[Own Nothing]

Wow don't I feel like crap. So sorry I haven't updated in a while. Winter plus school is really not the best time to write for me. But Christmas break is coming up, so maybe all write a lot and finish up this story. Maybe, maybe not. This chapter is just a bit of fluff so bear with me.

And whatever you celebrate and if I don't update next week - HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Chapter Ten: Hmmm

Let these moments last an eternity

She's decided her life is perfect. It's early in the morning, early, a time when she's usually angrier than you'd like, but when she turns over and sees his sleeping body beside her she's not angry. She's perfect.

"Hi." She says once his eyes flutter open. The smile she's been wearing for a few days now is still on her lips and the only thing covering their naked bodies is the blanket.

"Morning." He says adjusted to the light. His hand lands on hers and he swears her smile couldn't get any bigger.

"So last night was kind of…" She trails trying to find the exact word. His brow furrows when she does and she has to laugh at it, "great."

"Kind of?"

She nods. "You were lucky to make top ten, buddy." She teases smacking her hand against his chest. Peyton turns to get out of bed, wrapping the blanket around her as she reaches for his shirt.

"Thanks." Jake says staring at her naked back and he's disappointed when she covers it up. But then he sees she's wearing his shirt and he can't think of a better person to wear his clothes. Last night was perfect in every way. He's been with women and he's been in love. But never at the same time. She drives him crazy in the best way possible. She's everything he needs.

She catches him staring and blushes. He can't find anything sexier than that. "What?"

"Nothing." He shakes his head. "You're just perfect."

"Stop."

"It's true!"

Peyton climbs back on the bed to kiss him, because she just wanted to. "Breakfast?" She suggests smiling into his lips.

"Hmm…hell yes." He growls.

"Follow me." She grabs his hand and lets him grab his boxers before dragging him downstairs. She sits him at the table before going to get the newspaper. He teases her about the neighbors seeing her in just his shirt and she honestly couldn't care more. Peyton fixes him breakfast – cereal and eggs – and he has to poke fun. She says it's all she knows how, that and her mom's favorite meal. But Jake eats it anyway and loves every bit of it.

He's pretty sure it's the girl that made the food instead of the food.

"So what do you want to do today?" Peyton asks taking his bowl and throwing it in the dishwasher.

He comes up from behind and wraps his arms around her, placing gentle kisses along her neck. "Let's just stay in today." He suggests.

She couldn't think of a better plan.

So they stay in. They've found a habit of isolated themselves from the outside world. They don't need anybody else.

He follows her back up to her room and they find themselves back in that bed and then she finds herself in the shower (somewhere along the way he finds his way in there too) and then back in that bed. He's tracing circles on the section of her stomach that neither her shirt or shorts cover. He finds it incredibly sexy. He finds everything about this girl sexy. Her curly blonde hair to her chewed on fingernails. There's no negative to her.

They lay in that bed for what feels like hours. He ignores the calls that are blowing up his phone and she decides to turn off her phone after the third text from Brooke. It's probably selfish. But they want the day to themselves. So they're going to get it.

She gets up once to change a song saying it's only suitable and is soon quickly back beside him on her side of the bed running her fingers through his hair.

He's great. All the way from his brown eyes to the way his fingers run down her legs. She's intrigued by him. There's something new about him she learns with each passing day. He's a mystery, but she gets the feeling that she knows plenty about him to know that she loves him like she's never loved anyone before.

It's hard to believe that it's only been a few months since they started dating and they've come to…this. Peyton has a boyfriend that she sees herself spending a lot of time with in the future. She's not the angsty cheerleader she used to be. She's letting go and living and having fun. He's right there beside her through it all.

"What?" Jake asks when he notices her staring.

"Tell me about your parents." Peyton randomly asks. He's not sure where the question came from. He's never brought up his parents. Didn't like to, didn't plan on it.

"Why?" He asks almost chuckling.

"Because we never talk about them. I just want to know what they're like."

