First Moments
His tuxedo was on, his tie fastened. The cufflinks at his wrists jingled with every wring of his hands. The flowers had been ordered, Brooke had sewn the dress, his mother and sister had returned home.
Everything was in place. He had the right girl, the perfect girl. Lindsey Strauss was exactly who Lucas Scott wanted. She was smart, funny, and damn good looking. Most of all, she had fostered his dream of becoming a writer, and with each editing session, she had repaired his broken heart. He was finally marrying the girl of his dreams.
The happiest day of his life was about to begin. If only he could get Peyton out of his head…
--
His shirts always fit a little tight, ever since he was a little boy. When money was tight and she couldn't afford a new shirt for her growing child, he simply went without. But now, at 18 years old, Lucas Scott's shirts fit tight in a different way. His plain red tee hugged his toned arms, grazing his elevated pecks like snow falls upon hills. His tow truck branded the name "Keith Scott Motors." While this man is not Lucas's father, he may as well be: his father abandoned Lucas's mother Karen before Lucas was born, but Keith stayed by Karen and Lucas's side.
Lucas was working at Keith's auto body shop in Tree Hill on this particular day, when the girl who called for help didn't even give Lucas a second glance. At first.
Her clothing denoted her rough exterior, from her Ramones concert tee to her rugged brown leather jacket. Her curly, fake blonde locks spiraled like spaghetti noodles, reaching down to the tips of her collarbone. Her actions breathed broody artist, and his, just curious. She had endured loss after loss in her life, but Lucas wasn't any the wiser. She didn't let anyone in, and she wasn't about to share her pain with the strange boy who happened to be genetically related to her boyfriend. No chance.
As the hum of the jack raised Peyton's overheated, steaming Comet, Lucas glanced at the sticker-clad notebook in Peyton's hands. After swallowing a gulp of nervousness, he spoke.
"That's me inside your head," Lucas said, struggling to connect with this girl who obviously wanted no association with him.
"What?"
Lucas quieted the hum of the jack, and repeated himself, pointing at Peyton's notebook.
"NoFX. That's me inside your head…It's the lyrics from the…"
"I know the song," Peyton interrupted, scratching her cheek and rolling her eyes. Lucas Scott was NOT trying to educate HER about music.
"You ready, man?" Nathan Scott, Lucas's brother, stood in the archway of the groom's quarters. "Everything's ready."
Lucas took a deep breath, and attempted to smile away his doubt.
"Of course. Let's go."
She scowled as she screamed on the phone to her boyfriend Nathan, a boy Lucas hated. A boy her rescuer reluctantly called 'brother'.
"Nathan, it's me. Alright well listen my car broke down," Peyton Sawyer snapped into the phone. "You're going to have to come pick me up. So leave the gym! Listen, it'll take you like ten minutes. I'm on River Road around the curve. Well SUCKS to be you."
She slammed her cell phone shut in anger, not even meeting Lucas's concerned gaze.
Handing her a clipboard of papers to sign, Lucas watches Peyton's expression change from annoyance to boredom.
"Listen, are you sure you got a ride? I mean, I can wait, if you want," Lucas said.
"Yeah, that's what I want," she answers, sarcasm igniting her words like a match to a car dealership. "Listen, have your Dad call me with an estimate."
"My uncle?"
"If that's your story."
He walks away, and then looks back, the clipboard in his hand screaming out objections.
"Hey, can I ask you a question?"
"It's a free country."
"Why are you a cheerleader? No offense or anything, but you're about the least cheery person I know."
He gets into the car, slamming the door.
--
As Lucas stands at the altar, Haley walks towards him. His best friend since forever, Haley always looked goofy in a sophisticated dress. But today, she looked beautiful. Her black dress, lined with lace at the shoulders, reminded him of the days before she met and fell in love with Nathan, the days before the two married, before they had a son. Her sophistication was the new Haley, but her smile…not even the passing of time could change that.
