"OK, we're here!" Brooke exclaimed breathlessly as she and Haley ran into Peyton's fathers' house the next afternoon. "What's going on? Is baby boy Peyton OK?" she asked, placing a hand on her friends' belly. Haley walked in behind Brooke and gave Peyton a weak smile.
Peyton rolled her eyes. "Brooke—for the last time, I am not naming my son Peyton," she said seriously as she shut the door behind them.
"Whatever," Brooke said, deciding that this was a topic for another time. "What's the emergency?"
Peyton took a deep breath. "The thing is, I need something," she said desperately.
"Well what is it?" Brooke asked sympathetically. "Haley and I will get it for you."
Peyton shook her head. "You can't," she assured Brooke.
"Yes, we can and we will!" Brooke said with conviction.
"Sex! OK! I need sex! I'm kind of…horny," she explained, her eyes widening as if she were challenging her friends to make fun of her.
Brooke cleared her throat and grabbed Haley's elbow, thrusting her in front of herself as if she were a shield. "Take Haley!" she said quickly. "She's a virgin. She'll never even know the difference!"
"Brooke!" Haley exclaimed indignantly. She turned to Peyton. "I'm saving myself for marriage," she said in a teasing tone.
Peyton's eyes took on a pleading gleam. "I'm not kidding. What the hell am I going to do?" she asked, running a hand through her hair.
Brooke raised an eyebrow. "Don't you mean who?" she asked dryly.
"Not funny, B. Davis."
"Not joking, P. Sawyer."
Haley cleared her throat. "OK, when it comes to sex, it's clear that I am going to have to be the voice of reason."
Both sets of eyes flew to her.
"You can both glare all you want, but what's truth is truth." She turned to Brooke. "You can't even fit all of your former…conquests into a Yukon! Or even two Yukons for that matter!" Then she turned to Peyton. "And you're having a surprise baby. Do you guys really want to argue about this?"
"OK! Go!" Peyton said impatiently.
"You have two options here," Haley began, holding up the index and middle finger of her left hand.
"Oh, two? Good because I can't even think of one!"
"First of all, there's always the classic way to go—and that's with a good 'Brooke-ing,'" she said in a tone of reason.
"Always a good choice," Brooke said appreciatively while nodding her head.
"Number two—and I know you're going to hate this, but I'm sure Jake wouldn't say no to you, Peyton," Haley said quickly, waiting for her friends' tirade.
Peyton's jaw dropped. "Jake? What is wrong with you?"
"Lots of things, really," Haley said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "But we won't get into that. Peyton—it's not like you're going to let anyone else touch you while you're pregnant."
Peyton sighed. "Thanks for the ideas," she said, biting her lower lip.
They all stood there for a minute. "Well?" Brooke finally said.
Peyton cleared her throat. "You guys should probably leave," she said quickly.
Brooke smiled knowingly. She gave her friend a pat on the back. "Lotsa luck, P. Sawyer."
"What…like I forgot how to do it?" she asked defensively.
"So, how's the moodiness?" Haley teased.
"Right up there with the horniness," Peyton admitted as her friends left. She closed the door behind them and grabbed her phone.
"So, I'll see you back at the apartment?" Brooke said to Haley as they walked down the front steps.
Haley looked at her watch. "Actually, I…have to meet some friends from class. We have a test coming up, and I want to be prepared," she said, not meeting her friends' eyes. Luckily, Brooke didn't notice.
"OK. Well, good luck," she said, heading for her own car.
"Thanks," Haley said, feeling a wave of guilt coming on.
777
"Let's get one thing straight," Haley said in a business like manner as she walked through the entrance of the building. She slung her book bag down onto the floor of the studio. "I'm not here to try out for your tour. I'm only here because I wasn't sure if anyone else was going to show up, and after you went through all that trouble to find me, I thought I could at least add my vocals to a demo and you could see if you really do want another voice on the song."
