Well Chapter 2 is up. Hope you guys enjoy andkeep thereviews coming. Btw everything in italics are high school flashbacks.

Cristy

Chapter 2: Relationships Tested

He had been sitting at the roof for hours now, he just kept reminiscing, thinking about how and when he let things get this crazy. He was reliving every single detail of the past two months, he remembers every smell, every sound, and every word, and he realizes that most of the things he did were worthless now that the woman he loves hates him with all her guts. And he figures that he will never be able to forgive himself because it was all his fault, after all, he had made the biggest mistake. He did something he promised himself never to do again. He cheated on a girlfriend, yet again, with the only person he most certainly knew she would never forgive him to cheat with, her ex-best friend.

His mind drifted back to those months when everything seemed to be easier. And there he was again living in the past and trying not to worry about the future.

The trio left the diner about an hour ago. Jon headed home to Sam and Peyton and Lucas were now back in their apartment. She was on the couch drawing some sketches and he was on his laptop trying to write his paper on the impact the Medieval literature had on European history. Yes, his Literature major could get boring and difficult sometimes but he still enjoyed every second of it. Now he had a real excuse to spend all his time reading.

While he was looking for some of the renowned Irish theologian C.S. Lewis's work on medieval literature he stumbled upon one of his most famous quotes; one regarding forgiveness. Lewis once said wrote "Every one says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something to forgive." He knew this couldn't be more true, because when he and Peyton had made a mistake he wanted nothing more than to be forgiven but when it came to him having to forgive Nathan for the same mistake he had committed, it was virtually impossible to even think about it. This quote was enough to send his mind back to high school, back to the night when he found out about Nathan and Brooke.

By the time Peyton managed to drag Lucas to the alley behind the cafe he had totally zoned out on her. A million questions where running through his mind at the same time. How could Brooke be capable to lie in such a vile way? Had Brooke made them feel guilty all this time just to reduce her own guilt, to not face reality and to not realize that she was the liar and the backstabber and not them? How would Peyton take all this? Would this affect Peyton's feelings towards Brooke? He knew how Peyton got when she was hurt or very emotional, would she react the same? Would Peyton shut him out or push him away? How will this affect their relationship? Will they ever go back to be the same? What would… Lucas was suddenly ripped apart from his thoughts when he realized Peyton had been talking to him for a while now and he hadn't heard a word.

"Lucas, Lucas, Luke… Are you listening to me?" Peyton said while snapping her fingers in front of Luke's eyes.

"Humm. What? Oh Yeah, sure I was listening"

"Yeah, right. Then what was I telling you? What do you think about what I just said, are you OK with it or no?"

"Yeah I think you're right, were definitely on the same page here."

"Oh, so you agree that little, green aliens live under our bed?" she said raising a brow.

"Peyt, I'm sorry" he said while avoiding to make eye contact at all costs "I'm really confused, I can't even think straight right now."

"And it would be totally wrong if you felt otherwise. Lucas I want you to know that no matter what happens I love you and I'll be here for you" Lucas was relieved to hear those words from Peyton because now some of the questions he was asking himself before were answered with what she just said. She wasn't going to push him away or shut him out and build her walls up again. At this exact moment Lucas knew that if Brooke and what just happened couldn't tear them apart, nothing would.

Lucas and Peyton's surroundings were almost in complete darkness, only lit by the full moon above their heads. For a while there was a complete silence between them. The silence was interrupted for some sporadic seconds by the sound of a passing car or that of a rat rummaging through the garbage. Peyton and Lucas were tightly wrapped in each others arms for all this time, just feeling the heat of each others body. Peyton could hear Lucas's steady heartbeat and Lucas was lost in the sweet smell of Peyton's hair. The two broody blondes just stood there and didn't think about anything except each other. It was like time had stopped and they were the only two persons in the world.

All of a sudden one of their voices broke the silence. "Lets get out of here, we don't have to face any of this or any of them. At least not now", he said while kissing the top of her head.

"Lets go to my place, my dad left again." she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. "It sounds like a great plan, just you and me tonight." he said giving her a gentle but at the same time loving kiss.

"Peyt, you think we could walk? I really don't fell like driving and I'm definitely not letting you drive my truck. I have seen the way you drive I've come to the conclusion that it would be a public hazard to even let you drive and an even worst personal hazard to be in the same vehicle while you're behind the wheel." Lucas said while letting escape a laugh. He was just trying to relieve the tension. It was just a joke but it didn't seem to please her at all, so he quickly added "But I love you so much that I'll even let you drive Daisy back to your place."

"You know it's really lame that you named your lousy truck Daisy." she said while they started walking.

