This was written for Frankie (rock monkey) as part of Cari's HalloweenOTH fic exchange, to the following specifications:
Pairings: BL and NH
Genre: Horror/Humour/Drama
Rating: PG – 13
Series: 2
Quote: "Scared Yet?"
Now for this I've torn a hole in the space time continuum of OTH S2, and just plonked Halloween right in the middle of the episode 'Don't Take Me For Granted'. Why? Because I can : P
Brooke knocked and then stood twisting the ring on her right hand as she waited for the door to open.
"Hey Brooke!" Haley stepped back and let her in. "Come on in…actually there's something I wanted to show you – I just got this new top and - " Haley dragged Brooke down the hall towards the bedroom, barely giving her time to vaguely raise a hand to Nathan in greeting as they passed.
Haley shut the door behind them and turned to Brooke. "Thank god you're here."
"Hales, what's going on? Was it just me or did Nathan not exactly look too happy…"
"It's wasn't just you. We're still…going over some…Chris…stuff."
Brooke's face fell. "Oh Hales…"
"It's fine, he's just a little upset about it all and…" Haley ran her hands through her hair and sighed. She looked at Brooke, and then shrugged hopelessly. "I don't know what to do."
Brooke came towards her and pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back. "It'll be okay, you guys will work it out."
"This is all just so confusing," Haley mumbled against her shoulder. "It's like the two things I want most have both come at the same time, and somehow they're cancelling each other out."
Brooke stepped back a little. "You can have them both Hales, but…you should decide which is more important to you, because for now you might need to just concentrate on one, and trust that you'll have another chance at the other."
Haley nodded. "Yeah."
"So which is more important?"
Haley paused for just a beat. "Nathan," she said. "Nathan is."
Brooke nodded. "Okay." She smiled and rubbed Haley's arm, "You might want to let him know that at some point."
Haley smiled. "Yeah."
"Is it okay hat I'm here?" Brooke asked anxiously, "I mean, we don't have to do this tonight if - "
"No, it'll be fun," Haley said, waving away Brooke's suggestion, "It'll be good to…get our minds of it. Um, we should probably…" she vaguely indicated the door and Brooke nodded. Haley wiped her eyes lightly and then they headed back down the hall.
Nathan was on the couch playing on his PS2. He looked round at them and offered a tight smile. Brooke went left to the fridge to get herself a drink, and to give them a minute. Haley went and sat next to Nathan, who paused the game and turned to her.
"Um…can we talk more later?" she asked tentatively. He nodded.
"But are we okay? I mean, tonight should be fun…"
Nathan smiled a little. "Yeah. I'm looking forward to scaring the hell out of you."
"Nate!" she said warningly. "Don't even…"
He grinned, and her face softened. "I love you," she said quietly, "And I don't want anything to come between us."
He nodded. "It won't." He leant down and kissed her softly. Haley smiled as they broke apart, and then got up to go get Brooke. Nathan turned his head after her, biting his lip slightly.
"Hey, all okay?" Brooke asked quietly as Haley approached her.
"It will be," she said nodding.
"Good, I was starting to feel like a total third wheel!
Haley smiled. "Oh don't worry, as soon as - "
She was cut off by a knock on the door. She turned to Brooke, looking apprehensive.
"As soon as what?" Brooke asked.
"Did I forget to mention…"
Nathan had jumped up and opened the door. "Hey man, what's up?"
Lucas came in, knocking fists with Nathan. He smiled at Haley and then stopped as he noticed who was standing just behind her. "Hey…"
Brooke smiled tightly. "Hi."
Nathan and Haley shared a look.
"Well who wants Candy Corn?"
"Dude, why didn't you tell me she was coming?"
"I honestly forgot man, Hales invited her. Anyway, what's the problem?"
Lucas shrugged awkwardly. "Nothing, it's fine. I just, didn't expect her to be here."
"You sure? You sure it's not that you're totally into her again and don't know what to do about it?"
Lucas glared at Nathan, who was looking faintly amused. "I am not into her again. I just…it's still a little awkward between us."
"Well then this will help you get past that."
"So, when you invited me over here for Halloween, were you just interested to see what would happen sticking me in a room with my ex for an evening, or…?"
