All Kinds of Special

Who: Kavin and Peyton
When: Afternoon
Where: Phonelines and the Lakeshore

Kavin dropped Jeri off for work but really wasn't in the mood to head home just yet. Not and hang out with the clothes throwing ghost, so he called Peyton. Maybe he'd get lucky and she wouldn't have any plans and they could hang out and talk or something. He was quickly finding out that it was a lot easier to talk to her than most people and now that Nate was gone, well that just sucked and sitting at home thinking about it just wasn't working out for him. So Peyton that was much better. He dialed her number as he pulled away from the parking lot of the bakery, already heading in the direction of the girls house just in case she agreed.

Peyton was in her bedroom taking a nap when her cell phone rang on her bedside table. It woke her and she scrambled for a moment, thinking it might be Isaac, or maybe even Geo. Sitting up, she pushed her hair from her face and recognized Kavin's number. Clearing her throat, she forced her to sound awake enough that he wouldn't know that he woke her and feel bad. She needed to get up anyway before she slept the day away. Answering the line, she lifted her phone to her ear and smiled sleepily. "Hey, Kavin. What's up?"

She didn't sound awake even though she'd tried. "Were you sleeping?" he guessed with a little grin. "God, sleeping all day, what's wrong with you?" he teased. "Get up, let's do something, I'm bored and you're cool and I don't feel like going back to my house yet, sooo let's go somewhere or something. Unless you're getting beauty rest for Isaac and stuff, wherein I will totally retract my invitation and take a rain check."

Apparently she hadn't done a good job with the being awake thing! She grinned and laughed a bit before flopping back on her pillow. Her body was taking a bit longer to get moving. "I wasn't sleeping all day," she protested. "Nothing wrong with a nap, right? I thought boys loved to sleep all the time." Peyton managed to roll herself off her bed, landing on her feet before she stretched. "Since I am cool and just nice enough to take pity on your bored bottom, I'd be good with doing something. Can you pick me up?" She figured a quick change and throwing her messy hair up into a ponytail would be sufficient enough in getting ready to go out.

"Yeah, I'm not that far from your house. Had to drop Jeri off at work and stuff, but figured you could come up with something to entertain me for a while yeah??" he smiled. "And for the record, I love sleep. I'm in a committed relationship with sleep. I'd marry sleep if it were legal."

"I suck at entertaining," Peyton admitted, hurrying to her dresser to grab a pair of jeans, if he was already on his way to her house. "But I guess I can see what I can do for you. Does sleep know you're hanging out with me? I'd hate to have sleep show up on my doorstep and kick my butt, or..." Wow, she was still kind of out of it apparently. "Er, forget I even went down that particular path, okay? Let me get dressed really quick and I'll be out front in like, five minutes."

Kavin chuckled. "Maybe I should let you go back to sleep." he teased. "But yeah, I'll be outside, see ya in a few." he told her. He hung up then and stuffed his phone back in the pocket of his jacket and finished the trip to Peyton's house, pulling up in front and waiting for the girl to come downstairs.

It didn't take her very long to strip out of her pajamas and pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater. She shoved her feet into her shoes and grabbed her jacket and scarf before heading out the door. Kavin was already there waiting. She was tying her hair up into a ponytail even as she rounded his car, finishing just as she got to the passenger side. Opening the door, she climbed in and smiled. "So totally awake now. No more conversations about affairs with sleep."

He grinned and shook his head as he pulled away from her house, having no set destination really in mind. "So, what are you in the mood to do now that you're awake?" he questioned. "I would say we could hang out at my place but, unless your tempted to see my boxers and socks flying all over the house - I have a ghost that hates my taste in clothes - then we should probably head somewhere else."