The rest of the walk to Peyton's house was pretty silent. Lucas and Peyton walked hand to hand. Before they knew they were standing in her front porch. They opened the door and a minute passed before their eyes could adjust to the darkness of the house. They were now entering the living room and Peyton turned on the lights and slouched on the couch, being followed seconds later by Lucas. Peyton rested her head on Lucas's laps and quickly found herself staring directly into his clear blue eyes.

"What do you wanna do know?"

"I don't know, as long as you're here with me I'm good." Lucas answered while bending his back a little to kiss the hazel-eyed blonde that now rested on his lap.

They where now submerged in each other and the kiss seemed to be never ending when they where suddenly interrupted by a loud knock on the door. Lucas and Peyton heard the knocks but tried to ignore them at first, thinking that the person would just get tired and leave. But they soon found out they were wrong, whoever was knocking was not going anywhere until that door was opened.

"Ughhh, who could that be. People just seem to have very bad timing. Someone always need something when we finally get a minute to ourselves." Lucas said obviously annoyed by the continuous knocks on the door. "Coming" he screamed while gently getting Peyton off of him.

Lucas opened the door and quickly slammed it closed as soon as he saw who was on the other side. Peyton who heard the loud thud quickly got up from the couch and headed for the door. But to her surprise by the time she was in the hall Lucas was already in front of her and she could see the shock and anger in his face. While she started to hear again even louder knocks on the door she turned around to face Lucas who was already sitting on the couch ignoring the sounds coming from the front of the house.

"Luke who is it? Why'd you slam the door like that?" Knocks were still coming from the front door.

"Why don't you go and check it out yourself if you're so interested in who it is." He said very upset.

Now you could not only hear the knocks, there was a voice that came along with them and said "Guys, I'll be happy to bust my knuckles out here knocking all night. I just want you to know we're not going anywhere until you open this d…" but the voice just stopped as soon as the door opened to a very surprised Peyton, who just couldn't believe that the people who were knocking so enthusiastically the door were no others than Nathan and Haley Scott.

"Nathan, what are you doing here? Haven't you done enough for one day?"

"Peyton, if I'm going to tell the truth I'm going to tell the whole truth, not just a part of it"

"Oh, there's still more? Huh, interesting"

"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Haley added.

"Look Haley, Luke is your best friend and I thought you knew him better than to bring Nathan here today. You know this could end up pretty bad."

"Yes, but it's a risk Nathan was willing to take, he already told me everything, and he was convinced you guys needed to know the rest of the story, and that you needed to know it today. Look I gotta tell you he's not my favorite person right now, but he's my husband and I'm here to support him. And I'm here to support Lucas too, because he's my best friend." A long pause happened and Haley suddenly broke the silence. "So…, you're still not asking us to come in?".

"Hales, I don't know, Lucas is very shaken up. I'm not sure it…"

"You've got five minutes Nathan and then I want you gone forever. Five minutes." Lucas said pointing to the living room. "And I expect you to be wise in the use of your time cuz I'm not giving you an extra second so just go straight to the point and say what you have to say and I expect it to be the whole truth this time."

Nathan and Haley sat down where Lucas and Peyton had been previously. Luke and Peyton stood in front of them waiting to hear what they had to say. Lucas wrapped his arms around Peyton's petite waist and Peyton did the same to his waist. It made them feel safe, like nobody could hurt them when they were in each others arms.

"Luke, Peyt, before I start I want you guys to know that I'm really sorry for any damage I will or have caused. I also want you to know that I wanna be a better guy for me, for Haley, for everyone. The reason I decided to talk now, after all this time, is because I figured out that the only way I can start with a clean slate is telling the truth about all the times I screwed up things in the past."

"Only got two minutes left, so if I was you I would get to the point, cuz I'm not wasting my night on you." After Lucas said this Peyton threw a defiant glance at him and pushed him away. Peyton knew she had to be angry in some way with Nathan but she wasn't, at all. She couldn't be mad at Nathan. After they broke up they had gotten pretty close, and they had a brother/sister relationship now. She kind of felt sorry for him, because she knew that he had screwed things pretty badly with Lucas and that it will take time and effort for Lucas to trust him again. She knew Nathan cared about his brother and that he really feels sorry for what happened, and that those things happened when he was the old Nathan, when he was Nathan the Jerk, Nathan the Bully. She knows he's a new guy now, because Haley changed him.

"Peyton, I didn't sleep with Brooke for the first time at Tim's party. When I was dating you, Brooke and I slept together tons of times, sometimes we had just finished having sex and I told you I had to go because I had practice or something, but the truth is I'd go over to Brooke's house and most of the times I'd spend the night there. I really don't know when it started or how it started I just know it happened. It had been happening since before we started dating, it happened during the year and a half you and me were together, we broke up and she had already hooked up with Lucas, and we still kept having casual meetings at her place. I mean I'm sure there were no feelings there, it was just pure sex. I guess we enjoyed the fact of having sex with no strings attached."

