Chapter 14

When Brooke Davis slept, she slept like a hibernating bear. There weren't many things that could wake her, but if you were the unlucky one to disturb her, you better not be within arms reach of the grizzly bear. Tonight, however, she wasn't angry when she was awoken in the middle of the night, she was scared.

"You betrayed my trust, Peyton!"

"You didn't give me a choice, Luke. You lied to me first: You stopped taking your medication. What was I supposed to do? Sit back and watch you kill yourself?"

"Oh, don't over exaggerate…I wasn't killing myself. I know my limits. I know how hard I can push my body out there,"

They had been arguing since Lucas came over thirty minutes ago. At first their voices were quiet, to keep from waking Brooke up, then as time went by and words were exchanged, their voices, filled with their current emotions, had risen.

Through the thin walls of the Sawyer's residence, Brooke could hear them yelling and arguing. It reminded her of the many times her parents would argue when she lived with them. She threw her covers off and made her way to the bedroom door. Opening the closed door slightly, Brooke stood and listened.

Both physically and emotionally Peyton was tired. Most of all she was tired of arguing with Lucas and trying to get him to understand what she had done. But she was going to try one more time.

She slowly stepped towards him as she calmly spoke, "Look, if you came over for an apology, you're not going to get one…at least not for going to Whitey. Lucas, I love you…and if that's not enough to make you see…"

"Well, it's not!" Lucas quickly stepped back, just out of her reach. "You took away the one thing I loved the most, Peyton,"

Peyton opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. He looked at her with eyes so cold and bitter, a way he never looked at her before.

"It's just a game, Luke," her voice quietly quivered.

"Forget the game, Peyton. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about us!"

Her eyes narrowed with confusion. Her body tensed and sensed that what was coming next wasn't going to be good.

"I understand why you did what you did, but what I can't get my head around is why you lied to me about it for months…why you could tell our friends and not me, the one you supposedly love. Do you know how humiliating it was to find out that my girlfriend could turn around and tell everyone else except her boyfriend?"

"It wasn't like that, Luke. You know that,"

Lucas shrugged, "Doesn't matter now, does it? I mean what's a relationship without trust?"

"You know you can trust me, Luke,"

"Yeah, right," He shook his head and laughed bitterly. "You know, all this time I thought you were the one person I could count on; the one person I could turn to, someone I could confide in…but you were never that, were you?" he said painfully. Somewhere deep inside him he knew she was hurting but at that moment he didn't care. He wanted her to feel the same exact way he was feeling.

Their past, their relationship they had built meant nothing to him, she thought. Peyton quickly masked the pain that initially flickered in her hazel eyes. The biting tears stung her eyes but she refused to let them go - at least not in front of him. Whether his words were intentional or not, Peyton refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her heart broken.

"Fine," she glared, "If that's what you want to believe…if you want to throw away everything we have, everything we've been through together...then there's the door,"

For a moment the two blondes just eyed each other. Neither one of them seemed to back down. Stubbornness took over the hatred in the room. He was the first to break the stare when he turned around and walked out without another word.

Peyton slammed the door shut behind him, causing the house to shake. Lucas stood there momentarily as he tried to slow down his breathing. He debated with himself whether or not he should walk away or go back inside. A movement across the small hallway caught the corner of his eye. Lucas looked up to see Brooke's glaring eyes watching him. He returned the stare before walking past her and down the stairs, out of the Sawyer's house.

"P. Sawyer, it's me," Brooke said softly as she knocked on the door. When she didn't get a response on the other side of the door, she tried to open it only to find that it was locked.

"Peyt, let me in...please?" It tore her up inside knowing that her best friend was hurting. She also knew that Peyton would deal with this the only way she knew how - alone.

"Hun?" Brooke tried one more time.

Still no response.

She sighed, "Alright, but if you need me - to talk, to sit with you...even to go on a junk food run - I'm just down the hall, OK?"

The brunette slowly made her way back to her room. When she stepped into the red room, she turned around to look back at Larry's bedroom door, where Peyton barricaded herself in. Leaving her bedroom door open, Brooke slipped back into bed.

"Morning, sunshine," he said smiling at the girl lying in her bed.

"Mmm, when did you get here?" she groggily asked.

"About five minutes," Nathan shrugged. He handed over a mocha latte he had gotten her from Karen's cafe. "I didn't want to wake you,"

"Thanks," Brooke carefully took a sip. "Needs some sugar,"

Nathan grinned, "I was hoping you would say that," He leaned in and kissed her sweetly on the lips.

"Oh geez!" Haley exclaimed and buried her face into Jake's chest. "Why is it that every time I walk into someone's room in this house they're always making out or something,"

Jake laughed and playfully shielded her eyes.

"Well maybe someone should learn how to knock," Brooke jokingly threw back and got out of bed.

