Author's note: I know, I know...you all hate me. I'm a terrible author. I've made you wait like 4 months for an update. Excuses are crap, but I'm giving you mine. I've had writer's block like you wouldn't believe, and school is a complete bitch. (and I might even have to go to summer school...isn't that fun?! Stupid NYS Regents exams) So yeah, I finally was able to finish one more chapter. I'm not sure when I'll get the next one out so please don't give up on me.
This story WILL get finished, eventually because if there's one thing I hate, its unfinished stories. I just got a bit of brainstorm for where I'm going with it, but I have to figure out how to execute it all. When I do, more updates will come...until then, enjoy this chapter (though it probably sucks).
Peyton awoke to the sound of Lucas' breathing. She smiled as she remembered the previous night's activities. She was mentally kicking herself for thinking Lucas had been cheating on her, with Brooke of all people. But it wasn't really Lucas that she didn't trust, it was Brooke. Well, hopefully everything will work out for the best, she thought to herself.
She turned in Lucas' arms so she could face him. He looked so peaceful when he slept, she thought. She reached out a hand and traced his jaw line, he stirred slightly.
"Wake up, sleepyhead." She whispered, pressing her lips to his cheek. He mumbled something about it being too early and tried to go back to sleep. Smiling at his childlike behavior, she started trailing kisses down the side of his neck and then onto his shoulder. "Luuuke." She taunted.
Peyton let out a small scream when Lucas abruptly moved and pinned her down on the bed. "Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's not polite to wake people up?" He said, hovering over her.
"Its almost 7:30, we have to get ready for school." She informed him, both wearing smirks on their faces.
He let out a grunt. "Do we have to?" He whined.
"Yeah, Luke, it's a game day. You know the rule."
"No school, no game. Thanks mom." He said sarcastically. She chuckled. "Well we don't have to be in until 8:30…" He muttered, trailing kisses on her neck, down to her collarbone, eliciting a slight moan from Peyton.
"Luke-" She complained, half heartedly.
"Hmm?" He mumbled, sucking at her pulse point. Giving in, she pulled his face up to hers and into an intense kiss. Their make-out session lasted a few minutes before Peyton finally pulled away and looked up at him, smiling.
"Hi." She whispered.
"Hi." He whispered back, nuzzling his nose with hers. "I love you." He said after a few seconds.
"I love you too." She said, leaning up to kiss him. "But we still have to go."
Grunting, Lucas rolled off of her. "Yeah, I guess we do." He said.
"I'm going to brush my teeth." Grabbing Lucas' discarded shirt from the floor, she put it on and got out of the bed, heading towards the bathroom door.
"There are some of your clothes in the back of my closet." Peyton informed him from the bathroom.
"Okay." He said getting out of the bed. Before he walked to the closet, he stopped to stare at her. She was reaching up to get the toothpaste off the top shelf in her bathroom, causing his shirt which she was wearing to ride up a bit, revealing those legs he was so fond of.
"What are you staring at?" Peyton asked, bringing him out of his trance.
"Ya know, I think that shirt looks better on you." He said, tilting his head to the side, eyeing her legs.
"You're such a guy." She mumbled.
"Last time I checked, yeah." He chuckled. "Oh, before I forget there's a party tonight after the game."
"Lovely. Who's throwing it?"
"If I tell you, you promise not to bite my head off?"
"That can only mean one thing…Its Brooke isn't it?" He nodded. "Okay."
"Okay?" He asked, shocked that she didn't yell at him.
"We're trusting each other right?"
"We are." He said, stepping closer to her after he finished putting his shirt on.
"Okay then there's no need to worry. Right?" Peyton said.
"Right." He said smiling, pulling her in for a hug.
"Alright then, lets go before we're late." She said as she pulled away, grabbing his hand and heading for the door.
--
Lucas and Peyton walked through the school quad, holding hands. It wasn't long before Haley spotted them and ran towards them.
"Oh my god!" Haley squealed. "I knew you guys would work it out!" She jumped up and threw her arms around both of them.
"Hales, oxygen…becoming an issue." Peyton squeaked out.
Haley let go of them. "Sorry, I'm just so happy for you guys!" Haley half-squealed out.
"Thanks, Haley." Peyton said.
"Okay, Luke, if you wouldn't mind disappearing for a while, I have to talk to Peyton." Haley said sweetly, smiling up at Lucas.
"I suppose I don't have a choice, now do I?" Lucas said rhetorically, Haley shook her head with a chuckle. "Okay, I'll see you later?" He asked Peyton.
"Of course." She answered. Lucas leaned down to peck her on the cheek before walking off to join Nathan and the rest of the guys. Peyton stared at Lucas as he walked away.
"Come on, girlie. You can stare at Lucas' ass anytime; right now we need to talk." Haley said, dragging Peyton away.
"Okay, what's up?" Peyton asked as she and Haley sat at a vacant picnic table in the quad.
"What's up!? You and Lucas just made up, you tell me." Haley said.
"What do you want to know?" Peyton asked, smirking because she knew Haley was dying to know and it was killing her.
"I want details, girlie, and don't leave anything out." Haley demanded.
"Well he came over to my house, we fought, he wouldn't take no for an answer and he made this amazing speech about how we were meant for each other and we agreed to trust each other from now on."
