Oh fuck it, I'm gonna have a party
Oh fuck it, I'm gonna have a party
The Blankest Year- Nada Surf

So here it was, the so-called "big night" was finally here. After throwing on whatever she thought looked good and convincing herself that she needed to have some fun for a change, she was finally out the door. She got in her car and drove accordingly to where the directions said and ended up at Rachel's house. Her house was huge, it was like a fortress or something, and the music was so loud you could hear it even if you were blocks away. She stepped out of her car and walked up and into the open door. She hurriedly dodged and pushed through the what seemed like endless drunk teenagers and tried to find a friendly face or even a keg, but so far she had nothing.

She must've been really over the party scene since nothing even seemed the least bit exciting or alluring. She kept on walking through the crowded house until she reached the somewhat empty, compared to every other part of the house, livingroom. She walked into the living room and was surprised to see Haley, Nathan, and Lucas sitting together on one of the couches that was slightly away from all of the craziness.

"So I'm guessing this is where the party's at?" Peyton joked as she made her way over to them.

"Peyton!" Haley shouted happily.

"Hey." Lucas and Nathan both greeted as Peyton took a seat on the arm of the couch where they were sitting.

"So how long have you guys been here?" Peyton asked.

"A little too long if you ask me." Haley scoffed as she rolled her eyes.

"We've only been here for 20 minutes." Nathan interjected, which made Peyton laugh.

"Oh come on Hales it can't be that–"

"Oh my god! Heyy guys!" A drunk Bevin struggled to keep her balance as she came near the foursome.

"Uh... Bevin don't you think you've had enough?" Peyton asked, referring to the cup on Bevin's hand.

"Oh no... I'm not drunk. Beer only has 5 alcohol." She slurred as she stumbled away from them.

After a long moment of silence the four burst out laughing.

"Okay... maybe it is that bad." Luke laughed.

An hour later the group were sitting on the couch, laughing and having a good time. It felt just like the old times when they used to hang out. It felt good.

"Hey guys I'm glad you made it!" Rachel came over to the four. This was the first time any of them had seen her all night.

"Hey Rachel." They all mumbled.

"This is an... interesting party you've got going on here." Haley chose her words carefully as she spoke this time.

"Yeah everyone's pretty much off doing their only little thing, like you four," Rachel paused as she noticed something, "Hey... there's only four of you. Where's Brooke?"

"She um, she's sick." Luke spoke.

"Hmm... that's funny," Nathan rubbed the back of his head, "I remember her saying something about she'd rather cough up a liver than–"

Haley nudged Nathan on his side and replied forcibly, "She couldn't make it."

"Ow! What was that for?" Nathan asked as the group glared at him.

"Whatever." He mumbled with folded arms across his chest.

Rachel stifled a giggle at the little scene before her, "Well whatever the story is it's too bad she couldn't make it. She's really missing out on an awesome party."

The four stared at Rachel in awe, had she said something even remotely civil about Brooke?"

"But then again... this party is much better without her anyway. We wouldn't want a drunk Brooke Davis stumbling around my house and making a fool out of herself–oh wait, maybe we would. Damn! That would've been some quality entertainment." She laughed at her own antics.

Peyton laughed at Rachel's comment. Rachel and Brooke were so much alike and it was hilarious to her whenever they would fight.

"And speaking of entertainment... I'm thinking we need to spice up this party a little bit. You know, bring everyone all together? I'm sure a good game of truth, dare, or drink would do that. You guys in?" You could already see the wheels turning in Rachel's head as her eyes brightened up with mischief.

"Um... Nathan and I are actually gonna get going now." Haley eased her way out of the messy situation she could already see happening.

"We are?"

"Yeah... we are." She gripped Nathan's hand as they both stood up from the couch.

"Well that's too bad." Rachel pouted.

"You guys need a ride?" Luke asked.

"No we can walk," Haley looked up at Nathan for conformation.

"Yeah... it's cool man." He nodded.

"Nah, I couldn't let you guys do that," Luke reached into his pocket and took out his car keys, "Here... take them."

"No, Luke we're fine." Haley protested.

"No Luke is right," Peyton interjected, "You guys take his car and Luke can ride back with me."

"Okay," Luke pushed the keys into Nathan's hand, "It's settled then you two take my car and I'll ride back with Peyton."

