A/N: So I'm back with an update. Thanks to those that reviewed, it means a lot. For any of you that have been reading my other fict, I haven't given up on it. I just haven't been able to write anything but that has changed and I hope to get an update up before the end of the month.

Teenage Love Affair

It was early in the morning when both girls woke up. Peyton had actually been up a few minutes before but didn't want to move, she was just content in just watching Brooke. She would never admit it to the other girl but she had missed things like this. It would always remind her of the first verse of that Aerosmith song from Armageddon. She also didn't want to admit that she had a soft spot for that song, it was more of a Brooke song than a Peyton one; maybe that was part of the reason why she liked it. When Brooke fluttered her eyes open, Peyton pretended that she was also waking up. They just laid facing each other and smiling. There was no disputing how happy they were both feeling to see each other this way.

"Morning." Peyton greeted first.

"Morning." Brooke then moved in and kissed Peyton softly. Peyton wanted to revel in the kiss but Brooke pulled away quicker than the blonde wanted her too.

"I can get used to that." Peyton said while opening her eyes.

"You better, because there's more where that came from." Brooke then realised there was something that she wanted to do. "I forgot to thank you for the beautiful picture you gave me. It's just how I remembered." Brooke said, moving in for another kiss, this time letting her lips linger for longer.

Peyton's smile got bigger when Brooke pulled away again. "When Nathan spoke to me, he saw me drawing it and said 'a picture paints a thousand words.' I didn't realise until that moment that I was thinking about it, about you and how it's your favourite day. When I got your note, it kind of put everything into place."

Brooke's hand reached out to caress Peyton's face. "It wasn't just my favourite day because I got to watch a sunrise in Wilmington. It was mostly because I got to spend it with you. That weekend we spent together, I finally felt like I could be myself and just enjoy it. That's why I put the note in your locker because I wanted you to remember how I was, how we were then."

Peyton's hand reached for Brooke's hand that was residing on her face. She wanted to hold it, to feel her as she responded. "It wasn't really a case of me needing to remember that because I never forgot. It was more a case of trying to get over how we ended."

Brooke entwined their hands and shifted a little closer to the blonde, not that there was much space between them in the first place. "I know I've said it many times before but I am sorry, more than you know."

"I do know." Peyton looked deep into Brooke's eyes. She had heard the brunette apologise many times and she could see the sincerity there like the other times. But for Peyton, this was different because she actually believed it for the first time.

Brooke decided to be brave and ask a question that she had wanted to bring up for days. "Do you really believe that love is a word that people say and don't mean?"

Peyton paused at Brooke's question. She had kind of forgotten that she had made that statement when they were answering the questions for their project. When she said it, there was anger and resentment behind those words. They were directed at Brooke and both girls knew that. It was evident to Peyton that Brooke needed something to let her know that she hadn't completely meant it. The only response that Peyton could think of, without telling a lie was, "Sometimes."

Brooke tensed up and pulled her hand away from Peyton and the other girl instantly felt strange without it. She wanted to hold her hand again but talked herself out of it.

"Where do we go from here?" Brooke tentatively asked.

Peyton wanted to lighten the situation and jokingly answered. "To school."

"Ha, ha, very funny, but seriously Peyt." Brooke had lightly kicked Peyton, as it was easier to do than her normal hit on the arm.

Peyton had pulled Brooke's hand back towards her and held it, rubbing her thumb along the back of Brooke's hand. "We try again but it can't be like before."

"I know." Brooke's eyes darted away from Peyton's but the blonde tugged Brooke's hand to get her to look back at her. "I won't carry on the public act of hating you. That's all I can give you at the moment."

Peyton brought Brooke's hand to her lips and planted small kisses on her knuckles before speaking. "It's a start though."

"What is the time anyway?" Brooke didn't want to ask the question, as she knew she would have to go.

Peyton raised her head to look over Brooke. Her clock was on Brooke's side of the bed. "5am." Peyton lowered her head back down and pulled Brooke closer to her.

"You know I have go home and change out of these clothes." Brooke lifted the cover to show that she was still fully dressed.

"I know but you don't have to go just yet." Peyton closed the gap between the two and kissed Brooke. Brooke pulled away with a smile on her face. "I guess I can stay a little bit longer." She moved in to kiss Peyton again.

"Good because your neck and I were having fun the other day and I think the party should continue." Peyton winked at the other girl before moving in again.

