He sat in the busy airport, glancing through the masses of commuters and people headed out of Tree Hill. Some of them left for vacation, a little time away from the lives they had grown accustomed to. Other's left to visit friends or family who'd long since left the world of sleepy towns and even sleepier lives. And there were other still, others like him, who contemplated leaving forever. People who wanted to get on their planes and never look back for a second. People who had something they wanted to get away from, or something they wanted to get away to.

Forever.

Forever was word that had bounced around his head all day. Each second that passed, the word grew louder. It twisted and turned and reverberated through his brain. He'd said it backwards, forwards, sideways and up, and no matter how many times he'd said it in his mind, he'd still found himself afraid to pick up the phone and say it aloud. His lips and tongue longed to taste the sweet words. Words that he'd wanted to say for so long but hadn't. He'd tried to cover it up, tried to bury it underneath what everyone else had already figured out was nothing more than a façade.

A Façade.

A lie. A front. Nothing more than a way to run away from the truth. Truth was he was in love. He'd pressed that fact so many times. He'd confidently told Haley, Argued the fact with Nathan, assured and reassured Lindsey that his love was true and pure. All that couldn't change the fact that though he did feel the intense emotions that he'd described to each and every person he loved, he didn't feel them for Lindsey. He pretended to. In fact, he'd been pretending for so long that parts of him started believing that he did love Lindsey.

When he'd finished his second book and stared at the complete pages, pouring over the words like they were written by someone else, he'd pretended they were a work of fiction. He knew better now. He'd known better then. It wasn't until the wedding when Lindsey had asked him about the day he'd first spoken to Peyton, that the flood of realization washed over him. Crashing into his heart like waves. Waves of regret and of missed opportunities.

It was then that he'd realized it was his fault. His fault for not waiting. His fault for retreating defeated, back to the sleepy town of Tree Hill. His fault for not giving her the time that she'd needed. It was entirely his fault.

Then he'd tried to cover it up. Imitated the actions of a man left by the love of his life. He'd drank. That's when he'd made things worse. She'd brought him home. Removing his clothes slowly, helping him into bed. She pulled the covers over him and ran her fingers through his hair. She whispered her apologies. Whispered words wishing that he didn't have to go through this pain and softly kissed his temple. She let out a low sigh and then made her way back to the door, reaching her slender arm out to grasp the handle, and that's when he'd said it.

The lie. The singular biggest untruth he'd ever told in his life.

"Peyton…" he'd croaked. Groggy and still very much under the influence of his binge that night at the bar.

She turned to face him. Her green eyes locked on his blue ones. A small smile spread across her lips. And then he'd said it.

"I hate you."

He'd watched as her face fell. "What?" she choked out. He could see the tears brimming at the corners of her eyes as her face flushed. She didn't believe what she'd heard. She didn't believe it because she knew as well as he did that it was the farthest thing from the truth.

Still he'd pressed on. "I wish you'd never come back. You ruined my life…" he rolled over and snapped his eyes shut. Hoping that in some way by pressing his lids so tightly closed that the untruth would be ignored and he'd go back to that night in the hotel room those years ago and be sleeping next to Peyton.

His eyes snapped open. Ripping him away from his memory. He was back at the airport, clutching the phone in his hand. He stared at it. Peyton's name was highlighted and his finger hovered above the talk button. He pressed it and held the phone to his face. He listened to the steady rhythm of the ringing and then she answered.

"Hello?" her voice was like velvet, the texture soft one way and rough the other. He silently went over the words in his mind before uttering them aloud.

"Hey it's me…" He paused. "Look, I'm at the airport and I've got two tickets to Las Vegas. Do you want to get married tonight?"