AN: Thanks for the great reviews to: jeyton4ever, the only sweet catastrophe (I was blown away by your review! It made me so happy that you liked the story enough to write such a long review about it, thanks SO much!), and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06.

Chapter 6

Peyton's POV

"And then I kissed him!" I said embarrassed, to Brooke. I had called Brooke and she was infact hanging out with Lucas, but they agreed to hang out with us. We were outside, in the area that wasn't being used for the dating, just for the plus-ones, having fun and hanging out. I tried to act normal around Jake, but it was too weird. We waiting for Brooke and Lucas to meet us in complete silence. Which wasn't too bad, 'cause I just pretended to look at the view the whole time. The second Brooke and Lucas came, I not-so-discretely pulled Brooke aside. I needed to talk to her. Fast.

"What? P. Sawyer, you made a move on Jake!" Brooke yelled a little too loudly, and I started blushing and glanced over to the guys who, thankfully, looked like they hadn't heard a thing.

"It was kind of an impulse I had. He was being so sweet, and definitely hinted that he had SOME sort of feelings for me, so I kissed him," I said.

"Oh, my gosh! How was it?" Brooke asked, with that glow in her eyes. She was obviously ten times more excited about this than I was. That was kind of sad.

"It was..." I searched for the right word, "...weird." She looked at me blankly, so I continued, "I mean, I kissed him, but it was just a peck. It was kind of just to see what his reaction would be, you know?"

"And?" Brooke asked excitedly.

"And... nothing. That was it. I just kissed him, and he literally didn't do ANYTHING. I mean, he didn't say anything, he didn't move, nothing. So I just got up and called you and... here I am." I said.

"Well, Pey, look I'm almost positive that Jake likes you. But I'm also positive that he's a very shy person. He was probably just surprised." Brooke said reassuringly. And it's not like she was just trying to make me feel better, the things she was saying were true. Jake was a pretty shy guy. But then again, he had said that he liked me. Well, not exactly that. But he said that he would rather spend time with me than those other girls here. Doesn't that mean something? Was I reading too much into that? Maybe he just said it to be nice...

"Yeah. Maybe. Anyway, thanks, Brooke, I really needed to talk about it with someone." I said. "So, spill, what's going on with you and Lucas?" I raised my eyebrows and Brooke, who rarely blushed, turned a little red.

"Well..." Brooke said, looking away.

"Come on! Tell me," I nagged, "Are you guys together? Fooling around? Just friends? Please tell me it's one of the two first ones," I said.

"Well, this morning, he came over to me and asked if I wanted to hang out today. So of course I said yes and then we went my the pool and hung out. And for the longest time, I totally thought that he was going to make a move on me, because he was being so sweet and such a gentleman. And OK, I know he's different than high-school guys and all, but my first instinct was to assume that he was just acting that way to get into my pants. But then I realized that that's just the way he is, that's just part of his personality. So then I thought that he probably doesn't like me and he's just being nice. But you know me, so I just thought 'What the hell?' And I went for it." Brooke said giddily, making me laugh.

"You kissed him?" I asked with a smile on my face. She smiled goofily and nodded. "And? What happened? Did he kiss back?" She did that goofy nod once again. OK, so I felt so happy for my best friend. Really, I did. But I was a little jealous. Lucas seemed like a shy enough guy, yet when Brooke kissed him, he responded. What was wrong with Jake? Or was there something wrong with me?

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Jake's POV

I had just finished explaining what had happened between me and Peyton to Lucas. He was silent for a while and then turned to me with a serious expression on his face. I waited for him to talk first.

"Jake, do you like this girl?" He asked seriously. I didn't need to think about it.

"Yes," I answered. Unexpectedly, Lucas smacked me over the head.

"Than you're an idiot for not kissing her back!" He said while I rubbed the spot on my head that I was sure going to grow a bump soon.

"Ow," I whined. He didn't look sorry.

"Jake, did you see how fast Peyton ran away from you to Brooke when we met you guys?" I nodded, looking at the ground. Lucas continued, "Do you know what Peyton is saying to Brooke right now?" He asked. I looked up at him. How the hell did he know what they were talking about? "She's telling her the whole story. How she likes you. How she took a shot. And how you rejected her. Do you really want those thoughts to be in the head of the girl you like?" Lucas asked.

"No," I admitted. "It's just. It's been a while since I've liked anyone. I don't remember how to go about things. I don't know what to do now, it's just going to be all awkward all the time." I said.

"Not if you tell her how you feel," Lucas said as if it was so simple. Trust me, it's not so simple. If I had a dime for all the times I almost told Peyton how I felt about her, I would be a rich man.

