Notes: Yikes, lol. Well, I will go ahead and disclaimer this now: there won't be a Jake/Peyton, Lucas/Haley, Brooke/Lucas pairing. I'm sorry y'all! Some side pairings may very well appear but as of right now, I don't think so. Brooke will make more appearances in this, both in flashbacks and current timeline, and as for Haley she's off being a cool alternative singer away from Tree Hill, so I doubt she will pop up. I hope you enjoy this chapter. If you aren't a fan of Nathan/Peyton or Lucas/Peyton this fanfiction probably isn't for you.

Over the last week Peyton had tried to think of what she wanted to say in her interview with Lucas. She wanted to focus on the point of the gallery, why she decided to open it in the first place, but she also didn't want to give too much away. The gallery was so incredibly special to her, and very personal.

She hoped she could put it all into words.

Lucas had asked to meet her for lunch at a place of her choosing. She had decided to pick the Tree Hill Bistro, she figured it was most appropriate since it was within walking distance of her gallery.

She sent Nathan a quick text about her lunch and waited patiently for Lucas to show up. She continued to think of what she wanted to say. Her gallery had been the best gift anyone had ever given her. Nathan had been so incredibly sincere and earnest when he bought her the space. She smiled fondly at his sheepish grin leading her to the empty space where the gallery was now.

She heard someone tap at her window which quickly brought her out of her thoughts. "Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise to see Lucas in front of her. She opened her car door and gave him a small wave. "Lucas, hey. Sorry I didn't see you pull in."

Lucas smiled politely and reached out to shake her hand. "Same car I see."

She nodded and shook Lucas' hand. She felt a warmth creep up the back of her neck as his hand touched hers. This is when she noticed for the first time how different he looked. More adult, for sure. He had a beard now and his hair was cut into a more modern style, parted on the side and well kept. "Yeah, can't give it up. Nathan begs me to get a new car at least once a month but I keep on refusing."

Lucas chuckled a little bit and nodded towards the Bistro. "Shall we?"

Peyton followed Lucas inside, she felt nervous suddenly. She hadn't felt these type of butterflies since she was a teenager, dating Nathan for the first time.

Once they were sat down by the hostess, Lucas got out his notepad and pen and sat it beside his napkin. "I'll take notes as we talk, I hope you don't mind. I usually do it on my phone but it comes off rude, especially in a restaurant."

"Whatever works." she swallowed hard before opening the menu. "I don't know what you like but pretty much everything here is good."

"It's on me. I have a company card that I rarely get to use, so whatever you want. I'm normally taken out by coaches and they tend to pay."

Peyton settled on a Ceasar salad. Her stomach felt too nervous to really focus on eating anything at all. She chalked up her nervousness to the interview. She was so worried she would say the wrong thing or seme ungrateful about this interview.

"Trying to watch your figure?" Lucas teased her. She chuckled a little and shrugged her shoulders. He gave her a dimpled grin before flipping open his notebook. "Okay, so while we wait on the food - what made you decide to open your gallery in the first place? Especially without a proper name."

Peyton smiled a little and took a sip of her water. She knew that would eventually come up. She never could decide on the right name. She and Nathan had brainstormed and nothing ever felt right so she had just settled on "The Gallery". It was the only art gallery in Tree Hill, so at the time it didn't seem so odd.

"I've always loved art, when I went to art school after high school I started to have a different perspective on art and really got an eye for it. I worked at a gallery while I was in college and was a pretty successful buyer. I didn't think about opening my own until I got back to Tree Hill and several people around town started asking me to find them art for local businesses as well as events. It sort of fell in my lap, you could say."

Lucas nodded and started to make notes. Peyton felt even more nervous, wondering exactly what he had written from what she said. "As far as the name, I had went over so many words that they all started to sound...hmmm...regular, which is obviously what I ended up with. A lot of people, especially my dad, thought it was a hipster move, but I was so close to my grand opening and didn't have a name that I just ordered window lettering that said "The Gallery" and went with it."

Lucas looked up at her and smiled. "I like it, you could have went with something area specific and corny. Tree Hill Art Gallery would have been regular and expected to me. It's simple. Chic, I guess."

"It does look good in black lettering." Peyton joked.

Lucas smiled and closed his notepad when the waitress came back with their food. "On second thought, will you bring a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon?"

After the waitress walked away Peyton smiled nervously. "I don't really drink, I'm sorry."

Lucas quirked his brow at her. "Really?"

"Yeah, not since college. I, well...we don't drink, I should say." It had been a long time since Peyton had even been questioned about drinking or alcohol. Most everyone in her life knew that she and Nathan had stopped drinking years ago. Peyton had done it to be supportive of Nathan and his journey, but it had just stuck.

She always knew she could drink when she wasn't home or around Nathan, he had never protested to either but she just felt that they were a team. She didn't want to tiptoe around alcohol and she had never really enjoyed it that much.

"Ah." Lucas nodded slightly. She knew he had probably been well aware of Nathan's 'problem' after high school. Most everyone was. He had lost his basketball scholarship over alcohol, so most everyone in Tree Hill was aware after he came back home.

Money can't buy everything.

"I'm sorry, Peyton. I should have asked. I'll ask if they will cork it and I'll bring it back to my mom's tonight."

