Chapter Fifty-Nine: Outlet
Author's note: Thanks so much for the reviews lately. They've been 'specially good. I have something to announce: I'm pretty sure I'm going to change the rating of this to M. There's stuff coming up that definitely warrants it. If you're under 16, I still definitely think you should keep reading. Most of it will be T-ish.
Peyton groaned in annoyance when the upstairs neighbors arrived home. She haed the dorm. She wished she had friends close enough to move in with. She wished Jake had never broken up with her.
Or had she broken up with him? Sometimes it was hard to remember.
Throwing her binder in her book bag, she stomped angrily out of the room and slammed the door shut, hoping it would make the building shake.
Sighing, she looked in both directions as she stepped outside of the dorm. There was nowhere to go anywhere. For two years she'd counted on the Scott house as a silent, vaguely homelike experience, but it had all changed when Nathan had married Haley and they'd begun to go at it on every available surface. Sighing, she turned right, in the direction of the only "homelike" atmosphere she knew of.
"Peyton?" said a voice in surprise. Peyton smiled tentatively at Ryan Scott, dressed in tight, expensive sweatpants and a tank top that went low over her breasts and high across her toned stomach. Her long blonde hair was sweeping down her back, and she looked slightly tired.
"Sorry, I was just stretching. Remember I told you how I dance? Come in," she said, opening the door wider. Peyton looked around the place she hadn't set foot in over a year.
Jake came walking from the bedroom, wearing pajama pants and a wife beater. Peyton raised her eyebrows.
"Peyton. Hi. What's up?" he asked.
"I…" Peyton trailed off, feeling uncomfortable. His stomach muscles, she noted, were as impressive as always.
"Want to hang?" he asked.
"Yeah, actually. My dorm's driving me insane and Haley and Nathan are hard to be around. Vaguely akin to rabbits," she said. Ryan let out a noise of disgust.
"Hello, talking about my brother here!" she protested.
"Yeah, your poor virgin ears. Cry me a river," joked Jake.
"Shut up," she snapped, laughing.
"So, got anything PG13 you wanted to discuss?" asked Jake. Ryan scowled playfully at him.
"Do you like your new classes?" asked Peyton desperately.
"They're pretty good. I like Professor Braddock. Interesting guy," remarked Jake.
"Yeah. Plus, a total fox," said Ryan. Peyton attempted a smile.
"So Nathan's not allowed to have sex with his wife but you're happy with R rated thoughts about a professor old enough to be your father?" asked Jake.
"Dude, you're the one that slept with Davis," retorted.
"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.
"Please. It's idiotic enough that it's a comeback to any argument. Am I right, Peyton?" asked Ryan. Instantly, Peyton's mind to the image of the brunette riding the man she'd unconsciously loved all her life. Peyton looked up, hoping to silently communicate with Jake in the way they always had, but she found his eyes on Ryan again.
"Yeah. You know, I have to… go. I'm expecting a call from Brooke to follow up all the pictures she's been sending. See you," she said, exiting.
Ryan shivered as she moved to the window and watched Peyton run off down the street. What was so clear to her was somehow so foreign to them. Peyton still loved Jake, Jake still loved Peyton. Wasn't that all that mattered?
Peyton Sawyer was angry, and angrier at anyone in her line of fire. As she walked through the university, she came across a perfect outlet for her venting.
"I find your reasons for giving me a C tyrannical and unjust," fumed Peyton a moment later, having entered the office of Christian Braddock. He leaned back in his chair, linked his hands behind his head and raised his eyebrows at her, as if daring to continue.
"My thesis was in no way unclear. I stated all my sources. And what the hell was wrong with my conclusion?" demanded Peyton.
"It was sloppy. We can talk about it if you want," he said.
"I don't want to talk about it. This is insane. This is prejudiced, and insane," she shot back.
"You think I gave you a low mark because you're a W.A.S.P?" he asked.
"Or a woman. Whatever."
"Peyton, this is your first paper. Did you really expect to do well?" asked Christian.
"I'd had it on good authority that you were an easy marker," she said. He chuckled.
" They say a lot of things about me. Most of them aren't true. However, some of them are," he said.
"What other less than desirable things do they say about you?" she asked cautiously.
"Do you want me to tell you? Or do you want me to show?" he asked. After a moment of confusion, Peyton realized he was hitting on her, and pulled back in confusion.
"How do you know my name?" she asked, suddenly distracted.
"I'm good with faces," said Christian.
"Yeah, well, apparently you're good at lots of things," she said, leaving angrily.
After leaving, Peyton pulled her phone out of her pocket while it vibrated. She almost smiled as she opened a text message to find yet another picture of Hayden, who was still only a few weeks old.
Putting her phone to her ear, she dialed Haley's number.
"Hey, this is Haley and Nathan Scott. Sorry we're out right now, but we'll call you back if we like you. Bye!" Peyton scoffed. Like they were out. She had a fairly good idea of what they were actually doing, but she didn't want to have to think about it.
Peyton dialed her phone again.
"This is Jake Jagielski and Ryan Scott. Uh, we're not in right now, or we're doing something else that interest us more, apparently. Talk to you later."
"Hey, this is Brooke and Lucas Scott! Odds are we're having sex or taking care of one of our zillion kids. Seriously, it's all we ever do nowadays. Call us back!"
Not for the first time that year, Peyton was feeling lonely. Like her best friends, she was terrible at forging new bonds. And now that Jake had Ryan, it seems that she as all he need. Peyton dialed one more number on her phone:
"Professor Braddock?" Peyton waited a moment until he responded. "Yeah, this is Peyton Sawyer…"