Saturday morning was bright and sunny but surprisingly Peyton stayed in bed later than normal. Lucas was actually able to get up and ready for the day without waking the sleeping blond. Lisa arrived promptly at eleven and Lucas offered her a drink before they sat down in the living room to begin work. Unfortunately, she was interested in talking about anything besides philosophy. "Your apartment is great. Where did you get all of the beautiful artwork? You have an eye for it." Lucas chuckled and shook his head.
"It's cool, but I don't have anything to do with it. Peyton put them all up. Actually," he said as his eyes scanned the room, "she painted them all."
"Wow. She's talented."
"Yeah. She is," Lucas agreed. "Do you want to talk about Kant's metaphysics for the project? Or maybe utilitarianism? That would be the easiest to find real life examples."
"Is there a difference?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure there is," Lucas said as he attempted not to scowl. She apparently hadn't read the assignment or the book; how were they going to get any work done?
"You know, I meant to read. But then my roommate came home and I ended up talking to her all night. She's going through a rough time."
"Sorry about that. Maybe we should meet another day, after you've had a chance to read—"
"Oh, I'm already here. Maybe you could tell me about them? You always seem to know what you're talking about." Lucas was about to decline and cancel the meeting until she read the material but she squeaked and closed one of her eyes.
"What happened?"
"I lost a contact," she moaned. "It has to be here—" Lucas leaned over and tried to help her look for it on the sofa. He didn't realize how close she was to her until her lips met his. He pulled away immediately and looked up to meet a pair of staring hazel eyes. Lisa was sputtering on, trying to make one excuse or another, but Lucas wasn't paying attention; he was trying to read the expression in Peyton's eyes. From sleepiness, those clouded eyes were not.
"Sorry," she said awkwardly. "I didn't realize—"
"We were just working on a project—"
"Is that what they're calling it now?" Without giving him the chance to explain, Peyton turned and walked back into the bedroom, closing the door with a sturdy click.
"Maybe you should go," Lucas suggested.
"You said you weren't dating anyone."
"I'm not. But we can't get any work done until you've read the assignment and I don't mean to hurt your feelings, but I'm not interested."
"With that attitude, it's no wonder you're alone."
"Thanks for that opinion," Lucas said wryly. "I'll see you in class." Lisa didn't answer, but huffily gathered her things and stomped her way out of the apartment. Peyton, dressed in jeans and long sleeved t-shirt, appeared moments later with her bag and coat in hand.
"You didn't have to ask your little friend to leave."
"Look Peyton, I know what you think you saw—"
"It's none of my business," she said quickly, avoiding his gaze as she slipped on her black woolen coat and again took hold of her bag.
"Peyton, please just listen—"
"Lucas, you should be inviting girls over to your apartment. It's what guys do in college. This is getting too weird. We're getting in each other's way."
"I don't think—"
"We knew I was going to get my own place. I should have been looking all along. This was a good reminder."
"Lisa and I—"
"It doesn't matter," she interrupted again. You should be happy. I want you to be happy. And you're not going to find the right girl if we're living under the same roof." Before he could argue with her ludicrous thoughts, she was out the door, leaving him startled and reeling. He immediately called Haley and explained as best he could, trusting that his friend would be able to reach Peyton and talk some semblance of sense into her.
Peyton turned off her cell phone as soon as she reached the art department at the university, giving both Lucas and Haley no chance to reach her. She knew that the female Scott would be called in for backup after the way she had left Lucas back at the apartment. The poor boy was more confused than he had ever been in his life. Finding an empty studio in a back corner of the department, Peyton pulled out her project and her mp3 player and began to work zealously, attempting to block out the earlier occurrences.
Time flew while she was working and she didn't realize how quickly the day had passed by. When she walked out into the hall she realized that evening had begun; the autumn day had already turned dark. Sighing, Peyton went back into the room to gather her things and begin her trek back to the apartment. More than ten missed calls greeted her when she turned on her phone. Not only had Haley, Lucas, and Nathan tried, but someone had called Brooke.
