It had been a long week.
After everything that had happened recently, Payton had just wanted to get her life back on track and move forward. She'd started working regularly at the Grill again to boost her income for the apartment and the beach house, as well as having something to preoccupy her mind from thinking about all the pain she felt.
Payton had also been busy boxing away more of Alaric's stuff, putting it into storage and hanging out with Matt either when they were working or after work for a quick bite to eat or to drown their sorrows in booze.
And somehow the two hadn't even shared anymore intimate moments. The friends with benefits chapter looking like it was officially over for right now.
She was slowly starting to feel more like herself now she had a focus again and was working towards her new life.
Payton had just climbed out of bed when she heard her cell phone ring on the bedside table beside her. A light groan escaped her lips at the early wake up call, hoping it wasn't work wanting her in for extra hours since she had been working hard all week and this was her only day off.
"Hello?" She answered, not even bothering to check the ID of the caller to put her out of her misery first.
"Payton," She heard Matt's cheery voice on the other end of the phone, "you're awake then."
"Of course I am," Payton hissed back, as she headed over to the kitchen, "and if I hadn't been your phone call certainly would have woken me up."
"Alright." He couldn't help but chuckle at her morning grouchiness.
"Why are you calling anyway?" She asked him, reaching up to get a glass out of the cupboard, "you aren't calling to tell me I have to work again today?"
"No," Matt assured her, whilst Payton went to the fridge to get out a blood bag, "but I do need a slight favour from you..."
"And that is?" Payton began to pour the contents of the bag into the glass.
"It's Pastor Young's funeral today." He informed her, even though the whole town was clearly talking about since the guy died so she was well aware.
But even though it was tragic and sad another life was lost, she somehow didn't really care that much since she hadn't lived here long enough to even come across the guy and he was responsible for trying to kill the vampire population in town, which included her on that list.
"Oh the guy who tried to kill your friends the other week?" She reminded him of what the man had done.
"Yes. That one. The whole town's invited," Matt explained further, ignoring her accusing tone, "we're all planning on showing up today to pay our respects."
"To a guy who wanted to kill some of you?" Payton was confused.
"I know. But beside all that, he's been the pastor in this town for years." He tried to make her see it from their point of view.
"And what does this have to do with me?" She began to take small sips out of the bloody drink.
"I was hoping you'd come with me for support." Matt suggested.
Payton frowned slightly, "Me?" she laid the glass down onto the countertop, "Why would you want me there?"
"Because you're one of my closest friends and I would appreciate it if I had you by my side when we say goodbye to yet another body." He explained.
"I don't know, Matt," Payton was unsure about this, she didn't feel right going to someone's funeral that she didn't even know of, "surely Elena and the other's will be there."
"I know. But they're not you."
God, why did he have to be so damn persuasive and sweet?
It wasn't just the stranger and vampire killing that was putting her off going. It was seeing Damon again after what he had done to Matt last week and the reminder of the two men she had lost that Damon had contributed to.
And it also meant seeing Stefan, who she had no idea what her relationship was with the guy at the moment. One minute they were on alright terms, working together on their blood thirst. Then the next minute, she was lashing out at him and blaming him for everything.
Payton hadn't even seen either of the brothers since that night at Pastor's farm and Stefan a little later on when he came to check on her, which only resulted in Payton trashing the place and breaking down.
She had been avoiding them all to save the embarrassment and the chance of her anger bubbling off again.
Would going to this funeral just bring it all back up again? Or would it be another chance for her to say goodbye to that part of her life and welcome this new future with open arms?
"I better go pick out my favourite little black dress then."
"You are amazing!" Matt beamed back at her, thankful she was agreeing to come with him.
"You just owe me later. We're drinking and you're paying." Payton informed him, picking her glass back up to drink.
"Alright. Deal." He could so do with that.
After making arrangements for Matt to come pick her up so that they could drive over to the church together in a couple of hours, Payton ended the call and continued with her drink, hoping and praying that this day would actually be alright.
Because it was about time something went right for once for the lot of them.
Once Matt had swung by and picked her up, they took a ten minute drive over to the other side of town to the church where Pastor Young's funeral was being held. The journey was full of Matt updating her about everyone's problems, which included some new hunter in town, Elena adjusting to her new life as a vampire and the explosion at the farm which killed the pastor and other members of the council.
Somehow Payton was glad to hear about everyone else's struggles because it was giving her a distraction from her own worries about seeing everyone again.
No doubt Stefan had told everybody about her reckless break down the other night. She had ensured she was the one to tell Matt the day after to prevent him hearing it from anyone else.
