Chapter 24

The next morning Lainey had to be up bright and early for a meeting at 7 in the morning. She knew that Peyton didn't go in to work till 9:00 this morning and didn't want to wake her so she decided not to message her till she was out of her meeting.

Yes, she was still bummed that the other girl didn't trust her or even give her a chance to talk before yelling at her, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to talk to the girl while she was gone. That would only serve to prove the point that Peyton couldn't trust her.

She had given up on being more than friends though. As much as she wanted to, and as much as it hurt to to admit to herself, she just couldn't be with someone who couldn't trust her, and obviously there was nothing she could do to earn Peyton's trust.

Lainey's meeting ended at 7:45 and she had 15 minutes before the next, so she decided to use this time to message Peyton seeing as the girl usually woke around 8 anyway.

Good morning, Peyton, I hope this doesn't wake you. My meetings for the day have already started and will be continuous through 7:30 this evening. If you need me urgently please contact my assistant as I have told her to let me know immediately if you need me. Otherwise I will do my best to answer you between meetings if you message me personally. Thank you and have a great day!

Lainey felt like she was sending a business email, but she didn't know how else to text the girl anymore. She felt awkward.

When Peyton read the message she wanted to cry. She could tell that Lainey felt uncomfortable messaging her, and she knew it was all her fault. She shouldn't have yelled at Lainey, and she damn sure should have never said that she didn't trust her.

Lainey had been nothing but trustworthy since they were forced into this engagement, and Peyton was just too stubborn to admit it. She was too stubborn to admit that she was wrong about Lainey for so many years. Yet, even when Peyton had been rude, Lainey still tried to be cordial.

Peyton went straight to her father's office.

"I need to go to New York."

"I'm sorry?"

"I need to go to New York."

"What? Why?"

"Lainey is there, and we got in a fight last night before she left, and I need to go fix things."

"Can't you just call her?"

"No, I really messed up and I need to do this in person."

"When is she coming back?"

"3 days"

"And you can't wait 3 days?"

"No"

"Peyton, I can't just randomly send you to New York. You have things that need done here."

"You're telling me we have NO business going on in New York right now?"

"No, sweetheart, we don't."

"But, dad! I really need to go!"

Peyton's father sighed. He hated having to tell his daughter no.

"What if I get my own flight and work from my personal computer while I'm there? Please."

"Okay, okay, you can go to New York. But you need to be back by end of the day tomorrow."

"Dad!" Peyton groaned "Please let me stay till Lainey leaves. I don't want to just go out there and then leave. I want to spend some time with her."

Her dad gave her a questioning look. "Last I knew you two couldn't stand each other."

"Yeah, well things changed okay. I think I-... No, I know that I like her, and I know that I really need to go talk to her."

"You. Like her?"

"Yes, dad. I like her. I really like her."

Peyton's dad smiled. "Same flight back."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Peyton squealed and hugged her father.

"Have a good trip, baby. I love you." He said hugging her back.

"I will, dad. I love you too."

Peyton rushed home to pack for her trip. She quickly messaged Lainey's assistant letting her know that she was coming, and asking her not to tell Lainey.

As soon as she landed she looked around until she saw Kelsey. "Thank you so much for meeting me here. Did you tell Lainey you were coming to get me?"

"No, I told her I was going back to the hotel to start typing up her minutes and notes from the meetings she's already been to today. And that she could give me the stuff from the last two when she got back tonight." Kelsey said as we started driving towards the hotel.

"Thank you! I wanted to surprise her."

"Good or bad?"

"Huh?"

"I've known Lainey for a long time, and I can tell when she isn't in a good mood. I just didn't know if you had anything to do with that."

"I have everything to do with it actually, but I'm here to try and fix it."

"You're lucky she says such great things about you. Otherwise I would have tipped her off."

Peyton gave a slight smile and nodded her head. "Am I going to be able to wait in her room?"

"No, we are on the same floor, but we don't have conjoining rooms and I don't have a room key for hers. You can wait in mine though."

