A/N: Yes, I'm an East Coaster, so I was stuck inside my house in Hurricane Sandy. What better thing to do than to write until my power went out? 2 days. No power. Anyway, this is one of my favorite chapters. Paystin bonding. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Make It or Break It.
After Austin and Payson settle into his grandmother's car, Payson asks, "Austin, where are you taking me?"
He laughs, answering, "You'll see."
"I hope you're not planning on kidnapping me and throwing me into a ditch or something," she jokes.
He laughs as he snaps on the seatbelt. "You never know. I'm all full of ideas."
"Not going to lie…I'm kind of scared, Austin."
He begins to drive and asks, "Do you really think I would actually take you to somewhere dangerous and put your life at risk, Payson?"
"Yes," she says, simply.
While they are on the road, Payson laughs when she finds an interesting CD in the glove compartment of the car. "Austin, why does your grandmother have a Gwen Stefani CD in her car?"
Austin lifts an eyebrow and takes the CD from Payson's hand, and can't stop laughing himself as he takes a look at the CD. "Well, my grandma obviously isn't all there anymore," he says, still chuckling.
"Don't worry, neither is mine. Ever since my grandfather died, she hits up Vegas any chance she can get."
"Well, Keeler, there's one thing we have in common… our grandmothers are both borderline nuts."
…
Amber is a pro at this. She understands what to do and how to do it. There are so many different ways to play the game and she knows the best way to play it. It's time to be the sneaky person she's always been.
Knowing that Payson and Austin have already left, she knows this would be the perfect opportunity to finally put her plan into action.
Putting her sweet girl face on, she heads to the kitchen where she's sure Mrs. Tucker is. Cassie quickly catches up to Amber before Amber gets the chance to go in. "Amber, are you sure you want to do this?"
She rolls her eyes. "Yes, I'm sure I want to do this, Cass."
Cassie tries to come up with something else to say to stop Amber from doing what she's about to do. "Don't you think there's another way to approach this? Maybe like talking to her first and seeing if it's actually true?"
Amber pauses and holds her index finger to her lower lip as if deep in thought. "Hm… Not really my style," she says, before continuing walking to the kitchen.
Cassie rolls her eyes as she hollers at her. "I hope you're sure of what you're doing!"
"I'm sure."
Amber finally gets her way into the kitchen and thankfully Mrs. Tucker is still in there. She's sitting down on the kitchen table, eating an apple while reading a magazine. Amber smiles, putting her nice girl act on again. "Hi, Mrs. Tucker."
"Oh, Hi Amber."
Amber leans against the island table and says, "So, how's your day been?" she asks, trying to make small talk.
"Well, it's been good, Amber; thank you for asking. Austin and Payson just left, so I'm waiting for them to come back. Payson insisted that she help cook dinner for the family with me tonight. And according to Austin, she's a fantastic cook so I can't wait," she pauses, smiling, "She's good for him, isn't she." Though, it comes out more of a statement than a question.
Amber bites her lip and takes this as the ideal opportunity to tell her. "Well, speaking of Payson…like you, I thought she was perfect for Austin but now, I'm not too sure, Mrs. Tucker." Maybe the first part wasn't true at all, but Amber knows it's the only way Mrs. Tucker to listen to what she has to say.
She frowns and takes off her reading glasses before standing up. "What do you mean?"
Amber sighs, trying to put on her best gloomy face. "We might not know her as well as we think. I don't think Austin does either."
"W-Where are you going with this? What do you know?"
"I found some information on the internet about her that might not sound too appealing to you."
"Go on," Austin's mother says.
Amber looks down and sighs to come off the least bit sympathetic. "Well, it seems that she once had an affair with her coach."
Mrs. Tucker frowns. This can't be. "While she was a gymnast?"
Amber nods. "From what I heard, yes."
She shakes her head and gives herself a reality check. Half of the information on the Internet is false, and now isn't the time to let her guard down. "Amber, honey, I wouldn't listen to everything you hear on the online. Besides, Payson doesn't seem like the type who would get herself into something like that."
Amber thinks of the best way to get Charlene to believe her. "That's true… but I heard it from more than one source." Okay, maybe she didn't, but one little white lie won't hurt, right?
"Do you think it could be true?"
Amber shrugs. "I think it's very possible."
Austin's mother sighs and looks off into space for a moment. She thought that her son has finally settled with someone respectable again. Payson really has impressed her over these last few days, and has continued to applaud her for everything she's done, including turning her son's life around. But maybe that's not the case, she thought.
"I care for Austin, Mrs. Tucker, and I just want the best for him," she explains.
"Thanks, Amber, for letting me know. I have no clue what I'm going to do now," she says, covering her mouth with her hands, signifying her distress.
"You're welcome, Mrs. Tucker. I'll let you know if I find anything else."
Amber knows how to play the game, and she's played it well. It's only a matter of time before everyone knows what type of girl Payson really is.