"Thanks Luke." Haley said. Nathan and Haley both said their goodbyes to Lucas, Peyton, and Rachel and were soon out the door.

"I wonder what made them leave so quickly?" Peyton wondered out loud.

"It could be the game." Luke suggested.

"Or it could be something else..." She trailed off.

"Okay yuck." Both Peyton and Luke made a face and then started to laugh.

"And then there were two," Rachel's lips curved into a devious smile, "So are you guys in?"

Lucas and Peyton both exchanged hesitant glances at each other before deciding what to do.

"I'm in." Peyton stood up from the couch and stood next to Rachel. As much as she hated party games she figured she needed some fun in her life.

"Good choice Peyton... now all that leaves is one." Now, both girls were staring down at Luke, waiting for him to make a decision.

Luke shrugged. He didn't really feel like playing this stupid game at all and he didn't feel like watching his peers either humiliate themselves or get piss drunk. He wasn't even sure why he was at this party, he could've been at home reading a book or something...

What was he saying? This must've been the exact reason why Haley and Nathan dragged him out with them tonight. Did he actually contemplate staying at home reading a book? This was his senior year... he was supposed to be going crazy! That was it... he needed to have some fun.

"Okay... I'm in." He got up from the couch and stood next to the girls.

"Great," Rachel's eyes lit up. Her plan was definitely in motion now.

I had the blankest year
I saw life turn into a T.V. show
It was totally weird
The person I knew I didn't really know

They had been playing the game for an hour and almost everyone that had been playing were either drunk or buzzed. Lucas and Peyton were neither. Luckily, there had barely been any questions directed at them and when there were they would just answer them. The game's purpose had almost been lost since everyone was just drinking for the hell of it.

"Okay... okay, it's my turn," Rachel set her gaze upon her next victim, "Peyton." Her voice snapped Peyton out of her conversation with Theresa.

"This should be fun." Peyton mumbled as all eyes focused on her.

"Is it true that you hooked up with Tim at the bonfire a few months ago?"

"What? Eww!" A horrified look came upon Peyton's face and everyone started to laugh.

"C'mon Peyton you know you can't resist the Tim." Tim said with a smirk as he rubbed his hands together.

"Yuck!" Peyton laughed, "Whatever man. C'mon Rachel you couldn't think of anything better than that?"

Rachel smirked, "I was hoping you'd say that... fine then, Peyton, I dare you to kiss..."

Peyton's smile quickly faded as she soon knew where Rachel's dare was headed to and she was sure she wasn't going to like it.

"Lucas."

Peyton rolled her eyes as whispers were heard. She had been in this predicament some time last year.

"Come on Rach," She practically pleaded with her. She looked over at an embarrassed Luke, who had his gaze fixed on the carpet.

"Either that or drink."

Peyton shook her head and got up from the floor. Without saying a word she stormed out of the living room.

Rachel sat there confused... that wasn't how she wanted things to go. Both she and Lucas took off at the same time ready to go after Peyton, but Lucas had gotten to her first.

"Peyton!" He called after her, hoping that she'd stop, but she just pushed her way through some people and disappeared.

Time don't move
We're the only ones who do
Bendin' reason
'Cause its all we hold on to

"You know you should really go after her." Lucas turned to his right and glared at Rachel.

"You're kidding me right?" He laughed bitterly.

"Um no I'm not. Go after her, Luke."

Lucas resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Rachel. He couldn't believe her. This whole thing, or whatever it was, was all her fault and here she was giving him advice to go after Peyton.

"You do realize that this is all of your fault right?"

"I thought I was doing you a favor."

"How? By getting Peyton and I to play this stupid game, and then miraculously discovering our feelings for each other?" He said with sarcasm, "In case you've forgotten Brooke–"

"Is your girlfriend. Yeah, yeah I know and before you continue I've heard this speech about a million times already."

"Good then I don't have to repeat myself."

"C'mon Lucas, let's be serious here. Do you really believe that Brooke is the one for you?" She stared in him the eye and watched as he began to talk.

"Wait... don't answer that." She cut him off. She didn't have the time nor the tolerance to hear him sprout another ridiculous speech about his undying love for a girl she despised.

"I care about her Rachel." He said simply. He didn't even feel like reciting another speech about his love for Brooke. It was becoming a bit tedious.

