Title: Always
Chapter Title: Chapter One: And So We Let Gravity Pull
Author: Bynamearose
Rated: M
Fandom: One Tree Hill
Pairing: Lucas/Peyton, Leyton
Summary: "Always, Lucas. That's what we were supposed to have." AU Season 5 finale - Peyton decides to leave Tree Hill after Lucas tells her he hates her. Unfortunately, Lucas chooses this moment to care.
Warning: Spoilers, Slight Language
Notes: Just because I can't wait for the 6th season…
Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill. If I did, I would have the producer's head right now .
A/N: Yeah, I have top say it's an understatement that the last chapter was a slight dud. But, you know, that's prologues for ya.
I angst-ed with Peyton here…I promise the next chapter will be longer, more complicated and overall more Leyton-y…If that's a word…I hope it's a word.
Anyhow, moving on…
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"Pain is why I did that then, and why you do this now." - Blake Allen
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She could not describe to herself what she was feeling now…She had hid her feelings and she had screamed her feelings but it seemed even worse when the feelings became so much deeper and darker - and therefore so much harder to admit- that she could no longer say them aloud. The entirety of Lucas, Lindsey, and those three little words seemed to pound in her head, like the headache from a band she wished she'd never heard.
Peyton Sawyer was relatively lucky.
Peyton Sawyer had her own record label.
Peyton Sawyer had friends who would support her until the day was over.
Peyton Sawyer had two out of the three things most people would die for in life.
So why is it that one thing - that one thing God knows she had cried for and fought for - made her entire world both fall apart and revive itself, all within an instant.
It was her gravity, her steadying force on the ground - the loss of it making her helpless to the pull.
It made no sense. How could he still control her like this? How could he make her feel so invalid, so past-tense and in the same moment, she'd still want him to take her into his arms and tell her he loved her?
They say love is the heart's own betrayal. It can make you live and make the adrenaline rush: hard and fast, a feeling that helps you know you're alive, helps you breathe in a room with no air. But by the same token, pull you down into a state so deep, so darkened and grasp at you with the prospect of death, a much more desirable fate.
Letting the water balloon drop from her hands and on to the concrete ground, Peyton Sawyer let the pull of gravity splash moisture on innocent bystanders, a sudden numbness errupting in her.
After all, in the long run, why wear bright colors at all, if not for target practice?
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A bored cashier could only stare blankly as middle-aged woman (and what looked to be her teenage daughter) walked into Clothes over Bros, rolling with them a bright pink stroller, carrying a baby that could not yet be a year old. The two females chatted non stop, their conversation muffled and their fingers reaching to feel the texture of fabric. But, as another hand reached, this time from the stroller, looking to grasp something as well, it caught no one's attention.
And, low and behold, what did the youngster find but a cashmere sweater. And where else did it fit but in the mouth; young slobber coated the sleeve and, by the time the mother and daughter had caught the small infant, the damage had already been done.
"Angela, no!" The mother's eyes widened as she hurriedly took the sweater from her child and read the price tag "Oh, no…Oh!"
Looking up from a set of company papers, Brooke Davis, fashion designer extraordinaire quickly stood up in confusion. What had happened? But, as a crouching mother tried desperately to fiddle with the sleeve of an expensive sweater, making her baby squeal and giggle with a form of amusement only known to babes, Brooke had a slightly discomforting notion that she already knew what had happened.
"Oh, God, I am so sorry…"
Pushing all thoughts aside, Brooke walked to meet the anxious mother and the woman stood up, apologizing profusely.
"I'll pay for that, really-"
"Don't worry," Brooke said, smiling.
The mother looked a wreck…The fashion designer's eyes raked over the innocent eyes of a blonde baby girl.
"I'll take care of it, really, don't worry…" Brooke couldn't help but stare at the innocent infant, who now had her thumb in her mouth, and smiled up at the slightly shell-shocked mother. "She's beautiful…"
"T-Thank you," the woman stuttered, overwhelmed in shock, "she's-"
"Brooke!"
The brunette lifted her head to see Lucas jogging from the front doors, sporting a shaven head reminiscent to the one he'd had returning from Charleston.
"Lucas?"
Finally the blonde stopped jogging, hunching over slightly to catch his breath. Amused, Brooke crossed her arms, an eyebrow arching.
"Nice hair."
Lucas stood up completely, chest still rising a falling in quick but shallow breaths. "Thanks. Listen, Brooke, have you seen…" He inhaled a small breath at the name he'd been trying to avoid all morning. "…Have you seen Peyton?"
She frowned at Lucas, eyes narrowing in slight contempt. "No. She's packing the stuff up in her office."
Nodding hesitantly and starting a sprint for the door, Lucas thanked her.
"Luke, what did you do now?"
It was said softly, and Luke knew exactly who and what she was talking about. What did he do to make her leave?
It was true, there hadn't been much said between her and her best friend. But when the curly blonde had come in one night, eyes red, face flushed - the clear proof of her broken heart - the strangled words that had been drawn from her friend's lips were enough to confirm the suspicion that Lucas Scott done something stupid….again.
Leaving the question unanswered and a fashion designer sending a worried stare after him, he backtracked out of the store.
Don't hurt her, Luke, Brooke thought, staring after his leaving form.
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The question still rang in his mind as he his feet picked up an anxious pace.
She couldn't leave.
It just...wasn't possible.
She had to be bluffing.
Yes, Lindsey leaving him was hard; he loved her. And, yes, he might have drunkenly taken it out on Peyton. But…what was she going to do? Run away from him? Run away from everything she'd accomplished here?
It didn't make sense. It just…couldn't make sense.
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A/N:
Song of the Chapter ;
Gravity - Sara Bareilles
OH, YEAH! Yahoo! Updates, updates, updates…And short chapter. Yeah, I've been working on the next chapter too, so it should be up sometime tomorrow.
Am I the only one that was completely at a 'head-banging' stage with Lucas in the finale (or just the fifth season, really)?
"I did not break her heart."
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"Lindsey said no, Hales, I said yes."
IDIOT.
And I hope to God he doesn't pick Lindsey….Even if he picks Brooke (She's too good a friend to Peyton to say yes), I really don't want him to pick Lindsey. Or marryLindsey. Even if she's not the bitch painted in some fics.
Oh my God, people responded to my prologue!! Okay. So, I'm not use to the few but treasured responses I sometimes get. Sue me. Anyhow, lovin' the reviews, guys…Keep 'em up!
Good for trapping (I mean...'putting') a tortured artist and a tortured athlete alone in the same room.
So asking the readers a question (and helping the next chapter go faster), what is a really good Leyton song? There are too many for me to sort through, so just through 'em out there. I'm determined to find a song with lyrics really…I dunno…intimately close with Lucas/Peyton for the next chapter.
I will update as soon as possible but, since this fanfic is a one shot and not an OC ship, I will definitely be updating sooner than I do the rest. READ AND REVIEW.