Thanks for all the amazing reviews for the first chapter!
Chapter Two: So Pour Me Out Like Water
Brooke and Haley looked at everything but each other as they stood awkwardly in Haley's living room. They both knew that one of them had to speak at some point and it had been easier before when they could pay attention to James rather than discuss the subject at hand.
Haley knew that Brooke wanted to know the reasons why her marriage fell to pieces just as much as she wanted to know exactly what had brought her former maid of honor to her doorstep in distress. It was simply a question of who would answer first.
"Do you have any wine?" Brooke asked suddenly. Haley was startled by the request but managed a small nod.
"In the kitchen. I'll get it." She told her and shuffled off towards the kitchen. Haley was not a big wine drinker. It didn't take much to make her feel tipsy and she really didn't enjoy the taste. The only reason she had a few bottles at home was because they were gifts from her neighbor whose kid Haley had babysat on New Year's Eve last year. Haley had obviously not had any plans other than to stay inside with James and watch the ball drop on TV; plus there had been a documentary on The Discovery Channel on killer bees that she'd been interested in watching. Besides, they made use of the wine bottle holders that had come with the kitchen she and Nathan had refitted ten months before he filed for divorce.
She pulled out a bottle of strawberry flavored champagne and hoped that it would be nice enough for Brooke. Haley knew that the champagne wasn't expensive and that the circles that Brooke ran in were probably too refined for some store-bought champagne that probably wasn't even champagne. She found two wine glasses in the back of the cabinet that housed her glassware and washed them out. They hadn't been used since Nathan and Haley's third- and last- wedding anniversary.
"I found this," Haley offered, showing her the bottle. "I hope it's okay."
"It's fine." Brooke nodded politely. Haley poured out half a glass for Brooke and a little less for herself. She didn't intend to drink it but was glad that at least the bottle was out and being used. Brooke gulped down her glass quickly and Haley fought herself not to stare. Instead, she cleared her throat and placed her own glass on the coffee table.
"So… how have you been?" Haley asked.
"Like crap." Brooke replied bluntly. "Things have just been twisting out of control. I had to get out of California."
"What happened?" Haley was intrigued. Brooke glanced at her, licking her lips and tasting the strawberry champagne that lingered at the back of her throat. Then she shook her head as if whatever happened was too horrible to confess. "You didn't murder anyone, did you?" her friend tentatively asked. Brooke stared at her and then let out a chuckle.
"No, no. Of course not." She replied before burying her head into her hands. "Oh, Haley, I really screwed up." She moaned.
"It can't be that bad. How much did you screw up?"
"A lot. Everything." Brooke shook her head. "I slept with Lucas."
Haley wasn't surprised. In fact, she already knew this. It was pretty common knowledge around their formerly close circle. Last year Brooke and Lucas' seven month long affair was revealed when Peyton tracked him down in California where he'd been meeting up with his former girlfriend. Peyton and Lucas' relationship had already been in trouble from spending their college years breaking up and making up. Haley knew that by the time she and Nathan had gotten divorced, Peyton and Lucas' relationship had been rocky.
When Lucas got an internship working for a publishing house in California, he'd asked Peyton to come with him, but she had been unwilling to move considering she was firmly settled in at her art college in New York. Rather than ending their relationship, they decided to give long-distance a try. Despite the reservations of their friends, the couple had been determined to make it work but time differences, work schedules and being unable to afford flying across the country had its toll.
Lucas hadn't been happy in California. Haley remembered Nathan telling her that soon after she found out about the affair. Though Haley and Nathan were estranged from that point, Nathan had confided in her about the escapades of their friends since he had been the only one to have known. When Lucas had bumped into Brooke somewhere in Northern California, they struck up a friendship which eventually developed into something much more.