Haley smiled. "No! You said you didn't know what you were going to do, because Peyton was officially boycotting the holiday and you didn't want to go to some lame-ass party where Felix would be there. So, I kindly offered to have you here."
"Yeah, which I'm very grateful for, but you couldn't you have mentioned at some point that Lucas was going to be here?"
"I thought you guys had made up anyway?" Haley said, dodging the question.
Brooke hesitated. "Well kind of…it's still a little awkward though. Probably even more so now…"
"How?"
"Well…the night of the formal was kind of a one off…you know sometimes when you really conn – just like, talk to someone and it feels different? Like that night when we first hung out, when I was totally high? And then afterwards things kind of go back but they can't really? Well it was sort of like that, I mean yeah we talked and stuff but I don't know if anything's actually changed…"
"Like you're feelings towards him?"
"I don't have any feelings for him," Brooke said quickly.
"No, I meant like, being mad at him." Haley smiled. "But methinks the lady doth protest too much…"
Brooke rolled her eyes. "I don't," she said firmly.
"Well then it should be fine. We'll all just hang out, watch a few scary movies, and maybe it'll help you guys move on."
"I've already moved on!"
"Yeah, cause the Felix thing worked out so well."
Brooke frowned, and Haley sighed. "Look, why don't you just forget about all of that past stuff for a night. We're all friends," she ignored Brooke's slightly dubious look, "So we can just have some fun."
"Okay."
"Good, come on." She pushed her out of the bedroom door and they made their way down the hall to the living room again.
Nathan looked up from the game of NBA live he and Lucas were playing. "What do you guys keep going in there for?"
Brooke took a seat in the armchair next to the couch and grinned at Nathan. "We're having a secret love affair. Nate I think it's time you knew: your wife is gay."
Nathan chuckled and Haley rolled her eyes as she settled onto the couch next to him. Brooke caught Lucas eyes and he raised his eyebrows. She smiled to herself.
Maybe this could be fun after all.
"You know, we really should be watching this after the real scary movies," Brooke said, as they sat laughing at the first scene of 'Scary Movie'.
"Why?" Lucas asked.
"Because it makes them not scary. So you don't…get nightmares or anything."
Lucas smiled at her. "You're so cute."
"Shut up!"
The doorbell rang and Brooke and Haley jumped up. "My turn!"
"No way it's so my turn!"
"Would you just both go and quit arguing."
They both shot Nathan and look and then went to the door with the bowl of candy. They opened it to reveal a little ballerina, and two tiny elves.
"Awww…"
In the living room Lucas and Nathan both rolled their eyes.
The girls gave the three kids some candy, and then went back to the living room.
"I wanna kid!" Brooke moaned as she sat down again.
"What, just so you could dress it up at Halloween?" Nathan asked.
"Yes! You could dress it up other times too."
"Not if you wanted it to grow up normal," Lucas said.
She pouted at him and he grinned.
The doorbell rang again and Brooke groaned. "Okay, they're cute and all, but would they just let us sit down for like five seconds!"
"It's getting late, these must be almost the last ones," Haley said.
"Brooke it's your turn," Lucas said, handing her the bowl of candy.
"Since when? It's totally Nathan's!"
"No it's not, I just went."
"What? I just went."
"Would you just go?"
Brooke gesticulated wildly at the unfairness of it all, but no one seemed to care. She rolled her eyes and stood up. "Whatever. They've probably gone by now anyway."
She made her way to the door and opened it, and it seemed like the kids had indeed given up, as no one was there.
"Hello!" she called vaguely, before shrugging and starting to close the door. She stopped however when she heard a sound, like a crunching of leaves.
"Hello?" she called into the darkness again. "We have candy if you want some."
There was silence for a second and then another sound, and little closer. A wind had picked up and the door pressed against her hand, opening further. Brooke stood uncertainly for a minute and then moved to shut the door, but suddenly there was another sound on the other side, like a scuttling this time.
"Um, guys?" Brooke called over her shoulder.
She heard Nathan's voice. "Hales go see what's taking her so long, it's cold with the door open." And then there was a disgruntled sound from Haley and a second later she was with her at the door.
"What's up?"
"Yeah, when I said 'guys' I kind of meant like actual guys."
"What's going on?"
"I don't know, it just sounds like someone's…there."
