Rule #3: No Physical Contact
Hugging is an uncomfortable invasion of personal space.
- () -
My friends are leaving today to go back to Chicago. They tell me that they want to meet their families in time for Thanksgiving. Needless to say, I'm devastated. This is mostly because I never really saw the appeal of Thanksgiving since a) I'm vegetarian and b) I hate my family.
"Gwen and Xavier broke up." Andrew tells me just as we shove Irene's stuffed suitcase (that woman packs more clothes than the rest of us combined) in the back of my dad's truck. I'm so startled by the change in subject that I hit my head on top of the car.
"They did?" I can't stop the triumph that takes over me. "Who dumped who?"
"Gwen dumped Xavier," He says, watching my expression intently. "It's blasting all over my Twitter account."
"You have a twitter account?" Jake, who's sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, jerks his head up.
"I follow health blogs for Irene, animal blogs for Peyton and car blogs for you. How do you think I know all those facts?"
"What's in it for you, then?"
"Blackmail, dude."
"Ah." Appeased with this answer, Jake rests his head back on Irene's shoulder, who rolls her eyes and continues sorting through her purse.
Andrew taps my shoulder. "You seem pretty happy about this."
"The sadder Xavier is, the happier I am."
Archer, who's sitting on the edge of the sidewalk, is too busy sketching something for Jake and Andrew on his paper to hear us. Besides, he's nodding to a beat on his headphones to even hear us anyways. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop his little sister, Julia, from overhearing us.
"Who's Gwen and Xavier?" She demands, her hands on her hips.
What a nosy brat. I wish she would have stayed in her room instead of helping us pack up.
"My ex-friend and my ex-boyfriend," My tone indicates that it's not something I want to discuss. As always, Andrew doesn't get the memo.
"I thought you had gotten over them." He slams the trunk closed and looks down at me. Andrew and Irene disapprove with my obsession with Gwen and Xavier, even if my interest just goes as far as wanting to see their downfall.
"I am. I barely think about them now." This, at least, is the truth.
Andrew opens his mouth, but my dad interrupts him. "Ready to go?"
"Not yet," Irene stands up and brushes off the dirt on her black skirt. "We still have to pass out the parting gifts. Yours in the house, let me go it."
"What?" I cross my arms. "But I didn't give you guys anything."
"Paying for the damage we did at Homecoming was enough," Andrew whispers to me, talking about the burnt speaker. I paid the receipt from the remaining part of my salary. "Besides, it's not just for you. We got stuff for Melody, James and Archer as well."
"You did?" Archer, who stands up when Irene comes out (now armed with dark purple shopping bags), lowers his earphones so he can properly hear us. "Why would you that?"
"Bro," He grabs one of Irene's bags and hands it to Archer. "I'd do anything for somebody gives me such a sick tattoo."
It turns out that Jake and Andrew gave him a new sketchpad and a penguin-shaped stress ball, which is good, because he needs one.
Irene, on the other hand, hands me a distorted crown. "I wanted to make you one of those flower crowns - it'd look really with good with your hair - but I couldn't find the right materials so, I made a barbed wire crown instead. I know it's not the best, but..."
I stare at it for second, unsure what to say.
"I think it's gorgeous."
She perks up. "Really?"
"Of course." And even though my instincts are telling me not to, I place the crown on my head.
I can feel the little wires lodge into the roots of my hair. I'm probably going to have a hell of time getting this out of my hair later on. But the smile on Irene's face makes up for it.
Jake gives me a new dagger.
"Remember," He tells me seriously. "If things go wrong, you can always just -"
"Stab him, yeah, I got it." I roll my eyes.
"Good," The corner of his mouth turns up. "Bye, Peyton."
"Bye Jake." My voice cracks at the end. Nobody hears it but me.
It takes a second for Andrew to get to me, since he's too busy giving Archer a penguin-shaped stressball. When he finally walks away, he tries to tackle me. But I manage to dodge him just in time. With a laugh, he punches me in the shoulder.
"No present for me?"
"What, my presence wasn't enough?"
"Only if you stay." I mutter.
He's already in the car when I say the last part. We wave goodbye to each other as dad starts the engine. In two minutes, they're gone.
