Fluffy, sweet Pathan here. Let me know what you think :)
It begins with mutual contempt. And they're only five years old.
For kindergartners, Nathan Scott and Peyton Sawyer are both far too stubborn. They have their own opinions and don't mind stomping their feet to show them. The teacher despairs at both of them. As a result they spend a lot of afternoons in the classroom during recess.
It's not their fault. Not really. It's their head strong attitudes and their passion. Peyton gets been told off for not joining in with the class, instead choosing to sit and draw in the corner. Nathan, meanwhile, likes to stay out playing ball past the bell. Their teacher sees it as purposefully breaking the rules and disobeying her. Really though, they're just two kids who really love sketching and playing ball.
The first words they exchange is during one of their recesses inside. Peyton's been kept in for constantly ignoring the teacher's calls for her to join them for story time. Nathan accidentally pushed a girl to the floor after landing a jump shot. It was an awesome dunk too, only the teacher didn't agree.
"Miss Carter's stupid." Nathan states, kicking his sneaker against his desk. He watches longingly out of the window as the rest of their class play happily outside.
"She's stupider than stupid." Peyton agrees, her arms folded tightly across her chest. She's scowling madly at having had to surrender her beloved pencils and pad as part of her punishment.
Nathan glances to his left. He's never spoken to Peyton Sawyer before. She's a girl. Girls are icky. But Peyton doesn't seem like the other girls. She looks like a girl. She has wild curly blonde hair that's tied in pigtails and huge green eyes. She never wears dresses though, only once on class photo day. She wears sneakers and has a black hooded jacket. None of the other girls ever wear black. She's different.
Peyton feels Nathan staring and glares at him. He's annoying. He once trod on one of her pictures when he was racing out of the classroom. And he left a foot print.
She moves her scowl to his feet. His silly big feet that ruined her picture. Her wide eyes pop when she sees that he's wearing dark blue converse high tops.
"We should play a trick." Nathan says, even though Peyton's a girl and girls aren't good at pranks.
Peyton looks at him; Nathan Scott the boy who only cares about basketball. Then she sees his swinging sneakers and smiles. "Okay, but a really good one."
He promises it will be the best but they after all are only five years old. The prank – Nathan's idea – is to put pins upside down on their teacher's chair. He saw it in a movie and says it was funny. Peyton agrees that seeing Miss Carter jump up and down angrily will be funny.
And it is. All the kids in their class laugh. One kid, Tim, nearly wets himself.
Unfortunately it doesn't take Miss Carter too long to work out that the only kids with the means to do such a thing were those detained in the room for recess. That points the finger firmly at Nathan and Peyton, only Miss Carter can't quite work out which of them it was. Never for a moment does she consider that they'd teamed up. She speaks to them separately, urging them to confess or turn the other in. Both kids remain tight lipped though. Their stubbornness is irritatingly impressive.
So they both end up spending the week inside at lunchtime whilst the rest of their class enjoy the last of the fall sun.
"You didn't tell." Nathan says almost accusingly on their first day inside. He's a bit distrustful of girls, they always tell.
Peyton shrugs, "I didn't wanna."
Nathan has never understood girls. They like dolls and pink and fairies. All of which he thinks are stupid.
But Peyton Sawyer's different. She likes drawing and curling her hands into tight little fists and strawberries (he's seen her eat lunch). He doesn't think that any of those things are stupid. He doesn't really understand her any more than the other girls, but he likes her.
"Wanna play a game?" Nathan asks. They're stuck inside whilst everyone else is free to play. They're playing loudly too. It's not fair.
"Okay." Peyton twists around in her seat and crosses her legs beneath her. For the first time, he sees her smile.
Nathan reaches his hand down and feels Peyton's smaller one wrap around it. He holds onto her tightly and pulls. Her blonde head appears a moment later followed by her secret smile.
It's a secret smile because she only uses it around him and sometimes her Mom and Dad. He likes to pretend that it's just for him though.
"It's nice up here." Peyton comments.
They're in the tall tree at the back of Nathan's garden. It's where he hides when his Dad comes down on him hard or his parents argue. It's his secret hideout. Only now it's not a secret because he's shared it with someone. They've been best friends for nearly two years though and that's a long time. He trusts her.
"It's like we're closer to the clouds, like we could touch them if we tried." Peyton continues, reaching her hands up towards the open sky.
Nathan smiles, she's always saying things like that. Things that he would never think of in a million years. He likes that she shares things like it with him. He's seen her at school and he knows that she doesn't say anything like that around the other kids. She's quiet and reserved. It's only around him that she's all Peyton-like.
She swings her feet from the high branch they're sat next to each other on. Her black converse sneakers are loose on her feet.
Nathan reaches out and grabs her knee to still her dangling legs. She frowns deeply and looks at him with searching emerald eyes.
"Don't kick your feet." He tells her. He doesn't ask her, he just tells her.
"Why?" She's pouty and if he doesn't give her a reason he knows she'll carry on doing it just to annoy him.
"Because," He pauses and looks into his lap, "This place is a secret, okay?"
She doesn't quit frowning at him but he feels the muscles in her legs loosen. He knows she's going to stop swinging her legs back and forth.
"If your shoe falls on the ground my Dad might see it and then he'll know I come hide up here." Nathan admits, picking at the loose thread on his shorts.
"Oh." Peyton's eyes are wide with understanding.
Nathan's Dad is mean and scary. She really doesn't want to get her best friend in trouble with him.
"I won't drop anything." She promises, holding out her pinky finger. "You won't get in trouble."
He takes her finger gratefully and they shake. It's not his secret hideout anymore. It's theirs.
They both freeze when they hear Dan Scott's car pull into the gravel driveway. They're at the end of the yard, way out of earshot but they both stop like statues. A car door slams and they both jump. Peyton even gasps. Nathan reaches out and puts his finger over her lips in a shushing motion.
When they hear Dan enter the house they both just sit rigid. Blue meets green and they stare for a moment. Then Nathan feels the curving of a smile beneath the finger he's still holding to Peyton's lips.
She doesn't know why she smiles. It's something about a small victory over Dan Scott. It's that, or the fact that she and Nathan have their own secret place. That's kind of cool.
"Your Dad's home." She says, pulling away from his outstretched finger. "I gotta go."
It's like her signal to go home for dinner, when his Dad comes home. Nathan always hates when he hears his Dad's car. Not only does it mean saying goodbye to Peyton but it means for the rest of the night it's just him and his parents. That is not fun.
Peyton scales the tree with much more daring than any other girl Nathan knows and then he follows her down. They grab their bikes from the yard and Nathan bangs on the kitchen window. It's an unspoken code. Every day that Peyton comes round to play, he rides his bike with her back to her house. He tells his parents by banging his fist on the window. He doesn't even know if his parents hear him. It's a routine though.
