AN: Thanks to jeytonlover and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06! Your constant support means so much to me!

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Chapter 14

Peyton froze, as did Jake. Did I just say that? he asked himself in his head. Well, it was true. He had figured it out quite a while ago; that he was in love with Peyton. However, he could not remember making up his mind to tell her about it. It's not like it's that big a deal, right? he told himself. They are adults now, in an adult relationship, and sooner or later it was going to come out, right? It wasn't that big of a shock. But looking at Peyton's expression, Jake was guessing that it actually was, quite a big shock. Since Peyton didn't seem to be speaking anytime soon, Jake figured he better fill the silence between them.

Jake opened and closed his mouth a couple times, but didn't find the words. What was he suppose to say? He had said all that mattered all ready, now he just had to wait for Peyton's answer. He just didn't know if he could take it if it wasn't exactly what he hoped to hear. Peyton finally opened her mouth to talk, but she wasn't looking Jake in the eye.

"I-" Peyton stuttered. "I mean, I..."

"What? You what?" Jake asked gently, getting impatient but not showing it. His voice was sweet and soft.

"I don't know," Peyton finally said. It seemed stupid, all that thought in the last couple of minutes on what to say and she ended up just saying that she didn't know. She knew that this was definitely not the right thing to say, but her mind was so cluttered right now, that she couldn't really think straight.

Jake couldn't have been more disappointed, but he didn't say anything. I mean, what could he say? He wasn't going to force her into saying she was in love with him too. He just let out a huge sigh; on top of being disappointed, he was now greatly embarrassed also.

"I'm sorry, Jake, It's just I-" Peyton said, close to tears.

"Don't know. Yeah, you said so already," Jake said, but he wasn't yelling. He didn't even seem angry- just sad. His sad face, was enough to make Peyton burst with tears, but she didn't, her eyes just watered. "Thanks for the ice," Jake mumbled as he got up and set the packet of ice down on her bed and walked towards the door.

Peyton wanted to say something. Anything. She didn't want him to go. She didn't know why she was so confused about all this. You would think that she was in love with Jake. She had never been in love before, but in movies and everything they always said that when you were in love, you just knew it- it was just there and you just felt it. But Peyton didn't know if she knew it or if she felt it. She felt something, but how could she know if it was love or not? She was confused, and desperate for some advice.

She decided that obviously, the person she needed to talk to was Haley. Haley was pretty much the expert on true love, so she could probably lend her some advice, and if not, she could be there for Peyton and just be a shoulder to cry on.

Peyton dialed Haley's cell phone number, but got the message machine, and she decided to leave a message. It was Nathan's voice on the machine: "Hey, you've reached Haley James-Scott's cell phone. Yes, that's the brilliant Nathan Scott's beautiful wife, who is probably busy with me right now-" you could here Haley laughing in the distance, and then her voice on the machine: "-Nathan, stop! OK, so just leave a message!" You could hear some more laughing, and then a beep. Peyton couldn't help but laugh at this message machine, before leaving her message.

"Hey Haley, it's Peyton," She said, as the tears started to fall, she tried not to make it sound like she was crying, "I just, um- needing some advice about... something. So if you could call me back, or you know, just stop by at my dorm room, that'd be really great. Thanks, bye."

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Jake headed back to his dorm, barely paying attention to where he was going, that's why he was surprised when he looked up and saw that his feet had brought him back to the party. He figured he'd go in to see his friends, anything to get his mind off of what had just happened. He saw Haley, Nathan, Brooke, and Lucas in a corner talking, and he decided to go join them. On his way, a couple drunk girls clutched themselves to him and he managed to get them off him. He finally reached his friends.

"Wow, Jake, what happened to your eye?" Lucas asked.

"Um- it's Stuart, he found out about me and Peyton," Jake said, his voice cracking when he said Peyton's name, "And he was kinda drunk, so... he punched me."

"Ouch." Nathan said. "Who's Stuart again?" he asked.

"My roommate," Jake said.

"Your roommate didn't even know about you and Peyton dating?" Haley asked.