"Okay…well let's go see."
Brooke hesitated and then nodded. "Yeah, totally. Let's go." They both stepped onto the front porch. More sounds interrupted the stillness: scuttling, crunching and some new kind of weird scraping.
"Wo! What was that?" Haley's voice came out high and nervous.
"See what I mean?"
"Okay maybe we should just go back in."
Brooke shook her head, less scared now someone else was there. "No, I wanna see what this is!"
"Fine." She turned back to the front door. "Nate can you come out here for a minute! We'll get Nathan to go," she said to Brooke.
"I'll just be a second!"
"Ugh, what's the use of having a husband if they're not even there to sort out creepy bad guys in the night!"
"Come on, we don't need them. Let's go see what's going on." As she spoke she took Haley's arm and began down the steps. The front gate swung open and then slammed shut. Both girls screamed, and then Brooke snapped her head round as she heard some kind of sound from the apartment, that she suspected may have been laughter…
"Would you guys get out here!" Haley yelled.
"We're coming, calm down!" It was Lucas' voice that time, but there were no following sounds of movement.
Haley turned back towards the house but suddenly there was a loud yell and a thud from somewhere to their right.
"Okay, that it it," Brooke said. She started off towards the noise when suddenly there was a scream behind her. She turned and screamed too. "Hales!"
A large black shape was behind her, and out of the darkness Brooke could see arms round her and a hand over her mouth. She began to run back but tripped on the path.
She was caught by strong arms. But they didn't feel reassuring. A hand was over her mouth and her arms were wrenched behind her. She struggled against the person's hold and she could see Haley was doing the same. She tried to elbow him but her arm was held tightly, so instead she brought up a foot sharply into his nuts.
There was a high yelp and suddenly she was released.
Just as quickly Haley found herself free, and there was the sound of people scampering away into the darkness.
She turned to Brooke. "What the - "
The both looked around confused and then turned towards the house. And screamed.
There right in front of them was … a thing, it had appeared from no where, and there was blood on it and…
They both turned and ran towards the gate when suddenly something else jumped up. Brooke grabbed Haley's arm, as they both screamed again.
The long white face of the scream. God, Brooke wished she hadn't seen that movie.
Suddenly she heard that sound again, like muffled laughter, but getting louder and then…
They both slowly turned as the distinctive laughs of Lucas and Nathan became clear behind them.
The two boys stood at the front door, Nathan with a flash light in his hand. He shone it over the scene, and as he did so the guy in front of him pulled of his hideous face and shook his head vigourously, ruffling his hair.
Tim.
Haley and Brooke's jaws both dropped. "You Jerks!"
"Dawgs! We got you girls good!"
Haley closed her eyes and shook her head as they looked behind them and saw Skillz pulling of his 'scream' mask.
"Guys, nice mask choices!" Nathan said, nodding approvingly.
"I particularly like yours Tim, very creative." Lucas grinned, his eyes flicking to the girls.
He was met with a steely glare from Brooke. "Okay, everybody here is so dead."
There was a snapping of twigs, and another figure emerged. "Oops, bad timing."
"MOUTH!"
"Sorry."
"You were in on this?"
"Well just on the sound, and you know…effects."
Brooke shook her head disbelievingly.
"What if it had really been someone out there!" Haley said outraged, looking up at Nathan.
"It wasn't! It was carefully planned."
"But you couldn't know that for sure. When we were calling from outside it might have been real…kidnappers or rapists or something and you would have been sitting in there doing nothing!"
Nathan laughed. "Well then it's a good thing it wasn't."
The guys came down the steps towards them, and Nathan wrapped an arm round Haley, which she shrugged off with a forbidding glare. "Hales come on!"
"Fine. But only if you promise next time I am yelling for you to get out here you come running!"
He chuckled. "Of course."
"I'm pretty impressed you guys pulled it off," Lucas said, looking over Tim and Skillz. "Who knew Tim was so light on his feet."
"Well actually, I did kinda fall down over there."
"Oh that's what it was. We heard some high pitched yelp, we figured it was just one of the girls."
Tim laughed and then stopped, realizing he might have just been insulted.
Brooke hit Lucas on the arm. "Are you gonna apologise or what."
"No, it was funny."
