Thank you so much for your awesome reviews!!! I am really excited about this story, and it makes me so happy to see how many of you are too!
Some of you were kind of concerned with how Lucas and Peyton got together right after he and Brooke had just broken up, but I tried to explain that him and Brooke were pretty much over awhile before they left. If it's confusing to you why they were even together, just wait… all will be explained, with wonderful flash backs and certain conversations between people!! And Brooke isn't in this chapter, but don't worry she def has a part in the story!
Enjoy!!
Brooklyn, New York – May 30th, 2008
Lucas opened his eyes, and lazily stretched his body with a groan. He felt that sort of content feeling he felt every time he woke up from a mid-afternoon nap. The sounds of the city filled his apartment as they drifted through his open window, which was letting in the warm, spring breeze. He felt his bed rustle next to him and he smiled as he looked at the girl waking up next to him.
"Hey you." She turned her face and smiled into his eyes.
"Hello to you too." She said as she snuggled into his bare chest, "I have to say that that was the best nap I've ever had." He chuckled as he grazed his hand against her bare arm.
"I would have to agree with you." She lifted her head up and kissed him softly.
"So what are our plans for the rest of the day, Mr. Scott?" her voice rang as she sat up in the bed, and pulled back her long hair into a loose ponytail. He couldn't help but notice the lack of curl her hair held, and his mind drifted into the memories of the thick blonde curls he loved so much.
"Luke?" Lindsey moved her body so she was straddling him, "Lucas…" He snapped back to reality, and looked into Lindsey's comforting eyes.
"Yea sorry, I guess I am still out of it." She nodded and kissed his cheek,
"Well I'm going to go shower," She kissed his lips, "And you are more than welcome to join me." He laughed as she kissed his bare chest and got off the bed. She walked towards the bathroom, and he smiled as she turned around and winked at him.
He finally pulled himself out of bed when he heard the water start for her shower, but he decided to pull his sweats on, instead of join her. He had to get back to the his novel, which was currently drifting further and further from his mind, as it had been for the last few months. As he moved into his small kitchen, he pulled open the door to his empty fridge and sighed at the lack of food. Living in New York City as a struggling student and writer had been tough on money, but he was lucky that his loans were covering him for now. His mom kept insisting on letting Andy help out, but he felt awkward taking money from the man that wasn't Keith. It wasn't that he didn't like Andy; he just didn't know what to make of the whole situation. His mom was currently living in London with him and Lily, and Lucas didn't know if he had ever felt more disconnected from his previous life.
He sat down at his counter and pulled open his laptop, and he immediately smiled at the picture that popped up on his back round. It was taken a week after Haley had delivered Jamie. They had just recently graduated and were in a summer that they all knew would be the last normal one for a while. It was taken at the river court. Nathan was on the left end, his arm wrapped tightly around Haley's waist and his smile wide with the happiness of new found fatherhood, Haley's face looked content, as she had one arm around Nathan's waist as well, but her other hand was holding tightly on to Brookes. Brooke's smile was wide, but you could see sadness within her eyes at the change that she was about to reach. He was standing next to Brooke on her other side, his arm loosely wrapped around her neck. But his other hand was gripped tightly around the Blondes waist. Lucas felt a pang in his heart, as he always did when he saw a picture, or thought of Peyton.
Luke wasn't looking at the camera directly though, he was staring down at the blonde, as she looked up at him laughing. He smiled as he remembered joking with her about how this moment reminded him of some cheesy Air Supply song. He tore his eyes away; the memories making him miss the past.
He barely talked to Brooke anymore, besides a few emails here and there. She was so busy with her clothing line that she rarely had time for anyone. He still talked to Nathan and Haley as much as he could, but lately he had felt that there was some unexplainable distance between them. He knew they were busy with Jamie, but something else seemed out of place. And as for Peyton… well that was complicated. He missed her everyday, but knew there was nothing he could do about it. He was originally going to be back in Tree Hill for the summer, but then was offered a last minute placement in a writing seminar that was pretty hard to turn down. He debated with it at first, but with his mom and Lily gone, and him and Peyton not speaking, he figured that it would be pretty pointless. Besides, this was his life now, no matter how much he missed life before.
He sighed and pulled open the word-document, which was supposed to be more developed. He hated that he was having trouble writing. The whole year, he could write what he was assigned in his classes, but that was only because he was given a whole writing prompt. When it came down to it, writing his personal story had sucked.
"Lucas??" He drifted back to Lindsey who had called out from the shower,
"Yea?"
"Are you coming?" he smiled,
"Well I'm writing…" She cut him off before he could finish,
"Oh! Never mind, write away!" He laughed at her eagerness. Lindsey's father was in a publishing company, and had pretty much guaranteed an editor to Lucas if he finished his novel.
He started to type some pointless words when his phone vibrated next to him. He picked it up without even looking at the screen,
"Hello?" All he heard was silence, "Hello??"
When he heard her voice, his heart nearly stopped beating. He swore he was imagining it when her soft voice uttered, "Luke."
"Peyton?" He whispered in disbelief, and felt his heart break when he realized that she was crying.