"Well, we only really decided to go public about us being together just recently, so we didn't really get around to telling him. And I guess, he kind of had a thing for her, so he got mad." Jake said. "Doesn't matter though, he'll get over it." He added, not really wanting to talk about it. The others seemed to get this. There was a little silence and then Haley's phone beeped.

"Hmm, I have a message. I wonder why I didn't hear it ring... Sorry, guys, I'll be right back." She said and she went off to find a quiet room to check her message.

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Haley listened to the message, knowing very well that Peyton was definitely not okay when she had said it. Haley could hear the sobs over her voice. What could be wrong? It was only then, that she remembered that she had not seen Peyton since the beginning of the party, and that now when Jake came, Peyton wasn't with him. She walked back into the main room and joined the rest of the gang, minus Peyton.

"Um, Brooke?" She said, low so the boy's wouldn't hear, which they probably wouldn't have even if she had talked in a normal voice, now that they had started up a conversation about basketball. "I think something's wrong with Peyton, we should probably go see her." Haley said.

"Yeah, okay. I thought it was weird that she wasn't here." Brooke said, and then she waved her arms around to get the boys' attention. "Yeah, Haley and I are gonna go- um- see Peyton, you know, see what she's up to." Brooke said, figuring that telling the truth couldn't hurt. Jake suddenly got very interested in his shoes, and Nathan and Lucas kissed their girlfriends, or in Nathan's case- wife- good bye.

"Did she say what was wrong?" Brooke asked as her and Haley mad their way to Brooke and Peyton's dorm room.

"No, she didn't even say that something was wrong. But I could just tell. I think she was crying. But all she said was that she needed advice about something." Haley told Brooke as they got to the dorm. Brooke opened the door and saw that Peyton was lying on the bed, holding a pack of ice oddly enough, and plugged into her iPod, not hearing or noticing Brooke and Haley enter the room. Haley got in front of Peyton and waved to get her attention. When Peyton noticed her and Brooke, she took off he head phones. Brooke and Haley could tell that she had obviously been crying.

"Hey," Peyton said, "I didn't hear you come in."

"Are you okay, Peyton?" Haley asked, "I got your message." she added.

"I don't know," Peyton answered, moving over to make room for Brooke and Haley on the bed. The all sat in a triangle. "You guys haven't seen Jake have you?" She asked.

"Um, actually yeah, he came back to the party." Brooke said. "Why did something happen?"

"He didn't tell you guys?" Peyton asked.

"All he told us was about Stuart punching him," Haley said.

"Right," Peyton said, "Well, after that, I brought him back here to get him some ice, and then..." Peyton took a deep breath, "... He said 'I love you.'" Brooke and Haley smiled widely.

"Wow," Brooke said, "That's great!"

"Yeah," Peyton said, "It would've been if I'd have said it back..."

Brooke and Haley's smiles vanished. "Oh," Haley said, "So, you don't love him?"

"It's not that," Peyton said. "I just, I don't really know. That's kinda why I called you, I was kinda hoping you could tell me how you know when you're in love."

"Oh," Haley said, "Well, I'm not really sure how to explain it. But I definitely know what it's like to be in love, and if you ask me... it seems to me like you're in love with Jake." Haley said. "But it can't be me who decides it, you need to find out for yourself whether or not you're in love with him."

Peyton thought for a moment, but she really didn't need to, it was pretty much a no-brainer. Jake was the person who she found comfort in in her junior year, when she had so much drama going on. He was the person who she missed and thought about constantly for two years while he was away. He was the person who had been making her so unbelievably happy ever since they had gotten together. "I am. I love him." Peyton declared to her two best friends.

"I know," Brooke said, smiling. "Know, you might want to tell him that."

Peyton's smile faded. Oh, God, she thought, what if he's mad at me? What if he thinks now that I don't love him, and now he doesn't want to be with me anymore. She had to go see him, and she had to right now.

"Go!" Haley said excitedly, pushing Peyton softly off the bed.

"Okay," Peyton said running out of the dorm, "Thanks, guys!" She yelled behind her as she slammed the door.

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AN: Alright, that's where I leave you! Please review!