She stared at him open-mouthed and he laughed. "Okay okay, I'm sorry. But actually, I didn't even know you were going to be here till this evening, so I thought we were just scaring Hales."
"Oh well that makes it okay then," Haley said, rolling her eyes. "Wait, you were gonna have me out here on my own!"
Lucas shrugged. "It would have made it scarier."
"Wha – You had us freakin' attacked! You don't get much scarier!"
Nathan laughed. "Okay, I think some people are a little overwrought. Let's go inside…"
He gently maneuvered Haley towards the front door, and the others followed.
"Okay I have a question?" Brooke asked, when they were all in the living room again and Mouth had just brought in some more popcorn. "Who was it who was holding me."
"Me," Skillz said, giving her a dark look. "And thanks for the numb nuts by the way."
Lucas laughed, shaking his head.
"We thought it was best if Tim wasn't…you know, with you," he said to Brooke.
Brooke smiled and nodded, and Tim pouted from his end of the couch. "I said I wouldn't do anything!"
"Wait, so I had Tim!" Haley asked. She shuddered. "Ugh!"
"Hey!"
"What about Mouth?" Brooke asked. "How come he wasn't in on the action?" She smiled at Mouth and he blushed, but rolled up held up an arm. "These aren't gonna hold anyone!"
They all laughed and then Nathan stood up. "Okay, I think it's time we moved off the comedies and onto a real scary movie."
Haley groaned. "Haven't we been scared enough?"
"What've you got?" Lucas asked.
"The Omen, or The Hours."
"The Hours isn't a horror movie!"
Brooke looked at him like he was crazy. "Have you not seen the bit with the girl…and the grandma – with the song and the twirling!"
Lucas laughed.
"That kind of stuff is scary," Brooke said, "Way worse than blood and guts and whatever."
"Well The Omen has a little boy that's the devil. Is that scary?" Nathan asked her.
"Yes. Small freakish children are always scary," she said authoritatively.
"Well then let's watch it." He went over and put it in, and Brooke made a face at his back.
Haley glanced around. "Mouth, you don't have to sit on the floor. Nate, come on," she stood up and pulled him over to the armchair, "Skillz switch with us."
Skillz went over the large couch and he and Mouth sat in Nathan and Haley's vacated places, while Haley settled into Nathan' lap in the armchair.
Brooke now found herself between Skillz and Tim. She looked up and him and he smiled at her.
"Okay, ew." She stood up and went over to the small couch on the other side, moving he popcorn bowl next to Lucas and sitting down. He glanced down at her.
"What? It's gonna be scary and I'm not hiding behind Tim!" she whispered.
Lucas shrugged. "I didn't say anything."
"Good."
He smiled as Nathan started the movie, and Brooke drew her feet onto the couch, her arm resting against his leg.
Haley held a hand firmly over her eyes. "Tell me when it's over," she whispered to Nathan.
"What, the movie?" he asked chuckling.
"No. Just…this bit."
"Hales, nothing's even happening, he's just walking - "
"Well something's gonna happen! So just tell me when it's over."
Nathan laughed again but squeezed her shoulders and dropped a kiss on the side of her head. "Okay."
"I'm…gonna go get some popcorn," Mouth said, standing up.
"Yeah me too," Skillz said quickly, hurriedly following him out the room.
"Guys there's some right here!" Tim called after them, looking bewildered.
Lucas chuckled and shook his head, then glanced down at Brooke next to him. Her eyes were on the screen, but at her side her fingers were digging into his wrist. He reached down with his other hand and gently uncurled her fingers, before taking her hand in his.
She didn't look down, but she gave it a small squeeze.
Lucas felt his heartbeat just slightly increase, though whether it was because of the movie or the girl next to him he wasn't sure. Ominous music had started in the background, and now he was pretty definite that the chill up his spine wasn't cause of Brooke.
Nathan held his breath, as the character on the screen advanced forward…slowly…
There was a deafening crash outside.
"AAAAHHH!"
Skillz and Mouth sprinted in from the kitchen. "What the hell - "
They all looked around wildly, and suddenly the front door burst open.
"AAAAAHHHHHH!"
The lights cut out and everything went black.
Lucas jumped up, still holding Brooke's hand and pulling her out of the room. Mouth and Skillz fled back towards the kitchen area and dived behind the counters and Nathan pushed Haley in front of him down the hall, slamming the door of their bedroom behind them.
