Gatsby not so Great (Peyton)

[Peyton Turner]

"Weird places huh?"

Peyton looked at her with raised brows. "Yes," he deadpanned, "Very weird places." He let that hang for comedic effect, refusing to discuss it any further.

"Hollow balls... I mean I know we have those wiffle balls. Pretty sure we have a ton of those and hmm... I don't know about other balls though that are small. We have tons of big balls."

When he'd first considered this idea, he had no idea how difficult it would be to accomplish when crippled by laughter at the word 'balls.' In fact, he hadn't realized just how much ball discussion there would be. He was just now starting to realize. And it was becoming difficult to keep from laughing.

"Do we need small balls? What are you thinking can we use big balls?"

Oh man, it was so hard...

Fuck, just that thought added to the ridiculous need he had to say- "That's what she said." He blurted it out with a laugh. "Sorry, sorry, I couldn't help it, it was just - I mean, I know I brought it up, but - balls!" He was laughing even harder now, immature as the humor was. He was 16. He made inappropriate jokes. There was nothing unusual there.

Composing himself, Peyton sighed a bit, and chuckled. "Okay, so I was thinking we could make a ball pit, but I don't think we'd have enough wiffle balls for that," he explained, still grinning, "So then I thought maybe we can just fill one of those big rolling pens that they put basketballs in, we could fill that with those soft fake volleyballs and we can make a portable ball pit. Also, that would be immensely fun to ride in. It would be like cushioning all around you." That wasn't dangerous, right? If there was a thick layer of cushy spheres between the person and the edge of the cart?

[Olivia Baker]

Olivia's face scrunched thinking about where food possibly could have gotten. Their tone got very serious for a moment with each other as he let her ponder, more so comedic affect until the seriousness dropped and they got down to business. 

She could see him start to laugh. "What?" She asked so confused. Her mind hadn't gone the way that his had, they were just talking about balls! How could balls be funny? His laughing made her laugh, though she wasn't entirely sure what at. Then he said it. 

"That's what she said" And Olivia lost it as well. "God all you boys are the same!" She teased play mad, even though she wasn't. He was right, she'd probably said balls what felt like 50 times by now and now that he pointed it out it was hysterical. "You set me up!" She accused playfully. 

Liv leaned in closer to him while he explained the plan, watching how excited he was getting. "That's perfect." She said clasping her hands together. "You're a genius!" 

They entered the gym quietly, Olivia led the way just in case there was a gym class. "We're in the clear." 

[Peyton Turner]

Armpits. And down pants. That is all.

*ahem*

"You set me up!"

Peyton was grinning as she teased him. "Nuh-uh: you set 'em up, I just knocked 'em down." His grin widened as he added, cheekily, "With balls." He couldn't resist, it was super fun. How could he not have known this girl? She was awesome! Besides just stoking his ego (yeah, he was genius, thanks for noticing) she was actually joining in on doing something stupid. This was a fantastic friendship in the making.

He turned on stealth mode as they approached the gym, and checked the hallway as she checked the gym, glancing around for any sign of teachers. Apparently there wasn't a gym class this period, which was perfect.

"We're in the clear."

Peyton couldn't stop his mischievous smile. He jogged past her to the door of the supply room, and checked it. Yes, he did know how to pick locks (somewhat, anyway), but luckily that wasn't necessary today. Good thing, too, cause it usually took him several minutes. Today, though, the supply room was unlocked. "You know the mission?" He held one hand on the handle of the door, the other pointing at Olivia as he verified her commitment to the cause. Once she answered in the affirmative, this shit was on and the supply room would be theirs to ransack.

[Olivia Baker]

Olivia had to stop herself from providing their own 007 theme song as they stealthfully broke into the supply room. "I wonder if they ever lock this." She said, "I bet you there are at least ten students in this school who could pick any lock without even having the be in the same room." She chuckled, it was true though. It was amazing more things didn't go missing at Hammel.

Once they were in Olivia surpassed Peyton and did a barrel roll into a Charlie's Angels pose, holding her hands like a gun and peering around a corner shelf. "I see the good." She said giving him a wink. God she felt stupid, but it was fun. She hadn't had this much fun in a while. It was weird, it felt so natural to play and laugh and be silly with Peyton, almost as if she'd known him forever instead of only really talking for the first time today. Sure she'd known of him for a while, but they hadn't really had history except for a smile or wave or sitting in the same classroom for an hour or so.

