When The Sky Comes Crashing Down

Hey you guys. So I've been sick at home all day, and though it was a perfect time for an UD, I'm not exactly sure how well written it is. It took me almost as long to find good lyrics then to write the chapter...lols. But anyway, here it is. I think the lyrics go pretty well.

Oh and by the way, one of you actually predicted what I have been planning to write. haha...you'll see. Anyway, enjoy!

Go ahead and waste your days with thinking
When you fall everyone stands
Another day and you've had your fill of sinking
With the life held in your
Hands are shaking cold
These hands are meant to hold

It wasn't until about nine thirty when people started arriving at the party. Of course, Tim was there extra early, but Rachel didn't bother unlocking the door for him, so he was left looking like an idiot with a keg on the front steps.

Brooke was already on her third drink when people came pouring through the front doors. Her vision was a little fuzzy but she could clearly make out Nathan as he arrived around ten, from her perch on the kitchen stool. She also spotted Bevin and Skillz stop by, arm in arm, and she had to let herself smile a bit in spite of them. She could already hear the music pounding through the speakers, and she put a hand to her forehead as she found the loud noise to give her a headache.

Rachel was nowhere to be found. Knowing her, she was probably upstairs, with her bra already halfway done. But that wasn't Brooke's style. She would scout the room, tease all the guys, and wait to go upstairs until she was too drunk to barely even make out the hand of the guy she was leading.

Too many guys to count had already made a pass at her that evening, but she had brushed them all off, still continuing to down her drinks. She wondered to herself if one could become an alcoholic at such a young age. She wouldn't be surprised if she was in rehab by 20, or dead by 21 from a DWI accident. It was ironic, really. Just last year she had made a breakthrough at Tree Hill High after announcing her DW not I program, and yet she had already been picked up 3 times from some party or another by one of the drivers she had hired for the program.

She had gone a full 20 minutes without taking a sip of what was currently in her red cup. Then Peyton and Lucas emerged. Peyton in her punk-rock boots, jeans and concert t-shirt, and Lucas in his black-button down shirt. The one that brought out his eyes. Brooke's favorite. So with a sigh, she tipped her head back and let the liquid burn down her throat.

Speak to me
When all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you do

Peyton was saying something to him but he couldn't hear her. He couldn't hear the music either. Basically all of his senses had been rerouted once he spotted Brooke on that stool. It really struck him the worst tonight of how badly he was still hung up on her. She looked bored out of her mind, leaning over the counter, and still she looked gorgeous. On her feet she wore gold stiletto heels and she had on a black miniskirt with a red halter-top. Her hair had grown alarmingly fast over the past month and was hanging in soft, loose waves down to the middle of her back.

"Lucas? Hello?" Peyton snapped her fingers in front of his face and brought him out of his daze.

"Wh-what?" he asked, giving one last glance at Brooke before turning his attention back to Peyton.

"The Strokes concert? Are we going?" Obviously this is what she had been rambling on about for the past few minutes.

"Oh, the one next weekend? Yeah, sure."

Peyton smiled. "Let's go get a drink," she said, pulling him down the hallway.

And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through
Move along

Surprisingly, he was having a good time. He didn't think he would be – he figured he would be worried about Haley the whole time. But surprisingly, Haley wasn't at the top of his mind for once. He was having fun relaxing and cooling off, slowly slipping back into that old carefree feeling he used to get at big parties.

He told himself he wasn't going to drink, but that didn't last long. All Skillz had to do was shout "Nathan, dawg! Jello shots!" and it was all over for his night of staying sober. Besides, when would he have the chance to do jello shots again?

It was around the 5th shot that the nausea caught on and a couple drinks later when he became a little less functional, and his vision a little blurrier. He found himself sitting in a chair by the pool being chatted up by some junior girl.

A ringing interrupted her jabbering. Nathan checked the caller I.D. Haley.

"Booty call?" Asked the girl with a smirk.

"My wife, actually," he responded. The girl backed off after that, and Nathan stood up to head inside, shutting his phone down to vibrate.