A little while later they pulled up outside the church, Matt climbed out of his truck first and wandered round the other side of it to help her climb out of it. Payton rolled her eyes at his gentleman manner, as she hopped out of the vehicle with his help and her heels hit the pavements, unaware of the person watching her from across the grass in front of the church entrance.
He had only now come across the grass after arriving for the funeral after being with Bonnie for most of the morning. Stefan was waiting to see if any of his friend's or Elena had arrived yet, so he could walk in with them. But he hadn't been expecting to see Payton here.
In comparison to last week, she looked a lot better and that usual mischievous grin that he had famously known from the day he had met her was back on her face, as she tutted Matt's hand away after he helped her out of his truck.
When Matt had closed up the passenger door, the two wondered round to the front of the truck and Stefan could then see the girl in a better view now. Her usual wavy golden hair was straight and parted in the middle, certainly a new look for her but what suited her well.
Her funeral attire consisted of the typical mourning colour short sleeved swing dress that came to the middle of her thigh. On her feet were a matching coloured pair of peep toe tie up heels that gave her average height a little more length and a black cross the body purse sat on her shoulder.
Coming across the grass with Matt in a comfortable silence, it was only when she brought her up properly that she noticed Stefan was staring at the two of them with a timid smile on his face when he caught eyes with her.
She found her pace slowing down when she saw him stood there, the nerves creeping into her stomach and making her feel uneasy to already be facing him even before the service had began.
But it wasn't seeing him stood there that surprised her, it was the fact he was now coming toward's her that made her feel more tense.
Matt glanced between the two of them, knowing from Payton what had happened that night after the drama at the ranch. He was unsure of how to react to it, because Matt wasn't even sure Payton knew what to do.
But he stopped beside Payton when he came face to face with Stefan.
"You want me to wait with you?" Matt offered, wanting to support his friend like she was supporting him today.
"No it's ok, you go on in." Payton assured him, knowing if that she didn't face Stefan now then she never would.
Nodding back at her, Matt eyed Stefan curiously and even warningly to not upset Payton when she had been coping better, before he headed inside and left the two of them to it.
An awkward and tense silence fell over the two almost immediately, so much so that Payton was regretting letting Matt walk away and was debating on whether to catch him up.
"I'm sorry." Stefan apologised, breaking the silence.
"For what?" She asked, thinking they had already been over this.
"For everything really," His eyes rolled to floor with guilt, "you had every right to be mad at me the other day."
"No," Payton shook her head, disagreeing with that, she'd gone too far and brought too much up again, "it was wrong of me to lash out, I'm the sorry one."
"Well, can we at least try to resolve things?" Stefan suggested hopeful that she'd say yes and it would put a stop to this unnecessary conflict.
"I guess we can." She slowly nodded in approval.
"Good, because I don't know if you've heard, but there's a new vampire hunter in town and we need to all stick together." He explained.
"It's really that bad?" Payton frowned back with worry.
Payton had been hoping it wasn't as serious as Matt had made out earlier, but now with Stefan bringing it up, she couldn't help but feel panicked for her safety and the other vampires in town.
"We're not sure what this guy is capable of yet, but we just need to be careful." Stefan said.
"There's always something..." Payton mumbled.
Stefan smiled lightly at her, knowing that the feeling was mutual there, before he asked her something important, "If you want to, we can continue our little blood thirst control training?"
"You want to after everything?" She was surprised he still wanted to do that with her.
Payton had been trying to cope on her own and it had been up and down the past few days. She might have been over drinking blood more than what was agreed at their training.
"Of course." He nodded back at her like it was that obvious.
"Even with Elena being a vampire now too?" Payton asked.
"Yeah, even with Elena being a vampire and maybe even more now I need to help her too. I can't do that without helping myself first." Stefan answered further.
"I guess we can do that too."
"Great," He was pleased she was on board for definite again, "should we go inside?"
"Yes. Let's go."
Payton watched as Stefan turned on his heel and came to walk beside her towards the entrance of the church, where the other residence of the town were entering to go wait for the ceremony to begin.
But the two had not even made it halfway across the path when they saw Elena storm away from Damon beside one of the tree's out the front, where the other Salvatore brother was bending down to pick up a blood bag and put it back into the canvas purse in his hand.
Payton glanced over at Stefan in confusion, who's eyes were glaring across at his brother, before he slightly turned to look at her, "You head on in, I'll catch you up in a sec."
She looked back at Stefan unsure, knowing from Matt that the two brother's had been clashing over what to do about Elena's blood drinking, but knew it wasn't her place to get involved nor did she want to spend anymore time in Damon's proximity.
Heading into the church, Payton managed to locate Matt and the other's sitting in the middle section of the church, the rest of it already packed out from most of the town's population deciding to show up today to support the man they had lost.