Peyton kicks off first and starts pedalling eagerly. They always race. She always has a head start and he always catches her up half way down the hill. At that point they take their feet from the pedals and let gravity take them to the bottom where Peyton's house sits.
As they sail down to her house, they see that Anna Sawyer's waiting on the porch for her daughter.
"You're late, little lady." Anna says. She's not mad, not really. She knows exactly where her daughter's been. As a parent though she needs Peyton to learn how important it is to be home on time.
"Nuh-uh." Peyton argues. She's still stubborn. "Nathan's Dad just got home."
Anna shakes her head, "I said five o'clock, not when Nathan's Dad gets in."
"But-," Peyton goes to argue further.
"No buts, Peyton." Anna helps her daughter pull her bike onto the porch and wraps a hand over her skinny shoulders, "I need to know where you are. If you're not in at five, I worry."
"We didn't have a clock, Mrs Sawyer." Nathan says sheepishly, trying to stick up for his friend.
Anna smiles softly, "Thank you for bringing her home, Nathan. You should get back before your parents start to worry."
He mumbles something about his parents not caring and then waves to the Sawyer girls "See you tomorrow, Peyton."
"Bye!" She calls after him as he begins the uphill ride home.
They wave and Anna leads her daughter inside to her dinner that's waiting. Peyton takes a seat at the counter and watches as her Mom puts her latest drawing on the refrigerator.
"Mommy?" Peyton calls to her. She would never let Nathan hear her say it but she uses the pet name Mommy when she's at home sometimes.
"Hmm?" Anna asks distractedly.
"How comes Nathan's Dad is mean?" Peyton asks in a way that only a child could.
Anna pauses and turns to her inquisitive daughter. She strokes her curls and sighs, "Oh, Baby, he isn't mean. He's just different to other people. He loves Nathan very much, okay?"
Peyton only frowns deeper.
"Don't believe me, kiddo?" Anna asks, laughter rippling through her voice slightly, "It's true. Some people show love in different ways though. Like I squeeze you tightly sometimes because I love you soooo much! And your Daddy throws you in the air to hear you laugh. Nathan's Daddy, he helps with his basketball because Nathan wants to play when he's older."
"He's still mean." Peyton shoots back, spinning her spoon in her soup.
"That doesn't mean he doesn't love him." Anna counters, "Sometimes it just means he loves him a lot. Boys are funny like that, honey. Like you and Nathan, sometimes he squabbles with you about silly things but that doesn't mean you don't love each other."
"Eww! Gross! I don't love Nathan." Peyton protests, wrinkling her nose.
Anna smiles, "Oh, okay, you don't."
Nathan's outside class waiting for Peyton as he always does, every morning. Everyone else has already gone inside but he doesn't want to go in without her, she'll get in a mood if he does.
The weirdest bit is that Peyton's never late and she has perfect attendance. He tries to ignore the squirming in his stomach when the janitor closes the gates.
"Nathan," His teacher's stood at the door, ready to usher him inside. There's something about her stare that makes him uneasy. He's used to getting told off and is expecting her to scold him for being late. Instead she lays a hand on his shoulder and coaxes him inside.
Everyone's sat in a stony silence and they all watch as Nathan enters on his own. He doesn't like it; his best friend not being with him. Quickly he goes to his seat near the back and slumps down. To his left is Peyton's vacant seat. They've always been placed together thanks to the alphabetical seating plan.
"Class," Miss Hayes coughs and her eyes seem to water a little bit, "I have some bad news to tell you."
Nathan looks up anxiously, before she says another word he knows it's going to be about Peyton.
"Yesterday afternoon Peyton's Mom was in a car accident." The teacher continues but Nathan doesn't hear another word.
All he can think about is his best friend. She's probably scared. She's probably pretending not to be too. Although it's probably stupid, Nathan feels like he's the only person in the world who could know such a thing about her.
"We're going to make some cards for Peyton, to let her know we're all thinking of her and hoping that her Mom gets better." Miss Hayes continues.
Nathan's face darkens at the very thought. He knows Peyton would hate cards from everyone in class. He feels like he should do something to stop them making folded paper notes for her. He can't focus though, all he can think about is her running away on her own and crying somewhere. It's the kind of thing she'd do. He knows because it's the kind of thing he'd do too.
"Nathan?" Miss Hayes calls to him and only then he realises that the rest of the class are at the front collecting supplies. "Aren't you going to make Peyton a card?"
"No." He turns his head away from her and scowls. It's a dark angry scowl but he learnt from the best. He was taught by a stubborn pouty five year old girl.
She pads to his desk and crouches to his level, "Nathan, Peyton needs her friends now and I know that you're her very best friend. She'd like a card from you most of all."
He doesn't want to write her a card. He wants to find her and make her laugh or something. He likes making her laugh.
"Nathan?" She repeats, a little at a loss of what to do.
In response he lays his head on his desk and stares to the empty place on his left. He misses her. Usually she'd be there to pull funny faces at him and would defend him against Miss Hayes. She's not there though. She's somewhere else, probably at the hospital. Nathan doesn't like that thought. Hospitals are scary.
Miss Hayes persists and eventually Nathan surrenders to her. His fight is gone. His stubbornness, determination and grit are lost. Without Peyton there with him, standing up to the teacher isn't as satisfying.
So he makes Peyton a card. It's hard because he doesn't know how to make an I'm so sorry your Mom's hurt card. Usually cards have balloons or smiley faces on them. He wishes, for the hundredth time that day that Peyton was with him. She'd be good at this. She'd know what to draw. She'd even draw it for him; she loves to draw and she's great at it. Nathan isn't. He doesn't want to make her a sucky card. He wants to make her the best card ever.
In the end he draws two stick figures. One with short brown hair and a basketball under arm, the other with crayon yellow curls and sneakers. He labels them Nathan and Peyton. In case she can't tell it's them. His drawing really sucks.
Inside he uses his neatest handwriting which takes a lot of concentration; his handwriting is nearly as bad as his drawing.
Peyton, I really hope your Mom gets better soon. She's the best Mom in the world I think. I miss you at school. Nathan.
When Miss Hayes calls for them all to hand their cards in Nathan hangs back. He folds his paper in half and slips it into his pocket.
...
Three days later Nathan finally works up the courage to go to her house and deliver his card. He walks down the road with the paper stuffed in his back pocket and tries to prepare himself for the unknown.
His Mom had sat him down and talked him through the situation. He didn't really understand it all but he knew it was bad; really, really bad. His Mom had also tried to explain death to him but he hadn't been able to get his head around the idea of someone leaving and never coming back, least of all Anna Sawyer. She was the kindest person Nathan knew, there was no way she'd leave Peyton.
