Dear Payton,

Chapter 5

It's 10:34a.m and I just got out of my sociology class. I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket and I look at it to see Payton's name. I answered it and said, "Hello?" "Sam! I'm outside building 3 and I have some lunch for us! Come on, we'll eat in my tailgate." Payton said before hanging up. I walked as fast as I could to building 3, excited to see Payton. I thought she had work today but I guess she ended up taking the entire day off. I got to building 3 and walked out the doors to see Payton's truck, she rarely drives it. It takes a lot of gas and we usually use it for road trips and drive in movies. I hop onto her tailgate and she hands me a box of pizza and diet coke. She says, "okay, I have a huge surprise for you." I took a drink of my diet coke and said, "isn't it a little early for lunch?" She laughed and said, "Maybe, but that's not the point! I got a promotion." I put my coke down and looked at her in shock while screaming, "A promotion?! Wow! Baby, that's fantastic!!" I hugged her and kissed her. Still in shock I asked, "So, how'd you find out? What did they say?" She paused for a bit and took my hand. She smiled and calmed herself down. She looked afraid but yet excited all at the same time. I new this promotion was going to be a huge start for us but then again, a huge change. She took a breath and said, "Well, I was in my office and my manager Daniel came up to me. He said that there was a photographer needed for a new studio in Chicago called, Angels Photography. They're expecting to be huge and the pay is great. So, they're looking for talented photographers who are used to working with teens and all age groups. Because it's a new studio, not many photographers are willing to take the job incase it's not as successful as they plead. But, he said if it's not, he'd give me my old job back. Plus, the pay is 3 times better then what I make here." I took a deep breath for a minute and was too excited to think about moving. I smiled and said, "Wow! So, we're moving to Chicago?" Payton smiles and laughs, I guess she thought I wouldn't want to leave. The sparkle in Payton's eyes were so beautiful. Just the way the happiness is more in her spirit then in her physical smile. Maybe this change will be good for us. I just started school so starting a new one wouldn't be too bad. I smiled once again and over excitedly say. "I guess, We're moving to Chicago!" She got up and pulled me up off my feet and we jumped excitedly and kissed in her tailgate. We started screaming and celebrating, "We're moving to Chicago!!"

It's 11:07a.m, I skipped retail management class to go home and celebrate with Payton. We walked in and we sat down to talk about what we need to get done. Payton said, "We're moving on the 7th of December and It's the 16th of November now so that gives us about 20 days. My manager and I have sat down and found a gorgeous apartment right around the corner and in the middle of the city. We placed an apartment on hold, It's called C.C Ridge, Chicago City Ridge. It's 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, it's beautiful and big. I'll be making a lot more now so you don't have to work part time, I know how working and studying with college stuff stressed you out. You'll be finishing college at The University of Chicago, it's a 4 star college. I know you'll just love it!" As Payton is going on and on, I start to picture how our lives will be. How perfect everything is laid out for us. This is probably the most wonderful surprise I've ever had in my life. Chicago is a beautiful place to live and there's so much to do. God, I'm so glad to be starting my life with Payton. While Payton starts to look at the map of Chicago, I get up and wrap my arms around her stomach from behind. I start to kiss her neck and up to her cheek. She smiles and starts to mumble, "Sam, are you excited to be moving? I mean I know it's a lot to put on you in just one seating." I kiss her some more and lean my head on her shoulder and say, "yes babe, I'm the most excited girl right now. I don't think words can even tell you how happy I am." Payton slowly looks around the apartment and says, "Hmmm, we have a lot of memories in this apartment. I'm going to miss it." I walk over in front of her and say, "Yeah, but we will make even more memories in Chicago! It'll be so much fun and beautiful! But I mean, I'll only go on one condition." Payton raises an eye brow and looks at me with a jokingly, annoyed, look. I laugh and say, "you have to catch me first." I ran into the bedroom and hid under the bed. Payton comes running in and check in the closet between all the clothes. "Sam?" Payton asks. She starts going through everything trying to find me. She leaves the room and comes back in about 3 minutes later. She starts to say, "Sam, why are you such a child?" She pulls me out from underneath the bed and straddles on top of me. She kisses me hard and says, "I found you." I sit up and kiss her one more time. "Payton, I love you. This promotion and Chicago, I know it's going to be amazing. Don't worry about me, let's just have fun. Pack all of our shit up and just go with the flow." She gets off of me and sits next to me against the bed and says, "I love you too. I agree, we'll make this fun." Shes grabs my hand and continues saying, "I can't believe you just hid under the bed. Even after 5 years you still seem the surprise at random moments." I smiled and laughed. I kissed her hand and leaned my head onto her shoulder and we just sat there for 5 minutes taking it all in.

12:14p.m, we're cleaning out our closets and then we're headed to our basement. 20 days isn't really that long to just pick up and move. Also, our new apartment doesn't have a basement so we're gonna have to decide on what we want to keep and what we don't. While we're discussing the location and what there is to do around Chicago, Payton is throwing random thing at me to fold or throw away. After an hour of brutal clothing decisions, we get to items that we just shoved at the top and forgot about. She handed me a frame that someone got us for our 4 month anniversary. It had a picture of us in the middle and empty spaces around it followed by the quote, "you're my past, present, and future." We decided to keep it then she handed me a box full of old pictures. I started looking through them and they were pictures of my family that my grandpa gave to me. I started to smile and look through them and I found the one of my grandmother and grandfather standing together at the alter on there wedding day. I folded it up, put it in my phone case, and then put the box to the side. I wasn't really close to my grandfather, I honestly wish I was before. He always accepted me and made me the happiest girl in the world when I was around him. Just seeing his smile and his face brings me comfort. Payton pulled down another shoe box, she sat on the floor and opened it. She pulled out a piece of paper and then I realized what she had. It was my box full of all my 'Dear Payton' letters. I started to panic and I took the letter out of her hand and the box. She said, "what's in the box?" My heart started to beat out of my chest and I took a deep breath, "Um, it's old letters from my mom, she left them to me in her will when she died. I just don't want to think about that right now. It's a happy time for us, ya know?" "It has Dear Payton on it though." She said confusingly. "Yeah, it's a letter to you from my mom. But, it's not until we're older and I kinda want to save it for when we are." I lie as I fake a smile and she shakes her head and says, "alright babe." I let out a sigh of relief and push the box under the bed. I looked back at Payton and there was one last thing, it was a small, black box. It was stuck in the corner and had dust all over the top of it. I could feel my heart drop to the bottom of my stomach as the suspense fell over me. I had no idea what it was, but Payton turned to me and she began to smile and so did I.