The Way We Were
Chapter 6: Us, Interrupted
Peyton let Brooke lean on her as she maneuvered the familiar beach house and softly leaned her on the floor of the master bathroom. Brooke smiled up at her, "This is a KILLER party," she said, before getting sick to her stomach. Peyton pulled back her hair and leaned her over the toilet, sighing. She appreciated alcohol as much as the next girl, but sometimes Brooke just drank way to much.
"Yeah... KILLER," Peyton said.
Peyton wasn't to worried about missing the party. As soon as they could escape, Nathan was going to take her to this romantic spot he'd found. They'd actually had a pretty good discussion about doing the deed. Things kept progressing with them, faster and more heated with every moment they spent together. One night, she'd pulled away, saying, "Not tonight, not like this," so he'd asked permission to plan the perfect night for them.
She'd surprised herself by saying yes. She never thought she'd let things get this far with the antithesis of who she really was. Nathan brought out a side of her she liked better. She wasn't ready to face the darker parts of herself yet.
Brooke looked up at her with a wayward grin on her face. "Time to PAR-TAY" she said giggling, but Peyton only shook her head.
"It looks like you've partied enough," she said.
Peyton snuck out the back door of the beach house and piled her into her car. She drove her home and lay her in her bed.
Brooke's parents didn't even seem to care that their daughter was coming home completely wasted. Peyton shook her head. She didn't like Mr. and Mrs. Davis much. They just threw money at her and thought it took care of their parenting duties. Peyton wanted them to kick her butt and get her in line, but she knew that was never going to happen.
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When Peyton finally got back to the party, it was still going at full steam. Peyton worked her way through the crowd, smiling a polite smile and looking for Nathan. She just wanted to get out of there.
She finally found him, laying on the couch with a beer, and she sighed a deep sigh of relief. He looked up at her with his boyish grin and mouthed "You ready to go?"
All she did was nod, and he was on his feet. He yelled at Tim to try and keep the party under control, and they made a run for his car.
The town seemed to pass by in slow motion as Peyton gazed out of the window's of Nathan's car. Every now and then Nathan would catch her eye and she would see his grin. Sometimes she felt like she was so much older than him. Like he was this young kid ready to enjoy all that there was about this teenage relationship, and she was older, and somewhat wiser, and looking on realizing how she was somewhat above this. But when he grinned at her like that, she let all that roll away and smiled back. She wanted to be the person she was with Nathan so badly. She didn't really want to have all this pain and darkness inside her.
Nathan pulled into a gas station to run in and get the magic token, and Peyton idly started scanning through the radio stations. She couldn't really stand Nathan's rap music, she was hoping to find something more her taste. She finally found a station, coming in a little fuzzy, playing a NOFX song that she adored.
As soon as she did, a truck pulled up, playing the same song. There was something in the air, a sense of brotherhood that came from sharing a song through the airwaves. Peyton turned her head to see who it was, and almost gasped when she realized it was that other Scott boy, Nathan's brother.
For a moment she felt as if she had cheated on Nathan through the music. She realized this was stupid. The kid had probably just accidentally turned to it. However, as he got out of the car, Peyton realized he was staring at her, with a squint and a faint smile. He must have felt it too.
Just then, Nathan came out of the gas station. It only took him a second to see that Lucas was staring at Peyton, and his face contorted into a devilish grin. He threw his shoulder into his brother and pushed him against the wall.
"Back off man," he said, and walked away.
It was the first time Peyton ever saw Nathan's violent side, and it made her a little bit sick to her stomach. When he got into the car, Peyton hit his shoulder, "Nathan, why'd you do that?"
He was a little bit surprised she asked, but answered with a matter-of-fact tone. "Didn't you see him staring at you like that?" He shrugged his shoulder and started the car.
Peyton sighed a little bit, and looked carefully behind her, to see Lucas, still staring.
She shook it off and tried to get back into her positive mood.
"So where are we going?" she asked.
"I told you, it's a surprise," he said, his face changing once again to a grin. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, "You're going to love it."
When they pulled up to the spot, Peyton couldn't help but take in a sharp breath of excitement. It was an isolated stretch of beautiful beach, with high sand dunes that made it look perfectly romantic.
"My dad bought this land to build a beach house on a long time ago, but we bought the other one and he never did anything with it."
"Nathan, this place is beautiful, " Peyton said, excitedly.
"I thought you would think that," he said. He reached into the backseat of his car and lay out a blanket on the ground, and then pulled out a bottle of wine.
"Wow... you've planned this out," Peyton said, surprised.
"Well... it's special," he said.
The night was perfect. They drowned in each other. They had passion unlike any other. When Peyton was with Nathan, she wanted to bury herself in him,. she wanted to drown in all that he was, and bury the parts of her that she wasn't willing to accept. In those moments, she was able to truly become the girl she wanted to be.
When Nathan was with Peyton, he was finding a greatness he didn't know anywhere else. There was something about her spirit, and the fact that he could call her his that was his drug. He felt like he had truly latched on to something bigger than him.