"Hey! There you are!" Matt exclaimed when he saw her approaching.
"Hey." She greeted him back, before meeting with the eyes of Jeremy too.
"Come sit." He instructed, motioning down to the seat in between Jeremy and him.
Squeezing past the quarterback, Payton took her seat and looked back at him, seeing he was already looking back at her, "Everything go alright?"
"Yeah fine." Payton nodded, before smiling at him and knowing she'd inform him later what went on with the Salvatore.
The sound of heels coming towards them broke their gazes off each other and onto the girl now taking the other seat beside Matt, "Elena." Payton said shocked to see her there after witnessing her storm off with Damon moments before.
"Are you okay?" Matt asked on behalf of them all, she didn't look so good.
"I'm fine." Elena answered.
Payton didn't think she looked it though. Her skin was pale and drained. She thought maybe it had something to do with being a vampire, but Payton couldn't remember ever going like that when she turned.
"Hey, April was looking for you," Jeremy informed his sister, "she wanted help with her speech."
"Oh," Elena looked around uneasily, causing the three to be even more concerned for her behaviour, "Where is she?"
"I don't know." Jeremy answered unsurely.
The four of them glanced around for the girl, although Payton didn't have a clue who 'April' was and what she even looked like, but for Matt's sake and also needing the distraction from how uneasy Elena was making Payton feel she would do it anyway.
But as Payton turned her head back round, she saw Carol Lockwood, Tyler's Mom, take to the front of the church and step onto the stage behind a podium to welcome everyone to the service.
Her eyes might have been focused on Carol, but her ears were listening into a conversation that caught her attention almost immediately. She could now hear Stefan talking to Caroline and Tyler on the other side of the church, warning them about the new hunter in town which was making her feel more on edge.
"Before we begin the mass," Carol began from the front of the stage, as Stefan went to take his seat a few rows behind where they were stood, "we'd like to open the floor to anyone who would like to store a memory about our late friend's on the town council. I know that April Young wanted to say a few woods about her Dad. April?"
Elena began to look around once again for the girl, the worry for her growing, as their friend's grew more concerned for Elena herself, "April?" Carol called again when there was no sign of the girl, "Are you still here, honey?"
When the room fell silent once more and the girl didn't move from her hiding place, Carol was left with no other choice than to continue on the service without the girl's involvement,
"Is there anyone else who would like to share a recollection or a memory about Pastor Young?" Carol suggested to the audience.
Everyone was left silent again. No one was making any offers to have their say. Payton found it odd how everyone was acting, but even more so from the girl who was now standing up out of the crowd, surprising her friends of what she was even doing.
"Come on up, Elena." Carol beckoned the teenager over to the stand, just as Damon entered the church running slightly late.
Payton turned her head slightly to look at the Salvatore brother, rolling her eyes slightly when she witnessed him put his hand in the holy water and made the sign of the cross, an arrogant amused expression firm on his face that only made Payton's blood boil more whenever she was around him.
Moving her head back round, her eyes caught with Matt's who gave her a reassuring smile that she could do this. Smiling back at him in appreciation, Payton turned her attention back to the stage where Elena was now stood, really not looking her best at all.
"I, um, when I talked to April earlier, she was kind of nervous about coming up to speak, and..." Elena shakily began her speech, making everyone's already growing nerves increase, "now that I'm up here, I'm kind of nervous too. The worst day of loving someone is the day that you lose them,"
Payton lowered her head slightly at the words, fully relating to that and for a brief moment she could feel her heart sinking, but something that took her completely off guard but not for the better brought her attention to somewhere else other than her feelings.
The smell in the air was filling her nostrils and making her skin start to feel like it was on fire. Payton felt her heart rate begin to pick up and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat, fearing what the hell was going on and if she could even control herself in a room full of people.
This really wasn't the time.
"Do you smell that?" Caroline murmured, but loud enough for the vampires in the room to hear.
"Blood." Tyler confirmed for them all.
"Nobody move," Damon whispered to them all, causing Payton's heart to beat even harder and her breathing began to get erratic, "don't turn around. It's a trap."
It had to be the hunter that was doing this. It had to be.
Now if Payton didn't hold it together, she would risk exposing herself and probably the whole lot of them.
Why hadn't she been practicing better? Why had she let that side of her go the past week or so?
And of course, it wasn't just them in the crowd that could smell it.
It was Elena on stage too.
The girl who was still transitioning and getting use to being a vampire. The girl who was struggling already and now there was blood in the air it was only going to make matters worse.
She had sweat coming off her forehead, her skin had been looking drained all day and now it was looking more pale with every second that ticked by, clearly smelling the blood just like they could.
