CHAPTER 7
Peyton banged her hand against the steering wheel furiously before turning and muttering scathingly, 'Now look what you did.'
'Me?!' Lucas asked incredulously.
'Yes! I told you to shut up!'
'Oh so me talking made your car break down?'
'No you being a jackass made my car break down.'
Lucas snorted, 'That doesn't even make sense.'
Peyton turned with a glare, 'I am so close to hitting you right about now.'
'Feel free to.' Lucas smirked.
'Don't tempt me.'
They sat in silence for a few minutes Peyton absolutely furious and Lucas quietly feeling worse about the things he'd said with each second that passed. Minutes later he muttered,
'I'm going to take a look.'
'Make sure the bonnet doesn't fall and whack you on the head…' Her tone dripped sarcasm and he actually laughed at her glare before stepping out and opening her slightly smoking bonnet. She stepped out a moment later and asked, 'Do you really know what you're doing?' As he looked around the engine and prodded a couple of points his shoulders were hunched and back arched in concentration, she actually quite liked the view… not that she'd ever admit such a thing.
He looked back at her and a smile spread across his face, 'Not a clue.'
'Jackass. I thought you might actually know how to get us back on the road.' Peyton murmured but there was smile playing around her lips.
He shut the bonnet and leant against it and a second later Peyton joined him. Minutes later and Lucas' eyes followed a big droplet of rain as it fell onto Peyton's cheek; he was just plucking up the courage to wipe it away when she did it for him.
'You know, they said on the news that there's going to be a storm tonight.' Peyton mused.
'Great. And we're lost and stranded.' Lucas smirked.
Peyton raised her eyebrows at him, 'And whose fault is that?'
Lucas smiled and cocked his head back to look at the sky, 'I think the storms gonna come earlier.' He said and Peyton couldn't pick up on whether he was talking about the actual storm or whether he was talking metaphorically.
Damn writers.
'Well I need to ring the boys. They have no freaking manager now because of someone.'
He didn't dare disagree because even though he technically hadn't made the car break down he was ashamed of having insulted her quite so badly, about something that really was, admittedly, none of his business.
She snapped her phone shut a few minutes later closing her eyes; he knew she was trying to take the good from the very bad of their current situation.
A few moments later he asked tentatively, 'Are they going to be…all right?'
'Yeah.' She sighed opening her eyes, 'They know what to do and they're professional. They'll be fine.'
She sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.
He was about to say something when it began to rain. The rain soon turned into huge torrents of water and they realised very quickly they were going to get extremely wet. The torrents thundered around them as they jumped and Lucas went to open the door to her car. Only to find it locked.
'Shit.' Peyton said, talking loudly over the thunder of water droplets. 'I left the keys in there.'
'Are you kidding me?!'
She shook her head and he made his way back to the bonnet and leant himself against it again very obviously ignoring her. She smirked and went and sat next to him. They sat for a few minutes, absolutely soaked through, hardly able to comprehend anything but the rain thundering around them.
'It's kind of surreal.' Peyton practically shouted, he only just heard as he looked round to face her.
He was struck with how unique this situation was, it was an experience. Plus when Peyton ran a hand through her sodden hair and raindrops fell over her lips which she sub consciously licked away he couldn't think of being here with anyone else. No one was spontaneous enough.
She was. Maybe that's why he liked her.
Peyton's breath caught as she looked at Lucas. His hair was slicked back with rain although it was generally short anyway. Not shaved but not too long either. She'd thought about how it was the perfect length to run her hands through, only once. Then she'd shook her head and laughed at her own stupidity.
The way he was looking now kind of made her want to do more than run her hands through his hair though.
'Yeah.' He agreed with a smile. He was gazing at her when he said it and she quickly broke eye contact.
Moments later and Peyton was starting to get really cold, so she stood up. Lucas watching her and drew her car keys out of her pocket.
'You said you left them in the car!' Lucas shouted incredulously, jumping up as Peyton smirked triumphantly.
'Payback's a bitch.' She said and Lucas' mouth fell open. 'But hey, if you like the rain we could stay out some more.'
'Give me the keys.'
'I like the rain.' Peyton mused.
'Give me the keys.'
'Come and get them.' Peyton smirked, tongue in cheek.
Lucas allowed himself a small smirk before he made his way towards her only she moved away at the same moment and sloshed away.
'Peyton.' He said angrily. 'We're both getting wet.'
