Chapter 2
The air rushed out of Peyton's lungs as if Brooke had physically drop kicked her. The blond's heart broke even more, which was surprising considering she beleived it to have already be broken beyond repair. Without so much as another breath she fled the place through the side door.
A kind hand gently touched Brooke's arm in reassurance. "Hey are you ok?" Hailey asked looking very concerned.
"Yeah I'll be fine Hailey. I think I just want to sit down for a while." Without arguement Hailey found them a table in the far back corner.
"Um..." Was all Nathan and Lucas could say as they stood there with their jaws almost to the floor. Lindsay was standing with them.
"Here hold this." Lindsay handed her new husband her glass of wine and headed towards the exit Peyton took only moments before.
When the cool air hit Lindsay's face it was refreshing, as it had been beyond hot inside. But her focus wasn't on herself. Her eyes darted everywhere looking for Peyton and found her leaning against the rail looking at the view of Tree Hill on a crystal clear night. Her back was to her and the door and Lindsay could hear the quiet sniffles of the blond. "Hey..." She said softly standing beside her friend.
"I didn't mean for that to happen Linds, you should be in there enjoying your reception." Peyton tried not to sound as broken as she felt.
Hailey had been made aware of the situation from Brooke's point of view, however Lindsay was the person Peyton had confided in. So when Lindsay bore witness to what Brooke had made known to everyone she was beyond concerned for Peyton. "I think maybe it's time now for you to tell Brooke the truth Peyton. Not only does she have a right to know, but you also have a right to not feel the way you have felt for so long."
"I can't Lindsay. She's already broken. I couldn't bare the thought of her being hurt even deeper than she already is."
The night Brooke witnessed what she believed she had witnessed was the worst night of both their lives, but for Peyton it had become the nightmare no one should have to carry. "Look I know how much you care about Brooke, but I also know how different this all would be if she knew everything."
They heard the door behind them open and close. "Oh there's more?" Came a familiar voice, one that was riddled with judgement and distain.
"Hailey don't..." Lindsay turned to face the third woman who had just joined them.
"Lindsay I know this is your day, but maybe you shouldn't be so quick to defend the undefendable." Haily was trying to not take it out on her friend. But seeing Peyton and hearing Lindsay stand up for her was making her teater on the edge of crazy.
"Ok I'm gonna let that slide Hales, only because you have heard clearly one side of this story. But I know you haven't heard both. And more to that end, in every situation there is side A, Side B, and somewhere in the middle the truth. Perhaps we shouldn't be judging anyone at this point. Especially considering they are both our friends."
Hailey was fuming. Her eyes were shooting daggers and she fought to keep her tone in check, but Lindsay could hear the rage in her words. "No, Brooke is my friend. With friends like this one over here, I really don't need any enemies. And how dare you defend her? What if that had have been you and Lucas? What if you had walked in on Lucas screwing his boss or another woman?"
"ENOUGH!" Peyton turned and slammed her hand on the rail. "No one would ever be stupid enough to try and do that to Lucas!" Tears were flying down her cheeks from rage and pain. "And you know what Hailey thank God no one has ever tried doing that to any of you! You can't ever take it back, you can't ever make it go away!" Peyton turned around and left down the stairs. She couldn't stand it anymore. She wanted to defend herself, she wanted to tell everyone the truth. Yet the consequences of doing just that had the potential of being far worse then what they were already.
"Hailey, please stop. She's very broken, and everyone's judgement isn't going to help her."
"Lindsay she claimed to be so inlove with Brooke and quickly falls into bed with her boss?" She threw her hands up as if to say 'what is that?'
"No, that's what Brooke thought she saw."
Hailey was confused for a second. "How can you think you saw your lover in bed having sex with someone else? I think that's a pretty clear picture Linds."
"Actually perception can be quite different from reality. You of all people should know that." Lindsay paused and took a deep breath. "Okay you're my friend and I would like to keep it that way despite current and past events. So I'm tabling this conversation between us, in hopes of keeping it as such. We agree to disagree and move on."
"Yeah, fine, whatever." Hailey agreed, still seething.
They had decided that Brooke was going to commute from New York to L.A., so that Peyton could be in L.A. all the time. The women had rented a lovely loft apartment, decked out in Brooke's tastes. And though Peyton was the one spending most of the time there, she didn't mind. She wanted Brooke to have a place to come home after being away that truly felt like home. Though the brunette would argue home was anywhere Peyton was.
After four weeks in New York dealing with Bitchtoria and an overwhelming work load, Brooke was due home that night. Peyton had been invited out for drinks with her boss, after finding him an amazing artist to sign. The invitation had shocked Peyton, as his usual attitude was very cold and dismissive to her. Mostly because she had morals and absolutely refused to act less then professional or dress anything less then conservative. She took it as a sign that maybe he finally saw her potential and actually wanted to help her advance her career.
"Come on Sawyer, quite looking at the clock. Have one more." John Knight pushed. Peyton had been excited all day knowing her woman was coming home. She thought going out for this drink would distract her, but it wasn't helping.
"I really need to start heading home John." He looked at her.
"Come on, one more?" He coaxed.
