AN: Hey guys. This is the second to last chapter! I hope you guys like it! Thank you so much for reviewing! Thanks to: jeytonloverJPBLNH lvrxXxOutsideOfYurWidowWithMyRadioxXxjeyton4eversugary sweetjacqueline22393

Anything to be with you:

Chapter 14

Peyton, Haley and Brooke were getting ready for the party at Brooke's house.

"So, do you know if Jake's coming?" asked Brooke. She knew he was coming because Lucas had told her, but she wasn't sure if Peyton knew or not.

"I don't know, and I don't care." Peyton said. OK, so it wasn't exactly the truth, but she wanted so badly to not care about Jake the way she did; it would make her life so much easier.

"You don't mean that." Haley stated, knowing perfectly well how Peyton felt for Jake. It was the same way Haley felt for Nathan.

Peyton sighed. "I'm a mess, you guys." Peyton admitted, "We barely went out! It shouldn't be too big a deal; but for some reason... it is. I don't know what's gotten into me."

"I do," Brooke said, "You're in love."

Haley knew this was about Peyton, but she couldn't help just thinking about Nathan and her relationship with him. 'you're in love, you're in love' the words were ringing inside her and Peyton's heads over and over again.

"Trust me," Brooke continued, "You'll want to tell him how you feel. Because once you do, you'll feel so great about yourself."

Haley and Peyton both contemplated the idea for a bit and both came to the same conclusion: 'I need to tell him.' Then Peyton snapped out of her thoughts for fear of looking stupid.

"Please tell me out world hasn't turned completely up-side-down for BROOKE to be the voice of wisdom!" Peyton said, jokingly.

Jake, Nathan and Lucas were all getting ready for the party at Nate's house.

"Come on, man, you won't even give us a hint?" Nathan asked Jake. Jake had refused to tell them what he had planned that night for Peyton.

"Not a chance," Jake told them, "There's no way I'm telling you guys before Peyton!" He said. He had everything planned except one thing. What should I say? He thought. He had planned to just speak from his heart, but now he was getting a little nervous. What if she didn't feel the same?

Nathan could recognize the look in Jake's eyes when he talked about Peyton. He knew it all too well. Haley had been driving him crazy. But definitely not in a bad way. There was not a second that passed when he wasn't thinking about her. When he was with her he never wanted to leave. He wanted to be with her forever... literally.

The boys had promised the girls that they would be at the party early, so they got there ten minutes before the party was suppose to start.

"Girls!" Lucas called out as he let himself and his companions into the house. "Brooke, Peyton, Haley where are you?" He called again.

"Hey there, boyfriend." Brooke said, walking down the stairs to Lucas. "Nathan. Jake." She greeted the two others. She was wearing a red tube-top and a short black skirt. Lucas thought he might feint.

"Wow." Lucas said and Brooke smiled. "You look beautiful."

"Are you saying I don't always look beautiful?" Brooke teased.

"No! No no no... God no!" Lucas stuttered.

"So, that's a 'no'?" Brooke loved seeing him stutter, it was adorable; and she loved teasing him about it.

Lucas smiled and grabbed both Brookes' hands. "Come here." He said as he pulled her closer. When he was about to kiss her, Brooke said:

"Oh! Wait." She wiped off her lip gloss on the back of her hand and then placed her arms around his neck. (By now Nathan and Jake had found somewhere else to be.) "There. Now where were we?" She asked.

"We were right about here," Lucas said and then he kissed her softly.

Upstairs, Haley was still getting dressed and Peyton was putting on her make-up. Haley was in Brooke's bedroom and Peyton was in the bathroom.

Nathan and Jake walked up the stairs. Jake had no idea what to do once Nathan went to see Haley. Should he go find Peyton? Or should he just stand in the middle of the hall, waiting? Either way he would probably look like an idiot.

"Haley?" Nathan called out.

"I'm in Brooke's room!" she called back. Nathan had no idea which room was Brooke's but he was able to follow Haley's voice to it. He opened the door to find Haley, with her back to him.

"Hey," Nathan said.

"Hey," Haley answered turning her head around to see him. "Do you mind tying my top? I can't really get it." She said, pulling her hair to the side revealing her bare upper-back, making Nathan almost lose his breath.

"Um... you know? I'll just get Peyton to do it." He said trying to control himself, as he walked out of the room leaving Haley totally confused.

'you idiot!' Nathan said to himself over and over. Now Haley was going to think he was mad at her and that was the LAST thing he wanted her to think. This whole thing with Haley... falling in love... it was all so new to him. He never had to feel nervous around girls; it just wasn't an issue.

And as much as he hated feeling so unbalanced, there was no better feeling than the feeling of being so in love.

