~ ♥ ~
Peyton pulled her জ্যাকেট closer around her as she walked back towards her apartment after work. For the past মাস অথবা so she had been working at Record Breaker Incorporated, it was an obvious step down from her পূর্ববর্তি job, but she had to pay the bills somehow. She still owned 10% of the label, she had signed the rest over to Haley, but it wasn’t the same as being there in person. Luckily her cell started ringing before she could think much আরো about her job. Assuming that it was Brooke calling for the weekly update that they had become accustomed to, she answered it quickly.
“Ok, B. Davis, I’m not at প্রথমপাতা yet, so try to keep the embarrassing stories to a minimal until later.”
“Peyton? This isn’t Brooke, its Lindsey.”
“Oh! Hi, Lindsey. Can I help আপনি with something?” Peyton said. She hadn’t talked to Lindsey since she left বৃক্ষ Hill, and she didn’t really know why she would be calling her.
“Actually I was just calling to see if আপনি were planning on coming to the wedding, Luke and I haven’t gotten your RSVP yet, and I’m trying to do the seating arrangement.”
Peyton tucked her hair behind her ear as she walked through her door, “I would প্রণয় to go, I’m just not sure whether I’ll be able to take time off of work to travel down there.”
“It’s going to be on a Saturday evening, so আপনি could fly down here and fly back before Monday, and not miss any work. Plus I’m sure Lucas would প্রণয় to see আপনি there since আপনি two are so close.” Lindsey ব্যক্ত snidely.
“I would প্রণয় to be there, but I don’t really have enough money to buy tickets at such short notice.”
“Well, call me দ্বারা পরবর্তি week if আপনি can get a ticket, I’ll leave two spots open for you...” Lindsey said.
“Wait? Why are আপনি leaving two spots open? If I can make it it will just be me.” Peyton said.
“Oh, I assumed আপনি were dating somebody. I mean, it’s not like you’re attached to anybody. Right?” Lindsey said.
“Um, right.” Peyton hesitantly said. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“Great, I look অগ্রবর্তী to it.” Lindsey ব্যক্ত before she disconnected the call.
Peyton was blown away. She had tried to be as politely direct as possible when hinting that she didn’t really want to go to the wedding, but for some reason Lindsey seemed to be set on her being there. Not only that, but she had also insinuated that she should bring a date. As if she was going to try to steal Lucas away on his wedding day.
Suddenly she felt like she couldn’t handle it anymore. She had no বন্ধু here. She had one of the worse jobs that she had ever had. And now she had to get enough money together to go back to her psychotic hometown to attend the wedding of her ex. That was later though. Right now all she needed was to go blow off some steam.
~ ♥ ~
Jess was doing the inventory at Truncheon Books, when Matthew and Chris walked in.
“Hey, man. Are আপনি planning on stopping দ্বারা the CBR Bar tonight?” Chris asked.
“I was thinking about it, why?” Jess responded.
“I just wanted to know if I would have to work tonight, Sam called off sick.” Matt said.
“Ok, when I ব্যক্ত that I was thinking about stopping by, I meant that I was thinking about going there to get some drinks. Not to pour drinks for the depressed tourists of Philly, as entertaining as that often is.” Jess said. “Plus I’ve worked there for the past week. If I step one foot in there in the পরবর্তি 3 days, I will not be doing the pouring. Got it?”
“Got it.” Matt said. “No dibs!”
“Aw, man. I had a তারিখ tonight আপনি guys.” Chris complained.
“Really, with who?” Jess jokingly asked.
“With that girl….from….with the….well, it’s not like আপনি guys have dates either.” Chris said. “I know that Matt claims that Amy from the coffee ভান্দার likes him, but I’m not even sure that he knows her name.” Chris continued before Matt could respond. “And it’s not like that brown headed girl from Yale is going to be coming back anytime soon.”
“What did আপনি just say?” Jess looked up quickly and asked.
“I just meant…”
“Finish up the inventory yourself. I’m going up.” Jess ব্যক্ত as he went up stairs to the apartment.
