Chapter Seven:
This Is Our Town
Cause
this is our town
This is who we're meant to be
This is our
town
Where our roots have grown so deep
All I ask is that
you'll be here
When I return
-We The Kings
xxxxx
Brooke laughed and shook her head in disapproval as Rachel told her about how she was leaving with some guy she'd just met an hour ago. Brooke was well aware of her fiery friend's promiscuous side, part of the reason she had taken an immediate dislike to the girl, but she had learned to get used to it. This was who Rachel was, and she'd settle when the right guy game along.
This new guy was a blonde; blue eyes, nice physique, from what Rachel had said. He was an American here on business. Brooke laughed at the irony, a brief thought that it might be Lucas crossed her mind, but he was far off in Tree Hill.
"So, where is this guy anyway?" Brooke asked Rachel, curious to see him before they took off and did "it" all night.
"He was right behind me a couple minutes ago," Rachel said, scanning the crowed, before her eyes landed on someone. She pointed to where she was staring. "Right there! That's him, in the blue shirt." She told Brooke excitedly.
Brooke laughed, looking up in the direction that Rachel was looking towards, looking for the blonde haired, blue eyed, blue shirted boy. Her eyes landed on him. She couldn't believe it. Her mouth shot wide open, he was looking straight at her. She felt her blood begin to boil and knew she had to get out of there. She then turned back to Rachel.
"Have fun Rachel. I'm feeling kind of sick, so I'm just going to head back to my apartment." She told a very confused Rachel. Turning back to where Peyton, Skills, and Jake stood, with their heads down, she glared at them. Owen and Rebecca seemed to be really engrossed in a conversation with each other; she didn't even bother to tell him she was leaving.
She grabbed her purse and made her way out of the club, exiting from the far door so Peyton or Rachel wouldn't be able to find her. She began walking as fast as she could down the semi-crowded streets. It was chilly, and all she had on was a short dress, but she didn't care. Brooke wanted to get as far away from Lucas Scott as she could, she could not believe Jake, Skills, and probably Peyton had all lied to her about it. He was the scum of the earth as far as she was concerned, and one of the reasons Brooke had moved to Italy was so that she would never have to see him again.
"Brooke! Brooke!" she heard a familiar voice calling her name.
It was Lucas. What was he doing? She continued walking, as fast as she could, but she could hear his footsteps catching up to her. Brooke contemplated running, but decided that it wouldn't be a smart idea, seeing as she was wearing heels, and would probably end up with a broken leg. She felt a hand grab her arm and spin her around.
She was face to face with Lucas Scott.
"What the hell Lucas!" Brooke said, yanking her arm out of his grasp and glaring at him, he didn't say anything though; he just looked down at her, with an unreadable expression on his face.
Brooke felt herself tense up a bit, but she told herself to relax. Taking a good look at Lucas, she realized that as much as she hated to say it, he looked pretty good. His hair was a bit longer than it had been before, but a good length, not too long. He had grown some facial hair too, but again, not too much. A perfect balance. He had his arms in his pockets and was just looking down at her.
"Well?" Brooke asked, rolling her eyes. "Say whatever was so important that you chased me three blocks down to say."
"Well, to be honest I'm not really sure why I came after you," he shrugged, which made Brooke even madder.
"Alright, not that that's settled, I'm going home." She replied, turning around and about to walk away.
"Typical Brooke Davis fashion, isn't it? Running away when the going gets tough." He said, a smirk on his face.
"I'm not, and never have run away from any of my problems." She turned back around, furiously responding to him.
"You're right," he told her. "I mean, after that benefit when I told you we were getting divorced, you just decided it would be fun to go to Italy and never come back." He replied, in his most sarcastic tone.
"Shut up Lucas, and stop spinning that crap! I didn't run away from anything, you embarrassed me infront of everyone I cared about, anyone I talked to in Tree Hill, you were a jackass then, and you obviously still are," she was almost screaming now, but she didn't care, the anger inside her head built up for almost two years now, and she needed to get it out.
xxxxx
He knew she was mad. Mad wasn't the word, she was furious. She had been screaming at him for ten minutes straight, but he could barely register half the things she was saying, he was just staring at her, fascinated. She looked amazing, this was not the Brooke Davis he had married. She was confident, and feisty, and she looked hot as hell, standing there, hair in her face, cheeks flushed.