He sighs adjusting himself for an awkward conversation, wrapping his arm around her. "Well…my mom's a saint." He smiles. "She…did anything to please you. Always supported her mama's boy." They both laugh. She can picture him being a mama's boy.

"And your dad?" She asks looking up at him.

"Hmm." He makes a face that's not too pleasant and she knows it's probably not a too pleasant relationship. "He's…something. Not a good something either."

"Oh."

"Yeah. He always wanted me to be a lawyer and go to law school. My heart wasn't in it. So one day I went to my counselor, told him I was dropping out of college, grabbed my guitar and went to the corner." He says with the widest smile he could fit.

"Bet he hated that."

"Oh he was furious." He laughed, as did she. "I went home that day and told them. Basically he kicked me out before the words 'I quit' were out of my mouth. Haven't talked to him since."

"That sucks." She says laying her hand on his bare chest. She reaches up kisses him on the cheek just because she feels he needs it. "And your mom?"

"I talked to her about once a week. She always knew I didn't want to be a lawyer and knew one day I was just gonna give it all up for something I really wanted. Of course she supports me."

"Yeah." She whispers.

He looks down her and just smiles, because she's glad she cares so much about these people she's never met, but feels like she knows. "Hey," He says making her look up at him, "don't do that."

"What?"

"Pout and then go off into that deep thinking thing you do." He said. He knew her so well. "It's not your fault Peyton."

"I know, but I couldn't imagine not ever talking to my dad. It's kind of sad."

"Hey, he made the choice, not me. And it's not like I never gave an effort to rebuild that relationship." She nodded, digging herself closer to him. "Quit pouting. Tell me a happy story."

"Hmm." She sighed adjusting herself to get more comfortable. Plenty of happy memories floated around in her mind. Random kid moments with her and Brooke, cherished times with her mom, and recollections of not too long ago with her father. "I was eight." She said with a smile.

"It was the first Christmas without my mom and my dad knew I wasn't going to be in the holiday spirit, so he tried to make everything as normal as possible. Since Christmas wasn't a big thing at her house, Brooke came over the night before and we tried to stay up all night to catch Santa, but of course we fell asleep." They both laughed. It wasn't too long ago when she still believed in Santa. It feels like forever ago.

"We woke up the next morning to find all these presents under the tree. My dad even bought some for Brooke. We spent that whole morning opening presents and eating pizza."

"Pizza? On Christmas?"

"We're not the traditional family."

"Right." He laughed pulling her closer. He could imagine a curly haired eight year old Peyton opening presents on Christmas morning. He liked the idea of one day watching their own curly haired kid do it. Something about this girl had him thinking about so far off into the future with her. He thought of weddings and kids and just being together in the future.

"You know, you're dad sounds pretty great Peyton." Jake said glancing down at her.

"He is. I still can't believe you haven't met him yet." She said leaning up, one hand on his chest the other supporting her. "He practically had a heart attack when I told him I was dating a rockstar."

Jake chuckled leaning up too. "Yeah, but, I'm not the rockstar kind of guy."

"True, but only me and my friends know that. Other than that you're sleeping with models and overdosing on crack." They both laughed before Jake leaned over and planted a kiss on her lips.

"You're dad's gonna love me. Who wouldn't?"

She groaned. "You got me." She said before kissing him again and falling back on the bed.

**

She could hear the strings of his guitar putting together a piece of art from downstairs.

Peyton was wearing only his shirt for the second time that day. She loved how it smelled of him and when she gave it back it would have a part of her on it.

She loved how he was so excited to meet her dad. Lucas necessarily wasn't. Though he nearly 'raked' him to death. But with Jake? He was exactly the guy you could bring home to daddy. Minus the rockstar personal.

She loved how he didn't live up to it though. He was nothing what magazines portrayed of him. He was sweet and charming. He seemed like the one to be lucky to be seen with her, not the other way around.

She loved how she never tired of him. How time seemed to stop with them. How she felt more at ease to let him know everything about her.

She just loved him.

