Almost Honest
Disclaimer- If I were to own One Tree Hill, Lucas and Peyton would be together, so obviously I don't.
Chapter 1-Beautiful Oblivion
Peyton sat on the curb outside The Blue Post Bar with a killer headache, but considering the amount of alcohol she had earlier, she was surprised that's all that was bothering her.
After her fight with Brooke, she decided to drown her sorrow in booze. She dug her old fake I.D. out of her dresser drawer and made her way to the bar. She had walked there, knowing she would be leaving that night in no condition to drive. Now, however, every time she even attempted to walk, she felt like she was in the middle of a tornado. Her head was pounding, her heart was racing, and the world around her was spinning.
She would have called a cab if only she hadn't blown all her money on drinks. Sometime between practically being thrown out during closing time and now, she had called the only person she could think of, Lucas.
When he got the call, he ran straight over from his mom's café. He literally ran. His car was parked at home and Peyton sounded urgent, so he took off on foot.
When he arrived, Peyton looked up to see no car and realized she would be walking home. "Great,' she groaned out loud.
He looked at her confused. "What?"
"Nothing. It's just…walking sucks," she frowned.
When he realized what she meant, he threw her a sympathetic smile. "It's not going to be that bad. I'm going to help you all the way, okay?"
She began to nod in response, but quickly made up her mind that did not help her headache at all. "Okay," she said in agreement. "Just promise me we'll go slow."
"Of course," he sighed as he slowly lifted her onto her feet and wrapped one arm around her waist. "Don't worry. I've got you," he smiled, reassuring her as they started making their way down the street.
"Boy, do you ever," she whispered so that he could barely hear her.
They walked like that, with him half-carrying her, all the way to her house. That is, until they discovered her locked house and a key that was nowhere to be found.
Peyton sat down on the steps and emptied her purse. Pens, chap stick, lotion, receipts, loose change….she seemed to have everything but her keys. Meanwhile, Lucas searched every doormat, every rock, every place he could think of for a hide-a-key, but still no luck.
He turned around and saw Peyton with her head down, buried in her hands. He spoke with concern evident in his voice. "Hey. You okay?"
She looked up at him slowly as he kneeled down next to her. "Yea, just dizzy," she nodded.
"Maybe you should have thought of that before you drank half of Tree Hill," he joked playfully.
She smiled slightly as she continued to groan. "I didn't drink that much, but hey, their business is safe because of me. They should be thanking me, but instead it seems like they're repaying me by making my porch spin around and around."
He couldn't help but laugh as he repositioned himself next to her, letting her head rest gently on his shoulder. "It might be a good thing we're locked out. Seeing a thousand faces on your wall spinning around you might be a little freaky."
She was pressed up against him so that he could feel her laugh. "That's why you're here. You can protect me." As she spoke, her face buried itself in his shirt.
"Yea," he breathed, instinctively pulling her closer to his side. Soon, her entire body relaxed and he could hear her steady breathing, and he knew she had fallen asleep.
………………………………...
A few hours later, Peyton awoke in the same spot on the steps and discovered Lucas had also fallen asleep and was resting his head on top of hers. As much as she wanted to stay just like she was, she knew, unlike her, he had someone at home waiting worriedly for him.
"Luke," she whispered, nudging him a little. He stirred a little and mumbled something she couldn't make out. "Luke, you should get home. Your mom is gonna be worried about you. You…you need to go."
"Peyt, right now the only place I need to be is right here. I'm not just going to leave you out here by yourself at night." He looked at her as if she was crazy for even suggesting it.
"But-" she started to reason with him but was soon cut off.
"But nothing. You're not getting rid of me that easily." He spoke with a smirk that made her heart skip a beat, but still she continued to fight him on the issue.
"Lucas, listen to me. I understand you wanting to be the gentlemen that you are, and I appreciate it…I really do. But you have a mother who is probably going crazy wondering where her son is at-" she paused as she checked her watch, then rechecked to make sure she read it right, "four in the morning."
"It'll be okay, okay? I promise. You've just got to calm down and trust me. The world's not going to end if I stay with you tonight," he laughed, not realizing the irony of what he had just said.
She finally gave in and nodded slowly. "So…what now?"
