The Beautiful Dance

Chapter 10

To the casual observer it appeared that Peyton had recovered from her incident at the party a few days ago. But Lucas knew that it still bothered her. The memory of that drunk kid with his hands on her was burned into her brain, and as much as she refused to admit it, he knew. It killed Lucas to know that he wasn't there for her that night; he wasn't there to protect her.

Lucas knew that the basketball game between Tree Hill and Kennedy High School was coming up and he planned on confronting Bobby Doyle. He didn't want to fight the kid because Doyle wasn't worth the time. Lucas just wanted to help him understand that if he ever went near Peyton again there would be consequences. It was against type for Lucas to play the tough guy, but he was willing to look like a bit of a fool if it meant protecting Peyton.

Unfortunately for Lucas, Peyton got wind of who the basketball team was playing and warned him not to start any trouble with the Doyle kid. Lucas half-heartedly agreed but grew serious when he saw the look in Peyton's eye. If Lucas had learned anything in the past few months with her it was not to mess with Peyton when she had that look on her face. He promised that he wouldn't do anything stupid.

The night of the game had Lucas' stomach feeling unusually nervous. Peyton had driven him to the gym, like she had on so many other game nights.

"Remember your promise, please don't do anything stupid tonight Lucas. I don't want you getting suspended from the team over something that was my problem." She looked at him seriously. He only heard parts of what she had been saying, the moonlight shining through the windshield of the car was hitting her face at the perfect angle and he couldn't get over how beautiful she looked at that very moment.

"Lucas, did you hear me?"

"Yeah, don't do anything stupid. I won't." he leaned across the seat of her old black convertible and kissed her before climbing out of the car with his bag and heading to the gym.

Unbeknownst to them, someone had been watching their interaction from across the parking lot. Bobby Doyle had come on to Peyton that night at the party knowing she was a cheerleader from Tree Hill, he'd seen her before at games from last season, what he didn't know was that she was dating Lucas Scott. The unhinged young man smiled darkly to himself knowing that there was much trouble to be caused on this night.

As the two teams warmed up on opposite sides of the court, Doyle waited for the right time to get under Lucas' skin. He found the opportunity when both teams were clearing the floor. Bobby ran up within earshot of Lucas and struck.

"Your girlfriend wanted it bad." He sneered. Bobby Doyle looked exactly like Peyton had described. A thick mop of uncombed brown hair hung just above his small brown eyes and his large crooked nose gave him the appearance of a roughneck.

"What did you say?" Lucas dared him to say it again to his face.

"Your girlfriend came onto me. She was all over me. I'd keep an eye on her from now on." The grin on Bobby's face was cold and calculating.

Lucas had had enough of this kid already. Without laying a hand on him, Lucas leaned down and got into the shorter boy's face. "You're a liar." He snarled through gritted teeth. He wanted so badly to hit him; if anyone deserved it it was that guy. But his promise to Peyton and the hand's of his younger brother pulling him away were what stopped him.

"You don't want to do that Lucas, not now at least. Let's beat him on the court. He'll get what's coming to him." Nathan reassured his brother.

The game had gone how Lucas had expected it to after his run in with Doyle. The kid was hammering him every time the ref had his back turned. Bobby got a little bolder as the game wore on, slamming into Lucas hard enough to knock him to the floor. A chorus of boo's swept the gym but Lucas crawled slowly to his feet and waved off the cheap shot. He looked over towards the sidelines where Peyton was standing with the other cheerleaders; he gave her a slight nod to let her know that he was ok before running to the line to take his foul shot. It wasn't until Bobby had smugly insinuated that he had slept with Peyton, that Lucas completely lost his cool.

"I know why you keep the girl around Scott, she's a damn good lay. I'd like to get with that again sometime. She's a nice piece of ass, not the best I've ever had but…" he didn't get that chance to finish his sleazy comments as Lucas' fist connected squarely with his jaw.

Before he realized what he was doing Lucas knocked Bobby to the floor and laid punch after punch to his face. For all his talk, Bobby Doyle wasn't much of a fighter his only punch connected with Lucas' eyebrow and split open the area. Lucas didn't notice the blood flowing from above his eye, he was like an animal attacking his prey. He couldn't stop his fist, it was as if they weren't even being controlled by him anymore. It took three guys, including Nathan, to pull him off. They drug him, still kicking, out of the gym and into one of the hallways.

The adrenaline was still coursing quickly through his body as his chest rose and fell rapidly. He didn't even need to wait for the ref's reprimand, he knew he was ejected from the game and by the time Whitey would get around to him he'd be benched for at least two weeks. But none of that mattered then. Nathan left him alone to cool off in the hallway and returned to the game. Lucas struggled to catch his breath and only then realized that the cut above his eyebrow was bleeding. He wandered the hallway alone looking for a towel to cover his eye with.

The heavy double doors that led into the gym swung open loudly and Lucas turned to see who was coming into the hallway. Peyton was walking towards him in a huff, she looked angry.

"I asked you not to do anything like that tonight. You gave me your word Lucas. How could you go and do something like this?"

"You should have heard the things he was saying about you Peyton. I wasn't going to let him talk about you like that." He winced in pain as he pressed the towel to his forehead. The blood from his cut had left a sticky trail of crimson down the side of his face. He looked as if he'd just stepped out of an action movie rather than a high school basketball game.

"I don't need you to be my protector Lucas, I can take care of myself." Her words stung him. It was as if she had suddenly reverted back to the old Peyton who wouldn't let anyone close and kept her pain hidden away.

"Peyton I didn't say you couldn't take care of yourself."

"You didn't have to say it. You beat that kid to a bloody pulp because he made a play at your girl, not because you wanted to protect me." She looked away from him then, the cut on his face was making her feel guilty for yelling at him. "You need to get that looked at by the trainer. I'm going home and I want to be alone."

She left him standing alone in the hallway as she walked into the girls locker room to change out of her uniform. He had managed to ruin everything by letting his temper get out of control. The throbbing in his eye was getting worse and he knew he needed to get patched up before he could talk to Peyton, he only hoped she would be willing to listen.