Chapter 4- The Mystery Man Unveiled!

"Hello, earth to Peyton, hello?" Brooke says waving her hand in front of my face. I finally blink out of my shock and my face turns from confusion to pure anger.

"You did what!" I yell, and then I start pacing around the room, with my left hand on my forehead.

"Hey, you said you wouldn't be angry at me." Brooke replies giving me her famous 'sad face'.

"Yeah, that was before you told me that I had a blind date!" I shoot back at her avoiding her gaze.

"Fine, it's okay that you're upset, I completely understand. But you know what, I thought it would be okay since you haven't been on a date since Matt," I begin to protest but then she holds up her pointer finger, to tell me that she's not done. "Don't try to deny it P. Sawyer, it's true. And I thought it would be okay if you met somebody new and began to put yourself out there again. So I hope you're not mad at me and that you can do this one little thing for me?" Brooke says, finishing and then taking a deep breath.

"I'm not pissed off at you, it's just not what I expected, that's all." I sigh and roll my eyes. "Okay, so where is this 'date' tonight" I ask giving in.

Brooke's eyes immediately light up and she starts jumping, "oh my gosh Peyton, this is going to be AWESOME! Okay, so it's at Tric and your date is at 7:30pm which gives us about," she glances at her watch, "an hour and a half to get ready". I look at my watch and it reads 6:30pm.

"I thought the date started at 7:30, so how do we have an hour and a half to get ready?" I ask her confused.

"Duh, because girls are always fashionably late for dates. That makes the guys think that we put in the extra effort to get ready" She replies as if it's the most obvious thing in the world.

I throw my hands up in the air. "Of course, I should've known. So Brooke, do some of your magic to make the most amazing girl in the whole club!" I say.

"Besides me of course!" Brooke replies and then pulls me into my closet.

After an hour of making me try on clothes, curling my hair and applying makeup, Brooke finally thinks that I am done. I am wearing a blue denim mini skirt and a dark red halter top. My hair is curled (as usual) and one side is pinned back lightly. My black converse shoes and black corduroy purse finish the look.

"Peyton, you look so HOT!" Brooke laughs as she looks me over and then puts a strand of hair back in place.

"Thank you, now let's go get this date over with." I reply, smiling because I know I look good, and I also know that Brooke is as excited about this as I am when it comes to buying a new album.

Brooke and I hop into her car and drive to Tric singing along with the radio. We drive for about 15 minutes and then stop in the club parking lot. I climb out the car and straighten my clothes. I take a compact mirror out of my purse and look at myself in the mirror. Brooke comes around to my side of the car and starts giggling. I look at her, expecting an explanation as to the sudden outburst.

"You're really nervous, aren't you" she asks me.

"I'm not nervous; it's just that, I don't know, I don't really want to get hurt anymore, you know." I say, and then look down uncomfortably at my shoes.

"Okay, Peyton, I swear that this guy isn't going to be like Matt. And I'm glad that I did this because it gives you a chance to find out that not every guy is like him." She replies by smiling and rubbing my back softly. I smile back and begin walking towards the club. As I walk up the stairs the butterflies in my stomach seem to get a lot bigger. I put my hand on the doorknob and turn the handle. As soon as I open the door I hear one word magnified in volume by about 100 times;

"SURPRISE!" I am immediately engulfed by my friends surrounding me and congratulating me. I turn to Brooke and laugh. She shrugs back and smile.

"SO there was more then just one surprise tonight." She says innocently. I laugh some more and pull her into a great big bear hug.

I make my rounds saying thanks to everyone I can for being there. Then I walk to the bar and sit next in between Brooke and Mouth.

"SO Brooke where is my blind date. I am so excited to meet him!" I say sarcastically, and I hear Mouth and Lucas laughing behind and beside me.

"Actually, he should be here at the bar, so let's go find him!" she replies, then links her arm with mine. We walk around the whole bar area with Brooke asking if any of the guys were Peyton's blind date. Unfortunately, all of the guys say no. We walk back to our original bar stools and sit down, defeated. Brooke looks at me.

"I'm sorry P. Sawyer, I thought this was a good idea. I guess it wasn't." Brooke says while looking at me sadly.

"It's okay, don't worry about it. Listen I had fun really, but I think I'm going to go home now." I say, with a little bit of fatigue in my voice. Mouth comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder.

"Hey, Peyton, do you need a ride, cause I'm basically done here as well." He asks.

"Sure, thanks Mouth." I turn to Brooke and Lucas. "Thanks for everything guys, and don't worry about it Brooke." I give each of them a hug and walk with Mouth into the crowd, towards the door.

When we get outside, we begin descending the stairs. Suddenly a guy comes out of his car and starts running towards the stairs. He's talking on his cell phone, and Mouth and I can just make out what he is saying.

"I can't believe you're doing this man…Yeah, but she could be really hurt…Of course I'm not going to the club to find out who she is…So what does she look like again?" he asks the phone as he starts walking up the stairs, concentrating on the information being given to him. "Okay, and what's her name…Okay, see you man." And with that he hangs up his phone.

As he walks past us, he smiles politely at us and keeps going. Then all of a sudden he turns around and looks right at me. I look at him nervously. Wow, he is really hot! I think as I keep looking into his deep and meaningful eyes. His dark brown hair is messy and looks like he hasn't run a comb through it in a while. He has on a pair of jeans and a long sleeve dark green shirt on.

"Excuse me miss, are you by any chance Peyton?" he asks, looking slightly nervous. Wow, she's beautiful, he thinks as he looks at her, waiting for an answer.

"Ya, why?" I reply.

"Well, a friend of mine was supposed to go on a blind date with you, but at the last minute he bailed. I didn't want to feel like you were just totally blown off so I came to tell you." The man answered.

"Oh, well thank you for telling me. I knew this wasn't a good idea when Brooke told me about it. I'm going to take off though. Tell your friend that it's okay, and that I completely understand." I say back and then continue walking with Mouth at my side. I can feel his eyes on me as I continue walking. Then I hear him running down the stairs after me.

"Wait!" he yells, and I turn around to see what he wants. He looks at me and smiles.

"Since I'm here, I was wondering if you wanted somebody to replace my friend for the date tonight?" he asks ands gives a pleading smile to me.

I look at him and smile. "Now where would I get somebody to do that?" I ask and then put my finger up to my lips and taps on them, pretending to think.

"Would it be okay if I was you date tonight, Peyton?" he asks, smiling and nervous at the same time.

"I guess so, just so long as you don't try anything with me, okay?" I say half-joking and half-serious.

"I promise, but there is a condition for me too. I kinda didn't tell my friend that I was coming here, so let's not let him know, I'm here okay?" he asks and then laughs quietly. I nod at him and then puts his hand out for me to take. I look at him and then I turn to Mouth. He smiles and nods.

"I'm definitely not leaving now!" Mouth says, and then runs back into the club. I laugh out loud and then place my hand in the guy's. We walk into the club and I look to where Brooke and Lucas were when I left. They, along with Mouth are watching me and this mystery guy as we walk towards them. I stop him right before we get to our friends.

"It's totally unfair that you my name and I don't know yours. So what's you name anyways?" I ask looking him right in the eyes. He snaps his fingers together in mock defeat.

"Oh, darn, I guess you caught me. Okay, my name is…………………………"

Haha, I know, I'm evil! SO I haven't decided who it should be just yet, but obviously Mouth and Lucas are out of the question. Let me know who you think it should be!

Review please, I really enjoy getting them, even if I only have a few!

Sorry about the wait for the chapter, I've been really busy with work, etc.

Anyways, peace out!

Pauline 