"It's all you Pey." She said deciding to let him go for the goods first. She wasn't entirely sure of his vision still anyway and figured it'd be best for him to lead this one.

[Peyton Turner]

Olivia had made a fantastic point. But Peyton wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth - the room was unlocked, and that was good enough for him.

Peyton's grin wouldn't quit as she barrel rolled into the room. Yeah, she was definitely awesome. Peeking out the door, he followed her in, letting it close most of the way. There wasn't a huge amount of space, since there was stuff everywhere, but he spotted the balls (hehe) at the same time she did. Following her lead, he put on his assassin alter ego, glancing shiftily from side to side before hauling himself up onto a tall (maybe seven feet high) pile of mats. Assassin's Creed was kinda like training, right? Well, okay, maybe not for most, but given Peyton's new interest in parkour, the climb was simple.

"It's all you Pey."

"Damn straight." His tone was cocky, but the grin that split his lips was more on the goofy side. This. Was gonna be. Epic. From his sitting position on top of the mats, he could spot where the bags of soft indoor balls (hehe) were, and he was also in a perfect position above the rolling ball pen (currently filled with basketballs and colored pinnies). "Hup!" He let out a word of intent as he dropped down into the pen, the basketballs (somewhat) breaking his fall.

He didn't exactly land standing, that would've been basically impossible, it was more like he landed and then immediately sat in the container. Cause he totally meant to do that. Using the edge of the container to pull himself up, he shifted around until he was basically in a standing position. "We have to swap these-" he lifted up a basketball, spinning it on his finger expertly, "-with those." He pointed out the bags of soft white foam balls, usually used for dodgeball and volleyball.

Then, just cause he couldn't resist, he had to add, with a smirk. "Y'know, I never thought I'd be waist deep in balls."

[Olivia Baker]

Liv watched as he expertly hoisted himself onto the mats and then not so expertly ended up on his ass, neck deep in balls. "Nice job, swan queen" She couldn't let him get away with that after he'd so cockally displayed his "skills". It was too good to pass up. 

She listened as he told her the mission. "Ok seems simple enough." She said but then there was a problem. They couldn't exactly dump the balls onto the floor, that'd be a nightmare and to put the basketballs in the other container it'd have to be empty. 

"Hmm" She thought out loud, tapping her nose, a habit she always had. She didn't know why the nose and not the chin, regardless she was tapping it. 

"Ah hah!" She spotted several pool noodles on top of a shelf. She hoisted herself up onto some arobic steps and grabbed them. She then arranged them into a barrier and dumped the small balls in. 

"Perfect! Now toss me the basketballs and we're about good to go!" She said proudly, brushing off her shoulders, taking a page out of Peytons books. She quickly felt dumb though and stopped replacing it with just a silly smile and eye roll as if to say yeah i know that was stupid but shut up. 

[Peyton Turner]

"Nice job, swan queen."

Peyton couldn't prevent the crooked grin on his face even as he attempted to shoot her a glare. "Watch your mouth, missy." It was supposed to be a warning, but it came out as what it really was: just another teasing jab. "Swans are actually like super fierce. They attack shit," he justified the new title to himself as much as to him. He could work with anything, really.

As she tapped her nose, Peyton let out a little chuckle. That was incredibly cute. He had his habits, but that habit was definitely adorable. "If you don't stop being adorable, I'm going to have to throw something at you," he informed her, with a sad shake of his head.

His eyebrows raised as she had her eureka moment, and he watched with amusement as she did some serious problem solving. He was pretty impressed. He'd figured they would just make a total mess and say fuck it, but her idea definitely made a lot more sense. His face clearly showed that he was impressed as he nodded and gave a thumbs up to her plan. "Balls to the face, comin' right up." He smirked as he started tossing basketballs to her.

[Olivia Baker]

She couldn't deny that he had a point there. She'd seen more than one angry swan in Central Park and it was instilled early in children's brains there not to try to touch them. She was pretty sure there was even a children's book about not petting swans... or maybe it was just one her mother made up to make a point.

"Missy?" She repeated. "Missy? Really?" She chuckled "Look at you being all swanny" She joked and prepared herself for the balls he was about to send her way.

"I've never been so ready for balls in my life." She said knowing exactly where his mind was but she didn't mind. She thought it was hysterical and was just happy no one else was around. She'd normally be embarrassed but that wasn't the case now.