So a day when you've lost yourself completely
Could be a night when your life ends

She wasn't sending off this guy. After all, it was Brett Claywell, captain of the soccer team. Brooke wasn't one to brush off a captain of anything. There was the time she was drunk enough to hit on the captain of the girls volleyball team, and she even slept with the captain of the boys fencing team. And Brett Claywell wasn't a modest choice for her. At 6'3" with shaggy dirty-blonde hair and green eyes, he was nearly irresistible.

"So Brooke, care to dance?" he asked with the smirk she knew all to well from looks across the classroom or soccer field.

She returned the smile. "Here's the thing, Brett. I am really not in the mood to have sex tonight." She saw his smile falter a bit and his eyes flicker for a fraction of a second. "So if that's all you're looking for from me, you're wasting your time."

Brett let out a little bit of a light laugh. "What, you think that's all I do? Sleep around? If I recall, all I asked you to do was dance with me." He held out his hand.

And, surprising herself, Brooke let herself take it.

"Nathan, what are you doing?" Peyton and Lucas emerged in the kitchen to find Nathan slumped up against the fridge, drinking whiskey straight from the bottle.

"Peyton! And if it isn't my brother, Lucas." Nathan poked Lucas in the chest and let out a burp. "How is my brother doing on this fine, fine day? Here to make some more accusations?"

"How much have you had to drink Nathan?" asked Peyton in disgust, yanking the bottle from his hands and pouring the remainder of it down the drain.

"What's it to you?" he asked defensively. Then he let out a giggle and pulled his vibrating phone out of his pocket. "That tickles," he said, throwing it onto the counter.

"Is that Haley?" Lucas had an edge in his voice.

"None of your business," responded Nathan

"Well considering it's his sister-in-law and your wife, who you love very much, I'd say it is his business," said Peyton, jumping in.

"You mean like how you love Lucas?" Nathan asked with a laugh.

The room got very quiet. "What?" asked Lucas, as if he hadn't heard his brother correctly.

"You heard me. Yeah, I heard Brooke and Haley about it the other day. No wonder Brooke broke up with you," Nathan slurred.

Lucas turned to look at Peyton, but she was already gone, pushing her way through the crowd.


Such a heart that will lead you to deceiving
All the pain held in your
Hands are shaking cold
Your hands are mine to hold

They were dancing very closely. Brett's hand was snaking down her back and Brooke could feel his hot breath on her neck. She tried to block out her senses, get past the nausea and claustrophobia she was feeling, pressed up against him as they moved to the music.

It was two songs later before she managed to push away and mumble that she needed a drink. Brett seemed to understand, and offered for her to sit down while he got her one. She was slightly disoriented so she didn't object, even though, after the date-rape experience with Peyton junior-year she had vowed never to let a guy make her a drink out of her line of vision.

He returned a few minutes later, pushing his way through the crowd with a smile on his face, green eyes dancing. He sat down next to her, and handed her the drink. Gratefully she downed it in just one sip. She saw his eyes flicker again.

Rachel entered the kitchen to find Nathan slumped in a chair.

"Didn't think parties were Nathan Scott's style anymore," she said with a smirk, as she grabbed a glass from the cabinet. "But then again, I guess they aren't, seeing as you're alone in the kitchen, rather than outside socializing.

"They don't deserve the presence of Nathan Scott," he slurred.

"Oh god, you're drunk," she said with a sigh. "I thought Haley would have put some self-restraint into you."

"Haley. I miss Haley," he said with a sad smile.

Rachel peered at his cell phone, which was buzzing on the table. "Wow, five missed calls, three voicemails, all from Haley James Scott. Looks like you miss her too."

"I'm a terrible husband. I'm going to be a terrible father, he said, banging his head on the table.

Rachel rolled her eyes at his dramatics. "Ok, listen," she said, moving to the coffee maker and flipping the switch. "I'm never this nice so consider yourself lucky. I'm going to call DW not I and have them come pick you up, and in the meantime, make you a cup of coffee so you can at least sober up a little bit for your pregnant wife."

"I don't need your help," responded Nathan with a grumble.

"Trust me," she said from the other side of the kitchen. "You need my help."

