Okay.. So here I am again! New month; New update! I hope you guys like it!
Disclaimer: Right… so if you all don't know by now… I don't own One Tree Hill, never have… god I wish I did though…
Chapter 6: One Person To Talk To
As Lucas sat in the driver's seat of his old beat up truck, he peered out his window and watched the moon as it was steadily lowering in preparation for the sun's appearance over the vast horizon. It was 4:37. He repositioned himself, making sure to not move Brooke, whose head was gently placed on his lap. He listened to every breath that she inhaled, and took comfort in the sound of her exhaling. He tucked the blanket tighter around her, ensuring that she'd stay warm.
His knee grazed the set of keys hanging out of the ignition. He noticed his keychain, a small silver cross that his mother had given him a few months back, when he had been given his truck. She, being somewhat religious, said that it was for protection while he was driving. He was sure that her stomach would turn if she knew what its sole purpose was for Lucas; a bottle opener. Lucas chuckled as he let the keychain fall from his fingers, allowing it to chime among the keys it was attached to.
Brooke began to stir in Lucas' lap. The small amount of space in the truck preventing her from shifting in the correct position she wanted to. Her eyes began to flutter. Lucas hadn't realized that he was holding his breath until she had completely risen off of him, and started to rub her eyes.
She looked around, obviously unaware of where she was or what happened earlier that night. Her eyes spotted Lucas and her mouth dropped.
"Wha- What happened? Where am I?" She whimpered. Lucas couldn't help but noticed how much like a child she was in that moment. If she hadn't been so scared, he would have thought she was cute.
Lucas spoke softly and slowly, "The highway was washed out, you lost control of you car."
Brooke's world was spinning, it was hard to keep a focus on one thing. She held a hand to her head, as to ease the pain of the headache she was feeling, and to straighten out the thoughts running through her mind. Lucas Scott. She was in a car with Lucas Scott!
"Okay, so how the hell did I end up in a car with you?" Brooke voice became hard and cold.
Lucas looked at her through confused eyes, had she not realized that he rescued her from a car wreck? "Brooke-"
She stopped him before he could even explain, he was probably going to lie anyway, "You know what I don't even want to know, I'm gone!" She opened the passenger door, jumped out, and began to run in the opposite direction of Lucas' truck; directly towards the beach.
Lucas lifted one of his hands and began to scratch the back of his head and whispered to himself, "What the hell just happened?"
Chris took a left at the intersection and continued his search for Brooke. Haley and himself had been driving around for three hours and so far, there had been no sign of Brooke. They had spent most of the drive talking. He knew that she needed to get her mind off worrying for Brooke, so he asked her questions about her childhood. Thankfully, it seemed to have worked because, twenty minutes into their conversation, she whad begun to laugh.
She told him that when she 8 years old, she put a dead frog in her 'ex-boyfriend's' locker because he had held hands with another girl in their class. She also said that she had always wanted to be a teacher, and that was the reason why she started at the tutoring center. He also began to open up to her as well. He admitted that his biggest dream was to become a rock star; to travel the country and just enjoy himself while playing the music he loved so much. He had expected her to laugh at him, like everyone else, but she didn't. She said it was great that he was dreaming big, and that he should pursue it with all that he had in him.
He was so happy with the conversation he had with her. He felt like she could be the one person he could be completely honest with. Although maybe the one thing he should have been completely honest with her about was how much his best friend, Nathan Scott, was into her. He couldn't bring himself to do it.
Chris looked at a sleeping Haley by his side, she looked so peaceful. Her head rested against the car door and her arms were folded across her chest. At around 4:00, he could tell that she was exhausted, so he told her to catch some sleep and said that if he saw any sign of Brooke he would wake her up. She reluctantly agreed.
While brushing away a few strands away from her face, he noticed how beautiful she was. He wondered how he had never seen it before, because in that moment, she was undeniable. Was it possible to fall for someone in just three short hours?
Chris' attention was taken away form Haley when he spotted a car in the distance. It was just like the one Haley had described to him. He continued to drive until he pulled up next to it. It didn't have too much damage, but overall, it didn't look good.
He nudged Haley softly until she began to sit up. When she saw what he had found, she instinctively lifted a hand to her mouth, and with tears forming with every word, she spoke, "Oh god, where is she?"
Brooke's car was empty.
Lucas walked down the deserted beach. He knew that Brooke hadn't found her car, considering that she had run in the opposite direction of where her car lay resting. And just as Lucas suspected, a few meters up the sandy path, sat Brooke Davis, staring at the ocean in front of her. She had her arms wrapped around her knees, pulling them closer to her.
Lucas laughed quietly to himself; his truck had only been parked about 50 meters away to begin with, next to the boardwalk.
"Is this beach taken?" He asked when he finally reached her side.
She didn't even bother to look at him, "There's plenty to go around."
He brushed the sand off his hands after he positioned himself closely next to her.
"I remember…"
"What?" Lucas questioned.
"I remember what happened now, and I'm sorry for freaking out at you. At first I thought that you might have kidnapped me or something."
"Now why would I want to do that? I'm sure you would have been more than willing to come with me on your own free-will." Lucas replied with his famous cocky smirk.
Brooke didn't respond, and it was then that Lucas realized that maybe this wasn't the time for jokes or careless flirting. Something was definitely up with her.
"I'm guessing you pulled me out of the car, so I owe you a thanks," Brooke's words were stiff and blunt, not even holding the slightest hint of emotion.
"You're welcome Brooke, but do you want to tell me how your car ended up in the ditch in the first place?"
"Not really," Brooke scoffed, "but I'm guessing you're not going to take me home until I tell you," She looked him directly in the eye, to which he only smiled, she then turned her head forward to look at the ocean again, "it's simple really. I was drinking and like you said, I lost control of the car."