“Nice going, now we both have to work; I’ll finish up the inventory, আপনি go see if আপনি can cheer আরো people up at the bar.” Matt sarcastically ব্যক্ত as he stared at the stack of work he had to finish.
“Well, I’m going to call Sam and see if he is actually sick.” Chris said. “Better yet, I’ll offer him 200 extra bucks to go in tonight.”
“Wow, আপনি really want to go on this imaginary date, don’t you?” Matt said. “You know, Chris if আপনি have a girl আপনি can tell us. We won’t embarrass আপনি too much.”
“Yeah, yeah. Then how do আপনি explain the stack of ছবি that আপনি showed to Megan when I brought her here?” Chris said. “I still haven’t heard back from her, and that was two months ago.”
“Come on man! What were we supposed to do with the ছবি of আপনি sleeping? We couldn’t just throw them away, that would be like throwing away treasure. Blackmailing treasure to be আরো exact.” Matt responded.
“I’ll admit they were pretty good, I mean…”
They both paused as they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Suddenly Jess appeared before them.
“Ok, guys listen up. I’m about to go to the bar and get good and hammered. I am not going there to work. If I don’t see one of আপনি there in the পরবর্তি 10 minutes, then both of আপনি are locked out of the apartment and banned from the bar and store for the পরবর্তি three days. Remember the last time that happened?” Jess said.
They did remember. They had both been locked out of the apartment in the middle of December with nothing but the clothes on their backs. A couple of times they had been mistaken for a homeless couple. Needless to say they didn’t want that to happen again.
“Actually Jess, Sam will be there.” Chris said. “I just called him and it turns out that he’s not sick.”
“Great, but আপনি still have to stay here and do inventory with Matt,” Jess said. “And আপনি better not take those 200 dollars out of the register.”
~ ♥ ~
Peyton was sitting on a bar মল at the CBR bar, a place that one of the girls from work, Michelle, had told her about a couple of days ago. At the time, Peyton had politely declined, saying that she couldn’t go out then, but maybe she would another time. It turns out that all the motivation she needed to go to the bar was a slightly embarrassing phone call from a person that she was trying to stay far away from.
“Hi, what can I get you?” the man behind the bar said.
“Hi, Sam. I’ll take your strongest drink.” Peyton said.
“Yes ma’am. I just need to see your ID.”
Accustomed to being asked this question, Peyton quickly pulled out her ID to প্রদর্শনী the bartender. Five মিনিট later she was sipping on her drink, a drink appropriately named the Zombie. It was probably the strongest drink that she had ever had, but at least it tasted better than the Brooke Davis, she thought. Remembering the night that Brooke had named that drink made her drink her Zombie even faster. A few মিনিট later, as she ate a few পিনাটস্ out of the bowl beside her, she scanned the room quickly, trying to see if there was anybody interesting out tonight. Her eyes quickly went to the door when she saw it open and saw him enter. The guy that had been haunting most of her dreams lately. The guy whose book she had read cover to cover five times. The guy who was now sitting down a couple of stools away from her.
“Hey Sam. When’s Chris giving আপনি the 200 dollars?” Jess asked.
“Well, he ব্যক্ত that he was going to give to me ‘immediately’, so I’d say somewhere in the পরবর্তি two weeks.” Sam said.
“A little confident in Chris are we?” Jess ব্যক্ত with a smirk.
“Oh, আপনি know I’ve got to give him the benefit of the doubt.” Sam responded. “I assume that you’ll be having your usual.”
“You assume right.” Jess said.
That’s when he looked to his left and noticed the curly haired girl a couple of stools over. He knew that he she looked familiar, so he decided to ask.
“Excuse me.”
Peyton quickly looked over towards the direction of Jess’s voice. “Yes?”
“I know that I’ve seen আপনি before, but I can’t remember where.” Jess said. “Care to refresh my memory?”
“I’m Peyton. I was in the store about a মাস ago, the দিন that it rained. I slipped and আপনি helped me up.” Peyton responded.