"You've actually got a ghost in your house?" Peyton asked, arching an eyebrow in Kavin's direction. "I've seen them outside... one stayed in my backyard for most of the night. But none have ventured inside. Thankfully. Tyler's been stalking the halls with a baseball bat, as if that's going to help." It helped that Thom's wards had stayed in tact. "I don't care what we do... I'm seriously open to just about anything. I didn't have any plans for today, obviously." She rubbed at her eyes, still sort of crusty from sleep. Gross. "You hungry? Or we can get a drink somewhere. Try to get ourselves into a bar," she teased.

"Well I'm starving. We could go get a burger or something and go somewhere with the food." he suggested. "Though, preferably not the park. I'd rather not go there when I'm trying to eat." Yeah, the thought of Chrissy and her body looking the way it had when he'd found her just didn't seem to stir his appetite in a positive direction. "Anywhere but the park."

Peyton wasn't too keen on going near the park anytime soon herself, so she nodded in agreement with Kavin. "Getting food to go sounds good. Anywhere but the park sounds better. Uhm, we could go to the lakeshore and park. Or Presque Isle or something. There's bound to be some place decent and not terribly crowded." Her stomach growled audibly at the thought of food. She rubbed her tummy and smiled. "Apparently I'm in the mood for a burger. Oh! A cheeseburger with tomato, ketchup and mayo."

"Lake shore sounds good." he told her. "I'm sure we can find somewhere to sit that doesn't involve a wet ass or whatever. But yeah, lets do that." He headed off in the direction of a fast food place first and picked them up some food, then it was off to the lakeshore to look for somewhere to sit. "So besides sleeping, what have you been up to?"

"I'm not a fan of wet ass, so that sounds good. We could even eat in the car if it's too icky on the benches," she said. "Unless you're weird about your car smelling like onions or something..." Peyton trailed off after remembering he had moved Chrissy's body. Probably in the car. No, she was not going to get nauseous. "Uhm, anyway, I haven't been up to much. School, spending time with Isaac when I can... stuff like that. What about you?"

"The funeral." he muttered. "Hanging out with Jeri. I talked to Isaac that day, so that's all straight and you're allowed to talk to him about the whole hunting thing if you want to." he told her as he parked the car. "And... lets get out and eat somewhere, it's cold but... yeah. Onions don't bother me but I don't spend more time in the car than I need to." He decided not to mention why and bring up moving Chrissy.

"Okay, that's no problem." She felt like maybe it was a good idea too, now that she was thinking about all that stuff. At least she'd brought her scarf. She got the bag of food and got out of his car, breathing in the fresh air. It was a chilly day, and with the ghosts, most people weren't out hanging around the lakeshore, so there were plenty of empty benches. It was just trying to find a dry one.

Lucky for them, Kavin usually kept extra clothes in his car, so he grabbed a shirt from the trunk and headed towards the benches, wiping one down and letting her sit and then wiping his own space down as well. "There ya go, no wet back end."

The bench was a bit chilly too, but Peyton didn't mind it so much. "Thanks." She set the bag of food between them to pull off her gloves so she could eat properly. "How is Jeri by the way? Did you ever talk to her about...?" She didn't really want to say it aloud for some reason.

"Yeah. And then she had a sugar attack thing. She's diabetic and it wasn't the best conversation. But she knows how I feel about it and right now we're okay. She's okay. I'll have to talk to her again about it, I'm sure, but right now, she's safe and she doesn't want me to say anything. I can't force her into it."

"I guess not..." Peyton trailed off, though she didn't necessarily agree with Kavin. If someone was being abused by a family member, she knew that person wouldn't want to tell the authorities, but sometimes things had to be done in their best interest, even if it wasn't what they wanted. Peyton reached into the bag to pull out his burger and hand it to him. "How was the funeral?" She hadn't gone, which she had felt guilty about, even if she and Chrissy hadn't been friends. But she hadn't thought she could go without seeing Chrissy's body in her mind the whole time.

"Shitty. A bunch of people pretending that they cared about someone just because she's dead now." he told her, taking the burger and unwrapping it. "I think everyone there, aside from like her parents and Gabe, was just there to be seen. IT's pretty fucking shitty."