It was just yesterday that Lucas asked Haley to read a draft of his new book. He felt proud of the book, and proud of finally being able to write. Returning to Tree Hill to coach the Ravens had bolstered his writing…or maybe it was the return of his friends. In the past few months, both Brooke and Peyton had returned to Tree Hill. Whatever his inspiration, Lucas was just thankful that Lindsey didn't follow him to Tree Hill for nothing. He had a second book in him after all.
This book details a boy's quest to see a comet in the sky.
It was more than just a comet because of what it brought to his life. Direction, beauty, meaning. There are many who couldn't understand, and sometimes he walked among them. But even in his darkest hours, he knew in his heart that someday, it would return to him and his world would be whole again and his belief in God and love and art would be reawakened in his heart.
It was this very passage that prompted Haley to telephone her best friend the night before his wedding. Upon reading it, Haley understood that the boy's love for the comet was not a love of space and constellations: it was a real love.
--
Peyton sits on a log, her notebook in hand. It's obviously been awhile, but Peyton's not about to get in the car with Lucas Scott. Even though he waited to make sure she had a ride. Whatever.
"Come on, let me give you a ride," Lucas suggests.
No response.
In an effort to convince her, Lucas bargains. "I'll let you insult me."
At this offer, Peyton stands.
"First of all, you don't know me. Second of all, you don't know me."
Lucas laughs.
As her notebooks fly above her head like ravens in liftoff, Peyton screams into the river, "God, why are guys such jerks?"
"Guys or Nathan?"
"Him. You."
"I don't know. We share the same father."
Lucas's blunt confessional strikes Peyton's curiosity, but only for a moment.
"Yeah, I heard that. He's kind of an ass. That must suck having to see him around."
"For my Mom. I never knew him."
"But she told you he was your dad?"
"Yeah, eventually. We used to play in junior leagues together, me and Nathan."
"Basketball?" Peyton suggested, obviously bored out of her mind with the very subject of the sport both Nathan and Lucas play.
"Yeah. And I loved it. I was good at. I mean, have you ever had something that you knew you were better at than almost anybody else?"
"Sex."
Pause. A long pause. Full of questioning and curiosity.
"Joke," Peyton offers, ditching her smartass response.
Lucas laughs.
"Anyway. The guys kept teasing me about it, about how Nathan's dad was my dad too. So I asked my mom. And she said he wasn't. But, I get home, and I hear her crying in her room. And I knew it was true. So I never went back. And I told my mom that it was because I didn't want to have to see his face. But it was mostly because, I don't want her to have to."
Lucas sighs, obviously exhausted and surprised by his confessional.
"So why'd you just tell me all that? I mean, we don't even know each other," Peyton reminds Lucas. After all, they had only made eye contact just the other day, when Peyton nearly ran Lucas over with her car.
"Maybe that's the point," Lucas said.
As he opens the door of the tow truck, Peyton gets in.
--
The church's heavy maple doors are opened, and the wedding music begins. As Lindsey comes into view, Lucas's expression fades into a comfortable smile. She looks beautiful. Walking alone, her bustled dress skip-hopping along the aisle, Lindsey wears a smile of cool confidence, and a love of the boy waiting for her hand.
She steps up to meet Lucas, and as she stares into his eyes, Lindsey's heart attempted one last time to sequester her worst fears.
He's marrying YOU, Lindsey. It doesn't matter what his novel was about; it's only us now.
Her confidence falters, and as Lucas mutters, "I do," Lindsey interrupts him.
"A comet. The boy sees a comet, Lucas."
As Lindsey repeats the words of his novel that sparked from his fingertips, Lucas is swept into a world of confusion. And he can pinpoint it: this is it. This is the moment that he cannot deny anything anymore; this is the moment when it becomes too late to deny how he's feeling, where those words came from.
"I can't marry you, Lucas."
As Lindsey runs out of the church, Lucas falls to the steps leading up to the altar. His gaze falls upon his fiancé leaving the church without him, and then, he averts his stare. Finding Peyton in the second row, Lucas's eyes meet hers, and for a moment, he stops to remember the first time he and Peyton ever spoke. Her car broke down…Peyton drives a Comet.