STAND BY ME
Brooke Davis
Brooke felt Lucas' lips on hers, and it seemed to her that they had been there forever, lying down on this bed, their bodies turned to each other, doing nothing else but kiss in silence, as if they were trying to make up for all this time they had spent desperately trying to hide and bury their respective feelings.
He broke away from her, and Brooke felt his hand stroking her cheek she shivered, a little impressed by his gaze on her. She didn't know if it was simply her imagination playing tricks on her, but she had noticed that his eyes were a different kind of blue, more intense than usual.
"What's on your mind ?" she murmured him.
She apparently pulled him out of his reverie, for his eyes that had stayed still until now jolted a bit before landing on her. "I'm afraid I'll regret."
Brooke frowned, wondering if she had heard him right. She jerked up, startling him. "Regret what ?" she asked him warily, sitting crossed-legs.
He mimicked her and sat up straight, a slight smile appearing on his lips. "It's not what you think," he told her, apparently amused by her reaction. "I'm just afraid I'll regret not waiting a bit more."
"Waited for what ?"
"For your graduation. In less than two months, you won't be a high-schooler anymore, and only then can our relationship be accepted. Well, maybe not by everyone, but it won't have any consequences on us. But right now..."
Oh, that's what he was talking about. Brooke noticed that she hadn't even thought about that at all, not once since she had entered his room. "You're right. How could I forget that..." she said with a sigh. "I guess we have to forget what just happ..."
"No way," he cut her off, putting a finger on her lips, "I'm not forgetting anything."
"But you just said that..."
"Yeah, I should have waited," he said with a vague gesture, "but I couldn't."
She could feel her cheeks burning, but couldn't help a sigh of relief. For a short moment, she really had thought he was about to tell her they should ignore the past half an hour. "I'm glad you didn't wait," she said with a grin that quickly faded, "but what are we gonna do now ?"
Now that she had come back to reality, her brain was working hard and fast, check-listing all the problems they were bound to confront.
First of all, there was the fact that he was officially his teacher for six more weeks. For ethical reasons, any romantic relationship between them was totally forbidden. If they were found out, Lucas would definitely get fired, and his reputation would be shattered. His publishing house may not even want him anymore...
And there was their age difference. From Brooke's point of view, the four years separating them weren't that big, but she could bet that many people would not agree with her.
"We'll be extra careful." Brooke looked up at him when she heard him, surprised to see him this calm. "And I'll postpone my book's publishing." he said, looking determined.
"Why would you do that ?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because if it comes out in four or five months, and if someone from school reads it and connects the dots to you..." he said, making her guess what would happen. "But if I wait, let's say, until next year, then things will be a little different. Even if you get recognised in the book, we'll tell that we started meeting after summer."
Which made a lot of sense, really, but he seemed to have forgotten one very important detail. "What about Lindsay," she said with a frown, "she'll never wait a whole year just because..."
"She will," he said, apparently convinced.
"When I met her, she seemed in a hurry to publish your book..."
"If I explain everything to her, she'll agree with me. Maybe not right away, but I know I can convince her."
Brooke lowered her gaze, trying her best to hide her scepticism. She hadn't forgotten, far from it, that when Lucas' New Yorker editor had showed up in Tree Hill two months ago, her main intention had been to win him over. And now, he wanted to postpone his book because they were dating, and he seriously thought that Lindsay would be fine with that ?
"What ?" he asked, a hint of impatience in his voice.
"Nothing, it's just that... She clearly had her eyes on you." she said with a shrug.
"That's what's bothering you ?" he said, raising his eyebrows. "Don't worry about that, that was a long time ago, things have changed a lot since then. She even encouraged me to talk to you, you know."
"She did ?"
"She wasn't in love with me, but..." he said, embarrassed. "I think she thought we'd be good together. But I know she'll be thrilled when she knows about us," he concluded with a wide grin.
He was really lucky then, things were definitely not going to be that easy with Nathan. When he would know for them...
Lucas came closer to her and grabbed a hair lock on her shoulder. He started playing with it absent-mindedly. "Six weeks, it's not that long," he murmured, more to himself than to Brooke. "And you're gonna be busy with your finals, so..."
"There's someone I'd like to tell, about us."
"Peyton ?"
"Yeah... I mean no," she corrected, "I wasn't thinking about her. I'm gonna tell her for sure, it's so obvious that I'll tell her that I didn't even..."
"Then who ?" Lucas asked, intrigued.
"Nathan."
Peyton Sawyer
After stepping into the hotel, she slowed her pace down until she was almost dragging her feet, her legs feeling suddenly very heavy.
She had gone from bar to bar with the rest of the girls, celebrating for hours. Peyton had grown tired of their rounds after a while and had mostly wondered how things had turned out for Brooke and Nathan. A little worried about her friends, she had decided to come back to the hotel, accompanied by three other cheerleaders.
As they were crossing the main hall, Peyton slowed down even more and eventually stopped, her eyes fixed on the back of a person who was sitting cross-legged on one of the couches. She saw the girls wander off to the elevator, hesitated for a few seconds on following them, then remembered what she had promised Brooke earlier at lunch.
She walked toward Julian, asking herself what he could be doing there at three am. Once she was standing behind him, she looked over his shoulder and noticed that he was watching on his computer some of the scenes he had shot a few weeks earlier. Peyton held back a smile, thinking of her best friend who had done the exact same thing the night before when she had come down here to read at night.
"Julian ?"
No answer, not even a flinch. She sighed, walked a few steps and turned around to face him, but his eyes didn't budge from his laptop screen and his ears were filled with earphones. An earthquake could have made the whole building collapse, and he still would not have felt a single tremor.
Peyton held out her right hand and from the tip of her fingers, gave a light push on the screen, making it bend forward. Julian finally reacted and looked up at her with a surprised face; he seemed even more startled when he recognised her, and with a sharp move, tugged on his earphones, making them drop on his knees.