"Yeah." Peyton unwrapped her own burger to take a bite. She considered that, knowing people would be there only because they felt guilty for not liking her, or they wanted to pretend like they had cared. She picked up a napkin and leaned back against the bench. "I think I would rather have no one show up at my funeral at all, then a bunch of people who didn't really know me, or care."

Kavin nodded. "I didn't go for her. I didn't like her. I didn't want her to die either, but I went for Gabe because at least I knew the girl, knew how much she meant to him, whether he liked to admit it or not. At least my intentions were a little better than just to be seen at Chrissy Chapman's funeral."

"I'm sure your intentions were better than most," Peyton said. "I didn't go because I thought I might be there as one of the people who felt guilty for not liking her while she was alive. Then I feel like it would have been about me somehow, and that didn't feel right so... I stayed home. Though I do keep expecting to see her ghost in my backyard or something, as weird as that sounds. I think I have a better chance of seeing her at school, haunting the gym or whatever with her pom poms." She rolled her eyes. "I really shouldn't be making jokes about it."

Kavin hadn't even thought about Chrissy having a ghost. "Well, shit. I never even thought about that." he admitted. "That would suck. Seeing a ghost of someone I actually know. Talk about some weird shit." he sighed.

"I kind of wondered if I would see people I knew," Peyton admitted after swallowing another bite of her burger. "Chrissy, or my grandma. Or Lullaby, or any of the other kids who died. Every ghost I've seen I don't know. Some are pretty scary looking too." She took a deep breath and then smiled. "Okay, we need to talk about something a bit more uplifting! This is getting depressing."

He really didn't have much uplifting stuff to talk about really. He was trying to uplift himself now that there were all those rumors about Nate leaving. He'd heard he had, and hadn't been able to get a hold of the boy for the last few days, but he still wasn't all that sure. Maybe he'd drive by his house and find out. Maybe. But would that make him look like a stalker or something? God that would just suck. Like he couldn't handle a second without the guy. "Yeah, something not depressing..." he agreed. "Um... how's Isaac?" he questioned. "How are you? Really?" he asked a second later, eyes flicking up to the girl as he took a bite of his burger. He couldn't help but worry about the girl beside him. She'd seen a lot more than someone should ever really have to see.

She smiled a bit when he mentioned Isaac. That was definitely not a depressing topic. "He's good. I'm going to try and see him tonight, I think." Saturday night! She figured she ought to spend it with her boyfriend. "And I'm fine. I'm just... I don't know." She shrugged and shifted her gaze out to the water. "Tired? With the werewolf stuff, and now the ghost stuff, and Chrissy and my dad and Tyler finding out about the supernatural, and my older sister keeps calling, and my mom's freaking out and wanting us to come live with her..." Peyton released a frustrated breath. "Everything feels like it hit at once. And now with the ghosts, and everyone talking about the end of the world." She managed a small smile. "I really wanted to go to college before everything imploded!"

Kavin nodded. "Sometimes I think people are better off when they don't know about things, but at the same time, I'm kinda glad that Tyler and your dad know some things now because at least they're not running around thinking that nothing is going to happen. They're better prepared. Oblivious is okay sometimes, but I'd rather know what's out there." He understood the whole being tired thing. Hell, he was tired. Tired of the craziness, of the wolves, the ghosts, everything. "I just hope that things slow down at least a little..." he muttered. "Course, with ghosts still all over, I don't see how anything is going to be slowing down."

"Tyler just wants to take everything down," Peyton said dryly. "He's glued to his baseball bat. It's almost ridiculous. Some days I wish I could go back to not knowing a darn thing. Most days I'm glad I know what's up. The first weird thing I ever saw was a huge yellow snake turn into a man. Turns out he was a demon. Scared the crap out of me... Isaac told me things after that. He got stuck in some mirrorworld with Thom and Kaysen, did you know that?" Peyton shook her head, not liking to remember those particular days. "I just really wish things were like they were during the summer, or at the beginning of the school year, when everything felt okay."

