Chapter 13
I don't want to give away anything but… expect twist(s). lol
After a long flight the six of us finally arrive back in New York City. As soon as we're all out of security and grabbing our luggage we all start heading for the gate to get out… but only, we're stopped by a mob of photographers and paparazzi. This is going to be hell. I guess it wasn't smart that all 6 of us were here out in the open.
"this is ridiculous" I say to Peyton as we try to push our way through with the help of security. But it's not exactly easy to see when there's a flash from a camera every half a second.
"Haley! Are you and Peyton dating?" a photographer asks. Are he kidding me? First of all she's so not my type, second of all she's my boss, and of course there's the ever popular, 'I'm already taken' reason.
"no" Peyton and I reply at the same time, probably making it worse.
"how do all of you know each other?" another person asks as we still rush to get outside.
"we went to high school together" Nathan says and sparks more interest in us.
"are any of you dating each other?" another guy asks.
"I think that's enough" Brooke comments and we ignore any other questions. Great, now we have to talk about this when we get home.
As soon as we get outside we hail a couple of cabs for us to take. I'm about to get in a car with Brooke and Nathan when Peyton stops me.
"hold up there, buddy" she says as she grabs my arm and pulls me to the other car. "you're going in this car, with me"
"what? Why? I want to ride with Brooke."
"'cause if you go with Brooke you're going to be late to the studios, and I need to hear your song asap."
"oh come on, just cause we're riding in the same car doesn't mean we're going to run away all day" though that does sound nice.
"nice try, but Brooke and Rachel are going to go back to Brooke's place to get cleaned up then they're going to work. Then Nate and Luke are getting dropped off at your house" Peyton says.
"… well, can I at least say good bye to Brooke?"
"fine" Peyton says reluctantly. I manage to break her grip on my arm and skip back to the car.
"hey babe, your so called best friend is making me go in another car. I'll see you later, right?"
"aw. Alright, why don't you stop by my place later so we can just be alone, kay?"
"or you could just stop by my place" I offer.
"I could… but then we would have Nathan and Lucas witnessing our every kiss"
"hm, good point" I say with a smile. I look around and notice relatively no photographers and quickly lean in for a peck on the lips. "bye Brookie"
"bye tutor-girl" she says with her own little dreamy smile back. I go back to the other cab where I see Peyton, Lucas and Nathan already waiting for me with the door open.
I get into the car silently, knowing they all saw me kiss Brooke goodbye. We start driving towards my apartment, trying to avoid the topic.
"well aren't you two just so cute" Lucas says with a smirk making Peyton start laughing.
"shut up" I say pushing him playfully.
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We've been back in the studio for a few hours now. I showed Peyton my song and she loved it, but for some reason, didn't love it when I was recording it.
"come Haley, I know you can do better than that" Peyton says over the intercom.
"oh come on, I thought that one was pretty good" where's Lucas and Nathan when you need support? Oh yeah, I forgot, they went out to do some guy stuff. What ever that means.
"it was better than last time, but it still sucks" she tells me. All of a sudden I see Chris Keller walk up beside Peyton and press the button on the intercom.
"I think I'd call it 'better than crap'" Chris says with a smile making me smile. We always had this joke when I recorded a song once and he called it crap, I played it again and he called it better than crap. He may be a jack ass, but sometimes he's helpful. That better-than-crap song was one of my top songs.
"hey Chris" I say with a smile as he comes into the sound proof studio with me and gives me a side hug. "what are you doing here?"
"I was recording in the studio down the hall when I was walking by and saw the hot blonde. Do you think I got a chance with that?"
"I can hear you, you know" Peyton says over the speaker system, making Chris and I laugh.
"sorry buddy, she's taken. And don't even try anything"
"that's fine…" he gives in. "but maybe you could hook Chris Keller up with a certain super model friend of yours?"
"stay away from her too" Peyton says through the mic. Chris just throws his hands up in the air for effect.
Before I know it, I have another special visitor to the studio.
"Haley, you got company" Peyton says, forcing me to see who's behind the clear glass with her. I stare for a second and realize it's my sister.
"hey, Tay, come on in" I say waving her in. She enters through the door at the side and gives me a hug too. I'm waiting for her to say something when I see her look up at Chris, and Chris look down at her, then they both look at me. Oh.
"oh, sorry, Taylor, this is Chris Keller, Chris, this is Taylor, my sister"
"ooh, another James" he says in a low tone.
"I, uh, I was on tour with Chris" I tell Taylor.
