Chapter 21

Whitney hestitated to answer Lucas. I mean, she still loved Lucas. Wasn't it going to be really hard to watch him marry someone else? But she decided that it would be the right thing to do so she accepted the invitation. It was her fault that Lucas and herself weren't the ones getting married. She blamed herself completely. But Lucas looked really happy, so…it was the right thing to do she told herself. Lucas was happy to hear that Whitney would be attending the wedding. They got up and hugged and then walked out of the bookstore together.

It was the day before the wedding and everyone was arriving. They were going to have a reunion party that night. Since Rachel and Nathan were throwing the party, Rachel had to leave Peyton's about an hour after she arrived. She told the girls she would see them that night, and left.

"What am I going to do Brooke?" Peyton asked after Rachel closed the door.

"What do you mean?" Brooke asked.

"I just lost my baby. What am I going to do?" Peyton said with a sob.

"Well. We can go to the hospital, and see what's going on babe." Brooke said wiping Peyton's tears.

Peyton nodded and they ran out of the apartment, got into the car and drove off to the hospital.

Chase was helping Nathan decorate the apartment when Rachel arrived. She went to go kiss Nathan on the cheek and Chase asked her where Brooke was. Rachel told him that Brooke was dealing with a crisis but that she was okay. Chase got a little worried, but nodded. Nathan asked Rachel if she wanted to invite Haley to the party. Rachel rolled her eyes. Nathan knew Haley wasn't her favourite person. She was trying to steal him away from her, but Nathan is so blind and couldn't see it.

"I guess that's a no…" Nathan said.

"Why don't you two get along? I mean, I don't know her too well but she seems cool." Chase stated.

"You're only saying that cause she's not trying to steal Brooke away from you."

"Not this again. Rach. Haley is not trying to steal me away from you. She was the one that wanted the divorce remember?" Nathan asked.

"Yes, I remember. But Nathan, you weren't there. At the bridal shower…"

"I'm sure you took it the wrong way." Chase told her.

"No. I heard what she had to say and then I showed her the ring." Rachel told Nathan.

Chase had a confused look on his face. Ring? What ring? He thought. Rachel took out the ring and told Nathan that she didn't want to hide it anymore.

"Wait a second… you two are engaged?" Chase asked with a smile.

Nathan and Rachel looked at each other and laughed. "Please…" they both answered.

"It's a promise ring Chase," Rachel told him, "it's a promise that we're going to end up together."

"Wow. Congrats you guys. I'm so happy for you. But why were you hiding it?" Chase asked.

"We didn't want to steal the thunder from Lucas and Peyton, considering they are taking the biggest step." Nathan stated.

Lucas told Whitney about the party that night and told her that he wanted her to come. Whitney told him that she shouldn't, that it wouldn't be appropriate, that is was a reunion for his friends.

"Well, coming back from the dead, kinda makes you part of a reunion Whit." Lucas said.

"Fine. I'll come." Whit said.

Lucas smiled and told Whitney that Haley was going to be there too. Whitney smiled and said that she really missed Haley. Whitney, Haley and Lucas were all really close when they were young. Lucas gave Whitney the address and told her to go around 7.

Peyton and Brooke were waiting for the results for about an hour. The doctor finally came out and told them that Peyton had lost the baby and that they should remove the dead egg as soon as possible. Peyton started to cry, Brooke rubbed her back. Peyton decided to remove it right away since she was already there. Peyton followed the doctor into one of the examination rooms. Brooke sat back down in the chair, took out her cell phone and called Chase. He asked her where she was, and Brooke explained everything that happened. He told her he was on his way and closed the phone. Chase left Nathan and Rachel's in a hurry. Once Chase had left, Nathan and Rachel left to go get food.

Chase ran by Brooke's side when he arrived that the hospital. Peyton came out of the room with her head down and arms crossed. She had been crying, Brooke could see it. Brooke walked over and rubbed her back and told her everything was going to be okay. Once the girls had reached Chase, he gave Peyton a hug. Chase put his arm around Peyton, while Peyton placed her head on Brooke's shoulder who was holding her up from the other side. The three of them exhaled and walked out of the hospital together. As they got to the car, Bevin received a text message from Bevin saying that she was with Skillz, Mouth and Shelley and that they would be arriving in about an hour. Brooke closed her phone and told Chase and Peyton.

"Where to?" Chase asked like he was a cab driver.

"The airport" Peyton said with a smile on her face.

Chase drove the ladies to the airport as he was told. Peyton opened her phone and texted Lucas that they needed to talk in person. Calling was very different from speaking face to face especially for important situations like this one.

Rachel put on "Thanks for the Memories" by Fall Out Boy and started singing. Nathan smiled, he loved this song and put the volume higher. They sang together, then both started laughing. Rachel smiled at Nathan.

"I really love this song" Nathan told her.

"I know, me too. Something about it just makes you want to listen to it over and over again." Rachel said.

"Exactly. But I mean, some of their songs are horrible." Nathan said.

"Dance, Dance is played too much, it's gotten really old." Rachel replied.

"Oh yeah, there's a really good song on their new album though…" Nathan said but couldn't remember the song's name. Rachel tried to think of which song Nathan was thinking of. She asked about a bunch of their songs, but it wasn't the one that he was thinking about.

Rachel snapped her fingers. "This Ain't A Scene An Arms Race."

"Yeah, that's it"

"It rocks!" Rachel told him.

"I didn't know you were a rocker…well…punker…" Nathan laughed.

Rachel laughed as well. "Just cause I'm a party girl, doesn't mean I don't know how to rock." Rachel replied doing the rock symbol.

Lucas walked Whitney home and gave her a kiss on the cheek. He walked down the street towards his apartment. He opened his phone and saw the text message that Peyton had left for him. He called Peyton's phone but he got her voicemail. He closed it and headed home to get ready for the party.

"So are we inviting Haley or not?" Nathan finally asked Rachel

"Fine, you know, I mean she is part of the bridal party right? So I guess she has to." Rachel said.

"Alright. You want to call her, or should I?" Nathan asked.

Rachel gave him a dirty look. Obviously she didn't want to call her. She didn't even want Haley to come at all.

"Okay, judging by your expression, I'll call her." Nathan said and took out his phone and dialled Haley's cell. She picked up the phone.

"Haley? It's Nathan."

"Oh hey baby, how are you?"

"I'm great how are you?

"Fine. So what's up?"

"We're having a party tonight, kind of like a reunion with people from Tree Hill.

"Oh, sounds fun." Haley said, "Who's we?"

"Huh?"

"You said, "We're having a party…"

"Yeah…me and Rachel are throwing the party Hales."

"You still haven't dumped her yet?" Haley asked.

"Haley, stop. Are you coming or not."

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Haley said.

"Alright, see you at the apartment at 7."

Haley closed her phone, looked at a picture of her and Nathan that was standing on the table by her bed and exhaled. "You will be mine again Nathan."