As he walks down the street he sees that there aren't any cars at the Sawyer house. That means no one's home.
Yet he still goes down there and takes a seat on the porch steps. He figures they have to come back at some point, he'll just wait.
When the sun begins to set his Mom appears at the top of the hill. Usually she'd just yell to him to come home but on this occasion she meets him at Peyton's house and wraps her arm around his shoulders. She places a kiss on his head and he lets her, which he almost never does.
She guides him back to their house where Dan is sat on the couch waiting. Nathan's stomach sinks and he looks desperately to both of his parents. They just sigh and pull him onto the seat in the space between them.
It's a difficult conversation. His parents explain to him that Anna is in heaven with the angels; she's looking out for Peyton there and hasn't left her at all. He frowns and asks why. They have trouble explaining that.
Nathan doesn't understand it, he can't see how a person can be there one day and gone the next. He doesn't know why Peyton had to lose her Mom. He asks how he can get Anna back but that just makes his Mom cry. Dan looks at him and says firmly that Anna isn't coming home ever again.
Nathan tries really hard not to cry, he's a boy and boys don't cry. He'll miss Anna though and that makes him think of how much Peyton will miss her. He can't help but cry then.
...
The morning of Anna's funeral, Larry Sawyer calls round at the Scott's. Peyton's missing.
Nathan's eyes widen as he watches the grown-ups fall apart in front of him. They start discussing the possibility of her running off to all sorts of places. None of them make any sense though; the ice-cream store, the playground, the mall. Peyton isn't a kid who'd run anywhere fun, she's sad; she'd go somewhere to be alone.
Dan says he'll take the car out and Deb says she'll take a walk around the neighbourhood. Nathan slips out back when no one's watching. He frowns and tries to think of where she'd really go.
As he's thinking, he sees something fall from the large tree at the end of the yard.
He races to his place of sanctuary and nearly rips his smart clothes clambering up the branches. He doesn't care though.
"Peyton?" He calls to his friend.
Her blonde head of curls appear slowly as she looks down through the leaves. Nathan's shocked by her appearance, she's the absolute picture of sadness.
"Everyone's looking for you, even my Dad." He says dumbly. He doesn't know what else to say.
"I don't want to go." She says quietly between sobs, "So I came here to hide and then I dropped my cardigan and now it's not a secret place."
"Yes it is!" Nathan rushes to say, "It's our secret place, forever."
Her glassy sorrowful eyes turn to him, almost begging, "It is?"
She looks so dependent on him, like she'll break if he doesn't assure her it's true. He guesses that lots of grown-ups have been making all sorts of promises to her recently.
He wants to keep his.
"I promise." He says firmly.
He pulls himself onto the branch beside her and produces her cardigan from behind his back.
"They don't need to know about this place." He tells her. He knows that without seeing an article of her clothing on the grass, the grown-ups will never think to look for them up here.
"Peyton, you gotta go today." Nathan says sheepishly.
She looks down and folds her arms over her chest stubbornly, "No, I don't."
And there behind the devastation he sees his best friend hiding. She's the determined, passionate girl who's as stubborn as him when she wants to be.
"You have to go." He tells her in his best grown-up voice.
She just gives him a well-practised glare.
"My M-," He pauses as he goes to say my Mom, "They say you gotta go to say goodbye. It only happens one time; a funeral."
She frowns and looks to him sadly, "I'm scared, Nate."
The way she looks at him, like he can make it better makes him scared. He just holds out his hand to her and she places hers inside.
He kind of knows he has to look after her forever now. He likes it though; he wouldn't want anyone else to. No one knows her like he does.
...
The summer before their freshman year Peyton's Dad takes his first job away at sea. For Peyton this means being left home alone.
She wanted to tell her Dad to stay home with her but she could see how pumped up he was about this job. She couldn't be the one to break that happiness, not when she so seldom saw it in his eyes.
"You should tell him if you don't want him to do this." Nathan tells her on the first night of Larry's week long absence.
They're at Nathan's. He invited her to stay, knowing that she was upset about her Dad going away. She said she wasn't scared to sleep alone and he said he knew she wasn't scared. They were both lying though.
Peyton shakes her golden curls, "He wants to go."
"So?" Nathan shoots back, "You're on your own."
She sighs and reaches for a soda, "Your Mom goes away on business all the time."
"But I've got my Dad here." The argument is a poor one. If anything, Nathan would prefer for both his parents to leave him the hell alone. He'd be just fine if Dan announced that he was moving abroad.
It's different with Peyton though.
She adores her Dad and Nathan knows she's upset about him leaving. That should be reason enough for Larry to stay. In Nathan's eyes, Peyton's been through enough, she doesn't need another parent deserting her.
"Can we like, change the record?" Peyton asks. She's trying to sound blunt and unmoved but Nathan sees past it, he knows that inside she's breaking apart.
"Sure." He agrees. There isn't really any point in keep discussing the issue. It's done. Talking it over will only upset her further.
She moves from her lounged position on the bed and moves towards Nathan's drawers. He watches on curiously as she begins to root through them.
"Um, what are you doing?" He asks.
She swivels on her heel, "Well I can't sleep in my jeans."
He rolls his eyes – something he got from her – wondering why she didn't bother to pack anything when she knew she was staying the night.
"Tell me you at least brought a toothbrush?" He asks, wrinkling his nose. He has certain boundaries.
She points to the back pocket of her jeans where there is indeed a toothbrush jammed.
"That's gross." He comments.
She doesn't reply, which is weird. If there's an opportunity for her to throw a jibe at him she takes it, and that was wide open for her.
He frowns, "I said you're gross."
"What's this?" She turns around, eyes glassy, holding up a folded piece of paper.
For a second he freezes. She's on the verge of tears and he hates when she cries.
"Nathan, what is this?" She demands again, thrusting the paper towards him, "Why is it in your sock drawer?"
He feels himself pale a few shades when he realises what she's stumbled upon. It's perhaps the worst time for her to find the card he made her all those years ago right before her Mom died. He doesn't know why he kept it, he just did.
After his parents had explained to him about Anna dying, Nathan had run to his room and stuffed the card in the nearest drawer. He was burying it away hoping that Peyton would never see it.
Only now she has.
He sees his frankly awful sketch of them on the front and inside his words; Peyton, I really hope your Mom gets better soon. She's the best Mom in the world I think. I miss you at school. Nathan.
"You made me this?" She manages a watery smile.
"Yeah. Miss Hayes made us." He shakes his head realising what a thoroughly stupid idea it had been, "Only I didn't hand mine in, I kept it. I wanted to give it to you myself but then…I was too late in going to see you."
She extends her hand and takes the card from him, "Yours would've been the only one I wanted."
