AN: Thanks guys for all the reviews and don't worry, this story is far from over. But, uh, I think you'll enjoy this chapter. ; )


The next few days were great for Lucas and Peyton. After the drama of boyfriends and girlfriends was over things finally started getting normal between the two of them. They hung out almost everyday and avoided Nathan and Brooke at all costs, which proved difficult considering Peyton was still on the cheer squad and Lucas was still on the basketball team.

"Yo Luke, Peyton!" Skills called as he stood at the River Court seeing Lucas and Peyton approach. "I was beginning to think you forgot about us with your popularity and all."

"Nah, I was able to fit you into my oh so busy schedule." Lucas joked as he bumped fists with him.

"Hey Skills." Peyton greeted.

"I heard about what happened, you guys okay?" Skills asked, referring to the drama that was Brooke and Nathan.

"Yeah, I think we're better off without them." Peyton admitted.

"Hey I'm not complaining either, I was getting bored without the two of you." Skills said.

"Aw, I'm touched." Peyton said, mockingly putting her hand over her heart.

Skills laughed "How about a game?"

"Sure." Lucas agreed dropping his stuff and heading to the middle of the court.

"Yeah let's see those varsity skills." Skills said.

"Where's Mouth today?" Peyton asked, not seeing him on the bleachers.

"Uh, I think he had some stuff to do with the AV club." Skills informed her.

"Oh … guess I'm flying solo today." Peyton said, referring to that fact that her and Mouth normally hung out during the games.

"Or you could play." Skills suggested. He wasn't giving up his plan to get Peyton to play a game.

"Or I could stab out my eyes with freshly sharpened pencils." Peyton joked.

"Oh come one Peyt, you can be on Skills' team, god knows he needs someone to help him." Lucas joked.

"Not cool dawg." Skills said, pretending to be insulted.

"Sorry. Come on, please?" Lucas asked, giving Peyton the best puppy dog eyes he could muster.

"Ugh. Fine, one game." Peyton said rolling her eyes, finally giving in.

"HA! I told you I could get you to play one of these days." Skills said, victoriously.

"Yeah yeah."

"You do know how to play right?"

"No, I just watch basketball games every week, listen to you and Luke talk about it, and watch you guys play out here all the time." Peyton said sarcastically. "Its not rocket science."

"Hey guys, whats going on?" Haley asked, appearing behind Lucas.

"We were just going to play a game of 2 on 1, but to make it even, Haley you want to play?" Skills informed her.

"Yeah sure, I watch enough of these games to play."

"Great, you're on Lucas' team." Skills said.

"Ok, your ball Luke." Skills said checking the ball to Lucas.

"You're going down buddy." Peyton said as she walked in front of Lucas to try and block his shot.

"Oh really?" Lucas said as he jumped and shot a three pointer right over Peyton's head.

The game continued. Lucas showing off, and Skills and Peyton trying to block him, he passed the ball to Haley who attempted to get it in, but missed and Lucas caught the rebound. Peyton stole the ball from Lucas while he was trying to show off, dribbling it between his legs and such. She ran right up to the basket and made an awesome lay-up that even impressed Lucas.

"What? You didn't think I could do that did ya?" Peyton said seeing the shocked look on both boys faces.

"Not really." Lucas said.

"Well come on, lets move ladies." Peyton said throwing the ball to Skills.

Skills took a shot and made it while Lucas tried blocking Peyton from getting to the basket. Her back was toward him and he was pressed up against her trying to stop her from moving. She brushed up against him and Lucas couldn't help but get a little flustered, in the midst of all this, Peyton had moved around him and made the shot. The game was now tied and it was game point. Lucas had the ball and Skills was blocking him. Skills stole the ball and passed it to Peyton, who was standing behind Haley, she made a shot and it went in. She jumped up and screamed.

"HA! We SO beat you!" Peyton said, rubbing it in Lucas' face.

"Yea yea, don't get full of yourself, I let you win." Lucas stated.

"Yeah right dawg." Skills commented.

"Whatever."

"Oh come on nobody likes a sore loser." Peyton said to Lucas in a childlike voice.

"Okay, you beat me, I lost, I'm a loser, you happy now?"

"Very." Peyton said sweetly. "That was fun."

"Good game guys." Haley said.


"I need water." Lucas said as he walked over to the bleachers and took out his water bottle. Haley followed him.

"Nice cover up." Haley said, not looking at Lucas.

"Huh?"

"I saw you blush before."

"I did n-"

"Dude, don't even."

"Don't call me dude, and you're wrong."

"Lucas, when are you going to open your eyes?"

"My eyes are open, Haley."

"Apparently not enough, you are so into Peyton, you could have cut a knife in the sexual tension out there."

"Oh here we go again." Lucas said rolling his eyes.

"Its obvious."

"Its not obvious because there isn't an 'it' okay?"

"Whatever, as I said before, sooner or later you are going to realize it and when you do its going to be too late." Haley said as she walked away.