Chris looked at her with a grin on his face. "Ramble much?" he asked with humor in his voice. "Did you even take a breath?"
Haley shook her head to move her hair out of her eyes. "Look, I can't stay for very long. My roommate is expecting me," she lied.
"What's going on with you, Haley?"
"I…do you even know me enough to ask me that?" she asked, placing her hands on her hips.
Chris shrugged a shoulder. "You tell me."
"You don't," Haley told him. "Can we please just do this?"
"Sure. We'll get started after you tell me why you're really here."
"I told you," she said firmly.
"You can go," he said abruptly, turning back to the sheet music he had been looking at when she walked in.
"What? I show up here as a favor to you—"
"Well, don't…do me any favors, Haley," he said. He lifted his hand and gestured to the door. "Like I said—you can go."
"Why?"
"I don't work with liars," he said matter-of-factly.
"I'm not a liar," Haley said.
"Tell me why you're really here or walk back out the door, Haley."
Haley stood there for a minute looking at him then sighed. She started to bite the inside of her cheek nervously. "I'm not sure why I'm here," she finally admitted.
Chris returned her stare for a minute before he finally spoke. "At least it's an honest answer," he said, but it was clear he didn't like it. "Let's get started."
777
"Ok, so here's the thing," Peyton told Jake as she slung open the door. His hand was poised to knock. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the house. "One of the joys of pregnancy is that my hormones are raging, and Jake, I'm horny as hell. I need sex!"
Jake stood there for a minute stunned then his face broke into a knowing grin. "And you need it with me?" he inquired.
"I just need it!" she said in a shrill voice.
"With me," he stated, his grin getting wider.
"I just need it!" she said even more frantically than before.
"Well, Peyton, I can't turn it on and off just like that," he told her.
"Of course you can!" she argued.
"No, I can't," he said firmly.
Peyton shrugged, regaining her composure. "Fine. I'll find someone who can," she bluffed walking away.
Jake's hand captured her wrist. "Or maybe I can," he said, kicking the door shut with the heel of his foot and pulling her to him at the same time. He lifted his hands to her face and his lips came crashing down onto hers, no trace of tenderness. Only a fierce need that told her exactly how long he'd been waiting for it. But she already knew, because she'd been waiting just as long. Her mouth opened instantly and his tongue plunged inside, his hands lifting to her hair and grabbing onto it as if to hold her in place. She battled for control of the kiss, but it was no use. It had been too long since she'd been with him, and she finally decided that she didn't care if he was in control, as long as it didn't stop.
Jake pulled his lips from hers and moved them to her neck, placing a trail of kisses all the way down to her left shoulder. She tilted her head to the side, doing what she could to make it easier for him. "Here's the thing," Peyton said breathily between his hot kisses. She started unbuttoning his shirt. "I don't want any foreplay."
"Oh, there's going to be foreplay," Jake promised.
"And I don't want any words," Peyton said, pushing his shirt down over his shoulders.
"There might be some words," Jake said, refusing to give in to her demands.
She pushed him away and met his eyes. She swallowed uncertainly. "And Jake, this doesn't mean anything," she told him, unbuttoning his jeans.
"To you," he said softly, pulling away again. He gently placed his hands on hers to gain her attention. "It doesn't mean anything to you. But I speak for me. And it will mean something to me, Peyton."
She ignored his comment. "You leave when we're done," she said, lowering his zipper.
"Cuddling," he amended. "I'll leave when we're done cuddling." Jake pushed his pants down to his ankles and stepped out of them.
"Whatever. Let's do this," she huskily, pulling her shirt over her head. Jake's eyes filled with emotion at the sight of her swollen belly.
"Not now, Jake," Peyton said firmly.
He reached forward, and put a hand on her belly, his mouth finding hers once again, kissing her with every ounce of fierceness his body possessed. She was his. And in that moment, he vowed that soon—she'd know it, too. He didn't ever want another man's hands on her body.