Brooke quietly opened her front door, hoping not to disturb Nathan or Maria. She had closed the door and turned to walk up the stairs but she stopped. In front of her stood Nathan with his arms crossed. "And where have you been young lady? I've been waiting up all night for you."

Brooke furrowed her eyebrows and just stared at him before they both started laughing.

"I didn't even know you were still out until I heard you creeping in. Did you spend the night with your blonde friend?" Nathan asked teasingly, uncrossing his arms.

"Yes I did." She beamed.

"You little minx." He continued teasing, wiggling his eyebrows.

"It wasn't like that. We were completely clothed." Her answer was a bit defensive and she rounded it off with a swift hit on his arm.

"Have the two of you sorted everything, fully?" He asked slowly rubbing the spot on his arm where she struck.

Brooke stood there with a huge smile on her face, thinking of the blonde she left just moments ago. "Yes, we had a chat earlier and yesterday. We are officially back together and I will be nicer to her in public too."

"Whoa, that's a big step for you." He pointed out.

"I know. I'm growing." She exclaimed.

"Well I think she should come round for dinner so I can ask what her intentions are." He crossed his arms and tried to put on his father's act.

A sense of worry began to wash over Brooke, remembering what he was like in the same situation before. "You are not going to do to her what you did to Jake."

"I didn't do anything. It's not my fault if people scare easily." He spoke sarcastically and chuckled internally. He then changed the tone in his voice. "But I'm being serious about the three of us having dinner. She's your girlfriend so I guess I should get to know her better."

"Ok." She then got a bright idea. "Maybe we can invite Tutor girl too."

Nathan squinted his eyes in suspicion. "This isn't a set up is it?"

"I hadn't even thought about that, but thanks for the thought." She was excited by the idea but wanted to tell him the real reason she wanted to invite her. "Peyton told her everything so the both of you know what a crap girlfriend I am."

"I'm sure Haley doesn't think that, but I'm a different story." This earned Nathan another hit from Brooke. "I'm gonna have to wear padding there."

"It's your own fault." She claimed.

"How do you work that one out?" He was half joking but confused by her claim.

She placed both her hands on her hips and gave her famous Brooke stance. "You shouldn't say things that you know you're going to get hit for."

"I'm sorry that you hit me." He said sarcastically.

Brooke decided to change the subject. "Did you break it off the cougar?"

Nathan shook his head and laughed at Brooke's name for the older woman. "She's not that old and yes I did. She thinks I dumped her for you. She's very jealous of you."

"And so she should. I'm fabulous." She flipped her hair back and put her hand up in the air like she was posing for a photo shoot.

Nathan could help but laugh at her pose. "How did you manage to get that big head of yours through the door."

"You made room for me when you got your bigger head through it." She bit back, thinking that two could play that game.

Nathan faked laugh, clutching his sides. "Oh my God, you're like so funny." He mocked, putting on his best fake female Californian accent.

"Now I'm gonna go and take a shower. Are we riding together or separately?" She queried.

"I can drive you there. I'm sure Peyton would love to drive you back home. That's if you're planning to come home tonight." He joked. Instead of dignifying his words with a response, Brooke stuck her tongue out and ran up the stairs.

Haley had gotten to school early as usual to properly prepare for the day ahead. She was at her locker when Brooke walked up to her tentatively. "Permission to approach, Tutor girl."

Haley looked in Brooke's direction and smiled. "Permission granted."

"Do you hate me?" Brooke asked. This question had taken Haley by surprise. "No, I don't." She answered.

Brooke was surprised by Haley's reaction. When she first spotted her at the lockers her gut instinct was to run in the other direction. She thought that Haley would be cold towards her and it came as a welcomed relief that she didn't hate her. "You should. I would hate me for what I did to Peyton. She told me that she spoke to you."

Haley really looked at Brooke and she couldn't put her finger on what she felt her eyes were asking. Was it forgiveness, acceptance? She wasn't sure, but she knew that she would need to give her something. "The most important thing is what Peyton thinks of you and that you don't repeat it."

Those words seemed give Brooke a sense of relief. To others, they wouldn't have meant anything but for her it was everything. She respected Haley and they had become friends. She didn't want her poor choices to get in the way of that. Brooke pulled her into a hug. "Thanks Haley." She pulled away, changing the subject. "Are you busy at lunch because we need to start planning 'project Jag'?"

"I think I can fit you into my busy schedule."

"Great." Brooke leaned with her back to the lockers, shifting her weight to one leg. "Seeing as he hasn't left school yet, maybe we should have lunch off campus."

Haley continued sorting out her locker, transferring books to and from her back. "We can grab something from Karen's café."

