A/N – Hey ya'll, it's me again. I've decided to continue with this story. In this chapter, Peyton moves her things in to Julian's place. This chapter is a little longer than the first, and it ends in a special surprise for Peyton. I hope ya'll enjoy it! Leave me reviews and tell me what you think! I'm still new at this so hopefully as I continue to write more chapters I'll improve.

Disclaimer – I do not own One Tree Hill or its characters, only my own ideas and made up characters.


At Peyton's apartment

It just turned 1 o'clock in the afternoon and they still hadn't packed all of Peyton's things in boxes. Of course, that could have been because of all their "breaks" they had taken throughout the morning. Even with all of their distractions, Julian still couldn't believe that Peyton had so much stuff left to pack. How much stuff could one person need anyway? He would never complain about this to Peyton though. The one time he had said something about all her albums, she had simply reminded him of all his haircare and cologne that she claimed was too much for one person to have. So no, he wasn't about to walk into that argument again.

Glancing around the tiny bedroom, Julian noticed that the person he was thinking about wasn't even in the room anymore. Had he really been that stuck inside his own head that he didn't notice her leave? Standing up from where he was seated on her bed, he wandered out of the nearly empty bedroom and into the living area where he saw Peyton sitting in the middle of the floor. He stood leaning against the doorway, watching in amusement, as she seemed to be cramming something into one of her packing boxes.

Peyton had been trying for the past fifteen minutes to make the last of her things fit inside one single box. It was the last box she had, so it had to fit. If she could just pack it tight enough for the lid to close, then she'd be all set. Just when she thought she had it shut, the lids popped open again. Letting out a frustrated groan, Peyton threw one of her couch pillows against the wall. The laughter she heard from behind her made her turn around and stare at the man leaning against the wall. Glaring at Julian, she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted like a five-year-old would. "Don't laugh at me." She grumbled and stood up, dragging her feet, walking until she stood in front of him.

Julian placed his hands on Peyton's shoulders and squeezed gently. He smiled softly and leaned down until his forehead was resting against hers. Something was going on in that pretty head of hers and he was going to find out what that was. "Hey," he said softly, "what's going on? You're not the type of person to let packing frustrate you like this."

Peyton sighed deeply and wrapped her arms around Julian's neck. She bit her lip nervously and looked up at him, silently debating whether to tell him what was on her mind. Seeing his concerned look, she blew out the breath she was holding and began. "Fine, I'll tell you, but please don't get mad." She sighed again before continuing, "I'm worried… I mean, what if we can't live together? What if we find out that we're completely incompatible? Haven't you ever read those articles about moving in together? For some couples, it ends in a complete nightmare! I just don't want anything to happen to us because we decided to live together."

Julian pursed his lips and nodded his head after she finished telling him her fears. She was just so adorable when she went on her little rants. He had to fight back a chuckle hearing her talk about the 'nightmares' of moving in together. He grinned and placed a soft kiss to her lips. Sighing, he shook his head lightly. "Peyton," he said, "I love you, and nothing is going to change that. No crazy bed heads, bad morning breath, moody girl attitudes, or anything else that either one of us might have or do, is going to change that."

He was right, she knew he was right, she just needed him to reassure her she guessed. She was moving in with a man she loved and in return loved her just as much, if not more. What could happen that would change that? Peyton cracked a small smile and raised her eyebrow as she looked up at him with an amused expression on her face. "By 'moody girl attitudes', you mean you, right?" she said with a teasing twinkle in her eyes.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Julian let out a short laugh. "Oh, yes," he said, "of course I mean me. Because I was the one who freaked out when she heard that her favorite Hollywood couple had broken up. Oh! Or the time when I panicked because I thought I bumped into Will Smith and thought he was going to sue me for disturbing him."

Peyton's mouth dropped open as she let out a sharp gasp before she smacked his chest. "Hmph!" she grunted, "Well at least I'm not the one who spends three hours on his hair before he can leave. Even if it's just to go five steps to get the mail!"

Hearing her accusation made Julian's eyes grow wide with shock. "I do not spend three hours on my hair!" he protested passionately, "It's more like two and a half." He grinned cheekily and pressed his lips to hers in a slow kiss.

