Chapter Four: Coming To Terms
"He hasn't even talked to her for a whole week!" Corrie exclaimed. She was sitting in the sandbox, playing with CJ. "How am I supposed to get a mommy if he won't even say hello to her?"
"Maybe you should make him talk to her." CJ suggested, like it was the simplest thing to do.
"You can't force people to talk to each other CJ. It's just...no." she replied with a shake of her head. Corrie scooped up some sand, dropping it into a bright yellow pail.
"Why doesn't he talk to her?"
"I don't know...maybe he just doesn't want me to have a mommy." she said with a shrug. CJ scooted closer to Corrie, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.
"Of course he wants you to have a mommy...maybe he's just scared?"
"Scared of what?" she asked quietly.
"Scared that she won't like him back?"
"I hope your right..." she said, smiling appreciatively at him. She had hung out with CJ practically every day for the past week, and she now saw him as her best friend.
"Hey yo Corrie!" She glanced up as she heard a familiar voice call her name.
"Uncle Nathan!" she exclaimed, jumping up and running into his arms. "Where's daddy?" she questioned, pulling back from their hug so she could look him in the eye.
"He had a little business meeting so he asked me to pick you up. Is that alright?"
"Yes!! You can help me!" she said excitedly, already planning things in her head.
"Help you with what?"
"Daddy likes Ms. Sawyer...but he won't talk to her...and I want her to be my new mommy." Nathan chuckled softly at her matter-of-fact attitude, and nodded his head.
"Alright...so how am I supposed to help?"
"I don't know! Aren't you supposed to know everything? You always say you're a ladies man..." she said, crossing her arms.
"I am a ladies man!" he argued in his defense.
"Than prove it, and go get Ms. Sawyer to make my daddy talk to her." she demanded.
"Alright, alright. I'll go." he said, putting her down and raising his hands in defeat.
"Thank you uncle Nathan." she said sweetly before racing back to CJ. "Come on...we have to go listen!" she told him, grabbing his arm.
"Listen to what?" he questioned, letting her pull him along.
"Shh!" she whispered, pointing over at Peyton and Nathan.
"You must be Peyton. I'm Nathan Scott, Lucas' brother." he said with a smile, holding his hand out to her. Peyton returned his smile and shook his hand.
"Nice to meet you." She wasn't sure why he was deciding to talk to her, and she had no clue what to say.
"This might sound really weird but, what are you doing tonight?"
"Are you asking me out?" she questioned a bit surprised.
"Not exactly..." he said, trailing off. "This was just a spur of the moment idea...why don't you have dinner with Corrie and Lucas tonight?"
"I'm pretty sure Lucas doesn't want me anywhere near him." she replied. "And I know for a fact he wouldn't approve of you setting us up."
"Lucas tends to close himself off sometimes...since he lost Brooke he's been a lot more, cautious with his heart, a lot more closed off you know?" he said with a shrug. "He just needs a little push, a lot of help."
"He hasn't said two words to me for a week...he hates me."
"My daddy doesn't hate you!" Corrie exclaimed from her spot near them. Peyton quickly looked over at her and sighed softly. She didn't know that Corrie had been listening in. "Please, please, please come to dinner." Peyton glared at Nathan and looked back at Corrie.
"Alright...I'll come to dinner."
"Yay!!" Corrie exclaimed excitedly, jumping up and wrapped her arms around Peyton's waist. "My daddy will be so excited!" She ran back to CJ, to tell him the good news herself.
"He's going to be so mad." Peyton said, turning her attention back to Nathan.
"I'll take all the blame, don't worry about it. Besides, did you see how excited Corrie was? How could he be mad when your making his little girl ridiculously happy?" Peyton smiled softly and nodded her head.
"Fine. But if he refuses to speak to me the entire night I blame you." she warned him.
"You won't regret this, I promise. You have their address right?" Nathan said. He was pretty sure he remembered his dad turning in an emergency contact form that had all the information on it.