"Peyton ?" he asked with a groggy voice. "What are you... What time is it ?"
"Around three," she said, sitting in front of him with his laptop between them. "I went out with the girls to celebrate..."
"Oh, congrats by the way, you definitely deserved it," he said with a shy smile.
"Thanks," she murmured, her eyes drifting away. "We never would have won without you."
"How come ?" he asked her, surprised and confused at the same time.
"Well, yeah," she said on a tad too harsh tone, "I wouldn't have found the music if it wasn't for you."
"Ah, that..." he said with a nod. "I'm sure you would have eventually..."
"That", she said, cutting him off, "is something we'll never know, and it's better this way. Look, that's it, I just thought I owed you a thanks."
She motioned to stand up but stopped when she heard him say, "It wasn't much."
Julian kept his eyes on her, and smiled at her with such a gentle smile that she, she... "Please, don't give me that look", she murmured, her eyes moving to her hands.
"What look ?" he asked, lost.
"The one that says you care about me," she whispered, her voice shaking.
She didn't let him answer and immediately stood up, rushing to the lift.
Lucas Scott
"Nathan ?" He had probably misheard her... "You wanna tell Nathan ?" he repeated nonetheless, just to be sure.
If she really wanted to do that, she was definitely out of her mind. She had to know that the minute she'd tell him everything, he would be in a hurry to tell anyone and everyone about them, preferably people from school.
"I know what you're thinking," she said in a soft, taming voice, "but he's not gonna say anything to anyone."
"Brooke," he said incredulously, "he hates me !"
"And he'll hate me too if we hide this from him," she immediately said. "He'll eventually find out the truth anyway, so we might as well tell him now."
He opened his mouth, with a firm intention to reason with her, but changed his mind when he saw how determined she looked. "It's a terrible idea," he said, his jaw clenched.
Telling him meant handing him out on a silver plate a huge opportunity to get revenge for stealing his ex-girlfriend. Even if technically, Lucas had waited until Nathan had started dating someone else... He still knew that it would matter a lot to him.
"You think he'll be jealous ?" Brooke asked, her tone suddenly hesitant.
Lucas raised an eyebrow, confused as to why she was suddenly feeling uneasy. Her eyes shifty, she looked like she wanted to say something to him, but stayed silent anyway. "You did go out with him for more than two years," he told her, pointing out how he could only be right.
"No," she murmured with a slight frown.
"Fine," he said, rolling his eyes "maybe a little less than that but you can't say that..."
"No," she repeated stubbornly, shaking her head.
Intrigued, he stared at her for a long moment, wondering if she was ever going to tell him what she obviously wanted to so badly. Why was she hesitating that much ? Because it involved Nathan ?
Lucas then remembered all these weird details he had noticed about them. Nothing big really, just an accumulation of several strange moments or words they had said, like that time Nathan had told him that Brooke was like a sister to him. Or when Brooke had completely freaked out when Nathan had kissed her.
A possible explanation for all that had grown in his mind, but it was a little far-fetched, and he hadn't thought of it for a while... No, he couldn't be right about this. Not for so long...
"You weren't really dating ?" he asked her, not believing his own words.
Brooke's eyes rapidly opened wide and she seemed at a loss for words, until she finally said in a murmur, and with an oddly sad grin, "Bingo."
If he hadn't been already sitting, Lucas would have probably staggered. "But why ?" he asked, discomfited. Why would anyone fake a relationship ?
Brooke then started telling him the how and the why. He carefully listened to her until she was done with her story, but wasn't fully convinced by her explanation.
He could get why she had accepted this deal, but Nathan ? And why would he want to draw out this masquerade for so long ?
"But why did he come with that deal ?"
"I just told you, he wanted to get rid of the girls harassing him."
"Yeah, but why did he stay so long with you ?"
"Well..." she said, frowning. "I've never really thought about it, but at first he used to tell me all the time that things were better for him this way."
Contrary to her, Lucas knew something was off... Nathan was definitely keeping something from her. Maybe he had loved her and had wanted to get closer to her ? No, it was way too twisted to be true, and he had clearly told him that she was like a sister to him, so...
What Lucas didn't get was why had Nathan needed a girlfriend. Why Brooke ?
"And nobody knows ?"
"No," she said, shaking her head, "apart from Peyton of course. Oh, and Julian knows too."
"And your parents ?"
Brooke made a face, and told him hesitantly : "You're probably not gonna believe me, but I really wanted to tell my dad. I knew he wouldn't be thrilled, but I still wanted to. But Nathan was sure that if we didn't tell them, it would be easier, they wouldn't risk saying anything to anyone. You know, the less people know, the better. I did tell him that my dad would be careful and that anyway he never met any student, but since Dan is often at school, you know since he's part of the board, he thought it was better not to tell them." Her frown increased, as if she was realising that she was missing part of the puzzle.
"It's weird, though", he said, tilting his head on the side. "Dan is a master of deception, he cheated on my mom and he's probably cheating on Deb from what she says at work. So telling him your secret wouldn't have mattered, I'm pretty sure he would be proud of his son..."
Lucas knew, deep down, that he wasn't far from discovering the truth, that there was a single element missing from this story for it to make sense, but he couldn't see what it was. The only way to know the truth was to ask it to Nathan himself.
"I should have told you much sooner," Brooke murmured with an apologetic tone.
"Huh ?" he said, pulled from his thoughts.
"That I wasn't dating Nate. I should have told you, I wanted to but I couldn't do it before telling Nathan first, you know since your relationship is quite..."
"Strained," he finished for her.
"Right. I thought he would never forgive me if I told you."
Lucas now understood why she had reacted that way earlier this night, when he had come to see her in her room and she had started crying, to his great dismay. "But then," he asked, confused, "why did you come to my room ?"
