Tucking In…

“Where is Teresa?” Lacey questioned for the second time.

The petite redhead waited until her mother had gone off to deal with the end of the ball while her uncle had taken her dad upstairs to their suite. Nearly ready to explode from impatience, her new goal for the rest of the night was to find Finn and help him.

“Don’t know,” Peyton replied, scanning the ballroom.

“Find her!”

“I tried to find her and Finn. I even deployed the Babybees to search for them,” Peyton revealed.

“Deployed?” Stephanie repeated.

“Who talks that way?” Poppy asked sarcastically.

“My grandma,” Steph stated.

“More like a grandpa after watching war documentaries,” Poppy countered.

“Knock it off, you two,” Peyton shot back.

“Wait, why are you ordering the Babybees around?” Lacey inquired, losing focus on her original question at the surprising development.

“Didn’t you hear? Peyton Tarver has been made an honorary cheer captain emerita,” Merritt added. She couldn’t help but tease the other main non-cheerleader from their high school clique.

“Don’t start, Merry,” Peyton growled while ignoring Steph’s question about the e-word. Then, she explained to Lacey, “I somehow inherited the kids when Sean and Whitney left for the cabin.”

“Does that mean Peyton had to go through the cheer captain tradition?” Steph questioned.

“Shhh! We’re not supposed to know about that!” Poppy stage-whispered, smirking as Peyton’s face flushed.

“Tell us again about the Peyton Tarver Cheerleader Experience, sugar,” Zaylie teased.

“Please do,” Kiki added, propping her hands under her chin as if ready for storytime.

“Quiet! We need to find Finn,” Lacey commanded, refocusing on the issue at hand.

However, they were interrupted by their former principal, Mac Manske. He'd come over to congratulate Peyton and her mother for helping put on a successful event. He mentioned already talking to Rachel, so Lacey didn't get quite the same attention. Peyton's cheek received the first kiss, followed by Poppy's and Steph's. Lacey managed to avoid one by following Merritt's lead.

“That’s your principal?” Harper asked as she and AJ rejoined the group.

“I bet he was popular with the ladies,” Kiki declared knowingly.

“Rumor mill says so,” Merry revealed with a disgusted expression. “I wonder which of our recent classmates is headed upstairs to meet him.”

“Whoever it is, he wanted Peyton to join,” Zaylie said, earning a sharp look from the uptight blonde. “Sugar, one can tell when a man is hungry for a woman, and he’s starving for you.”

“Eww!” Peyton, Lacey, and Merry sounded simultaneously.

Steph snickered while Poppy muttered about Lana hating to miss this moment. That led Lacey to turn on the party girl.

“Where is my sister? Huh? If Peyton doesn’t know, then she’s off causing trouble, which means you’re part of it. Where is she?”

“I don’t know! I haven’t seen her since shit went down with Finn. If you wanna ask anybody, ask that Skye Willows. They were in cahoots about something,” Poppy speculated.

“Skye? Hmm, I think she’s still staying in the Diamonds’---” Peyton began to muse before another person interrupted.

"Oh, there you are, Pey," Keira Kappmeyer said, spotting her next-door neighbor. "Thanks again for finding my parents a room. My mom talked to Eva Marie's mom. She's going to just stay at our house for the rest of the night. That way, Slinky and Watson have somebody with them."

“That’s wonderful! I’ll have to stop by to thank the Mazons, but for now, tell Eva Marie I said thanks if I don’t see her,” Peyton said, referring to their other cul-de-sac neighbors.

She knew her mom and Sean were worried about leaving Watson for almost a week. Even though he loved staying with Slinky and the Kappmeyers, it was a relief that his emergency dogsitter was a person he knew well. With the Gibbles, Dentons, and Kappmeyers at the ball, the Mazons were left as the next best option. The Wegbergs, their other longtime neighbors, were visiting their children in another town for the holidays. And the Ruffalos, with their four kids under the age of ten, would be a disaster.

“Sure! You know she loves Watson just as much as Slink,” Keira said, moving in to hug her longtime neighbor.

“Hey, did you need a room? I can ask around if you do,” Peyton asked, still acting as if she needed to fix everyone’s problems.

“Do I look like I need help finding a bed?” the gorgeous, buxom brunette challenged with a wink and saucy expression.

“Not at all,” Peyton laughed.

“However, I do have a boyfriend. So it’s just crashing with friends,” Keira revealed before moving off.

