Again, a big thanks to all of those who reviewed. It sucks that OTH is on hiatus, right?
Peyton stumbled out of the front door of Rachel's beach house. The warm and bright sunshine wasn't exactly helping with her hangover. The sickly scent of the ocean wafted with the cool morning breeze. Everything outside was perfect, meanwhile, she felt like crap. She squinted her eyes to get adjusted to the light.
"Rough night?" Rachel asked, suddenly appearing beside her, an all too knowing smirk plastered on her face.
"Shut up." Peyton grumbled. She held on to the wooden rails.
"I wouldn't drive in your condition." Rachel advised. She handed Peyton a couple of pills and a bottle of water. "Helps with the headache."
"You should know, right?" Peyton replied. Rachel frowned and Peyton smiled at her, an apologetic action for being such a grouch. "I'm sorry. It's just that," She shifted her feet and felt the coarse texture of the sand. "The sunlight sucks."
"It's always too bright." Rachel said, putting an arm around her. "Too bright."
…
Lucas felt like an invisible weight was put on top of his body. He couldn't bring himself to stand up. He opened his eyes, and the room came into focus. The curtains were shut but light was escaping from the small gap it made with the floor. He turned himself around and found that he was alone, and, naked. An empty bottle of tequila and his clothes were carelessly strewn in the corner. When he finally had enough strength to sit up, a pounding headache suddenly made its way into his head. Then, to make things worse, his phone rang. Noisily, at that.
"Hello?" Lucas mumbled into the mobile.
"Lucas? Hi!" Lucas tried to search his memory for the voice. Who was calling? "It's Haley?"
"Oh, hi! Haley!" Lucas said, redeeming himself. Haley…she was his prom date, right? He racked his brain for more information. The hangover wasn't helping. "Uh, how are you?"
"Oh, I'm excellent!" Silence. "Anyway, I just wanted to ask if maybe you would want to meet for breakfast? There's this little café I found last night." Lucas opened his mouth to say that it was a bad time but something in him said that he needed to impress the girl.
"Great! Okay. Um, what's the name of the café?" Lucas asked, standing up abruptly. The headache grew worse. He fell back on the bed.
"Are you okay?" Haley asked, hearing the thump.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just stubbed my toe." He said.
"Karen's café? Have you heard of that?" Haley said.
"Actually, that's my mom's café." Lucas told her, trying to give the impression of a sweet, loving, humble son.
"Really? Well then that's good! So, I'll meet you there at, say, nine-ish?" Haley chirped into the phone. Her voice was kind of getting to Lucas.
"Great." Lucas replied, glancing at the wall clock. It was 8:30. "See you there, beautiful."
Usual giggle. "Bye." She said, and hung up.
…
Lucas ran down the stairs like mad, ignoring his painful headache. The light from the windows surprised him and made him stop running. When he opened his eyes, he saw Rachel offering him a bottle of water and some pills.
"Helps with the headache." She said sweetly. Lucas swallowed the pills and gulped down the water.
"Nice night?" He asked, curious on what brought about this kindness. Rachel Gatina personified evil. Well, at least to the people that she disliked. Which was 90 percent of the student population. Those people absolutely hated her, but then they still wanted her to like them. The remaining 10 percent of the students she was either flirty or civil to. Yes, even the girls. Rachel was no lesbian, but one of her secret fantasies was for someone to go lesbian because of her.
"Better than yours." She said with a wink.
"I have to go." Lucas said, smiling at her with his trademark stud smile.
"Bye baby." Rachel said, blowing a kiss at him.
…
Peyton collapsed onto her bed, closing her eyes. Last night was crazy. Chris Keller asked her to the prom in the sweetest way possible. She got extremely drunk and danced her way around the house. Her memory must have failed her, since she remembered going upstairs with Lucas. She remembered getting drunker on tequila. Then she slept with him. She opened her eyes in horror, sitting up. Having two boyfriends was the worst habit she has.
"Good morning, sunshine!" Chris greeted with a brown paper bag in his hand. He made his way to the bed and kissed Peyton demurely. "The hangover kit. Coffee, Advil, water, sunglasses and me." He grinned adorably as Peyton gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks Chris." She said, wearing the sunglasses. She opened the cup and took a small sip of coffee. "You don't seem to have a hangover."
"I did. Seeing you made it all better." He replied. "So, you up for a day date?"
Peyton laughed. "A day date?" She pretended to think about it. She was starting to like Chris in an un-physical way. He was sweet, funny and original. "Sure! But I have to go take a shower first."
"A shower?" Chris repeated suggestively with a smirk. Peyton leaned in and kissed him deeply.
"A shower." She whispered in his ear.
…
It was Monday again. Lucas was making his way to his AP Literature class when he saw a memo saying that that his insanely boring music class borrowed the time. He had nothing against those dead composers; his teacher was just a little too much to take. Mr. Brians was a hard-ass, washed up rock star that was extremely good at his job. That was why Haley and her friend were here. He knew he could never learn the "art of the axe" (axe being the guitar according to Brians) so he ditched music class and went to the gym to practice his free throws. After a few shots, the door of the gym opened. He turned around, praying that it wasn't the coach.
"Oh." Lucas said, relieved and surprised at the same time. "Hi, Peyt."
"Avoiding Brians?" She asked, chuckling softly. "Chris attends that class."
"Right." He said, and an awkward silence ensued. "So."
"So." Peyton said.
"Why are you here?" Lucas asked, venturing a conversation.
"We don't have first period. Mr. Bennett borrowed it for some honors orientation." She said with a yawn. Peyton wasn't really conceited when it came to her grades. Her being smart was a fact of life. She was more arrogant about the fact that she was one half of the most desired people in the school. The other half was Lucas. Suddenly they heard a voice.
"Mr. Bennet wants me to catch felons, I'll catch felons!" Jim, the old school caretaker, said with an evil cackle. Lucas reminded him of that guy with a cat in the Harry Potter movies. The really ugly guy who despised students. Lucas grabbed Peyton and they made their way to the locker rooms. Laughing and panting at the same time, they locked the door.
"I'll catch felons!" Peyton said, imitating Jim's croaky voice. Lucas laughed.
"Jiminy Croaky." Lucas said, remembering the nickname the students gave him. They both sat down on the floor, their backs against the metal lockers. Lucas looked at Peyton, and she looked back. They were staring at each other for a few seconds before magnetism took over and they were pulled into a deep and passionate kiss.
"Stop." Peyton said, pulling away.
"What's wrong?" Lucas asked. Peyton's face looked serious. Then she broke into a grin.
"Ever had that naked cheerleader fantasy?" She asked mischievously.
"I've heard about that." Lucas answered with a smirk.
"Well now you won't just hear about it." She replied, laughing.
"Really?" Lucas asked, cocking his eyebrow. Peyton kissed the side of his neck and made her way up his ear.
"Really." She whispered. "But before that, let's get things straight." She said, and looked at Lucas.
"We had sex the night of Rachel's party." Lucas said. "And you really can't have only one boyfriend."
"Shut up!" Peyton said, slapping him playfully. "And this doesn't have to be anything. Right?" She asked.
"Right." Lucas answered, after a moment. "You're hot," He said, slowly removing her top, "And I'm hot."
"I know, right?" She replied, laughing.
"There's really no need for conversation, is there?" He said, kissing the side of her face. Peyton replied by pulling him towards the showers. Somewhere back in the school, Haley excused herself to look for Lucas and Chris was late for music class because he looked for Peyton.
…
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