"Actually," she said, biting on her lower lip, "I came up here to speak with Nathan, not you." His mouth formed an O, but no sound came out of it; instead, he felt a pang in his chest, resembling the one he usually felt when he forgot to take his heart meds. "But I wanted to talk about you," she immediately said, taking his hands in hers, "and then it really was you I wanted to see..."
"So you wanted to see him to... What, get his approval for me ?"
"Sort of, yeah," she admitted, her cheeks turning pink. "I don't think I would have gotten it," she said with a disappointed face, "but I wanted to give it a try."
"Wait, so you didn't get to talk ?" he asked, puzzled.
"No, when I went to his room he was, erm... sleeping. So I left and.. I realised that I didn't care if he gave me his approval or not. I just want to be with you and if he can't get that, it's his loss, not mine."
She gave him a radiant smile, one that could make his heart melt. In what felt to him like a natural thing to do now, he slid a hand on the nape of the girl whom had such an effect on him that it slightly scared him, and pulled her to him, bringing their lips together. She put her arms around his shoulders and rested her head on his chest, her hair tickling his neck.
Lucas closed his eyes and let out a small sigh. Against her, he could only surrender.
"Fine," he murmured to her ear, "tell him."
Her head shot up, "You don't mind ?" she asked, stupefied.
"You're right," he said with a shrug, "he'll know the truth someday and I think it's better if it comes from you rather than just anyone. And you won't be at ease until you tell him, so..." Brooke looked relieved and grateful at the same time, convincing him that he had made the right decision, even if Nathan were to prove him right in the next days. "Honestly," he asked with a chuckle, "if I'd said no, you would have told him anyway, right ?"
"You do know me well," she said with a laugh before pushing him onto the bed.
Peyton Sawyer
The door's creaking, noticing her that someone was vainly trying to open it silently, finally resounded. As soon as it had reached her ears, her eyes popped open.
When she had come back earlier to her room, she had been very surprised to see that Brooke was not there. She had figured that her little talk with Nathan had been longer than planned and had thus stayed awake for almost an hour, nervously waiting for her friend to come back, all the more anxious that Brooke had had the great idea to leave her phone behind. The thought of going to Nathan's room herself had crossed her mind, but since his final was in a few hours, she had figured that it would have been suicidal to wake him up in the middle of the night.
Peyton sat up on her bed, making Brooke jump; she looked tired, but at least she was alive and breathing. She slowly got up from the bed and turned to the brunette, who kept looking at her with a goofy smile.
"Where the hell have you been ? I was worried sick !"
"Peyton..." she started saying, holding up her palms to her.
"No, you don't have any excuses !" she cried. "You didn't even take your phone, you know that rectangle thing that you're supposed to have with you all the time ? Going out, in the middle of the night, without any warning ? What if something happened, your father would have killed me ! And I..."
"Peyt ! I didn't go anywhere, I was in the hotel !" she said in a loud voice, though with an amused look on her face.
"Huh ? You've been with Nathan this whole time ?" she asked, confused.
"No, he was already asleep when I went to his room."
"So where did you spend the night ?"
Brooke cleared her throat, a lopsided smile brightening her face. Peyton noticed, now that her anguish was gone, that Brooke seemed... peaceful. "I was with Lucas."
"With Lu– NO !" she shouted, her eyes wide open, her lips turning into a wide grin. Brooke simply nodded, the corner of her mouth now reaching her eyes. "I knew it ! I knew he was into you !"
Both girls squealed with sheer joy, not caring one bit for the neighbours they would wake up, and bounced up and down before falling into each other's arms, the same way they had hours ago, when they had won their trophy.
Nathan Scott
When his eyes opened from his sleep, they immediately looked for Haley, who wasn't lying down next to him as he had thought. Lifting up his head a bit, he saw her sitting on the edge of the bed, her back turned to him as she was putting her shoes on.
"Already up ?"
Haley turned to him and leaned forward to kiss him, a slight smile on her lips. Then she straightened her back with a suddenly more serious face. "The door wasn't locked."
"Huh ?" he asked, not entirely awaken.
"The bedroom door," she repeated, pointing toward it, "it wasn't locked. I saw that when I got up."
"Ah," he simply said, shrugging it off, "I probably forgot to lock it yesterday night. Good thing no one came in," he added with a lopsided grin.
Her cheeks suddenly turning crimson, she closed her hand into a fist and gave him a hit on his shoulder, which really felt like a tickle to Nathan. She frowned with a disapproving stare, "It's not funny, what if someone had really come in..."
"Oh it is funny," he said with a chuckle, "you should see you face right now."
"Nathan I'm serious, I think someone came in this night."
When he saw her worried look, he stopped laughing, leaned on the other side of the bed to grab the clothes he had thrown on the floor last night. "What ? When ?" he asked, trying to remember ever hearing anyone come in. "I didn't notice anything weird, and you didn't say..."
"No," she cut him off, shaking her head, "it wasn't when we were, erm... I mean it was after that, when we were sleeping."
"You saw someone ?" he asked, his brow furrowed.
"No, but I woke up in the middle of night and I thought I'd heard the door close. I went back to sleep thinking that it was just a dream, but maybe it wasn't since the door really wasn't locked..."
Ah, now he knew what this was about. She had simply been dreaming, had suddenly woken up and thought she had heard something. "Right, there's probably an old perv roaming around the place," he said, doing his best to hide his amusement.
"You think it's all in my head," she said, squinting at him.
"No," he replied, getting up from the bed after he had put some pants on, "I know it is. No one came in, Hales."
She got up too, crossing her arms against her; "Fine," she said, her voice a little high-pitched, "call me crazy all you want, I know I'm right."
He couldn't hold back another laugh, this time much louder, which ticked her off : she stormed out, making him laugh even harder.
When his good mood subsided, he finally remembered that today was his big day, and only a few hours were left before their final. Noticing that his hands were shaking just thinking about it, Nathan naturally thought that he wished he could talk about it with... well, with Brooke.