"I, um..." Elena could feel the veins appear under her eyes, but thankfully her knight in shining amour, Stefan, came to save the day and the risk of her being hunted right there and then.
"It's ok. It's ok. I got you," He assured her, as he wrapped his arms around her back, before leading them away off the stage, "I got you."
Stefan supported Elena as he lead them back over to where she had been originally sat with Payton, Matt and Jeremy, whilst the pastor came onto the stage and took over from where a struggling Elena had left the service.
"Please turn to page 42 in your hymn book. Let us join together in song." The pastor instucted, as they all rose to their feet to follow though with his orders.
Payton shakily stood up from her seat, even though inside she was losing, she wasn't losing it as much as Elena was. But god, Payton just wanted to either run for the hills or consume the blood in one.
As everyone in the church began to sing, Elena cradled into Stefan in a complete panicked manner, "The blood. Stefan, the blood. I can smell it. There's so much." She said to him ratickly.
"It's all right. It's all right; just remember what we talked about," Stefan tried to reassure her and calm her down, even though he was struggling himself and he could now see Payton was when his eyes met with her worried ones, "Focus, push back. Come on, you can do this."
"What's wrong with her?" Matt asked, after witnessing Elena's behaviour.
"She's hungry," Stefan informed him, as Matt's eyes trailed down to Payton in confusion, seeing her also acting strange, "she hasn't fed."
"So get her out of here." Matt stated like it was the obvious thing to do.
"He can't," Payton hissed at Matt, slowly looking up at him, "there's someone watching us."
"I'm going to go rip his head off now." Damon remarked from the few rows he was still stood at.
"You do that, Damon, and you risk exposing all of us." Stefan told his brother sternly.
"Well, I think the risk will be slightly diminished when I, you know, rip his head off." Damon said.
"Stefan, I'm losing it." Elena grumbled, her face scrunching up more as the vampire inside took over.
"You have 10 seconds before I go old-fashioned on the new guy." The older brother taunted.
"Don't do it, Damon, please." Stefan begged his brother.
"3,2,1," Damon counted down, before they heard him turn and begin to walk out of his spot, "bye."
"Wait, wait, wait, Elena," Matt stopped the guy in the tracks, everyone's attention falling on the lost human, "feed from me."
Damon's eyes flickered over to where they were stood a few rows in front shocked by the guys suggestion, even Tyler and Jeremy looked over in confusion. From beside Matt, Payton stared back at him in also shock and somewhat fear of what Matt was really volunteering himself for.
Then she remembered when he had done the same for her when she nearly lost it when Alaric had been stabbed and there was blood everywhere. She was starving and craving it. Matt had offered himself for her.
Now he was doing the same for Elena.
"It's ok," Matt assured all of them that this was an alright idea, "everyone will just think you're upset. Feed from me."
Elena glanced up at Stefan for assurance, who was now looking across at Matt and then down to Elena's worried eyes. Slowly Matt took Elena in his arms and out of Stefan's, her head laying down onto his shoulder close to his neck.
"It's ok. You're ok." Matt cooed in Elena's ear.
Stefan looked across at them, his eyes meeting with Payton's for a moment, where he gave her a slight nod in reassurance that this would be alright and also that she would get through this, knowing she was struggling inside also to fight off the demons.
Elena slowly moved over to Matt's neck and bit into his skin, causing him to wince slightly at the sensation, but felt a slight reassurance when he felt Payton grab hold of his hand and squeeze it lightly, letting him know that she was there for him whatever happened.
After a few moments, Elena finally broke away from Matt without killing him or draining him of to much blood, "Thank you," she carefully wiped the blood from around her mouth and turned back to Stefan, as Matt pulled his collar over the bite mark on his neck, "the blood, there's so much. It's got to be April. We have to help her."
Payton squeezed Matt's hand again in comfort, as her eyes flickered over to Tyler who had now come past the isle and was heading to the stage, confusing and also worrying her more about what he was up to with a hunter watching them, especially when he knew what Tyler was.
"Elena, we can't risk it." Stefan warned her.
"Then I'm going to do it." Elena went to push past him to get out, but the sound of Tyler's voice coming over the microphone prevented her from going any further.
"Excuse me," Tyler said catching the crowd's attention and also stopping the singing from continuing, "I just wanted to say a few words about Pastor Young."
"What is he doing..." Payton hissed under her breathe, seeing this as a suicide mission from the teenager.
"What do we do?" Elena whispered in fear.
"Back in first grade, I was a brat who couldn't be bothered with team sports. Didn't care much about anything that didn't affect me," Tyler began, as Payton's heart began to beat all that little bit harder all over again, "but he was the one who made me understand how important it is to be a part of a team; a community,"
Everyone was now sitting back in their seats, listening to Tyler and the group of them prayed everything would be alright,
"...of giving yourself up for the sake of..."
