BANG BANG

Brooke's knocks were impatient upon the door of the bedroom that Lucas and Peyton were occupying.
"Open up! You've had your seven minutes!"
The two blondes unlocked from their kiss, and shared a smile. Lucas stood from the bed, and offered his hand to Peyton. Peyton took it, rising from the bed as she did so, and the two walked hand in hand to open the door. They were faced with a highly unamused Brooke Davis.
"There's no reason to look so smug," she snarked.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow," Peyton shook her head as she walked away, there's was no use talking to Brooke when she was in this state. It was all so childish, Brooke getting angry about 'dibs' and at situations she herself had created, and what Peyton felt with Lucas certainly wasn't childish. In fact, at 16, it was the most mature and serious she'd ever felt. Yes, they were going to take it slow because that fact terrified her, but it was still a fact, and it was significant enough to rise her above anything immature that Brooke or anyone else was going to try and throw at her. Hand in hand, the two blondes walked along the hall and down the stairs to rejoin the party.

"So, Brooke, your place?" a basketball player asked, bringing Brooke out of the reverie the exchange with Peyton and Lucas had put her in.
"Sure, whatever, let's go," Brooke said nonchalantly, she walked through the remaining group of three males and led the way down the stairs, and ultimately to her house. She knew in that moment she'd regret it in the morning, she also knew she was too numb to truly care. Something was switching in Brooke Davis and she didn't like it.

Lucas's bright blue eyes find his mother's deep brown ones. He was happy to see that she was smiling, the event was a difficult one for her. Since falling pregnant with Lucas, she had avoided his father Dan Scott while he had gone to college and had Nathan with Deb. Instead, Dan's kinder and wiser older brother Keith had been a stable support for Karen, though they weren't a couple, and had been a surrogate father to Lucas.
"Hey Ma," he said to her as he got closer. He hadn't thought about the effect it would have Peyton, meeting his mother, but he was soon made to think as her hand suddenly held his tighter and she gripped his arm. He looked to her with a supportive smile and saw that she was biting her lip and smiling nervously, he found it adorable.
"Son, where've you been?" Karen asked with a warm smile.
"Just around," Lucas answered vaguely, "I found Peyton, have you guys met?"
"No not yet, but I've seen you cheering at the games," Karen switched her focus from Lucas to Peyton and shook her hand kindly, "It's nice to meet you Peyton. How do you find cheering? I did it in high school too."
"You too," Peyton smiled as she started to relax, "I enjoy it, but mainly do it 'cause my mom did and Brooke and I have always done it together."
"That's great," Karen encouraged, "I'm sure your mom and Brooke appreciate it." Lucas felt Peyton tense as her mother who passed away when she was eight was mentioned, so he changed the subject.
"Have you seen Haley?" he asked Karen.
"No…" Karen scanned the room as she spoke, "I guessed she'd hang with you after dropping the cakes off. Is she ok?"
"She'll be fine, but we'll go look for her," Lucas assured her before leading Peyton away.

"I thought we were going to find Haley?" Peyton questioned as Lucas guided her to sit on his lap as he sat on a tree swing in the backyard.
"Oh we will, but I missed kissing you, and I wanted to tell you not to freak out so much around my mom, even though it's cute," he told her simply, as she shook her head while blushing. He traced his index finger along her jaw line as he caused their lips to meet once more. They kissed deeply, their fingers tangling in each other's hair. Lucas' hand left Peyton's neck and traced down her body. He palmed her breast through her dress, causing her to moan, before his hand finding her thigh, and gently grazing up the inside of her thigh and rubbing her through her panties.
"Luke.." she moaned. He smiled against her lips, he had a feeling he'd never get sick of hearing her say his name.
"Get a room," a voice sounded. Luckily it was dark in the backyard and the person was behind them, so they only saw the kiss. Lucas and Peyton sprang apart and looked to who had spoken. It was Haley, and even in the dark, and despite the clear strength of her character, it was clear she wasn't ok.
"Hales," Lucas said surprised. He had suspected that Haley and Nathan's continued absence from the party was a good thing, evidently not.
"I'll call you tomorrow after I check on Brooke," Peyton rose from his lap, and kissed him deeply. He smiled and nodded in response, glad that she understood that he needed to be there for Haley, no matter how much he'd wanted to keep touching her. Peyton approached Haley with the awkwardness that came with the two of them not quite being friends yet, and that Haley was tutoring Nathan but that relationship had appeared to be developing. "I'm sorry for whatever he did, I can show which cupboard in the house not to punch as it breaks your knuckles." Peyton raised her right hand as she spoke, and smiled when Haley laughed at her sarcasm before bypassing the house and walking straight to her car to go home.

Haley sat on the swing next to Lucas and sighed deeply, "I deserve a big fat 'I told you so'."
"Well I'm not going to give you one," Lucas assured her, "But I can offer a ride back to the café where we can play mini golf, and you can tell me all about it."
"Perfect."

"I told him I wanted to wait until I was married, and he understood. He was kind about it, caring and protective," she paused, "Then he kissed me, he kept kissing me, and I kissed him back. It was different, and grown up, and what I wanted." She locked eyes with Lucas, they'd been playing mini golf for almost an hour and she'd finally started to talk. "Then I heard Brooke bang on your door, and we broke apart. I saw the study pack I made him, it was open on the chest of drawers." Her eyes started to fill with tears. "I joked that the party was so boring he'd been studying. He said he hadn't taken it out of his drawer, so I assumed someone else had seen it and I panicked so I left the room. When I got down stairs, Brooke called out to me and said," she took a deep breath, "'What's up Tutor Girl? Your little love note, and sex didn't help you out?' So he showed it to everyone Luke, he made fun of me." Tears rolled down her cheeks slowly, she was hurting. Lucas could tell, so he closed the gap between them and held her close.
"Oh Hales…I'm sorry," he kissed the top of her head affectionately, "Don't stop believing there's good in everyone, I'll always be here when there isn't."
"Thanks Luke," she sniffed and smiled up at him, "So what about you and Peyton huh?" she teased. Lucas stepped back with a broad grin on his face, "We're exclusively taking it slow," he explained, causing Haley to raise her eyebrows. "What? It's what she needs, and I'll wait for her as long as necessary, no matter how long, the end goal's still the same."
"And what's that? That Peyton Sawyer will be Peyton Scott?"
"Oh you suck!" he shouted at her, laughing as he lined up the next shot, "The point of putting are wishes in that box is that they stay in there."
"Whatever dude," Haley smiled, her tears drying, "She's growing on me though, you can keep her."
"Why thank you for your permission Ms James."