He sighed and sat on the bed. He had to talk to her, if only to congratulate her for her victory, but... There was a good reason why he had been avoiding any conversation with her since their 'break-up'. He knew that if he were to talk to her, he would eventually crack and tell her that Lucas was also in love with her. And that was something he didn't want to tell her, for that meant throwing her in Lucas' arms, and that was something he couldn't do.
On the other hand, he was perfectly aware that since they weren't together anymore, she had felt pretty lonely. Not to mention that she was absolutely convinced that she had no chance at all with Lucas. He also knew deep down that he didn't have the right to keep her from happiness, which was really not what he wanted to do, to the contrary... What was he supposed to do with all these schizophrenic thoughts ?
Well she was probably furious with him for not telling her about Haley, or not talking to her at all for days now... So even if he wanted to talk to her, it wasn't like he really could, was it ?
Nathan let out a long sigh, dropping his head in his hands; how much of a coward was he ?
Brooke Davis
"You need to stop with the goofy grin."
Brooke, her head resting on her hand, elbow on the table where they were having breakfast, looked up at Peyton. "Why ?"
"Because if you keep it up, everyone will know what's going on. Especially if Lucas keeps staring at you like that," she added with a half-exasperated, half-amused smile.
She knew he was sitting behind her somewhere, and was now starting to regret not sitting at Peyton's seat. "So," she said, changing the subject, "have you talked to Julian ?"
"A little, yeah," her friend said, eyes drifting to her plate.
"Oh Peyt," Brooke said, rolling her eyes and expecting the worst, "what kind of horrible things did you say to him this time ?"
"Nothing bad," she said with a shrug, "I even thanked him."
According to her troubled face, she had said more than that. "And … ?"
"And nothing, I went up to bed after that."
"Peyton," she said with a sigh, "I honestly don't know what else you need from him. He's obviously crazy about you, and I know that you like him too."
"But he ratted you out..."
"And I've told you a million times that I don't care about that," she said a little too curtly. "He made a mistake, we all do. Can't you forgive him already ?"
"It's not my fault if I don't want to, not now," Peyton replied with a frown.
"Fine," she sighed, disheartened, "then go ahead and take your time... But what if, while you're waiting for the right time to forgive him, he finds someone else ?"
"Why ?" she asked with a frown, "Someone's hitting on him ?"
"No," she said with a grin, relieved to finally get a reaction from Peyton, "but it might happen if you keep refusing to talk to him. Speaking of... I have to see Nathan," she said, getting up from her chair, "we have like a dozen of talks to catch up."
"I can come with you if you want..."
"Nah," she said with a grateful smile, "I'll see you in our room."
Peyton gave her a nod and watched her walk away from their table. With each step she was making, Brooke was trying to gather up some more courage, until she finally reached the table where Nathan and Haley had been eating their breakfast.
Standing next to them, she cleared her throat. They turned their heads at the same time, and both seemed startled to see her. Haley's reaction though was nothing compared to Nathan's who almost choked on his toast.
"Brooke," he managed to say after a coughing spell, "what are..."
"Can I sit here ?"
"Sure," Haley told her, sliding on the next chair to let her sit on hers. She gave her a warm smile, before quickly looking embarrassed, though Brooke couldn't see why. "I didn't really get to talk to you last night, not after we came back to the hotel," she said with an apologetic face. "I wanted to, but, erm... I've been busy," she eventually said, blushing.
"Yeah, I know you were," Brooke said with a playful wink.
"You... You know ?" Haley repeated, confused.
"Actually," she said, turning to Nathan, "I wanted to talk to you last night, so I went up to your room around... midnight, I think. And the door was open, so I..."
"Ha !" cried Haley, "So it was you ! See," she added to Nathan's attention, "I knew someone had come in !"
Nathan looked at her, then back at Brooke, and seemed torn between confusion and embarrassment. "You were sleeping," Brooke immediately added, "so I left."
"You wanted to talk ?" Nathan asked her with a distant gaze.
Brooke sighed inwardly, wondering if even if she came to talk to him on her own, he would still act as if she didn't exist. "Erm, Rachel asked me to help her with..." Haley started saying. "With a thing. So... I'd better get to my room now." she said, shooting up on her feet.
Brooke thanked her with a smile, while Nathan looked somewhat terrified to spend some time alone with her. "If you hate me that much," she murmured as stoically as she could, "I can leave."
"I don't hate you," he immediately said, shaking his head.
"Really ?" she retorted, though relieved. "I mean... You haven't said a word to me since our infamous break-up..."
"We gotta keep up appearances," he said with a shrug.
"You didn't even say anything yesterday."
"I wanted to, but as Haley just said..."
"She came down on the stage," Brooke corrected in a cold voice. "You didn't. Hell, the whole basketball team came down but you didn't, so please Nate, stop bullshitting me." she said in a shaking voice, detaching the last syllables.
"I... Fine," he said hesitantly, "I..."
"It's what I told you about Lucas ? That's why you don't want to talk to me anymore ?" she asked in a calm tone.
He finally looked up at her, and Brooke realised, without surprise, that she had been right. Great, if that was his reaction for her feelings, what was he going do when he'd know they were now dating ? Flee the country ?
"It's not that," Nathan told her, "not just that. I... I'm sorry."
"For what ?"
"For not telling you about Haley. I should have, from the beginning, but... But I thought that if you knew, you'd be sad to be alone again."
"Nathan..." she sighed.
"No, let me finish," he cut her off, apparently now determined to get it off his chest. "I wanted to tell you, I really wanted to do, you have to believe me. But I waited, and waited... And in the end Haley told you first, and I felt like such a dick. Especially since..." he said, suddenly hesitant. "It's just a dumb idea I had, but I used to think that... I mean I thought maybe..."
"Spit it out, Nate," she rushed him.
