Peyton felt her heart shatter and her throat swell up as she tried to hold back the tears. He had said I do and that meant it was time for a new beginning. One that didn't include Lucas. The tears escaped from her eyes as the realization of this hit her. All the pain, the suffering, the heartaches, it had all been for nothing. Luke would never be hers, and she had to accept the truth of this. The tears streamed down her face and fell onto the beautiful dress that was now nothing but a reminder of this pain filled day.
"Hey P. Sawyer" Brooke whispered as she sat beside her in the deserted church that would forever hold the memory of Luke's choice. The one that didn't include Peyton.
Peyton slowly lifted her head, exposing the tears in her eyes.
"He said I do, Brooke" Peyton said through pain filled eyes. "He promised to love and cherish her for the rest of his life, he chose her"
"P. Sawyer you know I love you, but I'm going to have to slap that pretty little face of yours" Brooke said as she lowered her voice at the realization of her surroundings. "Sweetie, I know you're blonde and all but you are seriously not telling me you didn't realize the fact that Lucas when saying 'I love you' on that very altar, he wasn't looking Lindsey in the eye. In fact he wasn't looking at her at all. He was looking at you"
Her mouth opened as the shock of this ran through her body, causing every hair on her skin to lift up. But as she carefully processed this information she realized that this didn't change the fact that he said I do. It didn't change the fact that he was married, and it certainly didn't change the fact that the person he was married to was not her.
"No... He didn't" Peyton sadly said as she looked down at her ringless finger and thought 'I love you too'.
A picture of a drawing that read "It's you, Peyton" flashed through her mind, only to be suddenly replaced with a flashback of Lucas. He was saying I do, and next to him was Lindsey. 'People always leave,' she thought, 'and the ones that do come back only do so to remind us how hard it is to live without them'. Endless tears rushed down her eyes, Brooke embraced her best friend and told her everything would be okay, but they both knew as long as Luke was married to Lindsey everything was far from being okay.