GREEK TRAGEDY
::  ix. | still into you

Lucas and Ashely had Ryland to thank because they were finally going on their first date after school. He found time for them which was way early before he had to get his mom from the airport. She had gone to Italy not too long ago to follow her dreams, leaving Lucas under the authority of his uncle Keith.

Ashely didn't mind though, she was just happy to be moving into the next steps pass friends with Lucas. She obviously still had to talk to her brother about it, but that was far from her mind then because her attention was focused on Ryland.

She approached her best friend from behind, placing her hands over her eyes.

"Guess who?"

Ryland lightly chuckled as she turned around, "I'm sure I know your voice quite well now."

Ashely had the biggest smile on, "I don't know what you said to him, but thank you. I was nervous about him and Peyton. I really do like him a lot."

"I know." Ryland sighed, "Don't worry about Peyton. I hear she's over him but full disclosure cause you're my best friend —— I'm not sure if Lucas is over her though."

Ashely's smile faded, "So im second?"

Ryland practically gasped, "No! You are number one and if he doesn't see that, then maybe Lucas isn't the one for you."

"Well to be honest, you did push him my way. Apparently he needed help with that. So what does that tell you?"

"He's a confused boy and unlike Peyton, you have him in your clutch. It's time to seal the deal, my friend." Ryland gave her a reassuring smile.

As the two continued to chat, Brooke approached them with a bright smile. She seemed a lot cheerier that morning. And to Ashely's surprise, tolerance was passed between Ryland and Brooke. Neither of them shared any hurtful, horrible comments to tear each other down.

That could go either two ways. Brooke knows something she shouldn't or the two actually, kind of, might be slowly getting along for a change. But the real question was . . .

How long was it going to stick?

• • •

As lunch rolled around, Ryland went to go meet Jake in the gym. He told her he wanted to talk about what happened between them, which she was ecstatic about. Her view is that maybe after the talk and a little bit more talk, he could be her boyfriend again by the end of the day.

She walked into the gym and saw Jake dribbling a basketball around. As the door shut, a loud noise came from it. It was loud enough to grasp someone's attention.

Jake turned towards the sound and saw Ryland coming his way. With the ball in hand, he began to head in her direction, meeting her halfway.

"Hey, blondie." He smiled brightly, "So the other day was embarrassing." A sharp chuckle escaped his lips.

Ryland nodded, "I'm with you there, but I don't regret it."

He walked closer to her, "Neither do I."

With a smile across his lips, he leaned in and met Ryland's lips. It was a brief kiss, but it meant something to both of them. Though it wasn't a verbal statement of if their together, but it was action. That saying goes, actions speak louder than words.

The two then exited the gym and began heading to the courtyard outside for lunch with Jake's free arm around Ryland's shoulders. Once they walked outside, everyone who were friends with them were a bit shocked —— especially Brooke. She thought she tore them apart even more after that truth or truth incident.

Because they were in different cliques, Jake went and sat with his team, plus the cheerleaders while Ryland sat with her friends. It wasn't mandatory, but Jake barely knew Ryland's friends and vise versa.

Once Ryland sat down, all her friends started to bombard her with tons of questions.

"All the details now." Jay eagerly spoke, "We knew y'all were talking, but like we didn't know y'all were talking."

Ryland giggled at the way he said talking at the end. Just quick enough, she began to spill the tea of her and Jake.

Every sweet and embarrassing moment.

• • •

Sometime after school Ashely went to Karen's Cafe to go meet Lucas, that's where they were having their first date. It was completely casual, so nothing too cute.

Ashely was already seated and just waiting for him. As she waited, Haley kept smiling her way with a thumbs up which made the blonde lightly chuckle each time. Haley was always supportive of her feelings towards Lucas, so the burnette was really excited to see her best friends were finally going at it.

After another five minutes, Lucas finally came to the table where Ashely was seated. He rolled the sleeves down on his red sweatshirt as he sat across from her.

"Sorry about that." He began, "You know my mom has been away, so extra hands were needed for the cafe."

"No worries." She politely smiled, "She comes back tonight, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded. With a lick of his lips he continued, "This must suck. I could've easily picked a different day and you've been waiting here for sometime. I still managed to be late even though I was like five feet away."

Ashely shrugged, "I'm just glad we're finally doing this."

He leaned forward with his arms crossed over his chest, "Better dates in the future, I promise."

"I'm going to hold you to that, Lucas Scott."

From there the two continued to talk, laugh, maybe flirt a little. They ate some food that was on the house, thanks to Haley. Hours and hours gone by, it was nonstop. There was no dull or awkward moment, considering how the date began. However, it is said that usually dates end better than how they start.

As the two were losing track of time, Keith had just walked into the cafe. He approached Lucas and Ashely after spotting them.

"Ready to pick up your mom?"

"That time already? Wow." He lightly chuckled as he glanced from his uncle to Ashely.

Lucas got up and walked around the table to give her a quick hug. As he headed out with his uncle, Ashely shouted,

"Tell her hi for me!"

After a quick nod with a smile, he was out the door. Lucas got on the passenger side of his uncle's truck. The two began to head to the airport.

What happened on their journey there, no one saw coming. A truck collided with theirs. The crash was loud and big. Lucas was now unconscious and Keith was trying to quickly bring himself back to reality to be there for his nephew's aid.

But in a miraculously nick of time, a third party member was there to help . . .

Dan Scott.

a/n:
one chapter left of this act !!