Suddenly a piercing gun shot rung out of the church, causing the place to erupt with screams of horror and a certain Lockwood to take the impact of the fire, sending him flying down onto the ground and everyone else to duck out of the way.
Even Payton felt her body instantly move down in reaction to the shot ringing out, the noise reminding her of all the times Brady had shot her over and over again the day his pack had kidnapped her in revenage for what had happened to Mason.
An experience that would traumatise her for the rest of her days on earth.
But once people began to run out of the church in fear of another shot being fired, Payton found herself running up to the stage to go check on the teenager, knowing she couldn't just leave him there without knowing he was alright.
Joining Payton at the scene was also a concerned Caroline, worried why this hunter was so out to get her boyfriend and Tyler's Mom, Carol, who was clutching her chest in shock at what had just happened to her son in front of the whole town.
Caroline jumped down onto the floor to her boyfriend's aid, whilst Payton hovered over the scene and it wasn't long before Stefan and Elena also joined them up the front of the church.
The blonde female rolled her boyfriend onto his back and with all the strength she had pulled the stake out of his chest, causing Tyler to fly up in agony and cough as the pain submerged his body.
"I'm going to kill that bastard." Tyler grumbled in anger.
"Damon's way ahead of you," Stefan informed him, already knowing that this would give his brother the perfect chance to go after the hunter now, "stay here, I have to help him."
"What about April?" Elena asked.
"I got it, go!" Caroline answered, before Stefan headed off.
"I have to call an ambulance." Carol said still shook up after seeing her son get shot.
"No..." Caroline knew that wasn't neccessary.
Payton knew she had to back up her friend, "he's fine!"
"The whole town just watched you get shot. I'm calling an ambulance." Carol explained again, before heading off the stage to make the call.
"Elena?" Caroline then said, causing Payton to turn behind her to no longer find the girl with them anymore.
"You go find her," Payton suggested, knowing that Elena would need her more than payton right now, "I'll wait with Tyler and Carol."
"Are you sure?" Caroline wasn't sure she wanted to leave Tyler.
"Of course." Payton assured her.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." Tyler also added, smiling slightly over at Payton.
Squeezing her boyfriend's hand, Caroline climbed onto her feet and began to exit the stage, going to go find Elena to figure out what the hell was up to since she still wasn't in the best frame of mind.
Payton slowly knelt herself down onto the ground, as Tyler laid down on the floor properly and stared up at the ceiling, the two of them listening into Carol take the phone call to the emergency services.
"Here we are again." Payton sighed, breaking the silence that had come over the two of them.
"I know," He agreed with her, his eyes slowly rolling over to her, "haven't we already been through enough craziness?"
"I think someone is definitely testing the waters." She tried to make light of the situation.
"Bet you wished you stayed in Florida now." Tyler said.
Payton looked back at him with a sad look on her face, before a shrug followed shortly after, "maybe. But then we wouldn't be sat here right now having this conversation. God, I thought you were going to die. I thought we were all going to die."
"Well, Klaus put his body inside of me, so I guess we all got lucky." He raised his brows.
She smiled slightly back at him, already hearing the story from Matt last week that the whole reason they were all still standing was because Klaus had been using dark magic from Bonnie to put his body into Tyler's, preventing him from dying and also saving the lot of them at the same time.
"I suppose you're the one I should be thanking then." Payton responded.
"The ambulance is on it's way," Carol came back up the steps leading onto the stage, cutting their conversation short and she glanced over at her son in distress by all of this, "I can't believe this has happened. Was it that man who swung by earlier?"
"That's the one." Tyler confirmed from the floor.
"How has this even happened?" Carol complained, still very much shook up by this all.
"It's just what being a part of the supernatural is like." Payton interjected with a light sigh.
Carol slowly turned her head to look over at Payton, she hadn't seen the girl properly since Mason had been around and hearing that she was still in town even when he was nowhere to be seen surprised her more than anything to the point where she hadn't believed it at first.
But now she was seeing the girl with her own two eyes, she understood how very real the girl's presence in this town truly was.
"It's good to see you, Payton." Carol said to the girl out of the kindness of her heart.
"You too." Payton nodded back.
"I wish circumstances could have been different when we ran into each other again," Carol began looking over at her son, then back on the girl, "but, how are you doing?"
"Yeah, I'm ok." She smiled lightly.
Even though she really wasn't 100% ok. But she was managing the best she could.
"I suppose you haven't seen my brother in law anywhere lately..."
