Chapter Four: Misery Loves Company
(Present Time)
The silence was nearly unbearable. Lucas kept his head down as he stared at the carpet, stained by years of nail polish and makeup. Over the past few months, Peyton had told him about every single stain and every single broken object in her room, a story behind each and every worn item. His blue eyes continued to focus on the black nail polish smudge that was in her carpet. The naked eye would probably never be able to notice it, but after Peyton had mentioned it to him time after time, he'd grown to be able to see it. If you thought about it, it sort of resembled their relationship. It was there even if no one could see it. It was still there, as visible as it had been the day that the carpet had been stained. No amount of scrubbing it or washing it could make it go away. But, of course, no one could see it but them. No one could see what was going on until they were told about it and then, of course, it was so obvious. You'd ask yourself time and time again why you hadn't seen it before. Why had it taken you so long? It had been there all along.
Karen, as well, seemed too shocked to talk. Lucas hadn't said much, but it was clear to her that whatever was going on between him and Peyton was something that he didn't want to end. On one side, as a mother, she was glad that her son had found someone that he was so fond of. On the other side, this person was her step-daughter. His step-sister. It was wrong and they couldn't continue their relationship. What was she supposed to do? Be a mother or be a human?
Before either Karen or Lucas could recieve the answers to their burning questions, the door opened. Both of them looked up in shock to find Larry standing there cautiously. He avoided both of their gazes, pointing towards the door. "Karen, will you keep Peyton company? I'd like to have a moment alone with Lucas." He stuttered out.
Karen looked over at Lucas questioningly, wanting to make sure that it was alright with her son to be alone with his step-father. Lucas still didn't lift his gaze from the floor, but he nodded his head all the same. "It's fine, mom." He practically whispered, almost reluctantly. Of course it wasn't going to be 'fine', but he was going to have to own up to his actions.
She reluctantly stood up and walked to the door, sending Larry a quick glare. "If you hurt him.." She trailed off, leaving it as an open-ended warning. There would be major consequences if Larry touched a single hair on her son's head. With that, she walked out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.
Upon hearing the door close, Lucas looked up at his step-father, still avoiding eye contact. He was taken off guard only slightly when he felt himself get lifted out of his seat and slammed against the closet forcefully. Larry grabbed onto the collar of Lucas's shirt, anger pulsing through his veins.
"You're gonna end it!" He practically screamed, obviously not leaving the blonde haired boy with any option other than to end things with his daughter. Even if Lucas didn't want to, he'd just have to suck it up and do it because Larry wasn't going to allow this to continue on.
Lucas simply shook his head, now staring the man dead in the eye. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that." He practically whispered, his voice not faultering in the least. There was nothing to be afraid of. Larry could physically hurt him all that he wanted, but he couldn't stop him from loving Peyton and he couldn't stop Peyton from loving Lucas. That was one thing that, fortunately, Larry and Karen would never be able to touch.
All of the threats in the world meant nothing against unconditional love. Not the kind of love that you felt for a pet or a regular girlfriend, but real love. The kind of love that makes you want to change for the better and the kind of love that makes you want to become a better person just so that you deserve the love that you're recieving.
Larry slammed Lucas against the closet door once again, anger pulsing through his veins. "Don't make me hurt you, Lucas." He warned unevenly, his eyes showing the confusion and anger that he bore inside of him. This was no laughing matter. Did they honestly think that it didn't hurt him to hurt his step son? Because it did. Larry loved Lucas as if he were his own son--Which only made things a million times worse in this situation.
Lucas swallowed with much difficulty and still didn't faulter. He wasn't going to break and give in to his step father. He couldn't lose Peyton. He wasn't going to..No matter the consequence. "I said that I can't end things with her...That I won't." He repeated curtly, his eyes still staring holes into Larry.
Larry let go of Lucas and nodded his head, pondering the options in his head. Once he turned around, Larry spun back around the second later, punching Lucas right in the jaw. He held onto his fist in pain. It had been quite some time since he'd hit someone.
Lucas stumbled back, holding onto his jaw. Luckily, he was already leaning against the closet so that he hadn't fallen down. With that, he sat down on the computer chair, his head resting in his hands once again. "..Look, I'm sorry that this is hurting you, but don't you think we've tried to stop?" He questioned angrily, looking up at his step-father. It was so easy to put all of the blame on himself and Peyton, but Karen and Larry didn't know the half of what they had been through lately. He couldn't help but get a bit angry.
