Manhattan, New York
She had to have another one. It had been seven days since she last enjoyed the effect of one of her favorite things to do now. Five years after leaving Tree Hill to spread her wings and take a closer look at the world, Brooke Davis had, all in all, enjoyed life to the fullest so far. Her relationship with Lucas wasn't a factor in her life anymore. Over the years, Peyton Sawyer, her best friend in high school, had stopped making the weekly phonecalls from Los Angeles to New York. Manhattan to be more precise. Her best friends now lived in New York. It didn't really matter if anyone picked up the phone or not. It's not like she had time to answer the calls anyway. "Phone goes both ways", she remembers her ex say when he was trying to make her spend more time with him. Brooke couldn't spend more time with him. She barely had enough time to take care of herself, let alone Lucas.
Tonight was Friday night. Her favorite night of the entire week. She had plans. Like every week, she would go to her favorite bar, The Hunch, and tease on Owen a bit. The bartender knew she was coming. And he was well prepared. They did this every week. Brooke would take a seat at the bar, not to far from where Owen was pouring drinks for other customers. Her first drink was always the same, a
"Daiquiri Hemingway Special for the lady.", Owen said while placing the drink on the bar for Brooke.
"I wanted a beer", Brooke replied as she placed her handbag on her knee and sat on the seat she always sat on. Owen seemed surprised. He didn't see this one coming. Brooke always took a Daiquiri first. And now she wanted a beer. Something was up. He didn't know what it was yet, but he would find out.
"You want a beer? Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Said Owen as he took away the Daiquiri to give her a glass of beer.
"My stomach's kinda upset so I don't think Rum would be the best way to go for me now, and besides, it's my Friday so I decide what I wanna drink."
Owen looked at her quite amazed. He never expected to see so much cynisism from the young woman he came to know so well.
"Wow, did the fashion show not go well, or is it that time of the month again?" Owen said sarcastically.
Brooke looked at the bartender with an angry face. She didn't know what was happening. This morning, she was so happy for it to be Friday so she could go to The Hunch and test her favorite bartender's stamina, but now she wasn't into it anymore. Owen looked back at her. Their eyes met along the way. Her angry eyes meeting the friendly eyes of the man she loved. She loved him as a friend, she could never love him in another perspective. Over the years, Brooke lost a lot of good, solid friendships because they didn't live up to her expectations. They all wanted something from her. Owen never asked for anything, he just wanted to make sure she was alright. That, and he wanted his bills to come out correct. Owen was always correct, Brooke knew that. As Owen gave service to a woman standing at the bar, to the left of Brooke, he looked over to the brunette and saw something was bothering her.
"My fair Penelope, for that is your name, I hear you are called plain Brooke, if the aren't well, thou areth attired in the most fairest of all wardrobes, yet thou feelings linger in the darkest of night" Owen said in his best Elisabethian language. His mother had been part of a drama club before she became to sick to attend the weekly get-togethers. He had picked up on some of her phrases when she was too play a midieval woman.
"What now?" Brooke said with a little comic relief.
"What's going on Brooke" Owen looked at her dissapointed. "I thought my English tirade would make much more sense. But i guess not."
"If you're looking for an English tirade, then go talk to my ex. He's a literature major so he should know a little bit more about that than I do".
Somewhere else in New York, same time"Please tell me you finished the chapter I asked you to finish" Lucas heard Lindsey say over the webcam as he was fixing his tie. They were video conferencing all the time. He would get annoyed when she wanted to talk about the chapter he hadn't finished. Or the one he did finish, only not good enough. But Lindsey was his editor, and it was her job to ask the annoying questions.
Lucas sat in front of his computer again. "I don't, and if you don't mind, I'm kinda busy at the moment".
"Lucas, the only thing that should be worrying you right now, is your writing. Where are you going anyway?" Lindsey said as she came closer to the eye of her webcam. "I don't understand the difficulty here, you promised me you'd get that chapter done by the end of this week. It's Friday and you still have nothing to show me."
