AN: Ah, another chapter. Still glad to see people reading this. Now on with the story...

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"So…"

Silence enveloped them; surprisingly it was not the awkward-oh-why-did-I-come-her silence. In fact it was the opposite, it was comfortable, but then again she had always felt comfortable with him. At least until he turned to look at her with those deep blue eyes; with that gaze that he seemed to reserve just for her. It was the one where it felt as if he were gazing into her soul, feeling around in the deep recesses of her mind for the essence of her. Making sure that in that moment – that single solitary shining moment - they existed only for each other, if only for a split second.

She chuckled, at how cheesy that thought sounded in her mind. Those looks were gone now. They were friends and being friends was a good thing.

Lucas turned his head to look at her, "What?"

And there were those blue eyes again, sparkling with life. She shook her head, giving him a smile, "It's nothing. I just thought of something funny."

"Care to share?"

She bit her lip, wondering what she could possibly come up with as an excuse, knowing that if she admitted the truth it would only end up in awkwardness.

"Toto." She burst out, surprising herself even more so than him.

He snorted and it was her turn to stare in surprise, "Did you just snort?"

"Did you burst out the word 'Toto'?"

She bit her lip before let out a little chuckle. Letting her gaze flicker between the ground and Lucas, she mumbled, "Yeah, I kinda did."

He laughed with her, "Why?"

"I dunno…I thought of something funny and it involved Toto I guess."

Lucas raised an eyebrow at her, "As in Toto the dog?"

"I think so…" She looked over at him and rolled her eyes, "Stop laughing!" She swatted him lightly in the chest and he held up his hand in protest.

"You're the one who mentioned Toto. So what's so funny about Toto the dog?"

In truth she had no idea what was so funny about Toto. Nor did she know why she had mentioned it in the first, but she had and she did and unfortunately she couldn't change that. Why couldn't she have chosen something that there was a million jokes about? Where had the word Toto come from? She could have said a million other things.

"I can't remember…" He gave her a look, "I can't. You made me forget."

"What?" He smirked, leaning in a bit closer, "With my boyish good looks?"

She smacked him on his good arm playfully and deadpanned, "Yes, yes, I was completely won over by all things related to you. So much so that I forget everything else in the world just so I can focus entirely on you."

"I knew it…" He replied with a smirk, which only gained him another slap on the arm.

"So where are we here?" she asked, changing the subject and instead focusing on the fact they were now at the River Court.

"Well, I'm here because I always come here when I can't sleep. I have no idea about you. Maybe you're here to gaze longingly at me because you're so won over by me." He quipped.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "You suck." He turned away and walked over to the bench, chuckling lightly as he went, and began to take off his sling, "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm just taking it off for a while."

"Lucas…" she began, concern lacing slightly into her voice. She knew his arm was still healing, she had seen him wincing in pain sometimes because of it. She also knew that aggravating it by trying to shoot hoops wouldn't help him. She had been through this once with Nathan when they had still been dating.

"I'll put it back on soon." He tried to reassure, "I just want to see if I can make a shot."

"Fine, but if you're in pain…just stop. Ok for me, just stop."

He studied her for a second before smiling slightly, "Nice to see that you care."

"Of course I care Lucas." She replied before she even had a chance to realise she had said it. Her eyes widened slightly, a blush creeping on her face. She turned quickly and went to retrieve the basketball that had been left in the centre of the court nearby, not noticing the smile on Lucas' face in knowing that she still cared for him.

He walked over to join her, contemplating saying something in return but he couldn't help the small fear that griped at him. He didn't want to lose Peyton Sawyer from his life and if staying friends for now was what was best then he would hold back his feelings for a better time. He didn't want there to be awkwardness between them for the next week if she was going to be staying with him at his house.

She turned, jumping slightly at how close he was to her. He smiled at her before gently prising the ball from her fingers. Their eyes locked for a second and in that moment she couldn't help but wonder at what could have been if it hadn't been for what happened with Brooke.

She looked away quickly at the thought and he sighed inwardly as he turned towards the hoop, basketball in hand. He raised them, ignoring the twinge in his arm and watched at the ball flew through the air, missing miserably.

He groaned, closing his eyes in annoyance. He opened them one again and prepared to retrieve the ball, only to find that Peyton was standing in front of him holding the ball out to him.

"It'll come back to you." She smiled at him as he took the ball from her, "You just have to give it time."

And despite it all, all the fears and worries that he would never be able to play like he once did disappeared because she had said those words.

"I hope so…"

The next five shots were the same. Horribly off coarse to where they were intended to be. The sixth had been so close – so very close – that he had almost tasted it in the air, but it had bounced off the rim and fell to the ground. He groaned once more in annoyance.

"Hey, that was good." She said, holding out the ball to him, "Better than most people with an arm injury."

"Not good enough though." He replied taking the ball from her hands, "I just want for one shot to get in. Just one because if I get one then maybe I'll get another…and It'll mean I can get it back."

"You will, Lucas. Just don't try to force it." She placed a hand on his arm in comfort, "It'll come back to you." He looked into her green eyes and hoped it would be true, "Hey, at least you can shoot a hoop. I'm hopeless at it."

"You can't?" She shook her head in negative, "Well, we'll have to change that."

He placed the ball in her hands and walked behind her. Gently placing his hands on her shoulders he guided her over in front of the basket, conveniently the exact same place she had drawn the heart.

"Luke, what are you doing?"

"Teaching you how to shoot a hoop." He replied in her ear. He gently placed arms on her waist and felt her body tense, "Ok you need to stand like this."

"With your hands on my hips?"

"Yeah, I'm getting you to stand the right way."

"Feels to me like you have your hands on my hips."

He laughed and moved his hands to her arms, moving them until they were in the right position whilst trying to ignore the fact he was standing so close to her that her curls gently rested against his ear, tried to ignore her scent filling his nostrils and tried to ignore feeling her body pressed against his.

She leaned into him as his hands lay gently on top of hers, moving them until they were aligned perfectly with the basket. She closed her eyes as his breath tickled her ear, cherishing the feeling. They weren't meant to be like this…not after betraying Brooke. They were meant to be friends but she couldn't help but wish that they were more.

"Ok, you need to let it go with just the right amount of force. Not too much, not too little. Just…" He gently pushed her arms and she let the ball go as they both watched it rise in the air before it went into the hoop, "Like that."

"Oh my god, it actually went in." She whispered, shocked. She had never been able to throw a ball. Unfortunately she actually did throw like a girl so basketball, let alone any other sport, was never her thing.

"Yes it did."

She turned around and hugged him, taking him by surprise. After a few moments he hugged her back, relishing the mere fact she was hugging him again. He couldn't help but think about how good it was to have her in his arms even if one of them was throbbing slightly in pain. It was worth it though.

She pulled back and once again, his blue eyes locked onto her green ones. His gaze flickered between her eyes and her lips. Before either of them could realise what was happening, he leaned down and captured those lips, no longer caring about the repercussions.

All he cared about was one simple thing - He was kissing Peyton Sawyer again and it felt good.

To be continued...

AN: Yeah, they're kissing. What? It only took who knows how many chapters for it to happen. but it did. Now, this is an important question, who thinks it'll be easy runnings from here and who thinks it's going to be more difficult than that?