All I need is a sign
So here's just some fluffy Baley. Don't review if you don't want to. BTW I don't own anything.
All I need is a sign. Something to tell me I have a chance. It could be something as big as a billboard or something as small as knocking the salt over. All I need is a sign to tell me if I have a chance with Haley James-Scott. And yes I realize it's still James-Scott.
"Brooke, you there?" Haley asked waving her hands in front of my face. She told me she wanted to hang out with me. Just go out for lunch or something. So here we are, at Karen's enjoying a drama free lunch. That's right, Lucas and Peyton are off somewhere else.
"huh? Yeah, sorry, zoned out for a second. So what did you want to talk about Hales?" I ask her. I can see the smile on her face quickly disappear.
"we'll talk about that afterwards" she says and then our drinks show up. Haley was always a kid at heart. She loves her strawberry milkshakes. But why can't she love me? "so how are you and Peyton doing?"
"… better" I answer hesitantly. Ever since she confessed her love for Lucas things just haven't been the same. But she and Lucas are dating and I have taken it upon myself to back off. It's the right thing to do. "it's kind of fun actually. They always cut down on the couple-y stuff whenever I'm around. They were walking down the pier holding hands and I popped out of nowhere. To make a long story short, Peyton ended up pushing Lucas into the fountain by accident."
She's laughing at my story. I love it when she laughs.
"that explains why Lucas showed up here yesterday soaked."
"yeah" Maybe I should just tell her. Confess my love, like Peyton did. I mean it worked out for her. But then again, Lucas wasn't married. Haley is.
"so, how's Nate?"
"fine" she answers simply. We sit in silence for a while. It's moments like this that are just begging for a sign. It's like we're both expecting something to happen. And something does happen.
Our food arrives. But I wouldn't call that a sign.
"Hales, are you okay?" I ask, she doesn't seem like herself for some reason. Usually she's got this quirky, dorky side to her that I love. But not today.
"just some stuff going on at home"
"do you want to talk about it?"
"not really…" she says. I nod in understand, she'll talk to me when she wants to. But I can still tell she's sad. So I get up and move to the other side of the booth so I can sit beside her.
"Brooke, what are you doing?" she asks wiping her cute little mouth with her napkin. She turns her body to face me as much as the booth will let her and I grab both of her hands.
"come on" I say as I let both of her hands hover above mine and I know she knows this game, because we play it a lot and it always brings a smile to her face. And because she smiles, I smile too. We call it the slapping game. Simply because we couldn't come up with a better name.
I'm looking deep into her eyes, or at least I'm trying to. She's looking down at her hands. Waiting for the moment I'm going to strike. But what she doesn't realize is that, this game isn't in the hands, it's in the eyes. I flinch my hands making her pull hers back in fear. She's already smiling.
Alright, let's try it again. Without a warning I move my hands and slap the top of her hands before she can pull away.
"ah, damnit!" she curses. "alright, let's do it again!" she yells back competitively. This time my hands are above hers and now she's staring into me eyes and I'm staring back. She pulls a fake one over on me, but I don't flinch. I just smile right back at her. This time I know she's going for it, because right before she does she gets this smile. One of those smiles where her cute little dimples appear. And then she moves her hands and slaps the top of my hands. Yeah, I let her have that one, but she doesn't know that.
"Brooke! You let me have that one!" she yells. Maybe she does know it.
"okay fine, do it again" I just want another reason for her to touch my hands again.
This time, she doesn't even try to fake anything. She's just staring into my eyes and I know she loves this game. That's why I love it. And there's those dimples, and here come her hands. What she never seems to learn about this game is that I'm twice as fast as everyone. But its fun watching her try. She tries to hit my hands, but I quickly move mine away and hit hers instead.
"what-? No! Brooke you cheated!" she says. That's what she always says. I turn to our food and started nibbling on a fry. I wiggle my eye brows at her just to rub it in. But she laughs. Have I mentioned how much I love her laugh?
But it doesn't matter, all I know now is that she's smiling and she's happy. That's all I ever wanted.
For the rest of lunch we don't really talk about anything important, and I'm still waiting for that sign by the way. If there's no sign today urging me on, then I think I just might give up. Because technically, I've been waiting for a sign now for 3 weeks. I think God either hates me or is trying to torture me.
"…but I don't get it. Why would they call it a drive way when people park in it? And why would people call it a parkway when they drive on it?" she asks me curiously. "I mean it's so confusing!"
She's been talking about the mysteries of the world for the passed 10 minutes now. She loves to just rant on. And I love to watch her.
---
There's 5 minutes left before we have to go back to school. So I figure if she wanted to talk she's going to have to say it now. Hey, who knows this could even be the sign I'm waiting for.
"so tutor girl, if you wanted to say something, now's the time" I say glancing down at my watch.
"yeah, right… well I just kind of wanted to tell you before it got out to everyone else…"
"what?"
"… Nathan and I are… getting a divorce" she says hesitantly.
If that wasn't a sign I don't know what is.