Kavin raised a brow when she mentioned a demon, then just stared at her when she talked about 'mirrorworld'. "You came face to face with a demon?" he questioned, blinking a little at that realization. "How the hell did you end up near a demon? Where was it?" he asked immediately after.

Peyton nodded while munching on one of her french fries. "It was further down the shore," she explained, pointing in the proper direction. "I usually try to run every morning... uhm, I met this guy David? He was this older, Indian looking guy. He was kind of snarky, but funny, I thought, and we talked a few times here and there. He had all these weird feather things up his arm. Some tribal thing, he explained. Anyway, one morning, I was running and saw this giant huge snake curled up in the sun. I totally freaked, obviously...the thing could have eaten me whole. Though maybe it escaped from the zoo, but before I could call someone, it started shifting... into David. Made sense, since the snake had the same feathers along it's spine as David had in his arms." Peyton paused briefly to breathe. "So anyway, yeah... demon. A worm, I found out. But they only eat demons and he never tried to hurt me before or after I knew. Still, I didn't know these things existed so... you can imagine my surprise. It was crazy."

He shook his head. "Wow." he said simply. "Running anymore?" he teased. "I think that would put a bit of a hindrance on any exercising I might have been doing." A demon. He thought the girl had it bad seeing werewolves and a guy fighting with one and a dead chick. But a demon?

"Every now and then I still run. Not so much lately though. I may have to tomorrow." She lifted her burger and rubbed her belly with a smile. "He, the demon, left town awhile ago. Probably the smart thing to do. There's been vampires, shadows, wolves, ghosts... I'm ready to see an angel or something," she admitted. "Something good."

"Oh shut up." he said with a roll of his eyes when she rubbed her belly. "Tell me you're not one of those chicks that thinks she's fat when she's totally the opposite of fat?" He was glad to hear the demon left town for whatever reason, but just because a demon might have said he was leaving didn't mean it did. "I'm ready to see something good myself." he muttered.

"Of course I'm not fat... that's because I run and exercise." She stuck her tongue out at him and reached for another fry. "If I was one of those chicks, I would have gotten a salad." Popping the fry in her mouth, she stared at the water again. "Do you ever wish you were different? Like, something special? Not necessarily a vampire or something, but... anything other than human?"

Kavin took a bite of his food and thought that over. "Sometimes I guess. I mean, I guess that's something everyone wishes once in a while. Wanting to be special or different but I bet everyone that's different wishes they were just plain old human too. Besides, I am special." he said with a grin.

He had a point, but she couldn't see how anyone would want to be just normal in this kind of environment. "Are you?" Peyton grinned and shot him a curious look. "Remind me how again? Other than you being, you know... special," she teased.

He nudged her with his elbow and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. I'm special enough that you're still breathing." he pointed out with a little smile. "I'd say I'm Isaac's favorite person in the whole universe." he teased.

"Okay, fine, I'll give you that much. But who knows? Maybe I would have channeled my inner Buffy without you there and kicked some hairy butt... hairy as in the werewolf butt," she explained after she realized that sounded silly. "And I think you're maybe his second favorite person. His favorite person is sitting right here." She pointed down at herself smugly. "But I do admit, I owe you one life saving. Don't cash it in unless it's an emergency."

Kavin chuckled, shaking his head. "I'll give you that one." he told her. "You're by far his favorite person." he grinned. "That I know for a fact." And boy was she. If Isaac was stuck on an island all alone with one person, he'd pick Peyton hands down. And they wouldn't be alone for long. Little Peyton and Isaac babies would infest the land before long.

She smiled, pleased to hear that. "He's mine too, so it's totally balanced." Peyton took another bite of her burger, thinking how nice it would be to be able to hang out with her boyfriend in normal circumstances. Although if things had remained normal, she wasn't sure she and Isaac would be as close as they were now. "You ought to give me the other one too... I'm pretty scrappy you know. When I'm actually thinking about it."

