home           about           blog           archives           domain           exits           ask
 

Heartbeats





12:51 am, and my iPod is playing tricks on me. I had it on shuffle and it played "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez.

There is a scene in One Tree Hill that has this song for its backdrop. The Ravens win their must-coveted championship, and while the night was far from over, at that moment, with confetti raining down on the entire arena, it was perfect, and all was right in the world. They were young, they were happy - and the future held so much promise. It was a beautiful encapsulation of what it was like to be in the peak of your youth, to be on the brink of something great, something unbelievable. Of dreams unfolding before your eyes.

 Then Brooke asked Lucas one question, "When all your dreams come true, who do you want standing next to you?" And he looked at Peyton.

I didn't really appreciate this scene then, because of my unabashed bias towards the other couple, Nathan/Haley. (All the other characters' moments somehow just fade away in the background, in comparison to the Naley ones. Plus, I wasn't very fond of Leyton.) I always figured it was just sweet dialogue, coupled with a great song, to set the wheels in motion finally for Lucas/Peyton. Yet for all my character-driven animosity towards this scene, I can't deny that it was one of the most poignant ones in the entirety of the show's run.

This question lingered somehow in my head, I guess. And the song. I didn't know if it was possible, if the chances of such an instance happening was realistic enough to exist outside the world of teen dramas, but I've since attached "Heartbeats" to the hopefulness of that brief occasion just coming one day. That light-bulb epiphany of realizing that it's someone. Somehow, that song no longer reminded me of the episode per se, but just the idea of that moment, and that one look -- the feeling of just knowing.

Knowing, and believing, with all certainty.

"It's you. It's you, Peyton."



________________________________________________________________