"But those are just words, Luke. Do those words even mean anything to you anymore, Luke? Do they even mean anything to Brooke anymore? How many times can you tell her you love her, just to ease her insecurities? No matter how many times you say it she's still going to feel the same way she did before... and so are you." She hoped she was getting through to him, but all he could do was just stand there.

"They do mean something." He said sternly, as if he was trying to convince himself.

She rolled her eyes and then mumbled, "Yeah well it sounds more to me like you're trying to convince yourself that."

"What?"

"Whatever... you should go find Peyton. I'm sure she's over this whole thing by now." And with that she walked off, leaving a stunned and somewhat angry, Lucas standing there. She thought she could get through to him, but this all was becoming just too hard.

Right after his talk with Rachel Lucas went off to look for Peyton. Not having to look much, he immediately found her sitting on the steps of the porch, but he hadn't had the courage to go talk to her yet. Even though none of this was really his fault, he felt like it was. He didn't know how she would react or if she wanted to talk to him at all. He watched her from behind the screen door. She didn't really look upset, but then again she didn't really look happy either. He shook his head, dismissing his bad thoughts, and prepared to go over to her. As long as she wasn't mad, right?

He softly opened the screen door so that it wouldn't make too much noise and slowly walked over to her.

"Is this porch taken?" He said gently as he stood next to where she was sitting.

She looked up at him and shook her head, inviting him to sit down.

He took a seat on the steps right next to her, but didn't say anything. They both just stared out into the darkness. The only light they had was from the dim porch light.

He looked over at her and decided that he needed to say something.

"About what happened inside–"

"You don't have to say anything, Luke."

He shrugged, "Yeah I know, but I want to."

"I know it was some stupid game, but–"

He placed his hand gently on the small of her back, "You don't have to say anything, either Peyt."

She shivered a little as his hand made small circles on her back.

"You okay?" He asked referring to both her shivering and the whole incident inside.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine," She knew he didn't believe her, but maybe if she spoke quickly he would just forget about, "Hey... why don't you go back inside? I'll meet you there."

He gave her a look of confusion. He thought going back inside was the last thing she wanted.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah... positive." She nodded, hoping that he would go back inside, but he just sat there, still staring at her.

They both stood up and a reluctant Lucas slowly went back inside. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't even see Rachel go pass him.

Peyton was about to go back inside the party when Rachel came out onto the porch. She was probably one of the last people Peyton wanted to see.

Rachel watched as Peyton folded her arms across her chest and stared at her.

"Before you say anything, you're right... it was kind of stupid of me to ask you to do that dare." She apologized, but still received the same angry look for Peyton.

"Okay it was extremely stupid of me to do that," She allowed and watched Peyton's expression soften a bit, "But I had to do something, okay? You and Luke are driving me crazy!"

"And you thought by trying to make me kiss Lucas we'd not only embarrass ourselves, but immediately realize our feelings for each other." She said with a hint of sarcasm.

Rachel smirked, "You know, Lucas almost said the same thing."

"Maybe this is one big joke to you, but this isn't to me... or Lucas." Rachel's smile disappeared when she realized that Peyton wasn't in a joking mood.

"Okay Peyton I'm sorry... I just, I thought that this would be helping you. I thought that when this was all over you would be thanking me, not standing here giving me a death glare." She tried to reason with her and smiled triumphantly when she got a stifled laugh out of Peyton.

"Look I know that somewhere in that crazy head of yours, you truly thought that you were doing us some good, but I don't need your help where my love life is concerned." She said this as nicely as she possibly could. She wasn't angry with Rachel just as she wasn't angry with Lucas. She was angry with herself. She didn't have to make the dare into a big deal, but she did.

"Whatever you say Peyton," She allowed, "So now that that's over, can I ask you something?"

"Sure... what is it?"

"This is completely hypothetical of course. If Lucas wasn't with Brooke would you have gone through with the dare?"

"Rachel." She somewhat pleaded. She wasn't about to admit something like that to her.

"C'mon Peyton. It's just us out here and whatever your answer is I won't tell or hold it against you so that I can tell Brooke and make her life a living hell, no matter how bad I want to." Peyton laughed at the last part.

"I'll get you a drink." Rachel edged her on.

