Forever and A Day | one tree hill

fifteen.

Peyton Sawyer stared up at the ceiling in her bedroom. She traced her fingertips over her lips as she thought of the moments earlier with Valentina. A smile spread on her lips as she thinks of the girl.

"Sawyer!"

Peyton sits up in her bed and looks over at the entrance of her bedroom to see Brooke standing there.

"Hey you," Peyton greets with a smile.

"Don't 'hey you' me," Brooke says, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Peyton looks around her room amused, "I'm sitting on my bed?"

Brooke rolls her eyes as she steps further into the room, "That's not what I'm talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" Peyton asks.

Brooke makes quick and deliberate steps toward Peyton's webcam. Peyton looks at it, still not catching on to what her best friend was hinting at. Brooke throws her head back and groans loudly.

"When I say the name Valentina, what emotion does that evoke within you?" Brooke asks. Peyton's lips curve in a smile and she quickly catches herself, but it's too late because Brooke has already caught her, "Ah-ha!"

Peyton rolls her eyes, "I don't know what you're implying."

"Peyton," Brooke states, "Your webcam was on when Valentina came over."

Peyton's eyes grew wide, "What?"

"It didn't capture anything too revealing," Brooke says, "And I don't think anyone was online, but you're a real bitch for making me find out about your little crush on Val from the internet."

"I didn't know what to say," Peyton mutters, "And she was with Haley."

Brooke looks at her best friend, "Peyton, you're playing a dangerous game."

"You think I don't know that?" Peyton asks, "I – I tried to turn my feelings off. But I can't."

"Peyton," Brooke says softly as she joins her best friend on the bed, "You know that I love you, right?"

"Yeah," Peyton responds.

"And I want nothing but the best for you," Brooke says, "And Valentina, she's great, but she is Lucas and Nathan's sister. You dated one, you kissed the other, and now – now you're bringing Val into it and I'm not saying that you and her wouldn't be great, because you could be, but you could potentially ruin her relationship with her brothers. I mean you saw what happened with her relationship with Haley. She chose her brother and at the end of the day, we know that she really liked Haley."

"I get that," Peyton says, "I really do, I just – I really like her, Brooke. It's like the things I liked about Nathan and Lucas are just there with her and she's just so sweet. I mean when it was the anniversary of my mom's death she was there. She was there when Nathan wasn't."

Brooke looks at her best friend, "If Val is what you really want, then you know I'll do everything in my power to make sure that the two of you happen, right? I mean how great would that be? My bestie dating my other bestie!"

Brooke frowns thoughtfully, "Actually I don't know if I love that idea. The two of you might start making out in front of me."

Peyton laughs and shakes her head at Brooke's absurd comment. But what she can't shake is this idea that she and Val are tainted. Even if it's just Brooke who knows, it's no longer their secret, and was a future with Valentina truly worth the drama?

~*~

Valentina sat in the waiting room of the hospital and couldn't stop the anxious shaking of her leg. Her mother sat with Karen comforting her and somewhere else in the hospital, Keith was getting checked out as well and Valentina simply couldn't believe what was happening.