Three Perfect Months ~Riley McDonough Story~

Chapter Eleven

Peyton's POV

"You really like my brother, huh?" Toby asked from where he laid on his bed with his laptop.

I was doing my hair in front of the mirror in the bathroom. Thank god I brought my curling iron on tour with me. Jack said it was a waste of space, but I had argued it would come in handy when I had to look extra nice. Tonight was that night.

I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Are you guys still going to be together after tour?" He asked.

I hesitated. "Unlikely..."

"Why not?"

"Just because Toby." His questioning was starting to get a little unsettling for me. Although I couldn't blame him for asking me these things. And I didn't want to get impatient with Toby. He's honestly too adorable to be upset with, in a little brother kind of way.

"What about when you come to Orlando for college?"

I glanced in the mirror and caught him looking at me intently. He looked so young, and innocent. Even though I know he isn't very young, but he just seemed like it in that moment. I finished the piece of hair I was curling and put down the curling iron to make my way over to Toby. I sat down next to him and put my arm over his shoulder.

"What's with all the questions?" I asked softly.

Toby shrugged. "I get the whole friends with benefits thing-"

I cut him off. "It's not friends with benefits!"

"I know," he said, "I know it's not, which makes it even more confusing. I'd get it if you were just friends with benefits. But you guys seem to like each other a lot, so why not make it serious?"

"Because I'm not ready for serious, again." I sighed. "I got hurt, Toby. Really bad and I don't want to get so dependent on someone again. But that doesn't diminish the fact that I like Riley. And Riley likes me. So, why not date while we can right?"

"Yeah, I guess but..." Toby trailed off. "Okay, what if you want to stay together by the end of tour?"

I opened my mouth to say something, then closed it again. To be honest, I just thought that by the end of the summer it'd be okay. But I've never really thought about what would happen if either of us wanted to stay together. I don't think I'd want to, this was my idea to begin with. And I don't think Riley would want to either. At least I hope not. I haven't really let myself think about anything other than the present because everything else seems too scary and confusing.

I patted Toby on the back and sighed before getting up. "I have to finish my hair."

My hair was done in another ten minutes, but I still had no clue what to wear. Riley never told me where we were going and even if it was kind of a fancy place, I had about two skirts and no dresses.

"Tobyyyy." I whined. I flopped down next to my bag. "What do I do?"

"Do I look like a girl to you?" He asked sarcastically. I sat up and opened my mouth to answer, but he held his hand up. "Don't answer that."

I sighed and I pulled some clothes out of my bag and dumped them onto the bed. By this point I was about to go in the cotton shorts and tank top I was wearing.

I grabbed a pair of black jeans and a green tube top and ran into the bathroom with it.

"Okay what about this?" I asked as I emerged from the bathroom.

Toby didn't even look up. "You look great."

"Toby you're not helping!" I yelled, maybe a little too loud. I groaned and grabbed something random out of the pile before going back into the bathroom. When I came back out again I was wearing black high waisted shorts with a white quarter-sleeved sweater shirt. It was light enough to wear during the summer, warm enough to wear on a cold summer night.