CHAPTER 24

Lucas paced the kitchen agitated; he had to admit that he was both nervous and excited about tonight. He hoped that everything went to plan but he hoped more that Peyton would like what they'd planned and he also hoped she liked his present. It was a risky one, but he had a good feeling about it, he hoped Peyton saw it the same way he did. Karen walked into the kitchen and he turned around,

'You look nice ma.' Lucas smiled.

'So do you my boy.' Karen smiled back; Lucas was wearing some low slung jeans and a short sleeved white shirt.

'So we'll meet you at the beach house?' Lucas asked and Karen nodded,

'See you there.'

Lucas had told Peyton that there was another beach party so that meant that Karen had to leave before they did because, obviously, if it had been a beach party Karen wouldn't be there.

Two minutes later and he heard her come into the kitchen, he turned around and smiled while walking towards her and pulling her into his arms.

'Shall we just stay here?' He asked with a quirked eyebrow, she was wearing a denim skirt that showed her legs off quite nicely for him and a green tank top.

'Nice try.' She smiled as he groaned.

Five minutes later and they were walking in the general direction of the beach, hand in hand; they walked on in a comfortable silence until they reached it. No one was there and Peyton frowned.

'This is a rocking beach party.' She smirked.

'Well that's strange.' Lucas said with a frown that barely concealed a grin, he took her hand and pulled her along towards the beach house. They walked onto the deck and Peyton looked completely puzzled,

'Luke-'

'It's in here.' Lucas smiled.

'But-'

'Just go in.' Lucas insisted, opening the door for her and gesturing for her to go first, it was dark inside.

'Ok now I'm officially freaked out, Luke.' Peyton said as she looked through the door, at the pitch blackness.

Lucas laughed, 'Just go.'

'Your lucky I trust you, Scott.' Peyton muttered taking a deep breath and stepping inside. 'Where's the light?' she called with a whisper, when there was no reply she shuddered, 'Luke, I'm serious. I don't like this. Lucas?!'

The light flicked on and a series of bangs made Peyton jump out of her skin, until she felt Lucas' hands on her arms and a voice in her ear, that she knew just from the tone was grinning, saying, 'Happy Birthday' before a loud cry of 'Surprise!' rang out. Peyton jumped again seeing the room full of people with party poppers raining down on her. She turned in Lucas' arms and swatted his arm; there were bouts of laughter bouncing off the walls of the room as Lucas just smirked. Peyton turned around again with a smile and a blush and surveyed the room. Half of Tree Hill seemed to be here, for her party. There were Karen, Deb, Nathan, Haley, Brooke, Rachel, Mouth, Chase, Skills and Bevin at the fore front of the room however all beaming at her, she shook her head completely surprised and un-able to utter a single thing for fear of the lump rising in her throat.

'So I think she's surprised…' She heard Nathan call out and couldn't help but chuckle as half the room did the same thing. She was more than surprised; she was overwhelmed that all of these people had turned up for her.

Peyton smiled as she turned away from a group of people she recognised from the beach party. She'd only just got through thanking everyone for coming and it was an hour into the party, she'd been even more surprised to realise how many people recognised her from the beach party, it looked like most of the people in Nathan, Haley, Brooke and Lucas' year at school had turned up and they all seemed to know her, or at least remember seeing or talking to her at the last party she attended in Tree Hill. The music thumped through the house and she took a swig of her drink watching the people dance and talk and laugh around her. Arms encircled her waist and she grinned while turning around to see those blue eyes she'd longed to see for a good hour.

'So I'm guessing this was your doing.' Peyton smiled, her fingers fiddling with his shirt.

'Well, if you're happy then it was my idea… but if you're mad then it was all Nathan's.' Lucas winked and Peyton laughed, she felt an overwhelming happiness surround her as she looked into his twinkling eyes and couldn't help but lean up and capture his lips in a kiss that showed Lucas she was more than happy. Lucas' eyes were still closed as she broke their kiss and he whispered,

'It was totally all my idea.'

Peyton giggled and Lucas' eyes opened with a smile as he reached up to cup her cheek tenderly, resting their foreheads together.

'Dude, don't kid yourself. Peyt, it was actually my idea.'

They turned to be met with the smiling faces of Nathan, Haley and Brooke who'd just finished dancing.

'Oh really?' Peyton replied quirking her eyebrow at Nathan, he nodded with a grin.