'We're both already wet.' The way she said it made his mouth go dry despite the rain and it took him a moment to reply.
'I will get them.'
'Please. I could have run a marathon in the time it's taken you to move a centimetre.'
Lucas strode forward purposefully and she turned too fast for the unstable ground they were on. He grabbed her arm as she slipped; he looked down at her with concern only to see that she was laughing. He shook his head with a small grin before she realised he was still holding her arm. She gave him a small tug and he fell down next to her with a wet splat. He glared at her.
'Stop being so uptight.' She admonished and he smiled before she stood up again and he struggled upright as well.
In the pouring rain they looked at each other standing side by side and despite the cold and wetness he felt that this was kind of a perfect moment. Sure, a passer by would probably think they were crazy and they were most likely going to get hypothermia but either way… it was one of those experiences he knew he wouldn't forget. The rain fell on their faces as they looked up at the sky.
'It is kind of beautiful.' Lucas said and out of the corner of his eye he saw Peyton smile.
They turned their heads to lock eyes once again and seeing his arm hanging loosely at his side between them she had the urge to grab it. She let her arm reach across and her hand almost close around his before she got cold feet and instead linked one of their fingers together in a childish sort of way. He turned his head to her but she solidly stayed looking in front, hardly daring to meet his eyes until he turned to her fully keeping their fingers joined and then she found herself turning too, meeting his gaze, a considerably good feat considering the amount of rain that was slowly turning the ground into a mud bath. He treaded closer and traced a finger over her cheek disguising his action by moving a sodden curl out of her face. She looked up and met his eyes again and he was struck by how close their faces seemed to be.
This was dangerous.
A raindrop fell onto her forehead and he followed its process down the apple of her cheek and as it fell at an angle down past the seam of her lips. At this point his eyes flickered back to hers; they were a mixture of hazel and green, a colour he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before. Her finger gripped his just a little tighter and he didn't know what possessed him to do it but he leant forward so that their noses touched, their lips a breath apart. The coldness that had possessed him mere moments ago had changed to a warm tingly feeling and it took all of his courage to press his lips lightly to hers.
This was really dangerous.
Although she'd seen it coming Peyton was still surprised as his warm, soft lips pressed against her own. However her eyes fell shut of their own accord and she found herself giving in and kissing him back ever so slightly.
Screw danger.
It was the most hesitant first kiss Lucas had ever experienced a simple press of lips to lips. Yet the warmth and tingle of such a small amount of contact spread like wild fire through his body. It was perfect. There was no other contact between them apart from their joined fingers and lips and Peyton realised that this moment seemed somehow monumental.
Here she was standing in the middle of no-where in a torrential downpour of rain, absolutely soaked standing so close to Lucas their t-shirts were sticking together doing the most spontaneous thing she'd done in years, kissing him like it was the most simple thing in the world.
Maybe it was.
'Are you two crazy?!'
They abruptly pulled away from each other to see a man leaning out of his truck, window down and yelling at them out of it.
'We've broken down!' Lucas yelled and the man opened his truck door, beckoning them to him. Lucas took a quick glance at Peyton gave her a grin and linked their remaining fingers together before sloshing over to the man together.
'You both look frozen.' He said with a roll of his eyes, gesturing them into the passenger door. 'I own a pub down the road, you need to get warm.'
They reached the pub in minutes and they walked in through to the bar, taking their places on stools behind it.
'I'll make you both hot chocolate.'
The gratitude the two felt for the man couldn't be put into words as they stuttered their 'thank you's'
'No problem. What brings you down here?' He asked and Lucas looked at Peyton with a smile.
'We were passing through actually.' Peyton said and playfully glared at Lucas.
The man left them after that, to make their drinks and Peyton felt slightly awkward. She'd shared a kiss with Lucas. She'd kissed Lucas. Her heart leapt inevitably and she couldn't keep the slight smile of triumph off her face.
'What?' Lucas asked with an equal smile.
'Nothing.'
He looked at her quizzically and she shrugged before he let it go. Instead he focused on the bar in front of him for a minute before saying, 'About the car incident, I'm sorry.'
Peyton scoffed, 'Luke you didn't make my car break down.'
'Oh I know that.' Lucas smiled, 'I was talking about the argument we had.'
Peyton's smile disappeared slightly and she pursed her lips.
'Which evidently you'd forgotten about.' Lucas said apologetically.
'Blocked it out actually. It was-a little- harsh.'