"Oh no!" Peyton protested immediately. "You should drink it, I just didn't want you to wonder why I didn't."

"Well you're welcome to try it. I never really drank in high school and barely any in college. I dated someone a few years ago who loved wine and started to get a taste for it. She loved to spend time at winerys, we've been to so many on the East Coast."

"Mature drinking." Peyton joked, taking a bite of her salad. The food did nothing to calm her nervous stomach. Lucas had always been perfectly nice to her, and even now, he was so kind and easy to talk to.

She couldn't explain the flush that she felt all over her body. She just wanted it to go away. She tapped her fingers on the table and looked at Lucas and cleared her throat nervously. "I'll actually try a little. I never really drank much wine. Usually liquor and beer."

"You don't have to." he said quickly. "Don't feel pressured."

"No, no I want to." she hadn't had alcohol in years but she did remember that it used to make her feel a sense of calmness, as long as she didn't overdo it.

She felt like a teenager on her first awkward date and couldn't explain why. Nothing about this was remotely like a date.

…

Lucas hadn't seen Peyton in so long, other than occasionally on social media. He couldn't believe he was sitting here with her now, after all these years.

He still felt like she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He couldn't help but feel nervous, like he was trying to work up the nerve to talk to her, like he had in high school.

He felt so incredibly stupid.

He poured himself a glass of wine and took a long sip from it, hoping it would calm his nerves. He felt like an asshole ordering it without consulting with her. Maybe he wanted to seem impressive. "I'll pour you a glass if you would like." she nodded and he poured her a half-glass of wine. He filled his glass again before corking the bottle and placing it in the middle of the table.

Over the next half-hour he seemed to relax. The questions came more easily, as did the answers. He felt relieved when she laughed at his corny jokes and quips.

She didn't seem so hard and distant these days, like the girl he had known in high school, who rarely smiled. He had no reason to feel relief over this, but he did. He couldn't lie and say that she never crossed his mind. He thought about her much more often than was appropriate of him. She was, after all, technically his sister-in-law.

He glanced at her left hand and saw the large diamond on her finger, as well as the golden band wrapped around it. He felt like it looked foreign on her small fingers but looked away before he could think of it any longer. He had no right to feel anything about Peyton's marriage. Jealousy, envy, questioning, none of it.

"I would love to see the gallery." he noted, closing his notepad again. Between them they had polished off the bottle of wine and he felt fuzzy, and slightly more relaxed.

She smiled at him and took the last sip from her glass. "It's within walking distance. I know you wanted to come to one of the shows next week but it's always nice to be there when it's quiet. It's my thinking space."

Lucas paid the bill and followed Peyton across the street. He was aware Peyton's gallery was above a nightclub but he hadn't expected what he saw. They walked through the quiet club and Lucas had to admit he was impressed. It was a lot more upscale than he expected of a club in Tree Hill. "It's just up these stairs."

They walked the rest of the distance in silence, the only sound was the click of the lock, before Peyton opened her gallery. It was bright and full of colorful paintings and unique sculptures. He walked towards one of the bigger paintings in the gallery and admired it. It was of a girl peeling off her skin to reveal an alien beneath. It was a concept he had seen many times before, but something about the eyes of the girl in the painting drew him in. "I like this one a lot."

"It's mine. I painted it so long ago, back in high school or maybe a little afterwards." she rounded her desk to stand beside Lucas and look at the painting. "I just haven't ever sold it. I always end up saying no to all the offers, even though it's not even close to my style now." She felt the heat of his body next to hers and really felt his presence for the first time. She swallowed nervously and closed her eyes.

She thought this feeling had went away. The alcohol seemed to have only increase her awareness of Lucas and his presence.

He stepped away from her and cleared his throat. She could sense his nervousness now for the first time. She had thought he was just very cool and collected but could sense now that wasn't the case. "It's very impressive."

"Thank you." Peyton stepped back and walked towards her desk and sat on the edge of it. "I hope you mean that."

"I do. I'm not really going to say I have an eye for art or anything, but it's nice."

Peyton nodded slightly, still feeling the butterflies in her stomach and the heat at the back of her neck. She wasn't sure where this had come from. Maybe it was just someone being interested in just her for the first time in years.

She felt incredibly silly.

She also felt incredibly guilty.

"The uh, show is next week. It should be nice, I have some new art coming in next week. If you wanted to see the process of that you could speak with my assistant. She brings in and prepares all the art for the shows."

Lucas nodded taking down the information down in his notepad. "Great. I really enjoyed our lunch and thank you. I'll be in touch about everything else."

"Of course. Thank you for lunch."

Lucas nodded before quickly exiting the gallery.

Peyton breathed a sigh of relief. All the tension in the room seemed to melt away immediately. She couldn't even believe herself.

She started to feel sick again. What was she thinking? Better yet, why was she thinking like this? The tension in the room shouldn't have existed, she couldn't figure out where it came from, or why.

Looking at her phone for the first time in hours she saw she had a missed call and text from Nathan.

'Hope everything is going well, you're amazing anyone else would be stupid not to notice'

Note: I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Next one will be a flashback, again. I've structured this to be a 10-12 chapter fanfiction, depending on the ending.