Peyton walked up the stairs, Jake's guitar still filling her ears, and that smile still intact from the moment she awoke that morning. She stood in the doorway, going unnoticed by Jake as he strummed his guitar to an unfamiliar song she'd never heard of.

His husky voice was intoxicating. She couldn't get enough of it.

The hardest part of parting
Is never say goodbye
All these "could have beens"
Eat me up inside
Now I can't see her face
What hurts the most is, it's the rage
But she used to say 'hmmm', 'hmmm'

I'm forgetting everything
Memories are fading in dreams
All time this time
Won't you wait for me?
Let these moments last an eternity
Your rusty follow on first down
And a few fairy tales is all I have
But she used to say, 'hmmm', 'hmmm'

Her mom used to sing to her.

Every night until the day she died. Peyton can still hear her voice by her bedside singing all the different songs she grew up loving. She never thought another voice could fill that void. That no one could sing her to sleep or calm her nerves like the one of her mother's.

Until now.

Jake looked up from his guitar and smiled when he saw Peyton in the doorway.

Damn his girl was hot in his shirt.

"What?" He asked when Peyton showed no sign of moving. She still stood in the doorway with a smile, just enjoying watching Jake play. It's what he deserved to be doing. It's what he's always wanted to do. "What?" Jake asked again.

"Have you heard from the label?"

Jake sighed, setting down his guitar and getting up to walk over to her. "No."

"Maybe you should call them."

"No." He shook his head.

"Jake…"

"No, Peyton, no." Jake stopped her. "If they want me that bad then they'll call. I'm not gonna be on a label that doesn't want me."

"They don't want you because you didn't get on that plane!" She said knowing he was going to take that a completely different way. She sighed running her fingers through her hair quickly. "I didn't mean that."

"I know." He whispered.

"It's just…Jake this is your dream and you gave it all up for…me."

"And why do you make it sound like that?" He asked incredulous. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did she think she wasn't good enough to be with him? It was the other way around.

"Because…because I'm just some high school student trying to pass AP English and you're…not."

"You think I care about that?" He asked, not waiting for an answer. "I don't. I don't care about any of that. I love you Peyton." He grabbed her arms looking her straight in the eyes. "Now I'm going to play music. Whether it's front of a million people or three people. I'm going to do it and you want to know why?"

"Because you love music." She said.

"That…and I know that you'll always be out there in the audience cheering me on." He smiled and so did she. "I love you Peyton and I'm not gonna do something that's gonna take me away from you. Not anymore."

"I just don't want you to sit around her feeling like you've got nothing to do when you could be touring and living the life."

He chuckled at her. He used to think it was the life. "You think I don't do anything while you're at school all day? Peyton, I've been writing songs all day. I've been to the studio recording. I've done a lot of things you have no idea about."

"You have?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "I just haven't let you hear any of them because…" He trailed, his face blushing.

"Because?"

"Because a lot of those songs are about you."

It was her face that blushed. No one had ever written a song about her before. "Really?"

"Yeah." He smiled. "I could come out with another album just about you if I wanted to."

"Do you?"

He shrugged. "I don't know." He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. His chin landed on the top of her head so he could smell the coconut shampoo he loves so much. "I don't want anyone else to fall in love with you Peyton. I want you all to myself. Even if they are just lyrics to a song." They both knew they weren't just lyrics.

Jake led her back over to the bed and the two laid down, his arms still wrapped around her, not daring to let go. Again, she snuggled next to him as close as she could and his hand landed down by her thigh.

"Jake?" Peyton said moments later when silence took over them.

"Hmm?"

"I don't want you to give up your dream just for me, okay? I couldn't live with myself if you did that. So promise me, okay? Promise me you won't give up on it."

"I promise."

He knew he'd never break a promise with this girl he's fallen in love with. He'd never dare to and never intended to. All he had to do was call Dave and work things out and tell him the things he was and wasn't going to do. Being away from Peyton was one of those things he couldn't do. That label and Dave have been good to him. They wouldn't just drop him like that.

Could they?