AN: Hi! I am so, so sorry for the wait! I really tried to update sooner, but I just couldn't get myself to write this chapter sometimes. Anyway, it's done now and I really hope you like it (:

Also, thanks so much for your reviews/alerts/favorites, I really do appreciate that a lot! Oh, and to cayt326; thank you so much for your review! I usually answer to every review personally, but since you don't have an account I couldn't send you a PM. I still appreciate your reviews a lot, and I'm really happy you liked the previous chapter. I hope you like this one as well and I'll definitely try to keep up the good work ;) thank you again!

Enjoy! (:


Chapter 9. Do You Know Where Your Heart Is?

"Peyton?" Lucas called out when he entered the gallery. Looking around, it honestly amazed him just how much the place had changed since he had last been there. Walls were put up and painted and it seemed like the only thing that needed to be done yet to open the gallery was put up the art.

"In the back! You can come through." Peyton yelled back.

As he made his way through the place, he noticed some art resting against the walls that he was sure of wasn't any of Peyton's. He knew she wasn't planning on filling it all by herself, but she hadn't told him anything about another artist yet either. When he reached Peyton in the back of the gallery, she was talking with a tall blonde man he had never seen before.

"Luke, hi!" She smiled and made her way towards him, hugging him quickly.

"Hey." He said and hugged her back. "The place looks amazing. You did a great job." She only smiled a bit wider and thanked him quietly.

Turning around, she noticed the other man standing there rather awkwardly. "Oh! Lucas, I don't think you have met AJ yet, have you?" She said, gesturing towards him. "Lucas, AJ. AJ, Lucas. He's the other artist exhibiting here."

"Hey, nice to meet you." Lucas smiled and shook AJ's hand.

"Nice to meet you too. I've heard a lot about you."

"All good things, I hope." He laughed, glancing at Peyton.

She only smiled back since it were indeed only good things she had told AJ. In the few weeks since their 'agreement' on simply being friends instead of letting the past dominate the present, it had been great to simply get to know him again. Things had change a lot since high school and even though she still really knew him, he and she herself as well, had also changed in the last six years. And being able to rebuild that great friendship they once had without any tension or awkwardness felt rather amazing.

Chuckling as well, AJ nodded. "All good things. I have to go now, but I'll be back later, okay?" He asked as he turned around to face Peyton.

"Yeah, fine, see you later." She said and watched the two men say goodbye. "What do you think?" She then asked Lucas when AJ had left.

"He seems nice. The art seems great too."

"He is nice. And the art is amazing. I really like working with him." Peyton said with a wide smile, practically beaming with excitement.

Peyton had been working with AJ for a while now and she felt really good about him exhibiting in her gallery as well. She had a great feeling about his art and she only hoped people would agree with her when the gallery opened the next day.

"Good." Lucas smiled back. "But 'AJ'?" He said laughingly, raising his eyebrow a tad.

"Arnold Junior." She explained, chuckling softly. "But don't mention it. He hates his name and I actually kind of promised not to tell anyone."

Lucas shrugged a shoulder and had to roll his eyes a bit too. "It isn't that bad. His name could've been Eugene." He said, making her laugh.

"True. Maybe I should start calling you that though." She joked and received a glare of which she didn't really know whether it was playful or not.

"Don't you dare!" He threatened playfully, nudging her in the side. "If you ever call me that, I promise you you'll wish you never had done so."

Feigning fear, she widened her eyes a bit. "You know, now I'm really scared." She laughed as he rolled his eyes at her.

"Anyway," Lucas started. "I actually came by to see if you would like me to pick you up tomorrow."

"Sure." Peyton nodded. "Six o'clock? Everything should be done here today so that I only have to focus on getting it ready here for the reception in the evening."

Nodding as well, he smiled. "Six o'clock sharp it is then. Now, you need some more help here? Who knows when Arnold Junior will be back to help you out with all of this." He said, gesturing to all the paintings resting against the walls.

"Luke!" She exclaimed, making him laugh. "Don't you dare calling him that if he can hear you!" She threatened, but only had to laugh herself as well.


Like he had promised her, Lucas had been at her house six o'clock sharp the next day and they had made their way over to TRIC. Now, an hour later and as more people walked into the gallery and the place slowly became fuller, it started to somehow feel unreal for Peyton. The place looked exactly like she had always dreamed it would and she actually couldn't believe how many people had shown up to the opening. Tree Hill was a small town, and almost everyone knew everyone, but she hadn't expected that so many people would actually be interested in her art gallery. She was pulled out her thoughts as she heard someone call out her name. Turning around, she was met with the bright smiles of two of her best friends.

"Sawyer!" Nathan called as he and Haley approached her. She hugged both of them and couldn't help but match their smiles.

"It looks wonderful here. You did such a great job." Haley gushed, looking around her.

Smiling even wider, and maybe blushing a bit too, Peyton laughed softly. "Thank you, Hales. And thank you for being here, it means a lot to me."

