To make a mountain of
your life is just a choice
but I never learned enough
to listen to the voice that told me
Always love
Hate will get you every time
Always love
don't wait till the finish line
Always Love-Nada Surf

The school day couldn't go by any faster for Peyton, but maybe that was because her mind was on something other than school the whole entire day. The moment she walked out of the school building it was officially winter vacation and she couldn't wait to leave Tree Hill and spend a not so lonely Christmas with Ellie. Her pace was fast as she hurriedly walk to her car. She just wanted to get home, pack, and wait for Ellie to pick her up.

"Peyton wait up!" Just as she had reached her car someone started calling her. Somewhat pissed, she turned around slowly ready to bitch out whoever was stopping her from leaving, but that attitude slowly started to fade since the person was now standing right in front of her.

Lucas frowned once he saw the expression on her face, the don't mess with me expression she would often get when she didn't want to be bothered or was just having a bad day.

"Sorry," He winced, "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"Oh no, no. I just can't wait to get out of here and well, you kind of stopped me from doing that." She tried to get that out in the least rude way possible.

"Okay then I'll just leave you to whatever you were doing." He began to turn around with a dejected look on his face.

"No Luke you don't have to go," She gently grabbed on to his arm, "I can stay and talk for awhile."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She replied as her thoughts instantly went back to spending the Holidays with Ellie. She knew that they weren't that close, but maybe the time that they would spend together would change that. She hoped it would.

"What's got you so happy?" He asked noticing the smile that was currently playing on her lips. He watched as her eyes lit up he hadn't seen her this happy in awhile.

"Oh its nothing." She didn't want to get her hopes out too high about her plans, for all she knew this weekend could just be another weekend from hell.

"Oh come on Peyt, you haven't been this happy in awhile so it has to be something."

"Lucas its nothing." She replied, but he would have none of it.

"I guess I'll just have to get it out of you the hard way." She leaned on the hood of her car and watched as a mischievous smirk appeared on his face.

"What?" And without another word Lucas began to tickle Peyton.

"Lucas!" She shouted in between a fit of giggles, "Lucas stop!"

"Not until you tell me what's got you so happy." He continued to tickle her.

"Lucas!" She laughed as she tried to get him to stop.

"I'll stop when you tell me," He began to laugh along with her.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?"

They both froze at the sound of her voice and immediately moved away from each other. They looked up to see Brooke, who had a mean glare fixed on both of them.

"Oh let me guess, it's my boyfriend and my oh so innocent best friend." She rolled her eyes at the site in front of her.

"Brooke we were just joking around." He hated that things had to be like this. He just didn't understand why hanging out with Peyton would cause such problems with Brooke. He had told her so many times that he wanted to be with her, why wasn't that enough? Why couldn't she just trust him?

"Yeah Brooke, it was nothing." Peyton tried to explain herself, but then again why would she need to? Her and Lucas weren't doing anything wrong; they were just playing around… like friends did. But then again this was Brooke she was talking about and if Brooke had her way she would keep Peyton away from Lucas at all times.

Brooke sighed, "I know… I know I'm sorry I've just been really stressed with the clothing line and—"

"You don't have to explain… look I'm gonna go and leave you two alone." Peyton excused herself from this beyond awkward situation and proceeded to take off in her car.

"Peyton you don't have to go." Lucas practically pleaded with her, but Peyton shook her head and just took off.

"Brooke we weren't doing anything." He tried to keep the peace.

"I know… you guys are friends." She said in a somewhat rude way before she turned on her heels and went the opposite direction leaving Lucas standing there on his own.

Peyton stood in front of her bed and stared at the bag full of clothes and everything else she thought she needed in front of her. Although she had checked the bag a number of times, she still felt like she was missing something. Muttering something quickly to herself, she finally zipped up her bag. She just hoped she had everything.

"Busy?"

Peyton turned around and saw Lucas standing in her doorway.

"Oh hey Luke."

"I've been calling you for hours." Okay so the truth was he only called her once, but in true Peyton Sawyer fashion she didn't hear him because of her loud music.

"Sorry… didn't here you." She nodded her head over to her stereo.

"It's cool." He said as he wandered over to where she was standing and took a seat on the edge of her bed.

"So is everything okay with Brooke?" She asked referring to what had happened a few hours ago.