"I need you, Luke." His heart had suddenly started to beat rapidly at the words that he had wanted to hear her say for so long, but something was off.
"What's wrong? Are you ok?" He could almost see her smile at his worry, but he needed to know that she was ok.
"Come home, Luke." He had already known when he heard her voice whisper his name that he would do anything to see her, and now that she was asking him to come home, it was obvious that he would.
"Peyton… please just tell me you're ok." He needed to know.
"Luke, I know we haven't talked for a long time, and the way we ended things weren't ideal, but… I..I just need you to come home. I need to talk to you, and I don't want to do this over the phone, but I promise I will tell you everything when you are back here." He could hear her struggling to keep her voice strong, "Will you come?" She whispered.
He couldn't help the small smile that formed, "I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Thank you." He was about to respond, when he heard the soft click of the phone disconnecting. He set his cell phone down and froze. What was going on with her? Was he really just about to jump on a plane to go home to the girl who broke his heart?
Even as he was asking himself these questions, he had wandered into his room and pulled out a bag to pack his clothes in. But stopped when the door opened, and he looked over to a confused Lindsey.
"What's going on?"
He hesitated, how do you tell your girlfriend that you're leaving to go back to you're ex-… whatever Peyton was. "Lindsey… I need to go home."
She automatically moved towards him, "Is everything ok? Is it your mom?"
He shook his head, "No, it's an old friend that needs me. I don't really know what's…" Lindsey cut him off,
"It's her isn't it?" He froze and looked at her; her eyes full of realization, "It's the girl from your book, right?"
He slowly nodded and asked softly, "How did you know?"
She let out a struggled laugh, but he cold see the regret in her eyes, "Lucas, I've read your book enough to know that there is a girl who is still in your heart. I've tried to ignore it, but I think I've always known that she's the reason you will never open up to me." She paused as a couple tears fell down her face, he didn't know what to do in that moment, except pull her into a reserved hug, and he felt her wet hair bleed into his shirt. She mumbled something into his chest, and he pulled her back to look into her face,
"What did you say?" She wiped her eyes, and looked into his,
"Could you ever love me like you love her?" His mind reeled, and he knew the answer, but he didn't know what to tell her. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out,
She stepped back, "That's ok. I always figured."
With one last glance, she walked out the door and Lucas let out a gasp of air he didn't know that he had been holding. His life had just changed completely in a matter of 15 minutes, but he didn't even question it. All he knew was that he had to keep packing.
-x-
Tree Hill, North Carolina – May 31st, 2008
Peyton should have been cherishing the silence, but instead her mind was reeling. She stood in her kitchen and suddenly felt a wave of nausea hit her. But she let it pass, as she knew it would. She always felt sick, when she was nervous. Her thoughts were moving a mile a minute as she paced back and forth.
Nathan walked into the familiar house and smirked at Peyton who was pacing around the room and looked as if she was mumbling to herself.
"You know, usually people take a nap, or relax when there's quiet." Peyton slightly jumped at the sound of his voice, but then turned around and smiled at her friend. He pulled her into a hug, "It's all going to be ok, Peyton."
"How do you know?" He pulled back and looked into her eyes,
"Because you deserve it more than anyone." She gave him a sad smile and squeezed his hand in thanks. They moved to the couch and sat down, but Nathan could tell she was still on edge.
"He's going to hate me, Nate." She looked at him before setting her head on in the palms of her hands, and leaning forward to rest on her knees. He gripped her shoulder,
"That's not possible, he will never ever be able to hate you." He smiled when he saw her smile, Nathan had always had a soft spot for Peyton. And besides their sorted past, they had become best friends and he liked to think of her as a younger sister.
"What makes you think you're always right, Scott?" He laughed and answered,
"Because he's my brother and I know him, and no matter what the two of you have gone through, he has always loved you." She met his eyes,
"I hope you really are as smart as you act." She grabbed his hand and he gripped it tightly, I hope so too, he thought.
-x-
Later that day
Haley stood at the entrance of the airport, a mixture of excitement and nervousness passing through her. She knew that Peyton had done the right thing by calling Luke, but she also knew that the both of them had a history of hurting each other, and she didn't think that Peyton could handle something like that happening… especially now. But she was completely excited to see the familiar face of her best friend. These past few months had been really hard without him, and not being able to tell him what was going on made everything worse. When she was having a hard time dealing with something, all she wanted to do was call her best friend and tell him what was going on, but she knew that that was not her call to make. But soon everything would be out in the open.
"Hales!" She broke from her thoughts as she turned and saw Lucas walking to her quickly, she smiled wide as he pulled her into his arms and laughed when he lifted her from the ground.
"Put me down, you goof!"
He laughed and separated, "I'm sorry, I'm just really excited to see my best friend who I haven't seen in… how long has it been?"
"10 months," She said it automatically, maybe too quickly, but Luke didn't notice anything as he pulled her into another hug.
"It is so good to see you." He whispered.
"You too," She said honestly. When he pulled away this time, she noticed the sadness that entered his eyes.
"What's going on, Hales?"
"Luke.."
