A/N: So this update has taken me a while to write for many reasons. The main one was that I wanted to get it exactly right. I'm not completely happy with it but if I didn't post it now, I'll probably be still trying to edit it until next year.
Thanks to those that reviewed the last update and shout out to Realish for being the 100th reviewer and Sophi20 for guessing where Peyton ended up. Read and enjoy.

The Story

Haley was sitting in her room strumming some chords on her acoustic guitar. This was her therapy, so to speak. She would get lost in a song she was playing and just feel it. This was something she did every Sunday, something that would make her forget how lonely she was in her house. She was the youngest and all of her siblings had flown the nest. Her parents had gone on a trip for a couple of days, which really meant a couple of weeks. The sound of her doorbell interrupted her. She placed her guitar on her bed and walked down the stairs. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Peyton standing on her doorstep. She opened her door fully to let the curly blonde in. "Are you ok?" She enquired.

"Err, I've got a few things on my mind and I guess I'm finally ready to talk about it. Is that ok?" Peyton walked into the kitchen and took a seat.

"Sure. I told you yesterday that I was here if you needed to talk. What's on your mind?" Haley walked towards the fridge and grabbed a couple of cans of drink, handing one of them to Peyton.

"I might need something stronger than this." Peyton pulled the ring of the can and took a huge gulp. "You know how you asked if Brooke and I were friends, well I might have withheld a little bit of the truth." She took a very big breath and composed herself. She was feeling very nervous but she knew that she needed to get things off her chest so it could help process everything. Haley saw the nervousness on Peyton and thought she would ease the situation. "It's no big deal that the two of you were secretly friends." Haley pulled the can to her lips.

Peyton chuckled a little. "That's the thing, we weren't friends. We were dating."

Haley spat the drink out of her mouth, luckily not in Peyton's direction. She quickly got up and grabbed some kitchen roll to wipe her face and the mess she made on the table. She looked at Peyton and words seemed to fail her. She couldn't even put a word to how she was feeling in that moment. She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was air.

"Haley are you freaked out because that wouldn't be good especially as you're the first person I've told." Peyton's words seemed to snap words into Haley.

"I'm not freaked out, I think. I'm just taken by surprise. Yeah that's it." Haley walked back towards were she was sitting. "I get a feeling that there's more to this. Would I be right?"

Peyton nodded. "Where do I start?"

"How about at the beginning, like when were the two of you together." Haley made a conscious effort to make sure she still didn't sound shocked, to make Peyton more comfortable with continuing.

"I can do that." Peyton covered her mouth with her hand and rubbed it, trying to sort the words out in her head, first. "Brooke and I have always been the opposite of each other, I guess that's part of what made us clash at first. I don't even remember how that even started; maybe I bumped into her or looked at her the wrong way. We had this way of pushing each other's buttons. One time it seemed to get out of hand and we managed to get detention for a week."

Haley interrupted her, "I remember that, you were both…" she could see the look on Peyton's face. "Sorry." She threw her hand out to tell her to continue.

"So we had detention together. I guess they were trying to make us get along at the same time as learn a valuable lesson. When the teacher would disappear, we started talking civilly; I didn't even know she had it in her. This kind of led to us hanging out a couple of times at my place. When we were in the presence of others she would go back to her usual self."

"Queen bitch by any chance." Haley piped in.

"Yes, queen bitch. So I would go along with it." Peyton started to play with her fingers. The more she would say, the more nervous she got. "I would always have to drive pass her house to get to Aunt Karen's and sometimes through no fault of my own, I would nearly hit her with my car."

"Too busy changing the CD I guess." Haley laughed.

"Yes and before you say it, I know it's a bad habit." Peyton took a huge gulp of her drink before continuing. "As usual we would have a verbal throw down after said incident. One time it got too close and I didn't have my seatbelt on. Instead of hitting her, I hit my head on the steering wheel when I put the brakes on. She took me into her house and patched me up. I was sitting on her kitchen counter and she was standing in between my legs, when she was cleaning my wound. Not only was I completely fuzzy but I was confused. There was no doubt that I was attracted to her but as far as I knew she was straight. It didn't stop her from flirting with me like she knew my secret. Her face was so close and I don't know what came over me but I looked into her eyes and kissed her. I blame the bump on my head for my temporary insanity, as I thought it would have spelt disaster. I bet you can't guess what she did next."

"I don't know, she freaked, threatened to tell everyone at school and kicked you out her house." Haley replied thinking that it would be her reaction.

"I was expecting her to do that but when she pulled away, she said 'what took you so long' and smirked. Would you believe that she knew I had a thing for her but she was waiting for me to make the first move?" Peyton brushed some hair away from her face. "I guess all the arguing was sexual tension or something. We kept up the façade of us disliking each other while we were seeing each other until something happened that changed it all." Peyton started to choke up a little and was fighting hard to stop herself from crying.

Haley could see the discomfort in her friend and reached out and rested her hand on Peyton's. "I'm still here and I'm listening."

"The thing we had in common was the lack of parental units for one reason or another so it was easy for us to sneak around. We were fooling around in her room one day when out of the blue, her parents came home and they caught us practically naked. Brooke didn't do anything." Peyton took a deep breath and started playing with her drink. "I tell a lie, she did do something. She told them that I was forcing her to do things. Her father was completely out of it but her mother was pulling me by my hair. She threatened to call the police and I got myself out of there as soon as I got out of her grip." Tears were now running down Peyton's face. Haley moved closer, putting her arm around the blonde.