Olivia caught most of the balls he tossed but on one unfortunate one it hit her right in the boob. Or where boobs would be had she had any. "Owww." She cried and found herself in a ball like position while she clutched her throbbing breast. Boys really had no idea how much that hurt, she knew that they suffered plenty if they ever got hit in the balls but they didn't know what girls went through when they were pmsing and their tits throbbed at the site of fabric let alone a basketball. She wasn't mad though. Somehow, she was actually laugh crying and crying at the same time. It was pathetic. 

[Peyton Turner]

"Look at you being all swanny."

He couldn't resist that, it was just begging for a response. So, before he tossed her the ball, he made a ridiculous cawing noise and raised his arms back like wings. "Fuck yeah, swan king!"

And yeah, that was enough of that. He dropped his arms with a grin, and then started tossing the balls (hehe) to her. Her words only served to make his fall a little bit in the container, he was trying to hard not to laugh, and failing so badly. He was trying to toss her the balls (hehe) as he laughed, but he wasn't exactly aiming all that well, since his eyes were are squinted and he was doubled over a bit.

"Owww."

He took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself, blinking in surprise as he tried to figure out what happened. Oh no - was she crying? "Shit! I'm so sorry Liv, are you-" He attempted to vault out of the ball pen, but in his rush his foot got caught and he ended up barely preventing a faceplant, thanks to the bag of foam balls that was between them. Still, he sort of skidded down onto his shoulder, coming to rest a few feet away.

Carefully, hoping she wasn't too badly hurt, he scooted closer. "Are you okay? What happened, are you-" He was about to ask 'are you hurt' when he realized that she was almost laughing. "Wait... are you laughing? Did I hit you in the head or something, do you have a concussion?" He put a hand to her forehead (he had no idea why, but people always seemed to do that to see if someone was okay), and pushed her hair out of her face, trying to see if there was any blood or anything. It didn't seem like it, she seemed to be all in one piece, but he didn't really understand why she was laughing, and... "Um.... why are you grabbing your boob." He said it kind of quietly, awkwardly, cause boobs. Was there some sort of girl thing he was totally missing?

[Olivia Baker]

Olivia was laughing so hard when Peyton faceplaneted that tears were flowing down her face and she was now on the ground with both combination boob throbbing and cramp in her side from laughing. "I'm fine" she choked out, though was hiding her face knowing she looked ridiculous. 

"No, you didn't even hit my head." She told him between breaths trying to calm herself down. Finally she looked up at him. "Sorry." She said still laughing, several tears still coming down her face. "You looked so stupid." She said not meaning to be an asshole but it was so funny. They both looked so ridiculous.  

She looked down. Her boob still hurt but she carefully took her hand off it. "You sent that basketball right into my boob." She wasn't going to explain why it hurt so badly today, she didn't want to get into that. She knew well enough from having four brothers that anything that had anything to do with pms or girl problems most boys wanted absolutely nothing to do with. "It's like the girl version of getting hit in the..." was she going to go there? Yes. "Balls." 

She finally had calmed down enough to make eye contact with him. She hadn't even noticed until then that he still had his hand on her, in her hair now from pushing it back out of her face. She smiled, she hadn't been this close to him before, or anyone, not like this. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Should she say something? Should they.... get the balls? Should she... She just looked down. "Sorry for scaring you."

[Peyton Turner]

"You looked so stupid."

Peyton had to roll his eyes at that, laughing a little, but he was still kinda worried about her.

"You sent that basketball right into my boob."

Peyton couldn't help but stare at the part she'd mentioned. "...Oh." His face flushed a little as he realized he was staring, and he hurriedly brought his eyes back to her face. He had an older sister, so he knew the deal about getting hit in the boobs. He started to talk at the same time as she did, apologizing. "I am so sorry about that, I really didn't mean to-"

"Balls."

There was a slight pause. Oh no. Not again. ...It was just... He tried to fight it, but the smile worked its way onto his lips despite his efforts, and he started to chuckle, biting his lip to keep from guffawing. God, this whole this was kind of hilarious. He shook his head, the smile growing. Even when she was crying she was still making him laugh. He let out some of the laughter, just to help himself calm down. "You are something else," he sighed with a chuckle, before finally looking back to her, sharing her smile for a moment.

What a couple of goofballs. Heh. Balls.

"Sorry for scaring you."

He put an arm around her in an attempt to be comforting, the same way he had to Ellie at the pond, giving her a sort of side-hug. "I'll recover. So will you. And your boob." He released her to rub his own shoulder - which would also recover, he reminded himself. Glancing back to her, still smiling, he noticed the tears still on her cheeks. "Geez, girl, really?" His tone was teasing as he lifted the edge of his shirt to help her wipe them away.