Nathan scoffed, "As if we wouldn't be here to support you. Besides, Brooke would probably kill us if we weren't here." He chuckled as Haley discreetly shoved his arm.

"Feel free to ignore him." She laughed. "Really, Peyton, we're so proud of you. You'll do great here, I know so." Haley smiled softly and Peyton returned the smile as she quietly thanked her and hugged her again.

"Okay, before you two go crying and it gets awkward, you know, because of the tears, let's just check all this art out, okay?" Nathan interrupted teasingly and both women had to laugh, and maybe a few tears were indeed already there in the corners of Peyton's eyes.

Before they wandered through the rest of the gallery, Nathan pulled his best friend in his arms once again as well, whispering, "You know, I'm really proud of you too, right? I always knew you could do this."

"Thank you, Nate." Peyton said quietly and gave him a genuine smile. "Now go look at all my art." She laughed softly and shooed him away from her and in the direction of Haley.

As she was about to mingle with all her guests, she noticed another familiar face making his way into the brand new gallery. He was already grinning at her from afar and she could only laugh at his excitement.

Walking closer to her, his grin only grew wider. "Peyton, hey!" Julian said as he hugged her as well. "Congratulations! You did something amazing in here." He congratulated her.

"Thanks Julian. I can't take all the credit though." She smiled. "Karen has helped me so much, I don't know what I'd done without her. And AJ has been a huge help as well."

"AJ?"

"The other artist." Peyton explained. "Haven't you met him yet?" She asked and as he nodded negatively, she looked around in search of AJ. "AJ!" She called out as she spotted him standing alone a little bit further. "I'd like to introduce you to someone. AJ, this is Julian Baker. Julian, AJ." She said with that smile that just didn't seem to disappear this evening. "He's Brooke's husband."

"Oh, hey. Nice to meet you." AJ smiled as well, shaking Julian's outstretched hand. "I met Brooke yesterday, she was talking about you all the time." He laughed, which Julian matched without any problem.

"Nice to meet you too and yeah, she tends to do that sometimes." Julian grinned that grin of his, making Peyton roll her eyes just a little. "Your work seems amazing by the way." He continued, gesturing to all the paintings in the gallery.

Bowing his head a little, AJ thanked him before pointing to some other people. "I actually have to see those people as well, but I'll see you later, right?"

"Yeah, sure." Both Peyton and Julian nodded. "It was really nice to meet you." Julian said again and they both watched AJ's retreating figure.

"Nice guy." Julian commented as he turned back to Peyton.

Nodding again, she smiled. "Yeah, he's a great addition to the gallery. Hey, where's Brooke by the way? You didn't come here without her, right?"

"No, she had to stop at the bathroom first. I'll better go look where she is. See you later, Peyton."

"Yeah, see you." She answered. "Oh, and Julian, thank you for coming. I really appreciate it."

He let out a scoff that quite resembled the one Nathan had let out earlier. "As if we would be anywhere else." He grinned before walking away from her.

And looking around her, it seemed as if a lot of people had had the same thought as Julian. She honestly couldn't believe that all those people were there only for her and AJ's art.

She also couldn't help but feel just a tiny bit proud of herself too.


"I always knew you could do it. I knew it when you first told me about your plans, I knew it when you actually started to build this place up and seeing the result now, I definitely know you'll make this a great business." An older woman's voice sounded somewhere behind her. As she turned her head, she saw Karen's warm smile and had no problem matching it.

"Thank you." Peyton said. "I couldn't have done it without you though. I owe you so much."

Shaking her head a few times, Karen laughed lightly. "You don't owe me a thing. You did this by yourself. And I'm so proud of you for that."

"Stop saying all those things, you're going to get me blushing." Peyton laughed as well. "But still, thank you so much. You can say whatever you want but without you I wouldn't even have this place." She insisted, putting her hand on Karen's arm.

"Fine." Karen said, letting out a few chuckles. "You're welcome. And I wouldn't want it any other way, I think this place was made for you."

As Peyton thanked Karen for the third time in only a few minutes, both woman had to laugh again. She couldn't thank the older woman enough though. Ever since she had moved to Savannah and had started working at that gallery it had been her dream to have one of her own one day. She knew for sure that without Karen's help and support it would've taken her much longer to actually start something up on her own.

"I better go search Andy now before he buys everything in here. He's very fond of great art." Karen smiled. "I just wanted to see you and congratulate you."

Smiling thankfully, Peyton said, "Yeah, you better go then. Not that I would mind him buying some things though." The curly blonde laughed. "I need to go too, someone was asking for me earlier. I'll see you later this evening, right?"

"Of course. Go sell some paintings." Karen laughed as well before walking away in search of Andy.


"Hey Broody." Brooke's raspy voice sounded next to him. He tilted his head a little, giving her a soft smile. "She did good, huh?"

"She did great." He nodded, that smile still on his face. "It looks amazing in here." Lucas continued, but while he was speaking his eyes were fixed on Peyton who was standing a bit further, talking to a few people.