Not wanting any more distractions, Lacey pulled Peyton away from her friends.

“Have you checked with Finn’s family? His grandma? His cousins? Serinda and Sanna seem to know a lot of gossip. What about Barney?” Lacey rattled off.

“They’ve all been asked. Barney gave Teresa his keycard, but then she had Newt return it to him. So she didn’t find Finn in there.”

“We need to find Bianca. If we can’t, then we’ll bribe the desk clerk for this Farah’s room number,” Lacey listed.

“And do what?” Peyton responded. “Bribe him more for her keycard, or will we just break in and yank Finn out of there.”

“Don’t you want to save him?” Lacey whined, sounding as if that were precisely her plan.

“Not that way–Oh, there’s Bianca. Oh my! Look at who she’s dancing with!” Peyton exclaimed.

Lacey’s eyes followed Peyton’s gaze until she found her rival dancing with an unexpected guy.

“Wow,” Peyton sounded. “How did that happen? She’s not his type.”

“It’s my fault,’ Lacey admitted, watching Penn Wexler dancing with the high school senior. “I’ve been trying to break him of his blonde cheerleader requirements. I’d hoped to break at least the blonde part tonight, but all my plans are screwed up. I caught him with Ramsey’s mom. They looked chummy enough that I thought they were headed to a room.”

“Really?” Peyton asked, her expression showing disbelief.

“Yes! I ordered him to find a dancer rather than a cheerleader. I even named a few, but Bianca wasn’t on that list.” Suddenly, Lacey had a thought. “Say, you were never really a cheerleader and fit his blonde requirement.”

“Nope, that’s not happening! Or have you already forgotten my mom and Shelly’s efforts at my graduation party?” Peyton added an exaggerated hand wave.

“C’mon, Pey! That was three years ago. Why not try again? Penn loves his blondes.”

"I already have one guy like that in my life. I'm just lucky the Vandermeers went to Europe for the rest of the holidays. If not, I'd have Vance trailing his so-called golden goddess. Hell, he would've been totally part of the dance-off."

“The dance-off? So that’s what you’re calling it?” Lacey giggled.

"It's what everyone else calls it," Peyton admitted begrudgingly.

“I’d say I’m sorry I missed it, but there must be video footage,” Lacey teased, looking very forward to watching it tomorrow.

"Plenty to embarrass me with friends and family that weren't here to witness it in person. I don't know if my mom or grandma will be worse. Nate and Eoin already appear to be my responsibility," Peyton added, motioning with her head toward the two young men. Nate was passed out with his upper body on a table while Eoin kept jerking awake every time he started to slide off his chair.

“Where’s Spencer?” Lacey inquired.

“Don’t know. Probably off running another errand for Mr. Pierce or the Diamonds,” Peyton guessed before sighing. “Okay, you wait here to talk with Bianca, and I’ll come back after putting those two to bed.”

“That’s if you come back.” Lacey tittered after Peyton walked several steps.

Peyton fought back an urge to say she wouldn’t if she found Spencer, not that she actually meant it. Instead, she walked over to the table. First came a quick kick to Eoin’s leg before a palm slammed down on the tabletop.

“The twins did it!” Nate exclaimed, snapping awake and upright.

“Watch the leg, Pey!” Eoin snapped, reaching down to grab the leg with the injury that once cost him his athletic career.

“Gawd! I’m sorry,” the blonde apologized, bringing her hand to her mouth.

Nate chuckled when he realized what happened, leading Eoin to throw some choice words back.

“Enough of that. Let’s get you two to bed,” Peyton directed. Her words brought differing reactions.

“Whoa, whoa, I’m not down for that Pey. I don’t know him enough to take any risks with crossing swords stuff,” Nate declared.

Now it was Eoin’s turn to chuckle as Peyton stared at Nate as if he’d grown two heads.

“How drunk are you?” Eoin challenged, laughing.

“More than you!” Nate retorted.

“Argh! I’m going to strangle Lana for leaving you with me,” Peyton vowed before turning to face the other young man. “Same goes for Finn with saddling me with you.”

"Hey! You're riding me, if anyone, tonight. It's destined," Nate proclaimed, leading the daughter of his mother's best friend to dump the remains of a water glass over his head.

“Let’s move it. The last song is starting, and I have things to do that don’t include you drunken bozos,” Peyton revealed as “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” began the final moments of the charity ball.

