A/N: This story...well, because I can't sleep & felt the urge to write. I really haven't been motivated to write for This Life but I guess conflicted is on my mind, so here is this story.

Let me me know what you think! Enjoy ;)

As of late Peyton Sawyer had spent many nights confused.

Confused about who she was.

Confused about where she belonged.

Confused about who held her heart.

The mysterious brooding boy who was always saving her…

…or the superstar athlete who she felt a need to save.

Peyton Sawyer had spent most of her life confused.

Confused about why at the age of 8 her mom died.

Confused why her dad spent more time away from home than actually at home.

Confused why she hid her artistic talent, but spent game nights in a short skirt with pom-poms.

Needless to say, Peyton Sawyer didn't need anything else to be confused about, and she definitely didn't need to be confused about boys.

When Peyton started dating Nathan, before they started having sex, he was this awesomely amazing guy who she knew she could love, and then who she did love. But then, sex happened. And varsity basketball happened. That's when Peyton found herself constantly trying to save Nathan. Save him from becoming the ass his father Dan was. Save him from a life where he was constantly powerless and out of control like his neurotic, often absent, mother Deb.

Most of all, Peyton was trying to save Nathan because, she knew they could be great together. Not just he is the star of the basketball team and she is the hot cheerleader great together, but the going to last forever, fairytale great together.

Peyton never really told anyone that she felt that her and Nate could be fairytale perfect together…it really, really wasn't her style. She was more a Led Zeppelin and leather jacket sort of girl, normally she left fairytales, prince charming and happily ever after to her best friend Brooke, but there was just something about Nathan that made her want the fireworks in the sky, the magical carriage and the glass slippers.

Somehow though, her fairytales always ended up with her with a pumpkin instead of a carriage, and Nathan spending the night with the evil, ugly, step sister. Yes, they broke up all the time, it didn't really matter who did it one time, because the other one would get a chance to end it the next party, the next night, the next whatever was happening. But Peyton always took him back. She didn't know how else to save him, how else to create her perfect fairytale, other than to just take him back and try again.



But even damsels in distress get tired of waiting on prince charming, especially when he is being an arrogant asshole or a cocky bastard or an insensitive jerk. After two years, Peyton gave up on happily ever after and ended things for good with Nathan.

But, like all good fairytales, Peyton still loved him. He was her first love. Her first serious boyfriend. Her first time. And like all good princesses, Peyton played the tough I like rock music and depressing drawings, but deep inside she was hurting.

And missing.

And loving.

And very, very lost.

Then entered the brooding, blond step-brother to make her life a little more interesting. Suddenly, Peyton was enthralled. He was constantly saving her. It was like he was her Superman and she was Lois Lane.

To the everyday person, aka all their classmates, Lucas was nothing more than a loser.

The boy that wasn't wanted by his dad.

The boy that was despised by his brother.

The boy from the wrong side of town.

But to Peyton, Lucas became her personal savior.

He believed in her.

He believed in her art.

Peyton had always had a soft spot for Lucas, she hated the way Nathan treated him. Hated the way he got the team to gang up on him and haze him. And Peyton really hated the way Nathan talked about him like he was nothing. She had often defended him, and it was no secret that Peyton and Nathan had several fights about him and even broken up over issues with him once or twice.

Suddenly, it was like Peyton never had anyone to save, but always needed saved. And Lucas was constantly there to save her. Coincidence or not.

He was her personal Superman.

Can you blame a girl for being confused? Happily ever after and the fairytale dream?

Or the epic love story of Lois Lane and Superman?

After many sleepless nights and numerous podcast, Peyton was no less confused about who she really wanted to be with.



If she was completely honest with herself, she did enjoy being saved. It was much less work. Not to mention less fighting and less breaking up. But it was also less make up sex. And no Nathan.

The best thing about her fairytale was that it was true love.

True first love.

Two lovers being reunited.

Even if she did have to save Nathan all the time. Even if their happily ever after had a few bumps and pumpkins in the road, it meant she got Nathan.

And wasn't that what she wanted? Nathan?

Or maybe, she had just thought she wanted Nathan because it is really the only thing she had ever had. She had never had Lucas. Perhaps she didn't even know what she really wanted. Or where she best belonged.

What is a girl to do when you only need one person, but somehow you have two?

Can she really pick between Prince Charming and Superman?

As if Peyton Sawyers life wasn't confusing enough.

Now she has to decide, be the savior or be saved.

Prince Charming…

…or…

…Superman?