By the time he was done Peyton had tears flowing down her face. All through this Lucas had tried to get near her but she just shoved him away. All Peyton wanted to do right now was run. Run from everything and from everybody. But she couldn't run, she couldn't move, it was like her body had just stopped functioning. This hit her hard and it hit her deep. Her best friend had fooled her all this time. Brooke had made her and Lucas feel guilty about what they did, when in reality what Brooke did was much worse. Lucas and Peyton did it for love, Brooke did it for sex. Peyton never thought Brooke would throw away a friendship of so many years for sex. What happened to Hoes over Bros, Buds over Studs? Did that mean nothing to Brooke? Dumb question, obviously it didn't. All of a sudden she came back from her world of thoughts to find Haley, Nathan and Lucas staring straight at her. They wanted to know what she thought about all this, especially Nathan. His eyes were pleading for forgiveness. Nathan was trying to speak but the words wouldn't come out. Seconds later he found the strength to blurt out some words, but not before Lucas spat some aggressive words at him.

"You know every day you look more and more like Dan. I guess its true what they say, like father like son. Well Nathan your five minutes are up, so get the hell out of here."

"I really am sorry. I hope some day you guys can forgive me."

"Hales, how can you still be with this idiot. For all you know he could still be sleeping with Brooke." Lucas asked.

"Luke cut it out. Nathan is a different guy now. I love him and I know he loves me too and that he would never do anything to hurt me."

"Whatever Hales, but when something happens I'm going to be the first one to say 'I told you so'."

Nathan and Haley started to head towards the door. Nathan sure he had lost two of the most important things in his life: Peyton's friendship and Lucas's brotherly love. He probably would never get over that. Now that he was starting a new life, being a new man, the past had come back to bite him in the ass. Haley took his hand trying helplessly to comfort him. She knew him too well, Haley knew Nathan was tearing up inside because he had just lost his two best friends. Nathan and Haley were already on the front lawn when Nathan turned around one last time, he had one last chance. Maybe after all Peyton would forgive him, but all he saw was hurt in Peyton's eyes and hate and disappointment in Lucas's as he shut the door. Nathan could feel his heart shatter to little pieces, just at the thought of losing Peyton. He was getting ready to jump into the passenger seat of their car when he heard the peculiar sound that Peyton's front door did every time it opened or closed. To Nathan's surprise, when he turned around he saw Peyton standing in the middle of her front lawn. Peyton was looking straight at him, but he couldn't see anything in her eyes other than forgiveness. Nathan started walking towards Peyton. When he finally got to her they hugged.

"I'm sorry, Peyt."

"Don't be, everyone makes mistakes. It'd be wrong if I didn't forgive you. I have my share of mistakes too. Everyone does and I also know that everyone deserves a second chance to mend their mistakes"

"I'm sorry, Peyton. I'll never get tired if saying it. I screwed up big time. I don't deserve to have you as a friend. I betrayed your trust."

"You know Nate, you're right you don't deserve me as a friend" she said as she broke free from the hug "cuz I'm so much more than that. We have something more than a friendship and I wasn't going to let that go down the drains because of Brooke, she's not worth it."

"Don't ever scare me like that again" he said as they hugged.

Haley and Lucas were observing this from the car and the front door, respectively. Haley was very pleased with what was happening. Lucas, not so much. Nathan suddenly caught a glimpse of Lucas's face from the spot where he was fooling around with Peyton and immediately the smile disappeared from his face. Peyton understood why immediately and just said: "Give him some time Nate, just give him some time".

Lucas was torn away from his memories when he felt Peyton's hands slide down his shoulders and rest in his chest.

"Thinking about Nathan?" she asked and he looked up at her confused. "You only get that hurt look on your face when you are thinking of him."

"You know the fact that you know me so much is starting to scare me." He said as she bent down to peck his lips.

"I try, I try." She said right before letting out a laugh. "Come here" as she pulled him from the chair and onto the couch behind them. He sat first and then Peyton sat on top of him. "If the fact that you and Nathan are not close anymore is bugging you then do something about it. Nobody else will do it for you." As he heard this he broke their gaze but she pushed his chin so he would be looking at her again. "Lucas, look at me. He made a mistake, kinda like we did. And look how well that has 'mistake' turned out for us. Our mistake led us to be together and his mistakes made him the great guy he is today. A guy you wouldn't know is so great after all because you have never given him a chance."

