"Lucas asked me to marry him."
Peyton Sawyer expected her heart to break when those words were spoken by someone who clearly wasn't her, but somehow, the heart break never came. She could only stare at the diamond engagement ring glistening off of Lindsay's ring finger in disbelief. She then turned her attention to Lucas and noted his look of regret. A low chuckle escaped her lips, although it wasn't quite low enough not to have been heard by the newly engaged couple. They stared at her in confusion. Lucas advancing towards them... Peyton slowly backed away, and continued to do so even as Lucas stood by his future Mrs. "Congratulations," she managed to say with just the tiniest bit of enthusiasm. It was the only thing they were going to get out of her...
"Peyton..."
She had almost reached the sidewalk, but she stopped at the sound of his voice. She titled her head as she studied Lucas, completely ignoring his fiancee. And as she stared at him, she was aware of her lack of tears, her eyes dry... She figured that it was because she was already all cried out, or possibly because the situation didn't deserve her tears. She felt that the latter was more accurate. Why would she cry over a man that had proposed to one woman, girlfriend or not, after having kissed another, ex-girlfriend or not. And Peyton was finally able to smile about everything...
Lucas frowned, Lindsay continued to watch her in confusion and, when Peyton spared her a glance, she noted a bit of smugness in her gaze which caused Peyton to inwardly roll her eyes... If she had only known where her fiance had been...
"Congratulations, Lucas," She tried again. No use of nicknames. No Luke, just Lucas. And her smile only widened when she was finally able to put a finger on her sudden change of heart...
She was finally letting him go.
She turned her smile on Lindsay, ignoring the other woman's look of surprise. She wondered what exactly was going on in her head, had she really thought she would have caused some sort of scene?
"Lindsay, that's a beautiful ring and it shows how much Lucas really loves you," she said as a compliment, having recognized the ring as the same one that Keith had given Karen prior to the school shooting back in high school. She briefly wondered about the engagement ring Lucas had brought with him to Los Angeles all those years ago, but quickly dismissed the thought. It no longer mattered.
She offered the couple another smile, before slowly turning around to continue down the sidewalk. She had only taken a couple of steps when she had heard Lucas call out her name once more. She growled under her breath, she really just wanted to get the hell out of there... She may be letting him go, but she still loved him damn it. And she was tired of continuously making a fool out of herself for this man... but, still, she turned around.
His crystal blue eyes seemed to trace over her, before settling on her eyes. Lindsay wrapped up in his arms...
"Thank you," were his only words.
And she only offered a shrug in response before turning around once more, this time with no intention of turning back even if they called out to her again, and continued down the sidewalk. She had walked the entire way over, wanting to take the time to clear her head, and as she walked back to the house she shared with her best friend, Brooke, it seemed as if a weight was being lifted from her shoulders and her outlook in life brightened, even if it was just a little...
If he had proposed to another woman, she kind of thought that Lucas Scott was not destined for her...
'True Love Always' had been in high school, a part of her life that was so far away in the past, and she wasn't the same girl she had been back then.
She used to be fearless, she used to feel invincible.
Peyton frowned.
She had come back to Tree Hill, not because of Lucas like everyone had thought, but because she really did miss the girl she used to be.
And it was time to take it all back.
Without Lucas Scott.