Peyton Sawyer carefully slid open the patio door and slipped out into the cool night air. She headed around the side of the house, her heels clicking on the paving slabs as she hurried toward her car, the comet. Inside the house Dan had brought Jamie home. She had stayed at the Scott residence long enough to seem concerned. After the wedding ceremony she couldn't decide if she wanted to get drunk or curl up in bed for a week. Instead she had headed to Nathan's after Jamie went missing. As much as she cared for the little blonde boy she felt out of place. She considered him her nephew but he wasn't. Mostly she went for Nathan and Brooke and to a lesser extent Haley. The last thing she needed was to have to avoid Lucas and watch Nathan and Haley's marriage disintegrate.
She climbed into the driver's seat and pulled away. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep so she headed to Tric. Her record collection would provide some much needed solace.
Peyton's heart sank as soon as she entered Tric. The place was set up for a wedding reception. Flowers, cake, champagne, balloons all for Mr and Mrs Lucas Scott. She grabbed a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar and headed to her office. Flipping on some demos she settled herself on the pool table and started to sketch.
About half an hour later she was struggling to capture the emotion on Haley's face when a voice permeated her consciousness. She hadn't heard the footsteps or door due to the particularly awful thrash metal song playing.
"Excuse me, I was looking for the Scott wedding reception…." Asked a male voice.
She answered, "the bride ran out of the wedding so," she looked up. In front of her stood a tall man in a suit. He held a present wrapped in silver paper.
"Peyton!" he exclaimed.
"Jake?" she stated not quite believing her eyes, she hopped off the pool table, "Jake Jagielski!" she squealed.