Speak to me
when all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you do

Only after ten minutes did she realize that the drink had just made things worse. Her motor functions were slowly dwindling and her vision was even blurrier than it had been earlier that evening. She felt Brett's presence once again by her side. His hand was draped across her shoulder and he spoke up in a soft voice. "How you feeling?"

She didn't respond, just shrugged his hand away.

"How about I take you upstairs?"

"I told you Brett," she said, pushing his hand off her thigh. "I'm not sleeping with you."

"I never asked you too. I was just going to let you rest," he said with a whisper in her ear.

She felt herself being pulled out of her chair, and then across the room. Once in the hallway, he began to be a little more forceful as he pushed her to the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Rachel pass between rooms and give Brooke a wink. Brooke tried to open her mouth and call to Rachel that she needed help, but she was much too out of it to let the words out.

And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through
Move along

He found her up in one of the many bedrooms, drinking out of a flask.

"Lucky flask?" he asked with a nervous laugh.

Peyton turned to him and dropped the flask. "Lucas, um, hi."

"Hi."

There was a short and awkward pause.

"So, is it true?"

Her automatic setting would be to say no, and to deny the whole thing. But truthfully, she was sick of holding everything in. Lucas and Brooke were over. The only thing keeping Peyton from saying anything was the ultimate fear if being shut down. Besides the initial betrayal of the, though currently over, long friendship with Brooke.

"It's true." She let the words slide out of her mouth before she could stop them.

Lucas sat down on the bed. Too much was rushing through his mind at that moment to string together any comprehendible sentence.

"And you don't have to say anything," she said, sitting down next to him and facing him. "In fact, it's probably easier if you just let me talk." She took a deep breath. "Look, Luke. I know you still love Brooke. It's obvious that you do and initially I didn't tell you how I felt because of her. I don't know why this is happening. My best bet is because you're the guy who's always saving me. You saved me from that college guy, junior year. You saved me during the school shooting. And you saved me from Derrick, or whatever his name is. I can't explain it. All I know is that I'm in love with you. And what I've been wondering over the past few months, is where us really went. I mean, we were so hung up on each other junior year. And somehow that just disappeared. You and Brooke gave it a 2nd chance. Maybe we should too."

It was one of the longest silences either had ever experienced. Then he spoke up in a raspy voice. "I don't know what happened to us either."

Peyton gave a small smile, and did the 2nd risky thing that night. She leaned in and kissed him. And he kissed her back.

It was about three seconds before Lucas began screaming at himself inside his head. What was he doing? Flashes of him and Peyton entered his mind. And then, amidst the images, there came one of him and Brooke, and he abruptly pulled away.

Peyton opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off by a muffled sound from the next room over. Automatically, Lucas moved to the door and listened.

The sound came again. Only this time, they could both hear it clearly. "Seriously Brett, stop it." It was a soft and tired cry emitted by a very familiar voice.

Lucas pushed open the adjacent rooms door. He was met by the sight of a half-dressed, very out-of it Brooke, halfheartedly trying to push Brett Claywell off of her.

Anger rose in Lucas' throat. Enraged by a blind fury, he grabbed Brett by the collar and delivered a punch right to his jaw. The soccer star stumbled backwards into the dresser. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Lucas, punching Brett in the stomach and then once more in the face.

Peyton rushed in and was kneeling over Brooke. Her skirt was still on, but her shirt and shoes were gone, leaving Brooke in her bra. She was crying, but almost immediately passed out against Peyton's shoulder.

"Shit," said Peyton, pulling Brooke's shirt back on over her head.

"Is she out?" asked Lucas, kneeling down next to the two girls, clutching a pack of pills in his hand.

All Peyton could do was nod. Lucas scooped Brooke up into his arms, and, giving unconscious Brett one last kick, left the room. Peyton scrambled after him, and couldn't help thinking how Lucas was always the one to save girls from the date-rape drug.

When all you got to keep is strong
Move along, move along like I know you to
And even when your hope is gone
Move along, move along just to make it through

Please review!

Song: Move Along / The All-American Rejects