Allowing herself a minute to kiss him back, Peyton tightened her arms around Julian's neck and deepened the kiss. He could be insufferable at times, but she loved all the ways he made up to her for it. Pulling back quickly, she swatted at his chest again with a pout on her face. "Stop doing that! We need to finish packing!" She yelled, but the look in her eyes told him that she didn't regret his actions.

Julian chuckled and spread his arms out wide, gesturing to the empty living room full of nothing but boxes, in front of him. "Babe, look around," he instructed, "the only thing that isn't in a box are your couch pillows, and we don't need to put them in boxes, we'll just throw them in the front seats with us."

Peyton glanced around slowly, studying her apartment for what was going to be the last time. A part of her was going to miss the independent feeling she had by living alone, but a larger part of her was excited to venture out on this new, uncharted territory with Julian. She grinned happily and grabbed Julian's hand, lacing her fingers through his. "Alright," she said firmly as she looked up at him, "let's load the rest of the boxes into the moving truck and go back home."

Julian gave Peyton's hand a squeeze before he let go and started to carry the remaining boxes out into the moving truck.


After they had moved all of Peyton's boxes over to Julian's place, it was nearly 5 o'clock, and they were too exhausted to cook anything for dinner. Julián had decided to go out and get takeout, while Peyton stayed home and started to unpack some of her stuff. She was only going to unpack the boxes that contained her most needed items, such as, her clothes and toiletries. She was too tired to unpack everything tonight, she'd have Julian help her tomorrow. Sitting down with one of the open boxes by her side, she pulled out the first thing that was on top. It was a photo of her and her best friend Brooke Davis. The photo was taken at one of their high school basketball games. Brooke and Peyton were in their cheerleading outfits, smiling as if they didn't have a care in the world. A feeling a sadness started to creep inside Peyton's heart as she continued to stare at the photo. It had been months since Peyton had talked to her best friend, and she missed her. Pulling her phone out of her pocket she sent Brooke a short text just to tell her how much she loved her and missed her.

Almost an hour later the apartment door opened and Julian walked inside holding takeout bags from one of the best Chinese restaurants in L.A. "Honey, I'm home!" He called out merrily, as he placed the bags on the small kitchen table. Hearing laughter, he turned and saw Peyton standing in their kitchen's doorway. His smile grew at that thought. This place wasn't just his anymore, it was 'theirs'.

Peyton laughed once more as she looked over to see Julian's faraway look. Sometimes it was like he was in another world, with that goofy looking smile on his face. She didn't mind though, she loved seeing him so happy and carefree. Walking over to him, she placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned up on her toes to kiss his cheek softly. "How long have you been waiting to use that line?" She asked him in amusement.

Chuckling lightly, Julian wrapped his arm around Peyton's shoulders and drew her closer so that her head was resting against his chest. He placed a kiss on the top of her head and smiled. "That is one secret I will never tell." He told her as he reluctantly let her go so that he could pull out the Chinese containers and place them on the table. "Now," he said as he clapped his hands once and turned to look at her. "I have brought you the dinner of champions. We have eggrolls, we have white rice, we have fried rice, we have beef Lo Mein, annnd what is a proper Chinese meal without Sesame chicken?" He had a smug looking grin on his face as he waited for her reaction.

Peyton surveyed the containers of Chinese food as he told her what he had bought. Frowning slightly, she held her hands on her hips and looked over at Julian, a look on her face that said she wasn't, through the roof, impressed with his choices. She cocked her head to the side and spoke slowly, "You forgot the most important item that only Chinese restaurants carry in their stores." Seeing his confused expression, Peyton let out an exasperated sigh and threw her hands up in the air before complaining. "You forgot the fortune cookies, Julian. Don't you know, that the fortune cookie is what makes going to the Chinese restaurants so special! You just cheated me out of getting an amazing fortune! Now some other person out there is going to get, what should have been my fortune!" Sighing in frustration, she slumped down into one of the kitchen chairs with a pouting look on her face.

