Hey thanks heaps for all the reviews. You guys are fantastic and have said some really nice things. I just hope I don't disappoint.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you feel you've read, heard or seen before...
"No, no, no!" Peyton yelled frustrated as she rifled through the clothes in the drawer. It was now 7pm and she was supposed to be at Rachel's just after 7 but she still hadn't found anything to wear. Since she wasn't sure how she was supposed to dress, she had settled on wearing her dark skinny leg jeans but she couldn't find a top to go with it which left her running around her room in the jeans and a black bra. Peyton held a casual dress up to her thin frame, contemplating if she should change her entire outfit.
"No." She heard from the doorway. Startled, Peyton looked over to find Lucas leaning against the doorframe. Peyton sighed as she went back to her search in the drawers.
"Come to give me another lecture?" she asked, prompting Lucas to shake his head.
"I've come to apologise but since you're busy, I'll just come back later." He turned to leave before she called him back into the room.
"No, no. I'm already late, a few more minutes won't hurt." She waved him in as he took a seat at the end of her bed while she remained where he was, waiting for him to speak.
"I'm sorry I acted like a jerk at school today. I really am happy for you, at least one of us has a social life." Lucas admitted as they both chuckled.
"Well I suppose I'll forgive you." Peyton pretended to contemplate. "I always forgive you don't I? Just like I forgave you when you broke my first Led Zeppelin vinyl because of your big hoofs, like I forgive you when you call me a bitch for the hundredth time."
"I haven't called you a bitch that many time." Lucas protested. Peyton raised one eyebrow as if to say "yes you have" before she turned back to finish finding a top to wear. "And it's not my fault you left the Led Zeppelin vinyl just lying in the middle of the floor." Lucas finished.
Peyton ignored him as she continued to rifle through the drawer, only seeing the same tops she had been looking at all afternoon.
"So I thought of a way you could make this whole thing up to me." Lucas began as he lay down on the bed listening to Peyton's movements.
"What whole thing?" she asked distractedly.
"This.' He gestured around the room. "The party."
"Oh." She uttered, turning to face him. Lucas continued as if she hadn't spoken.
"So since you're busy tonight, and by the way that now makes two things you have to make –"
"You're a guy right?" Peyton interrupted, looking curiously at Lucas. Lucas stopped and looked at her weird, partly because she had interrupted and partly because she had asked a stupid question.
"Well last I checked, yeah." Lucas replied confused.
"Right, so which one do you like better?" Peyton asked holding up multiple tops that all looked the same to Lucas. As Lucas went to open his mouth, Peyton continued quickly. "Well not that you like personally since we've already established I don't care what you think, but think like a guy."
Lucas gave Peyton a frustrated glance as he pointed out a random top. Peyton looked over his choice, an unsure look on her face.
"Really?"
"Really." Lucas nodded. "So as I was saying you now have two things to make up to me. This whole party fiasco and because you wouldn't –"
"I'm glad you came over Luke." Peyton once again interrupted. "I mean, if you hadn't I would have resorted to going to the party wearing this." She commented pointing down at her attire. Suddenly, Peyton realised exactly what she wasn't wearing and quickly wrapped her arms around herself trying to cover her undressed state. Noticing Lucas' smirk, Peyton dropped her arms figuring he had seen it all already.
"Well thanks for letting me walk around half-dressed here Lucas!" she reprimanded. He laughed at her obvious embarrassment. "You could have said something." She commented as she pulled the top he'd chosen over her head.
"Hey I didn't mind." Lucas shrugged.
"Obviously." Peyton rolled her eyes as she laughed and straightened her top, checking her reflection in the mirror. Still unsure, she turned to face him.
"So?" she asked as she did a little twirl and watched as he checked her out. Lucas gave a nod of approval.
"Okay, well I'm glad that there's no, whatever, between us and now that it's sorted out, you can go, because I have to leave." Peyton smiled sweetly as she picked up her clutch and went to leave the room. Lucas remained where he was and reached out to pull Peyton back onto the bed with him.
"Yes?" Peyton asked him reluctantly. Lucas answered her with a puppy dog look.
"What?" she asked laughing.
"I'm bored." Lucas complained as he tugged on her curls.
"And?" she looked at him knowingly. Lucas grinned at her.
"Do you think Rachel would mind if there was one more person at her party?"
"Oh so now you want to come to the party you so eloquently told me I shouldn't be going to?"
Lucas cleared his throat, seemingly uncomfortable. "Well yeah."
Peyton scoffed.
"Come on, I'm bored I have nothing to do seeing as you ditched me." Lucas pointed out.
"I didn't ditch you!" Peyton protested. "You know we don't have to be attached at the hip. You can have your friends and I can have my friends."
"But where's the fun in that?" Lucas whined as he reinforced the puppy dog look.
"Lucas!" Peyton warned.
