Thank you for all your kind words, they mean a lot to me. Here's the next chapter, hope you all enjoy! (Oh, and there could be some spelling mistakes, I was kind of tired when I re-read this so, sorry if it bothers you.)
Chapter 10. Hold You In My Arms.
On every normal road trip Brooke would go, she played her favorite CD and sang along with it at the top of her lungs. She did this only, of course, if she was alone in the car, and only if there weren't many cars driving behind or in front of her.
Now, Brooke Davis-Scott was driving in complete silence.
The quietness drove her absolutely insane but still she didn't dare to touch the stereo.
She had to think about things, brood even. Because in about two hours her life could turn completely upside down. It even freaked her out more that she was being so dramatic about it, and she didn't want to become that stupid drama queen again she was during high school.
It felt like she hadn't seen Haley in ages, and her old best friend Peyton even more than that. And in about two hours, she would see them. Both of them, at the same time, at the same place.
What was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to act? She had to think things trough, because if she would be in the state she was in now there was no way she could act calm and collected like she always did.
She never saw Peyton after she'd told Brooke to stay away from her. Of course she saw Haley sometimes.
While she wanted to go grocery shopping because her stupid housekeeper forgot to buy something, she caught Haley peacefully staring at her shopping list, whistling a tune innocently.
Brooke had turned around and waited in her car until she was absolutely positive Haley was gone.
She had seen Haley jogging at seven in the morning, when she herself wanted to go too.
She had caught a glimpse of Haley when she'd hurriedly put some clothing on and ran away trough the backdoor of Lucas' house.
But the last time she'd actually talked to Haley? That must have been at least a decade ago.
A little boy with a red cape carefully tied around his neck was sitting on the edge of the sandbox. His face wore a sore expression, and with his petite arms crossed he looked quite alone.
"Hey little man, are you here all by yourself?"
The boy looked up to see a beautiful brunette staring down at him, a slight smile forming on her lips.
He shrugged, as if saying that he didn't quite know, nor cared.
The woman sat next to him, placing her hands on her knees. "What a nice cape you have there. Do you like to play Superman?"
He shook his head. "No, I want to be Grover. Super Grover. And I wanted a blue cape, but mommy bought me a red one."
"I see. Well, why don't we go and find your mommy, little Grover."
With his eyes going wide, he told her, "I'm not Grover! Grover is blue!"
She laughed. "I know sweetie, but you wanted to be like Super Grover so I thought the nickname little Grover would fit."
As she expected, he didn't really understand what she was saying. "What's a nickname?"
"A nickname is a name of a person other than its proper name. Like, my real name is Brooke, but because I used to be really hyper and bouncy, and old friend of mine called me Tigger. And my other friend had blonde hair, so I called her Goldilocks. Do you understand what I mean?"
Brooke could read from his face that he still didn't, but she had no idea how to explain it more easily.
To her surprise, he replied, "I think so. Can I give you a nickname too?"
"Sure."
"Ok, then my nickname for you is basketball!" He was all excited.
"Basketball?"
"Yeah! I like to play basketball, it's my favorite thing to do besides playing Super Grover, and I kind of like you too so it fits!"
She laughed out loud at this, still fascinated at how a child's mind worked, even though she had a daughter on her own who seemed to be his age.
"That's cute. Now tell me little Grover, why are you here all alone?"
He shrugged again. "My mommy told me that I could only play outside in the yard, but I play there all the time and I really wanted to go to the playground so I came down here on my own."
Before Brooke could say anything, another women ran towards the little boy and hugged him tightly, not noticing Brooke who was standing there.
"Oh Dylan I was so worried about you! You can never ever walk away without telling me, do you hear me?"
When the women looked up to see who her son had been talking to, all the color on her faced seemed to be lost. Brooke's face went pale too.
"Dylan sweetie, why don't you go and play on the slide ok?" And like a good boy, he nodded his head and walked away, his cape rising in the wind.
"Who the fuck do you think you are, talking to my son?"
Brooke put her hands on her hips, her lips forming a thin line and her jaw tightened. "Your son, was here all on his own and I wanted to bring him home, like any good responsible mother would do."
"Don't you dare tell me that I'm a bad mother!"
"I didn't even say such a thing!"
"Whatever. Just stay away from us." She turned her head towards Dylan who was happily playing on the slide, obvious to the adults drama. "Dylan! Come over here, we're going home."
And as Haley dragged the little boy with her, he turned his head and waved at Brooke. "Bye basketball!" He yelled at her, waving his little hand.
Brooke smiled sadly at the thought of the memory still printing in her mind so clearly. Yep, that had been the last time she'd actually talked to Haley.
"Ok, do you have everything with you?"
Jenny wasn't sure what Abigail meant by that. "What do you mean, everything?"
The other girl was grabbing all this stuff and kept walking from one room to another, Jenny right on her heels who had no idea why she was doing all this.
