Near to You
{'cause near to you, I am healing, but it's taking so long}
Chapter Five: it'll start with a smile that won't wipe off your face no matter how hard you try
"Wow." Ethan blinked, rubbing his eyes dramatically. "That is one blinding smile you're wearing."
Peyton shrugged carelessly as she filled her mug with coffee. "So what if it is?"
He drained his coffee cup and crossed his arms over his chest. "So…you got lucky."
She burst out laughing. "Ethan, if I was that easy, you would've gotten some a long time ago."
"Touché," he chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment…I think. Now why don't you tell me what the reason for that smile of yours is."
"Nothing…" she sing-songed.
"Nothing meaning…"
She could feel herself beginning to blush. "Meaning I may have made out with a certain basketball coach last night."
Ethan smiled softly, taking in her pink cheeks and her starry eyes. "I'm happy you're happy, Peyton."
She knew that he meant it. "Thanks, E. That means a lot."
{x}
"What has gotten into you this morning?" Mia asked, her tone both shocked and impressed, as she sidled up to Peyton, who was walking briskly down the hallway. "Or should I ask who got into you last night?"
"Oh, please," Mia scoffed. "Did you finally hook up with Dr. Cooper? Or, oh my god…are those rumours about you and the hot new basketball coach true?"
Peyton sighed, coming to a halt and placing her hand on the younger girl's arm. "Mia. You know you are my favourite student –"
"Yeah, teacher's put; it's doing wonders for my social reputation," she grumbled sarcastically.
"Yes, well, honey, there is still no way I'm telling you about my personal life. And you should keep in mind that I'm still your teacher and I can still give you detention for saying inappropriate things."
Mia rolled her eyes at the empty threat and smiled widely. "You are so falling in love right now!" she proclaimed.
"Bye," Peyton aid pointedly as Mia turned right, heading to her next class.
The bell was going to ring any minute, and Peyton picked up the pace, hurrying to her next class. As she was on her way, a hand reached out of an empty classroom, grabbing her wrist and pulling her in.
It was a blur for a moment, but in a familiar rather than frightening way. Somehow, she found time to drop her books on the nearest desk before Nathan pulled her into his arms and her lips found his.
"Mm," she purred appreciatively when they pulled apart for air. Resting her forehead against his, she whispered, "Hi."
His eyes scanned over her face as though he'd never really taken the time to look before – and he certainly hadn't, not in recent years. "Look at you," he marveled softly. He traced the curve of her jaw with his thumb. "I've been thinking about you al day."
She grinned, giggling nervously. "That was my goal."
"Mission accomplished," he all but growled, pulling her in for another bruising kiss.
Her head was spinning. She couldn't believe they were doing this. "It feels like we're in high school again," she said breathlessly.
"We are," he smirked.
Rolling her eyes fondly, she sighed, "You know what I mean."
"Yeah, it feels like that. But it's different. We're different, both of us, and we are going to be better this time."
The bell sounded as she searched his eyes. She was startled back to reality. "Shit, I have a class!" She turned around and frantically gathered her books and binders.
Nathan grabbed her free hand to get her attention. "Hey. I mean it. We're going to be better this time."
She melted. She was surprised she didn't literally dissolve into a puddle on the floor. She stood on the tips of her toes to kiss him one last time before she rushed off. "I know," she whispered against his lips.
He didn't let go of her hand until the last possible second.
{x}
"Anybody?" Peyton asked patiently, drumming her fingers against the top of her desk. "C'mon, guys; this painting was in your textbook. Who's the artist?" She sighed. "Anyone? Please tell me you did your readings."
One girl sat back, crossing her arms over her chest. "We're not really allowed to read much these days."
Peyton sighed again. She stood from where she'd been leaning against her desk and stood at the exact front of the room, blocking the screen that displayed her slideshow. "Okay. Listen, I know that this school has rules that sometimes seem a little archaic, and that you resent having something taken away from you, but…it's my life story, and I'm just not comfortable with it being available to the student body."
"But that's not fair," another of the kids piped up. "Yeah, it's your story, but it's published. It's out there. Anyone can read it. We should have that right, too." He jutted out his chin stubbornly.
"Oh, you guys…it's just a book," she replied gently.
"No, its not! It's beautiful and it's epic. It's art," a timid-looking girl retorted quietly. "I always wanted to be you."
Peyton smiled softly, touched by her words. "Thank you. That's…amazing. But all of you can have lives far greater and more epic than mine as it was depicted in that book. I know you can."
The first girl who'd spoken shook her head. "I don't think so. I don't know if I'll ever find what you had with Lucas."
She wasn't sure when this had morphed into a discussion on true love, but it had, and her students were all looking at her with wide, sad eyes. She sighed once more as she took in their mournful expressions. She had been these kids. "You will," she said quietly but firmly, addressing them all. "I'm sure you will, I really am."
"I know that…you don't want to talk about your personal life…but I just…I don't understand how you can say that. I'm sorry if this hurts you, Miss Sawyer, but what you and Lucas had was once-in-a-lifetime love."
Peyton stepped to the side once more, ready to resume her lesson. "I'm going to break my own rules just this once," she said slowly, "and tell you that…I'm not sure if that's true." She took a deep breath. "Now. Somebody, please, at least give me an educated guess for the artist of this painting."
{x}
"Hey." Nathan leaned down, kissing her quickly before he stepped into her home, closing the door behind himself. "You busy?"
Peyton pulled the pencil out of her hair, releasing her locks from the messy bun they'd been in and letting her curls tumble onto her shoulders. "Um…yeah, I'm marking papers. But I guess they can wait." Her eyes twinkled. "What did you have in mind?"
