Sorry about the lack of updates. I've been so busy lately and this story isn't writing itself anymore. Hope you enjoy the update.
Chapter Ten: Sunday Bloody Sunday
Lucas always loved Sunday mornings. He would lie in bed and leisurely listen to his mother's soulful humming from the sunlit kitchen as she flipped French toast slices by the stove. The aroma of cinnamon and brown sugar would penetrate his nostrils from his bedroom and make him smile. His mom always made sure she was home on Sunday mornings, regardless of whatever obligations she had at the café. She loved eating breakfast with her son, and talking to him about the upcoming week. She would look at Lucas, as only a parent could, as he drenched his French toast slices in thick syrup, only stopping when the French toast began to float on his plate.
"I see you like French toast with your syrup," she would always say.
"Yep…so keep that French toast coming, I've got a bottle of syrup to get through."
Karen would smile at her son's kitchen table enthusiasm and comment on how rotund he would be if he didn't play basketball.
Lucas hadn't had breakfast with his mom in fourteen Sundays, but after the Saturday night he and Peyton shared, this should have been one of his best Sunday mornings in recent memory. It should have been.
He opened his eyes and immediately reached out for her, although he could have sworn that she fell asleep in his arms after they made love for the second and last time earlier that morning. When they put Lily back to sleep at around 3:20 that morning, they laid back down together on the damp sheets and felt the writhing of desire again, so monstrous was their appetite for one another. They were flirting with extremely dangerous territory, however, but they were well aware of the consequences and they were determined to give their hearts what they deserved, if only for a couple more weeks.
Lucas was surprised and exceedingly disappointed when he discovered that Peyton not only wasn't lying beside him, but she wasn't even at home. His heart sunk. He walked through the house, clad in his boxers, until he found his cell phone in the living room. He wanted to call her, but he was afraid she wouldn't pick up. He was afraid that somewhere between her gasping his name in the heat of passion at 4:00 am and her waking up, that she regretted their night together. He'd accepted that they weren't going to be an item while Peyton was LA, but he didn't think he could stomach Peyton having regrets about the love they shared.
After a few moments of terrorizing doubt, he dropped the phone and checked in on a sleeping Lily before indulging in a long hot shower, and a cup, okay four cups of coffee. He kept thinking about where she was or when she was coming back. Maybe she was picking up breakfast. Scratch that, all the breakfast places were closed on Sundays.
Peyton, unbeknownst to him, was actually with her art group working on their final project. She was so thankful that this was her last week of classes, because she wanted to spend as much time as possible with Lucas and Lily before she left.
She probably should have told Lucas that she would be busy that morning, but she didn't remember her art class obligation until she woke up that very morning. And he looked so adorable lying there, with the sheet barely covering his flushed, massively naked body, that she couldn't possibly wake him. She really wanted to lie in bed with him all day, and be there when he woke up, but she couldn't flake out on her group in the last week of class.
She met her classmates at an art studio that Chelsea worked at. They worked for a few hours and Peyton was free to leave. On the way back to Lucas', Peyton picked up some items from Pier 1and a small flower shop. She bought some candles and a bouquet of lilies to bring back to the house.
"Lucas," she called as she walked through the front door. A wave of relief passed through him when he heard her voice. He followed it into the living room and was pleasantly surprised to see her in one of his Raven t-shirts, wearing her hair in that messy bun that he loved so much, holding some lilies in her hands.
"Makes a guy feel cheap…give it up and poof…vanishing girlfriend."
"Poof?'
"Poof."
Lucas moved closer to her, "although the lilies are a nice touch. That's really sweet of you," he reached to grab the lilies out of her hands.
She moved them out of his grasp, "they're not for you, they're for the house."
She paused and smirked, "well actually lilies are my favorite so they're probably more for me. But seriously," her face morphed into an earnest expression, "I'm sorry for leaving you this morning, but I had a group project meeting that I almost forgot about."
"You could have woken me up," he said softly, placing his hands on both sides of her arms.
"Yeah but you looked so…satisfied. And you definitely needed some rest after the night we had."
"It was amazing," he said huskily before he kissed her softly on the lips, "both times", he added. He pulled back after the kiss and Peyton could just look in his eyes and see how terribly in love he was. It flattered her more than worried her at that point. It felt odd for them (especially them) to be so imprudent in the face of an indefinite separation, but they were young, and the reckless way they were giving their hearts to each other had become strangely thrilling to them, as opposed to being incredibly frightening.
He looked in her bag, "you bought more candles too? These will definitely come in handy."
"I thought so," she agreed. "So what do you want to do today?"
He looked at her bashfully and pursed his lips, "well we could…"
"I mean other than that," she smiled and turned red. "We should do something with Lily."
Peyton walked into the nursery to say good afternoon to the baby. Lucas followed her. She stood by the crib and couldn't help but laugh at what Lily was wearing.
"Where did you get this onesie?" she asked Lucas. The onesie had the words "I Luv Peyton" on it.