Lucas was fixing his collar as he rolled his eyes. "Stop putting so much pressure on me okay. If it were upto me, I'd be writing whole chapters but it's not so stop bugging me!"
With that said, Lucas closed his laptop. He was getting ready for a night out in time. He was about to meet his girlfriend and they would go to the fair, only in town for two weeks.
After fixing his hair, he checked the mirror one more time and out he went.
Lindsey was waiting outside of Lucas' appartment when he walked out of the building. When he saw her, he quickly ran over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Hey there pat'na" Lindsey said in a very bad Southern accent. "I was wondering when you were gonna show."
Eventhough he'd just jogged a minute or so, Lucas seemed out of breath. He hadn't done that much running since he found out about his heart condition. And his actual condition was starting to suffer under the lack of training. Lindsey noticed it with a smile. He looked exhausted. "I'm sorry about giving you a hard time with the book. It's just that, if you don't finish a chapter, it's my ass on the line. And yours for that matter." Lucas replied to her with a grin. He always thought it was cute that his girlfriend brought her work home with her. It was completely unneccesary but she couldn't leave it behind. "What did we agree on when we started this? No talking about work when we're not working."
They started walking away from the building. They seemed to be pretty fond of eachother. Always touching eachother, stroking eachothers hair and looking into one anothers eyes.
Manhattan, New York, 5.37 AMBrooke was still sitting on her steady place. Her hand supporting her head as she looked around in the room carelesly. Eventhough she'd seen the inside of that place millions of times, she never really noticed the small details. Like the framework on the windows or the colors on the walls. It's only when you're really bored, or really worried, that you start noticing it.
"So, are you ready to tell me what's going on already?" she heard a voice in the background asking. She knew it was Owen. After rolling her eyes, she turned herself to him and started talking.
"I got a text message from my best friend in High School. There's a reunion in school and she was wondering if all of us could go together." She let out a huge sigh as she reminded herself of the message. Owen looked at her amuzed. "So you're worried about a High School reunion?" As he cracked up in a smile, Brooke replied: "Actually I am quite worried, knowing the history of me and proms, dances and so on and so forth, I have a feeling like it's gonna be nothing good."
"And?" Owen asked, still wondering what the big deal was. Brooke became more and more annoyed with the bartenders intorrogations. As she pondered over her answer Owen made a quick move. "Look, if it means that much to you, and your scared or a little anxious of going, I'll go with you. That is if you want me to."
Now it was Brooks turn to be surprised. Was he asking her out on a travel-date? "I don't know. I haven't seen a lot of my friends in years." Brooke said, really emphesising the word years.
"Well then, all the more reasons to go to... whatever the place is called and get together with your friends again."
"Fine, I'll go. If you come with me." Brooke sighed when she realised there was no turning back again. She knew Owen would keep on pushing her until she would give in. Tonight was his night. Normally she would win the discussions and debates, but not tonight.
Since there were no more customers at The Hunch, Owen decided to close down for the night. Brooke waited for him to lock all his doors and enter his security code, and then they decided to go to Brookes loft and talk a little bit more there. She needed privacy.
Tree Hill, North Carolina, the next morning.A young brunette was lying in bed. It seemed as if she had a horrible night. But nothing is further away from the truth. After five weeks of absense, her husband of two months had returned home from a basketball camp at Duke University. This had probably been one of the best nights of her life. Besides her wedding night, which was even more thrilling. As she opened her eyes and let out a big sigh, she stretched out and looked to her right, where her husband was peacefully sleeping. Or recuperating from last night. "Honey, it's time to wake up now." There was no response. She smiled as she tapped the young man on the forehead. "Skills, come out of bed silly."
There was still no response.
After trying quite some time, the young woman had enough of it. She walked over to the kitchen and got a microphone out of the closet, which Skills' coach had accidentally left there when he was on a visit to discuss Skills' progression. She took the microphone, walked back from the kitchen to the living room and genty leaned over to the sleeping man.