What had made the situation worse was the fact that- other than Nathan- Lucas hadn't told Peyton that he had even met up with Brooke. So when Peyton had made the discovery in November, three days before Thanksgiving, all hell had broken loose. Accusations were thrown along with vases and punches. Haley hadn't seen Brooke or heard her side of the story so she only could imagine the apparent black eye that Peyton had given Brooke. Lucas had apparently been begging for forgiveness at Peyton's feet, even clutching onto her legs to stop her from leaving him.
Lucas had spent more than three weeks trying to make it up to Peyton, and he must have mad it a pretty convincing argument because a few days before Christmas, they announced they were moving in together and engaged. Lucas moved back to New York with Peyton and by the sounds of it, they were now stronger than ever.
But everything had been pinned on Brooke. The homewrecker. The seductress. The ex-girlfriend that wormed her way into Lucas' pants behind her best friend's back.
Rumors circulated about it all. That this was Brooke's revenge for Peyton and Lucas cheating on her back in high school. But Haley knew deep inside that Brooke wasn't that kind of person. She couldn't be. She had witnessed it first hand; been there to see her heart broken twice by the same people. Haley knew Brooke could be mean but she wasn't malicious. At least the Brooke she knew four years ago wasn't.
"I know," Haley told her, "last November before their engagement." When Brooke shook her head, the girl was confused.
"No, after that. Before I came here. Last weekend." She confessed.
"Oh, Brooke." Haley was more disappointed than shocked. "Why?" Brooke shrugged.
"I never wanted to be the other woman. Not after what they did to me in high school and then last year. But it was so easy, Haley. I just had to look at him and I wanted to be with him. Part of me thought I could. I mean, I never really truly believed he'd ever choose me over her but he did once before. Maybe he could have done it again."
Haley didn't believe it. She knew deep down that people like that would never change. If Lucas wanted to be with Brooke, he would be. Now divorced she understood that nothing came easily.
"So what happened this time?" she questioned.
"Well, after we broke things off last November, he proposed to her. I was so mad at him and glad that whatever it was we had was over. I was determined not to let him get to me and move on with my life and it kind of was." Her eyes seemed to brighten. "I was seeing this guy; a lawyer, Jeffery Russell. He had the most gorgeous eyes and the best car. You would not believe this car, Haley. It had these tinted windows and rims-"
"Brooke." Haley brought Brooke back to the point.
"Anyway, I was beginning to be happy with how things were," she faltered and looked down at her hands. "And then I saw Lucas in San Francisco and before I knew it, we were in his hotel room and back the way it was. All that anger I felt at him melted away and I just thought 'Yes, this is what happiness is.'"
"Having an affair is happiness?" Haley commented, earning a guilty look from Brooke. "I'm sorry, Brooke." She shook her head. "I'm sorry that you would think that."
"It's my fault, I know. I was kidding myself. Of course he'd choose her. It's always her." She spat the word out bitterly.
"How did you end up here?" was Haley's next question. When Brooke and Lucas had been found out last time, Tree Hill was the last place Brooke would think of coming.
Brooke looked nervous and then embarrassed. "Lucas told me that he was going to break up with Peyton. He was going to go and break up with her and even though I'd heard it a hundred times before, I was convinced. So I went and broke up with my guy and waited for Lucas in the hotel room." Brooke sighed and rubbed her temples. "Haley… I waited for him for two days. I sat there and waited, expecting him to walk through the door with his bags. But he never showed."
Haley could see Brooke's eyes fill with tears at the fresh memory. She handed her a tissue and Brooke dabbed at her eyes. "And that pretty much sums up the most pathetic moment in my life. Sitting in a room and waiting for a guy that probably wasn't worth it. Just as I thought he couldn't break my heart any more, he made me feel like an idiot." Brooke cleared her throat. "So... after emptying out the contents of the mini bar and charging it on his credit card, I was just done with California. I couldn't be there anymore and I just wanted to come home."
"Don't your parents live in Northern California?" Haley said it, not intending to be mean but California was a big state. She was sure that the chances of Brooke and Lucas running into each other again were probably slim. If Brooke needed solace, her parents were there, if not her Californian friends.