Lucas smiled, "The Fullers sent it in the mail. There's an "I Luv My Brother" one and an "I Luv Sleep" one too."
"Seems like the Fullers are pulling out all the stops," Peyton mumbled offhandedly.
"I don't know…I think they're just being nice."
She sighed, "I'm sorry…I've tried not to interfere with the whole adoption thing but—"
"It's okay Peyton."
They stood silently for a few more moments until Peyton broke the silence. "It's pretty hot outside today so whatever we do today, it should probably be indoors. Maybe you could give me the rest of your book and I'll read it to Lily. If I'm in it, she'll probably enjoy it more than that Sherlock Holmes book you were reading to her yesterday."
Lucas shook his head and smiled at Peyton's attempt to read his book.
"I guess I'll have to wait until we're naked again," she pouted playfully.
"So I'm thinking we could have a quiet Sunday dinner here and maybe watch a movie or something afterwards. I just want the three of us to spend some time together…I don't really care what we're doing," he playfully tugged at her shirt, pulling her closer to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him gently, "that sounds perfect Luke."
"So I'll go to the grocery store and pick up some things for dinner, and you can stay and watch Lily. Is that cool?"
"Yeah that's fine. I've wanted some alone time with my favorite girl," Peyton cooed at the giggly baby that she just picked up from her crib. "But we're not going to tell Brooke that you're my favorite girl, are we? Are we, Lils?" she tickled the baby's belly.
"Well she's excited for some Peyton time," Lucas chuckled at Lily's high pitched squeals. He certainly didn't need an "I Luv Peyton" onesie to validate his little sister's apparent love for Peyton.
They spent the rest of the Sunday eating chicken, bread and pasta and watching VHS Disney movies from Lucas' collection. Peyton didn't waste an opportunity to tease him about it even though he claimed that the movies were Haley's from when they were little. They spent some quality time with Lily, even getting in a tiny argument about whether or not Lucas heard her say the word "bun", with Peyton telling him he was crazy because 4 month old babies can't talk. After Peyton got tired of trying to hear Lily "speak", she yawned and stretched her arms above her head, exposing a sliver of tanned skin underneath her t-shirt. Lucas' eyes darkened to a rich, royal blue, and that was all it took before he was carrying her bridal-style into the bedroom and laying her down on the bed.
The rest of the week followed a similar pattern with Peyton going to her last week of classes and spending the rest of her days and nights with Lucas and Lily. Peyton didn't even think about the fact that she was leaving until Brooke called her on a Sunday afternoon, one week before Peyton was set to leave.
"Hi P. Sawyer!"
"Hey Brooke. Long time no hear."
"Yeah I know…I've just been so busy working. Between Victoria Secret, launching Clothes Over Bros., and dealing with Victoria, I've been swamped. And that's not including the social scene I've been forced to participate in."
Peyton laughed, "You make it sound like a job."
"Yep and I did some serious overtime last night."
"Well if that's the case, you were a hard worker in high school."
"I guess you're right. So one week to go…are you excited for LA because I cannot wait to finally see your boney ass."
"I can't wait to see you either but…"
"You're bummed about leaving Luke and Lily?"
"Yeah…I'm excited about this internship but I'm really, really going to miss them."
"I know… doing the long distance relationship thing is going to be tough Peyton, but I'm going to help you through it."
"Actually Lucas and I are going to take a break while I'm in LA."
"I thought you two were in love and all that?"
"Yeah we are but as the old adage goes if you love something let it go, if it comes back to you it's yours, etc., etc," Peyton said ploddingly.
"That's funny because I actually just heard someone say that to me."
"Who the hell are you in LA with talking about love?"
"Oh no one really…just a blast from your past."
"What?"
"Jake is in LA, Peyton."
"Jake as in, Jake Gyllenhaal?"
"Nope, this Jake has a daughter named Jenny."
"How did you run into them?"
"It's a long story, but I ran into them at a restaurant in Pasadena. They were with some people, his cousins I think, and we talked for quite a while. He asked about you and I told him you would be in LA very soon. Apparently something happened with Nikki and he got full custody of Jenny. He said some other stuff too, but he made me promise to get in touch with him whenever you got here."
"Oh that's nice."
"That's nice? Please try and contain your excitement."
"We can talk about everything once I get there. I really do miss you B. Davis."
"When you get here, I need to whip you back into party shape so we'll save the talking for later."
"Brooke my dad is going to come out there with me for a couple days to help me get settled in. I found a small apartment just outside of LA."
"Ooh Larry's coming? That's even better," she said in a sultry tone.
"Eww…can we not go there with the DILF jokes?"
Brooke laughed, "Sure thing. I'll talk to you soon P. Sawyer. Love you."
"Love you too Brooke. Bye."
Lucas walked in the room as Peyton hung up the phone. "That was Brooke, huh?"
"Yeah, she's pretty excited to see me."
"I'm glad you'll have Brooke in LA with you. You being in a big city like LA by yourself would worry me."
Peyton tilted her head, "Luke you don't have to worry about me. But I love you for it."