“That’s right. আপনি know I didn’t mean to be rude when I shut the store down so fast, I was just really tired and it was getting late.” Jess ব্যক্ত as Sam handed him his drink.
“Oh, don’t worry. I didn’t take it personally.” Peyton said.
“Good.” Jess ব্যক্ত with a slight smile in her direction.
Peyton returned the smile and then her attention went to her drink. Realizing that it was empty, she was about to ask for another one when Jess stopped her.
“What are আপনি drinking?” Jess asked her.
“Um, the Zombie.” Peyton responded.
“And how many have আপনি had.”
“Just one.”
“Ok, I think you’ve had enough of those. আপনি do realize that that drink is the third most alcoholic drink in the world right?” Jess asked.
“Yeah, that’s kinda why I asked for it.” Peyton said. “What do আপনি suggest that I drink?”
“I’m glad that আপনি asked.” Jess said. “Sam get me a round of shots.”
“Coming up.” Sam said.
“What makes আপনি think that I’m going to do shots with you?” Peyton asked.
“Well, it’s a Wednesday night and আপনি are sitting at a bar alone.” Jess said. “You obviously have something that’s troubling you, and what better way to let it out then with someone that আপনি barely know over a round of shots.”
With the drink that she just had working through her system; his logic seemed pretty solid all of a sudden.
“Sounds good to me,” Peyton ব্যক্ত “Let’s do some shots.”
~ ♥ ~
Two hours, four rounds of shots, and a cab ride later, Peyton was having a bit of trouble getting into her apartment. The trouble being that she couldn’t seem to break away from a certain brown haired guy long enough to open the door. Finally, when oxygen became a necessity, they finally broke apart, and Peyton turned and opened up the door. As soon as they were in her apartment she turned around in Jess’s arms as their lips reconnected. Peyton took a hold of Jess’s শার্ট and began to walk/stumble towards her bedroom. She reached for the door and shut it behind her as she turned and faced Jess. Her হৃদয় was racing and she took a deep breath as she watched him walk towards her. As his hands found the buttons of her top, she hoped that she wasn’t about to make a huge mistake.
~ ♥ ~
The sun was shining bright when Peyton opened her eyes the পরবর্তি morning. As a matter of fact, she thought, the sun was shining brighter today than she ever remembered it shining before. As she reevaluated her headache, she started trying to remember what had happened last night. Jess from the bookstore. Shots. Cab. Kissing. She quickly looked over to the other side of the bed, but noticed that nobody else was there. Maybe it was all a really weird, vivid dream she thought. She started to get out of বিছানা when she realized two things: the first being that she didn’t have any clothes on, and the সেকেন্ড being that she could smell fresh coffee in her kitchen. Realizing that last night had really happened, Peyton hurried out of bed. She threw on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and walked out of her bedroom.
“Morning.” Jess ব্যক্ত “There’s fresh coffee on the counter.”
“Thank you.” Peyton ব্যক্ত as she poured herself a cup of coffee and took a tentative sip. “This coffee is really good.”
“All credit goes to my uncle, it’s his recipe.” Jess said.
“It’s good.” She said. “So, are we going to talk about what happened last night?”
“We probably should.” He said.
“Well, I think that we both just got a little too drunk and a little too friendly.” Peyton said. “I mean, it really didn’t mean anything, did it?”
“Of course it didn’t. It’s just like আপনি ব্যক্ত we got drunk and frisky. That’s it.” Jess said.
“Well, actually, I ব্যক্ত friendly, but yeah that’s pretty much the same thing.” Peyton said.
“So what do we do now?” He asked.
“I drink my coffee and আপনি leave and go to work, then we act like this never happened.” Peyton responded. “Sound like a plan?”
“Sounds like a plan. Bye Peyton.” Jess said.
“Bye Jess.”
Jess walked out of the door with a wave and Peyton turned back to her coffee. She took another sip as she walked towards her room. “I’m really going to miss this coffee,” she thought.
