April Two Months Later
Liz
I finish doing my hair and go into the kitchen where all the guys are sitting, shifting through a pile of brochures and other papers from various universities that have started sending Pony letters asking to set up meetings or to come and see a hockey game. I don't think any of us had planned to even start looking at schools for him until after junior year, but here we are. "Michigan is a, no?" Soda says holding up a letter, Pony shrugs,
"It's not in my top 5." Pony replies, he takes his glasses off and rubs his eyes,
"Ok, so I'll just put this over here." Soda says putting it in a growing pile of schools that Pony isn't super interested in,
"I'm getting ready to head out, do you guys need anything before I leave?" All of them turn to look at me,
"Where are you going again?" Darry asks, adding another letter to the stack of not interested, true to her word Payton had texted me earlier this morning asking if I wanted to go to the museum with her, I had been surprised to hear from her, she had been on the west coast the past week looking at schools, and wasn't supposed to be back for another two days. She had said she'd come pick me up, but she asked me not to tell Pony she was home, she wanted to surprise him.
"Out with a friend." I tell them pausing as the doorbell rings, I head over to the door as Darry asks Pony about the University of Wisconsin, I pull the door open. "Hey sweetie." I greet, giving Payton a big hug.
"Hey." She replies with a huge smile, she looks absolutely adorable, she's wearing a dress that's a long sleeve navy blue top with a gray gingham patterned bottom, that ties with a bow around her waist, and she's got it paired with a pair of white converse. I wind my arm through hers and lead her back towards the kitchen, Steve looks up and nudges Pony who looks at us, and then gets up so fast he knocks his chair backwards.
"What are you doing here?" He asks as he wraps his arms around her picking her up off the ground, "I thought you weren't back until Sunday?" Payton puts her arms around his neck, as he leans in kissing her.
"We got an earlier flight back." After a few kisses, Darry clears his throat, Pony gives her one last kiss and puts her down, but keeps his arms tightly around her, she smooths out her dress and looks at me,
"You ready?" She asks, I nod, Pony looks at her,
"You're already leaving?" He asks, "I haven't seen you in a week." He adds, not letting go of her, if I'm not mistaken, he may actually tighten his grip on her.
"I sure am, we won't be back too late. We're just going to the museum." I grab my purse. Pony pauses, then stands up,
"You know what if you two don't care I'll come with you." He says,
"You can come." I tell him, he grins, "We won't be back that late." I tell the guys before the three of us leave, I notice almost immediately Payton is unusually quiet, I don't bring it up until the three of us are in the museum and walking around, "How did it go in California?" I ask, Payton turns and looks at me and her eyes tell me everything I need to know.
"Honestly it wasn't that great." She replies, Pony who is holding her right hand gives it a gentle squeeze.
"Anything in particular or just like in general?" I question, as I spin my engagement ring around on my finger, Darry had surprised me with it last month. Payton sighs and sits on one of the benches staring at a painting for a second, "Are you ok?" I ask gently sitting down beside her Pony taking the seat on her other side.
"When we got to Stanford the guide we had, basically told me that I was too uptight for California and how anyone from the East Coast especially the Boston and New York area think that they are better than everyone else." Payton looks at me as she fiddles with her necklace, the one that Pony had bought her for their six-month anniversary. It's a white gold chain with a diamond "P" on it, it's super dainty and girly and just adorable. I put my hand on her arm, as she continues, "Then it was just all these off-handed comments about how we talked, and dressed, and it was just awful and uncomfortable." She pauses, and looks away, "And I feel horrible because I wasted everyone's time going there, mom's and Ali's and it was just a total bust." Pony wraps his arms around her pulling her in for a hug,
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks her, she sits up and sniffles a bit, and I can't help but notice the tears welling up in her eyes.
"You were doing visits with schools, and I didn't want to stress you out or make you worry about me." She answers, he kisses the top of her head,
"Is that why you're home early?" I ask gently. Payton nods wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her dress,
"Yeah, we had plans to do other things but after that no one felt like hanging around." She explains, "Can I tell you two something?" Pony and I both nod,
"Of course." I tell her, in the six months that her and Pony have been together the two of us have gotten pretty close. Despite the age difference I definitely consider her a friend and it's hard to ignore how good she is for Pony.
"I don't think I can go to Stanford." She almost whispers, "And I have hyped it up so much in my head, and told everyone that's where I'm going, and now I just don't think I can do it." She looks at me then at Pony, "And I just know everyone is going to be disappointed in me." Pony looks at me,
"No honey no one is going to be disappointed." I tell her, "Everyone just wants what's best for you, maybe Stanford isn't that, and that's ok." I add.
"I don't know. I feel disappointed in myself, I can't believe I was so adamant about going and refused to even consider any other school, and now I'm in this situation." She lets out a deep breath,
"You have plenty of time to look at other schools, you're smart Payton any school would be lucky to have you." I assure her. "And we'll all support you no matter where you go, whether it's somewhere here or in California." I add. "And you know your family will too." She looks at Pony,
"She's right Pay." He tells her, she leans against him putting her head on his shoulder, he leans his head against her, whispering something to her before leaning in for a kiss.
"Thank you." She replies, the three of us stand back up and Payton winds her arm through mine as we slowly walk from one exhibit to the next. The three of us spend another hour or so just walking around, out of all the guys' Pony is the only one I think I could deal with coming with us. He doesn't try and rush us, and he seems totally content to just walk around holding Payton's hand, any of the other guys would have lasted five minutes if that and then bugged the shit out of us to go home. Once we make our way to the exit, I look at both of them,
"If you guys don't have plans, you're more than welcome to come over for dinner." Pony looks at Payton who nods and then at me,
"Sure, we'll come." He tells me as the three of us make our way back towards the apartment.