Falsities

Chapter Nine

Peyton's POV
"What?" I ask her. I'm laying on Rowan's bed and she's leaning against her bathroom doorframe.
"I just," she sighs. "Why did you ask me out in the first place?"
"Rowan," I say, perching myself up on my elbow, "what is that supposed to mean?"
"It's a pretty straightforward question, Pey," she says, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Not really," I tell her.
"What do you mean 'not really'? It's not a riddle," she snaps.
"Rowan," I say calmly, "I don't know how to answer that."
"Just tell me," she sighs.
"I guess because I finally got the courage to," I confess.
"Yeah, but, why me?"
Oh. I get it now. "Because you're beautiful, and your personality is amazing," I tell her. "And I had an enormous crush on you." She shakes her head. "What?"
"I don't understand," she whispers.
"Why don't you understand?" I ask. Something behind her eyes snaps.
"Do you see this? Are you seeing the same things I am?" she yells.
"A couple that are extremely cute together?" I smirk.
"No, Peyton," she sighs. "You're almost eighteen and I'm fourteen."
"Yes, I know that," I tell her. "I also know that you're almost fifteen."
"Yeah, so?" she snaps.
"Yeah, so if you're worried about what I think you're worried about," I say, "you shouldn't be."
"Why shouldn't I be?"
"Because," I tell her as I sit up, "age is a number and only a number."
She shakes her head, "Peyton, you're going to be an adult. I'm going to be a kid for three years after you become an adult. Doesn't that bother you?"
"No," I tell her simply. She mumbles something, but I decide not to ask her about it. "C'mere," I say, motioning for her to come closer. She does, and I pull her onto my lap. She sits sideways on my lap and looks at her hands, which sit in her lap. "Your age will never matter to me. Think of it this way: when you're 19, I'll be 22. And who cares if a 19-year-old is dating a 22-year-old?"
"No one," she sighs.
"Exactly. So it's not a big deal now," I smile and kiss her temple lightly.
~~~
I wake up and Rowan isn't beside me. I stand and stretch, then knock on the bathroom door. "Row?" I call, hoping she's in there.
"Yeah?" she answers. She would have asked me to hold on if she wasn't comfortable with me coming in, so I open the door and find her with concealer in one hand and a brush in the other. But, she's already done her makeup.
"What are you doing?" I ask her and she shakes her head, giving me a small smile. She sets the makeup down and puts her hands in her pockets. "Row?"
"Yeah?" she asks, shifting her weight on her feet.
"What's wrong?" I ask as I walk over to her.
"Nothing," she says, looking at her toes, which are squirming.
I lift her chin to look at her eyes, but she averts them. "Is this about yesterday?"
"No," she sighs. "I'm fine, Peyton."
"Show me your hand," I tell her. She's never acted this oddly around me, and this is the only thing I could think of. She must be holding something that she's trying to hide from me.
"Why?" she asks.
"Row," I sigh, "please?" She pulls her right hand out of her pocket and flips it over, showing me there's nothing. "Show me the other one," I say. She doesn't move. "Rowan, I'm not gonna get mad at you."
"Not at me," she mumbles. I would have asked her what she meant, but she pulled her right hand out of her pocket and held it in front of me. There are purple and red bruises ringed around her wrist.
"What the hell happened?" I exclaim, taking her hand in mine lightly, bringing it to my face to see it closer.
"Peyton, it's not a big deal," Rowan says to me.
"Did someone do this to you?" I ask. She stays silent. "Tell me it wasn't Alex." She looks down again and I drop her hand.
I bolt out the door and run to the front of the studio, where I gladly find Alex. I walk up to him with my head held high and shove him harshly against the wall. "Woah," he smirks, "someone's got a temper." I punch him in the face and throw him on the ground. He gets up quickly, standing in front of me. "Who pissed in your coffee?" Alex retorts.
"Shut up, asshole," I say, punching him again. His lip starts to bleed, and he swings his arm at me, but I catch it and throw him against the wall again.
I hear someone scream my name, but everything is a blur. I am so blind with rage, punching the shit out of Alex, that I don't stop until I feel two hands, her hands, on my rib cage. She calls my name again but I don't look at her. I have to do this. He hurt her. I have to hurt him. I have to... I have to...
"Peyton." My name falls off of her lips gently. Her hands slide up my chest and neck to my cheeks, where they rest. "Peyton, love," she says sweetly, and my eyes go from Alex's bloody face to Rowan's beautiful one. "Stop," she tells me.
"He hurt you," I tell her.
"It's okay," she says, looking directly into my eyes.
"No, it's not," I say. "It will never be okay."
"Hey," she says, brushing her thumb lightly against my cheek, "he may have hurt me but it's not a big deal. It'll go away. I'll be fine." I grab her hands off of my cheeks and hold them in my own.
"Cute," remarks a voice from behind Rowan. I almost forgot he was there, but he's slumped against the wall, bloody faced and smirking. "Your little girlfriend has to stop you from hurting anybody, aw," he mocks.
I take a step forward but Rowan pushes me back, then turns to face Alex. "I'm sorry, what?" she snaps.
Alex is smirking as he says, "Poor Peyton needs a girl to get him to stop. How pathetic."
I would have punched him, but Rowan's fist collides with Alex's face before I can even move. "That's for thinking girls are inferior, asshat," she says as Alex fades to unconsciousness.
That's when I notice the crowd around us. Basically the whole cast is there, including Michael and Joel. I see Dean jog up next to Joel, and upon seeing Alex, contorting his face into full on anger.
Shit.
<-------->
Peyton is such a cutie.
On a completely unrelated note, did you guys watch Girl Meets Texas (all parts)? I was extremely disappointed by everything.