"I just need to know, is she ok?"
Haley sighed and took his hand in hers, "You just need to talk to her, this isn't my place."
Luke sighed, sick of all the mystery when all he wanted to know was if she was ok, but no one seemed willing to answer this question for him, "Well then let's get going." He said and started to walk forward, but she stopped him and he looked back at her confused.
"It's really good to have you back, Luke." He smiled and nodded,
"It's good to be back. It already feels like nothings changed." A wave of guilt entered her as he wrapped his arm loosely around his shoulder and they walked out the door into Tree Hill, don't count on it, she thought as she walked next to him.
-x-
Luke's stomach fluttered as they pulled up to his old house, "Hales, what are we doing here?"
She looked at him, "This is Peyton's house now. Your mom didn't tell you? When Peyton's dad decided to sell their house, your mom was in the process of moving, so Larry bought it and let Peyton live there since in made more sense for her to live in a smaller house." He was surprised that no one had mentioned this; no one had told him that Peyton lived in his house.
"I guess that makes sense." She nodded and wanted to warn him that this was just a small shock to what he was about to find out, but kept her mouth shut instead. They got out of the car and walked towards the door, as Haley opened it, she immediately saw her husband and Peyton sitting on the couch.
Peyton looked up at the sudden sound of the door opening and she felt as though her heart was going to explode as she saw him standing there behind Haley. He was really there in person. It had been ten months and she still remembered every thing about his face… and those beautiful blue eyes he was staring at her with now. Nathan broke the silence and walked over to Luke,
"Hey big brother, it's great to see you." They hugged each other as brothers do, and separated,
"Yea it's great to see you too, Nate." The silence overcame the room again, as Peyton awkwardly stood up, unsure of what to do. Besides the current situation, the last time that Lucas and Peyton had spoken was awful at best.
Luke let out a silent breath to see her there, all in one piece. She was ok, from what he could tell. He walked forward and stood a few feet before her, "Hi Peyton."
She smiled, and his heart smiled, "Luke." She pulled him into a hug that she had missed too much. He wrapped his arms around her and was overcome by her vanilla scent; the scent that he had tried to find, but nothing could compare. They slowly pulled apart and looked away shyly.
"Well we are going to take off, you guys need to catch up." Peyton found Haley's eyes, and she winked, hoping to pass some confidence onto Peyton. Peyton smiled gratefully as they shuffled out the door, and left them alone.
Luke reached out and grabbed Peyton's hand, "I missed you, Peyt."
Peyton took a deep breath, "I missed you too." She grabbed his hand, "Let's sit down." As she led them to the couch,
Another silence over came them, but it wasn't as comfortable as it used to be between them, so he had to break it, "So you're living in my house, huh?"
She smiled, "Yea. It actually worked out perfectly. I mean even though I miss my room, I didn't really want to stay in that big house by myself anymore. It just somehow felt lonelier… it was probably because I knew that you and Brooke wouldn't be walking through my door anymore."
"Yea… I have to say though, it's pretty weird to think that you are sleeping here every night." He smiled, and she met his eyes,
"Yea I know what you mean." And she did. The first few weeks she felt wrong, sleeping in his mom's room; a room that she had never even been in before, let alone lived in. So after that, she would move into his room at night, which she had kept untouched, when she couldn't sleep. It made her feel somehow closer to him. When she was in his bed she would imagine that he was writing in the next room and she was just waiting for him to come lay down and pull her into his arms where they would fall asleep together… of course it never came true.
"Peyton, are you sick?" She lifted her head, her eyes wide,
"What?"
"I don't know. I mean the whole trip I had no idea what to expect, but you're here, and you look good… really good," He smiled as she blushed and turned her head, he loved that he could still make her do that after what had happened between them, "And I just need to know, are you sick?"
Peyton took a breath, "No, Luke, I'm not sick." He sighed, relieved, "But there is something." She stopped again, not knowing how she could say it. Haley just kept telling her it was like ripping off a band-aid, but now sitting here and looking into his worried eyes, she knew it wasn't that easy, "You remember the night you left?"
He grabbed her hand, and grazed his thumb slowly along her palm, and she couldn't help the shiver she felt go up her spine, she hated that he could still do this to her, "How could I forget?" He whispered, sincerely.
She nodded, and continued, "Well something else happened that night, Luke."
"What?" His mind reeled with what could have possibly gone down after he stepped out of her room late that night.
"Luke," Here it was, the band-aid was coming off, "I got pregnant."
His hand automatically gripped her hand, and she couldn't stop the tears that began to fall from her face as he spoke softly, "What…"
Lucas' mind was in shock. Peyton is pregnant… with his child. He didn't know what to think of it, but then it hit him. It had been ten months, there was no way she was pregnant… "Peyton, did you miscarry?"
"No, Luke." She took another deep breath, "I had a baby one month ago yesterday. We have a son, Luke."
A/N - Surprise! Well, most of you probably thought this was going to happen, but what happened in between them professing their love for one another and him being with Lindsey? And what will happen now that Luke knows about their son? Want to find out? You'll need to review so I get the motivation to keep updating!!
