Unlike last time, the door to the studio was open, meaning Connor didn’t have to deal with the creaky hinges alerting the entire room to his presence. It gave him time to make sure that the person he needed to talk to was even there.

Scanning all the heads of long hair and ponytails sitting in front of canvases, Connor looked for Hailey. She was the girl he’d seen once at Mila Milani’s rooftop, and then again when he came to pick up Peyton for their trip to the farmhouse. It took awhile since the studio was more crowded than usual, but finally, at the very back of the room, he saw her bobbing her head to whatever was playing on her headphones.

But just as he headed for her, some girl spotted him.

“Oh. My. God!”

Her sharp gasp pierced the silent room like a dagger, and suddenly, all twenty heads turned at once, their faces wide-eyed and open-mouthed as they stared at Connor. Jesus Christ, he almost laughed to himself. It was kind of creepy. It almost felt like he was standing in some haunted doll factory where all the toys had just come to life.

“Uh. Hey,” he smiled awkwardly.

His footsteps echoed in the hushed room as he walked a bit slower toward the crowd of girls now. Phones were out at this point. He could hear the camera sounds going off, which wasn’t ideal, but fuck it. He was here and aside from Hailey, who stared in pure, red-faced shock at him from across the room, he had twenty other pairs of eyes that might be able to help him find Peyton. So weird as it was, he was sticking around – at least till he got some usable info.

Clearing his throat, Connor spoke up.

“Listen, I don’t know how many of you know Peyton Greene. I know at least one of you does, but I’m looking for her right now, so if any of you have seen her in the past twenty-four hours, I’ll… I don’t know, give you whatever you want that I can provide,” Connor said, trying to think on his feet. “Cash, tickets to a premiere, whatever. I just want to know where Peyton went,” he said earnestly.

There was a second of quiet before some girl on the left called out.

“Can you take your shirt off?”

Connor smirked as that side of the room burst into giggles.

“If you know can tell me where my girlfriend is, sure,” he said, “but otherwise, it’s staying on.”

“Dammit!”

Another burst of giggles came, but the air went quiet again shortly after, and the girls went back to staring in weird, silent awe as Connor walked slowly toward them.

Jesus Christ. It felt like he was on stage with a spotlight shining directly on him. He fucking hated it. It was exactly why he’d never want to be an actor, but he sucked it up because he knew with certainty that Peyton had to have come here before she left.

She wouldn’t leave the sunflowers behind.

Her painting. Connor remembered that she’d left it here last time, before the left for Connecticut. It was wet, it was her baby, and now that it was dry, Connor suspected she had brought it with her to wherever she was going.

In fact, a quick glance at the racks confirmed that her canvas was gone.

“Um… Mr. Schaffer?”

Connor’s head whipped around. The voice that spoke was so shy and small it took him a good second to figure out where it came from. But the second he spotted the girl who said his name – a petite, short-haired blonde in the corner – he made an eager beeline for her.

“Hey.” He knelt immediately beside her and watched her blush, stumbling over her words since the whole class was staring. Connor gave her a reassuring smile as he held his hand out. “Sorry. Should’ve introduced myself first. I’m Connor.”

“I know who you are,” she laughed quietly. “I’m Liz. I’m a big fan and I, um, just wanted to say that I saw Peyton here last night around ten, before closing.”

“Really?” Connor felt oddly breathless out nowhere. “Did she – ”

“She had one of those rolling suitcases with her,” the blonde said. “And she kind of got into an argument with…” she trailed off to nod subtly at Hailey. “So… I think you wanna talk to her.”

“Thought so,” Connor said as he shared a quiet laugh with her. “Thank you, Liz. I appreciate it,” he said just as the longhaired brunette next to Liz tapped his shoulder.

“Hey, are you in the market for a second girlfriend? I read you generally keep two at a time,” she said with a flirty grin. Connor had to laugh.

“Sorry, it’s just Peyton. And don’t believe everything you read,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for Hailey.

Man, this was becoming a process. And judging from the sour look on Hailey’s face, it was about to get a little harder.

“I have nothing to say to you,” she said stiffly as he approached. “Or Peyton.”

“Why?” Connor snorted as he watched her turn her nose up and continue painting. Pulling a stool over, he took a seat and furrowed his brow at her. “What did Peyton ever do to you? I’m curious to know.”

Hailey said nothing but it didn’t come as a surprise. From what little Peyton let herself tell him, Hailey had no motive to suddenly turn on their friendship. No legitimate one at least.

“Fine. I’m not here to mediate whatever fight you’ve got going on with her. If you’re no longer interested in that friendship I can promise you it’s no one’s loss but your own,” Connor said. “All I ask right now is that you tell me something that’ll help me find Peyton. I don’t care if you don’t want her – just let me have her. Alright? I’m not going to leave you alone about her till you give me something, Hailey.” Her eyes flicked to him when he said her name so he tried it again. “Hailey, please. Tell me anything she said. Anything you might know about where she went.”

Hailey’s gaze fell into her lap. She touched her red cheeks with the back of her hand then took in a deep breath.

“So, you’re serious. You really like her,” she said. Connor stared like she was nuts.

“I would think that was obvious. I’m sitting in a completely silent room full of strangers recording me on their phones right now. This is my actual nightmare but I’m biting the bullet because I’m praying you’ll help me find Peyton.”

“Do you love her?” Hailey challenged.

“Yes. Now talk to me,” Connor said, disguising the fact that he’d surprised even himself with the blunt speed of his reply. Hailey stared at him for several seconds, the look in her eyes a glassy mix of shock and wounded envy. But then she heaved a sigh.

“She kept checking to make sure she had her passport before she left the studio. That’s all I’ve got.”

Christ, her passport? “So she was going overseas. She didn’t say where?”

“No.”

Connor’s gaze floated off for a moment as he thought about where she could be. He stared blankly at the wall for a few seconds, replaying every conversation he’d ever had with Peyton till his train of thought screeched to a halt at his memory of their date night at his tavern.

“Nooo, don’t go!” a few girls cooed as Connor rose suddenly from his chair, ignoring the chorus of giggles and camera shutters that followed him out the door.