"I know that I haven't known you very long, but Brooke, you don't seem like the person who would take your car out in the middle of a hurricane after you've been drinking."
'You're right, you don't know me. You don't know what drove me to do this, and you don't even care."
"Who says that I don't care? Tell me what's wrong, Brooke."
Moments of silence passed before Brooke spoke again, her voice weak and fragile.
"They don't know me. Neither of them do. Even after seventeen years, they don't have a clue about who I am." Brooke's eyes never left the ocean in front of her, the waves crashing upon the shore.
"Who doesn't know you, Brooke?" Lucas looked at her with even more concern growing.
"My parents," she let out a small laugh, "If you could even call them that. It was the worst argument we've ever had, mostly because I've never had the courage to stand up to them before. It was horrible."
"What happened?"
Brooke let out a deep breath before continuing, "I was drinking while getting ready for the party and my parents caught me. It's pretty funny how they chose that day to become actual parents. I mean, after seventeen years of not giving a shit about me, they finally decide that they're going to care about what I do. I called them out on it, told them how horrible parents they were, and then practically told them to go to hell."
Lucas noticed that Brooke was shivering in the cool morning's air. She was only wearing thin jacket and jeans. He took off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, to which she gratefully accepted, pulling the jacket tighter around herself. Lucas motioned for Brooke to continue her story, "What did they say?"
"They told me that I was worthless, well my dad did mostly. He said I was never going to be good enough, and that Shane was only with me to get in my 'pants' and that he was probably 'screwing' someone else the whole time we were together."
Lucas suddenly became confused, "Shane?"
Realizing that Lucas had no idea who she was talking about, Brooke knew she had dug herself into a hole. She began to explain, "Shane's my ex-boyfriend, from California. We used to be best friends… since, like kindergarten. We used to talk about anything and everything, and we shared everything together. We were as close as any best friends could be. Then, in high school, we got closer in another way. I think we started going out in April. I had some of the best moments of my life with him. For an entire year, we were inseparable, we had the fairy tale romance. Then, on April 23rd, 11:06 p.m. on a Wednesday night, he sent me an email." Brooke's voice cracked with every word she spoke. Lucas noticed a tear fall down her cheek and land on the breast of his jacket.
"Brooke, if this hurts you, you don't have to tell me." The last thing Luke wanted to do was hurt her more.
She looked at him with tear-stained eyes, "No Luke, I need to do this." He nodded, "The email said that he had found someone else, and that he didn't think it was right that we were 'acting' like friends. He thought we should end it."
"Acting?" Lucas questioned.
"I know. That's what I thought too. I mean, for that entire year, I didn't act once! He was my 'Best Friend' and he was my 'Boyfriend'. I thought everything was fine. After that, we avoided each other in school. We would meet sometimes, and have to face each other in the halls; he seemed like he wasn't even bothered, while my heart was breaking with each glance."
"But you defended him to your father?" Lucas interrupted.
"Yeah, I did. And I'm not sure why I did it. I guess that defending him is easier than accepting the fact that he never really cared about me. The truth is, I know my father's right, and I hate that. I was just another piece of ass to Shane and he got bored with me. It just adds to the many reasons why I'm never good enough. I'm not good enough for my parents and I'm not good enough to be Shane's girlfriend, or even his friend."
"Brooke," Lucas spoke sternly and lifted her chin so that her hazel eyes locked with his blue ones, "Don't ever think that you're not good enough. Shane, he's just an ass. He never knew what he had in front of him, and that is his loss! And as for you're parents, like you said, they don't know you. They don't know the things that are going through you're mind, so don't let them get inside your head."
Brooke smiled, dimples dangerously in full view. She wiped her eyes, "Thanks Lucas."
"No problem," Lucas replied with a smirk, he truly was falling for those dimples. But then again, who wouldn't?
Brooke's eyes once again met the blue ocean. She took in the beautiful crisp scent of the salty ocean. It was a new day, the wind had died away, the birds were singing in the background, and suddenly Brooke realized that things were going to be okay. It was definitely the calm after the storm.
And as Brooke and Lucas sat close together on the beach, they didn't speak; there was an understanding between them. The last ounce of shadow from the night before was chased away as the sun finally appeared over the horizon laid out before them.
Even when you feel like the shadows have consumed your life, sometimes all you need is one person to talk to, to make them all go away.
Okay peeps! There it was! I just couldn't resist putting in those lines from 2.09.. I love that episode (I don't own that either!) Review it please! I hope you liked it.. But review even if you didn't!
And now for the thank yous!
My-Kodak-life - I completely understand what you're saying, and believe me, their drama isn't over yet.
Lynn (justlikebrooke) - Thank you sooooo much! You know I love long reviews just about as much as you do! I love the song too! Its really beautiful and I thought it really suited the chapter. I hope you were okay with the BL interaction in the update, and I hope that I stayed true to the characters.. Because I think that is what I fear the most. Long review again this time I hope:D xoxox
P (TutorGrrl323) - Thank you. I knew you wouldn't like the Chris/Haley… and I know you're gonna want to strangle me after this chapter (if you dont want to already).. But it will come down to Naley … it will just take some time. So hold tight, 'buddy' xo
Kurt - Haha, thanks kurtie! But you know that I can barely understand anything that you write, right? j/k… Thanks for helping me out and reviewing!
Bleeding Crimson Regret, prettygirl33, lilohb, JULESM24, Treenuh, catcat51092, whiters, Brucas2006, Grooviejj-othfan88, Lovepink2much, - Thank you all sooo much for taking the time out to review! They really make my day, and help me to continue writing!
Britt xoxox