Nathan really hoped he hadn't hurt Haley. He was giving all the wrong signs. He just didn't know how to act anymore.

"Hey," Jake said, a little above a whisper. He was standing at the doorway of the bathroom where Peyton was touching-up her make-up. She was stunning. Peyton looked over. Well, she thought, might as well be civil. She didn't want to ruin the party with a fight.

"Hi." She said turning back to the mirror, it was too hard to look at Jake in the eye.

"So, I've been trying to figure out what you meant. When you were saying that I said I wanted you out of my life..."

"And?"

"And... I got nothing. Peyton I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't want you out of my life, I never have, in fact if you were out of my life I don't know what I'd do without you. Even with you ignoring me, I still need you there. Just to see you smile, or laugh, or just to glance over at what your sketching during History class. Whatever time of my life I spend on trying to get you back, I know that if you ever forgive me, it will all be worth it." Jake said, not expecting to say what he did, but the words just poured out.

'Don't cry, Peyton, be strong.' Peyton told herself.

"Maybe, you should have thought about that before you wrote that last letter!" she said, not yelling but close to it.

"What was it in that last letter that upset you so much?" Jake asked.

"Are you honestly asking that?" Peyton couldn't believe this! "Oh, I don't know, try all of it! No, what was my favorite part?" Peyton said sarcastically, "When you said I took to long to forgive you or hm... maybe when you said that we were better off out of each others lives!"

"What are you talking about?" Jake said. Peyton was getting so sick of this! Did she have to spell it out for him?

"I'm tired of this Jake. We both know what was in that letter." She said, just as a crowd of people came through the door. "So, are you going to tell me what you're feeling or not?" She asked. Jake sighed. He wanted so badly just to scream it from the top of his lungs, but somehow, the words couldn't come out. He looked down at the ground.

"Fine." Peyton said, "Now, there's a party going on, so excuse me." She said coldly and she went downstairs.

"Hey, Brooke, look I'm really sorry, but I got to go... uh, do something. I'll be back really soon, I promise." He said to Brooke as he rushed out the door. He had to go pick something up at his house. OK, so his house was two miles away, but he had come to the party with Nathan and Lucas so he didn't have a car, so he started the long walk home. He decided to sprint it, he didn't want to miss the whole party.

As he was sprinting past Peyton's house, something caught his eye. It was a crumpled piece of paper in the bushes. He didn't know why but something inside him told him to pick it up and look at it, so that's exactly what he did. It looked like letter and he immediately recognized the hand-writing. Nikki. He couldn't help thinking that she was so stupid not to fake her handwriting. But what was he thinking? Her plan had worked anyway. Then he noticed the signature and he saw his name there. Things in his mind, everything Peyton had said, had started to get clearer as he skimmed the note. Oh God, he thought. What had Nikki done?

Why hadn't he just told Peyton how he felt? Because there was something he needed to do first...

"Nathan, what is going on with you?" Haley asked.

"Nothing, Haley, what are you talking about?" Nathan lied, trying to brush it off.

"You've been avoiding me, Nate. If you want... we can talk abo-"

"Oh! Um, can we finish this later?" Nathan interrupted. "I, uh... I kind of have to talk to Tim." He walked toward a ground of guys, Tim included. He knew he was going a big jerk and he really hated himself right now. In fact Haley probably hated him too, he thought.

Jake came back to the party not long after, out of breath, 1) from all the sprinting, and 2) from the heavy lifting. He put down what he was carrying near the doorway and walked around, looking for someone he recognized.

Peyton was hanging out with Brooke and Lucas, but was kind of uncomfortable. She wasn't really listening to Brooke and Lucas argue over which reality show was the best.

"Ew! I can't believe you love Fear Factor. Gross!" Brooke squealed and Lucas laughed.

"What? At least it's interesting. I mean, how can you stand half an hour of listening to random people sing badly?" Lucas said.

"Hey! American Idol gave us Kelly Clarkson! Her music is way more enjoyable then watching people eat spiders or whatever!" Brooke said.

"Oh My Gosh, you guys! Who cares?" Peyton said a little too loud and too crabby. Brooke and Lucas looked surprised. Peyton immediately felt awful. "Oh God, guys, I'm sorry for snapping like that. It's just... Jake problems." Brooke and Lucas understood and nodded. Haley walked towards them looking sad and annoyed.

"Men!" Haley said, exasperated. She didn't understand Nathan at all at the moment. She sighed.

Nathan was hanging out with the guys but completely not concentrated at all. He looked around the room to find Haley talking to the rest of the gang. He wanted to go over there and just kiss Haley and tell her he loved her, but what were the chances she would feel the same? After all the things he had said tonight to her. He wouldn't blame her if she just dumped him right then and there. Just then, Haley bent down to pick something up and he caught a glimce of her tattoo and that just pushed him over the top. He couldn't take it any more; he couldn't keep it all inside.

