Clarity
Chapter 5
Lucas had aced the science midterm he had been studying for the night of Peyton's visit. He couldn't help the pleased smile that crept across his face as his teacher passed back the exam, a large red A circled on top of his paper. Though he didn't want to admit it, Lucas had been struggling with the idea that spending so much time with Peyton could be having an unwanted effect on his work but his exam grade had helped erase any doubts that he couldn't handle it all.
He was only half-listening to his teacher drone on about the rest of the classes test results when he heard someone walk through the classroom door. He didn't know why he was surprised to see Peyton Sawyer speaking quietly to his teacher, he had begun to learn that she was full of surprises. His curiosity was piqued as he watched Peyton glance his way and smile slyly at him.
"Lucas could you come up here please, and bring your belonging's with you." His teacher motioned him to the front of the class with a wave of his hand. Lucas packed his backpack and walked silently to the front of the class.
"Peyton was sent by Mr. Siler to come and get you, he apparently needs your assistance with something. I normally would not let you leave my class during the hour but since we'll be reviewing the test that you scored so well on I'll make an exception."
"Thank you Mr. Graham." Lucas followed Peyton out the classroom, still not able to make sense of what was happening.
Outside the class Lucas stopped Peyton. "Hey what's going on? I'm not even in Mr. Siler's class."
"I know that, I just had to figure out a way to get you out of class."
"Well why did you get me out of class."
"Just follow me." She continued walking down the hall, her pace was brisk and Lucas struggled to keep up with her. Before he could comprehend what was happening Peyton walked out of the building and towards the school parking lot.
"Peyton what are you doing, if we get caught in the parking lot without a pass we'll get in trouble."
The panic in Lucas' voice caused Peyton to burst into a fit of laughter. "Will you relax Lucas? We won't get caught if you would just walk a little faster, my car is parked right over here."
"What are we doing, are we ditching?" he jogged a short way to catch up to her.
"Lucas listen to me, if you don't want to do this you don't have to. You can go back to class and everything will be fine. I just figured I'd try to help you lighten up a bit, maybe see what would happen if Lucas Scott broke the rules."
Lucas knew that there were a thousand reasons for him to turn around and go back to his class pretending nothing had happened. It wasn't like him to even consider breaking the rules, he had always been so fearful of the repercussions that would come with his choice. But at that moment he wasn't thinking of the consequences but only the fact that he wanted to go with her.
"Let's go."
They drove from the school parking lot without a second glance and headed straight for nowhere in particular. With the convertible top down on her classic black car, the cool October air whipped wildly at their bare faces as they drove past the edge of town. The wind was loud enough to cover the music blaring from the speakers and made conversation nearly impossible. Lucas was entirely content with the feel of the wind through the fingertips of his outstretched arm. He had never felt so free.
Lucas had given up asking where they were headed; he never seemed to get more than a smile from her as an answer. A few minutes after crossing into the next town over Peyton pulled into the parking lot of a city park. She reached back and pulled a frayed blue blanket from the floor of the back seat.
Lucas smiled. "Do you normally keep blankets in the backseat of your car?"
"Ok so maybe I have this little thing planned."
"Well you didn't happen to bring anything to eat, I didn't get a chance to eat before you kidnapped me."
"Look behind your seat." Lucas reached his arm behind his leather seat and felt around until he made contact with a paper bag. In it he discovered the gourmet cuisine Peyton had prepared for them.
"Peanut butter sandwiches and juice boxes, Peyton where did you find the time to make all of this?" Peyton narrowed her eyes at his mocking and snatched the bag from his hands.
"That's fine if you don't want any of this, it's just more for me." She climbed out of the car and started to walk towards the park. Lucas followed after her with the tattered blue blanket in his hands.
The park was predictably empty considering that it was the afternoon during middle of a week. Lucas could see a few young kids with their mothers on the playground in the distance, and there was an older man tossing a dirty old tennis ball to his dog quite a few yards away. They were relatively alone in the spot where Lucas threw down the blanket. They ate their small lunch in comfortable silence, talking casually between bites of peanut butter sandwiches.
When he finished Lucas lay back on the blanket, hands tucked behind his head and stared at the snow-white swirls of clouds above him. Peyton copied his position as she lay next to him.
"What are you thinking about?" she asked after a few minutes.
"Nothing really. I just never really took the time to sit and do nothing like this. I don't even remember when school became the most important thing in my life."
"Was it after you quit playing basketball?"
"How did you know I played?" he questioned without turning to look her way.
"I saw the trophies in your room the other day, I noticed that they all seemed to stop after eighth grade. So why did you stop playing?"
"I got sick of all the other kids making fun of me because of Dan and Nathan, I don't know why I put up with it for as long as I did. So I quit playing to get away from all of it."
"Do you still play?"
"Sometimes late at night when I can't sleep I play down at a court near our neighborhood, but other than that I don't really pick up the ball anymore."
"Next time you sneak out to play make sure you tap on my bedroom window so I can tag along. I used to play basketball in middle school and that way you won't have to play alone." She turned to face him and met his eyes, he had been watching her again and this time he wasn't trying to hide it.
Lucas rolled onto his side and let his face hover dangerously close to hers. He was pleased to see that Peyton looked surprised at his boldness. He reached his hand out to touch her face, hoping that she wouldn't notice the slight tremble, which she did. Fingertips lightly brushed the outlines of her lips and her eyes were closed tight before his lips touched hers. He gained a bit of confidence when he felt her hands snake up the back of his neck and into his mess of dirty blonde hair.
When their kiss broke it was Peyton who was grinning wildly as Lucas lay back down on the blanket with his hands once again tucked behind his head, the taste of her cherry lip balm still lingering on his lips.