"I was too scared to go and see you." He admits, "I didn't know what to say to you."
She looks at the words of a younger Nathan, "I think you summed it up pretty well here. And you were great at the funeral, I'll never forget how great you were that day."
He blushes, "I wasn't, I did what any terrified kid would do."
"No." She says firmly, "You did what any best friend would do. There weren't any other terrified kids there with me. I remember going back to school and they all gave me a wide berth like they could catch 'dead Mom disease'."
"Idiots." Nathan says under his breath.
"Can I keep this?" Peyton asks lightly, running her hands over the lovingly made card.
He almost laughs, "Sure, it's yours."
"Thanks." She grabs a t-shirt from his drawer and disappears into the bathroom. He knows it's going to drown her tiny form.
He waits for her in silence. It's a precaution in case he hears her crying in the bathroom. She'll try and hide her tears, she always does. She thinks that she has to be tough; for her Dad, for her Mom wherever she is, in front of her peers, and with Nathan. She doesn't though, least of all with Nathan.
When she emerges a few moments later Nathan's relieved to see no trace of tears, only a sad look in her eye. She's wearing his t-shirt like a dress and her curls are tied in a neat little bun.
"I'm kind of tired." She says softly, "Do you mind if we just sleep?"
"Whatever you want." He agrees as she climbs into the folds of his bed. He'll sleep on top of the comforter.
He goes to the bathroom and smiles when he sees her toothbrush besides his. He doesn't know why it makes him smile but it does.
That night he doesn't sleep a wink. He just watches Peyton as she restlessly dreams. On one occasion a solitary tear leaks from her closed eyes. He's not sure if she's awake or asleep, either way she's sad. And he really hates seeing her sad.
The next morning Peyton stirs early. She's met with Nathan's sleeping face close to hers. As she adjusts her position, she realises that she's curled up in the space created by his open arms.
At some point during the night he'd broken through all the boundaries supposed to be obeyed by friends and had slipped under the comforter with her. It was purely innocent; to make sure she knew she wasn't alone.
Peyton smiles at the thought and presses a light kiss to his cheek. She really lucked out with her best friend.
Peyton becomes a cheerleader during their sophomore year.
She'd always contemplated the idea because she liked the fact that Anna had done it before her. She hadn't quite had the courage though.
That was where Nathan came in. He'd argued that she came to every game anyway and always cheered the loudest. He'd also complimented her dancing, causing her to blush.
It's during her first game cheerleading that he notices just how much she's grown up in the past year. They'd come to High School together as kids, a year on she was almost unrecognisable.
Beyond her beautiful flaxen curls and gorgeous green eyes he sees the most incredible pair of long legs and a slender body most girls would kill for. As he stares, he forgets for a second that it's Peyton, his best friend, because suddenly he's seeing another girl in front of his eyes.
She's stunning. He can't see how he hasn't noticed before. Everything from her smile to her blush stands out amongst the other girls. She's different. She's special.
He knows she's not like other girls. They've grown up together and he knows everything about her. He knows that she's not only beautiful on the outside.
With her on the sidelines cheering like crazy, he plays an incredible game. He's sure that it's down to her.
After the game he goes to find her so that they can go to the party together.
Only she's stood talking to one of the other players. Nathan feels a rush of jealousy swell inside him. He's knows it's wrong to feel any kind of possession towards a girl but he can't help from thinking Peyton's his.
...
They're at the party after the game and Nathan's drinking his weight in alcohol. He doesn't even realise he's doing it. His thoughts are so focussed on Peyton that he isn't concentrating on his own actions.
She's the hottest new cheerleader so she's attracting a fair amount of attention from both the girls and the guys. It's the guys Nathan's worrying about though.
He doesn't have the right, not really. He can't keep her from ever dating a boy or having a messy hook-up one night. He can try, he supposes, but she won't like that one little bit. If Peyton's anything, she's independent.
From his position across the room, Nathan can see her giggling at something that one of the guys has said. Giggling. Peyton doesn't giggle. At least she didn't, before. She's never giggled with Nathan.
She's wearing a skirt too, showing off her long legs. Nathan bets that all the guys are happy about that. He's not, of course. He's developed some kind of angry father-like position somehow. It's an ugly way to be.
"Hey cutie, great game."
He turns to the voice; it's one of the cheerleaders. He can't remember her name.
"She's your friend, isn't she, the new girl?" She asks, her dark hair failing into her eyes.
Nathan doesn't like the way she refers to Peyton as 'the new girl' but he nods, "Me and Peyton go way back."
The girl nods, and moves closer. She's practically on his lap, "Well, it looks like she's having a fine time."
He swallows thickly, his thoughts confirmed, "Yeah, she is."
The brunette besides him pouts, "I'm feeling kind of lonely tonight, this party blows."
He snorts in agreement, "Sure does."
She smiles widely, "How about we get out of here? There are some rooms upstairs."
The girl's about as subtle as a brick but Nathan doesn't care. He gulps down the last of his drink and takes the girl's outstretched hand. He's more than a little drunk but even he knows this is an idiotic idea. He doesn't even know the girl's name.
He needs an escape though. He doesn't want to watch any longer as Peyton slips through his fingertips.
...
Nathan's awoken the next morning by a blinding light.
"I have no sympathy." It's Peyton who's inflicting the torture of sunlight upon him. "Good night?"
He groans into the pillow. His head feels like a blender.
"How was little miss slutty?" Peyton asks, hands on hips.
Nathan gets the impression that she's mad, "Don't, she wasn't."
Peyton laughs. Loudly. It hurts Nathan's head, "Nate, she was a whorebag but nice work, really."
"You're pissed." He states.
"Hell yeah, I'm pissed!" She starts shouting and Nathan's sure he's about to die, "You said we'd go to the party together, you left me for a skanky little hoe!"
"Together?" Nathan questions, "You spent the night with half the team, none of them were me."
She scoffs, "You slouched off in a hissy mood. I'm not your keeper, Nate. I was having fun, I'm sorry."
"So I'm not allowed to have fun too?" He shoots, not believing that he's taking all the slack for this, "I sleep with one girl and you blow up."
She throws her hands up, "You passed out up here afterwards and I've had to wait for you to wake up."
"Sorry to have wasted your time. You didn't need to wait." Nathan says, rolling over painfully.
"No." Her voice wobbles slightly, "I really shouldn't have."
...
Nathan finds her sketching furiously in her room a few hours later. He feels like death but he can't stand that they're at odds with one another. He can't remember a time when they weren't speaking and it's a horrible feeling.
"Peyton." He stands nervously in the doorway.
She sighs and turns the volume up on her radio. She can be stubborn as hell when she wants to be, he should know.
"I'm sorry." He attempts but she ignores him.
