OK guys, next chapter! Thanks for all the reviews, much love. This chapter is pure dialogue, enjoy.

Chapter 14: Maybe Tomorrow

Even with all I had on my mind I soon found myself unable to keep my eyes open. I think the few drinks I had at the party were beginning to take effect. I snuggled into my beanbag, which didn't smell as nice as I remembered and fell asleep. I don't know how long I was out for, I had no idea what time it was but I was woken by loud calls of my name. I recognized the voices straight away and freaked out a little knowing I was probably in trouble for causing concern. I wiped my eyes and crawled quickly to the entrance and looked down to confirm my expectations.

"Sam! Let us up! What the hell are you thinking?' Lucas whispered harshly, scared of waking the neighbors I guess. I let the ladder fall without hesitation and waited for the two of them to reach me at the top.

"You're an idiot Sam, really, don't you think I have enough to worry about!' Nathan got to me first.

"It's almost 4 o'clock in the morning and you have us out looking for you!' Lucas soon joined us.

"How did you guys know I'd be here?' I was still half asleep; their abuse didn't faze me.

"Seriously Sam, what are you thinking?' Nathan was still pissed off.

"I just don't want to deal with it anymore. It's too much. I wanted tomorrow to come, without any more drama. I want Daddy.' I wanted to cry but I think my eyes must have been out of tears.

"Granted it's been a shit weekend, but you leaving the party without a word, doesn't exactly make things better, does it?' Lucas settled back into a beanbag. It was reasonably calm and relaxed.

"Sorry guys. I just didn't want to be there anymore. I had to get away from all that shit.'

"You can't just run from your problems Sam, and expect that everything will fix itself.' Nathan joined us leaning on the beanbag.

"Why not?' I snuggled between them and smirked knowing I was being ignorant.

"You just can't, it doesn't work like that.' We all sat silently, perhaps wondering about the possibilities of if it did.

"Don't you wish you could rewind things sometimes, and do it differently?'

We all thought about my question for a while before Nathan jumped in first with his answer;

"I'm a 17 year old guy who dreamed of playing NBA and worked my ass off to get where I am, with that dream in sight, and now suddenly everything I have ever wanted and worked for looks further away than ever. So the obvious answer would be yes, but I'm not so sure.'

"You're joking right?' Lucas voiced our surprise.

"I love basketball. I love everything about it, the game, the feeling I get when playing, the sense of pride I get when I step out on the court and everyone cheers, you know? But I think I mainly love it because I understand it. I can rely on it. I know if I put the ball in the hoop everything goes the way it always has. I know it will always be there, always be the same. But it's like; I've got Hayley now. I know I'm only 17 and nothing has ever been more uncertain for me than right now, but I just feel like it will be ok. As long as I've got Hayley everything will work out. It's like I know that as truth, even more than I know basketball is. Sure this pregnancy scares the shit out of me, but when it comes to Hayley and me, I'm not scared of anything. It all makes sense to me.'

"That's cool Nate. I'm so glad to hear you say that.' I smiled sincerely.

"I'd rewind the last few weeks.' Lucas stated like it was the only thing he knew for sure.

"The last few weeks?' Nathan was as curious as me. How long was this Peyton affair going on?

"That's when I started thinking that having a girlfriend who loves me, who I love and who I have a hell of a lot of fun with, wasn't enough.' He sighed loudly; "It's when I starting telling myself it wasn't enough. It's when I starting thinking Peyton might be the answer to that. Basically it's when I turned into a guy I've never wanted to be.'

"I know what you mean.' I closed my eyes as I felt self-loathing coming on.

"I don't understand.' He looked at me for answers.

"Me, I made such a mess of things. I just am a screw up.'

"What are you talking about Sam?' Nathan pushed himself up onto his elbows and looked down at me.

I exhaled deeply and then relayed them the story of the night with great detail, including Juliet's bitchiness, Mouth's unfortunate timing and Jason's admission. Seeing I had relived it all a hundred times in my mind it wasn't difficult to verbalize. I finished to no immediate responses, which is what I wanted. I wanted to be told if I should go after Mouth or what to do about Jason.

"Well?' I encouraged.

"Can't say I didn't see the Jason part coming.' Lucas said simply.

"Yeah, that was always going to happen.' Nathan agreed, "Not a bad job by the youngster either.'

'Yeah. Very movie like quality; "If you can say you don't feel it too, I'll step down and pretend I'm not in love with you, I'll pretend my heart doesn't beat for only you."' Lucas imitated dramatically.

"Luke, It wasn't that 'Romeo and Juliet'. They found each other quite amusing.

"You guys are no help! I need advice not your bad imitations of my horrible experience!' I cried out while trying to hide my smile.

"You are so dramatic!' Nathan punched my arm playfully.

"My advice, follow your heart.'

"Wow Lucas, that's nothing I couldn't have got off the back of a tissue box!' I shook my head at his attempt.

"It's true though. Don't think about Jason, and don't think about Mouth. Who do YOU want to be with? That's what it comes down to, because if you make the choice based on their feelings instead of your own you'll be living a lie, and eventually you'll decide that you deserve better than living a lie and you'll hurt yourself and the other person much more than if you were honest in the first place.'

"But who do you think I'm better with?' I tried anyway.

"Did you hear anything I just said?' Lucas asked bemused.

"Yeah but it's too hard! I don't know. Mouth is sweet and nice and I really like him but then when I saw Jason with Juliet I thought I sort of liked him, and then when he said all that stuff I was almost sure I liked him. But now I don't know!'

"Give yourself a while to think about it and see what you think. Jason will wait, if Mouth doesn't, you've got your answer.' I wish everything were as simple as Nathan often made it sound.