"I'd believe it." he grinned. "You did threaten to like kick my ass over a little plastic cup of liquor." he reminded her. "Had you been drunk, I bet you coulda took that were."

"Maybe booze is my spinach or something," Peyton agreed. "And I so didn't threaten you! Not I remember... though I can't remember much anything really but for Isaac helping me into his van. Hmm..." She chuckled and crinkled up the paper from her burger to toss back in the bag. "Er, I don't drink a lot, obviously."

"You did threaten me." he grinned, taking a couple more bites of his food and then of the french fries he'd gotten. "And yeah, just pump Peyton full of tequila and you're ready to go." he grinned.

She shrugged and smiled. "I could totally be your sidekick." Although... that reminded her of Geo. She was suppose to be his sidekick. Only he was gone now. And probably wasn't coming back. Her smile slipped for a moment before she pulled out another fry to munch on. "I might have threatened you, but you didn't take my drink, did you? So I guess I must have been pretty scary."

"I just didn't wanna hurt a girl." he smirked, shaking his head a little. "Besides, then I woulda be taking Isaac's chicks drink and he woulda freaked out and if I made Isaac cry, then you'd have gotten really mad." he grinned.

"I doubt Isaac would have cried. He might have thanked you," Peyton laughed. "I doubt he had much fun lugging my drunk butt around to get me home. I don't usually drink that much," she said again. "Don't know why I did in the first place. Though it was a fun party! I like it much better when you're hosting... I hate clean up afterward when Tyler throws parties. Beer cups and passed out people on my couch. Thankfully I've never found any used condoms or vomit, so I guess it's not so bad."

"Let's not talk about used condoms." Kavin said as he pulled a face. Yeah, he didn't want to remember all of that, that's for sure. Condom in the guest room, planted or really used wasn't something he wanted to go into. "But yeah, been lucky without the vomit, thankfully."

"I'm guessing that means you've found one or two?" Peyton asked, trying to stifle her laughter. "Ick. I think I would do DNA testing just to find out who did it so I could kick them in the nuts." She couldn't stand the thought of anyone being in her room and doing that. Her room was a sacred place! A sanctuary... only meant for she and Isaac to do that kind of thing. "But I guess that kind of stuff happens at parties now and then. Especially when alcohol is involved."

"Yeah. One. Hopefully never again. God, that was disgusting. But see, DNA testing would have required me to get a lot closer to said foreign fluid than I wanted to. And that? Totally not happening." He scrunched his face up a little at the mere thought of it. "Totally not happening." he repeated.

She laughed and covered her mouth to stifle the sound. "Okay, I guess I can see where that would be totally gross. Hopefully you won't have to go through that again. I can tell it was a traumatic experience. But on the bright side, at least you know someone enjoyed your party!"

"Yeah, well, next time there's a used condom in my room, I'd prefer that it came from me." he muttered, shaking his head. "But see, no, can't hardly do that either because I have ghosts in my closet that apparently like to watch. Perverts. Do you know what it's like for a girl to stop you before you start because some ghosty thing is ogling her chest?" he questioned, glancing over at Peyton. "Well, no, you probably don't... but yeah. Totally not fun."

Peyton's eyes widened briefly at that before she grinned. "No, can't say I've had that happen yet. Hopefully I won't either. You totally had a ghost cockblock you! That's got to be a first for men everywhere."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I never in a million years thought that I'd ever hear you of all people say 'cockblock'." he grinned. "And I ended up asking them to go the fuck away, only slightly more politely I suppose. So, they didn't entirely cockblock me, but yeah. Fuckers."

"Why are people so shocked when I say something like that or curse?" Peyton laughed, remembering Isaac's various reactions to her. "But hey, if they were willing to listen and leave you alone for a little bit so you could get, er intimate, then I guess they can't be that bad, right?"

