She's late.
She's never late. And Haley can't help but wonder what's been going on with her best friend as she delays the steak dinner she made another 10 minutes. Lucas, Nathan, Peyton, and Jamie sit at the dining room table.
"I think you should move back to Brooke's, just for a little." Lucas says to Peyton after 15 minutes of silence at the table.
"What? Lucas, why?" Peyton asks.
"Just for a little Peyt. I mean, she seems…different. Maybe she's not taking the 'you moving out' thing so well. I think she needs her best friend."
"Yeah, I guess." Peyton starts, getting cut off by the front door slamming.
There's an overwhelming tightness in her head when Brooke realizes everyone is staring at her.
"Hey." She says quickly and quietly. "There was, um, traffic."
Lucas knows there's no traffic in Tree Hill.
You talk too much, maybe that your way of breaking up the silence, that fills you up.
A little while later, they all sit around the table eating Haley's slightly cold food.
"Lucas and I are moving back in Brooke." Peyton says casually and both Brooke and Lucas's faces register shock.
"What?" Lucas says. "Peyton, that's not what I meant."
"You said she needed help." Peyton whispers. "Well now she'll have twice the help."
"No, Peyton really, I'm fine. I don't need you guys to move back in. Go be a happy family." Brooke insists warmly.
Peyton has their stuff packed the next day.
"I really don't get why I'm here." Lucas mumbles as he drops the last box.
"Because I need you here." Peyton replies. " I don't want you out there in your own house alone when we're supposed to be engaged Lucas."
Later on as Lucas showers away the sweat and dirt from the day's events, Brooke barges into the bathroom.
"Brooke!" Lucas says, turning around to face the wall of the shower instead of the clear, slightly steamed up glass door.
"What?" She says, grabbing her toothbrush. "This is my house."
"So, I'm not the one who insisted I move in. Plus you use to barge into my bathroom all the time when we lived together."
Yeah, but that was for a different reason." She laughs, and the sound is foreign to her. "Anyway, it's not like I've never seen you naked. Actually, I've seen you naked dozens of times." She states, even though she know exactly how many times she's seen him.
"Well." Lucas starts, slightly blushing as he shampoos his hair. "That was a long time ago. Which means you obviously think about it a lot if you remember so well."
"Shut up." She says, grabbing his towel off the rack and walking out.
"Brooke? Brooke!" He yells. "She totally just wants to see me naked again." He laughs to himself.
Maybe this thing won't be so bad, she seems happier when she has company. He likes to make her happy.
There's never any place, for someone like me to be totally happy. And I'm running out of clock but that ain't a shock. Some things never do change.
He watches her later, sleeping on the couch, Project Runway on in the background. Her t-s shirt rides up and he can see the handprint on her stomach and the giant bruise coming around from her back. He's mad. At himself, for not saving her like he promised. At Peyton, for not realizing the truth. At the guy who did this to her.
He sits down next to her on the couch and she moves to put her head on his pajama-clad lap. He stokes her hair and her soft skin, wishing he knew what to do.
"Luke?" She mumbles, eyes still closed.
"Yeah?"
"Do you still love me? Now that I'm ugly?"
"You'll never be ugly. And even if you were, I'd still love you. I guess I'll always love you.
"Good." She mumbles, nestling her head further into his lap. "Me too."
I'm so sorry about not updating. I've been super busy with school and stuff, but I'm trying to update this again and 'Fever' by Monday. Review please!