WOW keep the reviews coming, it's wonderful to know what you think.

On a sadder note there are one possibly two more chapter to go before this story is complete, on that note i hope you all enjoy what is to come and please dont hate me when you read the ending of the chapter thanks and happy reading..

Peyton's P.O.V

People were on their feet, frenzied conversations spreading across the church like wildfire, but as far as Peyton could see, Hayley had not yet moved. Her mouth was thin and straight, and her face was expressionless. Her eyes, however, were shining, and Peyton knew it was only a matter of time before she would start to run.

Peyton could still barely believe what had just happened. She had hoped for weeks that Hayley would come to her senses and call off the wedding, but as the days dwindled down to mere hours, she had been relying on Nathan to step up and stop the marriage from happening. Never would she have suspected Ethan of calling the whole thing off, especially in front of over two hundred people. Her mind, quite literally, was blown.

Rachel and Brooke still stood beside her, their mouths agape; quietly, Peyton nudged them and whispered, "We've got to do something."

"Right," Rachel said, taking a few steps towards Hayley. "Brooke, perhaps you should make an announcement while I try to get Hayley out of the church."

Nodding, Brooke made her way to the center of the altar, squeezing Hayley's hand reassuringly as she did so. This seemed to bring Hayley out of the daze she had been lost in; instantly, her head snapped up and her breathing came in short, uneven bursts, and Peyton knew exactly what was going to happen next.

Glancing quickly at the crowd that was growing more restless by the minute, Hayley lifted up the skirt of her dress and began to run. Peyton reached out to her, but it was too late; within seconds she had disappeared through the tall, wooden doors, her dress trailing behind her.

"Er," Brooke began, her voice magnified by the microphone, "everyone, could I have your attention please?"

The conversations and arguments ceased momentarily, all eyes soon on Brooke. She fidgeted nervously, tucking a strand of chestnut hair behind her ear. "As you're all aware, the wedding has very obviously been cancelled. Unfortunately we have no other information at this time, so...um...I guess it's all right for all of you to leave."

Sitting in the first pew, Peyton could see her Uncle Jim's face growing redder by the second. She had never seen him look so absolutely livid. Olivia was obviously attempting to calm him down, but her efforts were futile; he stood from his seat and stormed out of the church. Peyton already knew that he was fully intending to find Ethan and physically let him know how he felt about him leaving his daughter at the altar. She sighed, shaking her head slightly.

People were beginning to filter out into the aisle, shocked expressions still splashed across their faces; many of the older women in the crowd were chattering rapidly to anyone who would listen, looking scandalized. Peyton's eyes fell to Lydia, Hayley's mother, and her boyfriend Alan; his arm was wrapped around her shoulders as she shook her head sadly, a tissue grasped tightly in her hand. She attempted to walk towards them, but before she reached them they had disappeared into the crowd.

Ethan's parents, along with the rest of his family, had departed long before anyone else had started to stir in their seats; they had known that they would be the object of intense scrutiny after their son had abandoned his own wedding. Towards the middle of the church, Peyton could see Jake having a seemingly heated conversation with Nathan; his face was red and he was pointing his finger accusingly in his face. Narrowing her eyes, Peyton began walking towards them, her movements quick; just as she reached the pew, Nathan pushed past her and stormed out of the church. Natalie looked quite shaken up, her eyes wide and shining; sighing, Peyton moved past Lucas, Leah and Jake towards her.

"He said he needed to talk to her," Natalie said as soon as Peyton was within earshot. "See if she was all right. It's understandable, isn't it? They're obviously still friends. What have I got to worry about?"

She was rambling, obviously upset; Peyton put a tentative hand on her shoulder and said, softly, "It's all right, Natalie. Let's get you outside into the fresh air."

Natalie obediently did as she was instructed and followed Peyton out of the church; looking overhead, Peyton could see that the clear sky was rapidly darkening. People were gathered outside the church, obviously waiting to see if something even more dramatic would happen; rolling her eyes, Peyton ignored them and led Natalie to a more secluded corner.

"Look," Peyton said, taking in a deep breath, "something awful has just happened to Hayley, and it was Nathan's first instinct to go after her. I'm sure he didn't mean to rush out and leave you there the way he did, but he knows Hayley better than most people do. He knew that left to her own devices, she would've done something stupid and impulsive and she would've made an even bigger mess of the whole situation."

Natalie simply nodded, seemingly unable to speak. Her eyes traveled upwards towards the sky, folding her arms neatly across her chest.

"It's not what you think it is," Peyton said, although in the back of her mind she silently hoped that it was. Still, she did not want to see Natalie hurt, especially not like this.

"I wouldn't have thought anything of it, really," Natalie said suddenly, her eyes still not meeting Peyton's. "But Jake said something to him that just... it didn't sit right with me. I don't know."

"What did he say?" Peyton asked her quickly.

"He told him that now wasn't the time. It could have so many meanings, at least I think so. I also think that I may be overanalyzing the entire situation."

