A/N: Thanks for the reviews! This is all LP..so enjoy :) And please review!
start flashback
Peyton came out of the shower, her hair dripping wet. She ran a towel through it as she made her way down the stairs. She started to smell eggs and heard the sounds of cooking half way down and entered the kitchen to an unfamiliar sight. There were two plates set out on the table and food cooking on the stove. Lucas was hovering over one of the pans when he heard her come in the room.
"Hey," he said as she entered the room. "Care for a little food? Other than chips and popcorn, of course."
"You made me breakfast?" Peyton asked, her voice full of her disbelief.
"Yeah. I have recently acquired the talent seeing as though I have to fend for myself now that my mother is gone."
Peyton's mouth was still half open in her shock. He's making me breakfast, she thought. "You made me breakfast?" she repeated, the awe showing in her voice.
Lucas nodded with a huge smile. "Why is that so surprising?"
"It's just- no one's ever done that for me before, well besides my father of course... but it's different."
Lucas couldn't help the grin that formed on his face. He scooped up the food and brought it over to the two plates.
"You're just on time too," Lucas added as he pulled the seat out for her at the table.
Peyton put the towel down on the counter and took her seat with a thank you.
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Peyton was picking at the food in front of her, not really all that hungry.
Lucas was watching her. "Are you okay? Do you not like the food here?"
Peyton started, being pulled from her thoughts. "No- the food is wonderful, I'm just not really all that hungry."
"Oh," Lucas replied. The meal really wasn't going all that well so far. Uncomfortable silence filled the time between the small talk. Lucas put down his fork with a loud clank, causing Peyton to look at him."What's wrong, Peyton? And the truth, please," he added sternly.
Peyton put her own fork down, but a little softer. "It's just... this is weird, isn't it?", she asked him. "Three years later, with the way we left things... we really don't know each other anymore, do we?"
"I know," Lucas replied softly, all edge gone from his voice. "And I don't want it to be that way. That's why I invited you today."
Peyton didn't reply to that causing Lucas to sigh. "I called you, ya know," Peyton said softly, staring at her plate. "The first week I was gone, I called like four times."
"I know," Lucas replied, causing Peyton to look up at him. Her beautiful hazel eyes searched his face. "I didn't answer you at first, because I was mad at you." He paused for a moment. "But the way I felt about you hadn't changed." Lucas ran a hand through his blonde hair. "I was going to call you.. but it felt weird with Brooke around. She was still under the impression that I had those strong feelings for her that I told her about before she left. We were together... but I didn't love her."
Peyton made a face, confused. "So then how did you end up marrying her?"
Lucas visibly swallowed. "Since Nathan still wouldn't talk to me when he came back, you and Haley were gone, the only thing to do was to spend time with her. I never called you back because I thought that if I forgot about you, then I would forget about my feelings for you... and move onto Brooke."
Peyton scoffed. "Do you know how wrong that sounds?"
"I knew it was wrong," Lucas told her. "But it worked in the end. I came to love her again."
Peyton didn't respond to him again, but she was shaking her head. "Speaking of Brooke, where is she this morning? Why aren't you eating with her?"
"She said she had work to do this morning."
"But it's Saturday. She doesn't have to work."
Lucas shrugged. "She said she had to."
"But Brooke- go to work when she doesn't have to? Doesn't that sound impossible to you?"
"Look- I don't know," Lucas said defensively. "She just said she had to go!"
Peyton stared at him for a moment, taking in his defensiveness on the topic. "Okay.. new subject."
continue flashback
Lucas and Peyton were laughing as they finished up their meal.
"You know, that wasn't half bad," Peyton told him. "I expected a disaster.. but it was really good."
"It's nice to know that you have such faith in my cooking skills," Lucas replied, a fake hint of hurt in his voice.
"Isn't it?" she asked mockingly.
Both finished, Peyton rose from her seat to take her plate over to the sink. "No," Lucas said as he rose from his own chair, taking the plate from her hand. "Sit back down," he ordered. Lucas brought the dish over to the sink as Peyton grudgingly sat back down.
"You are not going to clean anything," Lucas told her.
Peyton crossed her arms. "Not that I'm complaining, but there's like a hundred dishes there."
With a glance at the numerous dishes, Lucas made a face. "I can handle that," he replied stubbornly as he started up the water in the sink.
Peyton rose from the chair. "At least let me rinse?" she asked.
"Fine," Lucas allowed.
Side by side, they started the huge pile of dishes that they had compiled over the past day.
About half way through the pile, Peyton and Lucas had suds covering not only themselves, but a quarter of the kitchen. "Stop!" Peyton shrieked as she tried to cover her face from Lucas' attack.
Lucas laughed and managed to get her. Peyton giggled uncontrollably as she fought back. "You know we're creating a bigger mess that you're going to have to clean, right?" she yelled at him. "And I won't help you with that!"
Lucas stopped his antics, looking around the kitchen. Peyton was grinning at him. "Well that worked."
She went to go get a towel from the other room and threw it at Lucas' head. Picking up her earlier discarded towel, Peyton attempted to get the suds off of her.
Clean himself, Lucas took the towel from her hands to help her. He wiped her face softly, getting the spots that she had missed, including her hair. Peyton watched him, attempting to control her feelings when he was this close. Putting down the towel, Lucas used his fingers to remove the last bit. Peyton's heart beat jumped with his touch as his hand cupped her face gently. Her brought Peyton's face up to his slowly until they were centimeters apart. Peyton could feel his breath on her face as he looked into her eyes, like he was almost asking for her permission to do what he was about to do. Peyton came back to herself slightly. "We- we should really get this mess cleaned up," Peyton said suddenly. Lucas didn't pull away or release her face right away. "Luke?"
Lucas broke the moment and pulled away from her. "Yeah, we should."
Peyton couldn't help but see how upset he looked as he stepped backwards. Closing her eyes, Peyton said, "I'll take care of the mess, Lucas. You can go home."
Lucas shook his head stubbornly. "No, I told you I'd do it." Peyton couldn't help but notice the coldness to his voice. He wouldn't look at her either.
Peyton opened her mouth to say something back, but thought better of it and closed it. Without a word, she turned around and left the room. Seeing she was gone, Lucas stopped trying to do the dishes and looked to the place where she had just stood. Thanks to his lack of control, Lucas knew that things wouldn't be the same between him and Peyton now. The easiness of their friendship was over.
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Lucas dropped Peyton off back at home. Peyton had actually enjoyed herself, but deep down she had known that she would. Putting her keys in the door, Peyton heard voices from inside the apartment. Pausing, Peyton wondered if she had left the tv on. Maybe Haley had, she thought. But she was still uneasy as she opened the door, knowing that Haley had gone to work today. She flipped on the lights to see someone on her couch.
Please review! Up next...who's on the couch? What happens next with the 'past LP'?