As she leaned over, she brought her mouth closer to the microphone, pushed the 'on' button and said: "Skills, I'm pregnant."
Skills woke up in an instant. Having undergone the terror of being awokened by the dreadful microphone, he couldn't believe his ears!
"Bevin, what did you say? Did I hear that correctly?"
"Yeah you did, but it's not true, at least you're awake now." She said with a big grin on her face.
"Come here you." Skills said playfully. "I'll teach you to wake me up when I'm dreaming of..." He got interrupted as Bevin kissed her husband on the mouth. "Dreaming of what?" Bevin asked. "Dreaming of candykanes and breadroles?"
"Hell no! Dreaming of my all-time favorite blonde turned brunette" skills exclaimed as he pushed her back on her pillow.
"Skills." Bevin said as he kissed her on the mouth. "Skills we really need to..." Another kiss followed, a little longer than the one before. "Skills, we really need to go. You know to..." Bevin once again couldn't finish her sentence. The prolonged pecks and kissed kept on keeping them occupied.
Bliep Bliep. Bliep Bliep.
Just the annoying sound of her cellphone going off was enough to make Bevin cringe. She wanted that moment to last forever. Now, she got disturbed by her very own piece of technology.
She walked over to the dining room table, where her cellphone was and realised it wasn't a phonecall but a text message. She opened up the message. It was one from former cheerleader Ashley, who wanted to know if the entire graduating class was going to come together for the reunion. Bevin didn't know, so she sent a message saying just that. She felt rather annoyed that her big moment was being ruined over a High School reunion but decided to go back to the bedroom without any hard feelings.
Not too long thereafter, the door was being shut for all viewers. They had some catching up to do.
Not too far from there, it was another busy day in Debs Den. The owner and co-owner of Karen's Cafe, Karen and Deb, decided it was time to expand their business a little bit. So they opened up a second cafe and named it Debs Den.
The cafe was filled up to the rafters. Therefor, it was only normal that manager Haley had a busy scedule ahead of her. Besides being a mother of a five-year-old, she also had to do most of the housework and she had to be able to manage all that ánd run a business. She didn't have that much free time on her hands. But she loved every minute of her life. She loved the interaction with the customers, she loved the satisfaction on her sons face when he saw her and he loved the love she got from her husband, Nathan.
At about ten in the morning, Nathan and their son, Jamie walked in. As she knew Nathan would probably have to go job-hunting soon, she quickly gave him a coffee to go and took Jamie's hand.
"Here you go, one black coffee to go. And good luck today." She smiled at her husband as he took his first sips. "It's good." He simply said, turning away from her to head back to the door. "Hold on, wait a minute. Aren't you forgetting something?" Haley said while tapping her husband on the back of his shoulder. As he turned back to her, she started puckering her lips, indicating she wanted a kiss before he left. "and don't get too worked up okay, we don't really need the money, it's just fun to have a little left over for when Jamie goes to college." She yelled at him as he had approached the door.
As Nathan left Debs Den, the owner of the chain, Karen Roe came inside. She came in to see how it was going with the newly opened yet very busy establishment. "So, how are things going? Any difficulties?" she asked Haley as she was pouring in a cappucino for a customer.
"Everything's going exeptionally well actually. Who knew that a new business could get so full in its first week?" Haley smiled. No one actually realised that it was true. There weren't that many new businesses that did so well as the one she was managing at the moment. "I think I'm lucky to be managing this place. It saves me the time cause I don't have to go out and promote. I'm lazy like that." Karen looked at the young woman with a big grin on her face. She know it was true. They'd been very fortunate of having a steady group of customers coming in and out practically every day. "So, are you ready for the reunion?" Karen wanted to know. Karen looked towards Haley while she was doing her round through the business. "Do I even look remotely ready? If I do than I give big props to me because I'm not planning on going in this outfit." Another smile appeared on her face. "That is, if I'm actually going."
