...and it's BACK! Short...but back. ;)
"Peyton?" Jake called as the curly haired blonde rushed past him in tears only stopping long enough to grab her purse and tell Jake she had to leave. Jake shared a worried glance with an alarmed Haley and Nathan before getting up and following the distraught blonde. On their way out Haley ran into Brooke and groaned inwardly. If Brooke was here then Lucas was most likely here too.
"Brooke," Haley exclaimed. "I didn't know you were coming tonight. Hi!"
"Was that Peyton I just saw?" Brooke asked by way of reply, narrowing her eyes in the direction Peyton had fled.
"Hello to you too," Nathan muttered with a roll of his eyes. "Hey Rachel."
The redhead gave a small wave and an even smaller smile. She wasn't sure how she had let herself get talked into coming, even though she was Brooke's last remaining friend. She was pretty sure she was only there to counterbalance Lucas's constant and moody silence and Brooke's constant, mindless chatter to ignore the fact that she and Lucas were miserable together.
"Yeah that was Peyton," Haley said watching Brooke look around the club, probably for Lucas. "She's visiting from Savannah with Jake. Anyway, we need to go, so I'll see you around."
Haley grabbed Nathan's hand and dragged him after her, leaving Brooke to cross her arms and throw a look at Rachel.
By the time Jake made it outside, Peyton was halfway across the parking lot. He quickly caught up to her and gently grabbed her arm.
"Peyton. What's the matter? What happened?"
"I don't want to talk about it, Jake. Please just take me home," Peyton whispered in a trembling voice. refusing to look at him.
Although she was doing her best to keep her face away from him, Jake saw the swollen lips and a hickey that was forming on the side of her neck. Ignoring his own pain, he sighed. "I'll go get Nate and Haley."
She nodded quickly, wrapping her arms around herself. He was with Brooke. The thought went over and over in her head and before she knew it she was leaning over to empty her stomach. Once again she had betrayed Brooke with Lucas….Or did she? Was it considered a betrayal if you weren't still friends with the person? She wasn't sure, but she knew she felt betrayed. And hurt. She was tired of hurting all on account of Lucas Scott.
"Peyton," Haley gasped, running over and holding her hair back as she dry heaved. Haley looked up at Nathan and Jake, thoroughly alarmed.
"I'm fi-" Peyton stopped herself from finishing the obvious lie. "I want to go home," she murmured.
"Okay, sweetie," Haley said, opening the car door and ushering the shivering blonde in. "We're going home right now."
"Tomorrow," Peyton added quietly. Everyone stopped to stare at her.
"Peyton-"
"Haley I can't. I'm sorry. You can stay if you want Jake, but….I need to leave."
"We'll leave first thing in the morning," Jake replied, before getting in the car with Haley and Nathan following suit.
As Nathan pulled out of the parking lot Peyton leaned her head against the car door, forcing the sobs down that she desperately wanted to release.
The car ride home was silent and when they made it back to Nathan and Haley's house Peyton went straight upstairs to the bathroom.
Haley threw her purse down on the couch and her body followed. While Nathan paid the babysitter Jake sat down across from Haley.
"He was there wasn't he," he said. It wasn't a question. They heard the shower go on upstairs and Haley put her head in her hands.
"You saw Brooke too?"
"No. I saw the hickey," Jake muttered, angrily. He considered Lucas a friend and a small part of him wanted the Lucas and Peyton love story to end happily, because he knew despite all the pain, Lucas made her happy. But now, he knew if he had Lucas in front of him neither man would walk away without some punches being thrown.
Haley looked up at him and groaned. "What was he thinking?" She whispered to herself. Nathan walked into the room and sat down beside Haley.
"Lucas isn't answering his phone," he sighed.
"You called him?" Haley asked.
"Damn straight I did. Peyton's a mess," Nathan exclaimed.
"You know…As much as I'd like to, we can't put this all on Lucas. Whatever happened, Peyton is a big girl," Jake sighed. "She knew what she was doing."
"Way to play devil's advocate Jagielski," Nathan chuffed.
"Hey, from what you've told me, Luke isn't doing so well either and we all know no matter who they're dating they've never been good at exercising restraint when it comes to the other."
"Yeah, well it doesn't make it right," Haley said, determinately. "I don't know how this'll effect them. I do know we may have to start driving to Georgia if we wanna see Peyton."
"Yeah, something tells me Peyton isn't going to want to step foot in Tree Hill for a long time," Nathan said.
"Maybe it's better that way. Maybe they need to be apart to really get on with their lives ya'know?"
"Hales please, it has been three years," Nathan said, shaking his head. "It's been three years and she sees him once and now she's a mess."
"All the better reason for them to stay a apart," Haley shrugged.
Upstairs, Peyton sat under the spray of the shower with the water cranked as hot as she could stand it, bawling her eyes out. She felt filthy. No matter how hard she scrubbed Lucas stayed under her skin, she still felt him inside of her and what was worse a part of her still reveled in it, still wanted him there.
How pathetic are you, she thought angrily to herself. They had betrayed Brooke once again and this time was so much worse, because they had actually had sex. Lucas had betrayed his girlfriend once again and again he had betrayed her.
She couldn't take this. She couldn't take this anymore. She couldn't take anything else this town had to dish out. She had known vast amounts of pain in her life, but this was the last straw. She was officially done. She was done with Tree Hill and she decided she was once and for all done with Lucas Scott.
She stayed in the shower for another ten minutes before climbing out. She wrapped herself in a towel and walked into the guest bedroom and looked in the mirror at her reflection. She looked frightening, makeup smeared, race red and splotchy and her eyes were blood shot. Turning away from the mirror she lay down on the bed, refusing to let her thoughts drift to a certain blue eyed boy.
"Suck it up Sawyer," she murmured to herself, steeling herself for a road away from her hometown.
Unfortunately the road is never that easy and fate has a funny sense of humor. Three weeks later Peyton Sawyer found out she was pregnant.
Uh Oh! Spagetti-oh you know how it goes. These next few chapters will be different from the format I usually work with so bare with me. I am going to try and wrap up Journey so I can focus on Bliss and continue with Bare Witness. Thanks for sticking with me!