…
Austin stops the car and parks outside of a small, moderate home, similar to the size of Payson's old house in Boulder. Payson gazes confusedly over her surroundings. She looks over to Austin and asks, "Austin… where are we?"
He smirks and simply says, "Get out of the car and see for yourself."
They open their doors and step out, but Payson still can't figure out where she is. "Is this someone's house?" She has no clue what Austin is up to and she's honestly afraid. Austin isn't exactly who she can call predictable.
He continues to walk to what seems like the backdoor and Payson is hesitant to even follow him, so she stays by the car. "Austin, what are you doing?"
"Stop asking questions and just follow me!" Austin yells from the back of the house.
She takes a deep breath and finally concurs after contemplating on it for a few minutes.
Austin is waiting for her right at the door and once she meets up with him, he opens the backdoor into the house. "You know, they really shouldn't leave the backdoor open; strangers could get in," he notes as they enter the house.
"Hm… and what are we?" she asked, implying that they are strangers themselves.
The twenty-eight year old smirks and pretends to ignore her comment. He loves watching his best friend freak out from being clueless.
"Austin, I'm not comfortable being in here. This is trespassing."
"Well, not really."
She frowns as she walks with him around with him. "What do you mean? I don't live here… you don't live here. Oh my God… we're going to go to jail."
He busts out into laughter. He can't help it. The way she's acting is just so darn cute to him; he knows it's time to help her erase some of her distress. "Relax, Payson," he says while laughing. "Here, maybe this will help." Austin hands to her a picture frame from the living room. Looking at the picture, her heart rate starts to slow down a bit. It's a picture of Michael, Charlene, Austin, and Megan, which must have been taken years ago because Austin looks significantly younger.
"This is…this is your house, isn't it."
"Yep, it's the house I grew up in. My parents still live here, though. I hope you weren't expecting a mansion."
Payson smiles and shakes her head. "Not at all."
"Come with me. I want to show you something." They go through the house, until they find Austin's destination, his room.
"Man, I loved this room," he says, amazed at how everything is left exactly the way he left them.
Payson grins as she explores his room and stops when she finds a picture of a baby. "Aww," she coos. "Is this your baby picture?"
He turns around to see the picture and says cockily, "Wasn't I cute?"
"Yeah, what happened?" she jokes.
"Your originality is amazing," he compliments, sarcastically.
Payson can't help but smile as she watches her best friend roam around his old room and observe who he used to be. He scans old things of his, like some of the clothes he used to wear as a teen, and pictures of family and friends. He even has one of his Mr. Kobalt posters tagged up on his wall. She hasn't seen him this amazed about something like this in a while. She could tell this room was, is, and will always be special to him. "I can tell you really love this room of yours, Austin," she states, moving closer to him.
Austin shrugs as turns around to face her. "I guess so, but it's not just for me. I want to show you another part of my life, before things got all messed up."
"I can't believe you went out your way to take me to somewhere so special to you." To other people, being taken to their best friend's old room is nothing, but Payson cherishes the little things that Austin does, and she knows that this isn't just a room. It sums up who he is, minus the bad boy persona that he tries to put on. Payson is flattered that Austin finds her that special to him to share this with her.
He laces her fingers with his and looks her in her green eyes with a smile. "Well, you're special to me."
"You're special to me, too." She blushes as they almost get stuck looking back into each other's eyes, something that has never happened before. At that moment, something seems different to both of them; like something has changed. They don't know what it is, but it's a feeling neither of them has felt in a long time.
Payson shakes it off and tries to find something to help her snap out of it. She looks toward his nightstand and sees a picture that makes her chuckle. "Is that a picture of you and me?"
Austin finally releases her hands and goes to see what she's talking about and it is, indeed, a picture of him and Payson that was taken years back. He completely forgot that he had put it there. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that."
She picks up the picture and remembers exactly when it was taken. It was taken when they started to become good friends. They sit down on the bed and gaze everything in the picture and are astonished at how they can remember this like it was yesterday. "When did you put this picture here? You were living in Boulder at the time when this picture was taken."
"Well, I put it here when I came to visit for Christmas one year, I believe. There used to be a picture of, you know, Kaylie and I there but after what happened…"
"So what am I supposed to be? Some type of replacement?" It wasn't said in an angry way, or in any type of joking way, but she was genuinely interested.
"Of course not. What happened… happened, I took the picture off, you became my best friend, and I put this picture on. I realized that relationships are bull shit, and my best friend deserves to be there more than anyone else."
She changes the topic a bit and asks,"Do you ever consider falling in love again?"
He shakes his head. "I don't take any more risks with falling for people; that's when it gets too dangerous. "
"Well, I guess it's better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all…" she says. They continue to look at the picture and she laughs as she says, "Remember when you used to come visit me in college any chance you got."
He nods, grinning himself. "And you used to come to my meets and cheer for me any chance you got," he pauses, "We've been through so much together."
"We have, haven't we." Payson puts the picture back on the nightstand and notices another picture on the nightstand on the other side of the bed. It's of him and Megan when they were little, and Payson realizes this is the perfect opportunity to talk to Austin about his sister. "So, your sister and I had an interesting conversation earlier on."