"Things could be better," He sighed disappointedly.

"Is it because of me?"

"No, no it's not your fault," He assured her, "I'm sure she's just stressed out about the clothing line."

Peyton rolled her eyes and laughed at this. Now Brooke was her best friend and all, but she just thought that this whole clothing line thing came out of nowhere. She had never seen Brooke sew or make something a day in her life, but then again Haley ran off to be a singer a few months ago so maybe it wasn't so far fetched.

"What's so funny?"

"Only in Tree Hill." She mumbled as she moved her bag on the floor and sat next to Luke on her bed.

"What?"

"Brooke and her clothing line, Haley and the tour it's just strange, hell even me and Tric, I'm just starting to think things only happen like this is Tree Hill."

Lucas chuckled a little, "Crazier things have happened."

"Yeah," She nodded, "I guess you're right."

"So you know how Christmas is coming up?" He shuffled his feet and stared at the ground as he spoke. He knew his attempt to start a conversation was lame, but he didn't know how else to say this.

"Well duh Lucas," She laughed and expected him to laugh, too. But when she looked over at him he just looked kind of nervous, "Okay… sorry. Bad joke. Go ahead."

"Well Christmas is coming up," He started again, "And I know you told me a couple of weeks ago that your father's not gonna be here so I talked to my mom about it and I was just wondering—well, we were just wondering if you wanted to spend Christmas with us. You know so you wouldn't have to be alone or anything, but that's only if you want to."

Peyton looked over at Lucas and took in what he just said. She could've cried if she wanted to, but then again she wasn't one for tears so instead she threw her arms around him and thanked him.

Lucas, who was in a bit of shock, slowly wrapped his arms around Peyton. He didn't expect all of this.

Pulling away, she responded, "Luke that was really, really sweet and incredibly kind of you and you know any other Christmas or holiday or whatever I would jump at the chance to spend it with you and your mom, but I kinda promised Ellie that I would spend the Holidays with her."

She didn't know how she could go from a feeling of great joy to an overwhelming feeling of guilt. She felt so bad that she had to decline Karen and Luke's invitation, but she didn't want to disappoint Ellie either.

"I'm sorry, Luke."

"No, no don't be sorry… you shouldn't be sorry. You should spend the holidays with Ellie. It's great that you're getting to know her."

"Are you sure your mom won't mind?" She asked still feeling a little guilty.

"I'm sure."

"And you?"

"Nah… I won't mind and neither will my mom. We'll be fine so don't worry about us you just concentrate on having a great time with Ellie." Lucas was really happy that Peyton was trying to build up a relationship with Ellie. He was proud of her.

"So when are you leaving?"

"In a few hours actually. Ellie's supposed to come and pick me up." She nervously began to kick her bag around.

"Are you nervous?"

"Well yeah," She admitted, "What if she doesn't like me?"

Lucas suppressed a laugh, "Peyton you're acting like you've guys never met, let alone spoken to each other."

"Well we did get off on a rocky start in the beginning and she doesn't really know me all that well. What if when she finally does get to know me she doesn't like me and then we get into this huge argument and she kicks me out?"

Lucas laughed at her overactive imagination.

"What's so funny?" She asked, finding nothing about her problems to be funny.

"You're overactive imagination is what's so funny. I promise you that won't happen Peyton. I've seen how you two talked when we went to her house and it seemed like you two were hitting it off. You'll have a great time."

"And if I don't?"

"Well then," He stretched, "I guess I'll just have to storm in on my white horse and—"

"Shut up Lucas!" She laughed as she gently hit him.

"Okay, okay so I'll just come and get you… no white horses included."

She laughed, "Whatever dude."

"So when will you be back?"

"Um… probably after New Years if everything goes well."

"It'll be fine." He assured her as he stood up from her bed.

"Where are you going?" She asked, hoping that he wasn't leaving. She never realized how much she missed talking to him until now.

"I've gotta go home to get something, but I'll be back before you leave." He said and with that he was gone.

Peyton had been sitting on the front steps of her house for an hour. Lucas had told her that he would be back before she left so she decided to wait outside for him. Little did she know that she would still be waiting for him an hour later. She wondered what was so important that it couldn't wait until she got back. Standing up from the steps she made a move to go back into the house and wait inside, but the honk of a car horn stopped her. She slowly turned around hoping that it was Lucas, but instead it was Ellie. She ran down the steps of her house and walked towards the car, which held an excited looking Ellie.