'Well thank you guys, seriously I appreciate it… a lot.' Peyton said and had to blink away tears that were forming ever so slightly.

'Good, because you didn't have to face the wrath of Lucas Scott.' Nathan replied rolling his eyes.

'Yeah, seriously we were about this close-' Haley held up her thumb and fore finger very close together before Brooke cut in,

'- to killing him!'

'Okay that's a little harsh.' Haley replied as Peyton laughed.

'It was not! Well anyway I'm off to mingle, catch you later.' Brooke smirked and gave them a little wave.

'I'm going to get another drink.' Haley smiled and she and Nathan moved away too as Peyton turned back to Lucas, who was wearing a frown.

'So is that right?'

Lucas scowled, 'No, I wasn't that bad! Anyway I wanted everything to be perfect because- well…' His face softened as he looked down at Peyton, 'because…it's you.'

Peyton let out a breath as she moved closer to him, 'Seriously if you keep talking like that, we're going to have to go somewhere more private.' She smiled with a wink and he laughed.

'Well… we could...' Lucas smirked raising his eyebrows.

'Luke, I can't leave my own party.' Peyton smiled as he pouted. 'But later on…'

'Happy birthday!' Peyton turned around, surprised to see a guy she'd never spoken to in her life greeting her as if they were best friends and was even more surprised when he pulled her into a hug slurring, 'Have a great day!' before walking off, banging into a few walls on the way that seemed to be obstructing his path.

Peyton turned back to Lucas and as they looked at each other and Lucas noted Peyton's eyes wide and absolutely shocked expression they burst out laughing.

Lucas couldn't help but grin as he surveyed the scene. Practically every girl in Tree Hill was dancing but his eyes sought out a blonde haired one specifically. He felt a presence beside him but couldn't bring himself to tear his eyes away from Peyton.

'You're gonna burn a hole through her.' Nathan chuckled and Lucas blushed slightly, taking a sip of his drink.

'I can't help it.' He muttered.

'I know.'

Nathan's tone was almost a sigh and Lucas looked at him quickly, his eyes were understanding, they weren't even the slightest bit mocking, just complete comprehension.

'What do you mean?' Lucas asked.

Nathan seemed to struggle for words, he opened his mouth several times but backed out with a grimace, Lucas waited patiently until he finally said,

'Have you two talked about… Peyton leaving?'

Lucas grimaced and looked at the drink in his hands, his eyes travelling upwards again, practically gravitating to Peyton once more. Again the small smile that crossed his lips seemed to be the muscles in his face working on their own; he sobered up a little but couldn't help but display another smile as Brooke said something to Peyton which made her laugh, her curls bouncing and her face glowing.

'No we haven't.' He admitted after a minute, tearing his eyes away from his girlfriend to rest on Nathan, 'And I don't want to either, not tonight.'

Nathan nodded sympathetically, patting his brother's back in what Lucas knew to be an affectionate gesture as they lapsed into silence. Nathan's heart seemed to fall a little as he noted the way Lucas watched Peyton, they were perfect for one another and yet… well only time would tell.

Peyton threw her arms around Lucas' neck and he pecked her lips appreciatively. Everyone had left and looking around they realised what a good party it had actually been, judging by the complete and utter trash of the house that was left behind.

'I forgot to tell you that the four of us hitting you in the dodgems was our idea of birthday bumps.' Lucas smirked and Peyton opened her mouth with faux hurt.

'Do you want any help clearing up man?' Nathan asked and they turned around, Lucas scratching his head and looking around.

'No, you know what. We'll deal with it tomorrow.' Lucas said. 'You get yourself home.' Haley sidled up to them as well, putting her arm around Nathan's waist as he put his around her shoulders.

'All right, well I guess we'll see you tomorrow.' Nathan smiled.

'Yeah and thanks for all the help, big brother, I know I couldn't have been easy to handle-'

'Understatement of the century.' Haley coughed.

'Hey, you weren't even there.' Lucas said indignantly. 'You were looking after Peyt.'

'Looking after?' Peyton asked with raised eyebrows.

'Well we needed people to watch you so you wouldn't be suspicious about our plans.' Lucas explained.

'Oh so our bonding 'Paley' time was just babysitting, I'm hurt Haley, genuinely.' Peyton said, her eyebrows knitting together in a hurt expression before a grin escaped and she was hugging her while the boys mouthed 'Paley' to each other in a completely confused way.

