Shrinking

Chapter Eight

**this chapter has been completely re-written and will effect the story later on**

Connor’s POV

Tonight was eerily cold outside with a wind that bit at my cheeks. I was walking back to my dorm room from the Rec Center where I practicing some lacrosse drills, shivering slightly from the temperature. I had to let off steam somehow after what happened with Elijah back at Peyton’s dorm room. How could be such an ass to her and get away with it? Did Peyton really lack that much self-respect? The fact that he was with her and I wasn’t tonight made my skin crawl. No matter what I said to myself, I had to face the facts. I liked Peyton and that was that.

I was fantasizing about what it’d be like if I could be with Peyton when I noticed a person walking up ahead. I wondered about who would be out at this hour of night. The person came closer and closer and my mind started to go haywire. I saw a mess of long hair blowing back from the wind and a black skirt riding up in all the places I should not be witnessing. The person also had a noticeable limp in their walk almost as though they’d like to collapse after every step they took.

They were only a short distance in front of me now, and confusion flooded through my entire body. Her eyes looked glazed and puffy, like she wasn’t looking at anything; just looking. “Peyton?” I asked questioningly. Her eyes opened wide and met mine.

“Connor? Is that you?” Her voice was small and hoarse.

I walked faster toward her – she looked awful. “Yeah, it’s me...God, what happened to you?”

She limped one step closer to me and I really looked at her. Her cheeks were tear-stained and her face was red from the cold. Her entire body shook. I realized that all she was wearing was a skirt and short-sleeved shirt in the cold October weather. “Nothing, I’m fine...” she said softly. “I’m fine.” I pulled my hoodie over my head, even though I only had a t-shirt on underneath, and saw Peyton shaking her head when she realized what I was doing. “Connor, no,” she mumbled. I ignored her and she took it anyways, sliding it easily over her head. She was drowning in it.

“What happened?” I asked her again. Why was she out this late at night? Why was she barely clothed? And, most importantly: Where the hell was Elijah?

She shook her head again. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Why were you crying?”

She looked up at me, and I completely regretted saying that, because just then her lower lip began to wobble. Peyton’s lower lip was full and adorable and could probably make me do anything. “I said I don’t want to talk about it!” She said louder as she blinked out a tear. Her hand immediately rushed to her face to wipe it away.

“Come here,” I sighed and pulled her to me. I wrapped my arms around her small body as she cried, shaking slightly. I tried not to think about if this was allowed in our “friendship”, or if I should ask her again, or how Elijah would feel about it. I pushed all of those thoughts away and held her.

We stayed like that for a few minutes until she pulled back and wiped beneath her eyes. “I should get back to my dorm.”

I nodded, still worried. “You have your key, right?”

 “Key? What key?”

“The doors to the dormitories lock every week night at eleven, Peyton. Didn’t you know that?”

I watched as her face crumpled. “Fuck! Fuck! What the hell am I supposed to do now? I don’t have a key!”

There was an awkward silence in the air as we both looked at each other – me with worry and her with desperation. I coughed. “I mean...”