A First Time for Everything
Author's Notes: Just a one-parter.
The first time Lucas Scott ever lays eyes on her he is thirteen years old.
He is young enough to think she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and old enough to know that she was going to break his heart someday.
He is playing basketball during lunch with some of the guys when she strolls past with a group of friends. She's all knobby knees and blonde curls with a guarded smile and knowing eyes. And while her friends traipse around in skirts and too much lip-gloss, she wears an old Ramones t-shirt and black converse sneakers. He is inexplicably drawn to her like a moth to the flicker of a porch light.
He watches her cross the dusty yard with her gaggle of friends, kicking up dirt with the toe of her worn sneaker and turns to ask his friend Skills who the girl is. Skills looks at him with caution and tells him her name. Peyton Sawyer.
The first time he ever talks to her is a few weeks after he sees her near the basketball courts.
He works behind the counter after school in his mother's café. He's surprised to see Peyton show up one day with a dark-haired friend trailing closely behind her. He takes their order as casually as he can manage, a muffin and two cups of hot chocolate.
They sit at the counter and he can make out sprinklings of their conversation. Its typical teenage girl gossip about boys and movies and she laughs when her friend says something humorous but Lucas can see that her smile never quite reaches her eyes. There is sadness in her eyes that she attempts to hide. It seems to work on her friend, as she doesn't notice Peyton's disinterest in talking about Brad Pitt. But Lucas sees it as he watches her. He's so caught up in watching her that he doesn't notice when he gets caught.
She tries to be a hardass, narrowing her eyes at him over her mug of steaming chocolate and asking him what he's staring at. He can tell that she's just putting on an act for the benefit of her friend, so just shrugs an answer and wipes down the counter across the way. They leave minutes later and when he goes to clear off the spot they just vacated, he notices a small tip they left behind. Closer examination reveals a small note scribbled in black ink on the back of a dollar, between you and me, Peyton thinks you're cute. He studies the note a little longer before putting it in his pocket, making sure to replace the dollar with one from his wallet. Then he goes back to work.
The first time he kisses her he's sixteen, drunk and surprised when she kisses him back.
He's even more surprised when she pulls away, smiles at him and then slaps him across the face. He can't remember why he came to this stupid party anyway, but Skills worked his magic and got the group an invite so he tagged along. He'd seen Peyton from across the room, standing near the keg. They're not friends exactly, they sit next to each other in English and talk about books and music before class and she comes to the café a lot more than before, but they definitely aren't friends. So he saunters over towards the keg (and her) and gets himself a beer, and then another and another. Peyton's talking to him about some new band, and he's plastered and the only thing he's thinking of is kissing her. So he does. And then he gets slapped.
He holds a palm to his stinging cheek but he's too drunk to be angry, so he just asks her what she slapped him for. She tells him that she doesn't want to spend the night kissing sloppy drunk boys and then walks away, but he sees a smile spread across her face before she puts her own plastic cup to her lips. It's the first time he realizes that she's extraordinarily good at playing hard to get.
The (second) first time he kisses her it is his turn to be surprised, because he doesn't actually initiate it.
Peyton does.
They've become closer friends in the last three months. They don't talk about the kiss mainly because his cheeks flush red every time she mentions it, so they talk about everything but that night at the party.
Her birthday is in three days. He found a rare, vinyl import at the music store the other day that he know she doesn't have and he's been itching to give it to her since then. So he decides to give it to her early and shows up at her place after school. When she unwraps it she smiles widely and he knows she means it. She thanks him profusely and pulls him upstairs so they can listen to it on the record player in her room. They sit on the bed and listen to the melancholy tune float through the speakers. She seems happy and that makes him happy, it makes him even happier when she leans over and kisses him.
This kiss is nothing like the one at the party, with too much spit and a lot of tongue. Her kiss is gentle and sincere and when she cups her hands around his face he feels a shudder trace up his spine. She scoots closer to him and her arms wrap around his neck, making the space between them non-existent. He feels the corner of her lips tug upwards. She's smiling.
The first time he calls her his girlfriend it surprises them both.
They've spent the day wandering around town and shopping for used books. He's scanned every aisle twice and has a large stack of books tucked under his arms, Peyton follows behind him with a worn copy of the sex pistols biography. When he's satisfied with his collection they head to the counter. An elderly woman stands behind the counter and Lucas knows her well, her name is Marjorie and she's worked the register of the used bookstore since he was a boy.
He piles his books on the counter and makes her put her book up with his, she tries to put up an argument but he just smiles and tells him it's his treat. She scrunches her nose up at him and playfully pinches his arm. Marjorie looks up at them and asks Lucas whom his friend is and without hesitation he introduces Peyton as his girlfriend. It takes him a moment for what he says to register, he looks over at her and she's surprised to say the least. But the surprise on her face melts away and she grins at him and reaches over to politely shake Marjorie's hand and says that she is indeed his girlfriend.
Lucas stares at her as Marjorie rings up their purchase and when she looks over at him he kisses her sweetly on the temple and wraps a protective arm around her shoulder.
The first time he tells her he is sorry for something he's done is also the first time they sleep together.
His mom is away for the weekend, she's left behind a list of rules concerning the house and at the top of that list is that Peyton is under no circumstances to spend the night. It's not that Karen doesn't like Peyton, but Lucas is a teenage boy and Karen still remembers what teenage boys were like.
The first rule on Karen's list is also the first rule to be broken. They spent the night at the movies and it's a spur of the moment decision for her to come home with him, and in their minds completely rational since her dad is out of town on business again and she doesn't want to be alone.
It's all innocent at first. They watch cartoons on his bed and kiss during the commercials for sugary cereal and Barbie dolls. He lies stretched out next to her propped up on his elbow and an arm draped across her stomach. She rolls over onto the remote and the television set clicks off, leaving the room filled with silence. He goes back to kissing her and her hand sneaks under the hem of his shirt and they both open their eyes and look at each other.
Clothes are forgotten and cast off into a pile near the foot of his bed, and a blanket is pulled over them. She's trembling beneath him as he slips into her, and his eyes shoot open when he hears her lightly gasp. He stops for a moment and says he's sorry and then he says it again before asking is she's okay. She smiles up at him and tells him that she is.
They lay in bed afterwards. She's curled up in his t-shirt, sleeping on her stomach as close to him as she can be. He is still awake, staring up at the ceiling completely lost in thought.
The time he ever knows he loves her? He can peg it back to that first time he ever laid eyes on her, as she crossed the dusty yard during recess so many years ago.