"Yeah. When should I show up?"
"Around 7. Bring some wine or something." he suggested. "Thank you." Nathan smiled at her before turning and getting Corrie, they had some work to do.
"What are you gonna tell daddy?" Corrie asked as they walked to the car.
"I'll figure something out. Don't you worry about it."
--
Nathan walked around the living room, making sure the place was reasonably tidy. He was mumbling to himself, trying to figure out exactly what he was going to say to Lucas.
"You can't avoid her forever...this is your chance to be with someone, to give Corrie a mother...I know you, and I know you're excited about this...shit." he muttered, running a hand through his hair.
"That's a quarter!" Corrie said, crossing her arms and looking at Nathan.
"Sorry..." he said sheepishly. He had forgotten about the whole, swears cost a quarter, thing he started with her. "All I have is a dollar. Got any change?"
"Nope." she took the dollar and grinned at him. "When is daddy getting home? I already got dressed and everything!"
"He should be home soon...I think his meeting ran a little late."
"He's not gonna have enough time to make dinner!" she exclaimed.
"I'll help your daddy get the food ready if he needs help...it'll be fine." Nathan's head turned when he heard the door open. "Now go make sure all the rooms are nice and neat while I talk to your daddy." Corrie nodded and ran into the kitchen, not wanting to be around for the conversation.
"Sorry I'm late...there was major traffic." Lucas said apologetically, dropping his briefcase on the couch. "Whoa, this place is clean...what's the occasion?" he asked. His house never looked this clean, and Nathan never cleaned unless it was for something big.
"Well, uh, Peyton's coming over for dinner." he mumbled, not looking at Lucas.
"Excuse me? Who's coming over for dinner?" Lucas questioned.
"Oh just Peyton."
"Peyton Sawyer?!" he exclaimed, running a hand over his face. "Oh god."
"Take a deep breath...this is a good thing Luke."
"No it's not! I've been doing so good ignoring her...this ruins everything." he replied, sitting down on the couch.
"Oh yeah, speaking of ignoring her...why?" he questioned, crossing his arms.
"She pities me..." he replied quietly. "I told her my story and now she feels bad for me. I didn't want that!"
"Did she say flat out she pitied you? Because I'm not understanding how you landed on that conclusion."
"She was all apologetic and stuff. All 'I'm sorry's' and 'that must have been rough for you.' I don't need her pity."
"That's not what I'd call pity, Luke. That's being genuinely sorry for your loss. What else did you expect her to say? 'Well that sucks for you?' Now, Corrie loves Peyton, alright? So stop ignoring her, push your goddamn pride aside, and be a man. I know you love Brooke but you gotta let her go, you have to move on sooner or later." Lucas sighed softly and nodded his head. Nathan was right, as much as Lucas hated to admit it.
"I don't know if I can..."
"Dude, you practically had sex with her in a bar. Hell, you had sex with her! I'm pretty sure you can." he said, making sure he kept his voice quiet so Corrie wouldn't hear.
"Okay." he said with a nod. "I can do this."
"That's what I like to hear!" Nathan said, patting him on the back.
"But how do I explain completely ignoring her?"
"Simple. You tell her the truth." Lucas couldn't believe that Peyton would be in his house again, after he had acted like she didn't exist for a week.
"So what's for dinner?"
"I don't know...what are you making?" he asked.
"You're serious?" he questioned, receiving a nod from Nathan. "Okay, you need to go make sure Corrie's alright. Tell her to sit in the kitchen and wait for me. I have to go get changed." Lucas told him, walking upstairs and loosening his tie. He had already been pretty harsh to Peyton, and he wanted tonight to go well. He put on a pair of beige pants and a polo shirt; he had to look nice, but not like he was trying too hard. "God I feel like a chick." he mumbled, shaking his head. He wasn't supposed to obsess over his looks, he had to cook an entire dinner before she got there. Lucas put on some cologne and fixed his hair before heading back downstairs into the kitchen. "Corrie, did you have something to do with uncle Nathan asking Peyton to come over?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Kinda..." she said, a soft smile spreading over her features. "It was all uncle Nathan's idea to have dinner with her though!"