Karen looked at the young girl wondering. "Why wouldn't you wanna go, it could be fun seeing your friends again. I mean, how long has it been?"
"Too long, I actually wouldn't know what to say to them."
At that very moment, Haley got a phonecall. When she looked at the screen, she noticed it was Lucas calling from New York. "Talking about having not spoken to someone in quite some time, here's a perfect example of it." Said the young lady jokingly. She picked up the phone. "Well, Well, Well. Lucas Eugene Scott. What? Oh, yeah, if you wanna go to the reunion than I'm coming. Oh you are? Wait, Lindsey's your girlfriend ánd your boss? How's that working out for ya? The two of you are coming tomorrow, really? Okay then, see you tomorrow! Keep safe. Love ya, bye bye."
"So I guess Lucas is coming home tomorrow?" Karen said as she was hoping her son would finally return home. "Yeah, and he's bringing his girlfriend." Haley waited for a bit to build up the tension in Karen's mind. Who would Lucas bring home? "Lindsey." Haley said plainly.
Chapter II The big meet Next Morning, Wilmington AirportWhen Lucas and Lindsey flew in, Karen really had to run towards the gathering area, where travellers and their families can meet eachother. If it weren't for that traffic jam she just came out of, she wouldn't have to run. She didn't even have propper time to buy him a present. She really wanted to buy him a present after 3 long years of absense. She was ecstatic. Her son was coming home!
As soon as Karen saw the happy couple, she rushed over to them giving her son a big hug. A little embarressed by the entire situation, Lucas soon loosened grip and made a gesture that he wanted to propperly introduce Lindsey to his mother. "Mom, this is Lindsey, my editor." "Just your editor, or...?" Karen said, hoping for a little bit more information. "Hi, I'm Lindsey, his girlfriend." Before Lindsey shook Karens hand, she nugged Lucas on the arm for still not introducing her propperly.
"What? You didn't let me finish. I wanted to say: Mom, this is Lindsey, my editor... and girlfriend." The young man smiled as he was thinking about what just happened. Did he really make up an excuse for forgetting a small little detail? Then, Lucas noticed Haley. She was in the car with Karen and her son, she just didn't run as fast as Karen did, because she was holding her son in her arms. She didn't wanna loose him.
"If it isn't Mrs. Scott! Come here you!" Lucas said while hugging Haley. "And who's this? It can't be Jamie. Jamie's just a little boy." Lucas gestured in disbelief in order to challenge Jamie. "Hi Uncle Look, I've missed you." That was the only thing the young boy could say before planting his small arms around Lucas' shoulders. He was happy his uncle was back. But he was also very tired. A statement made pretty obvious when Lucas tried to get up. Jamie was tangled around his shoulder, fast asleep. "Well, easy for me. You hold him so my back can get itself together again." He heard a voice say. Judging the tone, it was Haley whom he couldn't see because of the toddler around his neck. "So, any news from the homefront?" He asked. Since he hadn't been home in quite a while, he figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. "The only people I speak to practically every day are Nathan, Bevin and Skills. Did you know they got married two months ago?" he heard the same voice saying. "Nope I didn't. I don't even think I got an invitation." Lucas was pretty questioned by that last statement. Skills and him had always been pretty good friends and now, he wasn't even invited to their wedding. "Oh, no one was actually. Just her and his family. They wanted to keep it as small as possible. They said they were gonna throw a party someday, when every one of us was available." It sounded very thrustworthy so he assumed either Bevin or Skills told her about it. "So, are you guys coming with us, to the coffee house?" His mother was still shaking on top of her feet. "Yeah sure, if you'll have us." Lindsey joked in the back.
Eventhough a lot had to be talked about, the ride home was quite quiet.
