A/N:

So I would like to start by apologizing for taking so long to update. Unfortunatly my beta was out of town, then I was out of town and then I just couldn't seem to get the finishing touches just right on this chapter. There will be no song for this chapter and I may just skip to using the titles for songs as chapters rather than featuring the song throughout unless I find something really inspiring. When I'm selecting a song, I'm extremely picky and it can make it difficult to find just the right one, so some chapters from here on out will have songs, others will just have a song title as the chapter title.

This chapter is titled Lonely World after a song by Bryan Greenburg.

Thanks to those wonderful people who've reviewed so far, you guys are awesome! Please keep the reviews coming in.. They are what keeps the story going because they keep me creative. So, I need you to review and let me know what you think. You can make suggestions and I may or may not use them as the story is already created in my mind.

Thanks to Vicky who has reviewed my chapters to date and helped pick out any oddball sentances or inconsistancies.

Just an FYI for all of you, I'm just adding the finishing touches on chapter 7 so you won't have to wait long for it.

Jenna

"Lonely World"

Peyton pulled back in complete shock. This was unbelievable and she never would have thought in a million years he would kiss her. And not only kiss her out of no where, but on the same day Luke ended things with her.

"No, no, no, no, no…" She stood up and backed away shaking her head.

"Peyt… I'm sorry…" How could he be such a fool!?! Starting to smack himself on the forehead the only words coming out of his mouth at this point were "Stupid, stupid, stupid"

This was the worst case scenario. Definitely not something that was supposed to happen. It had started out so innocently, he just wanted to consol his friend. She was a mess and he just wanted to consol her. In the midst of watching her cry, his mind drifted to his own current family situation and the reason he was in town. His grandfather's passing. It was a horrible situation and having to deal with everything his parents weren't due to the history between his father and grandfather, he was lonely.

Peyton continued to stand there in complete shock, he was her friend, he was Luke's friend and only a mere couple of hours after the end of their relationship, he'd kissed her and not just any kiss. It was a full on, passionate kiss.

Not wanting to wait for any explanation, the curly blonde started to run.

He began to chase after her but stopped briefly by the sound of his name being called.

"Mouth!" he heard come from a short distance away. Turning he looked to see a good friend approach him.

"Skillz… wow, long time no see!" the spiky haired man replied to his friend, temporarily forgetting about the problems he had just caused.

"Yo dawg, how've you been? It feels like a lifetime." Most had moved away from Tree Hill, only a few remained behind. Skills had been among the ones who left, working his way through college at Duke, he was a fast and rising star in the college basketball world.

"No kidding… I've been alright, you?"

"Not bad, not bad… Hwy, where's curly headed in such a hurry?" He had asked what he thought was a simple question and was certainly not expecting the reaction he received from his shorter friend.

"Crap!" Realizing that Peyton was not out of sight, he couldn't believe he'd let her get away before he could explain himself properly and apologize. "I totally screwed up Skillz… and I'm not sure I can fix it…" Mouth continued hanging his head in defeat.

"What do you mean man? What could you do to make Peyton run away from you like that dawg?" Skills was confused, Mouth was one of the nicest guys around. Girls loved him and usually considered him a confidante.

"Well, see, she was telling be about what happened with her and Luke-" he started as he was cut off with an urgency by his friend.

"-happened with her and Luke? What happened with her and Luke?"

"Right, you don't know what happened…" Mouth started to start the story from the beginning. "Well, from what Peyton told me, Luke ended their relationship this morning-"

"Luke did what!?!" Skills once again interrupted. He couldn't believe it, although he figured no one who found out could. They'd fought so hard for each other and given up so much. Peyton her best friend, and Lucas, a part of himself from the guilt he suffered after hurting Brooke and all he'd put the petite brunette through.

"Luke broke up with Peyt this morning, only a couple of hours ago…" Mouth reiterated as he continued the story. "So anyways, I was walking around town, reminiscing a little and saw her just sitting there at the picnic table, sobbing. It was heartbreaking to watch. After watching her for a few minutes, unsure of if I should approach her, I decided that I should at least see what's wrong."

"Look at you ever the gentleman dawg… So she told you what happened with Luke then? Skills once again cut in, at least he waited for Mouth to finish a sentence this time.

"Yeah, she was really broken up about it too, understandably. After a few minutes of talking to her and comforting her, well that's when I really screwed up…" He wasn't sure how he was going to even admit to the next part he was so ashamed. "I've been really lonely, and things have been really crazy lately with the family. I haven't been dealing well and I totally messed up with Peyton. " Pausing for a moment, he decided to just spit it out to his awaiting friend. "I kissed her Skillz-"

"You did what!?!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing, Mouth, shy Mouth, had kissed one of his best friends girls, well ex-girl…"

"Yes okay! Yes! I kissed her! It was a mistake! And now I have to find a way to make it up and get her to forgive me…" Mouth was distraught. He had no idea how he was going to correct this. Their curly blonde friend was not the most forgiving person on the world and she took most things to heart.

"Well why'd you kiss her Mouth? Skills questioned more calmly now. He was confused, this was completely unlike his childhood friend.

"Everything's just being going wrong lately, apparently for the both of us. Luke breaking up with her, I'm here dealing with family issues that my father's too much of a coward to handle. I just reacted poorly. I have a girlfriend back home, I just screwed up.." They had made their way over to the picnic table by this point and were sitting and talking everything over, Mouth with his head in his hands, disappointed in himself, and Skillz just hoping that his friend would be able to talk to Peytong and work everything out between them, both understanding it was just a mistake and no harm was meant.