He let out a yawn as she laughed at him. "Hmm…what are my chances of getting you to fall back asleep?"
She answered with a large grin still plastered on her face. "I'd say not very good."
He laughed as he shook his head. "Great," he said sarcastically.
"Hey! You were the one who wanted to stay," she replied, pointing at him playfully.
"Yea, I guess so," he said quietly. After a few minutes of silence, he decided to ask the question that had been on his mind for days now. "So are you ever going to tell me what happened with you and Brooke?"
She looked at him dumbfounded. "That was out of nowhere."
He could tell she was avoiding the subject but he needed to know. "I know, but can you blame a guy for wondering? It's like, I go away and everything's fine and then I come back and everything's changed. I'd just like to know what happened."
"We just got into a fight. And it wasn't even when you were away…because I was gone too," she finished quickly, recalling everything that happened when she went to visit Jake.
"Well, what was the fight about?" he asked.
Tears started welling up in her eyes as she pleaded with him not to make her do this. Not now. "Just drop it, Luke. Please."
It killed him to see the look in his eyes and decided to do what she asked of him. "Fine."
"Thank you," she whispered, her mouth curling up into a half-smile. "So, you still up for that whole sleeping thing?"
"Sure," he smiled, nodding to her.
They both adjusted themselves, trying to find a comfortable position. It ended up with him resting on the porch railing, and her leaning against him. They decided to soak in the silence that had fallen around them, drifting in and out of sleep as time passed.
………………………………...
Peyton woke up and felt Lucas's arms protectively wrapped around her waist. She smiled as she looked up and saw him asleep. She looked back down and suddenly felt an urge to touch him. She began to run her hands along his arms, and soon enough she reached his rough hands. She took a deep breath before grazing her fingers over his slowly. She closed her eyes as she memorized everything about the moment.
Lucas moved slightly and she hurriedly jerked her hands away from his. He opened his eyes and stared down at her, but she didn't dare meet his gaze. When he noticed she was blushing, he couldn't help the grin that grew on his face.
Due to the fact that she was avoiding eye contact at all costs, she looked out and saw something she hadn't noticed before. The sun was rising and painting the sky all different shades.
"Would you look at that," she sighed, her eyes resembling that of a child on Christmas. "It's so beautiful."
Her enthusiasm captivated him. "Yea, it is," he admitted, although he wasn't really paying much attention to the sunrise.
"I…I don't even remember the last time I watched the sunrise," she said, the look of wonderment on her face never fading. She turned to him before speaking again. "This is the kind of thing that gives me hope, you know? Seeing that something in the world can be so perfect, so peaceful. Even if it's only for a moment, it's like…nothing can change that. Nothing can stop it. It's the calm before the storm." She somewhat unwillingly looked up and met his eyes and couldn't pull herself away. She tried to say something, but no words came out.
He was beginning to get lost in her, but he was pulled from his trance when his cell phone began to ring. He took a deep breath before answering and she turned back around wondering what exactly had just taken place. She could hear him in the background talking to his mom, explaining where he was, while she decided to get up.
She walked down the steps and was standing in the yard, so lost in her own thoughts she didn't even hear Lucas hang up the phone and come up behind her.
"Hey," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He hadn't meant to startle her, but she appeared to be anyway. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, but that was my mom. She was just wondering where the hell I was, just like you said she would," he laughed. "But I told her I was with you and so now she knows. And like I said, she's okay with it."
She nodded, "Okay, but you can go now. I know you didn't get much sleep last night, so you must be tired."
He looked at her a little confused. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to go by the bar and see if they have my keys, and if they do, I will be coming straight home and sleeping as well."
"What if they don't have them?" he questioned.
She knew he wouldn't be happy until he knew for sure that she was going to be okay. "Well then, you will hear a knock on your door and me asking to crash on your couch," she joked.
He still wasn't' satisfied, but he decided to leave it at that. "Fine, but be safe, okay? Call me when you get back to your house or if you need me to pick you up."
"Ay ay, captain," she saluted, winking at him. They then took off in separate directions; Peyton in pursuit of her missing keys and Luke on his way back to his house.
A/N-And so ends my first chapter ever. Since I'm new to this, I don't know exactly what to think of it, so be sure and let me know what you think!
