"So, what now?" Lucas said with his eyes still closed. "Mmm?" I rolled over towards him. "Us," he groaned not yet relenting to consciousness. "You haven't even brushed your teeth yet, how can you expect--mmm, pancakes?" The smell creeped into Lucas' room. "Yep," Lucas smiled surprisingly alert, "Saturday mornings." "Can I--" "Don't worry, she knows you slept here, and even if she didn't there'd still be enough," Lucas laughed, "That is, if you can beat me to 'em!" Lucas slipped out from under the covers and left the room. I heard the bathroom door close, so I knew I had time to lay there relaxing before making my way into the kitchen. I smiled and rolled over to his vacant spot in bed, inhaling his scent. Yep, still the same. "Tell me you didn't just sniff my pillow..." I lazily looked over at Lucas standing in the door frame. My jaw slowly dropped, but I couldn't help laugh at my own childishness. "Shuttup!" I threw his pillow straight at his head, but he caught it before it could make a direct hit. I got up and brushed past him walking into the kitchen.
"Oh, Peyton, I didn't realize you were here," Karen lied. "Nice try," I said walking over to where she was standing by the stove, "you knew I was here." She gave me a questioning look and I continued, "You always used to check up on us in the morning first thing... like you thought we'd run away during the night or something," I elbowed her side causing the pancake batter to drip prematurely onto the pan and sizzle. "I was never afraid you'd run away... I was afraid of what would happ--" "Morning, mom." I concentrated on the perfectly round pancake now cooking, wondering what Karen was going to say. Karen made her way to Lucas to kiss his forehead as he sat at the table. "Morning! You two are up early," turning to me, she cleared her throat and I looked over between them, "and Peyton without pants I might add..." My face turned red. "Yeah, jeans are just so uncomfortable to sleep in and--" She hit Lucas across the chest, "Couldn't you give her any pajamas or sweatpants?" "Don't look at me! Last time I noticed, she was wearing pants!" "I think I took them off sometime during the middle of the night... I may have been, um..." "Drunk?" Karen asked. I smiled guiltily. She laughed, "Come on, let's feed you."
Monday morning rolled around. Lucas and I had spent the whole weekend together acting like best friends again. On the walk to school, I finally broached the subject, "So, what's going to happen when we walk through the front doors of the school? What are people going to say?" "Do you care?" "In a pathetic way? Yeah. I mean, us becoming friends overnight?" "Peyton, we've been best friends since we were thirteen." I glared at him, "Lucas." My look and tone scolded him for being naïve. "Well," he sighed, "maybe we should ease people into our friendship..." "What?" "Yeah, I mean, like, we can start by maybe being civil towards each other..." he hinted. We both laughed knowing that it would no longer be hard. "What if we start eating lunch at the same table? Or... sitting next to each other in class?" he offered. We were approaching the school, "Well?" We stopped walking and faced each other. "Let's just feel everything out..." I said hesitantly. Like I'd turned on a light bulb in his head, "Fly by the seat of our pants? Totally cliché. Recipe for disaster. I like it!" I smiled. "Right. Well, see you in class?" he said flippantly, starting to walk towards the school's entrance. "That's it?" I walked quickly to catch up to him. "Look, Peyt, I get it. As long as we can be secret friends, I don't mind if you're ashamed of me." "What! Lucas, even when I was thirteen I was never ashamed of you --wait, you weren't ashamed of me were you?" "No! Of course not." "Good! I was hott, who would be ashamed to have me as a best friend?" I teased. "Yeah, you were hott," Lucas snickered as we walked down the hall on our way towards our lockers. "Hey! What's with the past tense? 'I am hott' is what I believe you meant to say." "OK, I am hott," he mocked. From behind us we heard an amused 'humph' and we both turned to find Meagan standing there. "Yes, Lucas you are hott. Walk me to class?" He looked towards me and I stood there expressionless, making him choose. "Actually, you know what? I have to go talk to coach about our first away game, but I'll catch you later," he said towards Meagan. He turned to me walking away backwards, "And you? Well, you know." When he turned towards the gym, I noticed a distinct bounce in his step.
"How do you know Lucas?" "What do you mean, Meagan?" I didn't like her tone. "One minute you're telling him he doesn't belong at a party with me, and the next it's like," she paused slightly frustrated, "it's like you're best friends or something!" I didn't know how to respond, so I staid silent looking at everything except her eyes. Finally I articulated something coherent, "Don't be silly, you can't become best friends with someone overnight, Meagan." I smiled inwardly thinking about Lucas. I walked away a few feet, turned around and smirked, "I mean, what are we? Like, thirteen?"