Debs Den, after the car rideThere was something different about the place. It was actually crouded. It was only 7 AM when Karen, Haley and Jamie left earlier that morning and they hadn't seen all the people entering the business. And apperantly, all the previous Tree Hill High Students heeded the calling with the same idea because everyone was there. Bevin, Skills, Rachel, Nathan, Brooke who was with Owen, even Shelly and Mouth were there! All were very busy conversing about their whereabouts for the past 5 years so they didn't notice the small group coming into the café immediatly. "Haley, Oh my God, look at you!" Brooke practically screamed as she saw the foursome. After that, everyone started hugging everyone. Brooke even hugged Lucas. The man she had a very harsh breakup with not more than a year ago. Eventhough things were a little awekward, they still loved eachother. It was only because Lucas had fallen for Lindsey that they had broken up, again. At that point, someone in the room started yelling pretty hard. "Hey Bevin, I heard you got married. Now how did that happen." It was Rachel. Eventhough her leaving Tree Hill was nothing more than a certainty 5 years ago, she had still missed her friend and confidant. "And you're a brunette now. Wow! There's something new." "Well, it kinda sorta happened. There isn't really a reason. It just kinda..naturally evolved."
Everyone was looking towards the newlyweds. After they had some time to let everything sink in a bit, they hugged Bevin and Skills again to congratulate them on their wedding.
It was at that time that Brooke noticed Rachel again. The two had been close friends from basically the middle of their senior year. Rachel even took the blame for Brooke's cheating on the calculus test. Only now, Brooke looked at Rachel with different eyes. She never thought about Rachel the way she did now. She saw a pretty young woman, but Rachel had always been a pretty young woman. Then why did it seem as if Brooke's feelings towards her had shifted a little?
Rachel noticed Brooke's pondering. They walked a little bit closer, towards eachother and just when it was time for them to begin a conversation, they both looked up. There was a fumble in the back. "Owen, what are you doing here?" Lucas also turned away from his conversation as it was Lindsey who obviously knew Owen, Brookes travel buddy. "Lindsey? Wow. I didn't expect to see you here!" A quick reply from Owen. Brooke interrupted the scene. "Wait, you two know eachother?"
"Yeah, we do actually, we sorta...we're kinda. Lindsey's my ex. We broke up after High School." A shockwave went through Debs Den. How on earth could it be possible that Lucas' current girlfriend, and Lucas' ex Brookes friend knew eachother? Karen broke the silence as she brought forth a couple of Mocca Lattes, Coffees, cappucinos and other sorts of cafeine holding beverages.
As the day went on, and the group had gotten used to the fact that Owen and Lindsey knew eachother the conversations went more and more about more recent things. The college conversations had ended just because there was nothing more to talk about. Rachel had gone on and got a degree in Photography. Bevin was a childrens psychologist. Brooke went on to fashion school and got her fashion business started. Shelly was now the propper owner of a business degree while mouth was a licensed sports announcer.
Bevin and skills bought everyone a couple of rounds, since they hadn't had a wedding party yet. While a help at the café was coming around with the next round, Rachel couldn't help but noticing her best friend and her new husband who didn't pay any regards to the actual audience. They kept on snuggeling, kissing and whispering words in eachothers ears. Then Bevin directed herself towards her friend. "So, Rachel, tell me... how've you been in these past years?" "I've been doing so-and-so" the redhead said truthfully. "You know what they say about what goes up."
"Things that go up always come down eventually?" Bevin just guessed it. She didn't really know what people said about things that go up. But to her, that was the most logical answer.
"Yup. My modelling carreer went up, then I hit rock bottom due to a small Marihuana issue, and now I'm okay again." Rachel explained her question.
"So, you were on drugs... and now you aren't anymore. Right?"
"Yeah. I did the whole rehab thing and now I just got back from a new assignment. If you ask me, give me jobs over drugs, really!"
"Rachel." Bevin interrupted her friend.
"Yeah?" "You're preaching." Bevin had a smile on her face. It'd been a long time since she'd seen her friend so she was quite happy.
Brooke noticed her two close friends were in a conversation and decided to join them. After all, Bevin wasn't the only one who hadn't seen anyone in 5 years.
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