"Okay guys, I gotta head back to the café." Haley said gathering her stuff. "I had fun."

"Yeah I have to get to cheer practice." Peyton said.

"I could drive you, its on the way." Haley offered.

"Yeah thanks Hales. Bye guys." Peyton said getting her bag and following Haley to her car.


"What's up with you?" Skills asked Lucas.

"Nothing just something that Haley said."

"What'd she say?"

"She just has this crazy idea."

"What kind of crazy idea?"

"She thinks I'm into Peyton." Lucas admitted, well, almost blurted out.

"That aint that crazy dawg."

"Oh not you too?!" Lucas cried out.

"Well, I mean, you guys were always attached at the hip and you know everything about each other and its kinda inevitable that you'd be into each other."

"You think so?" Could they be right? Lucas thought.

"Yeah."

"So what if I am? What makes you so sure that she's even interested?"

"You'll never know unless you try." Skills said simply. "Look I gotta go, see you later?"

"Yeah sure." Lucas said as Skills left.

"Me and Peyton?" Lucas asked himself.


"Thanks for the ride Haley." Peyton said as she and Haley pulled up the school.

"No problem." Haley said. "Hey I'm sorry about you and Nathan."

"Yeah its okay, I didn't think it would last anyway." Peyton said. "You're tutoring him right?"

"Yeah."

"Did he say anything to you?"

"He just told me what happened and that's about it."

"Okay."

"How's Lucas doing with the whole Brooke saga?"

"He's been avoiding the subject, but he seems okay with it."

"I bet." Haley muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Come on Haley."

"It was nothing … you'll figure it out eventually." Haley said.

Peyton tilted her head to the side "I don't get it…" she asked, confused.

"You and Lucas are so blind sometimes I swear, you don't see what right in front of your face."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You two belong together." Haley said simply.

"WHAT?! Me and Lucas? What drugs are you on Haley?" Peyton yelled. "He's my best friend."

"Oh yeah, and you didn't blush when you brushed up against each other during the game today?"

"I don't know what your talking about." Peyton denied.

"You will. You should get to practice before Brooke the Nazi goes insane."

"See you later." Peyton said as she got out of the car and watched Haley drive off. Has that girl completely lost her mind? Me and Lucas? That could never happen … could it? Peyton thought.


"Oh look who decided to show up." Brooke said as she saw Peyton walk into the quad where the other cheerleaders were warming up.

"Sorry I'm late." Peyton said as she dropped her bag and sat down with the rest of the squad and began stretching.

"What? Too busy hooking up with my ex to remember you had practice today?" Brooke commented.

"Knock it off Brooke." Peyton warned.

"I'm just stating the facts." Brooke said smugly.

"There is no fact there, Brooke. Me and Lucas are friends, that it."

"Yeah sure." Brooke said, sarcastically, while all the cheerleaders drew their attention to the feuding girls.

"You know what? I think you're just jealous because Lucas would rather spend time with me then get back together with you."

"Me? Jealous of you? Keep dreaming."

"Oh come on Brooke, admit it." Peyton said standing up and stepping closer to Brooke. "You're just pissed off because you got caught."

"You shouldn't talk when you have no idea what your'e talking about." Brooke said staring Peyton in the eye while she walked even closer.

Standing about an inch away from Brooke's face Peyton spoke again "You never really wanted Lucas because you cared, you wanted him because he was just there."

"Back off, unless you want to get another nose job." Brooke spat.

"Face it Brooke, you're upset because Lucas was the one who broke up with you, he's the one boy you can't have and that is what pisses you off. Because you think you're the shit and every guy that's even remotely good looking is dying to be with you. Guess he proved you wrong." Peyton said in a low haunting tone.

"You are so off right now." Brooke denied, even though it was true. Lucas Scott is the one guy Brooke couldn't have and she was going to do everything in her power to change that.

"No, I think I'm right on track." Peyton said.

"Go to hell Peyton." Brooke spat.

"I will, save me a seat would ya?" Peyton spat back.

Brooke started to get even angrier, and Peyton had had enough.

"Whatever Brooke, you know I'm right and so do I. And by the way, none of those words were 'Yes Peyton, I do care about Lucas'." Peyton scoffed. "And to think I was actually starting to like you." Peyton said as she shook her head and retreated to her spot and began stretching again, leaving a furious Brooke alone.


Lucas left the River Court and headed off to basketball practice in the gym. Practice went by slowly, considering Nathan was ignoring Lucas and refused to pass him the ball, and vice versa.

"Okay, ladies that's enough practice for today!" Whitey yelled as practice came to an end. "Uh Scott!" he called. Nathan and Lucas both turned around to face him. "Both of you, in my office . NOW!" They did as they were told and followed Whitey into his office and sat down.

"What the hell was that out there?" Whitey yelled. "That was rhetorical." He remarked, seeing that Lucas was about to respond. "The object is the game is to win, not to see who can keep the ball away from the other players the longest."