"Well, dawg, all I can suggest is that you go find curly and explain to her what you just told me…" he offered his advice sympathetically, hoping Peyton would be just as understanding, although he assumed it would take a little more than the short version of Mouth's story to him for Peyton to understand. She was hard-headed and stubborn when it came to anything someone would require her forgiveness.

"Yeah, I guess I should, but she's not going to understand Skillz, I completely crossed the line. And god forbid if Luke finds out, he's going to be furious with me! Oh god! What have I done, I've really messed up!" Mouth's imagination was running away full bore now… assuming the worst.

"Mouth, man, go find Peyton and work out your friendship with her. Luke will be good man, he doesn't get worked up like that, it was a mistake, he'll understand."

"You think?" He asked unsure of wether or not to trust Skillz opinion on how Luke would deal with what happened.

"Yeah, I do dawg. Of course he's going to be fine. And you'll work everything out with curly too. Don't fret man, but don't leave it too long. Now get going and fix things."

Despite what people typically assumed about his friend, Skillz was always a reasonable and level headed guy. Now more than ever Mouth appreciated his friend. He'd really helped out in a crunch.

"Thanks man, listen I'll catch you later okay? Maybe we can get a chance to catch up before I leave for home."

"Fo sho dawg! Take care."

Mouth started walking away, deciding that the safest bet was to take a walk to Peyton's house and try there first.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, he finally arrived at her house. He could hear the blare of the loud emo music, typical Peyton fashion he thought to himself. Wondering if he should knock, he realized she wouldn't hear it anyways with the music as loud as it was.

He walked into the house and up the stairs to her room, only having been there a couple of times before, he followed the music to her open door. Watching her for a minute as she sat there and stared blankly ahead, he decided it'd be best to start out simple.

"Peyton, I'm sorry." He spoke a little surer of himself and she just stood there, staring blankly. If he was going to force her to listen to an explanation then she wasn't going to interrupt him so that it could be over with as soon as possible. She needed to get out of there and clear her head and this was far from helping.

"It was a mistake Peyt. I know that. I was feeling so lonely and things have been really bad lately… and you…" before he could continue, she scoffed at him and cut in.

"Of course it was a mistake! How could you even think of kissing me?" She had to stop and take a deep breath before she started to hyperventilate, this was a bad situation for her, not one she could handle at the moment. "What the hell were you thinking?" She screamed at the normally kind hearted and considerate man.

He thought he was going to pass out. He should have thought this through a little more. After all, Luke was the love of her life, she'd given up everything for him and here was shortly after kissing her trying to take it all back. "I'm such an idiot" he mumbled quietly to himself.

Looking up at her, he started again. "Peyton, look, I'm really sorry. Can't we just pretend this never happened?" He had to plead with her. She'd always been nice to him and now, more than ever he needed a friend as much as she did.

"Don't you think that would be kind of hard to do at this point? I mean seriously, where the hell did that come from anyways?" She asked, still trying to work everything out in her head. This was messed up, but she knew she needed to calm down in reality, plus he was her friend in a way and he looked like he needed a friend as much as she did at the moment. Maybe they could figure this out. Pretend it never happened.

"Again… I'm really sorry Peyt. There's just a lot I'm dealing with right now and I think we both need someone to lean on at the moment… as you were sobbing, and I started thinking that, I just… I don't know what came over me." How could he honestly explain himself to her? The words sounded as stupid coming out of his mouth and they did in his head. He couldn't even clear things up for himself.

"You know what?" She started, not believing that she had managed to calm herself down, this had to be a first. "I think you're right. We need to just pretend it didn't happen." She continued on. This really shouldn't be so weird. It wasn't like this was the first time he had just gone and kissed someone with no real reason behind it. Although she was pretty sure he might have been slightly drunk after graduation.

"Friends?" He asked with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"Friends." She said in complete calmness, not letting the uncertainties in her voice pull though.

"So Peyt?" He questioned lightly.

"Yeah?" Unsure of what she expected him to say.

"How about we go grab a coffee and lay everything in our lives out on the table. Be friends for a day so we each have someone to talk to since we obviously both need it." He hoped she'd say yes. He really did need someone to talk to and was sincerely hoping he hadn't just screwed everything up.

"Well, since the only place we ever go for coffee is Karen's, I'm going to have to pass on that one Mouth." She tried to give him a small smile as his shoulders slumped. "But I have a better idea—" She started.

"And what would that be Miss Sawyer?" His curiosity cutting in before she could finish.

"Well, why don't we get some ice cream and walk down to the docks. We can chat there. It's a nice day out and that place holds no memories for either of us right?"

"Sounds good Peyt." Mouth said with a smile. "And I really am sorry about before… can we really just forget about it?"

"Well we could if you stopped bringing it up?" She said with a small smile and laugh to follow.

After a long talk at the docks, followed by some ice cream, both could honestly say they'd not only let off a lot of steam with everything going on, but had truly put the earlier mistake behind them. Promising they each other they were only a phone call away, Peyton also let Mouth know that Haley would be in town over the weekend if he wanted to see her for a bit, so long as he didn't jeopardize her much needed girl time.