He grinned, pleased. "Are you ready for this?"
She nodded eagerly. The look in his eyes guaranteed that whatever he was about to say would make her laugh.
"We're going bowling!" he crowed as if he'd scored tickets to her favourite band's concert.
Peyton smiled, open-mouthed, and giggled. "Shut up, we are not."
"Are too."
"Why?" she laughed.
"Because I want to take you on a date," he shrugged, "and there are very few options in this tiny town."
"But bowling?"
"Come on, you know you want to…unless you're afraid that I'll kick your ass."
"Impossible."
"Okay, well, go grab some old socks, and let's go."
She sighed, biting her lip nervously. "Nathan…this…you and I…it's kind of come out of nowhere. And it's good, I'm…I'm happy, but if…if we're really going to try this…it has to be serious. Haley's my friend, Lucas is your brother. And I…I can't get hurt again. And I don't want you to either," she added quietly, hoping that he would understand that she was saying this to protect them both.
"Peyton." He reached up and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I know that. All of it, I promise. Why the hell else do you think I would have planned a lame-ass bowling date?"
Her smile reappeared, soft and sweet. This was why she'd always forgiven him back in high school. The casual honesty of his words, the sincerity in his eyes, the gentle way he touched her.
"Okay," she whispered, locking her green orbs with his blue ones. "Let's go bowling."
{x}
"Yes!" Peyton cheered, throwing her arms in the air and doing a small dance as her ball knocked all the pins over.
"That's my girl," Nathan said proudly.
She grinned, striding over to him and pressing the length of her body against his. "Is that what you're calling me now?" There was a teasing lilt to her voice even though she spoke quietly.
Nathan titled his head, grinning back confidently. "Why, you got a problem with that?" he asked huskily.
Their noses brushed as she shook her head no, and then his lips were pressed against hers, his tongue seeking entrance to her mouth. She snaked her arms around his neck and granted it.
Even though it was the last thing she wanted, she forced herself to pull away fairly quickly. She may have felt like a lovestruck teenager again, but she was too old for PDA in the bowling alley on a Wednesday night.
"By the way," she whispered, her eyes still half-closed as she breathed him in. "I am owning you."
He smiled back, giving her a quick kiss. "I'm letting you win."
She patted his chest in a placating gesture. "Sure you are." She stepped aside and waited for him to take his turn.
He managed to knock down a single pin.
"Aw, baby," she said sympathetically with a trace of a Southern accent. It slipped into her speech very rarely, especially now that she'd been residing on the east coast for a few years. It popped up when she was most relaxed, thinking of her childhood or experiencing things that reminded her most of home. She winked at him as he dutifully wrote down his score. "Watch my technique," she lectured him teasingly.
She stepped forward and sent the ball rolling smoothly toward the pins. She waited for it to make contact and grinned when she got another strike. Turning around to brag, she found that Nathan was standing right behind her.
She went to speak and found that she was breathless. "Were you watching?"
His fingers slipped through her belt loops, tugging her forward so that their hips matched. "I was a little too distracted by the way you look in these jeans."
Her eyes searched his frantically. "What are you thinking?" she whispered.
"A lot of very inappropriate things," he replied with a wicked grin. His next words were playful and meaningful all at once: "And that I should have taken you bowling a long time ago."
{x}
"I thought you were never going to speak to me again," Nathan admitted, a smile in his voice.
She laughed, looking at the ground. They were walking back to campus, hand in hand, their footfalls in sync against the cement sidewalks. "I wasn't planning on it," she confessed. "But I guess I got most of my anger out when I punched that wall."
His thumb ran over her hand, seeking out her knuckle and caressing it gently. "I can't believe you broke your knuckle for me. That's got to mean something," he teased.
"That we were destructive?" she suggested with a laugh, leaning into him a bit.
"No. That we were passionate."
It felt daring to meet his eyes. "We were definitely that," she said a bit dryly.
He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, making her giggle, but his facial expression softened rapidly. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"Tell you what?"
"About your knuckle."
"I did," she reminded him, frowning in confusion as to why he couldn't remember. "Twelfth grade? An hour to get to know someone and to change your life?"
"No, I know, I mean…why didn't you tell me when we were dating? After it happened?"
She shrugged. "Honestly? I don't really know. At first I was mad, and then once we got back together…I didn't really think about it. It would've just reminded me to be mad at you," she added playfully.
Nathan laughed. "Well…tell me that stuff, okay? Now. I want you to tell me that kind of thing."
She smiled as they came to a stop in front of her door, reaching out to take his other hand as well. "I promise to report any other broken bones from now on."
"Good," he murmured emphatically as he leaned in to kiss her. He released her hands and pulled her closer, his hands on her hips. She moaned into his mouth as his fingers dug into her skin, kissing him back with just as much ferocity. It took a great deal of self control to force herself to pull away. She still had those papers to mark.
He made a small sound of protest when she pulled back before he confided, "I've missed you."
She allowed herself a moment to be fake a huge ego, pressing a kiss to his jaw and saying, "Of course you did."
He laughed. "I mean it, Peyton. I missed you. Just as my friend."
"I've missed you too, Nate," she told him honestly.
They took a moment to absorb each other's words, and then he smirked, revealing, "But you're right."
"Am I?" she asked.
"Yeah," he whispered as his lips brushed hers. "I missed this, too."
She grinned widely before she leaned up a bit, standing on her toes and wrapping her arms around him as she kissed him.
The papers she needed to mark could wait a few more minutes.
A/N: Thanks for your feedback. :) Congrats to those of you who knew that last chapter's title came from Feist's 1234. Anybody for this chapter?