The Beautiful Dance

Chapter 11

The athletic trainer didn't ask question as he examined the gash on Lucas' forehead, the look on the young players face spoke volumes about the night he was having. Lucas winced in pain as the trainer prodded the cut with his gloved fingers before determining that it wasn't deep enough to require stitches. The trainer, whose name was Mike, cleaned the area and applied a big white butterfly bandage to close the wound.

"Keep the area clean and you should change that bandage at least once a day." Mike threw the bloody strips of gauze and bandage wrappers away before pulling off his latex gloves and tossing them aside.

"Thanks." Lucas mumbled before sliding off the trainer's table. He wanted to get changed out of his uniform and out of the gym before Whitey caught up to him. The locker room was empty when he went inside, the game still had at least one quarter left, so he didn't make any attempts to change quickly.

After he dressed, Lucas walked to the mirror in the bathroom and looked over the minor damage Bobby Doyle had done to his face. The cut wasn't as big as he had thought it would be, after he saw the amount of blood that had dripped onto his uniform he had pictured a sizable gash. As he touched the bandaged area gingerly with his fingers, Lucas noticed that his knuckles were cut up and red. If his knuckles looked that bad he wondered how Bobby's face must have looked.

Lucas poked his head out of the locker room door making sure that Whitey wasn't milling around in the hallway waiting to rip the older Scott's head off. After he was sure his coach was still wrapped up in the game, Lucas made a quiet dash for the exit. He was almost to the door when he heard the booming muddled voice of his basketball coach.

"Scott, where and the hell do you think you're going?"

There was no sense in lying to a man that could see right through a person. "I was trying to avoid this." Lucas admitted.

"I don't know what got into you tonight Lucas, but you're going to have three weeks on the bench to think about it. I have a game to get back to, you see me tomorrow afternoon in my office and I'll let you know how else I'm going to punish you." Whitey turned and walked back into the gym without another word to Lucas.

If he didn't feel bad enough about disappointing his girlfriend, he felt even worse knowing that he had disappointed his coach and mentor. Whitey was the one person in the whole town who had given him the chance he had deserved when it came to basketball.

Lucas walked quietly out of the gymnasium and into the cool, crisp November air. He only lived a few miles from the school, but he wasn't sure he was ready to go home just then. His mom would be up and it would be hard to hide the injury from her, and when Karen found out that he had been in a fight he would never hear the end of it.

So he just walked. He had no real destination, all he knew was that he wanted to get away for a little while. The fresh air and quiet streets seemed to have a calming effect on him. Although he had convinced himself that he was wandering aimlessly around Tree Hill, it was no accident that Lucas had stumbled upon Peyton's neighborhood.

He walked down the street until he reached her house. The light in her bedroom was still on giving him a small glimmer of hope that she wouldn't turn him away. Lucas took the steps up the porch slowly and knocked softly. It took an agonizing few minutes for Peyton to walk down the stairs and open the front door. She wasn't all that surprised to see Lucas standing on her front porch, but she was surprised to see the condition he was in.

Lucas stood in front of her with his head cast down towards the ground and his hands tucked into the pockets of his jacket. He looked like a little boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. She was finding it hard to remember what he had done that was so bad, her heart was breaking seeing him standing broken in front of her.

"Can we talk?" he asked unsurely, bracing himself for her rejection. When he looked up for the first time since she had opened the door, Peyton was surprised to see the butterfly bandage above his eye and the swelling that had begun to surround his eye. He looked horrible.

"Yeah come in," she said, holding the door open for him.

As he ran a hand across his face, Peyton noticed the cuts on Lucas' knuckles. "We should get these cleaned up." She grabbed him by the arm and led him into the kitchen. He sat at the small kitchen table while she pulled a dusty first aid kit from the top of the refrigerator.

"You don't have to do this." He said. "It's not that bad."

Peyton wet a small dishtowel and came and sat next to Lucas. She grabbed his hand and gently wiped away the dried blood that surrounded his cuts. Her touch was tender and she almost hated to admit that she liked being able to take care of him like this. Peyton felt his hand pull away slightly as she brushed over his raw knuckles.

"Sorry, did I hurt you."

"Not as much as I hurt you." His voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Luke." She started.

"Peyton, I'm sorry. I got out of control. I went to that game promising myself that I wouldn't get into a fight with that kid tonight. But the stuff he was saying about you, he kept insinuating that you slept with him."

"Lucas you know I would never."

"No, I know that Peyton. But I just couldn't listen to it anymore. I know he was egging me on and I took the bait, that bastard wanted me to hit him."

"You more than hit him Lucas, you nearly beat his face in. There was this look in your eyes while you were hitting him, I can't even describe it. But it scared me. And I don't ever want to see that look again." Peyton unwrapped a bandage and placed it over his cut.

"I'm sorry Peyton." Lucas had never meant anything more in his life.

"I know Lucas." She ran a hand over his hair and leaned forward to kiss the area just above the gash on his forehead. Peyton let her lips trail down his cheek before she kissed his lower lip. He pulled her towards him and continued to kiss her.

"Does this mean I'm off the hook?" Lucas asked pulling away from her lips.

"This means I'm not as angry anymore, but I man it when I say I don't want you ever getting in a fight over me again. I don't need you to beat anyone up to protect me."

"No more fights Peyton, I don't want to put you through that again." He held her hands in his and kissed her palm.

"I love you." She whispered with a wide grin.

"Yeah, I love you too. And I want to be able to stay here with you but I think I should go home and let my mom know what happened before she gets some other version of the story from someone else."

"Call me tomorrow then." She said. He stood from his chair and leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

"I will." He turned back to her once more before leaving. "And Peyton, I know I've already said it but I really am sorry that I hurt you."

"I know Luke."

His pace was a little faster as he walked home from Peyton's house, he held his head a little higher. He knew there was more punishments to be handed out by Whitey and his mom would be livid to know that he had been thrown out of the game for fighting, but knowing Peyton was ok made it all a little more bearable.

A/N: I have no idea where I'm going with this, so the updates for this are going to be coming a little less frequently while I focus on Don't Let Go and another story. But I'm not forgetting about this one.