AN: Thanks for the wonderful reviews to: S0phiaVal3nntine, and OTH.daddy'sgurl.06!! Alright, I guess technically this is the last chapter, but stay tuned for an epilogue next week; there will definitely be one, in fact it's already written.

Chapter 15

Peyton's POV

"And then he looked right into my eyes, and said he loved me." I finished retelling Brooke the events of earlier that day. OK, I know I'm not the type to gush about boys, tell the same romantic story over and over again. In fact, I'm not even the type to admit that I have a romantic story to tell in the first place. Or I should say I wasn't. It's funny how your whole life you think you know who you are. And then one day, or one person can change that forever. One single human being can make you rethink your whole purpose in life, your whole life in general.

"Aw, P. Sawyer, that is adorable!" Brooke squealed. She promised me that she wouldn't get too excited, because she was the one driving, but I was seeing that she was about to break that promise. "Oh my gosh, please tell me you said it back!" She exclaimed frantically.

I laughed, "Of course! Brooke, I've never felt like this about anyone before. It's amazing!" I really couldn't get over how giddy I was. Ever since I had left the bathroom and had to leave Jake, I could not get my mind anywhere else.

"Well, I'm glad. It's about time."

"What does that mean?" I said playfully.

"Please, I realized that you and Jake would fall in love from day one, and it took you two and a half weeks!" OK, so this was true... Brooke was always psychic when it came to this stuff.

"Oh yeah? Well I knew from day one that you and Lucas would fall in love, too!"

She gave me a knowing look and winked, "So did I."

---

Jake's POV

"Why aren't they here yet, they should be here by now, right?" I asked Lucas.

"Relax, it's only four. We said to meet here at four-ten." Lucas said, looking at me as if I were crazy. I resent that, I'm not crazy...

"Well, I mean they weren't making any stops so they should have gotten here when we got here, maybe we should call them? What is something happened?" I said. I'm not crazy, I'm not! was the message I was sending him, telepathically of course.

"Look, Jake. Why don't we wait ten minutes before calling, ok?" Lucas said, as if he were talking to a ten year old. I felt dumb. I felt really dumb. What was I becoming? The frantic boyfriend, who wants to call his girl 24/7? "What's going on with you?"

"Nothing," I said, about to just leave it at that. But then I realized, hey this is Lucas I'm talking to. If I'm not going to talk to him, then who am I going to talk to, right? Plus, he's totally in love with Brooke, he has to understand what I'm going through, right? "Ok, fine, not nothing. It's Peyton."

"What a surprise," Lucas said sarcastically.

"It's just..." I started, choosing to ignore his comment, "We live miles away. I'm only going to get to see her maybe once a week."

"That's not that bad." Lucas said, trying to make it better.

"Lucas, have you been listening to me? I can barely last half an hour away from her, what am I going to do?"

"Jake, listen to me. Ok?" Lucas said, trying to calm me down. It actually kind of worked. I nodded. "Alright," he continued, "It could be much worse. You two could be on opposite sides of the country, but you're not. I mean, trust me, what you're going through right now is what I've been going through the past few days with Brooke. But you know what she said?"

"What?" I asked, very curious. Brooke always had interesting things to say. And often had excellent advice.

"She said that I should just accept it. That the time I'm spending worrying about our time apart, is putting a damper on the time that we're together. Do you see what she meant?"

I nodded. Yes, I did. "So, how do I do that? How do I just accept it?"

"Well, for starters, you really need to chill," he said, "How about we change the subject. We have ten minutes before the girls come, why don't you tell me about what you and Peyton were off doing sneaking into the bathroom?" He said raising his eyebrows and smirking.

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General POV

"And then I looked straight into her eyes and-" Jake was saying, telling the events of earlier that day to Lucas, who was listening intently. Of course, Jake was telling the story in a completely G rated fashion, because Jenny was sitting right next to him. Ok, so she was sleeping, but he wanted to be safe anyways.

"And told her you loved her. Yes, yes, we know already!" Brooke interrupted from behind, causing both Lucas and Jake to jump about ten feet in the air. They turned around to see Brooke standing there with a cute smile on her face, and Peyton next to her, covering her giggles behind her hand.

"Hello, ladies," Lucas said, a smile playing on his face at Jake's embarrassed expression.

