“I reckon they probably did,” Peyton agreed with a little subdued smile. “Not everyone was raised by a southern mama.” Some of her acquaintances that weren’t raised in the south had their own things to say about Peyton’s upbringing, but she was proud of her roots. “I had my group of friends, but I made some enemies too.” It all seemed petty now as an adult. “Some girls who were afraid I’d steal boyfriends because I was prettier than they were, or were jealous because I made better grades. Give girls a reason to be catty and they’ll run with it.” Honestly, she felt a little silly even dredging it all back up. It was all things that she’d gotten over years ago.
Peyton felt empathy for him. It wasn’t easy being caught up in feelings that couldn’t be expressed because of fear. “What are the odds of that? Has she been overly obvious about putting you in the friend box, for lack of a better term?” Her own rare curiosity wanted to ask who the girl was, just to see if her own suspicions would be confirmed, but if Christien wanted to give a name to his mystery crush he would.
Folding in on herself momentarily, she tried to regroup her thoughts. Had she hit a nerve with him? He seemed so sure that expressing things through music that he couldn’t say to his friends face would make it easier on him. But Peyton still wasn’t so sure. Straightening back up, Peyton gave Christien another subdued smile in an attempt to reassure.
“More than once, and I can’t tell you that I acted any differently that you’re acting now,” she admitted to him. “But the relationships I’ve had that were always the best were the ones that took a little bit of bravery to start.” It was her own failings as a person that had ended some of the good ones. She was probably one of the last people to give love advice with her track record of relationships, but maybe it was her own confidence that she wasn’t wrong with what she’d seen that was dictating her own assurances to Christien. “I’m not going to push you to say something if you’re so sure that,” Peyton stopped herself from saying Hadley’s name, “your friend doesn’t feel the same. But I think you might be surprised if you really looked.”