LOCKDOWN

Chapter 26

It had been three days since Peyton had admitted her feelings towards me, and I'd be lying if I said her behaviour had changed. She still wasn't affectionate towards me in any way, and the only difference was that she was cooking food more often. I tried to tell myself that her love language was acts of service, that she wasn't the type to be affectionate. I told myself those things to attempt to ease the ever growing anxiety that she had lied to me — lied about her feelings in order to keep me exactly where she wanted me.

I knew my anxiety was feeding me those less than ideal scenarios, and realistically I should just trust that she was being honest with me, and trust that she would open up to me when she was ready, but my past with Peyton was rocky to say the least, and those insecurities kept creeping back.

I was sitting on the lounge in the living room, curled up in the corner with the blanket covering my feet. The weather had been getting colder and colder as the days progressed — it was easy to lose track of time in a pandemic. Dennis was lying next to me, his large body taking up majority of the three seater lounge, his paws twitching as he dreamt. I had made myself some popcorn that I had found in the depths of the pantry and was munching happily on it, the warm buttery kernels a treat from the rations we had been living on since the pandemic began.

Peyton's loud footsteps coming down the stairs snapped Dennis out of his slumber and he quickly sat up, jumping off the lounge to greet her as she emerged at the bottom of the staircase. She made her way over to me and sat down on the couch, leaving enough room between us for a third person — as if she didn't want to get too close.

"What are you watching?" she asked, picking up the tv remote from the coffee table and turning up the volume slightly.

"Oh, nothing really. Just passing the time..." I said quietly.

"We should watch something. A movie, maybe?" she suggested, and I nodded wordlessly.

She quickly entered Netflix and began scrolling through the endless categories before settling the LGBTQ category. I felt my cheeks heat up at the notion, but tried not to let Peyton see the redness that was sure to be on my face.

"Cheers," she quickly said, before grabbing the bowl of popcorn from my lap and sticking her hand in, taking a large handful.

"Hey!" I scolded, slapping her arm playfully, "Get your own!"

"Mmfm," she mumbled, popcorn crumbs flying from her mouth, "No fanks!"

I rolled my eyes and snatched the popcorn back, taking more from the significantly less full bowl. She quickly tugged the bowl back out of my grip, popcorn flying from its container and into the air, landing all over us, the couch, and the floor. Peyton's eyes widened as she looked from me, to the popcorn, to Dennis who was hastily eating all of the kernels he could manage, and back to me.

"Oops," she said cheekily, a sly grin emerging on her face.

"You're going to pay for that," I deadpanned, before immediately launching myself at her.

We tussled playfully on the couch as we both grabbed popcorn and shoved it in each other's faces, simultaneously wrestling for the popcorn bowl. Dennis slobbered next to us, still licking up the stray kernels on the ground. Once he realised there were none left and we weren't going to feed him more, he bowed his head and sulked out the door into the backyard.

In Dennis' absence, Peyton and I suddenly became aware that we were lying on top of each other. Peyton was hovering over me, her hands either side of my head as she held her body above mine. Our legs were tangled between each other's on the couch and our faces were mere inches apart.