A/N: See, you guys are my muse! You're feedback it makes me imagine even more! I like to write for fun, but I won't lie when I say I write mainly for you!
Chapter dedicated to LEYTONALWAYS. You made me laugh! So I'm borrowing you ;)
Okay so something funny just happened and I'm going to share it with you! Haha. So it's dark outside right now which means its dark in my room since all the lights are off only my computer is on and my dog comes running in and jumps on my bed, and I'm on my bed with my laptop and he doesn't see the laptop cause he's on the floor and he's a small dog so he's running and jumps on the bed and bumps his head on the back of my laptop and falls off of the bed. Poor baby…but it was so funny…awe.
Chapter Six: When It Began
There was a single second of silence while Peyton descended down the rest of the steps all eyes were on her and that just made her feel a tad bit nervous; every since she was young she was informed that first impressions were what made tight bonds or broke them. Once she had reached the last step the man with the goatee extended out his hand the smile never leaving his gracious features.
"Peyton, this is Keith." Larry introduced the two. "He runs his own body shop two blocks down from here and he's also the one that got The Comet running again."
"Really? Thank for repairing it." Her smile matched her tone and it was grateful. "Anna said that if you wouldn't have been able to get it working than I'd be stuck driving that egg white station wagon that's hidden underneath a sheet in the garage. "
"It's no problem. I've seen that wagon and I personally couldn't have allowed my niece or nephew to drive around town in that thing." Keith grinned, it wasn't the same kind that Nathan or Lucas had; it didn't make her knees buckle or make them go weak, but when she turned to look at the woman beside him it looked like it had affected her almost immediately.
"Hey." Anna protested. "That was our first car."
"Yeah like from twenty years ago." Keith snorted.
"Okay on to the next person." Larry stopped the banter before it had even begun. "Peyton this is Karen."
"Hello, Peyton, it's so nice to meet you. Anna's told me so much about you."
"All good things I hope?" The young blonde asked.
"Nothing but good." Karen smiled sweetly. "This is my son Lucas."Karen had stepped a couple feet back bringing her son forward to introduce him.
Anna watched mystified on how these two adolescents were going to react; a small glimmer of anxiousness showing in her eyes. Too bad she didn't know that they already met; so when Peyton looked at him with confusion Anna was dreading that they had an encounter and it hadn't been a pleasant one.
"You brought the baby?" It was meant to come out as a question, but came out more of an accusation that Peyton was calling Lucas a baby.
"Peyton!" She was being quickly scolded by her guardian. "You don't call someone that. It's impolite."
At this moment if it was anyone who was bewildered it was Peyton and maybe Lucas because it seemed like he was the only other person in the room that understood what she had been asking.
"What? No. I didn't call him a-"She looked away from Anna and back to Lucas who she noticed from the moment she saw him that his hands had been empty. "Luke-" She quickly started using the nickname. "-did you bring the baby with you?"
"Yeah. She's-" He looked at the ground hoping to spot the carrier that his mother provided so he wouldn't have to hole the doll with him everywhere he went; but when his eyes didn't catch the infant seat he slowly lifted his head and smirked almost apologetically. "-in the car."
"You left her in the car?" Peyton did her best to sound appalled but all she really wanted to do was laugh.
"What's going on?" Larry asked when it showed that no other adults were going to fill in the missing pieces.
"Larry, Anna, mom, Keith." Lucas grabbed hold of Peyton's left hand and brought it up high. "We're married." He felt the plastic ring on her finger that he had given her the second day of school.
Peyton had walked out of her calculus class surprised to see him waiting for her, but before she could ask what he was doing there he had gently slipped something onto her finger. 'Now it's official.' Lucas had said. Looking at the object that sat perched perfectly she asked what it was. He grinned that smile that she was finding quite hard to resist while he told her that it was a ring. Peyton scoffed and called him a dork adding that she knew what it was the yellow colored band with the plastic diamond wedged in the middle gave it away pretty fast. He was taunting her right back; then why ask? Her comeback wasn't the best because all she could come up with was 'because' and 'Why are you giving it to me?' He shoved his hands into his pockets a trait that she would later on come to know as nervousness while he shrugged his shoulders sheepishly before his confidence came back and so did that smirk. He then went on to tell her that he had put a quarter into one of those gumball machines and when he flipped open the top to claim his prize the clear container held a toy ring; 'Thought you might like it' he added. She looked down at her finger and walked away without saying another word; her next class would be starting soon; she held the books to her face to hide her expression of how she really felt as she smiled.
