Chapter Two
"So
is my hearing failing me or did I seriously hear that my best friend
went to a party last night?"
"Don't
be so shocked Hales," Lucas says looking over at her in the hallway
as he places some of his books in his locker. "Besides it's by
time one of us checked out the popular scene."
"I
suppose, but it's just kind of weird to hear people talking about
you so much."
"People
are talking about me?"
"Yes,"
Haley says spotting Brooke watching them. "Apparently at least
part of what they're saying is right too."
"What
do you mean?"
"I
mean the fact that Brooke is looking over here must mean that what I
heard about you following her upstairs to her room is true."
"Well
technically I never went in her room," he says making sure not to
look over where Brooke's standing as he closes his locker.
Starting off down the hallway side by side, Haley looks over at him
to see what he's thinking before she opens her mouth to talk.
"Nathan
stepped in before than I'm supposing."
"You
would be right about that."
"He's
just worried about you Luke," she says knowing the reason why he's
trying to avoid eye contact with Brooke is because he knows that
Nathan probably will find out about anything he does at this point.
Naturally he thought, the peons would go tell their leader about any
developing news on the matter. "It's not like Brooke Davis is
exactly the best person for you or even me to be hanging around.
Nate's just looking out for you."
"Yeah,
but Hales he won't let me do hardly anything without making sure
that nothing will happen to me. Heck, I'm surprised he let me out
of his sight at that party for as long as he did. Just because I was
supposed to be a twin and our little sister died shortly after birth
doesn't mean that he has to look after me as much as he does.
Don't get me wrong I didn't mind it when we were younger, but
nowadays it just gets tiring. I can't do anything without him
sticking his nose in and trying to be the overprotective older
brother."
"You
have to understand though that from his point of view he lost a
sibling, and he doesn't want to loose another. That's why he's
so protective."
"Sorry
to ask this Hales," Lucas says turning to face her. "But whose
best friend are you, mine or his?"
"Yours,
but I was just explaining it to you bud."
"Really
because I could swear that you sounded like you were his."
"Luke,"
Haley says as he takes off down the hallway in a manner that told her
that she shouldn't follow him unless she wanted to make him
angrier. Looking around to see if anyone is watching she starts to
head off to her class after realizing that everyone in the hallway
was looking at her. At least she could escape from their stares at
least a little when she went to class she thought.
"Are
you looking for a ride?"
"Nate's
supposed to be giving me one," Lucas says searching the parking lot
for a sign of Nathan or his car.
"He
must have forgotten, I saw him take off with the guys earlier."
"I
know coach split the practice into two halves for today, but I didn't
think Nate would forget to stick around until the second half was
done."
"I'm
sure he's just use to the two of you getting out at the same time.
No biggie," Brooke says giving him a smile. "I can give you a
ride home."
"Thanks,
at least someone cares about me."
"Hey
dawg, you don't look too good. Is something wrong?"
"Oh,
Luke's just mad at me because I made it sound like I was taking
Nate's side too much."
"Speaking
of which, it looks like something's wrong," Skills says as he
spots Nathan heading towards them.
"Have
either one of you seen Luke lately?"
"Considering
that he hasn't been speaking to me since the end of lunch, I think
not."
"I'm
of no help either. I haven't seen him since this morning,"
Skills says looking a little worried. "Even at that we couldn't
talk that long because the bell was about to ring."
"Hey,
I thought you were taking me home," Lucas says as they go past the
street she should be turning up to get to his house. "I might not
be old enough to drive yet, but I am old enough to know by now that
you were supposed to turn onto that last street."
"No
one ever said that I had to take you straight home."
Upon
hearing that Lucas knew that Nathan was going to be pissed when he
finally did get home. The only way his older brother isn't going
to be pissed, he thought, is if somehow he could manage to get home
before Nathan did. He knew that was as likely as a cow actually
jumping over the moon though, especially considering how worried and
overprotective Nathan usually was.
"Man,
what up? You look all stressed out."
"Tim…,"
Nathan starts to say something, but doesn't feel like wasting his
breathe. Instead he decides to just cut to the chase. "I can't
find Lucas, and I'm supposed to be giving him a ride home."
"I
just thought that maybe you finally pawned the responsibility onto
someone else."
"Like
who? None of his friends are old enough to drive."
"Actually,"
Tim says looking over at Nathan. "One of them is."
"See,
now was that as scary as you thought it would be?"
"No,"
Lucas says looking down at her on the bed. "It helped that you
were talking me through it."
"Don't
fell bad, I was nervous my first time too."
"I
guess I'm not that strange then."
"You're
far from strange," Brooke says as they both hear some noise coming
from downstairs. Looking around the room nervous Lucas only sees his
clothes. "Just give me your jacket."
"Are
you sure that'll be enough, I mean what if it's one of your
parents?"
"Please
it's too early for my parents to be coming home. You should make
sure you're fully clothed though. At least that way it doesn't
look as bad."
Hurrying
to get dressed, Lucas hears footsteps coming up the stairs. Then
just as he was about ready to pull his shirt over his head he hears
them coming to the door. Hearing the doorknob turn, he hurried to
pull his shirt down over his head. Smoothing it out a little as the
door opened, he felt Brooke leaning up against him.
"Just
what I thought," Nathan says coming into the room. "Get your
butt out to the car now."
Looking
back at Brooke, Lucas looks torn. "I'll give it back to you
during school tomorrow." Nodding, Lucas turns and heads out of the
bedroom before Nathan gets even angrier.