'I know.' Lucas sighed and placed a hand on her thigh, 'And I'm really sorry. I don't know what I was thinking.'
Peyton's cheeks reddened slightly at the intimate action as she muttered, 'It's okay.'
'It's not.' Lucas insisted and Peyton closed her eyes at the feel of his fingertips on her thigh,
'It's fine Luke.'
'You sure?'
'Yeah.' She breathed out and he removed his hand with a slight squeeze. She wasn't sure whether she liked it better when it was there or not. Her leg felt cold without the warmth of his hand but when it'd rested against her thigh she'd felt completely uncomfortable and like she was going to do something really stupid.
'What actually happened?' Lucas asked tentatively.
'I slept with my best friend's boyfriend.'
Somehow Lucas knew that wasn't true, she wasn't like that. 'Peyton.' He said and she looked at him, his gaze was unwavering and solidly refusing to believe her.
'We went out for a year before he even met Brooke.'
'Wow.' Lucas said and his heart seemed to droop slightly. 'What happened?'
'He proposed, I didn't want to get married.'
'Wow.' Lucas whispered again focusing on the bar in front of him instead of Peyton this time. 'So it ended just like that?'
Peyton snorted, 'Well when someone rejects their boyfriend's proposal it doesn't generally go down well.'
Lucas smiled but Peyton noticed it didn't reach his eyes. 'How did Julian and Brooke happen then?'
'We didn't see each other for a year afterwards but then he came back, I don't really know what for, and he met Brooke… the rest is history.' Peyton smiled.
Lucas found it considerably harder to gauge her mood at the moment, was she sad… regretful, did she regret saying no?
'Why'd you say no?' Lucas asked.
'Because it was…ridiculous. I was barely twenty one years old… I mean who gets married at such a young age, apart from your brother of course.' She smiled and they shared a laugh.
'Did you love him?'
'What is this, twenty questions?'
'You don't have to answer, I'm just… curious.' Lucas said quickly
'Well yeah I did love him. Well I guess I did… what is love really?' Peyton said quickly. 'Have you ever been in love?'
'Yeah, just once.' Lucas said with a small smile.
'I was with her for four years but it all unravelled… she found someone else.'
Peyton placed a hand on his arm, 'Luke.'
'Hey, its only like Julian going off with Brooke isn't it?' He said somewhat cheerfully.
'No.' Peyton answered truthfully, 'We'd been broken up for a year and I honestly was over him. So when he came back into my life and got together with Brooke I was genuinely happy for him… and for her. They're good together, she's my best friend and after two years me and Julian built up a good friendship. It's now been four years, you can't hold a grudge for four years.' She laughed.
'Oh you can.' Lucas smiled.
'Do you still?'
'Not really.' Lucas said looking at the bar again, 'I just wonder why, I mean I was pretty sure we'd be together for a long time.'
Peyton's heart clenched in her chest and she removed her hand from his arm, he looked up at her and smiled, 'High school love, I guess.'
'If she walked back into your life, would you go back to her?' Peyton asked, what she really meant was, was he over the love of his life?
'No.' Lucas said and she could detect no lie in his tone, 'I'm over it, it happened years ago. I've just learnt not to really get too attached.'
'Amen to that.' Peyton said with a grin. 'Love is just a game, something that allows people to hurt other people beyond anything else. We're better off out of it. Shall we get in some drinks?'
Lucas nodded but couldn't help contemplate what she'd just said. He'd meant to say he didn't get too attached unless he knew it was worth it. He didn't get too attached to anyone he went out with simply because he hadn't had the opportunity to. He'd had two dates this whole year and he hadn't genuinely liked either of them. It wasn't because he was boycotting the whole concept of 'love' altogether.
However, it seemed she didn't care about that stuff and it unsettled him a little. Sure he acted like he wasn't into having a relationship but honestly… he was a romantic at heart.
Why was it that every side of Peyton Sawyer he saw made him all the more intrigued to find out more?
All he could think was that tonight was going to mark a huge change in their relationship. Hell, it already had. He closed his eyes and smiled sub consciously at the kiss they'd shared.
There was certainly no going back from that, and even Peyton couldn't deny it therefore,the only possible way was forward.
Right?
Againnn sorry about the wait! Last time i posted i realised that i can actually answer back to reviews, which is a little slow of me, but still :D So if you have any questions or suggestions or if you want me to include anything specific then please feel free to tell me!
Reviews make me smile :) and possibly do a happy dance? haha