"And we have a baby." Peyton went along with the little game almost wishing she had her camera to take a snap shot of the lost looks on their faces that lasted for a minute. But it was already imprinted in her mind so she could always draw it later on.
"Oh, I see." Karen and Anna spoke simultaneously quickly followed by a laugh. "The two of you got paired together in your child development class." Karen finished.
"Yeah." Peyton confirmed. "A class that I might fail all because father of the year, here," she held her hand in a hitch hikers position as her thumb pointed toward Lucas. "-left the baby in the car."
"Don't go putting on the blame on him, missy." Anna spoke her tone always motherly. "How many times have you left that baby in your car?"
"Come on, Luke, let's go get that baby from the car." Peyton said quickly mashing the sentence into one hurried word.
Lucas had turned his head slightly to look at Peyton arching one of his eyebrows up into the air curiously while Peyton pushed him out the front door hoping that he hadn't heard Anna's confession.
Once outside the only light that was being given off were from the stars. If it was one thing that Peyton enjoyed about Tree Hill it was that she could look up into the nights sky and see the stars shining brightly; you just don't get that kind of beauty in Los Angeles. She walked ahead of him while he strolled easily behind her a wide smile she didn't know he was sporting.
"So you left our baby in the car, too." Lucas stated matter-of-factly.
"Maybe." Peyton stood looking into Karen's car spotting the robo baby quickly. "You know. Once, maybe twice, three times, four times if I'm positive. But who's counting anyway? Cause than it might have been five."
"Five times, huh."
She felt his breath on her neck immediately the sensation sent a tidal wave of shivers and sparks throughout her body. She turned slowly their bodies' only centimeters apart.
"Six if you count the time I left it on the beach after one of my runs. I had to go back and-"His fingers brushed against her cheek to remove a strand of her curls and placed it behind her ear. "-and the waves were getting higher by…"
Peyton moved in closing her eyes shut while only the smallest of gaps still lingered between them; the last move was all his and she wouldn't stop him if he took the opportunity. She felt his arm snake around her back while his free hand was placed on top of the roof's car to hold him up while he leaned towards her.
"Guys!" The white door opened while Keith's voice could be heard. He leaned against the door's frame his eyes not yet used to the quick change in lighting. "Dinner's going to get cold."
Peyton managed to get herself untangled from Lucas so instead of standing face to face with him she slid across the car her head was positioned to look away while Lucas stayed in the same position.
"We'll be there in a minute, Keith." He told his uncle a bit of frustration lacing each word.
"You should get the baby before it starts crying." Peyton told him as she strolled back into the house. She played with the toy band on her finger wondering why she hadn't taken it off today. She only wore it the one time he had given it to her and now she was contemplating how it got on her finger tonight.
When he returned he took a seat at the round table a conversation had already been started as he tried to catch up on what he had missed. Keith being the adult that he wasn't nudged Lucas underneath the table whispering 'That's the girl!' at least three times.
"I failed when I took that class." Karen shared. "I remember when I went out of town and my mother made me take that doll with me. I had met this really cute guy while there-"Keith cleared his throat as if trying to say 'You're talking about some guy and I'm right here.' "-That was before you, dear. As I was saying I met this really cute guy and we were talking and my mom called out from the beach house that we were renting at the time and said 'Karen, come and get your daughter. She won't stop crying and this isn't Nana's problem it's yours'. You can't believe how mortifying it was back then." The table had erupted with laughter. "And that's not the worst part. The poor guys looking at me with his eyes practically popping out of his head and my mother yells out 'You don't need to be flirting when you have a husband'. I swear I've never seen a guy run so fast that he didn't see the watering hole and he fell into it. A couple days later we were headed back home and almost into Tree Hill when I realized I left the doll in the closet underneath a pile of blankets to muffle out it's crying. I got an F on the project and had to write a five page essay on why I was such a bad mother."
