A/N: third update in less than a week. not bad. don't expect me to always be this updatey. cause that's so a word. and I definitely plan on finishing it. it's just gonna take some time. i'm 18K words into it and i'm not sure it's getting close to the end yet. but we'll see. thanks so, so, so, so, so, so, so much to all of you wonderful chapter two reviewers.

Chapter Three: Answer

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She was sitting at her desk, putting on the finishing touches of her drawing from English when a set of knuckles rapped on her door. She silently motioned for them to enter and continued scribbling in an area near the corner of the page to emphasize the shadows. When she was satisfied with how it looked, she glanced over and saw Haley sitting on her bed, watching her.

"Hey. Ready to go?" Haley asked after being noticed.

"Yeah." Peyton said and closed her sketch pad. She dropped it on her desk as she stood up. She was surprised that it was already eight. Once she had gotten home after leaving the cafe, she had gone to work on her drawing. The time went by faster than she had expected. She grabbed her car keys and they were out the door.

Peyton spent the drive to the party in silence. She listened to Haley's babbling on and on about some subject, she wasn't sure what. She was too distracted with the way she was feeling to really pay attention to what she was hearing.

When they got there, she lost Haley in the crowd. When she found her, she didn't like what she saw. She was dancing with some guy Peyton didn't know. She wanted to pounce on him. She quickly turned away, tearing her eyes off of the couple. She noticed a jock tap a keg and thought that beer sounded appetizing. She quickly snatched up a cup and downed it, replacing it with a second.

"Having a rough night?" Lucas yelled over the music as he came up behind her. She nodded.

"It could be better." She said and finished the second cup. She knew better than to reach for a third with him standing right there. "Your's?"

"It's all right." He said and looked around for a second. "Did you come with Hales?" She nodded. "I'm surprised. I didn't think she'd be able to talk you into it."

"I wished she hadn't been able to," she muttered to herself.

"What?" He asked loudly and gave her a concerned look.

"Nothing." She noticed Brooke coming up behind Lucas and decided being caught talking with him probably wasn't the best idea right then. "I'm gonna go." She said and quickly left Lucas standing by himself. She was sure he wouldn't be alone for very long.

She grabbed herself another drink, walked outside and sat down by the house, overlooking the pool. She took a sip of her drink. She began coughing after nearly choking on the liquid. It wasn't beer. It was a cup of straight vodka. After recovering from the shock, she took a much smaller sip, and enjoyed the warmth of the drink as it traveled down to her stomach. She watched the crowd by the pool. Someone pushed someone else into the swimming pool, fully clothed. Then another dropped in. Then five more. She lost count after ten and stopped watching. She took another sip.

She thought about Haley dancing with the stranger. She had watched them for longer than she had cared to; somehow, she couldn't take her eyes off of the brunette. She had traced the curves of the girl as she danced. She thought now about it, how it had made her feel both nauseous and jealous. She wished it had been her dancing with Haley.

Her drink was empty now. She looked up from the bottom of her cup and noticed that things were starting to blur. She wondered what time it was. Haley. Haley probably had a watch. She couldn't find her feet to go see Haley. So she sat there, thinking. Thinking about Haley. She thought about Haley until Haley was standing in front of her.

"Let's get out of here." Peyton thought she heard her say. She nodded and somehow managed to stand. She walked all the way through the house to her car. She saw Brooke dancing with Lucas. Brooke saw her and gave her a look that Peyton was sure Brooke wished was a look to kill. It only annoyed Peyton.

She got in her car and started up the engine. She noticed Haley wasn't getting in. Instead, she was standing outside of her car door, looking at her.

"What?"

"You're not driving, Peyton. You're drunk."

She looked at Haley for a second. She could feel herself growing weary. She didn't want to drive anyway. She moved over to the passenger's side of the seat and relaxed. Haley got in beside her and began the drive back to Peyton's house.

"What happened tonight?" Haley asked her. She pondered the possible answers. The punch was spiked. The voices made her do it. Her dog ate her homework.

"I got drunk." She said plainly.

"Why?" Haley asked, a slight amount of concern showing through her tone.

"Youwere dancing with some guy so I decided to entertain myself. I didn't want to inter-rupt your fun." She said, slurring a few words together and tearing other words into two. She finally realized she really was drunk.

"You wouldn't have. I brought you here to have fun. You know, so I could see you some. But you disappeared and I couldn't find you. And a friend of my sister's, John, happened to be there. And I danced with him some, thinking you were probably just in the bathroom or something but I still didn't see you anywhere. So then I found Luke, and he said that he saw you go outside." Haley looked over at her. "Is everything okay? You don't normally do this kind of thing."

"I just felt like having a little fun tonight. Geeze, Hales, can't a girl ever let herself loose?" She knew she should've kept her mouth shut, but she didn't. She was too busy thinking about that John guy to be concerned about controlling herself.

Silence came between them. Peyton was sure she had said something that she shouldn't have, something that offended Haley. she couldn't bring herself to apologize. The alcohol wouldn't let her. She felt her eyelids growing heavier. She yawned. Twice.

They pulled in to the driveway of Peyton's house. Somehow, Haley managed to get a staggering Peyton into the house and up to her room. Peyton walked over to her bed, laid down and was out within seconds. Haley watched her sleep for a little bit, watching Peyton's stomach rise and fall with her breathing. Her nose twitched slightly causing Haley to smile. Peyton looked adorable when she was sleeping.

