Tuesday, March 18, 2008 11:56 pm

Please read & review. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill

THE BRIDE WORE BLACK

Peyton Sawyer walked down the aisle towards the man she loved. Lucas Scott stood tall and handsome at the altar, dressed in a black tuxedo. His sandy blond hair was combed to the side and a small smile played on his lips. She looked into his pale, blue eyes, eyes she had always loved, their color as pale blue as the sea on a calm winter's day.

Around her feet there were rose petals, strewn across the carpet. Soft music floated down the aisle past the wooden pews filled with friends and family. Peyton smiled. It was everything she had imagined for her wedding day and more. Watching him, there before her, she remembered all the moments they had experienced together over the past years.

The first time she'd seen him, she'd almost killed him with her car. Later, that same car had broken down and he had been the one to tow it and had given her a ride home. That had been the first time he had saved her. There had been many times after that, but none as significant as when he saved her the day of the school shooting. She hadn't been his girlfriend then but he had still been there to carry her, bleeding in his arms, out of the library. She would have died that day if it weren't for him. He had protected her when the fake Derek tried to hurt her and when she had been slipped drugs in her drink at a party. Lucas had always been there for her, saving her.

"I want to have everything with you," Lucas had declared as they stood kissing in an empty bedroom at a party. Peyton had kissed his neck and chest as she slowly had unbuttoned his

dress shirt. She hadn't been ready to have a relationship with him then, but she had gone to find him later.

"Lucas, I made a mistake," Peyton had whispered. "When you said you wanted to be with me, I got scared and I pushed you away.

"Peyton…"he had broken in, but she'd held up her hand to stop him.

"But the truth is," Peyton had continued, "I want all the same things that you want, I do, and I want them with you."

She had been too late that night. With Brooke, he had found solace for her rejection of him. He and Brooke had made a cute couple and she had told him that all she wanted was for him to be happy. But it had broken her heart to see them together.

When three years later, he had spontaneously proposed to her in Los Angeles it had been too soon, too sudden. She had told him that she wasn't ready, that someday wasn't yet. But she had never given up hope that someday would come. And as Peyton walked down the aisle towards Lucas Scott, the love of her life, she knew that someday was now.

Nervously, Peyton smoothed her dress. It was as black as the material of Lucas' suit and it fit her perfectly. Brooke had argued with her choice of dress, said that it wasn't appropriate to wear black to a wedding. Peyton smiled sadly to herself. The dress was perfect for today. The church looked beautiful and the groom was the most amazing man Peyton had ever known. She slipped into the pew beside Brooke. The wedding march struck up and Peyton turned to see Lindsay walking slowly down the aisle in a gorgeous, white gown.

A tear slipped down Peyton's cheek onto her short, black dress. It was the perfect wedding. But it wasn't hers.