Eoin cocked his head to listen to the song before asking the song’s title to his longtime classmate. Peyton rolled her eyes at his smirk. She’d witnessed him use it on many girls over the years. Having stood up, Nate came over to put his arm around the blonde’s shoulder while declaring that Peyton loved him.

“No, I don’t.”

“I meant as close family friends.”

“That’s debatable,” Peyton replied, jerking out of his grip. “Let’s go.”

“I gotta wee-wee,” Nate announced.

“You can go in your room,” Peyton responded.

Leading the two drunk, horny guys out of the ballroom ended up as a cross between wrangling cats and babysitting toddlers. They seemed to take turns finding new shiny objects to distract themselves, often beautiful women who were asked various questions. Do you know Peyton? Do you like her? Would you replace her as my bedmate? Or would you like to join us to even up the numbers?

Far too many people Peyton knew found the acts and questions to be hilarious. Strangely, after a night of stress and a couple of blowups, Peyton didn’t lose her cool. Instead, she repeated the mantra, “It’s almost over. It’s almost over” in her mind.

The meandering trio nearly made it to the turnoff for the elevators until Fawn spotted Peyton and waved her over. The bespectacled librarian stood near the sofa and armchair as she roused Daisy from her sleep. Norah continued to type away on her phone.

“You better not let Brandy spot you with those two. She’ll have ideas,” Fawn teased. However, she stopped at the expression on the face of her best friend’s niece. “Actually, have you seen her in the last fifteen minutes or so?”

“No, I haven’t,” Peyton answered. She had to grab Nate around the collar to pull him off the couch as he’d moved to replace Daisy after she finally got off. “Don’t you dare!”

“Great,” Fawn sighed, glancing down to the far end of the lobby. “I bet she went over to the bar to continue the night. Nate!”

“You have three seconds,” Norah warned the college student who’d sat on top of her. The no-nonsense brunette only counted to one before she showed surprising strength and dumped Nate to the floor.

“I think my night is looking promising,” Eoin slurred, nudging Fawn.

“That’s not happening! How many times do I need to say it?” Peyton questioned, losing a bit of her composure.

“Daisy and Norah can help you get your two lovebirds to the elevator,” Fawn offered, ignoring the glare from the sophomore and the sleepy confusion from the older teen.

The trip to and the wait for the elevator nearly broke Peyton. Nate either didn’t have a room or refused to reveal its number. Instead, he kept on replying that he was staying in her room. At one point, Peyton even attempted to check his pockets for a keycard, but the effort only added to her embarrassment as Nate loudly told her to wait until they were in their room before playing with his willy.

Thanks to Fawn, she'd added a second person falling asleep on her feet, along with a feisty helper. Petyon would swear later that Nate seemed to have greeted every single person they passed while Eoin and Daisy garnered plenty of greetings and questions. And seeing as both dozed off against the wall as a crowd waited for an elevator, it fell to Peyton and Norah to respond for the two while shutting up Nate.

So when Daisy and Norah exited the elevator on the third floor, Peyton felt relief more than anything. Any longer, and she felt the younger teen might sock Nate in the mouth with her phone. Not having many options, Peyton decided against dumping him off with his grandparents as they were sharing a room with hers due to the weather. The decision led her to the fifth floor.

Leaving Eoin on the floor by the elevators, Petyon tugged her other charge down the hall to Room 502, his uncle's room. Aware that Teddy had gone upstairs just before she started to corral the guys, Peyton hoped he'd hear her light knocks without disturbing the rest of his family.

“Who is it?” asked a sleepy voice that definitely didn’t belong to Ted Day.

“Uh, Tenille? It’s Peyton. Can you open the door?”

“No.”

“What do you mean no?” Peyton queried.

“Mom said not to open the door to strangers.”

“Strangers? I’m not–” Peyton began until Nate loudly interrupted.

“Tenny! Pey’s not a stranger! She’s my future lover, wife, and baby mommy!”

“Shhh! Nate,” Peyton hissed, attempting not to wake the whole hallway. “Tenille, please open the door.”

The sigh from the ten-year-old could be heard from the other side of the door. Eventually, the door opened, but unexpectedly, the chain was bolted. The pajama-clad brunette gave her older cousin a quick up and down.

“No.”

“What do you mean?” Peyton asked again.

“He can’t come in. Mom is already angry, and she doesn’t like Nate,” Tenille revealed.

