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Peyton wished Lucas would drive faster. She desperately wanted to get home and make things right with Lauren. She always hated when Lauren was upset with her.
"I'm so sorry about this morning, Peyton." Lucas apologized again, as they pulled up in front of Peyton's house.
"It's not your fault Lucas. I just wish we could have told everyone in our own time. I'm sure everything will work out though. I'll call you later." Peyton said with a smile. She leaned over to kiss him goodbye and hurried out of the car and up to the house.
She opened the door to find Lauren sitting on the couch. She had her arms crossed and a sullen look on her face. Peyton took a deep breathe, anticipating the blow-up that she was sure was coming.
"I want the truth mother. I want to hear you say it." Lauren demanded quietly. Peyton blinked in confusion. She had been expecting so much more anger than that.
" I stayed at Lucas's last night. We fell asleep watching a movie." Peyton lied. The truth that Lauren wanted was too hard to admit to.
"Why don't I believe you? Oh wait, I know, because every word out of your mouth has been a lie lately!" Lauren exclaimed, jumping up off of the couch and marching over to her.
"Fine. You don't want to tell me the truth, that's fine. But you better tell Jake the truth. He doesn't deserve to be lied to anymore than I do." Lauren said softly, whipping around and going to her room. Peyton jumped as Lauren slammed her door.
Lauren was right. Peyton had been lying to everyone she cared about. Including herself. She really needed to try to make things right with everyone. She was about to pick up the phone and call Jake and explain everything, when the calendar caught her eye. Big black marker proclaimed next weekend to be the Classic. Peyton groaned as she remembered that Jake was chaperoning as well. Maybe she could just smooth things over till after the Classic. Then she would tell him. Nodding slowly, she dialed his number.
"Hello?" Jake answered. Peyton couldn't help smiling. Just the sound of his voice made her feel better.
"Hey, Lauren told me she freaked this morning and called you. I'm sorry about that. Lucas and I went out to discuss some potential custody arrangements, then he invited me back to his place and we fell asleep watching some cheesy chic flick." Peyton explained casually. There was silence on the line for a few seconds. Peyton's heart was beating quicker. What if he didn't believe her? Why should he, she was lying to him after all. These thoughts raced through her head as she waited for him to respond.
"If you say that's all that happened, I'll believe you. I'm not going to lie to you Peyton, I don't like what happened. I know your history with Lucas and it makes me nervous. Like I said, though, you tell me you fell asleep and that's it and we'll be good." Jake replied frankly.
"We fell asleep." Peyton confirmed. They had fallen asleep. It was what they had done beforehand that was troubling her.
"Alright then. So did you get custody arrangements worked out?" He asked.
"Uh, not really. Lauren wants to get to know him on her own turf first I think." Peyton stammered.
"Right. Makes sense. So, I guess I'll see you this weekend?" Jake asked hopefully. Peyton sighed. She hoped he would remember the space that she had told him she needed.
"Yep, I'll be turning my head to the wild partying going on, same as you." She laughed. Jake laughed with her.
"Well I guess I'll talk to you later." She said. He agreed and she hung the phone up slowly. She felt horrible for lying to him. It would only make telling him the truth that much harder. But, it was easier to lie to him before spending two days with him than to spend two days either fighting or in silence. Now if she could just get Lauren to talk to her.
Peyton walked down the hall to Lauren's room and knocked softly. When she didn't get an answer, she tried to knob and wasn't at all surprised that it was locked.
"Lauren, please open the door so we can talk." Peyton asked through the door. She heard the lock unclick and she pushed open the door.
"Make it quick, I'm trying to rework the routine for this weekend." Lauren said dully.
"Why? What's wrong with it?" Peyton asked, furrowing her brow. She's heard that it was really good, actually.
"Lila is what's wrong with it. She was one of Charity's base's for the wolf wall, but due to personality conflict, I have to move her. So that means I have to rework the formations to get her in a different spot." Lauren explained.
"Ah, I'm sorry. I remember when Brooke would become the Cheer Nazi before every Classic. It was hell." Peyton said, smiling fondly at the memory.
"Brooke, she's Charity's mother right?" Lauren asked her. Peyton nodded.
"Yeah." Peyton replied guiltily.
Charity's mother, Lucas's wife and her ex-best friend.