Chapter 4: Tryouts for the heart
The cheer squad was stretching, meanwhile on the court more and more guys were shooting hoops trying to get ready for the tryouts. "Damn P. Sawyer that new guy's hot." Brooke said standing next to Peyton. "I guess." Peyton replied grinning a bit at her friend's remark. "I guess, I guess?! Common Peyton, he's 6.10 has a great body and beautiful eyes." "How do you know if he has beautiful eyes?" "I talked to him during lunch and it was kind of hard not to notice them." Brooke said with a smirk on her face.
As if he heard the two girls talking about him, Bart turned around and looked at the two girls. Without even thinking, Peyton waved to him gently. Bart blushed and waved back at her. Peyton couldn't help but to blush too.
"Oh my God, you like him don't you Peyton." Brooke said intrigued. "I don't know." Peyton replied shyly." Brooke gave her a disbelieving look. "Ok, so I like him and he is indeed unbelievably hot." Brooke screamed out a sound of excitement. "He likes you too Peyton, I can tell, did you see him blush after you waved at him." "I don't know Brooke, maybe I should take it easy." "Are you still not over the whole Jake thing, so you said I love you Lucas in your sleep, that means nothing. You just as well could have said; I love you Justin Timberlake!" "Brooke, Justin Timberlake?" " Well maybe not Justin but one of those rock band guys you like."
"It's just; I love Lucas, Brooke but like a brother. You know that. I confused that with romantic feelings at the beginning, which was just my mind playing tricks on me. It just hurt when Jake couldn't accept that." "I know Peyton." Brooke said trying to comfort her friend.
"By the way" Peyton said, trying to change the subject "what's up with you and Lucas? Even though you guys broke up there's still this weird vibe thing going on between you. "Honestly Peyton, I don't know. He's been avoiding me all summer and I've pretty much been doing the same." Brooke admitted. "The question is Brooke do you still have feelings for him?" "Off course I still have feelings for him but in all the time we were together I never knew for sure what he felt for me." "Still Brooke you guys should talk, there are clearly some unsolved issues between you two." "I know, I know" as Brooke turned around and got in her bitchy captain of the cheerleading squad mode, yelling at the new girls.
Right on cue Whitey blew his whistle meaning that basketball tryouts had officially begun.
"Peyton are you sure you don't need a ride home" Brooke asked compassionately as they stood on the parking lot. "No Brooke that won't be necessary my dad's picking me up after work." "All right, I'll see you tomorrow best friend and say hello to your cute father for me!"
After waiting for 30 minutes Peyton's dad still hadn't shown up, when she got a phone call.
"Hey dad, where are you? What you can't make it? No, its ok I'll see you at home." She hung up her cell phone. "Damn now I have to walk home!" She grunted to herself.
"Hey Peyton, what are you still doing here?" She turned around and saw Bart standing in front of her. "Oh hi, I was waiting for my dad to pick me up but he got caught up at work. Why are you still here?" Peyton asked with a sarcastic tone. "Well first I had to shower and after that Whitey wanted to talk to me about the responsibilities of a student athlete." "Which are?" Peyton asked skeptically, after dating Nathan in the past, she thought that jocks didn't really have that many responsibilities. "Keeping my grades up, showing up for classes and practice, stuff like that."Bart replied. "So you made the team?" "I don't know Whitey was really vague about that, I hope I did! Anyway I could give you a ride if you want?" Bart said hopefully anticipating her answer. "That would be great." Peyton replied. When she said those words Bart felt his heart rate raise. "Ok, my car's over there follow me."
"You've got to be kidding me, this is your ride?!" Peyton said in awe as they approached Bart's car. "Yeah it was a gift from my host parent, get in!" Peyton gladly accepted his offer and got in to the car. When she sat down she couldn't help to start laughing. "What's wrong?" Bart asked embarrassed. Only to see Peyton pointing at the mirror from which fuzzy dice were dangling. "Those are so wrong for this car!" Peyton said in between laughs. "What? I thought they looked cool, they show that the driver has a sense of humor!" Bart replied as he turned his key. "Well they made me laugh, so I guess your theory checks out." Bart felt a grin form on his face as he pulled out of the parking lot.
