Title: The Past You've Forgotten to Bury
Pairing: Lucas/Peyton (It is purely angsty Leyton though, no fluff in this one)
"God Lucas, what are we even doing anymore?" her voice sounds defeated, like the fight is lost.
He looks at her expectantly. "What are you talking about Peyton?"
She turns on her feet, propelling towards their bedroom and he follows, out of curiosity of course.
She's standing in front of their shared closet, pushing things out of the way to find a box that is located in the very back of the closet.
"It took me a while to find this. But I was cleaning one day and I came across it so I was curious and I opened it," she responds monotonically, shoving the box into Lucas's hands. "What the hell is this Lucas?" she asks angrily, her green eyes full of fire.
"That box is private Peyton," he tells her angrily, pointing towards the black ink that reads private on top of the box. "You shouldn't have opened it."
"I have a right to open up anything in this house Lucas!" she yells. "You are my husband and you are keeping things from me," she yells again, her fist connecting with the hard flesh that is his chest. "And I hate you for it." She chokes out, her body racking with every sob.
"I never meant to cause you so much pain Peyton…" he whispers, his voice full of torture and regret. He regrets keeping the box but he can't bury the past; he can't let go.
"Tell me what this box is, what it means to you, please?" she asks as calmly as she can muster.
"That…" he points to the box that he has set on the bed. "Is a box of memories."
"Yeah," she nods, spilling the contents from the box onto the bed, letting the many contents slip between her fingers. "A box of memories about your ex-girlfriend."
"Those are from high school Peyton," he warns her. "I haven't been with Brooke in years."
"Doesn't mean you don't still love her," she counteracts with a slight mumble, her eyes trained on the floor.
"I don't!" Lucas yells defensively. Even he has a hard time believing that.
"Well then why do you have these?" she asks, picking up several photos of them together and letting them slip through her fingers and fall onto the bed gently. "And these?" she asks, lifting up a stack of 82 tightly bound together letters. "And this?" she asks, picking up an old tattered version of 'An Unkindess of Ravens'. "This is the original, unedited book, written about you and Brooke. I found it and phoned Lindsey and she told me everything Lucas. She told me that the ending was revised to fit us because we ended up together, not you and Brooke. Why the hell didn't you tell me that?"
"Peyton, these are memories. I keep those letters and pictures because they are memories of an old friend. And I kept that book because it was the original. I wasn't going to just get rid of it…"
"Bullshit Lucas," she looks at him angrily. "Why do you have all of these things?"
"I… I…" Lucas sighs, struggling to find the words. "I don't know. But what I do know is that I love you Peyton."
"If you love me, you'll get rid of those things in your closet."
He nods, picking up the contents of the box and tucking them inside. He tosses them in the trash and looks at Peyton with a smile.
As much as it kills him, he knows that he has to throw those things out. He honestly doesn't know why he still holds onto those lost memories; maybe it's because they remind him of a love that is long lost, maybe he still has feelings for Brooke buried beneath the obvious feelings that he has for Peyton. He really doesn't know. But what he does know is that the contents of that box remind him of a time when everything was simple; when he fell in love for the first time.
Peyton looks on sadly, staring out the window at the cars that pass by on the street. She feels trapped. She hates that it's so hard for Lucas to part with that box. And she begins to wonder if Lucas still harbors feelings for Brooke.
She feels imprisoned in a relationship that she put in so much effort to get. Maybe all the effort really wasn't worth it. She hates living with the constant fear that her husband may still love his ex-girlfriend; her best friend. But she loves him too much to let him go.
The day she opened that box was the day that the past was unburied. It was the day that she truly felt a piece of her heart break because she finally understood what it felt like to be in Brooke's shoes; to feel like you aren't good enough for someone.
An: I'm sorry if this offends any Leyton fans but I just don't like them as a couple at all so I find it easier to write angsty Leyton than fluff.