Growing Up Hobart: the Politician

7

A/N: Wow, thank you so much for 1k reads! I'm so glad that you're all enjoying the story!

Weirdly enough, after a few days of letting the reality of River's move sink in, Payton was practically back to his normal self. A massive wave of ambition had taken him over which motivated him to spend hours every day learning as much as he could about presidents and how to become one.

Now, Payton was looking at his clock, which revealed to him that it was the early afternoon. The house was fairly quiet for a Saturday, but then again Payton had spent most of it in his room. Martin and Luther were having some friends over soon, and despite hoping he had been successfully able to upkeep his alliance with Martin the past week or two, he still didn't want to be at home when the boys arrived.

Slowly, he headed down to his father's library and leaned his body into the giant door once more in order to invite himself in. Keaton was bent over a box of books, carefully observing each one before logging them in his records and putting them in their new home on one of the many crowded shelves. When his son came in, he stopped his work.

"Hello, Payton. I haven't seen much of you today."

"I was in my room."

"Do you need something?"

"Can we go to the bookstore?" Payton asked, an edge of excitement in his voice. Keaton paused for a moment.

"Why? Are you having trouble with the book on George W. Bush and would like to try something else?"

Payton shook his head. "No, well, yes, I suppose. I mean, I would like to get another book but it's not because I'm having trouble with the autobiography. It's because I finished that."

Keaton was glancing down at his records when Payton had started talking, but had now entirely paused and was looking at the young boy with wide eyes of shock. Payton started back at him with a hint of confusion in his eyes.

"Is that a 'no'?" The boy questioned, confused. Keaton snapped out of his surprised state.

"No, no, I can absolutely take you to get another book!" Keaton blurted out, talking rapidly at first. Payton grinned, excitement flooding his body.

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While in the car, Keaton tried to think of small talk to make with his son. What he didn't realize was that Payton, who was twiddling his thumbs while looking out the window of the backseat, was somewhat grateful for the silence. The boy took advantage of the time by making his final decision on which president he would like to read about next. He had considered working his way backwards and was about to confirm this decision with himself when his father suddenly broke his train of thought.

"Your mother told me that one of your classmates moved."

Payton turned his attention from the moving pictures outside the car window to the rearview mirror. He could just make out the top of his father's head, giving him a shot at reading his expressions. Payton wasn't exactly sure how to respond to his father's remarks, especially since River was just entering the back of his mind. The last thing he wanted to talk about was River.

"Payton?"

"Hmm?" Payton half-hummed, before realizing that he had not reacted to his father's prior statement. "Um, yes, that is correct," the boy then said, trying to appear unaffected. Maybe if he sounded like he didn't care about River, then the subject would be dropped, and he could quickly shove River to the back of his mind once more.

"Did you know him very well?"

Payton opened his mouth to respond, but halted. Did he know River? He felt like he didn't, but at the same time, he felt like he did. Wanting to drop the subject, he chose the former. "No, not really." Payton's response was followed by a moment of silence, and he could tell by the furrowed brow he saw in the mirror that his father was trying to think of what to say next.