"Peyton I forgot to tell you, I promised my host I'd pick up some coffee for him. Apparently the espresso machine standing at home isn't good enough. So is there a Starbucks or something around here?" "Well there's Karen's café, it's cheaper and has way better coffee then any Starbucks." Peyton said while she was trying to figure out how to get the radio going. "Ok but you have to give me directions since I don't know my way around town yet." Bart replied as he handed Peyton a manual for the radio with a grin on his face. "Thanks, it's easy just take the second to the left and then the second to the right and then it's about 2 minutes down the street. Now leave me alone so I can get you some music, driving sucks without music." As she opened the manual. "Depends on who you're driving with." Bart couldn't believe that he had just said that. "You know what, your right." Peyton replied, putting the manual away and blushing a bit, she noticed that he was blushing too.
After talking for a while they arrived at Karen's Café. "Care to join me milady?" Bart said taking his keys out of the ignition. "I accept, dear gent." They both laughed and got out of the car.
"Hey Karen." "Oh, hey Peyton, who's your friend?" Karen asked as she saw a tall young man standing next to Peyton. "Sorry, Karen - Bart, Bart – Karen, Lucas's mom." "Nice to meet you Mrs. Scott." Bart said politely. Karen and Peyton both chuckled. Bart stood there confused as he saw both women laugh. "I'm sorry Bart, you couldn't know, me and Lucas's father aren't together anymore, just call me Karen!"
"So what did your host wanted you to pick up." Peyton asked Bart. "Andy said something about a cappuccino with extra foam. "You're staying with Andy, Andy Hargrove?" Karen asked. Bart nodded. "Hm, how's he doing?" "Fine, and he's been really nice, made me feel right at home." Bart answered sincerely. "Tell him I said hi." "Sure." Bart replied. "Mental note, make sure to ask Andy how he knows Karen." Bart thought to himself while paying Karen. They both said Bye to Karen and left the café.
Peyton unbuckled her seatbelt when they drove up her driveway. "Thanks for the ride Bart." "Anytime Peyton." Peyton walked towards her front door until she heard Bart shout out of the car window. "Peyton I've got to ask you something, Whitey's posting the name's of the players who made the team outside of the gym on Friday. Would you mind going with me to check if my name's on it? For moral support! "Sure I'll go with you." She saw him smile. "Thanks Peyton" he said as he turned the car radio on. "I thought you didn't know how your radio worked?" "I never said that, but it was cute to see you fondling with the buttons." Bart replied teasingly and pulling out of her drive way. He waved to her and drove off.
Peyton walked trough her front door, as soon as it shut behind her. She felt like butterflies where about to burst open her stomach. It was a feeling she had never felt before, not even with Jake. She smiled and hopped up the stairs to her room.
"Hey P. Sawyer you look happy." Brooke said with a smile on her face as she saw Peyton hop into her room. "Brooke, what are you doing here?" Peyton asked surprised and embarrassed "Well your hot dad called, telling me that he couldn't pick you up, he asked me if I could go and get you. When I arrived at school you where gone, so I decided to check your house but on the way over here I saw you walk into Karen's café with that hot foreign guy. I decided to wait here so I could get all the juicy details." Brooke was now grinning from ear to ear anxiously awaiting her friend's response. Peyton knew that she couldn't fool Brooke so she decided to tell everything that had happened.
"And that's pretty much it" Peyton said with her head still in the clouds "Brooke he was just so nice and funny, I think I'm falling in love!" Peyton shyly admitted. "Peyton that's great, I'm so happy for you." The girls hugged. "You know what this means don't you?" "No, what?" Peyton asked. "I've got to arrange you guys for a real date!" Brooke said with an almost psycho obsessed smile on her face. Peyton sighted, she knew that there was nothing she could say to change Brooke's mind.