CHAPTER 4

Peyton gently opened her eyes, then quickly closed them shut. It had brightness. Far too intelligent. It can't be that she shut the blinds before turning in. Her head felt like it was about to blow up when she attempted to open her eyes once more. Yes. I won't attempt that once again. It was wonderful to keep your eyes closed. Open eyes were not good. Really, really awful.

She groaned as the intense light shot like a laser beam into her head, making her forget that opening her eyes was a horrible idea.

There was a muffled whimper next to her, "Make it go away."

Peyton was able to move her head just enough to see Mia sprawled out next to her, her black hair strewn over the pillow and her arm flung over her eyes.

Once more, the buzzing sound occurred, and Peyton extended her hand to grab her phone off the nightstand. She narrowed her eyes and studied the screen, attempting to interpret all of the alerts she was receiving. She wasn't bothered at all. Without caring if the phone made it or not, she closed her eyes once again and threw it towards the bedside. With a long, satisfied sigh, she snuggled back onto her incredibly comfortable mattress and wished herself back to sleep.

But there was a nagging doubt in the back of her mind.

Seeking the ideal sleeping posture, Peyton shifted over and kicked Mia's foot out of the way as she sought to find a cozy location. It was ineffective.

Having given up, she turned over once again and retrieved her phone. She perused the alerts by thumbing the screen. She was tagged in a video that had received a lot of views. and several remarks.

God. Had Dale posted a joyful wedding video and included her in it just to further embarrass her?

She was really averse to learning. She didn't, really. However, she had no choice but to click on the link.

"Asshole me!"

Peyton sat up, pushing off the severe hangover and headache that were now plaguing her. She gave Mia a kick.

Panicked, she cried, "Wake the fuck up."

"A shout-out to my former partner."

Peyton watched the music video of herself and moaned as the song began. Not even the effort to make her seem nice had been made. She wore a tattered t-shirt and yoga leggings, and her red hair was up in a sloppy bun on top of her head. She had not a trace of makeup on. Not exactly a great representative of herself or her cause, which was what?

"Mia, what the hell?"

How come? Mia massaged her eyes and sat up, asking in a groggy manner.

"You posted this on F******k, right? How inconceivable could you have been?"

With her eyes wide awake, Mia watched the film as it resumed playing.

She said, "Well, obviously, I wasn't." "Boy, that gal. You're an absolute disaster.

Peyton gestured accusingly in her direction. She responded, "You did this; now let it go."

Mia snatched Peyton's phone and tapped it a couple of times on the screen. "Hmm."

"I don't want to hear that sound," Peyton snarled.

"I think so. I doubt I will be able to remove it.

What do you mean that you don't believe it can be removed?"

"I mean. I. Not able to. Remove. It.

"What the fuck is wrong!"

"Because the image I uploaded isn't it."

How come?"

"Observe."

Taking the phone away from Mia, Peyton checked the account that had submitted the video.

"I removed mine," Mia murmured.

Peyton saw the name of the F******k account. "Then how did.." "In Finn gets a fucking copy of it, in like? And anyhow, who the devil is In Like Finn?"

"I guess they grabbed a hold of a duplicate before I removed mine.

"Holy shit! I mean, my life is so much worse than a dumb comedy. I can't be experiencing this.

Mia gave her shoulders a massage. "Inhale deeply a few times," Mia stated in a useless manner.

Positively, Mia commented, reading behind her, "There are some really encouraging comments."

Peyton threw her phone to the ground in the hopes that it would shatter. Not so fortunate.

"How in hell am I supposed to handle this?"

Mia remarked, "It will all blow over." You're aware of social media's erratic nature. Everyone will have forgotten about it in a day or two.

When Peyton's phone rang, she fell back into the bed and put her arm over her eyes to block her vision.

"Hello? Mia remarked as she picked up the phone. She said, "Oh hi Cassie," with a worried tone.

Peyton glanced over her arm and saw that Mia was staring at her tensely. Peyton shook his head angrily, but Mia said into the phone, "Yeah, she's right here." Peyton grudgingly accepted the phone that Mia handed out to her.

She said, "Hello Cassie."

"Are you alright?"

Peyton closed her eyes and exhaled deeply. Though they had been working on it for the last several months, she and Cassie hadn't always had the finest connection. Cassie discovered that Brian had significantly lessened her sister's harsh edges.

She moaned, "No," into the phone. "Dale tied the knot."

"I saw," she said. Would you like me to visit?"

Would you mind if I asked?"

"Oh honey, that's not at all."

"I'm grateful."

After Cassie assured Peyton that she would be there in an hour, Peyton ended the conversation. This was simply one more mishap to compound all the mishaps that have dotted her life. And she did something foolish right after she had begun to feel like a grown-up and had finally found her footing. Despite her difficult day yesterday, she was engaged to a man she loved, had a job she liked, and wondered whether she had really been in love with him or if she had only been infatuated with the concept of him. However, she was no longer in an engaged relationship.