He strides across the room and shuts off the music. His eyes fall on her drawing and instantly he feels like the world's biggest jerk.
The image is of him, half dead on a bed with Peyton stood over him. The caption reads, "You didn't need to wait" / "No. I really shouldn't have…but I always will."
"Jeez." He comments, "I was..."
"Yeah, you were." She agrees before he finishes.
"I'm sorry, Peyton, I was so drunk." He shakes his head but it makes him feel queasy. "I didn't know what I was doing. I saw you with all the guys and I guess I felt left out and then I went and did the most jackassy thing I could."
Her heavy eyes roll to him, "I should've hung out with you at the party."
He laughs, "Come on, I'm not that needy. You're allowed to talk to other people."
"Yeah," Her voice is soft, "And you can sleep with whichever girls you like."
"That was a poor choice, I'll admit." He chuckles, "Where were you to stop me?"
"Being a crappy friend." She offers, standing to tack her newest sketch on the wall.
It's not the nicest memory in the world; their first fight in forever, but the message is nice. No matter what, Peyton will be there for him, and they both know he'll always be there for her too.
"Still suffering?" She asks in reference to his tired eyes and pale complexion. "I'll make my miracle breakfast."
He smiles, glad to have his best friend back.
Nathan's always known that he has a brother. A half-brother anyway. It's pretty common knowledge around the town too.
Dan Scott left his high school sweetheart Karen Roe to pursue his basketball career. He left her pregnant and alone. Then he went to college and met Nathan's Mom, Deb. She soon fell pregnant too.
For reasons that Nathan's never understood, Dan chose to stand by his Mom. They later married and the rest is history, or something.
Nathan grew up with his Mom and Dad, across town his older half-brother Lucas grew up fatherless.
There are endless questions about the mess-ups Dan made. Nathan chooses not to voice them though. He doesn't see the point. It's done and there's no changing it.
To this point, they've always lived a fairly peaceful co-existence, with neither Nathan nor Lucas getting in one another's way. Then Lucas joined the basketball team.
Nathan's the jock. Lucas is the quiet bookworm. That's the way it is.
Or it was.
Nathan slams his locker closed after practise. For the first time in a long time he missed shots, he lost control of the ball and he showed a chink in his steely game face.
The rest of the room look up, interested by the show they've just seen from Nathan Scott; the guy who never messes up.
He shoots them all down with a glare and tries to ignore every thought entering his head. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Lucas. He feels his jaw set and the stares of his team mates once more.
He tries to fight the urge. He really does. But then Lucas crosses the room and approaches him. Lucas holds out a hand as though to attempt some kind of truce.
"Hey man, I don't want any trouble; I'm just here to play." Lucas says, smooth and easy.
Nathan feels his fists clench at his sides as he steps forward, "No trouble?"
"No trouble." Lucas smiles and raises his hands in a surrender motion.
Nathan laughs and shakes his head, "Trying to take my spot on the team? That's no trouble?"
There's a chorus of 'ooh's from the guys but Nathan silences them with another scowl.
"I'm just here to play." Lucas repeats.
"Then go play on your damn little playground!" Nathan rages, letting go of any restraint he was holding onto. "This is my game, my spot, my future!"
Lucas looks taken aback but Nathan doesn't care. This isn't just a game to him. It's his life. It's his whole future mapped out ahead of him. He won't let anyone stand in the way of that, he's worked his whole life to get to where he is and isn't about to surrender easily.
Sure, Nathan's acting like a jerk but no one gets it. No one understands. He needs basketball. Lucas has good grades and a nice supportive family. Nathan has a plummeting grade point average and Dan Scott to answer for. If he doesn't have basketball, he doesn't have anything at all.
"How about you do us all a favour and leave?" Nathan spits, "You're not welcome here."
The team jeers. Nathan's not sure if it's in support or not but he doesn't care. He'll fight this fight on his own if he needs to.
Lucas doesn't react but that only eggs Nathan on, he pushes Lucas roughly on the shoulder causing the blond to stumble. That notes a reaction.
All too soon they're throwing punches. Nathan's got everything to fight for and it seems like Lucas has some pent up anger too. It's not exactly a playground scrap; more a full blown battle.
Nathan distantly recognises the door to the room crashing open but he doesn't even stop for the sake of Whitey and his threats. It's about even more than basketball now.
"Stop it!"
Peyton's voice is loud over the catcalls and he can hear the desperation in her words. She shouldn't be in the guys' locker room but she is, and it's because of him. She has a sixth sense for this kind of thing; Nathan in trouble.
He feels her slender arms coil around him and instantly he's still. He's hardly going to strike out when she's there in the line of fire. Lucas takes a moment to retreat, it's only when Peyton warns him away with her eyes that he moves back.
"Break it up, ladies!" Whitey's voice booms.
Nathan and Peyton simultaneously roll their eyes.
The coach strolls towards the warring brothers, "I'll have no fighting on my team. Detention, the pair of you."
He goes to leave and then points to Peyton, "Miss Sawyer, the boys' locker room is out of bounds. I'll see you for detention too."
She knew it was coming. It was worth it though. She's no stranger to detention anyway; she's been doing it since she was five years old.
"Get your stuff." She says to Nathan who's still shirtless.
He doesn't argue, he just follows her outside.
"How did you know?" He asks when they're out of earshot.
She smiles lightly, "I just do."
...
Peyton drops her keys in the parking lot. She's juggling far too many things thanks to her ridiculous art workload.
"Dammit." She curses.
"Here," A hand offers over her dropped keys. That hand belongs to Lucas Scott. "Let me."
Reluctantly she allows him to take some of the items from her hands.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot." He says as she dumps everything onto the backseat of her car. "I'm not usually a fighter."
"Neither is Nathan." She replies bluntly.
She doesn't exactly mean to be a bitch to him but he's the enemy. Nathan's enemy at least but it's all the same thing.
Lucas chuckles at her statement, apparently like the rest of the school population Lucas thinks he knows Nathan Scott. Peyton hates that. They all see Nathan as some kind of jerk. No one ever bothers to look behind the tough exterior and realise that there's a reason for Nathan acting as he does.
"Let me guess, you think he's an ass?" Peyton supplies coolly.
"Well, yeah." Lucas answers as though it's obvious, "He wants me to quit the team. It's not his team. He may think it is but it's not."
She rolls her eyes, "God, you don't even know him."
He frowns, "Are you saying he doesn't want me off the team?"
"No, he does." She agrees, "But it's not that black and white."
"Seems pretty simple to me." Lucas shrugs, "I'm not going to quit for him. I don't owe him anything."