She walked over to the girl and removed her shoes, slowly and carefully so as not to wake her. She then found an extra blanket to cover her up with. Haley sat down at Peyton's desk and kept her eyes locked on the blonde. She wondered what had prompted her to get so incredibly wasted. She couldn't figure out why Peyton was doing this to herself.

She tore her eyes off of the girl and looked around her room. Her sketches covered the walls just as they always had, but somehow, tonight, they seemed different. Before they were drawings. Now, they showed themselves as pieces of Peyton's being. Her thoughts were tugged by what she had seen Peyton working on earlier. She found the end to her curiosity sitting just beside her elbow.

She flipped through the pages. Some were small, detail-less, five minute sketches. Others were obviously meticulously drawn. Through all of the unfinished drawings, one caught her eye. She stopped and looked at it closer.

A girl, obviously Peyton, was standing in the foreground looking into the background where a second person was standing. But this person wasn't in detail. They were just an outline, a shadow of a figure. Peyton was looking at them, longing for them. In between the two people it read "you'll never know." Below that, in parenthesis, and much smaller, it said, "I love you."

Haley knew everything Peyton drew had some connection to her personal life. She wondered who the person was supposed to be. Lucas. She felt a sharp pain in her chest. Peyton was in love with Lucas. She didn't know what to think about that. She looked over at the sleeping blonde, finally realizing exactly what was going on. She, Haley James, was head over heels in-

Suddenly, Peyton jumped off of the bed and ran into the bathroom. Haley heard gagging noises and immediately knew what was going on. She rushed after the girl.

Haley pulled Peyton's hair back out of her face as she threw up for a third time. She rubbed Peyton's back with her other hand, trying desperately to help soften the sickness but knowing there wasn't much she could really do.

Not much longer, Peyton's stomach was finally under control. She pushed herself away from the toilet and leaned her head back against the wall, feeling crappier than she had in a long time. She closed her eyes and realized how tired and sweaty she was. She felt a damp cloth being placed on her forehead. She thanked Haley but kept her eyes shut. She thought that if she opened them, if she moved one more muscle in her body, it might cause her to start vomiting again.

"Do you need anything else?" Haley asked.

"No. Thanks." She said softly. Her voice still seemed too loud in her head. It caused her to flinch. She suddenly remembered why she was feeling this way. She decided getting drunk was a pretty bad idea after all. "I'm sorry about tonight. That was just... dumb."

"It's fine. We all have bad nights."

Peyton dared herself to open her eyes. The lights were too bright in the bathroom and she shut them tightly closed. She heard the light switch being turned off. She opened her eyes again. This time, thanks to Haley, it was much darker. The dim lights from her room shone in, creating long shadows while keeping details in the dark. She looked at Haley, whom she thought was looking back at her. "Thanks," she whispered.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the clock in the bathroom tick seconds away. Peyton kept her eyes firmly on Haley as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Haley had her eyes cast on the floor. Peyton watched as Haley's eyes glanced over the tile, looking from one area to another. Her hair was tucked behind her ears; her eyes were tired.

She was bothered by what she had realized earlier. She was of course mistaken. She had to be. She didn't love Peyton. She couldn't. Not that there was anything wrong with that, she just knew that she didn't like girls. An image of Peyton kept intruding on her thoughts. She could picture the way Peyton tilted her head back when she laughed, the way her curls bounced around her shoulders. Realizing the way she was thinking, she knew she loved her. She couldn't help it. It was Peyton. And Peyton was... everything to her. She had been for quite some time. It was just the first time she was really willing to admit it to herself.

"Whatcha thinkin?" Peyton asked softly, knowing something serious was going on in that brain of Haley's. Her eyes shot up to look at Peyton, as if she were caught red handed. Peyton forced a smile, hoping to show the question was an innocent one.

"That picture you were drawing in class today... who's it about?" She asked after hesitating for a moment. It was Peyton's turn to feel unsettled. Why would she ask that? Did Haley know? Surely she didn't. "Are you in love with Lucas?" Haley didn't know.

"Lucas?" Peyton almost coughed on the name. She laughed a little bit to hopefully illustrate how absurd the idea was. "No. Not at all." She laughed a little bit more. Haley nodded and looked back at the floor. Peyton couldn't see a change in the girl at all. She still seemed to be bothered by something. "Are you okay?" She asked, wiping the grin off of her face. Haley's brown eyes were on her again.

"Yeah." She said slowly. "Yeah. I'm just tired."

"You wanna spend the night?" Haley seemed to perk up at the question. "I could take you to breakfast in the morning. It's the least I could do after dragging you through all this." She said with a smile and motioned to their surroundings.

"You don't have to."

"It'd by my pleasure. But sleep sounds really good right now." She used the bathtub to push herself up, off of the ground and was hit with another wave of nausea. Haley stood up quickly to help steady a wavering Peyton. "I'm good." She whispered after a few minutes. "Should just get to bed now." Haley nodded. They walked over to the bed, side by side, arm in arm. They got in bed and Peyton looked over to Haley. "Thanks for all this, Hales."

"For what, taking you to a party and abandoning you?" She said with a sarcastic laugh.

"No." For not giving up on me. "For taking care of me." Haley nodded. "Goodnight." Peyton said and looked back up at the ceiling, knowing if she looked into those brown eyes any longer, she might actually do what she had been wanting to since yesterday afternoon. Haley's lips seemed to be calling to her. She wondered if she was still a little drunk.

"Goodnight." Haley echoed and turned over on her side and away from Peyton. Peyton silently thanked the space put between them. It made it easier for her to breathe. She wondered if the sleep over had been a bad idea. No. She got to see Haley. That was good. Why did everything have to be so hard?