The Things They See

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine of course.

Authors Notes: Keep reviewing!

Summary: Everyone has their own view of Lucas and Peyton's relationship, including the couple themselves.

Chapter 2:

Lucas

I've seen the way she looks at me...

The way she stares without fear of being caught, she can easily become lost in you. I blame it on her being a natural artist, the way she studies my features with such passion. We've been together for two years and I can honestly say that I have her face, her body, perfectly memorized; I know every scar, every freckle, every beauty mark. But she still searches my face like she hasn't seen it every day for the last twenty-six months.

I get caught staring every once in a while, but in my defense I can't really help but gaze at her. It's my favorite thing in the world, to look at her. To me she is always beautiful, whether she's sketching furiously and doesn't notice that she has charcoal smeared on her face and arms or when she's wrapped up in my sheets after we've made love following a Friday night date and her hair is messy and her skin is glistening with small beads of sweat.

I think, looking back, that I've always had quite the crush on Peyton Sawyer. The first time I ever saw her we were both in fifth grade, our classes were on a field trip to the local newspaper. She was sitting under the shade of a large oak tree during our lunch break surrounded by a group of giggly girls; one of whom I would later learn was Brooke Davis. I thought she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen with her long skinny legs and her knobby knees and that mess of untamed curls on her head. But I wasn't brave enough to say anything to her then, she hung with a totally different crowd and that stuff mattered even in elementary school.

So I forgot about her for a few years, I still saw her every now and then around town or at school. The innocent crush just kind of faded away, and my life became about basketball and books and not much else. And then I almost get run over on my way down to the river court one night and the driver of the car just so happened to be Peyton Sawyer. And suddenly my boyhood crush was back and I just kind of got lost staring at her, I would have kept staring at her if she wouldn't have honked at me and rudely waved me off. I knew I had to have this girl.

People made jokes about the brooding athlete and the tortured artist, but that's what we honestly were. She was still devastated by loss of her mom, and I was messed up about Dan. We were just two young kids who didn't really know who they were; we probably would have never made it as a couple the first time around. There was way too much angst shared between us, way too much.

While I was in Charleston I spent a lot of time sitting on the beach, the waves crashing against the shore just a few feet away. In all my seventeen years I'd never really looked at the stars, which is something everyone needs to do at least once. So that's what I did every night, I found this little spot a few minutes away from the apartment and it was void of people after ten o'clock. I would just sit there and let my mind wander, the whole thing was very effective the first few months with all that inner "turmoil" I had beginning to die away.

Things started to change after about two months. I was going to my spot less and less and when I did go I found myself wishing Peyton was there with me, I really missed her. I asked Keith what he thought I should do and his advice? Call her. So that's what I did, or at least attempted to. I'd get her number dialed but then I would hang up before she answered. This went on for a few days before Keith took the phone from me, dialed her number and kept the phone until she picked up, he smirked at me and threw the receiver into my lap. I talked to her for almost two hours that night, I told Keith I was going home a few days later.

So it's been a very good two years. And if things don't work out for us I'm thinking that my mom may kick me out of the house and let Peyton move in. She absolutely loves Peyton. I remember the first time we ever had dinner with my mom, after the dishes had been cleared they found their way to the couch and my mom pulled out her photo albums of my childhood. They sat there for hours and laughed at the pictures of me missing my front teeth or the ones where I'm holding my old stuffed bear that I named Harvey or the photo of me when I was first learning how to ride a bike. Peyton still kids me about the picture of me dressed up like a dinosaur for Halloween.

Peyton confessed to me a few months ago that she thinks of my mom as her surrogate mother sometimes. I know my mom likes to think the same thing. There are times that they will go and spend the whole day together, I've asked them what they do but it's apparently some big "girls-only" secret. Whatever they do I know they both have a good time, and I'm grateful to my mom for making Peyton feel like a mother's daughter again and I'm grateful to Peyton for making my mom smile again, smile a lot.

Being with Peyton is easy, although she would tell you different. She's never given me a reason to not love her completely and I don't think she ever could. There are times when I look at her and this feeling of complete bliss takes over my body. To me she is perfect in every way. I can't do better than her, she's everything I could ever want, need or imagine.

I'm hers forever.

A/N: Hope you guys liked the chapter, review please and let me know what you thought. The next chapter of The Beautiful Dance is coming soon, if it's not up by the end of the weekend feel free to e-mail me and pester me until it's up. You guys deserve it! And I have to give a huge thanks to lysser8312, you are always giving me such great reviews and I appreciate them so much. So my next chapter of Beautiful Dance will be dedicated to you! I'm undecided about who the next p.o.v will be from, so tell me who you guys want, I can't decide.