Peyton doesn't have the time to argue. She wrenches open her car door and starts the engine. If Lucas believes that he doesn't owe Nathan anything then he's dumber than she thought possible. She takes one last look at the blond in her rear view mirror. He's staring blankly at her; oblivious to the fact that Nathan's taken the pressure from Dan Scott two-fold.
Dan would never admit to it but Peyton knows he has dreams for both of his sons to play basketball. He can only put his energy into one of them though. So it's Nathan that suffers the perils of Dan's hopes and mistakes. Lucas doesn't have the slightest idea.
She reverses out of the bay and turns to Lucas, "Maybe you owe him everything, ever thought about that?"
Lucas scoffs, like she knew he would, "I owe Nathan nothing."
"You're kind of self-righteous." Peyton notes lightly, "Look, you're probably not going to believe me but this is true; basketball is everything to him. He acts the tough guy and maybe to you he seems a jerk but he's not. If you take that from him, if you can be so cruel to take his life away, then do it. But afterwards you'll stand back and see what you've done. You'll look and realise that maybe the one acting the jackass was you all along. I'm just saying. If you're a good player, take a different spot. You don't know what this will do to him, it will break him. And I know you probably don't care that it'll break him but it matters to me, okay? So I'm asking, please don't do this."
He stares, dumbfounded as she drives away leaving him to contemplate her proposition.
...
Peyton stands on the sideline and watches as Nathan plays the game of his life. He's pumped and passionate. He's spurred on by the fact that Dan Scott's in the crowd watching as his two sons work together on the same team. It's a special kind of fuel that's ignited a fire in Nathan.
Peyton smiles as she sees the effortless fluidity of Nathan and Lucas playing together. They're not friends and maybe they never will be but they have a shared goal; to punish Dan.
It's easy to see that it's killing Dan to watch as Nathan and Lucas play together. In a funny way it's the best thing that's ever happened to Nathan; Lucas joining the team. It's shown him that basketball is his dream; not Dan's.
When Dan learned of Lucas joining the team he instructed Nathan to do anything in his power to beat Lucas out of a spot on the team.
Nathan, the true sportsman, decided against that action. He's chosen instead to concentrate on his own game. This is his dream. Nothing and no one is going to take it from him. Thuggish behaviour on the court will only ruin his chances.
Peyton is immensely proud. She hasn't told Nathan of her involvement in Lucas' change of position and she never will.
It was the final push Nathan needed. He needed unconsciously to know that someone believed in his ability. By Lucas surrendering, it showed him that someone thought Nathan was worthy of the spot.
"Go, Nathan!" She screams from the sidelines as he powers down the outside of the court.
The opposition crowds him instantly. He turns and passes to Lucas who finds the basket. Nathan applauds his brother and sends a wink to Peyton.
He's not going to tell her but he knows exactly what she did for him. Lucas explained everything when he'd surrendered the fight. As it turns out, Nathan can see that Lucas is a pretty decent guy. Anyone who respects a feisty Peyton Sawyer is straight up in Nathan's eyes.
He sends a smile to Peyton; the girl took his corner and convinced Lucas the non-believer of Nathan's integrity. He has no idea how he's going to repay her for that one.
His game was heading to a pretty bad place until he heard that she'd fought for him. There's something inspiring in knowing someone truly believes in him.
Nathan gets emancipated from his parents when they're sixteen. Everyone thinks it's the coolest thing ever. Being emancipated means Nathan getting his own apartment and the freedom to do whatever he likes.
It's exciting and thrilling; he becomes a legend at school. It's as though he's won some kind of war against parental control.
Peyton though finds the whole thing a little depressing.
"What do you think?" Nathan asks her as they cross the threshold of his new home.
She drops a box down on the couch and takes it in. It's not very homely. It's cold and mature. "It feels…empty."
"Well there's no stuff in it yet!" He says joyfully.
Peyton looks at her best friend. She knows this boy inside and out. All he's ever wanted and all he's ever worked for is recognition from his parents.
He wants his Dad to tell him he's proud of his achievements and his Mom to stick around like she cares about him. This emancipation, to Peyton, feels like the final nail in the coffin for those dreams of Nathan's.
She knows that Dan and Deb Scott are far from model parents; about as far as possible. She has no doubt though that they care about Nathan. She remembers her own Mom telling her about the different ways that people show love. Anna told her firmly that Dan loves Nathan. Peyton has always trusted those words of her mother's. She still does.
Nathan pauses when he sees Peyton's eyes so full of sadness. They always have that effect on him; the power to stop him dead in his tracks. He approaches her and rubs a circle on her back.
"This is a good thing." He tells her straight. He doesn't have to ask what's made her look so forlorn; her glassy eyes always give her away.
She raises her eyebrows and speaks in the softest of tones, "It is?"
"Yes." His voice is firm. "Listen, I'm not cutting them out, okay? I wouldn't do that."
He wouldn't. He'd never purposely rule out seeing or speaking to his parents. It's not so much about his Mom and Dad's needs, but Peyton's. He knows it would devastate her to see him give up on his family. She doesn't have the luxury of her parents being around. He knows that in some ways he's lucky to at least have them there with him.
Peyton swallows and nods. She understands why Nathan got emancipated and she doesn't blame him in the slightest. She just doesn't want him to have any regrets about it. She has regrets tied in with her parents and it's a horrible weight to carry. She never wants Nathan to feel the burden of those regrets like she does.
"Oh, this might cheer you up." Nathan holds up a finger to indicate for her to wait a second. He digs in his pocket and produces a key, "This, is your copy."
Her eyes pop in surprise and he chuckles at the sight.
"Just remember," He says as he hands it over, "You are the only girl I'm ever going to trust with a key to my apartment."
"You're giving me a key?" Peyton asks for clarification.
He shrugs casually, "Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
She twirls the item between her fingers, "Because I could turn up here whenever."
He frowns, "I do that to you all the time. I practically have a key to your house, except that you never lock the door so I don't need one."
Peyton forces a sad smile. It's just hit her that her best friend is no longer just up the street from her. It was a strange kind of comfort to know that he was just a few houses away.
"I want you to turn up whenever." He says, settling his cool blue eyes on hers.
"Okay, well, you said it." She shrugs and smiles delicately as she loops Nathan's key in with her others.
...
Not long after Nathan's gets emancipated, Dan Scott has a heart attack.
Peyton hears about it from Lucas. Without a second thought she rushes to the hospital. No one's told her that Nathan's there but she knows him and she knows his heart. No matter what Dan's done in the past, Nathan will be there at the hospital.
And she's right.
She hurries through endless identical corridors until she finds the right unit. Then, as she's about to go back to reception and ask for help, she sees him.
He's sat on a hard plastic chair, his back bent over and his head in his hands.
She simply walks to him and presses a kiss to his head. Her hands slide around his shoulders and squeeze him in as soothing a manner possible.