For a second, my heart is too heavy for me to move. I'm a little surprised about how upset I am at their departure. I don't think I was this upset even when I had to move to Florida. Maybe I'm afraid things will start to go downhill now that they're not here to support me
Everything they've given me - Irene's new outfits that made me feel confident, Andrew's snarky comments that made me laugh, Jake's silent intelligence that always calmed me down - is gone now they're not here.
I kind of want to cry.
Maybe I should. I mean, I haven't had a good cry in forever. With a quick peek, I see that Archer and Julia aren't watching. They're too busy examining their new gifts.
So I take this opportunity to trudge upstairs to my room. Mom calls after me when I enter the house, but I don't even acknowledge her. The last thing I want to do is to talk to somebody. My lower lip trembles right before I enter my room.
Peyton's Tips on How to Have a Good Crying Session
1) Make a fort, preferably out of blankets. The only requirements is that you must be under them, so that way nobody can see your face when you have a breakdown.
2) Put your best headphones on and set on some songs. In order to prepare for occasions such as this, you might want to have a 'Songs to Make You Cry' playlist handy.
3) Grab your favorite stuffed animal. Points to you if it's called Charlotte.
4) Think about all the tragic events that have happened to you in the past. For example, something that could potentially upset you is the thought of your friends leaving you and your broken heart alone on Thanksgiving.
5) When you're ready, don't hold back. Cry all you want.
So far, it's going pretty good. I'm in the middle of step four when somebody knocks on my door. After a moment of silence, the door swings open.
"Go away!"
A silhouette of a teenager enters the room. Three guesses who.
The mattress under me shifts under Archer's weight as he climbs on. Then, he lifts my fuzzy pink blankets and climbs in front of me.
I click pause on my playlist.
"Nice place you got here." Archer smiles. His headphones are around his neck. "Very cozy."
"What are you doing here?" I hope my eyes aren't puffy. "I'm busy."
"Yeah, I can see that."
Archer scans my make-do fort curiously. I'm struggling whether to kick him out or not. His presence isn't really bothering me - quite the opposite actually - but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable having another person with me when I'm having a session.
"I wanted to see if you were okay. You seemed really upset earlier." He says, after a minute.
My face heats up from his scrutinizing eyes. "I'm just tired."
"Of what?"
I shrug.
"Do you want a hug?"
I scrunch up my nose. "No thanks."
Archer only leans closer. The blanket above our heads shift. For a second, I think he's actually going to hug me, but his arm reaches past me - to my iPod. He turns it on. The dim glow of the screen fills our little fort. Archer unlocks my lock screen and laughs.
"Fine, huh? Is that why you have a 'songs to make me cry' playlist?"
"Don't pretend like you don't have one," I say, although I'm still blushing. A part of the barbed-wire crown gets lodged into fuzzy blanket above us.
Archer's scrolling through my songs. "Can't say I do, actually."
"Liar."
The only indication that he hears me is a slight twitch in the lips.
Archer unplugs my headphones to replace it with his. Then, he chooses a random song from my playlist and closes his eyes. I want to ask which song of mine he's listening to, but I'm too tired.
Instead, I press my nose to Charlotte. She smells like laundry detergent.
When he's distracted, I take a moment to observe him. At first, my mind goes immediately on to how soft his hair looks today. I want to run my hand through them. But then my eyes focus on the dark circles under his eyes. The lines of fatigue under his smile.
"You need to take a nap," I blurt out.
Archer's eyes flicker open. He takes his headphones out. "What?"
"You need to go home and sleep." I tug the blanket down. It gets a little stuck in my crown, but Archer helps me get it off. "I mean it. You're exhausted."
"But I don't want to go home," Archer says, once I'm fully untangled.
"Why not?"
"My mom's there," He shivers.
Since, I, too, know how it feels to have an overbearing mom, I decide to let him off the hook. Still, the exhausted expression on his face will probably haunt me at night. Archer's too innocent to suffer the horrors of a lack of sleep.
"Sleep on my bed," I suggest, shrugging.
"Your bed?"
"Well, you were falling asleep anyways. I rather have you do it lying down," My cheeks only become warm since he can see my blush now. I scramble off the bed. "Besides, I have a lot of homework to do. You go to sleep. It won't bother me."
Archer watches me. "Can I have Charlotte then?"
No. "Only if you promise to treat her carefully."
"I promise to treat her carefully."