"Coach-" Lucas began, but was cut off.

"Did I say you could speak?" Whitey snapped at Lucas. "Now, I know you two have some feud going on and quite frankly I don't give a damn about it, I want to win and you aren't helping me, so unless you want to get kicked off this team I suggest you start working together and stop being so damn selfish."

"Ok." Lucas and Nathan both muttered.

"Now, since I know you're not going to listen to me, I'm making you co-captains, so now you have no choice but to work together." Whitey informed the boys. "Now get the hell out of here, and get your acts together." Whitey said as the two boys walked out of his office.

"What is up with you man?" Lucas said.

"Nothing, other than the fact that my girlfriend dumped me."

"And you're taking it out on me?"

"Yeah well, you're part of the reason."

"Oh and the breakup had nothing to do with the fact you were screwing Brooke, aka my girlfriend." Lucas remarked, sarcastically.

"Whatever, I don't care anymore, its Peyton's loss."

"Yeah big loss." Lucas spat. "Look, we're co-captains which means we have to compromise, so can we just stop all this for the team's sake?"

"Yeah whatever." Nathan said as he walked out of the gym.


"Luke?" Peyton called as she entered Lucas' house. "Luke? You here?"

"He's not home from practice yet Peyton." Keith said as he appeared from the kitchen.

"Oh okay."

"You can wait for him, he'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay." Peyton said as she entered the kitchen.

"So how are you Peyton?" Keith asked.

"I'm good, how are you?"

"Fine. What are you and Luke up to today?"

"Eh we're probably going to stay here, watch a movie, pig out, the usual." Peyton said.

"Don't you ever do anything different?"

"Actually we're trying to stay away from different for now." Peyton said.

Then they heard a door slam, accompanied by footsteps.

"Lucas? What's your problem?" Keith asked seeing the pissed off expression on Lucas' face.

"Whitey lost his mind and made me and Nathan co-captains." Lucas said, not even seeing Peyton until she cleared her throat.

"Oh hey Peyton." Lucas said.

"Well, nice to see you too." Peyton said.

"Sorry ..I - um..." What is wrong with you? Lucas thought to himself.

"Yeah, no problem. So what are you going to do with Nathan?"

"Well, I decided to take the high road and try to make it work because I don't want to lose my spot on the team and I don't give a damn about Nathan or how he feels about it." Lucas said.

"Good for you Luke. I would have kicked his ass." Peyton joked.

"Ok well I have to meet your mom at the café, seems there's a biscotti emergency." Keith said as he headed out the door.

"Bye Keith." Peyton said.

"Bye." Lucas said. "What are we doing tonight?"

"Food, movie, more food … and did I mention food?" Peyton said.

"Okay, what movie?"

"I'm sick of comedies, what about a horror movie?"

"You? Horror? You're afraid of your own shadow." Lucas said getting up and walking to where the movies were.

"Oh shut up, I'm not that scared." Peyton said getting off the stool and following him.

"Uhuh … the only scary movies I have are ... The Ring, Cry Wolf and House of Wax." Lucas said while he looked through the shelves.

"The Ring." Peyton said.

"Oh, aren't we in a daring mood. Okay, The Ring it is." Lucas said.

They went back to Lucas' room and laid on the bed. Peyton put the movie in and made sure she had a blanket she could hide under if she needed to. About a half hour passed before Lucas spoke up.

"You sure this movie wasn't just an excuse for you to cuddle up next to me?" Lucas said, referring to the fact that every time a scary part came on, she would bury her face in Lucas' shoulder.

"Dude shut up and watch the movie." Lucas did as he was told, and during the scariest part of the movie, he tapped Peyton on the shoulder causing her to jump ten feet in the air.

"Lucas!" Peyton yelled, while Lucas laughed histerically.

"Dude you should have seen you're face. Priceless." Lucas said as he continued laughing.

"You suck!" Peyton yelled as she hit Lucas in the face with a pillow.

"You did not just hit me with a pillow!" Lucas said, shocked.

"Yeah I did." Peyton said as she did it again.

"Oh its on now." Lucas said as he picked up a pillow and hit her with it. This went on for a while, the two of them dueling with pillow on Lucas' bed. Peyton was about to strike again but instead slipped off the bed causing Lucas to fall with her. The two cracked up as the lay there on the floor, Lucas on top of Peyton. The laughter stopped, but their position didn't change, they stared into each other's eyes before Lucas took the next step and planted his lips on Peyton's in a short, yet passionate kiss. He quickly pulled back realizing what he had just done. Peyton stared at him, confused.

"Why did you do that?" Peyton said just above a whisper.

"I'm not exactly sure." Lucas said, truthfully.

"I have to go." Peyton said, pushing Lucas off of her and standing up.

"Peyt-" Lucas said as he got up, but she was already out the door.

"What the hell just happened?" Lucas asked himself, staring at the door Peyton had just walked out of.