"Hey kid, you ready?" She asked as she unlocked the car door so Peyton could get in.

Peyton looked down at her watch and sighed. What was she gonna do?

"We should get on the road before it gets too dark." Ellie suggested as she beckoned Peyton to get in the car.

"Can we just wait for five more minutes?"

"Sure."

Five minutes later and Lucas was nowhere to be seen. Shaking her head Peyton prepared to get in the car until she thought she heard someone calling her name.

"Do you hear that?"

"No," Ellie said while shaking her head, "I don't hear anything."

Peyton shrugged and opened the car door… maybe it was just wishful thinking. But before she got in she heard it again.

"Are you sure you don't here anything?" She asked her again. Ellie was ready to shake her head, but then she heard it, too.

"I do here some—"

"Peyton!" Lucas shouted one more time as he finally caught up to where she was. He had been calling her name repeatedly so she wouldn't leave yet.

"Luke what took you so long and what was so important that it couldn't wait until I got back?"

"Here," I gave her the small wrapped up box that he was holding, "I just wanted to give you this before you go."

Peyton looked down at the gift and smiled, "Luke you really didn't have to do this."

"Yeah… I did. It's something you're probably going to need, but don't open it until Christmas, okay?"

"How do you know that I won't open it before then?"

He smiled, "I guess I'll just have to trust you then."

Leaning over to hug him, she whispered in his ear, "Thanks Lucas. You're a really good friend."

Lucas stared at her as she pulled away… friend. Why didn't hearing that hurt so much now as opposed to before? He shook his head and quickly dismissed whatever he was thinking. This just wasn't the time.

"It's no problem, Peyt. You just have a good trip and don't open your gift until Christmas." She laughed

"Goodbye Lucas." She waved goodbye as she finally got in the car.

"Goodbye Peyton and Ellie." He waved goodbye to both of them and stayed there until the car was no longer in sight.

"So are you excited?" Ellie asked trying to start a conversation with her somewhat estranged daughter as she drove.

"About as excited as you are."

"Well then I guess you're excited then." They both look over at each other and shared smiles.

"Yeah." Peyton said softly as she put her attention back on the small box she was holding and Ellie noticed this.

"So that Lucas seems like a really nice boy." Ellie decided to ease up on the topic of Lucas.

"Yeah, he is." She said confidently.

"That was nice of him to come with you to visit me and that was really nice of him to give you that gift, he—"

"Okay I can see where you're going with this and to set the record straight Lucas and I are just friends." The last thing Peyton needed was someone else telling her how her and Lucas are more than just friends. She already had Rachel doing it almost every chance she got and not to mention her "self conscience" so she didn't need or want to add Ellie to that list.

"You know some time before I left town I told Lucas to look after you and it seems to me like he's been doing a very good job." Ellie was trying to get Peyton to admit to whatever she felt for Lucas, but Peyton would have none of it.

"Well Luke is a very good friend." She allowed.

Ellie looked over at Peyton and shook her head. She knew there had to be something going on between Lucas and her. She had seen it with her own eyes before they left, but whether or not they wanted to admit it was definitely up to them. She wished she could change that or make it easier for them since there was obviously some kind of obstacle in their way.

"Are you sure?" She asked giving Peyton one more chance to admit her feelings.

Peyton nodded, "I'm sure."

"You know Peyton, if you do have feelings for Lucas and you're just not telling him or acting on them because you're scared then that's a pretty shitty reason if you ask me. You shouldn't let your fear or others for that matter stand in the way of your happiness and if Lucas makes you happy then I think you should go for it." She offered the best advice she felt that she could give.

Peyton finally took her gaze off of the gift and busied herself with looking out of the window. She knew what Ellie said was right, but there were just some things that weren't meant to be immediately dealt with and she felt like her situation with Lucas was one of them. She was determined to have a good time away from Tree Hill even if it was only for a few days and that meant not thinking about Lucas Scott because right now all this talk about being just friends was only making things worse.

That's the end of that chapter and I hoped you guys liked it. Thank you so much for the reviews, they're awesome!