"You did?"
"Mhm."
"What did you two talk about?"
Of course, she wasn't going to tell him everything. Some things are meant to be kept private. "She knows you haven't changed."
His eyes widen and stomach sink. "D-Does she know everything? Like that you're not my girlfriend?"
"No, she suspects it but she's pretty sure we're really dating. But I don't think that's the biggest problem here. Austin, despite everything you do, I know deep down inside you're a great guy but your sister doesn't think so.
"She doesn't?"
"No and to be quite honest, I don't even think she likes you very much...no offense. You need to prove to her that whether or not you're a bad boy, you're still a good guy."
"How can she not like me? I'm so protective over her. I've been there for her through her anorexia and everything."
"Right there. That's exactly the point. Megan is doing perfectly fine on her own. You don't need to treat her like a poor, little anorexia girl all the time. You can still be there for her, but maybe you should try just being her brother for once, not her superman."
"Look, Payson, Megan might not be as strong as you think."
"Who says? She's twenty-three years old, Austin and she's your sister. Give her a chance. Please," she begs.
"I'll think about it."
"And you're also a hypocrite, by the way."
He laughs at her bluntness and says, "What?"
"Yep. You, Austin Tucker, are a hypocrite. You lecture your sister about this and that and her anorexia every time you speak to her, yet you complain when I or anyone else lectures you about anything."
"That's different."
"How is it different?" she asks, "You are a hypocrite," she singsongs.
"No I'm not," he defends.
"Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"How long are we going to do this?" he asks.
"Until you admit to yourself that you're a hypocrite."
He rolls his eyes, lifting his arms then dropping them. "Fine, maybe a little," he admits, "But it doesn't mean you can lecture me anytime you want. You know that shit annoys me." He never even realized how much him being overprotective has hurt his sister over the years and how much he really is being a hypocrite—more than he'll ever admit.
"Whatever. At least you admitted to it," she says. "She did say something else that was equally as interesting."
"What?"
"She said you and I have chemistry. Can you imagine?"
He chuckles at how stupid that sounds. He doesn't understand why his family keeps saying that. Austin doesn't even know why he's complaining, though. This is what he wants, but there's a difference between his family thinking he's dating Payson and them thinking that they're in love. "Tell me about it. My cousin said kind of the same thing the other day. He pointed out to me that I have a girlfriend who is 'obviously in love with me.'"
Payson laughs hard at the thought that she's giving off that impression. But at the end of the day, that's the whole point of this—to fool his family, which they are obviously succeeding in. "We must be doing a really good job with this that your family actually believes that we have this so-called 'chemistry'."
"We make a pretty good team, Pay," he notes, as he gives her a high-five.
"We've always made a good team, Austin."
The two best friends sit and enjoy each other's company for a few minutes before he asks a serious question that he's wanted to ask for years, but never found the right time to ask it. "Pay, whatever happened between you and Rigo."
She's completely caught off guard. Where did this come from? She hasn't even heard that name in a while and she didn't want to, either. Payson frowns. "What do you mean?"
"I've never wanted to pressure you into telling me, but I really need to know. I know something went down but you never told me what exactly happened."
Payson is speechless and doesn't even know what to say. She wasn't even prepared to discuss this topic…she's never prepared to discuss this topic. She gulps over the sudden knot in her throat, and her voice quavers as she speaks, "Austin, w-what compelled you to even bring this up?"
"I don't know, Pay. It's just that…I tell you every little thing about me, every secret, including what happened with Kaylie. But, yet, I still don't know anything about what happened between you and your ex."
"I'm just not comfortable talking about that, Austin, and you know that!"
"Neither am I comfortable talking to you about half of the things that I talk to you about, but I still do it because you're my best friend and I trust you. It's not fair, Payson. I've been your friend for years and vice-versa. We've been through so much together. You should be comfortable talking to me about anything!"
"Look, Austin. I'm just better at being the problem-solver than the person that needs their problems solved, okay?"
He rolls his eyes in disbelief that his best friend can't even talk to him about parts of her life. "Well then maybe I'm not the only one being a hypocrite here."
Her heart sinks as she realizes that Austin's right. Austin Tucker has outsmarted her. She's always budding into his life and making him tell her everything, yet she can't do the same thing herself. She acknowledges that it's really not fair to Austin, but even more, it's really not fair to herself. And at that moment she grasps a shocking fact. She, Payson Keeler, is as much as a hypocrite as Austin is. Maybe even more.
Author's Note: As you can see, they both have problems that they need to majorly solve but with the help of each other. Any guesses on what happened that Payson doesn't want to talk about? And do you think the information that Amber found out is true or false?
Next chapter is explosion chapter, I believe. Well, more like it's the chapter that leads up to the explosion chapter, but there's a big twist that's going to happen that'll lead to the explosion.
Please Review! Thank you guys so much for the reviews from last chapter. They made me smile. Let's keep it going please!