He grinned and shook his head again. "You just don't look like the kind of girl that'd say words like that is all." he told her. "It's weird to even hear you say 'ass' or 'fuck' or something like that." Kavin told the girl. "You just... you look like that sweet little girl next door that's all sunshine and light. But see, I know that's not how it is, because I bet if you really had to, you could pack a punch, yeah?"

"Sunshine and light." Peyton wrinkled her nose, unsure if that was good or bad. "Well, I guess that makes me appear pretty unassuming. Though I take offense at the sweet, little girl next door comment. I could totally be the bad ass, hottie next door. Maybe." She liked to think so. Being sweet didn't always get you what you wanted. Although she did get Isaac, so maybe it wasn't so bad. "And yeah, I think if I had to, I could cause some damage. Just ask Tyler. I've beat on him a few times."

"Hottie, yeah, badass? Maybe." he laughed, eyes flicking to her. "And I didn't say that. Tell that to Jeri or Isaac and those words could put my ass in the ground faster than a were could." he teased. "But yeah, being the quiet girl next door isn't so bad Peyton. And Tyler's just a wimp anyway." he chuckled. "I wouldn't brag about beating on him."

"Don't worry, it stays between us." She did a little dance on the bench at being called a hottie. Woot! Not that Isaac didn't compliment her all the time, but it was his boyfriendly duty to do so. "I don't so much mind being that way. I don't really think I could pull anything else off. Halloween's like the only time of the year I feel confident enough to try and be something else, but even then it's a big iffy thing. Besides, most people don't seem to mind me. I'd rather have people feel comfortable enough to be able to talk to me than see me as a hardass and not approach me at all."

"I doubt you could ever be unapproachable." Kavin assured the girl. "But, for what it's worth, hardass or not, you're pretty high up in my list of people. Might not mean much, but it's pretty important to me. So yeah, you're pretty cool Peyton."

"Well, thanks," Peyton said, flushing a bit at the compliment. "You're pretty cool yourself, just so you know. And you're easy to talk to, which is nice. I guess traumatic experiences sort of change things for people." She'd always considered Kavin a friend before, but she didn't think she would ever see him as a friend she actively hung out with. Finding a dead body and dealing with werewolves sort of shifted that a bit.

"Well, despite the shitty parts of the 'traumatic experience'..." he began. "At least a little bit of good came out of it." Kavin gave her a little smile and finished off his food, tossing the paper into the bag and leaning back against the bench. "If we can get through shitty stuff like what happened... I'm pretty sure we can handle whatever this town has to throw at us. At least, I hope so. Course, I'm not the most optimistic person in the world, so how 'bout you hope and I'll prepare for the worst."

"That works for me," Peyton said, stretching her legs out in front of her and crossing them at the ankle. "I'll be eternally optimistic, and you can be the doom and gloom. We'll see which one gets totally sick and annoyed by the other first."

Kavin grinned. "Takes a ton to annoy me. Well usually. And I doubt optimism can do it all that fast. But yeah, we'll see. But right now, I'm tempted to get my butt, and yours too, outta the cold. Cup of coffee maybe?" he suggested. "Warm ya up? Course, I could just drop you off at Isaac's and he could do that for me."

"Sounds awesome, because I think my butt's getting numb," she said with a small laugh. "Coffee will work for me! I can always have Isaac come over later to warm up the rest." She stood from the bench and grabbed the bag to toss in one of the garbage cans nearby. "Thanks for calling to hang out today. I probably would have slept all afternoon or been bored out of my skull."

"I'm just good like that." he smiled. "Knowing when to call a friend and save them from total boredom." he teased. "Come on, lets get you something warm and then you can get all pretty for Isaac for later."

"Thanks, I'm sure he'll appreciate it," Peyton joked. She threw out the trash and followed him back to his car. She really appreciated Kavin too, since she had been pretty lonely with Geo leaving town. He could never be Trenchcoat Larry, but he was a good friend, and she needed one of those. "Got any hot plans yourself tonight?"