Payton felt her heart sink at the woman's words, her eyes crossing over to Tyler's in confusion, where she saw him already looking at her warningly, which was then it dawned on her that maybe Carol who had been growing more informed of the supernatural lives they lived, didn't actually know that the man she had just mentioned had gone a long time ago.
"Oh, um, no..." She found herself lost for words, feeling terrible for lying but also pained at the reminder of the man she lost.
"That's a shame. Tyler said the two of you broke up and that's why you stuck around in town with your father," Carol explained, as Payton's eyes stared hard down at the ground below, "I'm sorry to hear of your loss. I can't begin to imagine how you must feel..."
"Why don't you head off, Payton?" Tyler stopped his Mom for pressing any further, which caught her by surprise and also confused her, "I'm sure Care will be back in minute."
Payton slowly glanced across at him, realising what he was doing and why he was doing it. She couldn't have appreciated him anymore right now if she tried. Tyler knew exactly what she wanted and why she needed it.
Gently climbing up onto her feet, Payton gave Carol a small smile, before looking back down at Tyler, "Take care of yourself." She told him.
He nodded back at her, before she stepped down the steps and headed toward's the exit of the church, thankful that he had just saved her from either breaking down in tears or confessing all that went on with Mason.
Once she got out of the church, she felt the fresh air hit her hard and fast, giving her that much needed reminder that everything was going to be alright and it was a blessing to still even be on this earth.
But she couldn't have felt more relieved when she saw a familiar face walking her way and engulfing her in a warm yet tight embrace.
"Everything alright?" He asked her, as he laid her head on her shoulder.
"Hmm," She didn't really know how she felt after everything that had just occurred, it was all so confusing and now with Mason's fate ringing in her mind, Payton wasn't sure how to make sense of her feelings,
Breaking out of the embrace, Payton stared back at Matt, "just stupidly thought we were over this."
"I know," He couldn't have agreed with her anymore if he tried, "tell me about it."
She flashed him a light smile, then it suddenly dawned on her what had happened to him before the shot rang out, she moved her hand up to his neck and pulled back his collar, seeing the still wounded bite mark on his neck.
Why couldn't she have smelt it? Was she only immune to blood in certain situations?
Or maybe by some miracle she was actually getting better at her self control?
"Jesus, Matt," Payton sighed at the sight of his wound from Elena, as he winced and brushed her hand away from him, looking around to make sure no one had witnessed that, "do you want me to help heal you?"
"I'll be fine," He assured her, not wanting her or anyone to fuss about it, he owed Elena the drink, "I'll deal with it myself."
A small silence came over them, which was making Payton felt uneasy, so she did what she always did best and the what always worked for the Saltman's,
"Can we still have that drink? I'm in need of one more than ever now." She raised her brows up at him hopeful.
"Of course." Matt nodded, before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and leading her over to his truck, where Jeremy was already waiting wanting to ride back with them and also get away from this craziness.
When they returned back to the centre of town, they jumped out of the truck and Payton ran inside to fetch Matt a bandaid for his neck. Once she was back, Matt covered his wound with the aid and the three of them headed toward's the Grill to get some food, as well as a couple of drinks to take back with them since Payton was the only one legal to drink.
But that didn't mean the other two couldn't share a drink back at her place with some booze.
They headed over to the bar, where Payton leant across and ordered a shot for herself, as well as a wine bottle and some liquor to take away, whilst the boy's took care of the food option from down the other end of the bar, so that she could actually get away with paying for all the booze that was also for them.
Once the barrister had given her the shot and also the other take away beverages, Payton paid the guy with some dollar notes and headed over to the boys with her alcohol in her hands. She jumped up onto a bar stool beside Matt.
She laid the wine bottle and the liquor down onto the bar surface, before she turned to Matt with a mischievous smirk and downed the shot in one, the taste burning the back of her throat but giving her a small relief from the days stresses.
"Just like her father, huh?" Jeremy remarked with a smile beaming on his face, as he stared across at Payton and then at Matt.
Payton felt her stomach jolt slightly at the mention of her father, but when she saw the happy look on Jeremy's face, she knew it was time to stop being so sad about her father's loss and instead be grateful that they even were able to share their time with him in the first place.
Plus she was just being compared to Alaric, which to her meant a lot since he was her father and also one of the greatest people she had ever known. It was a compliment to say the least.
"She's great, isn't she?" Matt smirked as he also looked back at Payton.
She rolled her eyes playfully at the two of them, before shoving Matt lightly "you know you two are talking about me in the third person like I'm not actually here."
"We know." Matt replied a little too smartly.
"What else do you say about me behind my back then, huh?" Payton's smirk grew as she laid her hand on his shoulder and tilted her head to the side.
"Ah wouldn't you like to know?" He returned the smirk.
"All good things I hope." She joked.