"Brooke kept trying to explain and apologise but I was too hurt. That's why I left Tree Hill suddenly. My grandmother being sick provided me with an out that I could actually explain. Brooke said she convinced her parents not to call the police, as they wouldn't want people to know and 'ruin the family name'. While I was away, she tried contacting me to make amends but I ignored her."

"What made you come back then?" Haley asked, giving her a tissue.

"I knew I couldn't run anymore and I needed to face everything and everyone. Turns out Brooke's parents didn't stick around either." Peyton wiped her face.

"I don't understand why she treated you the way she did when you came back." A confused Haley wondered.

"That was just her way of dealing with it, I guess; her defence mechanism. We didn't know how to be with each other anymore and she did what she knew best, queen bitch." Peyton replied.

"You sound like that was in the pass. You not knowing how to deal." Haley assumed.

Peyton started to nervously tap the table. "We have kind of been dancing around each other since we got paired up to do that project and we were talking without really sorting things out. I guess it was her turn to make the first move this time."

"Are the two of you back together now?" Haley questioned.

"Yes, no. I'm not sure." Peyton's hand went through her hair, feeling unclear about the whole situation. "This weekend has been confusing."

"Wait a minute." Haley paused for a minute as things started to click into place. "Yesterday, you disappeared and she had a mark on her neck when she returned from the bathroom. That was you, wasn't it?"

"Yes." Peyton perked up and smiled.

"Were you in the bathroom when I came looking for you?" Haley asked another question.

Peyton couldn't contain her laughter. "Yes. You kind of ruined the moment."

"Eww." Haley couldn't contain herself and started laughing also.

Peyton stopped laughing for a moment and spoke with sincerity. "Jokes aside, I'm happy to finally get this off my chest."

Haley also stopped laughing. "Well I'm glad you came to talk to me about this but why if you don't mind me asking."

"I was at Brooke's earlier and I kind of freaked out. Nathan came in the house when we were making out and I bolted. I thought it was her parents and I mentally relived that night. Did you know Nathan's living there now?" Peyton enquired.

"I had no idea." Haley, who was looking down, looked at Peyton. "Does this mean you've forgiven her then?"

Peyton frowned, not really knowing the answer. "I don't know. I'm trying but it's hard. I just know that it's hard to let her go too."

"You guys need to talk properly and lay your cards out." Haley added.

Peyton chuckled to herself. "That's exactly what Nathan said the other day."

"If Nathan knows, does Lucas?" Haley thought for a moment that the boys might have seen something between the girls that Haley didn't.

"No and I don't think I can tell him. We don't talk about a lot of things. We're both more closer to you than each other and it was hard enough telling you." Peyton concluded.

"But I'm guessing that Brooke told Nathan."

"That's different. Brooke has some strange bond with Nathan that goes back to 1st grade, but she didn't even tell him until last week."

"Well I won't say anything." Haley said.

"Thanks Hales."

Peyton had spent a few hours with Haley and then went driving around town. She got lost in her thoughts. She felt relieved to finally get things off her chest. Haley was understanding and as usual a great listener. She knew before that if she were going tell anybody then it would be her. Peyton walked up to her front door and opened it. Sat before her was Brooke on her stairs.

"Hey, how long have you been here?" Peyton asked, closing the door and slowly walking towards the stairs.

"I'm not sure, maybe a couple of hours. I was driving around for a bit and found myself here. I hope you don't mind that I used the key you gave me." Brooke waved the key that she used.

"No, it's fine." Peyton took a seat on a step below where Brooke was sitting.

"Why did you run off?" Brooke asked.

Peyton felt dryness in her lips and licked them before answering. "I needed to go and clear my head."

"I thought you might be here when I arrived." Brooke spoke so quietly that Peyton could barely hear her.

"I drove around for a bit and found myself at Haley's." Peyton looked down at her hands, feeling slightly nervous. "I guess I needed to talk to someone too."

"You could have talked to me." Brooke stated. This brought Peyton's eyes to the other girl. "I know but I needed someone that wasn't aware of our history so I could just get it all out. I told her everything."

"Is she mad at me?" Brooke asked hesitantly.

"No, just disappointed I guess." Peyton replied.

"She's been disappointed a lot recently regarding my behaviour so I guess this is another one to add to the list." Brooke knew she hadn't painted herself in a positive light and not just in the last few days.

"It's also another one to add to the list of people that know." Peyton added.

"What are we going to do, I mean what happens now?" Brooke wondered seeing as everything was thrown back in the air and she was no clearer to where she stood with Peyton than at the beginning of the weekend.

Peyton yawned; the day had taken its toll on her. "I don't know right now but all I know is that I'm tired. We should just sleep on it and talk properly tomorrow."

"You're right. It's getting late. I should go." Brooke got up and walked past Peyton. She watched Brooke walk down the stairs until she got up and stopped her by speaking. "Brooke."

Brooke slowly turned round and looked at Peyton. No words were pasted through their lips. Brooke watched Peyton hold her hand out. She glanced between Peyton's eyes and hand before she placed her own hand in Peyton's. Both girls smiled as Peyton pulled the other girl closer and kissed her hand. She led Brooke up the stairs to her room.

A/N: So there it is, the reason Peyton left has been revealed. Now that the mystery has gone, I hope you still stick with this as there's more to come