Larry continued to hold onto his fist, sitting down on his daughter's bed with a sigh. "Try to stop? You guys aren't addicted to eachother! You can stop!" He explained, not seeing why this was so difficult for the two of them.
Lucas sighed. This was going to be difficult. They had tried to stop. Many times. There had been a countless amount of tears shed and fights shared between Lucas and Peyton because they were going to end things, but they could never do it. At the end of the day, the one thing that kept them together was love. They were in love with one another and no one elses opinion mattered. But, of course, how do you explain that to the girl's father?
"It's not as easy as you make it sound." He explained quietly, thinking back to one night in particular. It was Karen and Larry's rehersal dinner and things, of course, hadn't gone as planned. As a matter of fact, things went to hell. Lucas cleared his throat and began to tell Larry exactly what he meant.
-- Flashback --
(ten days ago)
Another glass of champagne. Lucas shot it back with ease before setting it down onto a nearby tray and continuing to walk through the party, everyone having a grand old time except for him. This party sucked.. A lot. He walked over to his 'date' for the night. It was a girl that Karen had so nicely picked out for him. Haley something-or-other. Apparently, she was a tutor and she went to Tree Hill High as well.
He smiled just slightly at the auburn haired girl before allowing his eyes to wander around the room in search of a familiar curly haired blonde girl. Almost immediately, he found her. She was talking it up with a couple of her father's friends, laughing at their lame jokes and kissing their asses.
Lucas had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes. She'd been ignoring him all night. Time after time, Lucas had approached her and attempting to talk, but she would ignore him and walk away, pretending that he didn't exist. Finally, he saw his oppurtunity. She dissapeared into the kitchen.
Lucas turned towards Haley, handing her his brand new glass of champagne. "Can you hold this? I just.. I'll be right back." He promised before walking into the kitchen behind Peyton. He saw her standing with her back towards him and he walked closer to her, his arms falling around her waist. Lucas leaned down, leaving a small kiss on the side of her neck, closing his eyes and breathing in her scent.
"Why are you ignoring me?" He asked, half pleading with her to tell him the truth. What the hell was happening to him? Lucas Scott never pleaded for anything--Let alone for a girl's attention.
Peyton lamely pushed Lucas's hands off of her and spun around, a mix of jealousy and rage burning in her eyes. "Why don't you go talk to your date?" She asked angrily, rolling her eyes. With that, she pushed past him and attempted to walk out of the kitchen.
Lucas grabbed onto Peyton's arm, spinning her around. She gave him an angry glare, but Lucas ignored it, still waiting for a real answer to his question. When he didn't recieve one, he realized that she must be waiting for an answer to his.
"Look, Peyt. She doesn't mean anything. She's just.. Someone my mom wanted to hook me up with." He explained, trying to get her to see that she was over-reacting just a bit. Come on now. It wasn't like he was making out with Haley all over the place. All he'd done was be polite and, quite honestly, he wasn't really a mean enough person to tell her to go away.
Peyton's features visibly softened and she sighed, nodding her head. "I just.. I can't keep doing this, Luke. I can't keep watching you with other girls and pretending that it does--" She began, but stopped as soon as a couple of caterers walked into the kitchen and grabbed food off of the counters. She cleared her throat and looked away from him, pretending that they weren't even speaking.
Once the strangers had left the kitchen, Peyton spoke again, her voice in a hushed whisper. "I wanna be able to kiss you in public! And I wanna be able to..." She took a hold of his hand, tears threatening to fall from her large green eyes. "..Hold your hand and I want you to be able to tell me how much you love me and whisper in my ear and.. We're never gonna be able to do any of that!" She explained sadly, ripping her hand out of his grasp and walking out of the kitchen completely.
Lucas stood there, staring at the space that she once occupied. Finally, after many more moments of nothing, Lucas walked into the main room, sitting down between Peyton and Haley for dinner. The conversation was forced and contrieved but, midway through the first course, Lucas reached under the table and grabbed onto Peyton's hand, rubbing her tiny hand between his larger ones.
He took notice of the way that her expression changed and she squeezed onto his hand softly. That was it. That was all that she needed. The fight was over and done with. No one seemed to notice that neither Lucas or Peyton were eating with both hands, luckily. They kept their fingers laced together for the rest of the dinner, stronger than ever. So much for breaking things off, right?
-- End Flashback --
Lucas looked down and then back up at Larry, his lips tightly pursed together. "You can hate me all you want and you can.." He paused, laughing a bit bitterly. "..You can beat the hell outta me... But it won't stop me from loving her." He explained, shaking his head. "Nothing will..."