"You bet..." Matt chuckled lightly, before he found himself moving in and going to peck her on the cheek.
But Payton being Payton, the girl who had lost so much lately like everyone had, but was also trying to make sense of her over the top emotions right now, who was just craving to feel something other than pain, couldn't help but move her head slightly, so much so that her lips brushed up against his and the two shared a small peck.
After a few seconds, the the two broke apart and escaped into small laughter at their intimate moment in public, which usually happened behind closed doors when they were either drunk or vulnerable and always lead to more.
"So the rumours are true.."
Payton and Matt slowly turned their head to look at Jeremy, both of their cheeks slightly flushed with colour, realising that of course doing that was meant that questions would be raised.
But Payton was more concerned about what people were saying about her.
Was there really rumours about her and Matt's little arrangement from time to time? Did people actually speak about the two of them?
"You do like to get cosy together." Jeremy finished, after the two went into full embarrassed and speechless mode, which was very rare for either of them.
"Every once in a while." Matt ended up admitting on behalf of the two of them.
"I think this awkwardness call's for another drink." Payton suggested, before spinning round on the stool and requesting another shot from the female barista who had been standing a few feet away from them.
"So yeah," She heard Matt say when she turned back round to face the two boys as the woman prepared her shot, "that was insane. How do you think they'll cover this one up?"
Just then someone came from out back to deliver the guys their food, which now Matt was leaning over to take from the counter top along with Jeremy.
"An assassination attempt on the mayor's son." Jeremy suggested.
"Altar boy goes postal." Matt half joked.
"Guys..." Payton warned them with a small smile on her lips at their light heartedness to the situation, even though this was no joking matter when it came to their friend's life and now their was a hunter on the lose out to kill them all.
"Hey," They heard someone call from behind them, causing the three of them to look over, as the barista laid Payton's shot glass down and she handed over the notes, her attention focused on the guy sat behind the bar a few stools down, "What happened there?"
The guy pointed to his neck, his gaze focused on Matt intently, which made Payton feel slightly uncomfortable at what he was asking, as she turned her face back to Matt hoping he had a good enough answer to cover up this strangers question.
He couldn't exactly say his best friend who was a vampire fed on him, could he?
It wasn't exactly a normal human response.
Matt's eyes met with Payton's briefly, an idea sparking in his head, "girlfriend caused it."
His spare hand went to lay on the small of Payton's back, causing her to twig on what he was doing and she leant up, wrapping her arms around his neck, turning back toward's the guy with her brows raised in a suggested manner, as to say she was his girl and she had been doing the dirty on him.
The guy gave her a raised eyebrow look, before shaking his head and continuing to look back at them.
Jeremy hopped up onto his feet with one of the food bags now in his hand, as Payton downed her shot and climbed down off the bar stool with the help of Matt, all of them wanting to avoid this awkward intergation from some random guy.
Once she was down onto her own two feet, Matt kept his hand on her back as they stepped away from the bar area, Jeremy followed behind them, although he kept his gaze back on the man.
"Nice ink." He commented on the guy, before catching up with them and heading to the exit.
Payton frowned when she heard Jeremy's words, just as Matt also did the same and turned to his friend in confusion, "What ink?" He asked.
"You didn't see his tattoo?" Jeremy questioned the two of them, as they shook their heads, "it was huge."
"He didn't have a tattoo." Payton said in a puzzled tone.
"Yeah, he did."
The three of them stepped out of the Grill and into the night sky, Payton turned her head back to Matt in confusion. He snuck a glance at her, then looked back at Jeremy and chuckled slightly at his friend's odd behaviour.
"You sure you didn't have some of Payton's booze when we weren't looking.." Matt teased his friends.
"I'm telling you the guy had a tattoo on his arm." Jeremy was convinced the man did, but both Payton and Matt never saw the ink on the man.
"Right," She couldn't help but laugh lightly, before heading across the road to go inside her apartment, "are you coming?"
"I better get back." Jeremy concluded, going to walk in the opposite direction home.
"You're welcome to come inside." Matt offered, knowing Payton wouldn't mind.
"Nah, it's ok. You two have a great night doing you know...whatever..." The youngster flashed Matt a suggestive look, before Matt shook his head and crossed the street to catch up with Payton.
"Catch ya later." Matt called to Jeremy, before following Payton inside the apartment block with their food.
Once they were inside, Payton grabbed them some plates and a glass each so that they could make a start on their refreshments for the rest of the evening. She was busy pouring them a glass of liquir each, whilst Matt plated up the food and wandered over to the refridgerator to get some ketchup.
As he came back out of the refridgerator, he pulled out a blood bag and handed it over to her, "You need one of these?"
