7Between You, Me, and the Night
Chapter 2: Peggy and Barron
Summary: Barron and Peggy share a private moment at the end of camp.
Peggy had a major obsession with Arthurian tales. From Sir Gawain to Sir Lancelot to Sir Kai to King Arthur himself, she ate it all up. She didn't just see the new movies, like the Keira Knightley movie King Arthur or the James Franco movie Tristan + Isolde but also older books in their original writings, like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight or Erec and Enide, and funny spins on the tales like The Squire's Tales. She even learned how to read French just so she could read about Sir Lancelot in its original format.
Her favorite were The Squire's Tales, the spin on the classics. She loved the relationship between Terence and Eileen and went on for hours about how perfect they were for each other when they finally got married in the story.
Her first few years at Camp Rock, Tess had made fun of her for it, so Peggy had hidden it.
Barron noticed though. He had seen her wandering around Camp Rock when she first showed up, reading a book called Le Morte d'Arthur, Book 10. She almost walked into a tree reading it, until Caitlyn pulled her out of the way. Then Peggy fell in with Tess (there were quite a few words he would like to use to describe Tess, but his mother always told him that if he didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. It was why he never talked to Tess) and all of a sudden the books went away. It made him sad because Barron loved watching her read.
Peggy was always very animated. She would yell at her books as if the characters could hear her, cry over it as if they were her family and laugh at it as though she was talking to the character personally. He loved watching her. He loved the fact that she got so wrapped up in the story she cried. He loved the fact that she got so frustrated that she would go on for hours about a single part in the book. Most of all, he loved listening to her laugh. One day, he wanted to make her laugh like that.
But she didn't laugh, not after she joined with Tess. It made him sad, that his Peggy (his Peggy and Tess's Peggy, he'd come to refer to them) tried to change herself to be popular. But everyone once in a while, he would catch her with a book, hiding under a tree, laughing or crying along with the characters. He would creep up behind her and watch and couldn't help the smile that crossed his face (Sander made fun of him and told him he was a stalker and a creeper but Barron didn't pay attention to him).
He got off stage after the Final Jam, really thinking he and Sander had a chance to win. He really did. When Brown announced someone named Margaret Dupree, Barron didn't take any notice. Then he heard that voice. He knew it had to be her, he just knew. She was amazing and beautiful and perfect and no longer following Tess. All he had wanted to do in that moment was rush out onstage and pull her into his arms. He controlled himself though. He waited. Waited for her to notice him.
The next summer came and it seemed like they were closer. She hung out with him a lot more and for some reason Mitchie kept scheduling them to counsel together (it had nothing to do with the fact that he had begged and pleaded excessively, so much so that Mitchie wrote them together just to shut him up). She hadn't laughed yet. He had to make her laugh.
So he told her about his insane little sisters. About how they were always fighting for his attention, so much so that it got a little violent (well, actually, his youngest sister, Brooklynn, had hit his other sister Kennedy in the head with a remote. The first time was an accident but the second time was on purpose because she realized it hurt Kennedy and would get her to move away from him). Then she laughed. She laughed and laughed, a funny, barking laugh that didn't seem to fit her yet fit her perfectly. It made him smile like a little kid when she did it. Of course, Mitchie had to come and ruin the moment, but it didn't matter because he had made her laugh.
Then they lost the competition. Peggy did the one thing that she could do to make her feel better: she read. She went to her bunk, pulled out a book and read. Barron followed her, skipping out on the group number at the end. He stood in the doorway a while, just watching. She sensed him, looked up, smiled (a smile that broke his heart yet made it whole) and patted the bed. He lay down next to her and she bent her head, going back to reading. He watched her for a long time, just watched. She didn't seem to mind at first but eventually stopped to look up at him. She smiled and this time it was a secret smile, a smile that he knew could only be for him. He brushed a piece of her hair out of her face. She blushed a bit.
"I'll be Squire Terence if you'll be Lady Eileen," he whispered. Her eyes widened.
"How did you remember that I liked them?" she whispered back.
"I remember everything you say," he told her truthfully. She smiled again, that secret smile meant only for him. She leaned in, pressing her lips against his and it was much too short of a time. She looked at him, as if wondering if that was okay. He pulled her closer to show her that it was more than okay, perfect even. However, the bed was little too small for that, so he pulled her on top of him and then she was running her hands through his hair and under his shirt and he was doing the same. She was so close yet not close enough. Barron couldn't get enough of Peggy, he couldn't get closer and, so it seemed, neither could she.
After what seemed to be an eternity yet only a second, Peggy pulled back a little bit to look at his eyes. He looked deeply into hers. "What-"
"If we don't stop now, I'm not going to be able to stop and I need to stop," she said truthfully. He smiled and nodded. She kissed him once again, slowly, leisurely, sweetly, then pulled back and lay her head on his chest. He put his arms around her waist, pulling her closely.
"I've been waiting to do that for a really long time," he told her, his voice still husky from before.
"Me too."
Peggy Warburton liked him back.
His heart soared, out of the bedroom and into the stars.
Sorry it took so long to post this. I actually wrote it a while ago, and I thought I posted it, but I guess not. The third and fourth chapters won't be up until Winter Break because I'm swamped with homework. I'll say...the third one will be up by 20th at the very latest.