He shrugged, tossing the wet shirt into the trunk and making a mental note to get that out as soon as he returned home. "Nothing super special. Picking up Jeri when she gets through with work and stuff. Hanging out with her. Not much to do really. Nate left town. Or that's what I've been hearing, so that kinda sucks. Like a lot." he muttered as he shut the trunk of the car and pulled his keys from his jacket, opening up her door for her and letting her climb inside.

Nate. She heard the name before but had never met him. She got inside with a small smile of thanks when he opened her door, and she waited until he was in the car again before commenting. "You and Nate were close friends?" She knew how badly it sucked to have a friend, or best friend, leave town.

"You could say that." Kavin said with a little nod, trying not to look or sound too depressed over the whole situation. After all, he wasn't even positive that Nate had left town at all. Maybe it was just rumors. Hopefully. Though with his train of lucky, the rumors, the fact that Nate didn't answer his phone... well, everything pointed to the boy having left. And not only left, but left without telling him which probably sucked the most. "Sucks a lot I guess. Spent a lot of time hanging out with him." Among other things. "Guess he was like my best friend or something. Not much I can do to change him leaving though, so getting all pissy about it ain't gonna help."

"I'm sorry." Peyton clicked her seatbelt into place and sighed. "My best friend Geo had to leave town earlier. His brother had to move, and then he went missing, so Geo had to go find him. I don't know when he'll be back, or if he'll be back. It's kind of depressing to lose the one person you could tell anything to." Ugh, she missed him. A lot. She smiled, fighting off the urge to get emotional over it. That would be stupid. "Do you know why he left?"

"I'm not even positive he did leave. Just heard it around and then I tried to call him a couple times and he didn't answer and it's not like him to not answer. I might go over to his place and see if he's there but I don't know. I don't want to look like I'm freaking out over him not answering me or something, but at the same time I'm kinda hoping nothing happened to him ya know?" And he really didn't care if that made him sound stupid or overprotective, because it was Nate for crying out loud and he wanted to know the guy was still breathing.

"Oh! Well, maybe he's not gone then! It's okay to look like you're freaking out over him not answering," Peyton pointed out. "Especially with the weird stuff going on. Do you want to go by his house and see if he's there or something?" She knew if she were in Kavin's position, she would have been knocking on the guy's door by now.

"I think I'll give him just a little longer to call me back. Then I'll be going over to ask. I'll probably go over there after I drop you off or something. I mean it's probably nothing, but just in case something is wrong, I don't wanna put you in that position if I can help it."

"If you're sure," Peyton said. She wasn't too keen on finding herself in more trouble, but she also didn't like the idea of Kavin in trouble either. "You'll be okay if something is wrong, right?" Whether there was trouble in Nate's house, or if Kavin saw Nate was gone.

"I always figure out a way to get through stuff." he said with a reassuring smile. Or at least his attempt at one as he cranked the car and pulled out onto the road again, heading in the direction of the coffee shop. "I'll be fine, Peyt. Promise."

"I figured you would be," Peyton said. "I think it's just in my nature these days to worry about everything... and everyone. It's exhausting." Her tone held a teasing note, but unfortunately, she wasn't kidding.

"Well I appreciate it either way." he smiled. "And now I understand why you were sleeping all damn day." he teased.

Peyton laughed. "Yes, I found if I sleep several hours during the day, I have just enough energy to freak out and worry myself over everything going on. It's a pretty set pattern in my life right now. But I know you can take care of yourself. I saw it first hand, so I'm not so worried about you now."

Kavin smiled again. "Well, good." he said. "Though I have the feeling that you still worry just as much about me, you just like to pretend you don't. Just the kind of person you are Peyton."

"Eh, I could always change," Peyton said simply, though she knew that was entirely true. She would still worry, and wonder and be paranoid about all this stuff. At least until she got used to it, which she wasn't sure she ever would. Time would tell.