"Okay," I mutter and give him my teddy bear. If there's anybody I can trust with Charlotte, it's Archer, even though he did try to kidnap her once. "Be careful."
He hums in agreement and puts his headphones back on, smiling. Then, he rests his head against my plain white pillows and begins to fiddle with my iPod. It's a little strange seeing him here, playing with my stuff. Maybe if my friends didn't abandon me today, I'd stop him.
But Irene, Jake and Andrew have gone back to Chicago. So, I pick up my stuff, sit on my desk and try to finish my homework.
Soon, the sky turns dark. I turn on my green desk lamp and check on Archer. He's fast asleep, cuddling with Charlotte underneath my fuzzy pink blankets. He's practically squeezing her into half. I sigh and shake my head, turning to focus on the difference between plant and animal cells.
Beneath us, there's the sound of an engine cutting off.
At first, I think it's dad. But the person sounds too heavy They make a boom with every step they take and make grunt every time they bump into something. In fact, those sounds vaguely remind me of my brother -
"HONEY, I'M HOME!" A thunderous sound comes downstairs.
I groan and slam my head against my desk.
Archer's eyes flicker open. "Is that-"
"My brother. James."
Usually, I'd be glad to see James, the one other member of my enormous family that I actually can stand to live with. Right now, though, I'm not in the mood for more excitement. And, on top of that, Archer's in the same house. James loves when I bring boys, particularly because he enjoys embarrassing me in front of them.
"PEYTON, MY BEAUTIFUL BEAR-" My bedroom door, even though it was locked, flies open. James, my big, muscular, brother storms into the room, still in his football uniform. "BOY, I HAVE GOT SOME BIG NEWS LITTLE SIS-"
His eyes pause on Archer. "Peyton?"
"I'm here, dumbass." I roll my eyes, but don't get up from my seat.
Not that it matters, since James lifts me up and crushes me into a hug. With a groan, I manage to push him off me. I punch him in the shoulder. But James just smiles, showing all of his white teeth as he sets me on the ground again.
"Who's your boyfriend?"
"Not my boyfriend," I collapse in my chair.
"I'm Archer Raine. Her next door neighbor and new best friend in Florida." Archer takes off his headphones to full asses him. He seizes him up the same way he seizes everybody up - like he's a new friend to be made.
I don't bother protesting. It's not like anything he said was false.
James raise an eyebrow. "Peyton made a friend?"
"Two friends, actually." I say snottily. Kya said so herself. From behind James's shoulder, Archer gives me a thumbs up. I nod back at him, a strange sense of pride welling up in me.
James squints at my head. "Is that a barbed-wire crown?"
"Irene."
"Ah. Speaking of which, where is she? Where are your awesome friends? I hear they came for a surprise visit. Where's Jake? I really liked that kid."
"They left." Now I'm sad again.
"Damn it, I came early just to see them."
"They left gifts for you." I inform him.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. They're downstairs."
"Awesome."
Even though there's nothing left to say, James still doesn't leave. Instead, he examines my room, rocking back on his heels as he observes my three photos on the wall - one with my family, one with my friends and one with the cute puppy I rescued last year.
"What do you want?" I demand when he doesn't say anything.
"Oh, you know, just assessing my new room. After all, it's customary that the biggest room goes to the oldest sibling, isn't it?"
"Tough luck. Melody has the bigger room."
"Really?" He looks startled. Archer watches our conversation closely. Even though his headphones are still on, I can tell he's still listening. "Why the hell would you do that? I thought mom said that you got the first pick."
"I did. This room has the better view."
"What's the view?"
"Me." Says Archer.
Both of us stare at him, startled. Then, James bursts into laughter.
I try to glare at the both of them at the same time. "I didn't choose the room because of you."
"Is that why you're always spying on me?" Archer raises an eyebrow. He has the old twinkle in his eye that he had when he first met me. The sight infuriates and warms me up at the same time.
"I wasn't not spying on you. I was spying on Buster and Brutus."
"And me."
"Who's Buster and Brutus?" James interrupts.
"Archer's dog and horse," I say. Now this is something I can talk about. "They're my real best friends in Florida."
James nods, as if this makes sense.