"Well, it's going to be a four hour drive or so…" Abigail stopped as if in deep thought. "… Actually, I'm not quite sure how long it takes us cause it's been awhile since I've been to our beach house."
"Beach house? Are we going to your beach house? Why?"
Abigail finally turned around and faced Jenny, who seemed to be more confused than ever. "Because my mom is there too." She stated simply.
Jenny rolled her eyes at this. "Well, duh. I already knew that. But why exactly are you going to go, while you know your mom doesn't want you to? And more importantly, why do I have to go with you?"
Abigail sighed. "Ok look, first of all: don't ask so many damn questions. Second: I will tell you everything later while we're on the road, ok? Just grab some food and drinks and all the other stuff you need when you're going on a trip."
"But-"
"Just fucking trust me, alright?! It's going to be just fine!" Abigail screamed but quickly calmed down as she saw Jenny's shocked expression. "Sorry, I have anger outbursts sometimes. Anyways, you know Dylan, right?"
"Yeah…" Jenny narrowed her eyes in on her, wondering where she was going with this.
"Well, I think now that you're coming with, he will join us too."
Jenny sighed, giving it all up. This was all just too damn complicated and confusing for her. "Whatever, let's just prepare ourselves."
"Yeah, we don't have much time."
"God, this is going to be a long trip." Jenny mumbled.
They were driving in silence for what seemed hours, but were actually just five minutes, as Jenny broke down.
"Ok, can either one of you tell me what the hell is going on?"
"I would like to know the same thing." Dylan murmured as he glanced next to him at Abigail, who paying close attention to the road.
Jenny was shocked. "You mean, you just agreed to go on an four hour trip without even knowing why?"
"I can think of a few things, but I'm pretty sure Abigail is going to explain all of it right now, right Abigail?"
The brunette sighed. "I guess you guys deserve to know."
Jenny scoffed and rolled her eyes at hearing the lack of enthusiasm in Abigail's voice.
"Well, Dylan and I think that my mom is having an affair with Dylan's dad…"
"-That's what Abigail thinks." Dylan cut her off.
"Right, anyways… I think my mom is now going to our beach house for the weekend, to be with Dylan's dad, and we're going to caught them in the act."
"-Which is completely ridiculous considering my dad was just reading the newspaper at home minutes ago."
Abigail turned her head angrily, "can you just shut your mouth for one fucking second, Dylan?"
Dylan was about to say something but then turned his head and stared out of the window.
"As I was saying, we're going to catch them in the act."
"And this has to do with my family, because?"
"Because as soon as we found out about the two lovely couple, we can ask questions as much of we want and they're going to have to answer honestly. Only because otherwise we're going to tell the whole world about their secret affair."
Dylan laughed out loud at her pathetic idea, and Jenny ignored him, "So you're going to blackmail your own mother?"
Abigail shrugged. "So what, she's a bitch anyways."
"And you don't think your mom would answer your questions without you having to blackmail her?"
"You seriously think she's going to answer my questions about your dad, who I might add, she hates? No way."
Jenny then turned to Dylan. "What about Lucas?"
"What about my dad?"
"Do you think he would answer you honestly when you ask questions like that?"
"I don't want to ask him questions like that because they are completely and utterly ridiculous!"
"They are not!" Abigail screamed once again.
"Yes they are! My dad is now at home, making phone calls because he can't find my mom or something."
Jenny frowned at this. "Your mom is missing?"
"Not missing, she's probably at the mall and forgot to turn on her cellphone or something." Dylan gave Jenny a reassuring smile, but on the inside he was really wondering where the hell his mom could be.
Yes, she liked to spend some time at the mall. Ok, maybe a lot of time, but she would never be gone from early in the morning to this late. She would have called if there was something wrong, right? Or maybe she was out of battery. Or, maybe there really was something going on.
Apparently, Abigail could read his face because a troubled smile played on her lips, saying, "You do think something's wrong with your mom, right Dylan?"
He threw his hands in the air. "I don't fucking know anymore."
"Jeez, our parents are such fuck-ups."
All of them agreed to that.
Brooke sighed deeply.
This was it, this was her beach house. In about one minute she would face her two old friends, who she both hadn't spoken to in years.
Carefully, Brooke opened the door and stepped inside. She could hear voices coming from the kitchen. She closed her eyes for a second, took another deep breath and picked up her pace as walked towards the place.
And then she saw the two of them, one who she recognized immediately, and the other looking nothing like the person she remembered years ago.
She clasped one hand on her mouth, and let out a sob.
Peyton's hair wasn't shiny blonde like it was supposed to be, her eyes didn't have that sparkle, now they had a dark shade and she had huge bangs under her eyes, as if she hadn't slept in weeks. She was thin, undernourished and she looked just downright sick.
Without realizing what she was doing, she threw her arms around the thin figure, hugging it like she would never want to let it go.
"I'm so sorry Peyton, for everything." She whispered.
And for a moment, everything was ok.
To Be Continued.