He suddenly looked shameful and glanced down at his hands. "I thought you wanted out go out with me. I mean for real."
Brooke slightly opened her mouth, unaware as to what she could say. How she could explain it to him. "You're right." His head shot up, startled. "I mean, not entirely right," she nuanced. "It's just that three months ago, before your brother arrived here, I had no idea where we were going."
She frowned, and then thought of what Lucas had told her about Lindsay. That it wasn't really Lucas whom she had loved, but the idea of being with him. Maybe it had been the same for her regarding Nathan, that she had simply liked the idea of being in love...
"Actually," she said in a soft voice, "maybe I was just scared of what we would become, once our deal was off. Which was really childish, but... But don't worry, I've never been in love with you."
Nathan watched her carefully, a frown crossing his now sullen face, "You were that scared that I'd abandon you as soon as we called things off ?"
"Erm... Isn't that exactly what happened ?" she retorted, an eyebrow raised.
"It's different," he defended, "I... It's not that I don't want to talk to you, it's just that I can't."
"What do you mean, you can't ?" she asked, puzzled.
"Because..." he said, hesitating. "If we talk, then I'll definitely tell you that..."
"That what, Nathan ?" she asked, now anxious.
He closed his eyes, a deep crease appearing on his forehead. Why did he look like he was fighting something ? "I'm so sorry," he told her in a hushed voice, "I'm sorry because I keep you from happiness."
Her happiness ? "But Nate," she said with a soft smile, "I just told you that I've never been in l–"
"No, I'm not talking about that."
"Ah. Then what, Haley ?" What did that have to do with her happiness ?
"No."
"Then what," she said, tired with his riddles, "me ? Or Lucas ?" It had to be one of them, and when Nathan's eyes opened, she knew he had indeed been talking about Lucas. "Does it have to do with what I said about him the other night ?" she cautiously asked, throwing stealthy glances around her. "About my feelings ?"
"You were wrong," he breathed out as if he had been holding his breath so far.
"Like I said," she said with a frown, "I didn't chose to ..."
"No, Brooke, that's not what I mean. I know you didn't chose anything, and... I'm sorry I've been an ass with you for that. You were wrong when you said that whatever happened, it was pointless to have these feelings for him."
Brooke swallowed, doing her best not to fidget. Did he already know something, before she could even tell him ? But how could he know about them ? "Wh – What do you mean ?"
"I heard him over the phone, three weeks ago I think, maybe more... Anyway he was talking about you, and... Well, he was clearly saying that he was in love with you too," he said with a small sigh. Brooke opened her eyes wide, stupefied by that news. Not by the fact that Lucas had the same feelings as her, since she had learnt about that hours ago, but because it was Nathan who was now telling her about it. "Honestly," he added with remorse, "I didn't want to tell you. But I did want to tell you too, I know you deserve to know the truth... I'm sorry Brooke, I am. I shouldn't have kept that from you for so long."
"So why are you telling me now ? I thought you hated him," she murmured, puzzled.
"But I love you," he said with a shrug. "And apparently that makes me grow up a bit. Anyway, whatever you decide to do with that information is none of my business, but for God's sake Brooke, please be careful, we're still in high school." he said, standing up.
"Wait !"
He turned to her, an eyebrow raised. It had probably cost him a lot to admit that... If she told him now that she was dating Lucas, he'd be disappointed for sure... It wasn't something she could risk, not now, right before his final.
"You better get this trophy," she told him with a wink.
"Please Davis, if you could get yours, then I'm definitely not worried," he said with a boyish grin.
Brooke sighed of relief when she saw him walk off, leaning her head backwards to contemplate the ceiling. Now all that was left to do was pray that she had made the right decision.
Lucas Scott
The walls were shaking around them, witnessing the deafening uproar filling the gymnasium. Lucas, sitting on the lockers' bleachers, was silently listening to the Coach's speech, watching the young players hanging on his every word.
It wasn't exactly the same speech he had heard five years before, but the message was basically the same. Lucas glanced stealthily at Nathan, and noticed with relief that he looked completely relaxed.
Whitey had not finished speaking to them when they heard the doors slam open, a few steps, and then they were all, including Nathan, surprised to see Dan stand next to Whitey.
What the hell was he doing here ? The Coach immediately asked him aloud, not caring about his abruptness.
"I represent our school," he told them with a fawning voice, "and since I'm the captain's father, I think I can watch him, can't I ?"
Watch him, not cheer for him, Lucas noted. It was maybe just a detail, but it said a lot about his genitor's way of thinking. Lucas threw him a death stare, that Dan didn't fail to notice and answered him with his legendary smug face. Then he looked at the players again, this time taking on a more serious tone.
"I hope you all know the city's counting on you."
"Stop being such a drama queen Danny," Coach told him with a snort, "you're gonna scare them. Go get a seat before there's none left."
Dan's jaw tightened when he heard that nickname, but he didn't say anything back and this time, looked only in Nathan's direction. "I just wanted to warn them."
Lucas furrowed his brow, his glance travelling back and forth from Nathan to Dan. Was that a usual family scene for them ? If Dan put that much pressure on his son, all the time, it would explain a few things about him...
Not long after Dan had left, they all stood up, all of them except for Nathan, and walked with a firm step towards the court. Coach noticed the absence of reaction from Nathan, and told him with a frown : "Are you coming or what ?"
"I'll be there in a sec, Coach," he said in a low voice, his head buried in his hands.
Whitey didn't seem satisfied by that answer, and made a step toward him. Lucas decided to stand between them and put a hand on Whitey's shoulder, asking him with a silent head movement towards the door to follow his players. He obeyed, without question.
Lucas hesitated for a short while, then went to sit next to Nathan. His brother was stubbornly looking at the floor, a surly look stuck on his face.
"Are you okay ?"
"What do you think ?" he retorted, stinging.
Off to a good start, huh ? "You were doing just fine until Dan arrived."
