A/N: I really don't like this chapter..but hopefully you will. Review if that's true :)
Nathan looked past Marcus as they were finishing up attaching Peyton's car to the tow truck. Her eyes were looking out over the water...a look of utmost sadness reflected upon her face. As he moved towards her she seemed to snap out of it and took her own steps to meet him in the road.
"You know I love you Sawyer, but isn't this the kind of thing you usually call Lucas for?"
He noted the reaction that flew across her face...her eyes darkened and her face got tight as her muscles clenched.
"Yeah..well he's out of town.." she said slowly, a little uncomfortably.
"What about Brooke?"
Peyton looked, if possible, even more uncomfortable at the mention at Brooke. She didn't answer for a moment.
"Peyton?" he asked her.
She blinked and her eyes came back to focus on him. He watched as they slowly filled with tears and she looked away quickly to hide them.
"Peyton?" he asked again, concern flooding his voice.
Shaking her head, she rubbed at her eyes quickly. "It's nothing. Can we just...go?"
Nathan was still confused. "Sure..."
They headed towards his car, Peyton still refusing to look at him. Doors opened and closed and they were on their way home.
A few minutes passed by in silence. Nathan's concern mounted. "What's going on?" he asked her, breaking through the silence.
"Nothing," came the quick response.
"Where've you been all weekend?"
"No where."
"Peyton!"
She sighed and wrung her hands in her lap. "I went to go visit Jake," came her quiet answer.
"In Savannah?" he asked, a little shocked. She nodded her head in response. "Wow. So..how is he? What happened..are you two-"
"He's fine," she interrupted before he could finish the question. "Um..we're not..I mean, we aren't..we're not back together. We were..for like a whole minute..but now we aren't."
"Okay..cryptic."
"Just..nevermind."
"No. I wanna know what's going on. Why did you call me and not Brooke?" he asked, cutting straight to the point.
"Cause..I thought she'd be busy..with the wedding and all that.." she told him hesitantly.
"Bull," he said, earning a startled look from Peyton.
"I..something happened..in Savannah. That's all. I'm fine."
"Did Jake do something," Nathan asked. "Did he hurt you or something?"
"No, no..of course not."
She fell silent and Nathan waited for some kind of explanation. "Peyton..you're killing me..what happened?"
Peyton bit her lip. "I went to Savannah. Saw Jake..asked him to marry me. He said yes. We went to bed. I talk in my sleep. And now I'm here."
Nathan's mind struggled to comprehend what she had just told him. "So..you're marrying Jake?" he asked slowly.
"No."
"But I thought he said-"
"I said something in my sleep..now we're not getting married."
"Did you like threaten his life or something?"
"That's what I hoped I said.." she muttered to herself. "I said..I loved someone else."
"Who? Pete?"
Peyton grimaced at the mention of Pete. "No..please..Pete was just..a distraction. He just stopped me from being lonely for a few days..that was it."
"Then...who?"
She shook her head and more tears sprung to her eyes.
Nathan took a moment to piece together the information he had. Peyton says something in her sleep..about loving another guy. She won't call Brooke for help...his eyes widened in realization. "Lucas? You said you loved Lucas?"
Peyton started and a tear fell down her cheek. That was his answer. "That's..that's..."
"A complete and total nightmare?"
"Well..no..it's just-"
"He loves another girl, aka my best friend..is totally over me..and I can't say anything to him because it would ruin not only mine and Brooke's friendship but whatever it is I have with Lucas. How is that not a nightmare?"
Nathan swallowed. "Well.."
"Yeah," Peyton finished. She sighed heavily and wiped the tear that had streaked her face.
"What are you gonna do?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Lucas is happy with Brooke. There's no reason to screw up their relationship over my own stupid feelings..that I somehow just can't get rid of.."
"You're just going to bury it all.."
"That sounds about right. I've done it before haven't I?"
"Kinda..I mean you did end up with Lucas behind Brooke's back anyways last time.." he stopped talking when he saw the murderous look on Peyton's face.
"Yeah, thanks. I remember that. This time is different. I'm not..I'm just going to forget it."
"That hasn't worked yet, though has it? Have you..how long have you..cared about Lucas? How long have you known?"
"I..I guess I never stopped loving him..ya know?"
"What about Jake?"
"I love Jake, I don't question that. But...Lucas has always had a part of my heart that no one else can touch. No matter who they are, how much they mean to me..they'll never dig their way into his spot. It's his. And nothing I can do can remove him from it. You have no idea how much I've tried..how much I just want him gone from there. But.."
"He won't leave you."
"Yeah...it's like my heart is flawed because of it."
Nathan's mind whirled back to when he had told Lucas that he had a flawed heart. That he knew there was a girl that Lucas had feelings for and that his heart wouldn't be healed until he told the girl how he felt. The thing was..he had been talking about Peyton..not Brooke. But he probably shouldn't tell Peyton that now. Back on the subject at hand.
"You had to go all the way to Savannah to realize that one?"
"No...I had to get shot to realize it."
A beat passed. "What happened in the library?"
"Nothing that he wanted to happen," she mumbled with a sigh. "I...I thought I was going to die, Nate. And Lucas..he came to rescue me, like he always does. It seems to be his role in my life," she said with the first smile he'd seen since she got in the car. "And..I told him I loved him..and then we kissed."
Nathan was speechless for a moment. "And then the next time we talked about it..we joked about it..like it meant nothing."
"Has he told Brooke about it?"
"Have they had any fights lately?"
"That's a no then."
"Yeah."
"Well if he thinks it meant nothing..how come has hasn't told Brooke?"
I know..no LP. But I wanted to get this out just to explain Nathan and Peyton's actions a little more. Review!