Hey!
So I was watching One Tree Hill on television, and it was the first episode of series three. It got me to thinking about Peyton and Lucas, and how good that summer must have been. Who wouldn't want to spend every day with one of their best friends, not having to worry about essays and commitments? Yes, I'm feeling a little bit of that myself. Plus I wanted to try a new writing style, and I thought this would be the perfect experiment.
Also I haven't written a Leyton fic in a while, and I think I was craving it.
So anyway, enjoy! I hope I caught some of the magic that is Lucas and Peyton.
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN ONE TREE HILL OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS
xXx
Summer
Really, is there a word that produces more joy than summer? Even adults who don't have the opportunity to have endless days of boredom still enjoy being able to eat breakfast outside, or watching the sunset with a glass of wine in their hand. As for children, saying that they like summer is a gross understatement: the adore summer; they crave summer; they count down the days until their long holiday begins.
Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer weren't too different than these children once, the ones who knock off days on their calendar until they are free from responsibility. But the lead up to this summer has been different. No, the drama in Tree Hill has been off the scale these past few weeks, so much so that neither of them realise school is winding down until they are slapped in the face with finals. They barely even give any thought to those long blissful days of freedom.
When it comes, it is a bitter anti-climax: Brooke's gone to California; Haley is wrapping up the final days of her tour; Nathan is sulking at High Flyers; Jake has gone to search for Jenny; Larry is working, God knows where; and Karen is in New Zealand with Andy. In the blink of an eye all their closest friends and family have gone. In their rush to live their lives they have forgotten Peyton and Lucas.
But then, both of them have drama of their own: the overwhelmed artist is dealing with the fact that her mother is actually alive – just not the mother that she knew; and the broody basketball player is struggling with a secret that he doesn't know whether he should keep. It's only natural that they should turn to each other for comfort and advice.
The summer is boiling, as if God is punishing his people by making them experience the heat of hell. But it isn't hell, not for Lucas Scott and Peyton Sawyer. During the night they fling the window right open and hunker down on Peyton's bed together, talking. They trade feelings and secrets like their sharing a cabin in summer camp, like so many teenagers probably are across America. Peyton confesses her fear of the appearance of her birth mother taking the place of her real mother; Lucas informs her who started the dealership fire and his confusion over what he should do. Both of their houses are empty, leaving them the sole occupants. Many teenagers dream of this, but Peyton and Lucas simply move from one house to another, stopping off at Lucas' when they're in town and winding the day down at Peyton's. Peyton is embarrassed to admit that she doesn't want to be alone in during the night, but she is relieved that Lucas seems to get it and spends the hours of darkness in her house. With them there is no need for words.
The town watches as the blondes spend every second in each other's company: when Lucas is working at the cafe Peyton grabs the stool at the counter that has long become known as hers; he flicks through records while watching her study one after another like a textbook; and Peyton goes through page after page of paper on the Rivercourt while Lucas shoots countless hoops.
They know that they shouldn't be spending this amount of time together, considering that Peyton is still waiting, hoping that Jake will return, and Lucas is still waiting, hoping that Brooke wants to be with him. Considering what happened last year, they know that they're almost crossing the line. It's dangerous. But at the same time, there is a certain gravitational pull that always seems to lead them to each other. It's like an addiction; they can't seem to stop going back, no matter how many rehab sessions they attend. Besides, it's their summer, perhaps the only one that it'll be just the two of them. It's also the summer before senior year, before the guidance counsellors, college administrators and pushy parents pester them for answers; before they have to finally spend time on the question of their future, deciding what they want their lives to be. It's their final summer of freedom, and who are they to deny it? If there honest, neither of them have the heart to.
Even so, the two of them are cautious: during the night they lie stiffly on Peyton's bed, careful not to touch, as if contact will spark a flame that will burn the building down. They share their feelings openly, yet they try not to touch. How is it possible to be so close to someone that you know what they're thinking, to know what song they play to get themselves up in the morning and to be able to pick what book they want to read at the end of the day, and yet barely ever touch each other? They're so close and yet there is a great distance between them, as wide as the Atlantic Ocean and the Grand Canyon put together. Because really, isn't it for the best? After all, the last time they shared a bed was when they cheated on Brooke. Peyton nearly lost her best friend and Lucas risked the chance of having a relationship with her. They hurt someone innocent. They don't want to do that again.
And yet, when the days of summer begin to end, both of them feel a sense of sadness. Every child does – after all, who wants to go back to reality when they can live in a wonderful dream? It's not just the tight restrains that will be cast around them, it's the knowledge that they will have to distance themselves. Brooke will accept them spending time with each other during the summer when no one else was around, but surely she'll get concerned if they spend even half this amount of time together. They both agree that they're not going to tell her about how many nights they spent sharing the same bed. No longer will they be able to talk in the darkness, telling each other their deep seated fears or secret hopes. It is the end of the summer, but really it's so much more than that: it's the end of their closeness, the end of the routine where they spend every single second together; it's the end of their summer.
Little do they know, it's only the beginning. This summer will lead them into one of the hardest years that they could have ever imagined: they will face the loss of beloved parents, stare down the barrel of a gun and test the structure of a friendship. The gravitational pull will become stronger, the need for each other increasing like the need for water in the Sahara desert. Soon it will become too difficult, too hard to resist. Soon they will stop for a moment, looking in each other's eyes, and forget the reason they were fighting it in the first place.
Yes, hindsight is a wonderful thing – and yet if Lucas and Peyton had known what was coming, would they have wanted it? Would they have been willing to go through the pain of losing Ellie and Keith? Would they be able to sit in their rooms, waiting for that day where they walked into school and didn't come out the same carefree kids? Would they have been willing to put Brooke through that pain again, making her question every action? So maybe it's a good thing they didn't know what was coming, for even though it will lead them to great happiness, the hurt along the way is almost a big enough price to pay.
It makes their summer even more important: it's the last one before they finally grow up, before they go through that door and become adults. It was the summer where everything was simmering, waiting to boil over. Yet waiting has never been so joyous, so full of peaceful security.
Looking back they realise, yes, that summer was as hot as hell, but it was their heaven.