"Hi, boyfriend," Brooke said, skipping off to sit next to Lucas in the booth, then kissing him hello. Peyton sat down next to Jake, and built up the courage to lean over and give him a peck on the cheek.

"Hey," He said, that kiss relaxing him a little. For some reason he was really nervous.

"Hi," She said, a little nervous herself. But when she looked into his gorgeous eyes, she found herself completely calm. Unfortunately, their little starring contest didn't last long.

"Oh my gosh! Tutor-girl?" Brooke exclaimed, causing Peyton to look up. And sure enough there was Haley James, sitting at a table not far from them. Haley had recently become closer to Brooke and Peyton and she was really starting to grow on them. But wait a second. She was with someone. A guy!

"Whoa! That isn't who I think it is, is it?" I asked, but Brooke didn't need to answer my question. He turned around when Haley got up to greet us. "Nathan?!"

"Nathan Scott? Here with Haley James?" Brooke exclaimed. Peyton could have sworn Brooke was about to hyperventilate or something. "How? When? Where? What?"

"Whoa, slow down Brooke," Haley said nervously.

"I can't! This is too huge! Are you two...?"

"Together?" Haley said as Nathan wrapped an arm around her waist. "Yeah," She said sweetly. She was always a shy girl, never wanting to be the center of attention. But her dating Nathan Scott? No one would have predicted that! However, looking at the two right now, Brooke and Peyton couldn't help but absolutely love them together.

"But who cares," Haley continued, "Who are these two guys sitting with you? Looks kind of like a double-date if you ask me."

---

A few awkward introductions, some plates of curly-fries, and hell of a lot of catching up later, the six of them ended up being the only ones left in the diner. And as much as Peyton and Jake regretted this being their last night together at least for a couple of days, they still wanted to make the best of it. But they hadn't gotten any time alone yet. When Peyton noticed that their conversations were soon becoming sweet nothings exchanged between couples, she leaned over and whispered in Jake's ear.

"You wanna go somewhere?" She said her lips almost touching his ear, sending a shiver down Jake's body.

"Where'd you have in mind?" Jake asked, and followed her gaze to the bathroom just a few feet away, and chuckled.

"Meet me there in five minutes," She said, getting up and walking away, without looking back. And of course five minutes later, everyone noticed what Jake was going to do when he got up and excused himself, but no one said a thing. In fact, everyone was pretty much in their own little couple-world by then.

Anticipation built up within Jake during those five minutes. He let out a big breath he'd been holding in as he knocked on the door and then entered. Right after he had closed the door behind he, Peyton threw herself to him and bombarded him with kisses. Whatever nervousness, shyness, and insecurity disappeared during that kiss. All that that kiss portrayed was passion, and love. Peyton tangled her hands in his hair, pulling his head down, deepening their kiss. Jake was holding on to her waist for dear life, never wanting to let her go.

After repeating these actions several times, Peyton rested her head against Jake's chest and caught her breath. "That was nice," She stated simply, making Jake smile. Freaking amazing is more like it, Jake thought to himself.

"What am I going to do without you?" Jake whispered into her hair. "I'm going to come visit you every chance I get."

"Mmm," Peyton said, wishing that they could just stay like that forever, "I look forward to it. I'm going to miss you, Jake Jigelski."

"I'm going to miss you more, Peyton Sawyer. And even though I won't always be there, you have to know that there won't be a second of any day that I won't be thinking of you." Peyton looked up and kissed him again.

"Can you imagine, I almost didn't go on the cruise. I'm so glad I went. It's probably the greatest thing that ever happened to me." She said honestly.

"Me too. And there I was thinking it was going to be just a ride. Nothing more," Jake said gazing into her beautiful green eyes, "Boy was I wrong." He leaned down to kiss her one more time before they came back out.

Peyton and Jake both had their doubts. How could they not? He was in college, she was in high school. When you add in the distance, the fact that Jake is a single father, luck was definitely not on their side. But if there was one thing that they did know for sure, it was that love was definitely on their side. And it will always be on their side, no matter what.

THE END

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AN: I really really really hope that you guys liked it! As I said before, this is not the real 'end', there will be an epilogue! Please review, and thank you guys for reading!