"Great idea. Nathan will be driving. Got to make him spend at least one lunch away from the gym."

"Where should we meet?" Haley asked.

"Nathan's parking spot will be fine."

Haley closed her locker door and turned fully to face Brooke. "Cool. I need to go and find Lucas so I'll catch you later." Haley walked down the hallway. Brooke walked in the opposite direction, making her way to her locker, when a sight caught her eyes that made a smile creep upon her face. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Fancy that indeed. I was just thinking that it had been a while since I've seen a certain Miss Davis." Peyton whispered. "Do you wanna have lunch together?" She asked.

Brooke really wanted to spend some alone time and nearly said yes. For a split second, she had forgotten her plans. With a heavy heart she spoke, "Sorry, I can't. I'm having lunch with Haley and Nathan so we can plan Jake's surprise party."

"Your planning your ex boyfriend's birthday party." She said a little louder with a hint of annoyance.

Brooke scoffed at Peyton's reaction. She didn't think that Peyton had any reason to behave like this. "Come on Peyton, don't be like that. We're friends and I want to do something for my friend."

Peyton simply rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Brooke thought Peyton was being childish and knew that Peyton had no reason to behave like this and couldn't understand why. She looked around the hallways to make sure no one was listening before she responded. "I understand if you give me shit for how I treated you but not for this. There's nothing to be jealous about. If you're going to be like that then I won't invite you to join us at lunch. I'll see around." Brooke stomped off to class, leaving a frustrated Peyton.

Mr Reeves was addressing the class, while Peyton was trying to get Brooke's attention. Brooke knew what Peyton was trying to do but ignored it until she felt her cell vibrating. She had a feeling that it would be from Peyton. She thought about ignoring it and instead concentrate on what the teacher was saying, but that hadn't worked so far. She decided to see what the message was and it read 'sorry about earlier'. Brooke sighed and looked over at Peyton and smiled. This caused the blonde to smile also. Brooke's phone vibrated again and it said 'u, me + dinner'

'it's a d8' Brooke replied back. She took another quick look at Peyton and they both shared a quick smile.

Peyton had written another message but before Brooke had the chance to read it, Mr Reeves walked up to Brooke's desk and cleared his throat. "Miss Davis, you know being caught using your phone in class equals detention." He took her phone away and read the text.

'ur a gd kind of distraction. Shame 4 Reeves, he's my fav'

He couldn't help but internally smile at the last part. Compliments from students were few and far between and he was going to take that. He shook it off and went back into serious mode. "Now if you don't reveal who you were messaging, then the whole class will join you."

The whole class grumbled as Brooke fell silent. Luckily she had saved Peyton's number under a nickname but that didn't stop her and Peyton panicking internally. Nathan could see this and stood up. "I sent the text, Mr Reeves."

The teacher turned to him and walked back to the front of the class. "Well Mr Scott, you'll be joining Miss Davis after school."

"But we both have practice Mr Reeves." Nathan complained.

Mr Reeves sat back in his chair and took his glasses off to clean them. "You should have thought about that before."

The bell for the end of class rang; everyone quickly gathered their books and exited. Both Peyton and Brooke stood by Nathan's desk, waiting until the last person left.

"Thank you Nathan." Peyton said.

"Thanks, but you didn't have to do it." Brooke added.

He quickly glanced at the door to make sure no one was still about before responding. "I know but I didn't think you would be ready for everyone to know what I think you were saying in those texts."

"Thank you again." Brooke gave Nathan a hug.

At lunchtime, Mr Reeves stepped into the staff room, grabbing his food from the fridge. When he closed the fridge, Mr Chavez was standing near him. "So how's you're morning been?" Mr Reeves asked.

"The same as usual, me teaching but barely anyone listening. How about you?" Mr Chavez responded.

Both teachers moved over to the nearest table and took a seat. "The highlight was the Prom King and Queen sending texts to each other in class." Mr Reeves answered.

"Isn't there supposed to be a vote for the coveted title?" Mr Chavez asked, faking his interest in this particular high school tradition.

"Even I can see that Nathan Scott and Brooke Davis will be Prom King and Queen. Text messages to each other in class, whatever happened to the old fashion paper notes?" Both teachers began to laugh at how things had changed in high school over the years. Unknown to them, Miss McIntyre was eavesdropping on their conversation. Internal anger was building up. She dropped her cup on the table hard and walked out of the staff room. It didn't help to see Nathan walking through the hallways with his arm around Brooke.