"Is that why they were arguing?" Peyton asked, remembering the heated exchange the two had shared.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "Nathan told him to mind his own business, and it just escalated from there. It was almost as if I wasn't even there, the way they were carrying on."

"I don't think Jake meant anything by that," Peyton assured her. "I think he just meant she needed some time to herself, that she didn't need to be bothered by anyone. But, as I said, Nathan knows her a bit better than Jake does, and he knew that she really needed a friend."

"Then why couldn't you go?" Natalie asked sharply, her eyes finally meeting Peyton's. "Or anyone else, really? Why did it have to be Nathan?"

Peyton soon found that she did not know how to answer Natalie's question, because there were no logical answers that she could give her. Why did it have to be Nathan that went after her? Why couldn't it have been someone else? She, of course, knew the true answer, but she could not bring herself to tell that to Natalie.

Instead, she decided to say the only thing she could think of that would hopefully cause the least amount of damage.

Shaking her head, she said quietly, "I don't know."

Hayley's P.O.V.

"But, miss, that's not what we were paid to do," the limo driver said to me, looking nervous.

"But you were paid, right?" I said angrily, pushing past him into the limo. "That means I own you for the next four hours. Drive, damn it!"

"Yes ma'am," the driver said as he hurriedly scampered to the driver's side door. Without another word, he started the engine and peeled out into the street, headed towards the countryside.

I rested my forehead against the cool glass of the window, closing my eyes and letting out a quiet sigh. The scene was replaying itself over and over again in my mind, and each time it did my stomach churned a bit more. I couldn't get the image of Ethan's face out of my mind; his eyes had been so wide, so scared. And, his hands had been shaking; I had felt them all throughout the ceremony, slowly slipping away from mine.

As Tree Hill slowly dissolved into the vast beauty of the countryside, I couldn't help but feel an odd mixture of sadness and relief. I had always known that Ethan would never make me happy, at least not in the way I wanted to be. But I had always thought it would be me who walked out on him, who left him behind. I had never even thought of the possibility of it being the other way around. He had seemed too oblivious to my own unhappiness, too wrapped up in his own sublimely euphoric world, but perhaps he really had known all along.

Or, perhaps, he had been unhappy, too.

I had never allowed myself to consider that possibility up until then, as I sat alone in a spacious limousine that was headed forty miles north of where it was originally supposed to be. Maybe Ethan had been as unhappy as I had been. Maybe he, too, thought that there was something, someone out there that was better for him. Maybe he hadn't believed in us as much as I'd thought he had.

What I couldn't quite understand was why he had decided to wait until our wedding day to tell me that he didn't want to marry me anymore. Why hadn't he told me a month, a week, a day, an hour before we were standing at the altar in front of hundreds of people? I realized then that what was bothering me wasn't that Ethan had walked away, it was how he'd done it. He had humiliated me in front of my family, my friends, and, most horrifying of all, Nathan.

"Miss James?" the driver said nervously, pulling me away from my thoughts.

I looked at him sharply, suddenly feeling quite stupid sitting there in my wedding dress. I smoothed it down, playing with the end of my veil anxiously. "Yes?" I said, biting my lip.

"Well...we've arrived," he said, his face red. "What would you like me to do now?"

"You can leave," I said without really thinking about it. "Just go back. I'll find a way home later."

"Are you sure, ma'am?" he asked, looking as though he couldn't wait to finally be rid of me.

"Yes," I said, opening the door and stepping out. "Thank you for driving me here. I appreciate it."

"It was nothing, ma'am," he said, tipping his hat towards me as he pulled away. I watched the limo pull back onto the small country lane and drove back towards the city, getting smaller and smaller until finally, it disappeared.

I turned away from the road and allowed my eyes to settle on the lake that stretched endlessly before me. There were small, choppy waves rolling onto the shore, splashing against the rocks that surrounded it. I kicked off my shoes into a nearby bush and felt the sand gather between my toes as I walked closer and closer to the shoreline, not bothering to lift the hem of my dress; looking down, I could see that it was already dirtied.

I reached the shoreline and let the cold water roll over my feet. I lifted my head towards the sky, noticing the dark clouds beginning to form overhead; storms were coming, but I found that I didn't quite care. I wanted my dress to get ruined, wanted my hair to fall out of its elegant up-do, wanted my makeup to run down my face. I just wanted to be myself again, something I hadn't been for quite some time.

I sat down on the sand and took my veil off, twirling it around in my hands as I studied it. And, without putting much thought into the decision at all, I threw it out into the lake, watching as the waves carried it away from me. I just wanted to be rid of it all; I wanted to erase every possible reminder of this horrible, wretched day.

The lake reminded me so much of my eighteenth summer and of the boy I had so quickly fallen in love with. Everything that defined who we had been seemed to have happened at this location, our memories associated with the sound of waves crashing against rocks. I could not help but think of him then, his piercing blue eyes flashing through my mind as a clap of thunder resonated throughout the still April air.

He had had his reasons for walking away from me, just as I had had mine for not going after him. But now none of that seemed to matter; maybe it never had. Maybe we had just been scared.

"Hayley."

