Hi there, so firstly thank you so much for all of your reviews! I really appreciate them!
Olivia, looking back I see what you mean. Thanks for pointing this out; I'm a little blind to it from this side I guess. The next few chapters are planned out and I will admit that they are NH/LP heavy due to the storylines and situation. The trip was about NH having an extra special goodbye and LP are finally getting together so they needed some extra focus. I promise you though, Brulian good stuff is coming. (And it won't involve them matchmaking!)
IcyGold, I hope this goes someway in the right direction of what you wanted.
"You okay, Baby?" Julian leant down as he pushed the hotel room key into the lock. He pressed some kisses into his girlfriend's neck as he did so.
She turned, a confused look over her features. She was worried about Peyton and her revelation but she didn't feel it was her place to say anything to Julian. "Yeah, I'm fine. My stomach hurts a little though."
Instantly his expression changed to concern, "Do you want me to run out to the Pharmacy?"
Brooke shook her head, her now loose curls moving softly as she did so, "No, I think maybe I just drank too much."
The concern didn't leave Julian's eyes as he led her inside. He didn't like to see her as anything but her usual bubbly self.
"Do you mind if I'm completely boring?" Brooke asked, fluttering her lashes.
He quirked a lop-sided smile, "Of course not."
"I think I'm going to go straight to sleep." She said through a small yawn.
Julian pressed a kiss to her temple, "Okay, as long as you're sure you're alright."
"I'll be fine." She assured him, "Maybe its karma. Peyton did joke about us never actually sleeping when we go to bed."
He didn't look at all convinced but nodded in agreement all the same, "I'm just going to check my work e-mails then I'll join you."
Brooke sleepily headed into the bathroom as Julian opened his laptop.
He rubbed a hand over his tired features as the backlight dazzled his eyes. Really he was too concerned about Brooke to care about work but it had been a few days since he'd checked in at the office and his film was a big deal.
He tapped his fingers as he waited for it to load, yawning widely. His e-mail account was the slowest thing on his beaten old laptop, he swore it was.
As he waited, he pulled up YouTube hoping that a funny video would give him some light entertainment as he waited. When the homepage appeared he sat stunned for a second, frowning at one of the newest uploads. Clearly the title read, Nathan Scott's Mystery Girl.
Julian's stomach lurched slightly but he couldn't not click and watch. He had to find out what it was.
The image was grainy and the sound was awful. It pained him – a movie producer – to see such poor graphics and audio. The video had obviously been recorded on a cell phone by an almost stalker-like fan. Julian sighed in relief when he realised that the mystery girl mentioned was in fact just Haley.
Although the small group of friends were adjusted to Nathan Scott, basketball superstar having a girlfriend, his fans were not. There were a fair number of comments on the video to prove it too. It seemed that lots of females were unhappy about the news.
Julian couldn't help from smiling slightly at some of the jealous comments. Just a couple of hours ago he'd toasted to having something that others were jealous of. It seemed that Haley really did have something people envied.
He was about to close the page and pull up his e-mails when something caught his eye. It was an anonymous comment that read, 'Funny that looks like my Eng Lit teacher and she wasn't at school today…ha that would be hilarious!'
Julian's eyes widened and he went to call for Brooke. He was interrupted by a retching noise though.
He jumped from his seat and ran to the bathroom where Brooke was bent over double. Instantly Julian gathered her spilling hair in his hands and began rubbing circles on her back.
"Just get it all up, that's the best way." He said soothingly.
"I think I had too much wine." Brooke managed in a lazy tone. She hiccupped and moved quickly back over the bowl to gag again, "This is gross. I'm sorry."
He shook his head at the way her mind worked, "Don't be sorry, just worry about you."
She nodded softly and lurched forwards again.
Julian winced at seeing her sick and in pain, "That's it, you'll feel better soon."
She murmured something lightly about water before retching again. By this point Julian was thankful to see that little was being brought up. He quickly grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-bar, unscrewed the top and passed it to Brooke.
"Thanks." She smiled lightly and her eyelids lifted a little.
"Do you feel any better?" He asked.
She nodded, "A bit."
"Good." He pulled her tiny frame into his arms and hugged her tightly right there on the tiled floor, "Are you okay to come to bed?"
"I think so." She said beginning to struggle to her feet.
He waited as she brushed her teeth slowly and then took her weight in his arms. He guided her to the awaiting bed and helped her under the covers.