"You came." He rasps.
He doesn't have to ask who it is.
"Of course I came." She shakes her head and drops into the seat next to him.
Although she can't see his face, he smiles gratefully, glad that his best friend's there with him.
"You could've called me, Nate. You should've called me." She tells him softly.
His head shakes, "I didn't want to drag you into this. I didn't want you to have to come here."
She knows what he means. He didn't want her to have to come back to the hospital where her Mom died.
"Well I'm here." She says, closing the issue, "Now tell me what's going on."
Finally he lifts his bowed head. He seems calm, to the outsider. Peyton though sees through his act. His eyes are fretting and his complexion's pale.
Her heart tightens, seeing him so. She knows how it feels; she's been there and lived it. She would never wish it upon anyone, at the very least her best friend.
"He had a heart attack." Nathan shrugs, "He's unconscious. Mom's a mess. And I'm just here waiting."
"Then I'll wait with you?" Peyton proposes.
He nods thankfully. Her being there is making him feel better already. She offers a soft smile and laces her fingers between his.
"I don't know what to feel." He looks to her desperately.
Their eyes meet and Peyton feels every stab of pain pouring from his cool blue orbs.
She squeezes his hand, "Whatever you feel, it's not wrong."
He nods and looks to the ceiling, "I don't want him to die."
Instantly she pulls him into her arms. She feels his arms coil around her back and his hands grasp at the material of her shirt. He needs a life raft. And he needs her to be that life raft.
She's probably the only person in the world that could possibly begin to understand the complexities of what he's feeling. And he's so glad she turned up unannounced, because he doesn't think he's ever needed anyone more.
He can't rely on his parents to understand and he really shouldn't even entertain the idea of Lucas. His Uncle Keith has always been at odds with his older brother and his grandparents aren't worth the thought. He has Peyton and Peyton alone.
"Thank you." He says into her ear.
"Anytime." She whispers back.
...
Nathan stares at the grave before him and gulps down all of the sickly feelings trying to flood him.
Peyton glances to her left and sees his distraught expression. She wraps her arms around him and rests her head on his shoulder, "You okay?"
"Yeah, God, I'm fine." He says but it's obvious he's not.
She sighs at his broken figure, "It's okay, you're allowed to not be fine."
"It's not fair." He mumbles in a barely audible tone. "It's not."
"No, it's not." Peyton agrees, hugging him tighter to her.
Boldly he steps forwards and places a posy of white flowers ahead of the gravestone. Peyton sees him brush the back of his hand over his eye and her heart melts a little.
"How do you do it?" Nathan asks in a quiet voice, "How do you manage everyday without your Mom?"
Peyton looks to the floor but smiles softly, "I have the world's best friend, without him, I'm not sure I could."
Nathan smiles slightly; he doesn't agree that she has the world's best friend because he's pretty sure he's the one with the best friend anyone could ask for.
"You know that you've been beyond awesome too, through all this." He waves his hand at that last word, unable to clarify what this is.
Peyton pads over to where he's crouched before the grave, she wraps her arms around his shoulders, "I told you, I'm here for whatever you need."
"Yeah." He nods, "Thanks for bringing me here today, it's given me prospective."
She nods and traces her fingertips over her Mom's name on the gravestone, "I know your Dad's not the nicest and all but I would never want for you to lose him. I'm glad he's going to be okay."
"I guess I am too." Nathan said uneasily, "As much as he's a jerk, saying goodbye to him forever, that would be insane."
Peyton nods and laces her fingers through his. He gives her hand a squeeze in comfort.
"It's horrible." She agrees. "Losing my Mom was the worst thing that's ever happened to me."
Nathan closes his eyes. Anna Sawyer dying is also the worst thing that's ever happened to him too, purely because it's the worst thing that's ever happened to Peyton.
Peyton wipes her fingertips underneath her eyelids to erase the trace of tears. He'll probably know that she's been crying but she does it all the same. After a quick scramble she finds her keys and lets herself into his apartment.
She shouldn't just let herself in. It's the night of Winter Formal and he's bound to be with his date. She needs to see him though and she needs to tell him what a gigantic ass he is.
There's no sign of the couple in the living room so Peyton can only assume that he's moved things on quickly to the bedroom. It's typical Nathan. Typical assy Nathan.
She throws her bag down on the counter and helps herself to a drink. She hears the pipes rattle and then the rushing of the shower. She rolls her eyes at the sound and then gulps down her whiskey.
Sighing at her self she grabs for her bag and goes to leave. She shouldn't be here, not tonight, not in this mood. Her heels click on the flooring and echo around the walls.
It makes her feel lonely.
Her hands close around the doorknob, cool beneath her fingertips. She goes to wrench the it open but something stops her. A voice. His voice.
"Peyton?"
She turns. He's there in just a towel. His hair is a soaked raven black and his eyes are deep sapphire blue. A concerned deep sapphire blue.
"I'm not here." She shakes her head and pulls open the door.
He rushes to her and catches her slight wrist in his hand, "You are here. Why are you here?"
Her heavy stare pierces him but he doesn't recoil. It would cause most boys to run. His grip on her doesn't loosen in the slightest.
"Your dress." His brow furrows deeply and anger flashes in his eyes when he sees the tear in the shoulder strap.
"It's not what it looks." She rushes to assure him, "I ran out. He was just trying to stop me, it was innocent."
Nathan's jaw clenches, "Why did you need to run out? What did he do to you?"
She notes the fury in his voice, "You made me run out. Not him. You!"
That makes him recoil, "Me?"
"Yes!" Her hands fly upwards, "You and your stupid words. You telling me that I shouldn't sleep with him just because it's the Formal."
"Well you shouldn't." Nathan says strongly.
"God, you don't have the right to tell me that!" Her hands curl into tight fists and Nathan knows she's about the unleash the stubborn fiery girl he fell for back when he was five years old. "How dare you, Nathan! How dare you tell me what I can and can't do! It's my life. My decisions. My mistakes."
She may be feisty but he's always been able to handle her, "Then why didn't you do it? Why didn't you live your life and make that decision?"
"I did! You arrogant ass!" She rages, "That was my choice not to sleep with him."
He glances left and notices the newly opened bottle of whiskey on the countertop, "Why did you come here? To tell me this? That you can make your own decisions? I've known that forever."
"No." She pulls her fingers through her ribboning curls, "To tell you that you didn't have to ruin Winter Formal for me. You shouldn't have done it. So stop doing that, okay? Stop getting involved."
His mouth hangs open for a second, "Stop getting involved? That's what we do, Peyton. It's what we've always done."
"I know." Her voice is a whisper. "I know."
Her eyes close and he sees a single tear leak from her lashes. Instantly he goes to stroke her sadness away. Her hand closes around his arm and she holds it still, his own hand still grazing her cheek.