I jumped, feeling my feet sink deeper into the cold water; turning around sharply, my eyes landed upon him, still in his suit, his car barely visible behind the tall grass.

"I thought I'd find you here," Nathan said, taking a few steps closer to me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, folding my arms over my chest.

"I just thought that maybe you'd need someone to talk to," he said, making stick figures in the sand with his shoe.

"Yeah, I'm still not understanding why you're here," I said, a bit harsher than I had intended. "I needed someone to talk to three months ago, but you just walked out."

He stared at me for several moments, his eyes burning with something I couldn't quite decipher. "You know why I had to do that," he said simply, offering no other explanation.

The truth was that I did know, but I was suddenly angry and I wanted nothing more than to hurl him, suit and all, into the icy lake.

"I do know," I said, standing up and facing him. "You're right, I do. So that's why I'm still wondering why you're here."

"You know I still care, Hayley," he said softly. "I just...I had to see if you were all right."

"I'm fine," I snapped, a sudden gust of wind whipping through the air, sending my hair flying around my head.

"You're fine," he repeated, and I noticed that his hair was wild and disheveled from the wind.

I nodded. "Humiliated, but fine," I said, suddenly wishing I hadn't. Still, I continued on; it was as though I couldn't stop the words from pouring out of my mouth. "I mean, I got left at the altar. How pathetic is that? Actually, what's even more pathetic is that I didn't want to marry him, but I was too goddamn stubborn to admit my own unhappiness. So I went ahead and said 'I do' when I really didn't mean it at all, but at least Ethan had the guts to say 'I don't.' Granted, it was at an extremely inopportune time, but at least someone ended it."

Nathan stared at me, perhaps wondering if my rant had come to a close. When I said nothing more, he sighed and said, "So, basically, you're relieved."

"Yeah, I guess," I replied, my voice much softer than it had been before. "I didn't want to marry him, Nathan. You had to have known that."

He nodded. "I did, especially after...well, you know," he said.

"So where does that leave you?" I asked him quietly, kicking some sand with my feet. Another clap of thunder crashed through the air, and we both looked overhead to discover that the sky was now almost completely blackened.

"What do you mean?" he asked, burying his hands deep within his pockets.

"If you knew that I didn't want to marry Ethan just because I slept with you, should the same line of thinking apply to you? Should I believe that, underneath it all, you don't really want to marry Natalie because you slept with me?" I stared at him fiercely, my hair blowing wildly all around me.

"I..." he began, seemingly at a loss for words. He paused and sighed heavily, a conflicted look splashing across his face. "I have tried so hard, Hayley, to put you and everything about our relationship behind me. You left me, remember? And I thought you were never coming back, so I moved on. But then you did come back, and it changed everything. And ever since, I've been questioning everything."

He took a step closer to me; mere inches were separating us now. "But I can't question it anymore," he said softly, his eyes half-closed. "I have to do the right thing. You know that."

I suddenly remembered the stubborn girl I had once been, never allowing myself to get too attached to anyone or anything for fear of getting hurt. But now, I knew, none of that mattered. I couldn't let him walk away again, not before he knew exactly how I felt. At that moment, getting hurt seemed inevitable but completely necessary.

Without further hesitation, I closed the space between us and brought my lips crashing against his, kissing him with every bit of passion I felt for him. The sky suddenly opened as another crack of thunder reverberated throughout the night, rain pouring down upon us. My hands were in his hair and his hands were in mine, and he was kissing me so fiercely, so urgently, that I knew it would soon end.

He pulled away from me sharply, shaking his head as raindrops fell down his face like tears. He was breathing heavily, his lips swollen.

"Tell me that doesn't feel like the right thing to do!" I shouted, feeling hot, angry tears burning my eyes.

"Maybe now you can understand how I felt all those years ago when you turned and walked away from me!" he yelled, his eyes burning with intensity. "I told you the same things you're telling me now, only you wouldn't listen! And now you think because you've finally realized what a huge mistake you've made, you can change everything to be the way you want it to? It doesn't work that way, Hayley!"

"I was eighteen, Nathan! I was scared out of my mind of letting somebody in after seeing what happened to my parents! I made a mistake, and I know that! I'm just asking you not to make the same one I made!" The tears had finally spilled over and were traveling down my face rapidly, something Nathan seemed to notice; his expression softened briefly, his eyes clouding over.

"I've made a commitment to Natalie, Hayley," he said, his voice much softer than it had been before. "You're too late."

I felt as though I had just been punched in the stomach exceptionally hard. I stared at him for several long, tension-filled moments before finally allowing myself to speak again.

"Then stop coming around," I said, anger burning through me like a thousand white-hot knives. "Stop checking up on me, stop talking to me, stop everything! If you don't want to be with me, then stop acting like you do! Because I'm just...I'm just done. I'm done trying to fix this."

Nathan stared at me for several moments, his eyes burning, but said nothing more as he dug in his pockets for his car keys and drove off into the storm, leaving me standing there in my wedding dress, alone, for the second time that day.

Sorry all about the ending but it had to be done.. please don't hate me.. review and let me know what you think.