"Peyton!" Lucas mimicked back. Peyton sighed as she moved off the bed, holding out her hands for Lucas to come with her. Happily, Lucas pulled her out the door.
"I was going to ask you for a lift anyway." Peyton told him, as they both laughed before slamming the door behind them.
Peyton and Lucas walked up onto the porch of the large double storey house. Lucas watched on amused as Peyton continued to fuss over straightening her top and fluffing her curls. As Lucas reached out to open the door, it opened before them and three guys they faintly recognised went to THH stumbled out as Rachel stood behind them yelling at them to not come back. Lucas quickly pulled Peyton out of the way as the three guys starting falling over each other as they left, laughing loudly and obviously drunk. In an attempt to take Peyton with them, one of the guys grabbed her upper arm however Peyton managed to wiggle free from his grasp and stood next to Lucas at the door. Rachel had already turned to move back inside the house so Peyton yelled out.
"Hey Rachel."
Rachel turned at the sound of her name to find the two blondes in the doorway.
"Peyton, hey, I was starting to think you weren't coming." Rachel commented as she quickly glanced down at her watch. Peyton shifted uncomfortably.
"Yeah sorry I'm late, I had to... uh-" While Peyton stumbled over her apology, Rachel noticed Lucas standing off to the side.
"Well if it isn't Lucas Scott." Rachel greeted. "I should have assumed that Peyton would bring her boyfriend."
"We're just friends." Lucas interjected quickly.
"If that's your story." Rachel replied, rolling her eyes as she motioned for them to follow her into the house.
"We're just friends." Peyton mumbled as she glared at Lucas' back.
About an hour into the party, Lucas and Peyton had found a group of people they knew from around school and were currently sitting with them, each with a drink in their hand. While Lucas' beer was still almost three quarters full, Peyton was just finishing off her drink and upon noticing Lucas' full beer, took it off of him and downed it in one gulp. Suddenly a song came on that Peyton recognised and she moved to where Lucas was sitting, attempting to pull him up for a dance.
"I can't dance." Lucas protested as he used his weight to pull himself back into his seat. Peyton simply shrugged as she moved to the make shift dance area where she quickly found two other guys to dance with. The deep RnB beats meant Peyton was grinding with the two newcomers and neither of the guys seemed to mind as they moved all around Peyton. Lucas watched the scene, an angry glint entering his pupils, until he couldn't stand it anymore and walked over to Peyton before hauling her into a nearby room.
"What the hell was that?!" Lucas yelled frustrated at her behaviour.
"What was what?" Peyton replied innocently, playing with the collar of his shirt. Lucas looked at her incredulously before moving as close as possible and imitating her grinding gestures. Peyton stepped away with a roll of her eyes.
"I was just dancing." She defended herself. "You should try having some fun."
"And how am I meant to have any fun when I'm constantly looking out for you?"
Peyton's jaw dropped as she stared at him.
"I didn't ask you to come here tonight, Luke. In fact if I remember correctly, you practically begged me to come. Just go home Lucas, I can take care of myself." Peyton sighed as she turned to leave but after only a few steps, she tripped over her own feet. Instead of feeling the hard floor beneath her, she fell into Lucas' arms as he stepped up and caught her. Lucas assisted her back to their original seats.
"Yeah I can see how you are taking great care of yourself. Maybe I should go home and leave you here for dead." Lucas grumbled as he started to leave before Peyton pulled him back and sat him down on the couch beside her.
"No! I'm sorry. Please stay." Peyton accentuated her puppy dog look as she begged Lucas to stay with her.
"You're just lucky I care so much." Lucas threw an arm over her shoulder. Peyton sighed loudly causing Lucas to look at her in an unspoken question of 'what?'.
"It's just this town sucks, you know. There's nothing to do in Tree Hill. All I do is spend all of my time with you, well occasionally there's Haley and Nathan."
"Remind me to tell them how much you appreciate their company." Lucas interrupted sarcastically.
"It's not that." Peyton responded sadly, her inebriated state not recognising the sarcasm. "I just need something more exciting, ooh like getting hit by a car or... ooh amnesia." Peyton's face lit up as she rattled off her ideas.
"I think you're being a bit morbid there, Peyt." Lucas chuckled.
"No, I said exciting not morbid. Keep up with the conversation." Peyton frowned at him. "Just imagine the drama it would cause, not remembering anything, being able to start over."
"But then you wouldn't remember your parents, your friends, me. It could be very frustrating not being able to remember someone as cool as me." Lucas smirked.
"Oh don't worry Luke, I could never forget you." Peyton assured him, patting his cheek affectionately. Lucas chuckled.
"Peyt, it doesn't exactly work that way. You can't choose who you remember. And what if I came and told you that we were madly in love and had been dating for years."
"Like I'd believe that!" Peyton protested, screwing her face in disgust. Lucas frowned.
"Fine, be that way."