"Peyton he lied! He…" he tried to continue talking but was cut off by Peyton.

"Oh, and what do you call what we did? Lucas, we lied too. But everyone makes mistake. And everyone deserves a second chance Lucas. We both should know that better than anybody."

"Yes, but…" he said but couldn't find the words to express all the confusion that was inside him right now. He wanted to forgive Nathan, he really did. Because that way he could finally let go of the past and be the man he wanted to be for his future, but every time he tried or even thought about forgiving Nathan some unknown anger stirred up inside him and that was as far as his plans would go.

"But nothing Luke" she said as she tucked a couple of stray strands of hair behind her ears to get a better look at him. "Just promise me you'll think about it. Ok?" she said but got no answer from him. "Lucas Eugene Scott I'm talking to you." She said as he furrowed his brows.

"Yes mom."

"Do I seriously look that old? Like old enough to be your mom?" She said as she looked at herself up and down completely. "I don't look old you idiot. I look perfect."

"Yes you do." He said as he kissed her slightly on the lips.

"I was hoping you'd say that." She said as it was her turn now to initiate the kiss. The kiss grew deeper and more passionate until her hands found the hem of his shirt and started to pull it up, but immediately he broke the kiss.

"Nuh uh" he said as he shook his head no as she looked at him puzzled.

"Well that is a first. Lucas Scott passing on the chance of having sex with his hot girlfriend! Baby are you sick?" she said as she placed her hand on his forehead

"I do have something, and its called homework. Look, I have got a long ass paper due in two days and I haven't even started to work on it. Its not that I don't want to, really, its just that if we do I wont be able to finish in time."

"I promise it'll be quick" she said biting her lower lip and putting a mischievous smile on her face.

"I'm sure it will, but the answer is still no. Sorry." He said as he gently pushed her off him, stood up, and headed towards his laptop again.

"Why did I have to pick responsible the boyfriend that chooses homework over sex?"

"And yet you still love me. Who would've thought that could happen. Huh?"

"Blah, blah" she said doing the mimic with her hands. "But you still haven't promised that you'll think about Nathan."

"Alright, alright. I'll think about it. There? Happy? Said it."

"No Lucas I don't just want you to say it. I want you to mean it."

"Ok. I know how important this is to you, so fine I'll think about it."

"Thank you." She said while kissing him. "Now go do your homework." She said but he just stayed put looking deeply at her. "Lucas go, shu, go, vamonos. Homework awaits."

"Alright, alright. Why did I have to pick the feisty one?"

"Hey! I heard that."

"Oops!" he said as he sat in front of his laptop and continued reading where he had left of.

About ten minutes later everything was completely silent in the apartment when Lucas broke the silence.

"Hey" he said turning around to face her "Are you done with the sketches you were doing earlier?" he asked as she nodded. "Do you love me?" he asked and she raised an eye brow. She knew where this was going already. Being with him for six years has had a toll on her.

"Oh no! No, no, no, no, no way. You and Jon ate half the food the diner had not more than an hour ago. And now you've got the 'baby I'm hungry please fix me some food' look on your face."

"Please Peyt. I gotta keep the neurons flowing, you know?" he said as he pointed to his forehead. "Plus the food I ate earlier was intended to recuperate all the energy I'd lost playing basketball. This is going to be the real dinner." He said as he gave her the puppy face he knew she couldn't resist.

"Ughhhhh!" she said as she stood from the couch and headed to their small kitchen.

"That's why I love ma girl." He said in a ghetto tone.

"Lucas shut up." She said as she poked her head out the door.

"You know you love me."

"You bet your ass I love you. Cuz if I didn't I wouldn't even be in this kitchen right now."

"Awww! Sweet."

"Just shut up and tell me what you want."

"Uhm, either two burgers with everything or four sandwiches. You choose." He said as she rolled her eyes. "Hey, don't give me that attitude. I'm giving you options here. You do whatever is easier for you and faster for me cuz I'm starving here."

"You're a pig."

"Oink!" he said putting a stupid smile on his face as she poked out her head from the kitchen again and gave him one of those threatening looks she had. "Ouch baby!" he said placing a hand over his heart. "If looks could kill I'd be stiff dead by now."

"Lucas, would you just shut up and do your paper. Later I don't want to hear you whining about how you can never get homework done cuz according to you I'm a big distraction source."

"You are! I mean, have you ever looked at your curves. Those are killers. If they walk by I can't not look at them."

"Lucas…" he heard her say from the kitchen.

"Yes, mam. Got the point, back to work." He said as he quickly resumed his work.

Lucas now looked back at little moments like those they had and wondered what he would do if she can't forgive him and he can never moments like those again.He needed Peyton back and he needed her bad.