By the end of her story it was as if all the people around the table were whipping their eyes dry. It was a tale that would never be forgotten.
"Now I have a good excuse just in case I don't pass the class." Lucas smiled.
"You're going to pass that class, young man."
"Well with genes like yours you never know."
"I guess there will be no going out of town for you than or going to the beach for that matter." Karen joked.
"Peyton already left the baby at the beach before. What's one more time?"
"Lucas, do not bring me into this crazy mess." Peyton hissed; so much for making a first impression.
"Okay than; new subject." Keith suggested. "I heard you guys made a time capsule."
"Only Carl's English classes." Lucas agreed. "Me, Nate, Brooke, and Peyt. Other kids too."
Anna looked toward Peyton happily surprised mouthing the nickname Lucas had given her in return Peyton gave her the look that any daughter would give their mother begging not to bring it up so not to embarrass them.
"What did you guys talk about?" Larry asked intrigued.
"You're going to have to wait fifty years to find out." Peyton told him cheerfully.
"In fifty years I'll be going senile."
"Nothing can be shared until 2057." She wasn't about to concede about what she had said on tape.
"What about you Rake Boy?" Larry called toward Lucas. It's a name he's used for him since he was a boy when his mother was teaching him the value of a dollar. He'd go over knock on the Sawyer's front door rake in hand and ask if they'd like to have their yard cleaned free of leaves for a fee, of course.
"No can do, Mr. Sawyer."
Dinner had been over and while the adults chatted over coffee and cake Peyton had offered Lucas an escape out of relieving those embarrassing baby stories. He followed her upstairs the echoing of Larry's voice penetrated through the kitchen walls.
"I don't care if you are married keep you're hands to yourselves. We don't want any more of those mechanical babies in this house."
And soon that laughter of the rest of the three adults followed.
"My uncle is so embarrassing." Peyton murmured a light shade of red blanketed her cheeks.
"So is mine." Lucas added.
They stopped in front of a black door. Peyton turned the knob and entered.
"And this is my room."
He shadowed her inside and looked around the room. The walls were red and on the wall next to the door pictured an audience circa the mid 1900s; on the wall opposite there were what seemed like hundreds of vinyl records displayed on shelves. He's never seen a room like this before. Art covered her walls; a reflection of who she was and what she stood for.
"Woah." He's the first person that's seen her room other than the people she's living with. He picked through her collection while she told him to be careful when she thought he was about to drop one of her favorite records that was harder to find than that golden cup in The Di Vinci Code. "You've got some great records here.
"That's what I aim for."
"You've got a lot of classics here The Romones, U2, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, The Clash, The Sex Pistols, Billy Idol, The Eagles."
"Hotel California is practically my theme song." She told him "You can't forget the greats like Frank Sinatra and the two Elvis'; Costello and Priestly."
"Didn't picture you much for an Elvis fan." Lucas confessed.
"People can surprise you." She didn't tell him that her mom's mom was a fan so in turn she grew up listening to Jail House Rock and What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding.
"You're full of mystery Peyton Sawyer."
"You have no idea."
She put the first record her fingers touched to play while La Rocca's Non Believer filled the room. They played music for the next hour or so while she answered all his questions; she was a music junkie after all. Naming her favorite NOFX songs and Dashboard Confessional favorites.
Karen came into the room to retrieve her son. She watched as the two lied next to each other on their stomachs as Peyton went on to explain the greatness that is The Cure. She talked with her hands to give great emphasis on how awesome that band was, but all Lucas could do was squint his eyes as he listened to one of their songs being played.
"Lucas; it's time to go."