"ooh, a musician" Taylor matches Chris' tone. Wow, weird.
"so Tay, you here for a reason or are you just trying to pick up slime ball musicians?" I say referring to Chris who just looks at me like I spoiled his game.
"oh right, yeah just wanted to stop by and say hi. So where's Brooke?" she asks knowingly. Oh god, I forgot to tell her.
"right! Sorry. I meant to tell you she and I got back together"
"yeah, way to leave a sister in the dark there. Especially since I helped you get back together"
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. But she's not here, she's at work."
"I guess I'll have to see her later then"
"alright, all those who are not currently working for me, please vacate the recording studio, I repeat, please vacate the recording studio" Peyton says like an automated voice.
"alright, well I guess that means you guys. Sorry"
"that's alright, I was leaving anyways. Don't want to waste Chris Keller's time on a person like you, now do we?" Chris says with a smirk. "but you on the other hand" he says looking at Taylor. Oh god.
I see them walk out of the room and I'm about to start up again when I see Nathan and Lucas come back into the studio.
"break time!" I say to Peyton, with a knowing smile. I take my guitar off and put it down on it's stand as the guys come over to talk to me. "hey boys"
"Hey Hales" they greet me at the same time. Some things never change.
"anybody with the last name Scott better get the hell out of there soon" Peyton says. Wow, she's pretty eager to get this song in.
"what's with her?" Nathan asks.
"nothing. I'm just having a little trouble getting the song recorded the way we want it"
"you mean that song about Brooke?" Lucas asks.
"yeah. I don't know what's wrong with me. When I played it for Brooke the first time it was like it was perfect."
"I think I've got an idea. Hold on" Lucas says as he pulls Nathan to the other room with Peyton in it. I see them talking through the glass and Lucas trying to explain everything. After a lot of hand gestures and head shakes Peyton finally gives in and Lucas walks back into the room, leaving Nathan with Peyton.
He takes his cell phone out and starts dialling a number.
"so what's this plan of yours?" I ask. Before he answers me he turns his phone on speaker phone and holds it for us to hear.
"Brooke Davis' phone, Millicent speaking" Brooke's assistant answers.
"can we talk to Brooke please?" Lucas asks.
"I'm sorry, but she's pretty busy at the moment"
"tell her it's Haley calling" I say grabbing Luke's wrist and bring it closer to my mouth to speak. After some rustling goes on and some mumbling we finally hear Brooke pick up.
"hey babe" she answers casually. She usually answers to me unless she's in a meeting.
"hey sweetie" Lucas answers teasingly before I can say hi. He's just jealous I can get a hold of her and he can't.
"Lucas?"
"yeah, hey, I'm here with Haley in the recording studio, but she seems to have a little problem"
"well, if it's a physical problem you're going to have to wait until I get home later, baby" she says slyly.
"not that" I answer quickly. "I'm just… struggling a little with the right sound of the song" I say into the phone.
"so I was thinking maybe Haley could sing to you, Brooke" Luke says with a smirk.
"alright Hales, let's hear it." She says. Lucas smiles at me as he puts the phone down on the stand in front of me and exits the room to where Peyton and Nathan are. I see the recording light switch on and I know I'm ready.
"okay…" I say softly before I start singing my song.
We do a whole run through of the song and I sing along thinking only of Brooke the entire time. I think about how she's listening in to me right now, and thinking how if she were here she would just be smiling at me the whole way through. I finish my song with a single strum of the chords and there's silence for a moment.
"perfect" Peyton says over the intercom. But I don't care what she thinks. No offence to her.
"and?" I ask, picking up the phone.
"it takes my breath away every time" Brooke says as I see Luke walk through the door again.
"thanks Brooke. It means a lot to me" I say to her. "and you too Luke, thanks" I say giving him a slight hug.
"no problem" he replies as I hand his phone back over. "we'll talk to you later Brooke, thanks for the help"
"any time. Bye" she says and hangs up.
"so now that the song's down… mind if I talk to your client/my best friend?" he asks as he looks over at Peyton.
"20 minutes. Then you're back here" If anyone can get me away from work, it's Lucas. He's sleeping with my boss. Shh. I jump excitedly and we head out the door.
"what about Nathan?"
"he's busy with Peyton" he says and before we can leave we hear Nathan over the intercom.
"clean up in aisle 3" he says jokingly and Lucas and I laugh. That boy is still a little kid at heart. Finally, we head outside and out in the beautiful sunlight. I wonder what this is all about.