He notices how frighteningly fragile she looks tonight. She's always so strong, so determined and so forceful. It's horrible to see her hurt and troubled. He wishes there was something he could do to take all the pain away from her, to clear her heart of all the suffering it's ever had to endure.
"I will never not care for you." He tells her forcefully.
She nods, her eyes still closed tightly to him. He knows that she's fighting the threatening flood of tears and that near on kills him. It's hard enough to see that she's upset but to see that she's trying to be strong in front of him too, that's shattering. He doesn't want her to hide from him of all people. He wants her to feel as though he could come to him with anything.
"I couldn't do it." She whispers shakily. "I heard your voice and I couldn't go through with it. I just ran."
"It's okay, that's okay." He pulls her into his hold and squeezes her tightly.
She rests her head on his shoulder, "I just left him. What kind of person does that?"
"The kind who makes her own decisions, right?" Nathan echoes her earlier words.
He feels her sigh heavily, the cool rush of her breath on his neck.
It's horrible to see her this way. She's punishing herself for no reason. She's done nothing wrong in his eyes, if anything, he's proud. He knows she doesn't see it that way though.
"Formal sucked." He announces suddenly.
It did suck. He spent the night with a girl that didn't interest him. The only girl he has ever had eyes for spent the evening in the arms of another guy.
She laughs lightly into his neck, "Yeah, it did."
He has to smile slightly at the fact that she's in his arms now. It may not be Formal and she may have turned up to yell at him but it doesn't matter.
Peyton pulls away and bites down on her lip, "Thank you, for ruining Formal."
She's not being sarcastic, she's being sincere.
"No, I'm sorry for ruining Formal." He counters. He's glad she ran but he hates that she was so upset that she'd come to him in tears.
"How about we have our own Formal?" He suggests.
She eyes him suspiciously but a sly smile appears across her lips. He crosses the room and pulls out a CD she recognises; it's one of her mixes. She's surprised that he still has it and that it's so close to hand. She made it years ago when she first started burning CDs. During that time she probably made him about ten mixes a week.
"How old is this?" She asks as the sounds of Oasis begin to fill the room.
He quirks a smile, "It's the first one you ever made me."
"…Today is gonna be the day, that they're gonna throw it back to you…"
Nathan moves to the kitchenette and produces a box from a drawer. Curious, she walks over and is surprised at what she sees. It's a corsage and it's the exact same shade of blue as her dress.
Nathan pulls her towards him and slips the white corsage she's wearing from her wrist. "I knew he'd never get the right colour."
"…By now you should've somehow, realised what you gotta do…"
She smiles at Nathan being right and allows him to present his offering in perfectly matched midnight blue.
He's in a towel and she's in a Formal dress but it doesn't matter. He links his fingers through hers and wraps an arm around her waist. They dance in the small space between the couch and the counter.
"…I don't believe that anybody, feels the way I do about you now…"
It's ridiculously perfect somehow.
Peyton rests her head on Nathan's shoulder. He's the only boy who she's ever let in and he's never let her down. Not once.
"You look beautiful tonight, by the way." Nathan says softly, swaying them gently to the music.
She smiles and lets him twirl her in his arms. It feels natural, it feels right.
"…And all the roads we have to walk along are winding,
and all the lights that lead us there are blinding.
There are many things that I,would like to say to you,
but I don't know how…"
Slowly she lifts her head and looks into his deep blue eyes. At that very action she feels her heart rush. She bites down on her lip, not believing everything her body is screaming at her to be true.
She watches as his brow furrows slightly and absently she wonders if he's feeling the same thing as her.
Nathan brings his hand to her cheek and brushes a sweeping curl behind her ear. Immediately it bounces back and they both smile.
Her eyes fall to her feet as she tries to push away all the ridiculous ideas that could ruin the best relationship she has in her life. No matter what, she can't ruin that.
Nathan lifts her chin and forces her eyes to his. Then, without so much as a second's warning he takes each and every one of her ridiculous ideas a culminates them into one swift smooth kiss.
Her eyes widen in delighted surprise as he watches on with a terrified expression.
"…Because maybe, you're gonna be the one who saves me?..."
She laughs lightly, its happiness mixed with wonderful disbelief. Her hands reach along his jaw and cup his handsome anxious face. She then pulls onto her tiptoes and presses her lips against his, putting an end to any of his doubts and worries.
"Pretty left field." He comments, to which she bursts into a smattering of gorgeous laughter.
"I kiss you and you say pretty left field?" She cries between chuckles, "This has been building for more than a decade and you say pretty left field?"
He shrugs and smirks his famous Nathan Scott grin, "Yeah, I do. We're anything but mainstream, Sawyer."
She can't disagree with that. There's something she loves about it too.
"It's always been you, Peyt." He shakes his head at the fact that it's taken him so long to realise. "Since day one, there's never been another girl. Not even close."
"…And after all, you're my wonderwall…"
She's ecstatic, she can't remember being ecstatic before but she is now. Really, really ecstatic.
"You're my girl." Nathan picks her up and spins her around to emphasise his point. He drinks in her infectious laughter, barely believing that the stunning girl in his arms really is his girl. He hadn't realised how much he'd truly wanted this until he'd kissed her and put it all on the line.
He's not sure quite when he fell for her, it was somewhere between the first time they spoke and the second, he's sure of it.
He was pretty much screwed from the moment he first laid eyes on her at five years old; she had him then.
There never was and never will be another girl like her, he knows. She's sharp and biting, sweet and sincere, beautiful and flawed. And he wouldn't change one little thing about her.
"Put me down!" She cries, kicking her legs in protest.
He complies and stares for a second into her wondrous emerald orbs. He can't picture a single day ahead when he won't look into those gorgeous eyes. It may only be the beginning but he's already lost in forever with her. There's no way he's letting her go.
He doesn't say he loves her, but it's on the edge of his lips. He doesn't want to scare her away with big words and promises – he knows how she is – but he really does love her. He can't envision a single thing that could change that.
"My Mom was right." Peyton says lightly, grazing her hands over his bare torso.
He leans down and delivers a kiss into her hairline. At the mere mention of her Mom he's comforting her, "She was right about what?"
"She was right when she said that I loved you." Peyton reveals smiling softly. "She said that when we were seven years old, that we loved each other."
"She was right." Nathan smiles, losing his hand in her ribboning curls, "I do love you, and I always have."
Peyton throws him a half smile, perfectly sweet, sexy and soft all at once. He pulls his girl towards him and kisses her perfect lips, exactly as she'd hoped he would.
This is how it should be, the most natural beautiful ecstasy.
Thank you for reading, it was a tad long! If you want a follow-up, let me know ;) Lexie.