"If you need anything, you shout okay?" He ordered.
"Yes, nurse." She smirked, her heavy eyelids drooping adorably.
"Hey, I'm so a doctor!" He corrected but she was already asleep.
Nathan lazed out on the king sized bed and watched as Haley took off her jewellery in the adjoining bathroom. He was sure that he could watch her all day.
"This is our last night together, you know." Haley reminded him in a dull tone.
He shifted and rose from the bed, padding over to her in just his shorts. He placed his hands over her bare shoulders and settled his eyes on her reflection in the mirror, "It's not our last night."
"No." She agreed through a sigh, "But our last for a while."
Nathan ran his hands smoothly down her arms and slipped his own around her waist, holding onto her tightly. He hated that she was close to missing him already, before he'd even gone anywhere.
"We'll talk everyday." He proposed, "I can bore you with my training regime and you can tell me inspiring tales of your students. It won't be quite the same but we'll manage."
"Yeah." He voice was soft as though she was still a little unsure. She wasn't looking forward to travelling back to New York with her two best friends and their two boyfriends. The only comfort was that she knew Nathan was experiencing the same feeling.
"Let's have a night, pretending that this isn't some sad occasion, because it's not." Nathan suggested. "No mention of the 'L-word'."
Haley froze in his arms and her eyes widened in surprise, "What?"
"I meant leaving, the 'L-word', leaving." He rushed to tell her, cursing his own slip of the tongue.
"Right." She smiled widely and nodded, "So no more sad faces?"
"Exactly, I don't like seeing you sad." He said, spinning her around to face him. He pressed a kiss onto her lips and was glad to see that when she pulled away she was still smiling.
Nathan pulled her closer to him and lifted her into his arms. He carried her to the bed and placed her softly on the quilt.
"Tonight's your night." He told her, "Whatever you want."
She knew exactly what he meant by those words but she didn't feel in the right mood.
"Could you just hold me for a while?" She asked lightly, looking up at him with her big doe eyes.
"Are you kidding?" He broke into an easy smile, "I could hold you forever."
He crawled onto the bed and pulled her into the space created by the curve of his torso. They linked their fingers together and shared a smile.
"Could this be us in twenty years?" Haley asked in a quiet tone. It seemed a little presumptuous even to her to be saying such a thing.
Nathan looked down at the girl in his arms, "It will be us in twenty years, fifty even."
She smiled at his sweetness, barely believing that her dreams of love were finally coming true with the most incredible man. Nathan, as he fiddled with the colourful beaded bracelet on Haley's wrist shared a similar thought. A few months ago he hadn't realised that girls like Haley existed. Now he couldn't imagine her not being in his life.
Lucas set his watch down on the bedside table and loosened his collar. He gazed to the spot by the window where Peyton was stood in a daze staring out at the sky.
"I'll sleep on the floor." He offered, indicating towards the space of carpet at the foot of the bed.
Peyton started and turned as though only just realising he was in the room with her, "Hmm?"
Lucas sighed softly. He wasn't frustrated, merely concerned about her locking her feelings away, "I said I'll take the floor tonight."
"Wha-?" Peyton shook her head, "Sorry, no, have the bed, I'm just…I don't know actually."
Slowly he walked across the room and reached out his hand to cup her chin, "You can tell me, you know."
"I," She faltered and looked into his assuring blue orbs. She put her hands on her head and glanced back to the night sky out of the window.
"Peyton?" He questioned meekly.
"Okay." Her voice was so low that it barely registered but he was so well attuned to her that he heard. She moved delicately to the bed and sank down onto the soft mattress.
Lucas reached for the desk chair and placed it directly before where she was sat. He lowered himself into it and took her hands in his own. "This is about what happened at the restaurant?"
She nodded slowly, her emerald eyes filling with salty tears. She didn't want to hurt Lucas; he was about the sweetest guy she'd ever met. Somehow though it felt better to be honest with him.
"There was this guy," Peyton began hoarsely, "Jake."
Lucas swallowed thickly and nodded.
"And honestly, I loved him. I fell for him and we were so happy." Her voice cracked slightly as she recalled the relationship. "He was a part of one of the greatest moments."
"What happened?" Lucas asked in as kind a tone as he could manage.
Her eyes met his and somehow his gaze made her feel calmer, "He left town. He had to go somewhere that his ex couldn't find him so that he could keep his daughter. They left one day and never looked back I guess."
