Chapter 21: Action!

Lucas went back home after Brooke's pep talk. Peyton was watching television, and Lucas joined her on the couch. "Where is everybody?" He asked her.

"My dad's at the office, and Jake went out somewhere. Where have you been?"

"I had the weirdest time. I spoke to your cousin, Brooke." Peyton stared at him with an eyebrow raised. "She's a lot like you: kind, smart, and she has a good heart." He pointed out.

"Lucas…what are you talking to Brooke for?" Peyton questioned.

"Peyton, there's some things I want to say to you; I wanted to say to you for awhile now, but I never got the nerve to do it. But I'm pretty sure I've made myself clear to you before. But I want to say it now. I'm in love with you." He said flatly. "I've been in love with you for a long time now. And Brooke made it clear that it takes more than words to prove it to you – to women. So I just wanted to say that I'm going to show you how much you mean to me. I know that you're with Jake, but you've said it yourself that you're not even sure how he feels for you. I'm sure what I feel for you. And sooner or later you're gonna see it too, feel it too. I just wanted to let you know that." He showed her his crooked smile, and walked away to his room.

Peyton stayed on the couch. Did that just happen? She thought to herself. Did Lucas just confess his love for me? Again? She just stayed in the position she was in for a couple of minutes. And then the reality set in. He did just confess his love her again. She smiled at that thought. Jake has never done anything like that for her. Was this the beginning of something?

Lucas was in his room, and he called a local florist and ordered orchids. They were called 'Little Angel,' they were clusters of 3 inch light pink flowers heavily flared with red and yellow. He ordered three mini pots full of them. He knew that they didn't quite say 'I love you,' but he might as well start small.

They came an hour later, and She saw them sitting on the table. She walked up to the orchids, and smiled. She loved orchids, and these particular ones were beautiful. She read the cark on each one. "I know it's small….But everything that turns out great….starts from something small." She smiled to herself, but then Jake cam through the door. She jumped to the sound of the door slamming shut.

"Hey," He said out of breath.

"Uh…hi." Peyton answered flushed.

"Who gave you the flowers?" Jake asked her, reading the card. "'Everything that turns out great….starts from something small'."

"Uh…" she tried to come up with something fast. "I don't know. I guess they're from someone at work." She lied, smiling. "I'm going to put them somewhere." Peyton took two pots, and started walking upstairs. She felt exhilarated. Who knew a couple of flowers would make her feel that way…or maybe it was the person who sent them.

Brooke went into her office. It was nothing like the one she worked in when she worked with Jake. It was smaller, with white walls, and a poor excuse for a window. Her desk was the size of a coffee table, and her papers hardly fit since her computer was huge. But she had to like it, since that was the first job she got after leaving Jake.

She logged onto her computer, and started getting to work. She was in charge of planning a party for an upcoming opening, and when she opened the appropriate window, she realized it was an opening for Jake's company. They had another cruise planned. I guess they couldn't afford to hire another event planner, she sighed to herself.

She promised herself she would be extremely professional about this, and wouldn't let her personal feelings for this man get in the way of her work.

She spent a couple of hours making notes about the upcoming cruise, and looked for places to hold the party. The company requested for a space that would fit approximately 200 people. Since they wanted the party to happen in a week, she would have to have all the major things planned: the theme, the venue, the guest list, and the caterers. Everything else would wait until days later. But one thing she wasn't exactly looking forward to: the time where she would have to go in front of the company and present her ideas.

Now she promised herself she would act professional, but would they? Would she have to present in front of Jennifer, and would she just let her spitefulness for Brooke take over her mind, and just ignore the actual presentation?

It was 8:30 at night, and she finally got everything done. She booked eight venues to check out, booked a caterer, and thought of a theme. She finally shut her computer off, gathered her books, and left her so-called office.

She saw this opportunity as a test; a test to really prove is she was over Jake.