We walk down the street a little to a small outside café. We take a seat and order up a couple of coffees and just sit and talk.
"so what's this all about?"
"what do you mean?"
"well, you pull me out of work just so we can talk so I know something's up."
"okay, there's a reason why Nathan's in town with us for a while." I knew it. "and well I was going to do it back in Tree Hill, but the elites were having problems, then before we knew it we had to come to New York for work."
"wait, I'm confused"
"well-"
"-oh my god, you're Haley James!" I hear a girl yell. All of a sudden I see two teenaged girls come over to me with a napkin and pen in hand.
"can we have your autograph?" the other girl asks. I look at Lucas and tell him 'sorry' with my eyes as I smile back at the girls.
"sure" I say and I give them a couple autographs. As soon as they leave I turn back to Lucas to see him still waiting for me to come back. "sorry"
"it's no problem. Actually I'm proud of you for making it this far"
"yeah, yeah let's get on with the reason you're here, before you make me cry"
"okay, so where was I? right, you guys had to come back here for work, but I kind of wanted everyone to be around for it"
"around for what?" I ask and I see Lucas reach into his pocket for something. He pulls out a black velvet ring box and opens it up.
"oh my god" I gasp as I look at the gorgeous ring inside.
"I'm going to ask Peyton to marry me"
"oh Luke!" I yell as I take the box from his hand to get a closer look. "I'm so happy for you" I say getting up to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "wow" I breathe out as we look down at the box.
"what do you think?" he asks.
"I think you're going to marry the girl that you love. Congrats"
"thank you. But she hasn't said yes yet"
"she will" I say with full confidence. "so when are you going to do it?"
"tonight. When we all go out for dinner. So try not to be all cutesy with Brooke. You guys can be the it couple every other night, just not tonight" speaking of Brooke…
"oh! Can I tell Brooke?! Please!" I beg.
"I don't know…" he says reluctantly.
"please Luke, I need to tell her"
"but then that means we have to tell Rachel"
"they're really good at keeping secrets, don't worry!" I say.
He lets out a heavy sigh and looks at the box, then back at me. "alright, but they better not let it slip or it's going to be on your conscience."
"I think I'm okay with that"
After we finished our coffees we left a few dollars on the table and started walking back to the studios.
"I'm proud of you too Luke" I say as I link my arm with his. "I'm glad your life has turned out for the better"
"me too"
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Later that night, before dinner we all told everyone to meet at my place a little early, so that Nathan and I could tell Rachel and Brooke about the plans, while Lucas goes to pick up Peyton. We told them we would meet them there.
Nathan was just putting on a casual suit while I was fixing my make up and putting on my dress when we heard a knock at the door.
"it's open" I yell, and I soon I see Rachel and Brooke walk in, in their own nice dresses.
"hello?" I hear Brooke's voice.
"hey, come on in" I say poking my head out of my room, as I try to put my earrings on.
"so tell me why we had to get so dressed up?" Brooke asks as she an Rachel walk into my room and takes a seat on my bed, waiting for me to get ready.
"okay, so Lucas came by the studio today and we went out for some coffee on my break…"
"…and?" Rachel urges me to continue.
"…okay well you can't tell Peyton or anything… but he's going to propose to her tonight!"
"oh my god!" they both yell at the same time.
"no wonder he came to New York!" Rachel says.
"this is huge!" Brooke says, standing up. "I can't believe our little Peyton is going to get married!"
"oh yeah, and we're on strict orders not to be all cute and romantic tonight. Apparently, they're the 'it' couple tonight" I say.
"what? We're not that cute and romantic" Brooke says.
"actually you kind of are. Sometimes I feel like we're on the L word or something" Rachel butts in.
"uh, guys, I think you need to see this" Nathan says from the living room. We all give each other a puzzled look before exiting the room to see Nathan standing a few feet away from the TV. He's watching one of those celebrity gossip shows, like E! or something.
"and the latest news is Haley James was proposed to earlier today by long time friend Lucas Scott, a novelist out of small town Tree Hill." The show pauses for a second to show clips of Lucas and I at coffee, him with the velvet box in his hands, me with my face lighting up, me jumping up to hug him and give him a kiss on the cheek, and of course us leaving together – arm in arm. Yeah, okay that does look pretty bad. "We knew something was up with Haley, but we didn't think it was that serious. Well congrats Haley, you snagged yourself a fine man. Coming up next, see what Britney did this time…" I turn the TV off then look back at the 3 people in the room, staring back at me.
"okay, this is bad" I say.