'We'll see you tomorrow.' Haley said hugging Lucas too as Nathan hugged Peyton and they were out of the door in the next minute.

Lucas turned with a happy sigh to Peyton, who's face held a trace of a pout. He laughed wrapping his arms around her and saying,

'What's up?' in a resigned sort of voice.

'Well, I thought they were spending time with me because they wanted to, not because they had too.'

'They did want to.' Lucas smiled. 'They would have said no, if they didn't. Anyway it killed me to stay away from you for so long.'

Peyton smiled as Lucas went on, 'I had so much planning to do that we haven't spent much time together these past few days.'

'Yeah, but you are officially the best boyfriend ever.'

'Well, thank you.' Lucas smiled.

'Seriously, I can't believe you did all this for me.' Peyton said in awe and Lucas smiled before kissing her quickly, releasing her and bounding quickly up the stairs.

'Where are you going?' Peyton asked but Lucas didn't answer. Peyton barely had time to ponder before he was back in within a minute, face flushed and out of breath with a parcel in his hands.

'I put it up there because I didn't want it to go missing, and I didn't want to give you your present in front of anyone else.' Lucas pushed the parcel wrapped in tissue paper into Peyton's hands before she could say a thing.

'Happy birthday.' He smiled.

'Luke you did not have to-'

'I wanted to now come on, open it.'

Peyton pecked his lips once and turned the parcel over in her hands before slowly taking off the tissue paper. It slid off easily and she looked in surprise at the vinyl that she told him she wanted for her collection, turning it over she realised it was the exact one she'd told him about at the beginning of the summer. She noticed something else and pulled out a letter that was addressed to Miss Peyton Sawyer, she read it through quickly and couldn't believe it, it was a letter from an art magazine in LA saying that the art work that was sent in was brilliant and that they'd love to have another look and possibly sign her up for a course in LA. She looked up and couldn't believe it, Lucas smiled down at her and said softly,

'Your art matters.'

Peyton felt her eyes burn with tears and threw her arms around him in a non verbal attempt of a thank you. She heard him chuckle and let go, wiping her eyes and saying,

'Thank you Luke, I really can't believe-' She looked down at the vinyl and the letter once more and tears pricked her eyes again. How did she get this lucky? Before Lucas knew what was happening Peyton's lips were on his in a heated kiss, their tongues meeting feverishly and his hands in her curls then cupping her face and then on her hips, seemingly everywhere at once. Peyton broke away first unable to live without air for much longer, she went to step away but Lucas kept her close with his hand at her hip and another tucking a curl behind her ear as his heart beat almost painfully in his chest, he leaned forward without opening his eyes and was met with her lips just like he hoped for. This kiss was slower however, a caress more than a demand and yet the intensity seemed heightened, when Peyton did pull away again he opened his eyes quickly but she was still there, in front of him, biting her lip in a hesitant sort of way before taking his hand and leading him back towards the stairs, knowing her intentions his breathing grew more laboured.

She paused as they reached the top, not sure where to go, so Lucas squeezed her hand and led her to a door at the end of the hallway. He opened it and they stepped inside, a warm breeze blew at Peyton's hair and she looked around quizzically, before seeing the source and starting towards the semi-open double doors looking over the beach and the waves. It looked like they were in the master bedroom, Peyton shut her eyes feeling the breeze against her skin and hearing the waves crashing below before Lucas wrapped his arms around her from behind. She turned in them and looked up at him, his face stretched into a smile she knew, the first thing she'd seen him do. His trademark.

He cupped her cheek, tilting her head up to meet his eyes and tracing her jaw with his thumb while he looked into her eyes. Peyton swallowed hard and the moment she looked into his eyes she knew what was coming next. He leaned down and captured her lips in the softest kiss imaginable, before breaking away again to look down at her as if silently asking if this was okay to do. She reached her hands up to rest on his shoulders and brought her lips to his once more, her hands finding their way to the back of his neck then to resting on his chest as they kissed. He tentatively placed his hands on the collar of her jacket before looking into her eyes, he found all he needed to see and slowly pushed it off her shoulders still intently focusing on her eyes in case she gave any indication of hesitation.