"I don't want to hurt Mouth though, that's not fair and I don't want to ruin my friendship with Jason!' I wasn't satisfied.

"Just give yourself some time Sam!' Lucas reasoned, "Whatever you decide make sure it's your decision.'

"You guys suck at giving advice, you know that?' I pulled an unsatisfied face.

"I've got bigger fish to fry than you! Brooke is home tomorrow. I don't know how I'm going to handle that.' He shook his head staring out at the night.

"Tell her the truth, it's simple!' I didn't see how his fish was that big at all.

"Yeah I know that, but how?'

"I reckon you should just let her have it, drop it as soon as you see her. Like 'Brooke I have something to tell you. Bam!'" Nathan instructed.

"Nathan he is breaking his girlfriends heart, not directing a play in basketball!' I looked at him horrified.

"Yeah, you do suck with advice Nate.'

"Shut up Luke! If you didn't cheat on her you wouldn't need my crap advice!' Nathan laughed like it was all a joke, Lucas and I just looked at him.

"Too soon? Sorry.'

"This weekend has been a disaster!' I said softly but dramatically, sounding a lot braver than I felt.

We all leant back into the old blue beanbag and I closed my eyes to rest them but tried not to fall asleep.

"How sad is this?' Lucas laughed suddenly.

"What?' Nathan and I both awoke from our doze.

"It's 4am on a Saturday night, our parents are away, we threw a great party and yet here we sit in a 20 year old beanbag in a tree house talking about our problems.' We all laughed.

"Speaking of which, how did you guys know I was here?' Here being the tree house, which Keith built for my brothers when they were 5 or 6 in Mom and his backyard.

"You're predictable! It's where you always end up when you're upset, or run away from home. Seeing it was both, we figured it out! Besides this isn't a tree house, it's a dangerous fort! Remember Luke?'

"Oh yeah.' Lucas nodded knowingly, "We escaped so many dragons up here you know?'

"Oh I remember too. You pulled up the ladder and never let me play in your stupid fort!' They both laughed at the memory while I whined, "You both always excluded me!'

"You were the dragon!' Nathan exclaimed.

"Shut up!'

"Hey Nate, remember that day, I think it was a Sunday lunch, or maybe a birthday. We were like 10 and we were all sitting down to eat and you came out with something really funny, I think it was rude. And Dad just jumped up from the table liked he'd been shot and chased you.' Lucas had to stop due to his laughter; "You climbed up here and pulled the ladder so he couldn't get you. I don't remember how but it ended with him being rushed to hospital!'

"Oh my God! I totally forgot about that!' I declared, "it was his ribs, he broke his ribs!' I laughed hard remembering the day.

"It was Mom's birthday. I told my first ever 'ya Mom' joke to celebrate and he didn't appreciate it.' He grinned.

"Didn't it have a certain 'c' word in it?' I smirked.

"Yeah but I was 10! I didn't know what it meant. Tim's stupid brother told me the joke. I was just repeating it.'

"How'd Dad break his ribs again?' Lucas was still cracking up.

"I climbed the ladder up here and then pulled it up so he went and got a real ladder and started coming to get me, but it like, slipped out from under him and he landed face first on the ground.' By now we were all hysterical as we pictured him falling to the ground. It wasn't funny when it happened but it had been years, and now it was hilarious.

Nathan composed himself first; "I stayed up there while Mom took him to the hospital, I was in no rush to come down.' He fed off Lucas' laughter and started back up again.

After my stomach was hurting from laughing I tried to stop; "Keith coaxed you down eventually didn't he?'

"Yeah after a few hours. Dad had calmed down by that stage, most likely from the painkillers. It was the first and only time Mom ever spanked me. I'll never forget it, she swatted me really softly twice and then told me she loved me.' I laughed again, very Deb. Lucas was still laughing like it was the funniest thing that ever happened. He had tears streaming down his face.

"But that was the maddest I think I've ever seen him.' Nathan stopped laughing quickly, "I guess I'm going to see him top it pretty soon.' The reminder of the present brought us all quickly back to earth.

"He'll be mad Nate. But he'll get over it." Lucas affirmed, "He has too.'

"I don't think so.' He exhaled and lent backwards closing his eyes.

"Are you going to keep it Nate?' I asked sitting forward and facing him.

"I don't know. I guess we'll have better idea after we speak to the specialist Monday.'

"But do you want to?' I pushed.

"I don't know Sam.' His voice indicated my questioning was annoying him so I shut up.

"Anyway, you got us Nate.' Lucas leaned over me and offered Nathan a handshake.

"Yeah, thanks guys.' He said quietly while grabbing Lucas' hand.

"Should we look into getting home?' I pepped up, ruining their moment. "Is the house trashed?'

"It's pretty bad. Peyton and Hayley were getting rid of the last few people when we came looking for you.' Nathan told me sternly.

"Sorry guys.' I meant it.

"It hasn't really been any of our best efforts has it?' Nathan offered.

"Maybe we should stay up here a little longer. At least until the sun comes up?' Lucas sat back and closed his eyes. It didn't take me long to join him, I was exhausted.

"We can deal with everything tomorrow, including the mess of the house.' I yawned.

"Let's escape the dragons up here just one last time.' Lucas grabbed the blanket and pulled it over to his side.

"Sounds Good.' Nathan smiled and joined us, pulling the blanket back over to him. I laughed at them quietly and snuggled between them on the old beanbag knowing that nothing else ever sounded any better.

Thanks for reading, please review!!! To clear something up, I am Australian, lol, lost the plot is obviously an Australian term and I didn't realise so I have been using it in my story! I use it often in reality, sorry to confuse you! It basically means going crazy. Sorry again!! Please review, and thanks again for reading and my loyal readers and reviewers from the start! xox