"What – where! Guys?" Tim stood in the sudden darkness, the TV flickering in front of him.
"Hello…?"
The door banged against the wall again and Tim yelped and dived under the couch.
Inside the hall closet Brooke could feel her heart beating so hard it hurt. She took a few deep breaths and then looked up, her eyes meeting Lucas' a few inches in front of her.
"Okay. I think I've been scared enough for one night. So how about you guys stop this trick now."
"Brooke, I seriously don't know what's going on."
She closed her eyes for a second. "Please tell me you're kidding."
"I wish I could. But I really have nothing to do with this."
She could tell by his eyes and by the fact his hand was tightly holding her waist that he was telling the truth.
"Then what the hell is out there?"
Lucas shook his head. "I don't know." He chewed his lip for a minute. "But I'm gonna go see." He started to move past her but she grabbed his arm. "Luke, wait!"
He turned back to her. "Just wait a minute," she said, "Just…let's wait and listen for a minute and then try and work out what's going on."
Lucas hesitated. "Okay."
He leant back against the shelves of sheets and blankets and listened. Brooke let go of his arm, running her hand through her hair a little self-consciously. He glanced at her in the darkness, and then quickly looked away as she looked up.
They'd wait and see.
In the kitchen Mouth and Skillz clung onto each other, shaking.
"Dawg…what kind of crazy shit is this?"
"I don't know Skillz but I don't like it!"
They heard quiet footsteps and then a low hoarse sound, like panting.
Skillz let out a high pitched noise. "Dude that sounds like some kind of animal!"
"Okay maybe it's just a stray or something…"
"That blew the freakin' door open? Nu uh, this is some kind of devil dog shit…like in that movie!"
"It's not gonna be Kujo. Let me just see…" Mouth crawled slowly towards the end of the counter, the tiles cold under his hands. He licked his lips, his throat dry, and slowly moved his head forward to see what it was…
Tat tat tatata tata tat
Mouth leapt back as there was suddenly and hammering on the far window.
There was a scuttling sound and then a low moan from the other side of the room.
"Tim?"
The moan came again and then Tim's voice, in a hoarse whisper. "Guys…something's here…"
"Nate what's going on out there?"
Haley held his upper arm as they both looked at the door.
Nathan shook his head. "I don't know."
"And you swear this isn't another - "
"Haley I promise!"
"Okay okay."
He glanced down at her, noting the fear in her voice. He could feel her hands shaking against his arm. "Hey, c'mere." He pulled her against him and wrapped his arms round her tightly. "It's probably nothing…just some stupid kids."
She nodded against his chest. They were quite for a minute.
"See, I bet you'd rather have me here than that skinny ass musician."
She hit him. "Nate!"
"I'm kidding!"
She rolled her eyes but looked up at him. "You're right. But not just cause you're a little bigger."
He grinned. "That's right. I'm a good six inches taller too."
She shook her head smiling, and then stood on tiptoe to kiss him.
"I love you," she whispered as they broke apart.
"I love you too."
"So Luke, how've you been?"
They were both leaning against the shelves across from each other, and it had been quiet for a few minutes, except for the slightly disturbing noises outside.
Lucas turned from looking at the door. "What?"
Brooke shrugged. "How's life?"
"It's alright."
"How's it going with Anna?"
He hesitated. "It's kind of…not, anymore."
"Oh. I'm sorry."
He gave her a look. "Right."
"What? I really am. I liked her…once I got to know her."
"Yeah, Peyton said you two had some issues."
"You've been talking to Peyton?"
"Not really," he said, thinking of his conversation with her earlier that day.
"Sorry…I didn't mean that to sound so…accusatory. It's not really any of my business."
Lucas shrugged. "She's your best friend."
Brooke swallowed. "Yeah…I'm kind of worried about her actually."
"Yeah, me too."
Brooke nodded slowly. She knew it really shouldn't, but it hurt to hear him say that. She wondered for a fleeting second if he ever worried about her.
"I called Jake."
Brooke looked up. "Jake… Jake Jake?"
Lucas chuckled. "Yeah, Jake Jake. I just thought…if anyone can help her."