Peyton felt suddenly self conscious under his smouldering gaze but as he leaned down to kiss her again she happily obliged, feeling butterflies in her stomach. After a few more minutes Lucas' hands went to her hips as she began to undo the buttons on his shirt one at a time, by the time she got to end she was fumbling slightly and he smiled at her, a smile which made her go weak at the knees before she pushed the shirt from his body, she took in a short breath her fingertips resting against his chest as he breathed out deeply. She glanced up and realised with one look into Lucas' eyes that he was as nervous as she was, but they were also strangely reassuring and calming as he leant down to kiss her again deftly removing her shirt as well. The next kiss was more urgent and Peyton met the urgency as Lucas walked them slowly backwards so that she fell onto the bed, her arms locked around his neck so he went down too, he pushed his weight up with a hand but she barely noticed. All she could think about was their half naked bodies pressed together, skin on skin, it made her head spin.

Peyton placed her hands on Lucas' cheeks as he looked down at her and the words she was about to say got stuck in her throat, his gaze was so intense and yearning that she felt a rush of pleasure as she reconnected their lips in a hot open mouthed kiss, and then everything seemed to happen quickly from then on, like their was no time to waste… the rest of their clothes were off and they were meeting as one for the first time, hands snaking their way over each other's bodies, lips making contact with any skin they found before they were caught up in kiss after kiss, hips meeting hips, thrusting as they climbed higher and higher, the pressure building in the pit of both of their stomachs before release overtook it and they lay breathless in a tangled mess of limbs.

Peyton could almost hear her heart thudding against her chest as she tried to gain control of herself again, closing her eyes she breathed deeply… no one had ever made her feel like she just had and that scared her because however much she tried not to think about it, this relationship had a time limit and she knew that but she also knew that there was absolutely no way she would be able to stop what they'd started, especially not now. She turned her head and her breath caught as Lucas' blue eyes met hers, his eyes were bright and his face rearranged into a grin as he reached out and tangled his hand into her curls before leaning over and reconnecting their lips once more.

An unspoken agreement ran between the two, they definitely wanted to do that again and so it didn't come as a shock as mere minutes later they were joining together for the second time, Peyton clasping Lucas' hand tightly as he evoked wave after wave of pleasure to course through her body, Lucas felt Peyton's fingernails dig into his hand but took faint pleasure from it as he pressed his lips to her collarbone and she let out something close to a whimper, Lucas let out a groan as Peyton's legs wrapped around his waist pulling him down, into her, deeper and swore he'd never felt anything like this before. All too soon it was over again but this time they both felt exhausted by the nights events and Lucas couldn't bring himself to move from on top of Peyton as their breathing slowed, he went to roll himself off her after a few minutes but Peyton held him to her, arms around his neck before pulling his head down to hers in a sweet brush of lips to lips.

His hands shook slightly as he brushed a damp curl from her forehead and placed a kiss there, before looking down into her eyes, he felt his breath stop as she met his gaze with nothing but happiness and adoration in her eyes, he kissed her one more time before rolling over and bringing Peyton with him, into his side. She swung a leg over his and if he had the energy he would have groaned out loud at the feeling but as he looked over at Peyton her eyes were drooping slightly, sated and exhausted, he smiled before tucking an arm around her waist and threading his fingers through hers as her hand came to rest on his chest.

Peyton couldn't help a sleepy smile spread across her lips and she went to sleep one hell of a happy person, tucked away in Lucas Scott's arms, without a care in the world. Lucas took a little longer to get to sleep, his fingers tracing circles onto Peyton's back and every so often pressing a kiss to her curls. He remembered Nathan's words and knew they needed to talk, but it really could wait. He grinned lazily, pressing Peyton tighter against his body as sleep took over, his thoughts still on the girl lying fast asleep in his arms. Everything could wait, nothing was important now except the two of them and the fact that there was no where he'd rather be, than here.

So i'm a little nervous about this chapter... but i do hope you liked it. Please let me know either way :).

614- Again, i loved the episode. I think Season 6 is actually turning into my favourite season, probably mostly because of LP but still :P Lucas and Peyton were hilarious, Chad and Hil act out comedic scenes perfectly and i loved at the end when Haley and Nathan got back and Jamie was like, 'We put them in an hour ago' or something like that and LP were fast asleep on the couch, so adorable. I loved the conversation at the end too with Nathan and Lucas. Basically i loved it all and i can't wait for the next episode, it looks good.

Soooo i hope you liked this installment, i'm sorry for the wait, i'm really trying to get chapters up as fast as i can. I'd love any feedback though, so please feel free to Review :)

Have a great weekend!