"Way to throw me under the bus kid!" Nathan called before he walked into the kitchen. "Listen, I gotta get going, Rachel just called and we...have to do some taxes." he said with a smirk. "Good luck with tonight, have fun." he told Lucas. "You too Cor. I'll see you later."
"Have fun doing your taxes uncle Nathan!" she exclaimed with a smile, waving as he walked out of the kitchen.
"Oh I will." And with that he left.
"Now I have to make dinner, why don't you go play for a bit?" Lucas suggested.
"Okay daddy...but if you need help, I'll be right in my room." she reminded him before skipping towards the stairs. Lucas smiled softly as his daughter left. She was definitely a cute kid. He snapped his mind back to the dinner. He had to prepare a meal, and he wasn't even sure how much time he had until she got there. He had some steak medallions, and those were Corrie's favorite. Steak and vegetables was going to have to do. If he had had more advanced notice he would have whipped up something better, but oh well. He started whipping the meal together, he was pretty much finished when he heard the doorbell ring. Lucas wiped his hands off on a clean towel and walked to the door, giving himself a little pep talk in his head. 'You can do this...just have a nice dinner, put Corrie to bed, tell Peyton the truth. Simple as that.' He pulled open the door, and was stunned. She looked amazing.
"Hi." she said with a soft smile, a bit cautious. She wasn't exactly sure what reaction she would receive.
"Hi." he replied quietly, taking in every detail. "Come in." he added, stepping aside.
"Thanks. I brought you this." Peyton handed him the bottle of champagne once she was standing inside his home.
"Thank you. I'll open this right now." He led the way into the kitchen, hearing the stairs creak as Corrie ran down them.
"Hi Ms. Sawyer!" she said excitedly. "Wow...your dress is so pretty."
"Thank you. Your dress is very pretty too." she replied with a smile.
"Daddy, do you like Ms. Sawyer's dress?" she asked him sweetly.
"Uhh, yeah. She looks beautiful." he replied, his eyes locking with Peyton's. She tried not to blush. He had been ignoring her, she wasn't going to let his cutesy comments win out over her anger. Corrie smiled proudly and walked over to Ms. Sawyer.
"I'll bring you to the dining room. You can sit down, I'll help daddy with the food." she said, pulling Peyton gently into the dining room. Peyton was going to insist that she help, but kept her mouth shut. If they wanted to be nice and do everything, she would let them. She sat down, placing the napkin on her lap and looking around the room. Pictures of Lucas and Corrie covered the walls, Peyton figured there weren't any of his wife considering the circumstances. "Dinner is served." Corrie said with a wide grin as they walked back into the room. They set the food down on the table and sat down. This was kind of weird for Peyton, but she was looking forward to the dinner, and to see what Lucas had to say. Corrie sat down at the head of the table, Lucas sat directly across from Peyton.
"It's uh, steak and green beans with mashed potatoes." he told her, hoping the food turned out okay. "I hope it's alright...I'm usually a great chef but I had to kind of rush to make it." he added, apologizing in advance.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." she replied reassuringly. Corrie smiled as she watched her dad and Peyton making 'googly eyes' at each other. Her plan was working, and after dinner, she would push them closer together. She wanted a new mommy, and she wanted Ms. Sawyer to be her. If things went well tonight, she figured she would get a new mommy in no time.
A/N: Voilaa. Chapter 4! I've already started working on chapter 5 so it should be up by the middle of next week. Thank you all for reviewing my story, it's truly appreciated. Keep on keeping on! The title is a song by Carolina Liar, they are an amazing band, if you haven't heard of them you should definitely look em up!!