They swung their legs off the bed at the same time and while Peyton stood Lucas sat on the bed gathering the pretend baby into the car seat. He then stood while they did the awkward dance as they moved in the same direction trying to sidestep one another.
Once all six were outside they said their goodbyes and while Keith and Karen were waiting in the car Anna and Larry found themselves back inside leaving alone the two teenagers.
"So." Peyton broke the silence.
"So-"Lucas replied. "Tonight was fun."
"Yeah it was fun."
"Maybe we could do it again another time. Without the rents." Lucas pointed with his head towards the house and the car.
"Maybe."
"I guess I'll be seein' ya."
Peyton's lips curled ever so slightly as she backed away slowly; after a while she turned around and for the second time tonight he's seen her walk back into the red brick house with the big white door.
He slid into the back seat of the car his mother and uncle's voice seemed like miles away as he looked out the window and up into the dark sky.
***
Don't you just hate those weekend mornings when you wake up really early? You're energized and not the least bit tired. Today was one of those days and Peyton wondered why she couldn't be up this early on weekdays. She pulled her hair back into a tight pony tail and pulled on her track shorts while she grabbed her running shoes ready for an early morning run.
She usually didn't run in the mornings, but today she had something to run from; an image in her mind that she couldn't get to leave. She shook her head again for the third time this morning as she tried to get rid of the picture. She ran towards the beach which was only a couple of miles away from her house and when she reached the sandy shores all she wanted to do was feel like she was home again. So when she slipped off her shoes and dug her feet into the sand she felt like she was. After a while she found herself walking across the shoreline where the water crashed against her legs; the ocean feeling cool against her bare skin.
She thought about her life here and she thought about her life back in California. There were pros and cons to both lists and she couldn't decide where she really wanted to be. Tree Hill had been great in the week that she's been here, but how long would that last? And Los Angeles has been home where both good and bad memories have formed.
She realized that it must be noon; the air started to become thick and warm and so it was time to head back to the house she was currently staying in. Peyton ran back this time without her iPod seeing as she forgot to charge it and was now dead so the sounds she heard were the birds chirping and the sound of lawn mowers buzzing through the air. Out of her peripheral vision she noticed something coming towards her and fast so she ran a little faster, but wasn't able to outrun whatever it was that was now running with her.
She stopped and looked down to see man's best friend.
"Shoo." She ordered the Labrador retriever, but he didn't listen while he followed her as Peyton took a couple steps forward. "Come on, get, go home." She took a step forward and so did the dog. She took a step to the side and so did the dog. He was following her every move. "You must belong to someone." She said to herself noting that it was still a puppy and also because talking to a dog was sort of kind of crazy.
She looked around the empty block no kids playing in the yard no one in search for a missing dog. So she kept on walking and the dog followed behind her. She walked straight to the house where the puppy had come running from. A knock on the door. A second knock. And finally a third one where a young man answered the door.
"Is this your dog?"
His reply was a no along with everyone else's followed by the door slamming shut. Apparently this dog was ownerless and alone in this world. She held him in her arms the puppy seemed more than content as she walked towards her house.
"Well, buddy, we're going to see who you belong to." It was as if the dog smiled its tongue hanging out of its mouth which was wide open and his tale began to wag violently from side to side. He did seem happy. "We should probably give you a name. What about Fin?" The puppy's tale stopped wagging and his little head turned to the side. "It's not that great of a name anyway. Plus, I don't think Fin would like it if I named a dog after him."
There was music coming for their neighbors house and again the puppy's tale began to sway as he rolled around in the grass.
"I see you like the Beatles." Peyton was actually having a one sided conversation with the dog as 'With the a Help from My Friends' played loudly. She walked away slowly from the pup who sat on the grass relaxing. "Ringo Starr, here."
The little dog that would soon grow big went running to her side quickly.
"Looks like you have a name now, buddy."
A/N: So there you have it. What did you think about it? Was the dinner what you expected? And now Peyton has a pet?? Lemme know with that fabulous green button!
Again thank you LEYTONALWAYS for the story!!!
Name of title by song from The Replacements