True Love Always.

Right. Why is life always so complicated? Maybe because you make stupid decisions when you are 18 years old and the love of your life ends up engaged to someone else by the time you realize that you made the biggest mistake of your life? Yep. That may have something to do with it.

Peyton exhaled deeply and placed a hand in his hair. 'How in the world did it come to this?' the voice in her head wondered. Yet, here they were... Four years, one rejected proposal, and a wedding gone awry later, she had found Lucas completely hammered, passed out on the bartop at Tric as she left her office that evening.

Despite everything, she couldn't leave him there.

That is how they ended up here. Lucas passed out drunk, hoping that the runaway bride (Man-Faced Lindsay) would come back to him, and Peyton leaning over him after getting him home safely and into his bed and pulling the blanket up over his shirtless torso. Good God, did the man have a sexy chest... 'Stop it, Peyton!' she chastised silently. What a mess.

Sighing inwardly, looked down at him. "Oh Luke... I'm so sorry." She felt her heart crumble for the broken man lying before her. "I didn't want this for you." She whispered, placing a gentle kiss to his temple. Quietly, she retreated to the door, guilt and pain weighing her whole body down. After all, it was clearly her fault that Lindsay has left Luke at the altar. Peyton shook the thoughts from her head and began to reach for the door knob until his ragged voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Peyton." She lifted her head, glancing back toward the bed as a warm smile spread across her face. He may be drunk, but damn, was his drunk voice hot! His head lifted from the pillow and their eyes connected from across the room. "I hate you." Her heart stopped.

"What?" she managed, a mix of anger and confusion washing over her features.

"I wish you never came back." A knife stabbed through her chest, followed by an immense weight. Was she drowning? "You ruined my life." Lucas turned away from the door and put his head back on the pillow. She exhaled. Tears welled in her eyes and her whole body felt tingly and numb. However she was feeling something. Her heart must have started beating again. How? Those words from him surely should have killed her.

Her jaw dropped slightly as her brain struggled to process his venomous words. This had to be a nightmare. Her mind was racing, yet frozen at the same time. Unable to form any coherent thoughts, Peyton turned and exited the room before the flood gates opened. As she closed the door behind her, hysterical sobs racked her body and she slid slowly against the door until she hit the ground.

Peyton's eyes slowly opened, only to be assaulted with a stream of bright light. She quickly shut them, rubbed them gently, and tried to open again. Her ass was freezing and her back hurt like a bitch. She could tell that she was curled up on a cold, hard surface with her back leaning awkwardly against a wall.

As her eyes adjusted to the light she took in her surroundings. She was outside. On a porch. Glancing to the left and the right, she came to the realization that she was on Lucas's porch. Bits and pieces of the previous evening came back to her, and she looked down at her hands, taking note of the mascara that was now smeared all over them. Awesome. It wasn't a nightmare. Lucas Scott hated her. Fabulous.

She managed to make her way to her feet awkwardly, and limped over to her comet. Damn. Yet another reminder that she wasn't a reckless teenager anymore. Getting old sucks. Apparently, the days of passing out wherever she landed after a rough night were long gone.

She wasn't sure where she was going, but she needed to be anywhere but there. The last thing she needed was to encounter him this morning. Hopping into the car, Peyton started the engine and drove off, hoping that it was still early enough that Lucas wouldn't be awake.

Peyton sighed, angrily tossing another CD into the trash can beside her desk. Why did all of these demos suck so badly? It was bad enough that her personal life was a disaster. The last thing she needed was for her business to fail, as well. Haley and Mia were great, but she desperately needed to make this work. Not to mention the fact that she now needed to look into moving into another building STAT. There was absolutely no way that she could continue to work from Tric. It was bad enough when he didn't love her. It was awful when he was marrying someone else. However, the new knowledge that Lucas Scott actually hated Peyton Sawyer was just too much to handle.

Peyton looked at the stack of demos and swiped them angrily to the floor with her arm. What a bunch of uninspired garbage... She rose to her feet and walked over to a stack of some of her favorite records, carefully thumbing through the collection before finally settling on one that suited her current mood. She gingerly slid it from it's sleeve and placed it on the player, setting the needle precisely where she wanted it before heading back to her desk. As the music filled the room, she propped her feet up on the desk, leaned back into the chair and closed her eyes.

There is no pain, you are receding
A distant ship, smoke on the horizon
You are only coming through in waves

Your lips move, but I can't hear what you are saying

When I was a child, I had a fever
My hands felt just like two balloons
Now I've got that feeling once again
I can't explain, you would not understand
This is not how I am

I have become comfortably numb

"Pink Floyd" She hears a voice as the music volume faded a bit. "Nice."

"Haley James Scott," Peyton sat up, attempting her best fake grin as she tried to rub her tears inconspicuously. "How's the songwriting coming?"

"Well... I'm having trouble coming up with lyrics for this melody that you like." Haley admitted, flopping into the seat across the desk.

"What have you got so far?"

"So far, I've got" she paused dramatically... "Nothing." Haley hung her head, clearly frustrated with her writer's block.

Peyton shook her head and giggled a bit before looking up at Haley. "How about 'I hate you bitch, you ruined my life'. That do anything for ya?" she attempted a joke, leaning forward to rest her chin in her hands on the desk. Unfortunately, the joke was lost on Haley, who just quirked her eyebrow, waiting for further explanation. Peyton sighed deeply. "Lucas." she admitted.

"WHAT? He SAID that to you?!" Haley shoved back from the chair, rising to her feet angrily.

"Well, the 'bitch' part may have been a bit of creative liberty, but it was definitely implied..." Peyton looked up at her friend.

"I'm going to beat his ass!" the brunette began pacing back and forth in front of the desk before Peyton walked around the desk and grabbed her arm gently.

"Don't. He was drunk, and he was right. I should have stayed in LA. Then Lindsay wouldn't have left, and none of this would be as big of a mess as it is right now. He's your best friend. Please do not put yourself in the middle of this." She looked into the unconvinced brown eyes. "Please. I don't want to relive it and I don't want to drag it out. Just let it be. For me?"

Haley rolled here eyes, but conceded, nodding her head slowly. "Fine. you win." she agreed. "But if you change your mind..." she began, grabbing her purse from the chair.

"I know." Peyton hugged her. "You are an amazing friend, Haley James Scott. Now... Go write something awesome." she said, shooing her out of the office playfully.

Turning back and looking into the space, she shook her head sadly. This office was perfect. It was so uniquely Peyton. Not at all like the stuffy, cubicle ridden Hell that she had worked in at Sire Records. "It's been real, Tree Hill." she whispered quietly as she exited the office.

She shut the door carefully and glanced over at the bar, then to the exit, sizing up her options for the evening. "What the hell..." she mumbled to herself, and made her way over to the bar, flagging down the bartender. She definitely deserved a drink after the hellacious 24 hours she had just endured.

The small town bar had filled up nicely in the time since Peyton had sat down. How long ago that was, she really had no idea. But it was at least 3 cocktails and 5 shots ago. She had lost count after that. She stirred her drink with her straw and glanced up toward the doors. The sight made her heart drop. Blonde hair and crystal blue eyes greeted her on the other side of the bar.

Fan-Fucking-Tastic. This day just keeps getting better.