[Olivia Baker]

Liv couldn't help but smile despite her dumb mascara running. She didn't know why she bothered with the stuff, she barely tried with anything else why use that? It was always running, or smudging, or flaking, so not worth it, especially now. Now it was making her look so much worse and like she was in so much more pain when most of it was from laughing. 

"Geez, girl, really?"

When he started to wipe the tears from her face she felt her cheeks getting hot. She was blushing and so embarrassed because of it. Hopefully the lighting in the storage closet wasn't too good, she didn't want to look stupid, not in front of him. God, why did she care! This was stupid. She looked back up at him. "Thanks." She said, damn it she was still blushing. And he was close to her, and there were balls everywhere now. And she just wanted to. 

She leaned in and kissed him. She didn't know what she was doing. As soon as it happened she pulled back immediately covering her mouth in shock of herself. "I'm so sorry!" She wanted to run away. She should run away. She started to get up so embarrassed. 

[Peyton Turner]

Peyton blinked. Maybe he was being an idiot, but he honestly hadn't expected that.

....Holy shit.

His face was quickly turning pink. Okay, he was supposed to say something, right? She'd said something?

He blinked a few more times, and shook his head slightly. That had just happened, right? It was short, it was light - so incredibly different from the kiss he'd had with Rya at the retreat. It was like a tease, and he wanted more, but-

Why did she look so... Had she not meant to... What just happened? Why was she getting up?

Scrambling to his feet, Peyton's hands itched to grab her, to pull her back and try it again, try to figure out what exactly had happened there, but that was probably a bad idea. He didn't want to go around grabbing people and kissing them without warning, that was probably a bad habit to start now. Instead, he shoved his hands into his pockets. But he didn't want her to leave. "Um."

Shit. Was that really all he had? Um?! That wasn't even a word! It was barely a syllable!

He licked his lips, not even realizing he was doing it, just out of nervousness. He needed to say something, and he needed to say it soon. His brow was furrowed in confusion. "...Are we still gonna do this ball pit thing?" He glanced to the container, and felt himself wincing. Idiot. There were definitely better things he could've asked there. Like, oh I dunno, maybe 'can we try that again?' Or 'do you want to go out some time?' Or, hell, even 'are you okay?' But instead he'd asked about the stupid ball pit.

Still, it was almost a relief to not talk about it. Maybe they could just pretend like it never happened, and just go back to what they had before, and maybe work back up to it once they both knew what they were doing. Shit. Girls were confusing.

[Olivia Baker]

Olivia felt her heart pounding, she swore she was sweating and her mouth was so dry she was sure she was going to start coughing up sawdust. She'd never felt this way before, she'd never been so damn unsure about anything she'd done in her life. This was why she shouldn't be impulsive because when she did that it was embarrassing and all he said was Um. UM?!

"...Are we still gonna do this ball pit thing?"

She looked back over her shoulder at him. He still wanted to? Or was he trying to make this less uncomfortable. She couldn't believe she'd turned such a great thing on its head so quickly and made everything so uncomfortable. Smile. Smile. That made things better. 

"Yeah... lets... do the ball pit thing." She said and gave a chuckle, even if it was a bit forced. She picked up a basketball and pegged him lightly with it. 

"Help me put these in the..." She felt like a babbling idiot, she was missing words. "Pen." She picked. Pen? Like a play pen? Eh it worked. 

She started gathering balls, with a little bit too much intent and putting them into the pen. She was afraid to look at him. He probably thought she was such a loser. 

[Peyton Turner]

Peyton felt himself letting out a breath of relief. Okay, this was good. They could start again. He could figure this whole thing out. And she was smiling! Maybe a little forced, a tad awkward, but smiling.

"I'm sorry about the ball to the boob incident." He peeped up as he unloaded more basketballs and transferred them to what she called the pen. "I've been calling that the noodle cage," he admitted, with a hesitant smile, "in my head, I mean. Well, obviously, cause I didn't say it out loud." Peyton really didn't do well with awkward silences. He was a babbler.

They were down to the last ten or so balls now, and Peyton pulled the first bag of foam balls over to dump in once the container was emptied. It would probably take all three bags to fill this thing, but it would be worth it, he told himself, carefully avoiding thinking about anything except the ball pit.