"And?" Haley urged.
"And nothing, Lucas and I are good and I'm going to try and not let Brooke bother me anymore."
"Well if there's any guy worth trusting, it's Lucas. Brooke on the other hand…"
"Yeah I know, but maybe I just never gave her a fair chance, ya know?"
"Peyton-"
"No I know what you're going to say…Brooke is bad news and she can't be trusted, but apart from that one incident, she hasn't given me a reason to be skeptical of her intentions."
"Wow."
"What?" Peyton asked, confused.
"What happened to angsty, I-trust-no-one Peyton?"
"She has left the building, and has been replaced with a more open-minded Peyton who is willing to give Brooke a chance to redeem herself." Peyton said.
"Really?" Haley nodded, with an impressed look on her face.
"Yes. If Lucas and I are going to trust each other, then I should be able to trust his judgment when it comes to Brooke and know that he wouldn't cheat on me, right?"
Haley nodded. "Right."
"Speak of the friggin' devil." Peyton muttered as she saw Brooke approaching them.
The brunette walked towards their table and sat down across from the two girls, with a smile on her face.
"Hey." Brooke said sweetly.
"Hi." Haley said skeptically. Peyton just smiled.
"Okay, so you're probably wondering what I'm doing here, sitting at your table because I'm pretty sure both of you hate me, but I have a favor to ask you." She said looking at Peyton when she said the last part.
"Um… okay." Peyton said.
"Well, I know you're big into the music scene, and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to be the DJ for my party tonight?" Brooke asked, wringing her hands together with a hopeful look on her face.
"What's the catch?" Peyton asked. So much for being open-minded, she thought to herself.
"No catch. Its just that my DJ cancelled last minute and there's no one else that could do it, so I thought maybe you'd do it but if you don't want to, I get it-"
"I'll do it." Ah, open-minded Peyton is definitely back in the building.
"You will?" Brooke asked, with furrowed brows.
"Yeah." Peyton said with a nod.
"Thank you Peyton, really, you're a life saver." Brooke said. "Haley, you're coming too, right?"
"Of course, can't afford to leave Nathan alone." She joked.
"Ok, thanks again, I owe you one. Oh and Peyton there's a mandatory practice after school today" Brooke said as she got up and walked back to the group of cheerleaders.
"What was that?" Haley asked. "Who smacked her with the happy stick?"
"I have no idea. Open mind, right?" Peyton said, looking towards Haley as she nodded. "Open mind."
--
The school day went by rather quickly. And now it was time for cheerleading practice, the moment Peyton had been dreading. The mantra in her head was that she was going to give Brooke a shot, give her a chance to redeem herself, to right her wrongs and see if people can change. Peyton indeed was skeptical of the whole thing but she needed to do it, for Lucas' sake, and her own.
"Okay ladies, we have a game in less then 4 hours, we have to get this routine down." Brooke barked at the squad. "Bevin, straighten your arms… Theresa fix your posture and god dammit Lisa if you don't stop kicking your leg out instead of in, I'm going to cut your leg off!"
At that, all the girls scrambled to fix whatever they were doing wrong so the Cheer Nazi wouldn't kill them.
"Peyton! Where have you been?" Brooke yelled as she saw Peyton walking through the gym door.
"Sorry, I know I'm late, I had to help Haley out with something."
"Well since you're only late by" She checked her watch. "20 minutes, I'll let it slide, but next time be on time, we need to work on this."
"Yes Ma'am." Peyton nodded, dropping her stuff to go line up with the rest of the squad.
"Okay, take it from the top. 5,6,7,8" Brooke clapped as she counted and all the girls followed her instruction.
"Okay ladies, I think we have it down. Let's hope you can remember it 2 hours from now." Brooke said as practice ended.
"Nice work today, Peyton." Brooke said.
"Um…thanks, I guess." Peyton said as she grabbed her stuff.
"Can I talk to you for a second?" The brunette asked.
Peyton threw her a skeptical glance. "Sure…"
"Okay, so I know you hate me and as much as I don't like that fact, I get the reasons for it."
"Brooke-"
She held up her hand. "No, no just hear me out, okay?" Peyton nodded. "I know you don't like me hanging out with Lucas and I understand that, but we've become good friends and I'd really appreciate it if you could just…ignore…my past mistakes so that I can hang out with Lucas without worrying about the fact that you might be lurking around the corner ready to kill me at any moment."
"Lucas can be friends with whomever he wants, Brooke. I'm not going to stop him from hanging out with his friends, even if I don't like them."
"Peyton, no offense, but every time I'm within a five foot radius of Lucas you go berserk."
Peyton winced. "I'm sorry about that, but truthfully, I don't trust yo-"
"That fact has already been established." Brooke murmured.
"Okay, point taken. I'm a bitch to you, I know that…I have my reasons. But if you and Lucas want to hang out, then so be it. I trust him…he won't hurt me."
"Thank you." Brooke said. "I really do hope that one day…you won't hate me."
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves…"
Brooke chuckled. "I better get going…don't forget you have to be at my party earlier to set everything up."
"I'll be there." Peyton said.
"See ya." Brooke grabbed her bag and waved over her shoulder as she pranced out of the gym.
"What have I gotten myself into?" Peyton muttered to herself.