The four friends sat on the floor, outside of Larry's room, eating a pastry breakfast that Haley brought over and drinking the lattes Nathan bought. They had the intention of spending the morning with Peyton but she didn't answer their persistent knocking. So instead, they all decided to camp outside her door, hoping that their loud chatter would be enough to annoy her into opening the door.

"How's Peyton doing?" Jake asked quietly.

"Well, I don't hear any angry emo music…so that's a good sign, right?" Nathan looked at Brooke for confirmation.

Brooke took her eyes off the door and looked at her friends, "Actually, I don't know. Lucas came over last night. They argued before she kicked him out. I think they officially broke up,"

Nathan wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. "As soon as things cool down, they'll work things out,"

"I don't mean to be a party pooper, but it takes a lot for Lucas to get mad and when he does...it takes him that much longer to forgive," Haley sadly pointed out as she leaned on Jake. He gently kissed the top of her head.

"Not if I can knock some sense into him," Brooked seethed.

Their eyes fell on the untouched apple Danish and the now stone cold latte that sat in the middle of them. It was the breakfast they had gotten for Peyton. Suddenly the slamming of the front door downstairs broke the silence that fell between them.

Seconds later, they heard heavy, but slow foot steps coming up the stairs. They all got up rushed over. Peering over the rail, they saw the blonde curls of Peyton Sawyer peaking out through the multiple brown paper bags she was carrying in her arms. The four friends stared at each other and wondered how the she got out of her room.

"Peyton?" Brooke exclaimed.

"Brooke," Peyton stopped in the middle of the stairway. She started to struggle with the heavy bags, "A little help...please?"

Like well trained, gentlemen, Nathan and Jake made their way down the stairs and graciously took the bags from their friend. When Peyton could finally see, she was surprised to see the two boys. Peyton finally looked up and saw Brooke and Haley standing at the stop of the stairs.

"Hey, guys," Peyton said with some surprise in her voice.

"P. Sawyer," Brooke bounded down the stairs, nearly knocking over Jake and Nathan, "Where have you been? We thought you were in your room,"

Peyton braced herself as Brooke threw her arms around her and held on for what seemed like dear life. "Well, while you were sleeping, I went out for some art supplies," she barely managed to say.

Peyton groaned as she made her way up the stairs again. Instead of carrying an arm full of paint supplies, she seemed to be carrying Brooke, who refused to let go. "Hey, Hales,"

Haley smiled when she looked up from peering inside of the bags the boys were now holding, "Hey Peyton. We brought you breakfast,"

"Thanks, but I've got a lot of work to do...oh, you guys can put those bags down next to that door,"

The boys did what they told. "Got a big art project you working on?" Jake asked as he set down the heavy bags.

"Actually it's a surprise for Brooke,"

The brunette's eyes lit up, "A surprise for me? Aw, P. Sawyer…what is it?" she excitedly wondered.

"Well, you know that room that my dad would never let us go in?"

"You mean that room?" Brooke pointed at the door to the right of the stairs, that everyone passed by without a second glance on their way to Peyton's room.

"Yup, last night I moved some of my dad's junk out of there and now that you boys are here…I'm gonna let you guys move the rest,"

"Gee, thanks, Sawyer," Nathan sarcastically remarked.

"K, wait…so what does that have to do with my surprise?"

"Well, since you're living here now, I thought that you deserve a room of your own,"

"Really?"

"Yup, but there's a catch," Peyton smirked mischievously. "As soon as the boys move the stuff out, the room is off limits to you until I finish painting it,"

"You mean I don't get to choose the colours?" Brooke pouted.

"Nope,"

"Brooke, you're getting your own room," Haley tried to keep Brooke optimistic.

"OK…but no black…please?"

Peyton shrugged, "Can't promise that, but I promise it won't be too depressing,"

"You're the bestest!" She hugged her friend again. "Alright boys! Come on, let's get those muscles working,"

Nathan and Jake shrugged at each other and followed a bouncing Brooke into her room.

Haley stepped beside Peyton where they stood outside the room and watched Brooke eye the room and fill it with imaginary furniture in her head. Three out of the four friends never questioned Peyton's peculiar behaviour. All that mattered was that the broken-hearted girl wasn't brooding alone in her room.

"I see distracting Brooke for a while was an easy task for you, but you can't fool me that easily,"

Peyton gave Haley a half smile, "I'm fine, Haley,"

"Funny, that's what Luke said right before he punched the wall,"

"Haley," Peyton said sternly. She could feel herself getting upset and sad at the same time. It wasn't fair that their friends were caught in the middle and it wasn't fair to take out her frustrations on them when they were only trying to help. Peyton took a breath and calmed her nerves. "I just want my room back, that's all"

Haley nodded, but she knew there was more to it, "I'm here for you Peyton. I may be Lucas's best friend, but I'd like to think we are too,"

"We are," Peyton assured her. "Thanks, Hales,"

A/N: Thanks for the great feedback! I really like what I have planned out for LP, I just hope I can get it out right for you guys.