Chuckling lightly, Brooke followed his trail of vision. "You mean, she looks amazing too?" She said knowingly, nudging his elbow lightly. "It's a Clothes over Bros original, the dress." She commented, proud over the dress she made for Peyton. It was dark green and it was just perfect for her best friend.

Lucas chuckled as well and nodded at Brooke. "It's a beautiful dress, Brooke. Yours looks nice too." He smiled.

"Thank you." She said, smiling back. Silence fell for a while and Brooke just couldn't help but notice how, what or whoever Lucas was trying to look at, his vision always ended back on Peyton. She thought about not saying anything about it, but honestly, she had always been kind of meddler. In a perfectly good way of course. "God, Lucas, just get your act together, buddy." She finally blurted out, not being able to keep her mouth shut any longer.

"What?" He asked and let out a surprised laugh.

"Get your act together, buddy." Brooke repeated her words with a smile and a shake of her head.

She loved Lucas, and he had been one of her very best friends for years now, but he could be so blind sometimes. And a bit slow to catch up on some things. It had been great to see Lucas and Peyton rebuilding their friendship in the last few weeks, but in her opinion, it was about time they both got honest about everything. She didn't think there was anyone that thought those two would stay only friends forever, she would appreciate it if they both would see that as well.

"Brooke, what do you mean?"

"I mean, stop acting as if being her friend is the only thing you want. Isn't that clear when I say 'get your act together?'" She explained. "If I can see it, I'm pretty sure others can do so too."

"As if there hasn't been a time that you saw things other people don't. You see cute couples everywhere, it's your meddling instinct." Lucas replied, even almost rolling his eyes.

Giving him a pretty scary glare, she flipped her hair over her shoulders. "First, I don't have a meddling instinct." She said even though she knew she did. She just wasn't going to agree with him. "And second, I'm glad to hear you say you and Peyton are a cute couple. I didn't say you were, so that's all on you." She smiled sweetly at him.

He only shook his head, knowing there was no way in arguing with Brooke. She started to walk away, patting his shoulder lightly in the process, but then suddenly turned around again.

"If you still or again feel like I know you did in senior year, please just get your act together, Luke. You can't hide forever." She said softly and send him a last smile before walking further into the gallery, heading towards her husband.


"Quite a night, huh?" Brooke asked while sitting down next to Peyton on the ground, their backs resting against a wall. From where they sat, they could practically see the whole gallery and Brooke had never been proud of her best friend. It had been amazing to see Peyton so happy all night.

Everyone had gone home now and it was only Brooke, Julian, Peyton and AJ left at the gallery. Julian was talking to AJ somewhere and Brooke thought it'd be an excellent moment to talk to her best friend alone now. It had been such a crazy evening for Peyton that she had hardly seen her, let alone talk to her without anyone else standing near.

"Yeah." Peyton sighed softly. "I'm pretty tired now though."

"Understandable." She answered with a chuckle.

Silence fell for a while and Peyton couldn't help but let her mind wander back to the evening she had had. She had her own gallery now and though it had been a while since she had made the decision to make that dream of hers come true, she still couldn't fully wrap her head around it. It was true though; she really did own a gallery. A smile couldn't help but appear on her face when thinking about that.

"So, how does it feel now?" Brooke asked after some good moments. "You have a gallery now, it's what you always wanted."

"It feels amazing." She said, turning her head and locking eyes with her brown haired best friend. "I still can't believe it, but it does feel great." Peyton finished and laughed lightly at her own explanation.

Giving Peyton a wide smile, Brooke nodded. "You'll get used to it. I still remember when I opened my first store, I thought I was dreaming the whole night. But eventually you just realize it is in fact true." She said and shrugged her shoulder. "You look really happy, P. Sawyer."

"I am happy." Peyton answered with a nod. "You know, you look really happy too."

"Well, I am happy too." She let her hand rest upon her belly and couldn't help but smile, thinking about the little bug that would soon be a part of her family. In only two months their baby would finally be there and she couldn't be happier about that.

"We both got what we wanted, B. Davis. I have my gallery now, you have the company and Julian and the baby. We're living our dreams."

"Are we?" Brooke said as she locked eyes with Peyton.

Peyton could only sigh at Brooke's words. She knew what she was referring to, she had seen her talk to Lucas earlier and she had definitely noticed all the meaningful glances her best friend had been giving her all evening. But she and Lucas were just friends, nothing more. She simply knew that being friends was what they were supposed to be.

"We are, Brooke. This is my dream." She answered Brooke's question at last.

Putting a hand on Peyton's arm, she smiled gently. "I know it is, P. Question is; is it your only dream?"

Not having an answer Brooke would approve of, Peyton rested her head on Brooke's shoulder, sighing once again.

Because, in all honesty, it wasn't her only dream.


AN: ... What'd you think? I'd love to hear what you thought of it. Reviews are love (:

Oh, and I've posted something new a few days ago; Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall. Maybe you'd like to check it out some time? ;P

Anyway, hope you all had a great day, and thank you so much for reading!