Brooke nodded, her heart suddenly feeling lighter. "Yeah, definitely. Do you think he'll be able to come? Or call or something?"
"I don't know, I hope so."
Brooke bit her lip, and they were quiet for a minute as they both thought.
"Hey, have you heard anything in a little while?"
She looked up. "No."
He hesitated. "I think I'm gonna go out and see what's going on."
In the bedroom, Nathan had made up his mind.
"Hales, I'm gonna go out there."
"No, Nate!"
"I'll be careful! I'll go slowly, and just see what it is."
Haley frowned and Nathan kissed the top of her head before he cautiously reached out for the handle, and turned it, slowly pushing open the door.
The hallway was dark. Or, almost dark. At the end was a funny light, it seemed to be moving around…
Nathan took a few steps away from the bedroom and suddenly saw what it was.
A torch, one of those handheld ones, was rolling around on the floor, just rolling in circles casting luminous shadows upon the wall. He stared at it transfixed: it didn't seem to be slowing down or be moving in a normal way at all.
He took a few more steps and suddenly jumped as a head appeared from the wall.
"Wha – Oh my god man! Luke you scared the shit out of me."
"Nate! Hey, what's going on?"
"I'm gonna go see, come on."
"No, Luke, don't leave me in here!"
Nathan frowned and tried to see past Lucas into the closet. "Who is that?"
"It's Brooke, we got stuck in there."
Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Oh I see, while we're all dying of fright out here you and Brooke are conveniently I stuck in a closet /I ."
Lucas punched him on the arm. "Shut up man, we're just as freaked out as you."
"Well come on."
Lucas nodded and they started to tiptoe towards the kitchen. Lucas glanced round as he heard a noise behind him but saw it was just Brooke creeping after them. He gave her a look but she just gave him one back so he just shrugged and let her come with them.
"Guys wait!"
They all turned as they heard a whisper behind them and saw it was Haley.
"Hales. What - "
"I don't wanna stay in there on my own."
"Fine, come on. And stay quiet."
They all slowly advanced into the kitchen. They saw movement in a corner and the quavering heads of Mouth and Skillz appeared.
"Guys?"
Nathan put a finger to his lips.
The torch suddenly swung round again and something flew under the door. The light cast across it, illuminating a white sheet covered in red…
The apartment was full of screams as Haley flung her arms round Nathan and Brooke buried her head into Lucas' shoulder.
Something was moving fast round all off them and they could hear that panting noise again. Suddenly the lights were flickering so those letters kept appearing again and again, spelt out in those red dripping letters:
Scared yet?
And then abruptly, the lights all turned on.
They blinked round at each other. Skillz and Mouth cowering by the fridge, Tim clinging onto the sofa for dear life. Haley lifted her head cautiously from Nathan's shoulder, and Brooke felt Lucas' arms loosen slightly.
A scruffy German shepherd padded up to Tim and rubbed its head against them.
"What the hell…"
Crouched behind a rhododendron bush Peyton Sawyer and Jake Jagielski were doubled up with laughter, the fuse box open on the wall next to them, and empty paint pots scattered around.
Peyton began to stand up, and started towards the door. She turned abck as she realized Jake was not following.
"You're not gonna come in? You can't let me take all the credit!"
Jake chuckled but shook his head. "I need to lay low. I'll see you back at your house."
Peyton nodded. "Okay." She reached out and hugged him tightly. "I'm so glad your back."
He smiled against her hair. "Me too Peyton."
She watched him go down the steps and away from the house, and then knocked on the door, smiling to herself.
Inside, everyone heard the knock, and looked around at each other with trepidation.
"Um…who's there please?" Tim called out in a wavering voice.
The voice that replied was high and sinister. "Trick or treat?"
Brooke and Lucas were nearest the door, and glanced at each other. She took his arm and slowly reached out for the handle. She felt Lucas' hand on her waist and gradually turned the handle, pulling the door open.
Peyton stood on the doorstep, hands in her pockets. She smiled at them all. "Scared ya."
"P. SAWYER!"
"PEYTON!"
"Aw man we got fooled by a girl!"
Peyton chuckled as they all yelled at her. "Well I couldn't let the guys get away with scaring you like that," she said to Brooke and Haley. "Had to hold up the girl's side."
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