He walked over to the gang. "Hales, can we talk?" He asked pleadingly. Haley looked at him annoyed, but nodded and followed him to a corner of the room.

"Haley, I'm going crazy! I mean, I'm... I'm a mess! I can't concentrate on basketball, because I just remember the time I tried to teach you how to play and then we ended up having out first kiss. I can't concentrate in class, because, well everything I know, you taught me! If I've been a jerk lately it's only because... You've- you've taken over my mind! And for the longest time, I couldn't figure out what was happening to me! I mean, this sort of thing, what I'm... what I'm feeling, it's never happened to me before. And then I found it." Nathan took a second to breathe and Haley looked up at him. "I fell in love with you. I love you, Hales. There it is. I said it." He said, his heart racing, and his eyes full of hope.

Haley could not remember a time feeling so breath-take. She never imagined that love would feel this great. People all around the room had stopped their conversations and were staring at Haley to see her answer. But she didn't notice them, all she saw was Nathan.

"I love you, too Nate." She whispered. Nathan sighed with relief and kissed her hard. Haley responded, putting in as much passion as possible into that kiss. People around started clapping and the music had stopped.

Nathan and Haley were interrupted from the voice of someone coming form the mic. They broke apart and looked to the keeper of that voice. Jake.

"Uh... Yeah, I'm not really umm... good at talking, in public. Actually, I'm not good at talking at all." Jake said, nervously. Ever sense he could remember he had had a bad case of stage-fright. But this was the only way he could get out what he was feeling. "Um, normally I only sing for my daughter, Jenny. But um, this seemed like the right opportunity for this specific song. Um... Peyton, you asked me how I felt and I just froze. But the truth is I love you Peyton. I just had to say it. And I don't really know how better to express my feelings for you then through this song." He said as he started strumming his guitar and then singing.

"I wont talk
I wont breathe
I wont move till you finally see
That you belong with me"

Peyton felt herself get short of breath. He loves me? He... loves me?

"You might think I don't look
But deep inside
In the corner of my mind
I'm attached to you
I'm weak
Its true
Cause I'm afraid to know the answers
Do you want me too?
Cause my heart keeps falling faster"

No one had ever done anything so romantic for her before. She couldn't believe it.

"I've waited all my life
To cross this line
To the only thing that's true
So I will not hide
Its time to try
Anything to be with you
All my life I've waited
This is true"

Could she forgive him? Forget everything that had happened?

"You don't know what you do
Every time you walk into the room
I'm afraid to move
I'm weak
It's true
I'm just scared to know the ending
Do you see me too?
Do you even know u met me?"

Could she find it in her heart to let him in again?

"I've waited all my life to cross this line
To the only thing that's true
So I will not hide
Its time to try anything to be with you
All my life I've waited
This is true"

Would he screw it up again? Was she willing to risk getting her heart broken again?

"I know when I go I'll be on my way to you
The way that's true"

No, she couldn't take the risk. As nice a feeling as it was to be loved by someone that she herself loved, she couldn't bare the thought of ever feeling as bad as she had these past few weeks again. She got up and without anyone noticing, she slipped out the door.

"I've waited all my life to cross this line
To the only thing that's true
So I will not hide
Its time to try anything to be with you
All my life I've waited
This is true"

Jake strummed the last chord on his guitar and looked up to find a few couples slow-dancing, and a crowd clapping for him. He gave them a nod as to say 'thank you'. But he couldn't find the one person he was looking for in the crowd. Where had Peyton gone? And then he heard the sound of an engine coming from outside.

Soon party music started to play again and people went about their business. Jake hurried to get out the door and bumped into Lucas on his way.

"Hey, man, that was awesome." Lucas said.

"Oh, thanks Luke." Jake answered.

"Sure. Man, when I said a romantic gesture, I was thinking candy, roses, groveling for forgiveness, you really out-did yourself man." Lucas said honestly.

"Wait, you thought that was my grand romantic gesture?" Jake asked. "Nah, that was just... preparation for it." He said, trying to chose the right words. "Sorry, to cut out on you, but I kind of need to see Peyton." He said as he walked out the front door to Brooke's house and ran out to find Peyton.

AN: Alright guys, I'm leaving you there! And WOW that was way longer than i expected it to be. sry if it was kinda more naley than jeyton, it just sort of turned out that way somehow lol. I hope you guys liked it! Please read and review! Song: True, by Ryan Cabrera.

NEXT:
THE LAST CHAPTER!
All Jeyton!
that's all I'll tell u... muahahaha!