Portwood Brothers

Payton's grip tightened on the slip of paper she'd gotten from the dean. She felt it crumple in her hand and she wasn't sure if she should worry that she couldn't make out the information on it if she didn't watch it, or if she should be happy it'd be destroyed. The dean had known the basics of what was going on, but as Payton got into some specifics, the look on her face changed. At first Payton thought she pitied her, but when Dean Barnett had actually told her how strong she thought she was, Payton broke down. Payton didn't feel strong. After that, Payton opened up about some of the medical issues she was having, and the dean had given her the name of her own neurologist. Come to find out, the dean suffered from intense headaches most of her life and knew a doctor that she loved.It had been almost two months since her accident, and Payton still hadn't gotten rid of her lingering headaches. In the beginning, she thought that the slight memory issues were because of the pain. Who wou

"Chin up Payton, it's Friday," Hailey said as she scooted in next to her in front of the bathroom mirror.Both Hailey and Payton had been called girlie girls for their morning routines, but if that was the worst they'd be called, they'd take it. It usually meant for crazy mornings, but they had it down to a fine science now."Oh! I forgot to tell you, my last class isn't meeting so I'll be able to make the game this afternoon."Hailey reached over her to grab her foundation, "Awesome, I'll meet you back here so we can take the couch over."At the start of the semester a year ago, a group of them had been walking around campus and spotted a sofa that was sitting by the dumpster of one of the girl's dormitories. They looked it over and realized it was in pretty good shape. One of the guys they were with plopped down on it and joked about taking it to the soccer game the next day. It was that joke that had started the tradition of the couch making its way to all the home soccer games. Hai

"See you on Monday," Payton told Geoff as she made her way to the front door.Ever the gentleman, Geoff rushed around to open it for her. "Here, let me get that for you."She smiled and said a quick goodbye before heading out the door. She suddenly got this weird feeling like someone was watching her and glanced around mostly to prove to herself that she was just being paranoid. When her eyes clashed with Mr. Intimidating from the dean's office, she felt a shudder work through her. She really needed to look away, but there was something about him that made it nearly impossible."Hey!" Geoff yelled out the door drawing Payton's attention away from the other guy. "Glad I caught you. You forgot your book."Payton shook her head, "I'm glad you did too. Thanks.""Yup."Geoff returned to his apartment completely oblivious as to what was going on, and when Payton looked back, the guy was still looking her way. Now she was getting a little creeped out. It was hard enough to get her eyes off hi

 Payton spent the afternoon working on anything to keep her mind busy. She needed to be thinking about anything other than the date she'd just turned down, and the guy behind it all. She had just put the finishing touches on her English paper when her phone rang.After a quick hello, Geoff asked, "You still coming?""Coming?""We were going to finish our project..." he trailed off like he was waiting for it all to click into place."Monday?" Payton answered more like a question.Geoff chuckled, "No, now. Come on. Don't make me wish I had John for a partner.""Sorry. Stupid memory. Make sure I put it in my phone next time, would you?""Sure."After a couple hours, the pair finished up everything and had gone over their presentation. Payton packed up her bag, and after a quick goodbye, headed out the door. When she walked through the door, Hailey was grabbing her keys."I'm headed to Wal-Mart. Wanna come?""Only if you give me time to make a list. I could use a few things."After a few

"The hell?" Josh said under his breath. He was trying to figure out what just happened. He knew it was a dick thing to do to take the call, but Wes, being Wes, wouldn't stop calling until he answered, so he might as well just get it over with. She had been on the same page, same line, right there with him, and all of a sudden she was gone."Knew I shouldn't have taken that call," he muttered as he got out. When he saw her still outside, he hollered at her and started running her way, "Hey! Wait up!" Only she didn't slow down. What the hell?Reaching out, Josh grabbed her hand, and when she flinched, he felt like shit. He realized she didn't want him to be touching her. Maybe he'd read everything wrong. Still he needed to get to the bottom of it all. "Sorry about that. My roommate isn't the brightest.""It's fine. I needed to go anyway. Listen, Josh, you're great. I really like you, but this just isn't going to work.""Because of a phone call?"She looked at him with sad eyes, "No, not