His eyes were warm and comforting; she just loved how he could make her feel so safe with simple words and glances.
"So what does Brooke have planned for you when you get there?" Lucas inquired innocently.
"She was telling me that she ran into Jake in Pasadena and she promised him that we'd all get together when I get to LA."
Lucas paused, "Oh that's nice."
Peyton laughed at the fact that Lucas said the same thing that she did.
"What's funny?"
"Nothing…I said the same thing when Brooke told me. But it'll be nice to see him and Jenny again."
"Of course."
He pulled her into a hug, wrapping his lean arms around her as she buried her face into his chest and exhaled.
Lucas wasn't really threatened by anything in LA and Peyton was glad. They seemed to be on the same page about everything regarding Peyton's departure, and it was just a matter of them taking this time for themselves and eventually finding their way back to each other. It seemed so simple to them at the time. Everything seems simpler at 18 years of age.
Their last week together was even better than the week before. Since Peyton didn't have any classes to go to, they were able to wake up beside one another every day, sated and filled with vivid memories of the things they did the night before. During the week, they visited the Fullers with Lily. They insisted on cooking Peyton a big farewell dinner and they also insisted that Peyton come to them whenever she needed anything…Lucas as well. He was well aware that the deadline was fast approaching for his decision on whether or not to give Lily up and even though he was set in his decision, he couldn't be patient enough.
The Saturday night before Peyton was scheduled to leave, Lucas planned a trip to the Rivercourt. The message he'd written to her on their first date had faded, and they sat in the Comet with Lily in the backseat, bobbing her head around to The Cure's Last Dance that Peyton placed in the stereo. It was a strangely quiet night, there were no bugs or birds or crickets or any sign of nature. It was just them, Robert Smith's haunting staccato vocals, and the lights from the street lamps high above the faded words on the Rivercourt. Peyton couldn't have dreamt it better than that.
Lucas woke up on Sunday morning and reached out for Peyton, finding her side of the bed empty and cold. The smell of cinnamon and brown sugar floated into his nostrils and he thought he might have been dreaming. When he realized that he wasn't dreaming, he located his boxers and walked into the kitchen. Lily was nestled into her little baby bassinet watching Peyton stand at the stove. She had her back to Lucas but he could see that she was wearing his mom's apron and he could hear her humming just like his mom would do. He watched her, deeply rooted in the task of making French toast and he felt the pangs of longing for his mom and those Sundays he loved so much. But he also felt hope.
"Good morning," Lucas said once Peyton turned around and saw him staring at her.
"Good morning Luke…I made breakfast."
"It smells great. Although, I should be cooking you breakfast since you're the one that's leaving."
"You've cooked enough for me during my time here. I just want our last breakfast to be special. My dad should be here later in the afternoon to help me with my belongings so we can be ready for our 5:00 flight."
Lucas nodded without saying a word and suddenly Peyton felt emotional. Their breakfast was ready and she told Lucas to grab a seat at the table. She set the French toast on the table and said grace before they dug in. She watched as Lucas grabbed two French toast slices, placed them on his plate and drenched syrup all over the plate until the French toast floated in the sticky syrup.
"That looks like one sweet breakfast," Peyton observed.
He looked up from his plate at her, his eyes were serious, yet thoughtful, "more like bittersweet." He grabbed her hand and they ate the rest of their breakfast silently. Peyton spent the rest of her time making sure her bags were packed and ready to go.
Larry showed up, just as they planned, and Lucas helped him place Peyton's bags in the car. They arrived at the airport and stood at the security gate, the random people walking around them were non-existent to them at that point. Lucas said goodbye to Larry as he left for the gate to give the two kids some extra time to say their difficult goodbyes. Peyton held Lily in her arms and kissed the little girl's forehead stubbornly, as if letting her go was going to be the death of her. "I'm not giving her up," Lucas blurted out. "I'm not giving her up for adoption."
Peyton's eyes welled with tears and she nodded her head feverishly. "I knew it. I knew it," she sniffled. The tears fell down her cheeks and rolled into Lily's forehead. Lucas wiped the tears away and with both hands on either side of her face, he kissed her deeply, gently sipping at her lips after the kiss. "I love you Peyton."
"I love you. I always have. And I love you too," she said in Lily's direction.
They kissed again and Peyton placed Lily in Lucas' arms, silently thankful that Lily would be in those arms (arms that have protected her more times than she could count) as opposed to anyone else's. She loved the Fullers, she really did, but they weren't Lucas. She had all the faith in the world that Lucas would be the best brother and guardian to Lily, regardless of whether she was there or not. But she was coming back. She had to. She loved them too much.
At Larry's reminder for them to speed up their goodbyes, Peyton gave Lily one last kiss and told Lucas that she was proud of him. "I'm proud of you too Peyton. Thank you…for everything. I'll be seeing ya."
And then she was gone.
Lucas had the rest of his Sunday and every Peyton-less Sunday after that to think about the love they shared and to wonder if it truly was going to be forever.