Nathan didn't say anything back, his frown only getting deeper. Lucas held back a sigh, wondering what the hell he was trying to do now, and why he was doing it. Maybe it was because Nathan had a chance to do something that he had never been able to, not with his heart condition. Or maybe simply because Nathan was his brother.
"Why do you play basketball ?"
Nathan gulped and raised his head, staring at the lockers aligned in front of them. "Trust me, now's not the time to talk about this. It could take hours."
"Fine," Lucas said, not ready to give up. "Then, can you at least tell me why you want to win tonight ?"
Nathan frowned again, probably wondering what was going into him, asking him these questions all of a sudden, but still answered : "For the team, for the Coach... And for me too. I've dreamt of this for years," he told him, visibly troubled.
"Alright," Lucas said, satisfied, "then that's all that matters."
"But..." Nathan said, hesitant. "What if it's not enough ?" he asked him, turning to face him. Lucas noticed how anguished he looked. "If we lose, Coach will be so disappointed..."
"Nathan," he cut him off with a sigh, "Whitey, he... Don't tell him I said this to you, but he thinks of you as the best player he's ever trained, and there's a reason for that." He seemed to doubt that, which only encouraged him to keep talking. "Even if you lose, after all the efforts and progress you've made with your team, I don't think he could ever be disappointed with you. And the same goes for all those people who'll be cheering for you on once you're on the court. Remember that you're never, ever alone. You have eight team-mates supporting you, a coach who trusts you, a girlfriend who apparently cares a lot about you and friends who love you... And I'm supporting you too, even if you doubt that. I know what you can do when you're at your best, but to do that, you need to free yourself from Dan's opinion."
Nathan, who had averted his eyes from him so far, looked at him with surprise, "You're really supporting me ?"
"That's all you heard from everything I just said ?" he asked with a lopsided grin, standing up. "Of course I do, whether you want it or not, we are brothers after all."
Nathan got up too, his eyes locked on him. "Even if I keep treating you like shit ?"
"I'm sure you have your reasons," Lucas shrugged. Well, truthfully he didn't think he had any, but now was not the time for that.
"Brooke..." Nathan hesitated, "She's really vulnerable, even if she likes to pretend she's not. So please, be careful with her."
"What ?" he said, dazed. Why was he suddenly talking about Brooke ?
"Look, I'm not saying I'd be thrilled, because I wouldn't, but... You have more of a chance with her than you think."
Oh, that meant Brooke had not told him yet... She was probably waiting for the tournament to end. "Let's talk about this later," he said awkwardly, checking his watch, "the game's about to start."
"Alright," Nathan said with a sigh.
Nathan took a few steps, walking ahead of him and surprised him when he spun around to face him. When he saw his hand clenching into a fist, Lucas wondered if he was going to punch him, and why the hell he would even do that after everything he had just told him, when he saw him hold out it arm to him. Lucas raised his eyebrows and regained his composure when with a grin, he bumped his fist against his brother's.
"Game on," Nathan murmured.
Brooke Davis
78-76.
Brooke didn't know a lot about basketball, despite the past three years spent cheering during numerous games, but even she understood that getting three points in less than ten seconds was double or quits. They all stopped jumping at the same time, holding back their breaths. Even the crowd had stopped making noise, a religious silence filling the court as the Ravens were rushing to the other half of it where their hoop was, making their way through the adversary defence, and when the ball landed in Nathan's hands, he bent his knees three seconds before the end. Just as she had seen him do many times, he rose from the wooden floor with baffling grace, expanding his arms over his head.
It felt to her like the slowest second of her life, while the ball was drawing a perfect semi-circle above the ground, until it went through the hoop.
The crowd erupted with joy just as the buzzer rang out to mark the end of the match, and thus their victory.
With an enormous déjà-vu feeling, the girls jumped for joy before running to the Ravens, already busy laughing and hugging each other. Under the confetti falling down, spectators who had come from Tree Hill were walking down the bleachers to congratulate them, and surrounded by too many people and noise, Brooke thought she was going to get lost in the crowd, until she felt a pressure on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Nathan, a wide radiant smile from ear to ear. He took her in his arms, hugging her so tightly that she laughed and thought he would smother her. When he let her go, she place a hand on his cheek, "I'm so proud of you," she told him with a smile.
Then she looked over his shoulder, and told him to go. Nathan didn't seem to understand, so she gestured him to look behind him and when he did, when he saw Haley standing a few feet from him, his smile got even wider. Nathan looked back at her one more time, pecked her on the cheek and walked away, making his way through the crowd.
Seeing him that euphoric, she wondered if it wasn't better to wait another day to tell him about Lucas.
The people around her didn't really let her ponder on that, since after they had carried Nathan on their shoulders, she got requisitioned too. She didn't mind at all celebrating a second time.
When they all went back to the hotel, Whitey let them linger around the bar for a while, advising them all to enjoy their night here without pulling any crap, because he was always watching them, even when they couldn't see him.
Indeed, he was sitting at the other side of the bar where Brooke was sitting too, and was talking to Lucas. Brooke saw him look at her; she gave him a playful wink that made him grin. She then turned to Mouth, sitting next to her, telling her a story of game records or something... Nothing very fascinating.
Her attention turned to Rachel, who walked in the bar staggering. She was leaning on different people to keep her balance and managed to slowly crawl to them; when she arrived near them, she jumped at Brooke's neck, making them both bump against the bar.
"Wow, Rach !" she cried, holding her up, "Everything okay ?"
"Definitely !" she replied with a light laugh.
Brooke grabbed the drink Rachel had been tightly clutching in one hand, while Mouth, his face filled with anxiety, grabbed her by the waist and had her sit on his lap. Brooke took the drink closer to her face, sniffing it cautiously; one thing was certain, the champagne bottle they had drunk yesterday was not the only one Rachel had brought with her.