Peyton ignored Nate's exaggerated gasp while she nearly begged the girl to let her cousin in. Tenille refused to change her mind, showing off a solid level of stubbornness. Fortunately for Peyton, the girl's father left the bathroom to discover the showdown.

"Ten, let your cousin in," Teddy ordered before doing it himself. Shaking his head at his daughter, he mentioned they had no spare room in a bed, but a comfy armchair was available.

“The floor will work,” Peyton said for Nate, who rushed to the bathroom to finally pee. “Sorry about bringing him here. I don’t know if he has a room or not.”

“He’ll be fine. Olympia’s already pissed off about what the kids did to Crystal. Nate won’t make it worse.”

Peyton woke Eoin up before they took the elevator up another floor. Once there, Peyton started walking toward Room 603 as she knew Eoin and Auggie were next door to Finn and Barney. However, Eoin staggered in the other direction until she ran over and pushed him toward the proper way.

Planning to check and see if Finn had ended up in his room, Peyton's hopes were raised when Room 605 opened. Only it turned out to be Barney checking as he hoped the commotion had also been Finn returning.

“I thought it was Finn,” the photographer admitted, showing his disappointment.

“Hey, Barn!” Eoin slurred, walking into the wrong room until Peyton stopped him.

"Nothing?" Peyton inquired, feeling her phone buzz in her tiny clutch.

“No, I haven’t heard anything,” Barney confirmed. “Do you want to search the hotel?”

"The Strattons are back from the hospital, so Lacey will help me. Uh, could you help get Eoin's keycard out for me?"

“Don’t bother. Auggie has company,” Barney revealed.

"He does?! Who?" Peyton exclaimed, not expecting this development at all. Her bookworm friend did have a mysterious way with women. However, his personality usually required time, as he wasn't one for a quick fling.

“I’m not sure. But with Finn not here, Eoin can use his bed,” Barney suggested. It was a needless offer as his friend had already taken advantage of Peyton’s surprise to walk into the room and fall onto a bed.

Although Peyton noticed the way Barney hesitated when denying he knew the identity of Auggie’s guest, she let it pass for now. Gossip could wait until morning.

“Thanks, Barn. For everything tonight,” Peyton added, giving him a hug and peck on the cheek.

With the door closed and Eoin handed off, Peyton pulled out her phone. A message from Lacey.

“My parents’s suite. Now!”

Dashing over to the elevator, Peyton jabbed the button several times. Two minutes into her wait, she could’ve kicked herself. I can just take the stairs!

Rushing over to the nearby stairway, Peyton heard the elevator chime as the fire door closed behind her. Pulling off her heels, she began to spring up the stairs barefoot. The two flights of stairs didn’t take long, but funny enough, it took as long as the elevator to go from the sixth to the eighth floor. Peyton had just turned down the hallway when it chimed, followed by a moderate yell.

“Pey!” Lacey yelled.

“What is it?”

“My mom just messaged me. He’s in their suite,” Lacey replied. There was no need to say who he was, Peyton knew.

Waiting momentarily for the redhead to catch up, the two concerned young women made a beeline to Executive Suite 805. Nearly at their destination, the door across the hall flung open, sending out a stumbling man into 805's door with a loud bang. Nearly falling to the floor, the young man managed to use the door to hold himself up. Then, he nearly barrelled into Peyton and Lacey as they jumped against the walls to avoid him before his loose pants tangled his legs, sending him face-first to the floor.

“Justin?!” Lacey exclaimed, recognizing her older cousin.

Flipping over onto his back, Justin Stratton began crawling away from the two women, or more precisely, from Suite 806.

“Ohmigawd! Lana was right. She was right!” Justin declared, grabbing the waist of his pants while standing up and fleeing down the hall.

Looking at each other first, Peyton and Lacey turned in unison as Elizabeth Buglehall stepped into the doorway to peer out. No word was said between the three women. However, Buffy the Bug did scowl at Peyton before slamming her door shut.

Somewhat freaked out at witnessing Justin’s behavior, the girls both hopped into the air slightly when another door opened behind them.

“Good, you’re here. Your dad and I found him sitting in front of the door when we arrived,” Marshall Stratton recounted, stepping back to allow his niece and Peyton into the room.

Lacey gasped in horror.

Her mother held a tear-streaked Finn in her arms on the sofa while her father hovered next to them with a concerned expression.