"I don't know... So what's up with you and Brooke? You two together?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Um," Lucas said thinking, "Well, we made out a little. And I don't really know where to go from here, you know? I mean, she's... she's incredible, but I don't know if she's looking for a boyfriend or just someone to spend the time with, you know?" He said. I nodded. We didn't say another word. We just looked up to where Brooke and Peyton were talking, laughing. Both of us yearning to be with them.

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General POV

Jake had decided what he wanted to do about Peyton. And Peyton had decided what she wanted to tell Jake. They were both just waiting for the right moment. They four of them hung out together a little longer. Brooke and Lucas couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other for too long, so they excused themselves, leaving Jake and Peyton in an uncomfortable silence once again.

"I have to tell you something," Jake and Peyton both said at the same time. And after a couple rounds of 'you go, no you go', Jake decided to tell Peyton what he had to tell her first.

"OK, so remember when you asked me about Jenny's biological mother?" Jake asked, gathering all the courage he had in him to tell her this. Peyton nodded. "Well, if you still want to hear the story, I'd love to tell it to you."

"OK," Peyton said, "I'd like that."

"Alright. Well, I met Nikki my sophomore year in high school. She was a couple years older, and pretty much the opposite of me. She was out-going and daring and I was... well, pretty much the same way I am right now, except much less mature. Anyways, we hit it off pretty well and I even fell in love with her, and she fell in love with me." Jake said, feeling a little uneasy talking about Nikki, but he felt like it was the right thing to do.

Peyton felt a little weird about hearing him talk about how much he loved another girl, but she could tell that this story ended badly. Looking at Jake's expression, she felt so much sympathy towards him.

"I mean," Jake continued, "I was so shocked when Nikki came to me and told me she was pregnant. We had always used protection, and although I knew that wouldn't be 100 accurate, getting a girl pregnant by accident was something I never thought would happen to me. We talked about not having the baby, but Nikki decided that she wanted to have it. Then, are feelings for each other had changed a little, of course the situation made us think a lot about our futures and we were so young that we were dealing with so many issues at once and it was hard to control. Still, I was there for her."

Peyton was nodding along. This was such a moving story. You heard about it all the time, but you never think about it happening to you or someone you know.

Jake continued, "But after the baby was born, she left. I mean, seriously, just like that, she was out of my life. And I couldn't beat myself up over it, because I had a daughter, Jenny, now and I needed to care for her. And all of a sudden, my life turned inside-out and everything changed. Everything revolved around Jenny. My parents helped out and I got a job and tried my best to stay a good student in school and have somewhat of a life. But then, my junior year, Nikki came back. She wanted Jenny back."

"Oh, God," Peyton couldn't help herself from saying. If she ever met this Nikki girl, she would have to slap her.

"Yeah, so we immediately go into this whole custody battle, included both of us running away, me spending some time in jail, and long hours in trial and finally the judge granted me full-custody of Jenny." Peyton let out a sigh in relief, even thought she knew that he had custody of her already. "Nikki left right after and I haven't seen her since."

They were silent for a while and Jake felt great. He was glad that he had told Peyton. She was the only person that he had met recently that he trusted with that information.

"Wow, Jake, you are so strong to have gone through all that," Peyton said honestly and admiringly making Jake's stomach turn, "Jenny's really lucky to have you." She said and that just melted his heart. You can have me too! he wanted to yell out.

"Thanks, Peyton." Jake said.

"But," Peyton said, "What made you decide to tell me?"

Jake thought about this for a while. And he discovered that the easiest way to answer this, even though it might take some guts, was just to answer truthfully. "Because, Peyton, in these last couple of days, I've been feeling closer to you. You're the only person I've met since Lucas, and that's different, that I've felt that I can just say anything to. I haven't known you very long and yet I feel like you're one of my closest friends. Or..." He gathered up the courage, "Even maybe... more than that..." He gathered up just a little more courage and with all the mental strength in him, he leaned down and kissed her. She, being not as dumb as him, got with the program pretty fast and kissed him back forcefully.

Peyton's heart was floating around inside her chest and Jake felt like his was going to explode. But neither pulled away for a while, both liking the feeling of their lips locked together. When they finally did pull apart, they took a while to catch their breaths, then Jake spoke.

"What did you want to tell me?" Jake said softly, his mind and heart still racing.

"Oh," Peyton said, wondering if she should still tell him. If she had told him before would it have changed things? Would they have ended up kissing anyway? She decided to just say it anyway, it needed to be said at one point. "Well, Jake... It's not a big deal or anything, but... Well, I'm not exactly 21... Actually, I'm 17, and a junior in High School..."

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AN: muahahahhahaha, reply and then you can find out what's next! I hope you liked it! please review!