"Yeah, but I wanted to come back here. This was my home for eighteen years, my parents being here or not. Plus, you were here. I figured at least I could see you." Brooke replied. "Or you'd want to see me."
Haley paused. "I'm sorry for bitching you out earlier." She said.
"I deserved it." Haley didn't deny that.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm getting better." Brooke nodded but Haley wasn't so sure she was being honest. From the sounds of it, Lucas had hurt her more deeply than before. She knew that the Brooke she knew in high school wouldn't have even spent two hours waiting in that hotel room. "I'm just sorry about not being there for you before."
"It's okay, Brooke. I got through it." Now it was Brooke wondering if Haley was being entirely honest.
"Did you really? Because I just had my heart broken and I wasn't even close to being married to him. I can't imagine what it was like for you and with a kid…" she sighed. "It must have been hell."
"It was two years ago." Haley snapped without meaning to. "I got over it."
"But I should have been there for you."
"Brooke, can you just leave it alone?" the divorcee raised her voice. "I don't mind helping you through your heartbreak but can we not relive mine? Yeah, it hurt that you weren't there. But it doesn't really matter now, does it?"
Brooke was silent. Haley had a point. If things were the other way around, she wouldn't really want to be asked about her painful divorce either. So Brooke didn't reply and the two sat through another long silence before the ex-tutor let out a small sigh.
"I don't mean to snap," she started, "but I don't like to talk about it. I'm not used to having people other than my parents or my sisters in my house and even then it's a rare occasion. It's been me and Jamie here for two years and it's comfortable like that." She explained.
Her friend looked at her sadly. "I know, but Haley, how long has it been since you went out and enjoyed yourself?"
Haley frowned. "Yesterday when I took Jamie to the zoo."
"No, I meant without the baby."
"I'm his mother. I can't wander off on my own when there's a child to take care of."
"Jamie isn't here now."
"Even so…" Haley began, "this isn't about my social life. It's about your love life."
"We're not even going to talk about you?" Brooke seemed a little intimidated by it. "Not even a little?"
"No way," she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Brooke, you came here looking for answers or help or a shoulder or whatever the hell it was."
"I told you my secret; you have to tell me yours. It's only fair."
"There's no secret." Haley chuckled in disbelief.
"Come on, there has to be a reason why you're practically locked up in this house everyday."
"I have a job too, you know. And it keeps me busy four days out of seven – and my son keeps me busy the rest of the time."
"Again," Brooke motioned to the quiet house, "he's not here. You're not busy now."
"Brooke…" Haley began to whine. "Don't do this. Stop trying to put me on the spot. I'm not going to fall for it."
"I'll have to get you drunk then." Brooke topped up her glass of wine and then Haley's, who put a hand over her glass once it went over the half full mark.
"Stop!" Haley warned.
"Haley!" Brooke snapped the girl to attention. "It has been far too long since you've let your hair down. That much is clear. Now you've got the whole weekend free and you also have me. So we are going to drink and laugh and cry because we deserve it. I have four years to make up for and if I can't get you drunk, then I will have failed. You're twenty-three, Miss Haley James. You should be dancing on top of bars and sleeping with men you won't remember in the morning."
"Didn't you already do that in your teens?" Haley eyed warily.
"Yes. And, thank god, I'm pass that phase now. But you are not."
"I don't want to go out."
"A couple more drinks and you will." The brunette pushed the wine glass further towards Haley.
"If I drink this, then I'm not going out." Haley replied. "Brooke, promise me."
"Fine, we'll stay in. But at some point during this weekend, you are getting out and you will be having fun." Brooke raised her glass and Haley reluctantly did too.
"What are we toasting to?" she asked. Brooke thought about it for a moment and shrugged. She tried to remain cool about it but Haley could hear the clear sadness in her voice when she said it.
"To heartbreak."
To Be Continued…