"What the hell, right?" Peyton thought aloud, seeing that a drink was definitely what she needed right now.

"Yes." Was all she said.

Rachel's lips curved into a smile as she put her arm around Peyton's shoulder, "I knew you had it in you Sawyer."

An hour later Peyton had forgotten all about her problems and learned to have fun, with the help of some alcohol, of course. She hadn't felt this careless or free since, well she couldn't even remember when the last time was, but she felt this way now and she didn't want it to end. She was practically stumbling away from the kitchen, where she had been playing a game of I Never, when she bumped into Lucas.

"Peyton! I've been looking all over for you." Because it had gotten so crowded over the past hour, Lucas hadn't been able to reach Peyton at all, so he was glad when he bumped into her. But that feeling went away when he realized she was drunk.

"Hey Luke! How great is this party?" Her words came out drawled as she laughed.

"Are you drunk?"

"Me? No... no," She said confidently, but then burst out laughing, "Okay... maybe a little."

"Okay I'm gonna get you home now." He said as he gently grabbed her arm and started walking.

"Oh come on Luke! You're such a party pooper!" She whined as he dragged her out of the door.

"Ugh! Why were you driving so fast?" She moaned in pain as she collapsed, well more like fell onto her bed.

"I wasn't driving fast." He said as he sat beside her.

She lifted her head off of her pillow, "Yes you were," She whined, "You made me sick."

Lucas laughed. Even though he didn't really like to see her like this, Peyton was kind of funny when she was drunk.

"It's not funny." She shut her eyes and then opened them again as she tried to focus her vision.

"I'm sorry." He apologized as he extended his arm and gently stroked her hair. He expected her to fall asleep any second since her eyes were fluttering open and close, but instead she burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?"

She tilted her head, "Did you know that there are three of you?"

"Maybe you should try going to bed now." He suggested.

"No!" She whined, "Sit next to me... I wanna talk."

She sat up and moved over so that there was room for him.

Not willing to argue with her, he did as she said and sat next to her.

They sat in silence before she started up again.

"Hey Luke."

"Yeah?"

"Would you rather be a bird or a fish?" Obviously amused with her own question, Peyton wasted no time to start laughing.

Luke resisted the urge to laugh at the strange question, but still answered it without hesitation, "A bird. You?"

She placed her index finger on her chin and pursed her lips together as she thought, causing Lucas to laugh.

"Um... I'd be a bird, too." She finally answered and then they sat in silence again.

"Hey Luke." She said again.

He turned to look at her, "Yeah Peyt?"

"What are you thinking?"

He sighed, "I'm thinking of ways to get you to fall asleep."

They both laughed at this.

"What are you thinking?" He asked her as he looked in her eyes once again.

"Hmm... the stars are crying out for what we could've had."

"What?" He asked. He was utterly confused at what he guessed to be a song lyric.

"That reminds me of you," She giggled, "Wait... no it reminds me of Jake... oh who am I kidding? It reminds me of you... yeah you." She said in between laughs.

Lucas stared at her in a mix of shock and confusion. Did she just say that? No, no she was drunk... he couldn't get his hopes up, and besides, he had a girlfriend.

"Come here." He heard her whisper.

Her tone of voice was firm, but held amusement, as if she was telling a secret. He knew that he shouldn't have leaned in just as he knew he should've pulled away when he felt her lips on his, but he didn't; he couldn't. His hand foundit's way up to her cheek as their kiss deepened. He knew this was wrong, but something about her lips on his made him feel alive again.

"I've missed that." She whispered as she pulled away and fell back on her pillow.

The sound of her voice made him realize what he had done. She kissed him, but then again he didn't exactly pull away. What had he done? She was drunk and maybe, maybe he had been a little buzzed... no that wasn't a good enough excuse. He hadn't even had a drink all night.

He was about to speak, but stopped when he realized she was sleeping. Frustrated, he rubbed his face and leaned his head against the headboard. What they did was wrong, but why did it feel so right?

But you don't own me
I'd like to return this spell
'Cause it's not my size
And your lies are so much bigger than my lies
And your ties are made of things that shouldn't be ties

Finally I updated. I'm so sorry about keeping you guys waiting, school has been hectic! But now it's spring break and maybe I'll post another chapter by the end of this week. Thank you so much for the reviews!