Glancing down at the bag in his hands, Payton's eyes slowly shifted up to meet with his and she found herself shaking her head, "No. I think I'll be alright."
Matt was surprised to hear her say that. It wasn't that he didn't believe that she could control herself. It was more so that he knew she had been drinking a lot more blood than she had been prior to her father's death. He thought it was to help her cope, but now he could see that was trying to get back on track.
Putting the blood bag away, the two of them headed over to the couch and began to tuck into their food in a comfortable silence. Once they had both finished, they leant back slightly with a sigh, their beverages now firm in their hands, as they tried to come to terms with what happened back at the church.
"I hope Tyler will be ok." Matt said after a few moments of silence had passed.
"I'm sure he will. He's probably fully healed by now." Payton assured him, turning her head slightly to look at him.
"It's just, how many more times are we going to have to clear up some supernatural accident?" He grumbled.
"I have no idea," She sighed lightly, having felt the same way the past few months, Payton had thought it would have been over since her Dad died for some reason, but of course it wasn't, "now there's some crazy physcho vampire hunter roaming around town trying to kill us."
Matt scoffed unamused by it all, "it's just crazy how much has changed."
"Tell me about it."
He turned his head to look at her this time, before moving his spare hand over to rest on the top of her leg, "How are you doing with everything? You haven't said much about your Dad lately."
"I guess I've just been trying to accept it and move on like both he and Mason wanted." Payton explained, as she stared down at her lap in sadness.
"But is that what you want though? Do you want to just move on from it all?" Matt questioned.
She glanced back at him, her eyebrows furrowing together slightly, "What else am I suppose to do? They're gone and they're not coming back. I just have to do what's best."
"You know you still have me.." Matt reminded her, before squeezing her knee gently.
Payton nodded back at him with a warm smile falling on her face, as she leant across and laid her glass down, before taking Matt's own glass from his hand and laying it down beside her own.
Carefully she climbed over to him and ended up sitting on his lap, causing him to smirk in confusion at what she was doing, but enjoying it motherless, "What are you up to?" He asked, as he watched her begin to undo his shirt buttons.
"I need the distraction," Payton purred in his ear, as she began to move her lips away from them and towards his face, "we need the distraction. You're a helpless human stuck in the midst of this and I'm a blood craving vampire who lost the two most important people in her life."
"You seriously want to go there again?" Matt questioned, looking up at her face as he rested his hands on her waist.
"We're already been wanting to go there..." She looked back at him, seeing the spark of light now in his eye at the thought of them going back to their intimate ways for the first time in a while.
Not wanting to waste another second of their time together, Payton pecked the corner of his lips, before moving down towards his jaw, then his neck and down to his bare chest where his shirt was undone.
"Payton," He breathed, after feeling her touch on his skin, the pleasure he was getting was oh so good, "you're killing me here."
Payton smirked against his skin, as she moved back up it and brought her lips against his own, where they began to kiss each other hungrily. Matt ran his hand's down from her waist to her thighs, where he pushed up the part of the dress to bring her bare thighs on display.
They were moments away from taking things further, when Payton felt her cell phone begin to vibrate and the text tone played out from the kitchen counter top, where her purse was sitting and the device was inside.
She grumbled when she heard it ring out, her forehead going to rest gently against Matt's, both of their breathing now heavy as she climbed off his body and headed to retrieve the cell.
Matt leaned back on the couch, a little flustered from their moment, as he watched her pull the device from her bag and read the message over. When he witnessed her nose scrunch up slightly, he called her out on it, "Everything alright?"
"Yeah," She nodded, looking up at him from the screen, "it's Stefan. He want's everyone to meet."
Author note: Hello everyone! End of January now and I'm so glad to be saying goodbye to this month. It's definitely been blue to say the least and I'm looking forward to February. I hope you all had a better or more manageable January than I have had. Anyway, I really hope you guys liked this part and enjoyed reading it. Lots of Stefan and Payton moments, as well as Matt and Payton. I think there was definitely a good balance here. So hopefully I've pleased both ships! I personally really love this chapter and I'm falling more in love with Matt/Payton everyday, but don't worry Stefan will still come swooping in there very soon.
Special thanks to RHatch89, LMarie99, HPuni101, kuppcake, Adela and Emmy Altava for reviewing the last part. Lot's of speculation over what's going to happen now Stefan's taken the ring. All will be reviewed very soon and I think you guys will love what I have planned for it. Plus Payton's Mom might be making an appearance VERY VERY VERY soon. We couldn't leave her without a parent could we!
I'd love to know what you all thought about this part and any ideas for where the story is progressing to. Thanks so much for reading all of you :) it means the world to me!
Have a great week,
guiltypleasurexo