"Alright, just give me a second." Peyton got up and headed to the ladies room. She returned moments later to another beer sitting on the bar infront of her seat.
The plane ride had been exhausting, the cab ride from the air port normally was short, that night felt like it took hours. Brooke Davis could not wait to get home and wrap her arms around Peyton. Four weeks was too long. She had missed her so much her chest actually ached. When the cab pulled up outside the front door to her building she all but leapt out with her bag and ran inside.
The elevator arrived and she hit the number 8 and the doors slide open. Brooke began to think what she was going to do when she got inside. Then her thoughts trailed off to Peyton, wondering if she would be home, or if she would be in bed.
After unlocking the door and stepping inside she set down her bag and hung up her coat. She looked in the kitchen, no Peyton. She looked in their dinning living room combo, no Peyton. "Hey Babe I'm home!" She called out. There was no reply, but she heard what she thought was noise coming from the bedroom. She slowly made her way to their huge master sweet. The door was half way open and when she crept her head inside the breath caught in her lungs.
There on THEIR bed, in THEIR room, was Peyton, naked. But she was not alone. There was a man on top of her. He was holding her hands to the bed, and Peyton's eyes were closed and she was moaning. "You needed I real man!" John Knight snickered. Peyton's eyes fought to open, and she caught a glimpse of Brooke. She tried to call out to her but it only came out as a whisper. "Brooke..."
John turned his head to see the horrified brunette and laughed a little. "Stay maybe you can learn a few things!" He taunted.
Tears welled up in Brooke's eyes and she fled the apartment.
The next morning Peyton woke up on her bathroom floor. As she tried to open her eyes everything was fuzzy and she felt like the world was spinning a million miles an hour. She couldn't get up. When she finally got some control and was able to see a little she crawled to her bedroom and fumbled around for her cell phone. It took her the better part of ten minutes but she managed to find Brooke's number, but she wouldn't pick up. She fell back on to the floor and passed out again.
When she came to the second time she felt even worse, but she began having snippets of flash backs from the night before. Her eyes would close and she would see John and that evil smile. She kept seeing Brooke's horrified face. Then she was feeling the physical pain through out her entire body. 'Oh my god!' she thought. It really did happen...And Brooke saw...
A buzzing noise suddenly startled her from her right. After a moment she realized it was her cell and felt around for it. Not even being able to look at the screen to see who it was she answered it. "Brooke?" She said with almost tears in her voice.
"Hey Peyton. It's actually Lindsay." There was a long pause and then she heard Peyton trying to stop sobbing. "Is this a bad time?"
"No..." She sniffed trying to compose herself. Her head hurt so bad it felt like it was literally going to explode. Her body ached in places she never remembered ever feeling pain before.
"Peyton you don't sound good. Do you wanna cancel our lunch date?" She asked. Then suddenly she remembered Lindsay was in town for a few days and she was suppose to meet up with her this afternoon.
Again she starts sobbing but this time Lindsay can tell Peyton is beyond distressed. She chose not to wait for a response and headed to her friend's apartment.
The reception was starting to wind down. It had been several hours since the 'event' in front of everyone. People had begun to leave. Brooke was standing with Lucas, Hailey and Lindsay and they were talking about how nice everything had turned out. "Again I'm really sorry for what happened you guys. That's the last thing you needed tonight." Brooke apologized.
"Hey it's ok. In reality Peyton probably should have just kept her distance." Lucas said. Lindsay shot him a 'HOW DARE YOU' look and his eyes went big as saucers. "What?"
"Lucas I love you, but I cannot handle anymore of this 'it's all on Peyton' mantra. I understand that she hurt you Brooke, and I have empathy for what you saw. BUT I was there the next morning! I saw the after math of what happened. And maybe just maybe if any of you actually knew the TRUTH of what did transpire that night you might not feel the same way."
"Lindsay I was there when it was happening." Brooke protested. "I saw the whole thing with my own eyes."
"You did huh?" She looked at Brooke trying to contain her anger as she knew it wasn't Brooke's fault either. "Okay for the sake of argument. Did you see it all? When they went for drinks? How she tried to keep leaving and he kept coaxing her into one more drink? Did you see when she got home, how he was with her. How she was? What state she was in?" Lindsay watched everyone's faces go from irritated to confused, then thoughtful. "Or here's one and I have known her less time than any of you. When is the last time you have ever known Peyton to be so drunk she blacks out and has very little knowledge of events while intoxicated?"
Suddenly the wheels start turning for them all. "So you're saying she blacked out?" Hailey asked.
Lindsay shook her head. "No, she did not consume enough to black out. She never has." Lindsay ran a hand through her hair and took a breath. "Look it's not my place to speak for her. And she has her reasons for not broadcasting this to any of you even with how you are currently treating her. Not to mention if you did know how you might all treat her better. But I will say this, I have an unfailing amount of respect for her, and how she is handling all this despite your actions. And on a side note, again I picked up the pieces. I took her to the hospital and I was the one who was there and has been there to help her through this." She kissed Lucas on the cheek. "It may be our wedding night, and God knows I love you Lucas Scott. But tonight Peyton needs me more then you do. Call me when you can see the forest through the trees and pull your heads out of your asses."