Cringing, Peyton redialed and awaited her boisterous friend's answer. "It's about time," Brooke yelled when she picked up. "Do you know how worried you have everyone? What is wrong with you, Peyton? If I were there, I'd kick your ass for this. I don't care how mad you are at Lucas. You don't disappear all day in a strange city! Haley is trying to convince Lucas to call the police! What were you thinking?" Peyton hung up without answering; her hands shaking as she once again turned off the phone and threw it in her bag. The walk home was chilly despite her heavy coat; winter was threatening on the fringes of the autumn air.
Peyton was trying not to cry but Brooke's outburst had surprised her. She hadn't actually thought about everyone else when she'd disappeared. She was used to doing whatever she wanted, whenever it was convenient. Needing time alone had never required permission before. Then again, she was also embarrassed that she had worried everyone; even if they were overreacting. She bit her lip in nervousness as she walked into the lobby and waved half-heartedly to the doorman. He nodded to her and she flushed with the realization that Lucas must have had the doorman on the lookout; he seemed to look at her knowingly.
She stood outside the door for a few minutes, trying to gather her nerves together for whatever lay beyond the thick oak. Surprisingly, only Haley sat in the living room. A very calm Haley. She was curled up on the couch, watching the television and sipping from a mug of what looked to be hot chocolate. Peyton closed the door with a soft click and pulled her coat off, moving to put it in the hall closet.
"Brooke called."
"I know," Peyton said softly.
"She's pretty ticked that you hung up on her."
"I could listen to her yell."
"She was just worried."
"I know," Peyton repeated. "I'm sorry," she said in a near-whisper. Haley's cold exterior immediately melted and she jumped up to hug her friend.
"We were so worried," Haley said emphatically. "When Lucas couldn't find you in the studios and then your phone was off—"
"I was in one of the studios," Peyton said questioningly as she moved toward the sofa and sat down, Haley immediately sitting next to her. "It was one of the smaller ones, in the older part of the building," she said apologetically.
"I guess Luke didn't know they were there."
"I guess not," Peyton agreed. She looked around the apartment questioningly, wondering if Lucas and Nathan were hiding in the bedroom. What would they be doing in there? Lucas rarely used his desk; it was mostly a home for "almost-clean" clothes that one of them planned to wear again before washing. There wasn't a TV there, so what could they be doing.
"They're not here," Haley said, as though reading Peyton's mind. "They went back to our place. We thought you might need some time away from each other. What's going on?"
"It's nothing," Peyton insisted. Her hurried tone and escaping gaze clearly indicated to her friend that she was lying.
"Peyton, come on, you know you can tell me."
"It's just getting to be too much."
"What is?"
"Living with Lucas. I need my own place."
"Did Luke do something?"
"No," Peyton said with a sigh. "It's just not natural. He needs his own place too. We need our own lives. Separate lives."
"Lucas has no problem with you living here."
"I know, I just need somewhere to be alone. It's me. I'm just not used to living with other people. It's been me and my dad for so long. And he's usually gone—"
"It's understandable," Haley agreed. "But do you really want to move out? The apartment is yours now too. Maybe you and Luke could work something else out—"
"No," Peyton said stubbornly, her jaw set and eyes blazing with resolution. "I need my own place."
"Okay, I'll start helping you look tomorrow. But until then, let us know when you plan to drop off the face of the planet." Haley picked up a pillow before she continued speaking. "And never," she said in mocking-anger as she swung the pillow at Peyton, "never scare us like that again!" The two had a quick pillow fight before they both went to bed, exhausted from the crazy day. Despite Peyton's exhaustion, she couldn't sleep. She kept jolting awake when she realized that there was a smaller than usual form under the covers beside her. It was a restless night, but they were all relived to at least know that Peyton was safe and accounted for.
The quote for this chapter title is from AA Milne:
"You can't stay in your corner of the forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."