Peyton again nodded and stayed quiet.

An hour and a half later there was a knock on Kelsey's door.

"Do you want to get that or should I?" Kelsey asked Peyton.

"Huh?"

"There's only one person that could be. Do you want to answer or do you want me to?"

"Uh, I got it." Peyton said nervously. She didn't know why she was so nervous when it was just Lainey.

Lainey was just about to knock again when the door opened. "Here's the-..." Lainey was taken back when she looked up and didn't see her assistant, but saw Peyton instead. "Peyton. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you so I begged Kelsey to help me out and not tell you I was coming."

Kelsey finally walked over to the door, where the girls were still standing. "I'll take those and you take that." Kelsey said grabbing the papers out of Lainey's hand and then shoving Peyton out the door. She quickly shoved the girl's bags into her hands and then shut the door.

"Okay, I guess we can go to my room." Lainey said, still trying to figure out what's actually happening.

As soon as the door was shut Peyton started in. "I'm so sorry for yelling at you last night. I should have talked to you first, and I definitely should have believed you when you said that nothing happened. I let other people's opinions on you get in the way of my own and I shouldn't have."

Lainey didn't know how to respond so she didn't.

"Lainey, please. I have no excuse for how I acted. I messed up and I'm owning that. Please give me another chance."

"I-... I don't know what to say. I really didn't expect you to be here when I showed up."

Peyton nodded but stayed silent.

"I guess... I mean... Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you immediately listen to everyone else? Why didn't you take everything we've been through since the start of this engagement into consideration? Why didn't you give me a chance to explain what actually happened?"

"I'm sorry. I jumped to conclusions and was so afraid of getting hurt again. So afraid of being blindsided, or refusing to see the truth and looking like a fool again. I projected my fears from the relationship with Scott onto you and that was unfair of me."

"Okay." Lainey nodded in understanding.

"Okay?"

"Yes, okay. I mean I don't like that I wasn't given a chance to defend myself before being yelled at, but I understand. I know that Scott probably took a larger toll on you than you originally realized and if we're going to be together things like that are going to happen. I am glad that you realized on your own and as soon as you did you owned up to it."

"Full disclosure... Rue made Josie call me and she helped me to realize I was being unfair. Don't get me wrong, I knew as soon as you left that I had messed up, but Josie helped me tosee things more clearly."

"Josie? As in high school Josie? I thought you guys didn't talk anymore?"

"We don't... well I guess didn't. We are friends again. Rue is friends with Josie's chef and explained a little bit of what happened last night. Then Josie's chef went and convinced her to call me and then we talked for hours."

"That's good. I'm glad you guys are friends again."

"Does this mean we're good?"

"Define good? I wouldn't say we are back to where we were, but I am glad to know that you don't hate me anymore."

"So are we still doing the dating thing or did I fuck that up?"

"I don't know. I can't be with someone who doesn't trust me. And I know that may seem unfair, but with what the media has a tendency to say about me I just don't see how I can be with someone who isn't going to trust me."

"I do trust you, and saying otherwise last night was the stupidest thing I did. I knew that trust was a big thing for you and I threw it in your face. I'm sorry. I really do trust you and I want to fix things. I'm not ready to be done dating you yet."

"I don't want to break up over one fight." Lainey sighed and looked at Peyton to see the girl growing a big smile. "I'm also not ready to be done dating you. I don't think I ever will be to be honest."

Peyton couldn't have taken the smile off her face if she wanted to. "I don't think I will be either."

"So how about we forget about the 30 days thing. We both know that we want to be together and I don't want to be on a trial run anymore. I want the real deal. I don't want to be thinking about the fact that you might leave me in 2 weeks."

"I would love to end the trial run. But, for the record, I wasn't going to end things."

Lainey smiled. "Good. How long are you here? I convinced my dad to let me stay until you leave. So if you're okay with it I thought we could fly back together."

"I would love that."