Julian had to bite his lip through her whole speech just to keep from bursting out in laughter at her behavior. Some things Peyton Sawyer just took so seriously, and damn be the person who tried to tell her that is wasn't as important as she was making it to be. This was among the many reasons why Julian loved her though. He forced himself to keep a straight face as he knelt down on his knees in front of her. Pulling something out from behind his back, he held up a fortune cookie still wrapped in its plastic sealed bag. "You mean the fortune cookies that kind of look like this?" He asked her with a teasing smirk on his face.

Peyton's eyes flew up from the cookie to meet his eyes as he knelt in front of her. Damn him, she thought to herself. She narrowed her eyes and snatched the cookie out of his hand before speaking, "You little brat. How dare you make me believe you forgot the fortune cookies. You know how important these are to me." She shook her head lightly and tore into the plastic around the cookie. Pulling the two pieces of the cookie apart, she pulled out the white piece of paper that held her fortune on it. She looked away from the paper to look into Julian's eyes once more before reading the fortune. "This fortune could hold the words to make or break my future on them." She said with all seriousness before she took a deep breath and looked back down at the paper. "Here we go," she said as she read the fortune out loud, "Every exit is an entrance to new experiences."

Julian raised an eyebrow and studied Peyton's face, before daring to ask the question. "Okay, so how is that going to make or break your future? What does that even mean? Exits and entrances?"

Peyton rolled her eyes and placed both of her hands on Julian's cheeks. "Guys are so clueless sometimes." She said in a light tone before standing up and grabbing the plates and silverware. As she placed them down on the table she spoke again, "Leaving my apartment behind today was an 'exit' in my life, and the entrance to 'new experiences' is coming to live with you here. That's pretty future altering if you ask me."

Julian stood up slowly as he thought more about what she had said. He still didn't believe in all those fortunes like she did, but maybe he could agree with this one. Her coming to live here would definitely be a new experience for the both of them, but he believed it was going to be a good one. He smiled over at Peyton and watched lovingly, as she divided the food onto the two plates. Walking over to where she stood, he pulled her away from the table and kissed her softly, holding his hands on her waist. "How did I get so lucky with you?" He asked, the amazement evident in his voice.

Peyton smiled lovingly up at Julian as she slid her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. "Well," she started, "you did take me to that amazing party when we first, officially, met." She laughed softly along with him and shook her head. "But no," she said again, "you are the sweetest guy on the planet and anyone would be lucky to have you. Just like I am."

Julian sighed in perfect contentment as he stared into the eyes of the woman he loved. Just as he was about to capture her lips in a kiss, he heard her stomach growl, and a chuckle escaped his mouth. He removed his hands from her waist and reached for her hand as he pulled her back over to the table of food. "Come on," he said, "my baby needs food."


After they had finished off the Chinese takeout, the couple laid comfortably on the couch in the living room. Julian's fingers were playing with Peyton's hair, and Peyton's eyes were closed peaceably as she hummed her approval. The ringing of a cell phone broke them both out of the comfortable silence, and Peyton stretched out to reach her phone on the coffee table. "Hello." she said after she had hit the answer button, not checking to see who had called her.

Hearing her voice again caused so many memories to flood through his mind. Memories that happened a different lifetime ago. God, it had been years since he, or anyone really, had seen her. Shaking his head to clear away those thoughts, her voice brought him back to this lifetime and he quickly replied before she hung up on him. "Peyton?"

Peyton quickly stood up from the couch, causing Julian to give her a puzzled look, but she ignored him. She hadn't heard that voice in years. Why had he called her? Why now, after all these years? She ran her fingers through her hair and began to pace back and forth until she let out his name in a shaky voice. "L-Lucas?..."


A/N – Yay, my first cliffhanger! I'm so sorry, but I couldn't resist it! What do you think Lucas wants? Is something wrong in Tree Hill? I guess you'll just have to wait and see. Now, for those of you who may be concerned, this is not a Leyton fic, so I promise they will not be getting together in this story. You will find out why he called her though, in the next chapter. And there may or may not be an appearance from another one of our favorite Tree Hill residents. (: Review and let me know who you think it will be. Also, please let me know how I am doing so far. I'm always open to trying new things to improve my writing. Thanks again for reading!