The Brilliant Dance

Disclaimer: Not my characters, unfortunately

Authors Notes: Third chapter is finally up, read and review pretty please! I love hearing what you guys have to say.

Chapter 3

Her closet was full of clothes: vintage rock t-shirts, jeans, long sleeved tees, the occasional denim skirt, and her black leather jacket. She passed over each hanger carefully for the third time attempting in vain to find something, anything, to wear on her date. After one final pass over her clothes she was completely frustrated. So he picked up her phone and called the one person she knew could help.

Fifteen minutes after she hung up the phone she was relieved to see Haley James standing on her front porch.

"What's the big emergency?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

"I need your help finding something to wear." Peyton said tossing her hands up into the air.

"What's the occasion?" Haley asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"A date with Lucas." She smirked as she watched Haley's eyes widen.

"Oh wow, that's great Peyton. You guys worked things out it sounds like. So does that mean he's not leaving town?".

"Yeah he's staying. We worked a lot of things out and there's still more stuff we need to deal with, but for right now we're just working on being together." Peyton smiled.

"I'm so happy for you guys, and it's about damn time." Haley said giving Peyton a quick hug. "Now let's go find something for you to wear.

They quickly climbed the stairs towards her bedroom. Throwing open the doors to her closet, Haley quickly glanced over Peyton's wardrobe before turning to her friend.

"Peyton there are plenty of things for you to wear." She said running her fingers over the row of clothes.

"But not for a date, it's all too casual."

"Trust me Peyt, Lucas won't care what you're wearing, he'll say none of that matters to him. But between you and me he likes the way you dress especially the leather jacket." Haley smiled reassuringly.

"I'm acting like some crazy chick Hales, I guess I'm just nervous about tonight." Peyton shrugged.

"What do you have to be nervous about?"

"I've never really done the dating thing you know, I've done the whole 'park in a dark place and see where it goes' sort of thing. I've never had a guy come and pick me up for and take me to a dinner and a movie. It's sort of new to me. Does this make any sense?"

"It makes perfect sense. You and Nathan never seemed to work, he was such an asshole. Strong emphasis on the was, of course. It's perfectly ok to be nervous and I'm sure Lucas is a little nervous too." Peyton seemed to calm down a little at her friends words of encouragement. Haley grabbed her hand and led the girl over towards the closet. "Now pick something that goes with the leather jacket."

An hour later Lucas was knocking on her front door promptly at 8:00. Her heart raced a little as she swung open the door to meet him. She was a little relieved to see him wearing casual clothes that matched well with her own.

"Hi." He smiled.

She leaned in and kissed him, one arm wrapped around his neck. "Hi yourself."

"Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah let me just grab my bag." She ducked back into the house long enough to grab her purse from the hall table and then lock the door behind her. "I'm ready."

"You look great." He said fingering the collar of her leather jacket. Peyton smiled and kissed him again.

The only movie theater in town was in the middle of a classic movie marathon. The theater was nearly empty for the 10:00 showing of 'Rebel Without A Cause'. After dinner at a small Italian restaurant Lucas and Peyton found themselves sitting in the back row of the dark theater sharing a bag of popcorn.

He watched her as she stared intently at the screen, her focus locked onto the movie. He was startled when she turned and looked at him suddenly.

She arched her brow just slightly and grinned. "What?"

"How many times have you seen this movie?"

"Why?"

"Because you're over there moving your lips with the dialogue."

She tossed a piece of popcorn at him. "I am not."

"You are Peyton. How many times?" he whispered.

"At least ten times." She grinned.

"Why didn't you say something? We could have seen something self."

"I would not have seen this movie ten times if I didn't love it. I mean there are so many things to love about 'Rebel Without A Cause': James Dean, the leather jacket, and classic black and white film, all indicators of being a great film. But I just like being here with you." She leaned in closer to him, her hand resting on top of his.

Still focused on her movie, she traced light circles into the palm of his hand. A touch in the right spot would cause his fingers to suddenly flex. Lucas' attention wasn't completely focused on the movie or the current sensation in his hand. He was watching the only other couple in the movie theater make out like a couple of love-starved teenagers.

Peyton looked over at Lucas and followed his fixed stare towards the couple sitting about eight rows in front of them. After a few seconds of gawking she nudged him sharply with her elbow.

"Ow, what was that for?" he said rubbing at the spot on his ribs where her elbow had hit.

"You're staring." She laughed.

"I was just waiting to see if either of them were going to come up for air soon. They've been going at it forever."

"Are you feeling left out? I'm sure the old guy sitting up front won't mind if he's the only person watching the movie." Peyton whispered, wagging her eyebrows at him. She leaned forward to kiss him lightly on the neck.

"Oh shit." He said in a sharp whisper.

Peyton pulled back from him quickly. "What is it?" she whispered back.

"That's Brooke, down there making out with that guy." Peyton looked closer, squinting her eyes in an attempt to better see the dark figure below them.

"It is her."

"This is the last thing we need tonight. She's going to cause a god damn scene if she sees us." He leaned back in his chair running, his hand angrily through his hair. "I hate dealing with this bullshit over and over."

"I feel like we should say something to her. But then I feel like we don't owe her an explanation, she made it clear she wants nothing to do with either of us. The last thing I want to deal with is a big confrontation with my former best friend, so what do we do?"

"After the movies over we'll just hang back until they clear out of here, hopefully she hasn't seen us yet." He sighed.

"Or maybe she's already seen us and that's why we're being treated to the gratuitous public display of affection. We're not going out of our way to hide from her. She'll find out sooner or later." Peyton shook her head in silence; she knew that Brooke was going to come at her with the gloves off.

"Let's just finish the movie ok? Forget all this crap for right now." He turned to her and she nodded in agreement. Pulling her close, she rested her head against his shoulder and he kissed her gently on the forehead. "Everything is gonna be fine."

She wasn't so sure about that.

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