He has this goofy grin on this face. My heart warms at the sight of it, although common sense tells me that I shouldn't be delighted. His grin usually foreshadows that he's going to make fun of me, but a voice interrupts him from downstairs before he can say anything.
"James," Mom calls. "Is that you, my darling?"
The three of us walk downstairs to greet mom and Melody. Melody runs up to exchange a bear hug with James. He lifts her off the ground straight away.
Unlike me, she laughs in delight, probably because James doesn't try to crush her ribs when he carries her off the ground. Melody is five years younger than James, while I'm only two years younger than him. That's probably why he treats her more delicately.
That, and my form of affection is punching him in the nose.
I broke it once when I was thirteen. Since then, his hugs have gotten significantly tougher.
"Oh, Archer, you were in Peyton's room?" Mom looks delighted all of a sudden.
"Yeah. Helping me with my biology homework." I lie, just to put a damper in her fantasies of us getting married or something.
Archer, who catches on to what I'm doing, just grins and nods.
"Oh." Before her face can fall, James pulls her into a hug too. Mom laughs and wraps her arms around James's chest. "I'm so glad you're back, baby. All of us have missed you so much in the last few months."
"Speak for yourself." I mutter.
Melody snorts.
"Wait, mom, what's James doing here? I thought he was going to New Mexico with the rest of us for the family reunion," Melody asks, which is a good question.
A family reunion is what we have every year on Thanksgiving. It's always at somebody's house. This year it's at Mom's annoying sister's, Aunt Cora, home in New Mexico. I hate these reunions, all because of Aunt Cora and her three pesky children.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? Aunt Cora's house got destroyed by a tornado. The family reunion is going to be held at our house this year."
"What?" Melody and I both exclaim.
A family reunion at our house would be as twice as awful. It would mean annoying cousins by my side twenty-four seven. It would mean sharing my room with Cousin Zoey, a boy-crazed teenager. It would mean having to deal with racist and sexist remarks from my grandparents.
"Mom. I thought you told them," James seems just annoyed as we are right now.
"I didn't think it would be such a big deal." Her tone is too innocent. I would bet you anything that she did know that it was a big deal and put off telling because she didn't want to see our reaction.
"Mom." Melody stamps her foot. "How could you?"
"She's my sister, darling, I had no other choice."
"But, why did you choose our house? I hate having the family reunions at our house. Why not use Aunt Petunia's house or Aunt Susan's house or Aunt Violet house or Aunt..."
"You two better run before things already got ugly," James stage-whispers to us.
"It's already ugly," I grit my teeth. "Come on, Archer."
"Have fun!" James calls.
We ignore him.
"What's so wrong with having a family reunion at your house?" Just when he's out of the house, Archer pauses at the doorway to turn back to me.
"You'll see soon enough."
Archer hands me my iPod and headphones back, a faint smile on his face. Instead of leaving, Archer just puts his hand in his pockets. "How come James can hug you but I can't?"
That's a strange question.
"Uh- because -"
Before I can finish, he pulls me into a hug.
For a second, I tense up. But then I realize how gentle his hug is. Unlike most people who try to cage me in their arms, Archer's are so light that I could push them off any second. He's not hugging to prove that he can or that it isn't as bad as I think. It's just warmth and comfort.
After a second, I relax into his arms. Contact like this should make me nervous, I think. But it doesn't anymore. Not with Archer anyways.
We release each other at the same time.
"That wasn't so bad, was it now?" Archer brushes his hair back, smiling. "Later Peyton."
I watch him all the way to his house.
After his door closes, I open my iPod to check that he's hasn't messed with anything. The songs all seem the same, as well as my photos. But when I check my playlists, there's one new thing added onto it.
Song to Make You Smile.
- () -
I've just realized how confusing it must be for you guys to understand my characters. (I mean seriously, I named Archer's pets Brutus and Buster. They're like two letters apart) And now I'm adding more. Oops.
Just let me know if you're confused and I'll help you!
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Did you guys notice that I forgot to put Crackers up there last chapter? Another oops. I'm just a mess lately, I guess.
Anyways.
This week's dedication goes to CrappyWrittenFanfics and ivegotamigraine1 for their amazing comments and votes! And to all of you who recently voted on my chapters, I've memorized your usernames and will keep them in my heart forever.
Thanks for reading!
QotC: Do you have any siblings? How do you like James and Melody so far?