over, but he didn't.

Then I decided I had to talk to Peyton now or never. I walked over and tapped his shoulder.

"Could we talk?" I asked him.

"Um, sure. Sorry Jake. I'll be right back." Peyton said.

I grabbed Peyton's wrist (partly to get him to follow me and also because I don't think he was in the romantic hand holding mood) and brought him over to the corner of the room, where no one else was.

"What?" Peyton said. I could tell he was still mad at me.

"I need to tell you why I've been so, you know, secretive."

His eyes perked up and he looked more like he was actually listening.

"I, well, I'm not actually healed. The truth is, I've been hiding my arms because they still have burns on them. But I pretended I was healed so that I could finally get out of the suffocating hospital." I lifted up my sleeves to show my burns.

"Rowan, these are bad!!! Why didn't you tell me before?" He said.

"I was afraid you would take me back to the hospital." I looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have lied to you."

Peyton sighed and grabbed my arms. "It's ok. I forgive you. But, Rowan, you need to get these checked out."

"No!!! See, this is just what I was afraid of!!!" I pulled away from Peyton. "I'm fine, really, it looks worse than it feels. Now come on, there's a perfectly good party going on. Let's not waste it."

"Ok. But afterwards, if you won't let the hospital take care of you, I will. All you need to do is rest and let the burns heal." Peyton said. He's so sweet.

"Ok. Now come on!!!" I smiled at brought him over to the dance floor.

We danced for about 10 minutes until the heat started to get to me. Gosh it's hot. I pulled a couple times at my collar, trying to get some cool air in my costume. I should've done what everyone else did, and worn short sleeves. But then my stupid burns would've shown. Uuuggghhh.

I stopped dancing and took deep breaths. It didn't help. I started feeling light headed.

"Rowan are you ok?" Peyton stopped dancing and looked at me.

That was the last thing I saw.