"So don't tell me that I'm running away from my problems Lucas! Because we all know that you are an insecure piece of trash. Boo-hoo, you know you've never lived up to your parents expectations, and Nathan has gone above and beyond, and that kills you." She told him, smirking slightly.
Now he was furious. He moved closer to her, their noses almost touching now, and saw a flash of fear in her eyes, but it was gone seconds later.
"You know nothing about me, you stuck up little-" he started, but she cut him off.
"Oh, must've hit a nerve." Brooke said, with some fake giggles.
Lucas had never hit a woman before, he might sleep with more than he could count, but he drew the line there. Today, he wanted to hit Brooke Davis, but he wasn't all that surprised at himself. She made him want to do things that were completely against his morals.
"What's all this Brooke?" he said, pointing down at her outfit, her shoes, and even up at her hair and make up. "Do you really think that dressing up in hot outfits and dabbing your face with powder, is going to change who you really are?"
Brooke was now silent, and Lucas knew that he had hit a nerve.
"Face it, Brooke. You are the exact same as you were back in Tree Hill. You're stuck up, boring, stuffy, and any guy would still rather talk to wall paper then to you." He dug the knife a little deeper.
"Shut up, Lucas" she replied back in a bitter tone.
"You know I'm right Brooke. I mean, look at your date in there, he was chatting up Rebecca, and you were three feet away. Face it-" he was cut off when Brooke's hand collided with his cheek, he grabbed a hold of his face where she had slapped him.
"You bitch!" he screamed.
"I forgot to give you that in Tree Hill." She said, before turning around and walking away.
He hated her. He hated Brooke Davis more than he'd ever hated anyone in his entire life. She was a psychotic freak, and he wished that he hadn't chased after her tonight. The way she thought that she knew him so well, Italy had made her cocky. As angry as he was, he had to admit, she had been right about a few things, but he had no idea how she knew, they'd never had a heart-to-heart, and he surely hadn't ever let down his guard and allowed her to see his insecurities.
He began walking back over to the club, but as he was walking back, he heard a voice behind the bushes, it sounded a lot like-
"Jake! You're stepping on my foot." Peyton squeaked.
"Rachel, get off me," Skills said loudly.
Lucas turned around and walked behind the bush, surely enough, there they were. Jake, Peyton, Skills, and Rachel, all standing there, guilty expressions on their faces. They had obviously heard the confrontation between Brooke and him, because if looks could kill, Lucas would be ten feet under with the looks Peyton and Rachel were sending his way.
"Asshole." Peyton pushed past him, walking in the direction Brooke had just gone in.
"I can't believe I was going to sleep with you! Scum." Rachel added, as she followed Peyton.
xxxxx
Brooke was back at the apartment, in her pajamas, watching re-runs of "The O.C." when Peyton came in, a small apologetic smile playing at her lips.
"Save it Pey, I'm not mad." Brooke told her, almost reading her mind.
"But I do have to apologize Brooke, I shouldn't have lied to you, I just didn't want all of [i]that[/i] to happen." Peyton told her, sitting down beside her on the couch.
"Thanks for looking out for me," Brooke whispered.
"Anytime. So, how are you?" she asked.
Brooke shrugged, not really sure how she was.
"I'm fine, I guess. I mean it's Lucas; I'm not surprised. Just some of the stuff he said, it got to me." She told her.
"I know, I'm sorry." Peyton responded, enveloping her best friend with a huge hug.
"But enough about me, how was your night?"
"Well, JAKE was there! You saw him, and I don't know, I mean, he looks really good, but he had a girl with him.." Peyton started, and Brooke rolled her eyes, knowing this would be a long night, she'd had enough of them in high school, but she didn't mind, and so she listened to Peyton go on and on about Jake, happy that she always had her best friend.
xxxxx