"That's not really orange juice," she told Mouth, after making sure with a quick glance that Whitey was still facing the other way.
"I should get her to our room," he said, getting up with his hands locked on Rachel's shoulders. "I'm sorry, I have to..."
"Don't worry," she said with a smile, "hurry up before Whitey sees you."
After they had discreetly left, Brooke sipped on her non-alcoholic drink, her eyes roaming around the room. It was a rather large bar, big enough that she couldn't see everyone. She could see Nathan at the other end of the room, playing pool with his team-mates, and she knew Peyton was somewhere around... Ah, there she was. She was standing in the opposite direction, talking with Haley and two other girls. Brooke figured she could join them and motioned to get up, but stopped and stayed on her stool when she noticed someone sitting right next to her.
"Oh, mister Scott," she said, surprised to see him there, "if it's Nathan you're looking for he's..."
"I know where he is," Dan said, putting his drink in front of him. A little embarrassed, Brooke thought it was now or never if she wanted to get away. She was already half-up on her seat when he talked again and made her sit again : "So I heard things went also great for your competition ?"
"Erm, yeah," she said, realising he wanted to talk a bit with her.
Brooke noticed that he looked a little different from usual, and wondered how many drinks he'd already had. Raising an arm, he gestured to the bartender to get him another. He came to him, bottle in hand, but hesitated before pouring another drink in the glass Dan was holding out to him, sending a worried look at Brooke, before doing his job.
"It's great that Nathan won," she said, trying to fill the awkward silence between them.
She knew Dan a little, well more than a little since she had met him many times in his house, and everytime he had seen her, he had always talked a lot with her, with much enthusiasm... He had a natural talent to make her uncomfortable, and luckily Nathan was always around to find an excuse to get rid of him. But this time, Nathan was too far from them, and despite the signals she was trying to send him, he hadn't noticed her.
"Oh, that's not surprising," Dan told her proudly, "he's a Scott. Victory's in our blood."
She did her best not to roll her eyes. "I can see that."
"How long are you staying here ?"
"Since tomorrow's a bank holiday, we'll leave in the morning," she politely said.
"Ah, a little rest before your finals then. When is it for again ?"
Brooke quickly glanced around her, this time looking at Peyton. "Next month."
"And are you gonna be fine ?"
"I think so, yeah."
"Good," he said with a smile that probably meant to be gentle, but only made her shriek on the inside. "And about Nathan... You don't think you can make up ?"
"No, I mean we're still friends, but..."
"Too bad, I liked you."
Brooke held back a sigh; Peyton was apparently not willing to look in her direction either. "Haley's really nice, you know..."
"Yeah, yeah," he cut her off with a vague hand movement that clearly meant he didn't agree with her, "well... Nathan refuses to talk about it. I don't even know who decided to break up."
"It's something we both wanted." she said, looking back at him with a slight frown.
"Oh, I see... But, you must be a little sad that you're not together, aren't you ?" he asked her, taking a mouthful of his drink.
"Erm... Yeah, I guess."
Why was he asking her about this now ? Dan leaned forward, his face getting closer to her. "You know..." he whispered, his alcoholic breath tickling her nose, "I think he made a pretty big mistake when he let you go."
"Erm... Thanks." she said, not knowing what to say. He probably thought he was flattering her, but really, she only felt disgusted right now. If only he could leave on his own...
"You know," he added, suddenly putting his hand on her thigh, "I've always found you very charming."
Fuck. "Mister Scott," she said, her eyes drifting to his hand, her muscle beneath it tensing up.
"Oh, no need to be scared, we know each other pretty well, don't we ?"
That was exactly what was scaring her. Nathan had told her numerous times that his father liked to cheat on his wife with younger women... And apparently with a little alcohol in his system, his age limit lowered even more. "Mister Scott," she repeated, her jaw clenched, "could you please take your hand off ?"
She threw an umpteenth look in Nathan's direction, who was still busy playing pool. It could really, really help her if she could avoid slapping one of the board members of her school, a month before graduation...
"Get your filthy hands off her," a much colder voice said.
Startled, Brooke turned to her right and saw that Lucas had put a hand on his father's arm, strongly holding it. Dan looked back at him, his eyebrows raised. "Gee, calm down..."
"I won't say it again." he warned him, his voice shaking with anger.
To her relief Dan obeyed him, and Brooke finally relaxed. She didn't entirely relaxed though, when she noticed how Lucas and Dan were staring angrily at each other as if they were about to jump at each other's throat. Lucas' gaze was much more darker than usual; that couldn't be a good sign at all.
"Don't be so pissed," Dan told him with a mocking laugh, "it's okay if Nathan beat you."
"What are you talking about ?" Lucas asked, raising an eyebrow.
"My son is now officially better than you."
"Believe me," he replied coldly, "I'm genuinely happy for him. And I hope you don't feel responsible for this win because if you do, you're deluding yourself."
Brooke knew where this was going so she stood up, getting Lucas' attention. "I'm going to my room."
"I'll escort you," he said, shooting a bitter look at Dan.
She gave him a shy smile, his presence enough to make her forget about the uncomfortable situation she had just been stuck in with Dan. They had barely made three steps that she heard Dan's voice from behind them, calling out to her. "Brooke, if you feel lonely tonight, I took a room here."
She shuddered, averting her eyes while a nauseous feeling rushed in her, and she noticed that Lucas had frozen next to her, just like a statue. She also saw his eyes darken, and she knew things were going to go out of control when he turned around to Dan. She had barely realised what was going on, when seconds later, after a loud bang, Lucas was pinning his father's head against the bar, using his other hand to lock his arms behind his back.
"Take that back," she heard him shout in Dan's ear.
The constant brouhaha that had been so far cramming the room quickly faded away, and when she saw how many people were staring at them with confused looks, Brooke walked up to Lucas, pressing a hand against his shoulder to make him move. The moment she had put her hand on him, he relaxed a bit for just a short moment, a short moment that was enough for Dan to push them both to the floor.
