Chapter Two: (There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays
The door bell ringing caused Haley to come out of her thoughts as she scampered over to open the door. She came face to face with her best friend and his girlfriend and she quickly welcomed them in so they wouldn't freeze outside.
Baby James waddled over to his uncle and put his arms up in the air indicating he wanted to be picked up. Lucas scooped the two year old into his arms and threw him up in the air catching him seconds later as the little boy laughed.
Nathan came in moments later and hugged his brother and greeted Lindsay. He went back over to his wife and gave her a quick kiss on her lips.
"So, I'm starving where are we going to eat?"
"Well first, Mr. Scott, me and Lindsay need to finish up our Christmas shopping. It shouldn't take long I promise." Haley heard her husband groan and mention something about being hungry. "Plus we just had breakfast."
The girls laughed as they made their way out of the house leaving behind the Scott boys and headed towards the limited stores, in Tree Hill, for last minute shopping gifts.
They walked from store to store buying a couple things from each one. Haley had mentioned something about going to the Jamboree boutique to pick up some new winter boots for Jamie and promised to meet her back at the car in ten minutes.
The ten minutes had run out as Lindsay ran out of the store looking down at her watch and knocking into someone.
"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry."
She helped the women up and knew who it was from the moment she set eyes on her. She didn't have her short blonde curls anymore, compared to all the pictures that she had seen of her that used to be hung on the walls of her boyfriend and friend's home. She noticed her hair was much longer, it went half way down her arms, layer after golden layer.
"It's okay."
Peyton had informed the person who knocked her to the ground. She wiped her growing bangs out of her face and looked at the women. She looked eerily familiar, but didn't think twice as she felt strong arms around her as he helped her up.
"Babe, are you alright."
Lindsay looked at the man, his dark brown chocolate eyes, the buzzed haircut, the way he held her. She had quickly mumbled another sorry as she scurried off to find Haley. She wouldn't tell a soul of her encounter with the infamous Peyton Sawyer, the girl who had turned down Lucas Scott's proposal. No this would defiantly be her dirty little secret.
"Yeah I'm fine."
Peyton stated as she tried to do a mental check on where she had seen that face before. Her brain racked through every memory it could and nothing. They walked towards another store taking about what gift to get her father until she froze. That memory, that god awful memory came rearing its ugly head into her mind. She remembered the girl now, of course she only seen her profile, but that was the girl she'd seen kiss Lucas' at his book signing almost six months ago. She wrapped herself in Julian's embrace and quickly tried to forget that moment in her life pushing it to the back of her mind. Of course they' still be together because she's here in Tree Hill, Peyton thought.
One hour passed and Peyton had finally found the perfect gift for her father. So now that one thing was checked off of her list the next would be to have lunch with the two people she cared about the most, other than her father.
***
The Scott clan had decided to meet up at the new Mexican restaurant that had just opened a couple weeks ago and received great reviews from the local newspaper. They sat in the middle of the restaurant chatting about what Haley and Lindsay had done earlier that day.
"So anything interesting happen to you girls while you were out shopping?"
Nathan asked as he dipped the tortilla chip in the red salsa. Lindsay almost chocked on her drink.
"What? No. Why would you ask?"
Her quick response made the other's raise an eyebrow at her jumbled sentence. Lucas gave himself a mental note to check what was going on with her.
At that very moment the four people at the booth didn't notice a couple being seated four tables in front of them. They sat side by side leaving the other long chair empty as they waited for their guest to arrive.
"Well, well, well if it isn't my happy go lucky best friend." Her raspy voice sang out as she came closer to the table. "And that guy who makes her happy; making you my favorite person in the world."
Peyton tried shoving Julian out of the booth so she could get out and hug her best friend. He obligated without question. The best friends wrapped their arms around each other and had a very chick flick moment. For a second Julian couldn't help but think a dirty thought about the two women, but got a disapproving glance from his girlfriend; she knew him too well.
"B. Davis, I've missed you so much."
"Right back at ya, P. Sawyer."
"How's New York?"
"How's L.A?"
They both asked in Unisom not letting go of their embrace and laughed as they yelled 'jinx' at the same time, yet again. It seemed like the whole restaurant turned to look at the adult women acting like children, even the people four booths away turned to see what the commotion was, but their view was blocked by the male of the group and they quickly ignored it going back to their meal.
"So as I was saying, Luke's book is still number one on the best sellers list." Lindsay said as she looked around the group and smiled proudly. "And he's getting fans everyday who are begging for another book tour."
"That's amazing, Luke." Haley smiled. "Are you going to do another one?"
"To tell you the truth, I don't know. I would love to but it gets kind of lonely."
"Yeah." Nathan agreed. "But you get all those hard core fans waiting to see you."
Lucas laughed.
"Yeah especially when I was in Seattle, this girl came up to me saying that Lucas and Peyton needed to stop being so hot otherwise her eyes were going to melt from her eyes." The four of them laughed as he went on in a much calmer tone. "And she was wearing this shirt that said Leyton Forever on it."
Lucas wore a sad look on his face for a second before quickly trying to cover it up with a smile. He hoped he had fooled the people around him. He hadn't.
"So how about this place? Great food, huh?" Haley said as she took the last bite of her meal. "Yum."
***
Brooke had gave up as much information as she could about life in the big apple.
"Spill, P. How's L.A? Is Julian treating you right?"
"Hey I'm right here."
Julian quipped in as he pointed a finger at himself.
"Everything's going great. And yes, Julian is being a gentleman. I don't work in the mailroom anymore."
"I knew you'd finally get your own big office."
"Well not exactly. I'm the assistant to the assistant."
Peyton wanted to make her job sound better than it really was, but couldn't think of the right words for it at the second.
"Well I'm sure that's only temporary. You're going to change the music world, someday, best friend."
Peyton officially hated that word. What did 'someday' actually mean?
"And I'm going to be standing there when all your dreams come true."
Julian had said as he put his arm around her and kissed her lips. At that very moment Brooke heard her name being called as she looked away from the still kissing couple and noticed an old friend; or should I say old friends. The whole gang here at the same place, same time; Nathan, Haley, Lucas, some strange women, Brooke, and Peyton kissing her boyfriend; what a time for a reunion, absolutely awkward.
"Hey it's the Scott clan. Peyton it's the Scotts."
Peyton was so engaged in the kiss that she finally heard Brooke as she put emphasis on the word Scotts. She tore her lips away from Julian and looked around the group. Brooke noticed that Lucas never tore his gaze away from the love of his life, his ex-girlfriend. Peyton smiled at the group trying to ignore Lucas' intense stare as she looked back at her current boyfriend.
Yes this is going to be a very awkward Christmas.
A/N: So there's the second chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! Everyone now knows that Peyton finally returned home after 2 1/2 years. So what do you think?
BTW-idk if im going to update later today seeing as its almost 8 here in California and its christmas eve. if not just remember I will upload the rest of this story tomorrow :D