Peyton curled into Lucas' side as the two drifted into a comfortable silence. That is until Peyton spotted a hot guy across the room. She couldn't tell who it was, but he was talking to a group of people that she recognised from the varsity basketball team. She remembered Nathan mentioning them once or twice.
"Hey Luke, see that guy over there." Peyton asked as she pointed him out.
"You mean the one surrounded by all of his jock friends?" Lucas asked bitterly. Peyton turned to face him.
"You know, they could have been your jock friends if you had just listened to Nathan and joined the Ravens."
"Not the point." Lucas ended the conversation. "Anyway, what about him?"
"Well," Peyton began, "Do you think he's cute?" she asked shyly.
"Hmm, seeing as I don't swing that way Peyt, I think you would be better off asking someone with breasts." Lucas joked, causing Peyton to swat him on the arm.
"Try to be serious, would you? Okay, let me ask it a different way. Say I thought he was cute, would you approve?" Lucas glanced back at the supposed "hot guy".
"I suppose he'd be okay for you." Lucas shrugged. Peyton cocked an eyebrow.
"So he wouldn't be okay for someone else?"
"Oh no, he'd be perfect for someone else, but for you, just okay." Lucas smiled affectionately over at her. Peyton returned the smile.
"I'm going to go make out with him." Peyton whispered. Lucas was glad he hadn't been drinking otherwise it would be all over both of them at this point.
"Right, and where did that come from?"
"From me." Peyton explained simply. "Wish me luck."
"But..." Lucas attempted to protest as he watched Peyton walk straight up to the jock and tap him on the shoulder. As soon as he turned to face Peyton, she wasted no time with introductions as she leant up and placed her lips on his. As soon as the kiss turned from something innocent to something bordering on the two finding a room, Lucas was behind her and pulling her away and towards the exit. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him the jock had simply returned to his previous conversation, no qualms about the sudden kiss from Peyton.
"What was that?" Lucas whispered angrily.
"What did it look like?" Peyton shrugged. "It's not like you didn't know about it, I said I wanted to."
Lucas simply shook his head as he ushered her out of the house. Peyton suddenly realised her surroundings.
"Wait, where are we going? The party is this way." She attempted to turn and head back to the house.
"We're going home." Lucas insisted.
"I don't think so buddy." Peyton protested as she started pulling him in the other direction. Lucas sighed and easily picked up Peyton so she was hanging over his shoulder. He ignored her as she started hitting his back and wriggling her legs trying to squirm out of his strong hold.
"Put. Me. Down." She accented each word with a punch as she yelled to be put down. A few people scattered on the lawn turned at the commotion, but they ignored it seeing it was just Lucas and Peyton. They finally reached his car and he opened the passenger door as he unceremoniously threw her in. Peyton sat with her arms crossed, pouting, as Lucas settled into the driver's seat.
"Well that was mature." Lucas mumbled as he started the engine.
"I was just having fun." Peyton huffed, turning to look out the window. As the two made the drive home, Peyton turned to face Lucas with the intention of apologising that is until she saw the small smile on his face.
"Oh my god, you are so enjoying this right now." Peyton accused as she hit him none too lightly on the arm. "Yeah some best friend you are Lucas!"
"You punch like a girl." Lucas laughed loudly.
"Dude, I am a girl. You smell like a guy." She tried to insult, only causing Lucas to laugh harder.
"You must have had a lot to drink girlie, you're not your usual offensive self. That comeback was lame."
"Shut up." Peyton retorted, hitting him again.
"Ow!" Lucas complained, shifting away from her.
"Did you just say 'Ow'?" Peyton asked triumphantly.
"I was just humouring you."
As he pulled his car into the driveway, Lucas turned to let Peyton know she could head over to her house, only to find her fast asleep, curled up against the door. Lucas quietly exited the car and made his way to the passenger door, slowly opening it so as not to disturb her before gently lifting her and making his way over to her house. He finally made it up to her room and lay her on the bed, grateful he hadn't managed to wake her. As he was taking off her shoes and covering her with a nearby blanket, he heard her voice.
"Luke?" she whispered, still not opening her eyes.
"Yeah?" he whispered back.
"Stay." She directed more than asked. Lucas just smiled as he crawled into the bed beside her. He lay on his back as he looked up at the ceiling, at which point Peyton moved to curl into his side as she lay her head on his shoulder.
"Goodnight Peyt." Lucas quietly told her as he closed his eyes in an attempt to sleep. A few seconds later, he felt a tapping on his chest. Opening his eyes, he glanced down to see Peyton was tapping with her small hand, all the while keeping her eyes closed.
"What are you doing?" Lucas chuckled.
"I was tapping out your heartbeat." Peyton replied simply, continuing to tap out the rhythm. Lucas simply pulled her closer, closing his eyes again.
"Goodnight Luke. I love you." Peyton mumbled.
"Love you too." Lucas replied and soon they were both asleep.