Brooke held back a cry when Lucas fell on her, dragging her in his fall. She didn't see how he had been so quick, but he had managed to push her on the side so that she wouldn't die crushed like a fly.
A dull pain appearing on the shoulder on which she had landed, Brooke closed her eyes just a moment and when she opened them again, saw Peyton and Haley running to her. Peyton grabbed her shoulders and dragged her on the floor, away from what she considered as the danger area. That's when Brooke saw Lucas standing up again and sending his right fist against Dan's eye.
"No !"
Her shout got muffled in all the other shouts around her. They all saw Dan stagger backward, grab the bar in a desperate attempt not to fall, stand up again, his furious look locked on Lucas. He was apparently determined to get Lucas' head when, to Brooke's greatest relief, Whitey arrived from behind him and strongly tackled him round the waist.
"Enough Dan," he commanded him, his face completely red, "stop that !"
Nathan arrived too, and after a quick glance to his father, turned to Lucas. Lucas who had absolutely not calmed down; to the contrary he looked like he couldn't wait to get to round two with Dan. Nathan seemed to understand that, for he tightly grasped his shoulder and dragged him against his will away from their father.
Brooke was still sitting on the floor, her legs spread out in front of her, her left hand massaging her shoulder that was now hurting like hell.
"Are you okay ?" Peyton asked her, crouched next to her. "What the hell just happened ?"
"I..." she started saying, lost. "Where is he ?"
"Who ?" Haley asked her with a worried face.
"Lucas, where..."
She got up, ignoring her friends complaints, and looked for him. She couldn't see Nathan either, where had he taken him ?
Brooke rushed out of the bar, walked through the lounge and finally saw them walking toward the backstairs. She followed them as fast as she could, and when she walked through the swinging doors, she saw that Lucas was sitting on top of the first steps, and that Nathan was standing on the right side, leaning on the wall behind him.
Lucas raised his head when he heard her; he immediately got up when he saw her and walked down the three steps separating them, brushing her face with his hand.
"Are you hurt ?" he asked with an apologetic look.
"No," she said, shaking her head, "well I think I hurt my shoulder, but it's nothing big. What got into you ?" she asked with a frown.
"You heard him!" he replied, outraged. "I couldn't let him talk to you like that."
"You should have," she retorted, crossing her arms. "He's your boss, remember ? He can get you fired with just a phone call !"
Lucas snorted, his eyes drifting to the wall next to them. "Like I care about that," he said in a firm tone. "He can't talk to you like that."
"Oh, Luke..." she said with a sigh, touched.
"Wait... Are you guys dating ?!"
Brooke opened her eyes wide and turned to her right, where Nathan, whom she had completely forgotten was standing, staring at them as if they had gone mad. He looked startled, worried, and angry all at the same time.
"Nate," she said softly, "I swear I was gonna tell you, yesterday and then this morning too, but..."
"But what ?" he asked, stepping toward them.
"I wanted to wait for the game to be over." she explained with a shrug.
Nathan slowly shook his head, screwing up his eyes. "You really never listen, do you ?" he said before turning to Lucas. "And you, that's the dumbest decision you've ever made."
"And yet it was carefully thought" Lucas replied curtly, his rush of adrenaline apparently not over.
"You had six more weeks to wait until graduation ! What if someone finds about you ? Do you imagine what would happen, huh ?"
"No one will know," Brooke told him with a frown, "and especially not from you, right ?" She stared at him, and he stared back. He opened his mouth, ready to answer, but closed it right away, his eyes moving to the floor, and he eventually leaned on the wall behind him, crossing his arms. "And you," she said, turning to Lucas, "I can defend myself just fine, I don't need you to rescue me."
"Wow, seriously ?!" he exclaimed, vexed, moving back. "That's how you thank me ?"
"You do realise that some people might have thought you were overreacting a bit, don't you ?"
"No Brooke, I wasn't over-reacting. Anyone with the least bit of common sense would have done the same just with the way he was looking at you," he told her with a disgusted face.
"Wait, what happened exactly?" Nathan asked with a frown.
"Dan made a move on her."
"No !" she cried, "I mean yeah, kinda, well... He went a little too far when he touched my thigh and offered to meet in his room but he... Hey ! Where do you think you're going ?!"
When she saw Nathan striding to the doors behind her, with a resolved look on his face, she walked to him with the firm intention to avoid another scandal. "I'm gonna knock some sense into him, that's what I'm gonna do," he told her, looking at her as if she was insane.
"No ! No, no one is going anywhere !" she yelled at them both.
"Brooke, he..."
"I know ! I know. I also think he's despicable and pathetic, but he's drunk, and he's already creepy when he's sober, so... I'm sure he'll apologize tomorrow."
Nathan rolled his eyes, shaking his head in disagreement. He then turned to Lucas and murmured, "I get why you did that, now."
"Don't praise him !" she cried in dismay. "He might get fired now, and..."
"No," Nathan said with a frown.
"No what ?"
"He won't get fired, not by Dan."
Lucas looked at him, and Brooke saw with relief that he had finally calmed down. "Why do you say that ?"
Nathan turned to him, and seemed to hesitate. "Because... He wanted you at school."
For a second, Lucas looked like he had lost his voice. "He what ?"
"He put pressure on the board to get you hired."
I'm sorry this chapter came a little late, I've been busy with administration stuff... Anyway it's here now so I hope you guys liked it ! Thank you for your reviews, I got so many for the last one (considering what happened in it, I'm not surprised ^^)
I'll try to translate the next one by the end of the week. Oh and I just realised that the next chapter is the last one I had finished in French, so from chapter 15 on it will all be new, even for me ! Which means it might take me a little longer to update. But if I counted right, after the next one there'll only be 2, maybe 3 chapters left.
Thanks for reading :)