Lucas heart clenched as he felt every stammer of pain in her voice, "How long were you together?"
"About a year." She sighed deeply, "We were engaged."
"And he just left?" Lucas asked, outraged.
Peyton turned her head, "He did it to protect me. He knew that my home was here and my whole life too. He didn't want to take that from me. He didn't tell me where he was going so I couldn't follow. All I had was a note saying, Sometimes love means doing the wrong thing."
Lucas leaned forwards and wrapped his arms around her slight frame, stroking her hair softly as she sobbed onto his shoulder.
"Shhh," He coaxed as she cried over another man.
Lucas knew though that she wasn't doing it out of spite to hurt him. In fact he saw it as breaking down the last barrier. She had just revealed to him the reason that she kept her heart so closely guarded. He could tell how deeply she'd been hurt in the past and that was why she was so wary. In a way, she was letting him in and that was enormous.
Peyton sniffed and pulled away, her shining eyes heavy with regret, "I'm sorry."
"Don't apologise for having a past." He told her firmly. "And don't apologise for being in love before."
Peyton managed a small smile, "I just feel like you're this great, wholesome guy and I'm a bunch of hassle and past that you don't deserve."
"Hey," Lucas traced his hand down her cheek, "This is Fate, remember, Blondie?"
She laughed delicately, "Yeah, I think it is. For me to meet someone as incredible as you, it has to be."
"I'd argue that you're the incredible one." He told her. He believed it too. "I want to make you start believing that."
She nodded, looking into her lap, "Okay."
"Okay." He repeated happily.
"And Luke?"
He smiled at the use of the nickname, "Yeah, Peyt?"
"Don't think of sleeping on the floor."
He smiled broadly as he went into the bathroom and Peyton moved back to the window. She stared out into the night wondering absently where Jake and his daughter Jenny now were.
She hoped they were happy. She really did. And she hoped that they were settled somewhere nice. As she imagined though, she realised that she wasn't picturing Jake on his own with Jenny.
It suddenly dawned on her that she wanted for him to have his own happily ever after without her.
"Lucas?" Peyton called out to him as he brushed his teeth. She moved to the bed and slipped into the cool folds.
"Mmm." He returned.
"Just so you know." She bravely raised her gaze to look him directly in the eye, "I don't still love him. I thought I did, but I don't. I just love the idea of him, of any guy really. I liked having someone. I miss him and Jenny sometimes but I don't love him. He hurt me too much, even if he didn't intend to."
Hastily Lucas spat and wiped his mouth on the towel, "I wouldn't blame you if you did."
"I don't." She said firmly.
He chuckled, "Okay, you don't."
Lucas climbed into bed and leaned over to deliver a toothpaste kiss to her soft lips.
"You showed me that it's not him, he's not the one." Peyton said when they broke apart. "You were patient and you pushed through all my walls."
"And I'd do it all over if I had to."
Brooke rolled over sleepily and yawned. She fluttered her eyes open to see Julian asleep in a chair at her side. She loved that he'd played nurse for her. Although he'd probably prefer to be referred to as a doctor.
Slowly she pulled herself into a seated position. She felt so much better after having had some sleep. As she slipped out of bed to visit the bathroom, she noticed Julian's annoying screensaver hopping along his laptop screen. She sighed at his forgetfulness and went to shut the computer down.
When the screen refreshed she gasped and then cried out causing Julian to wake up.
"Brooke?" His eyes moved quickly from the empty bed to where Brooke was stood across the room, "Are you okay?"
"'Nathan Scott's Mystery Girl'!" Brooke said out loud in an angered tone, "What the hell is this?"
"It's a video of him and Haley at the airport, some fan must have posted it online." Julian revealed in a calm tone. "Haley's the mystery girl."
"Oh." It took Brooke a few moments to catch up, "Right. I was just about to go down the hall and kick his ass."
Julian smiled at her loyalty to Haley.
"There is something you should see though." Julian padded to the open laptop and scrolled down the comment he'd read earlier that night.
He pointed it out to Brooke and watched as all of the colour drained out of her face as she read.
"This is all my fault." She said quickly.
"No." He jumped in quickly, knowing that she'd immediately blame herself. "Listen, at the moment this is nothing."
She shook her head desperately, "No, no, no. This isn't nothing its Haley's career! If the school finds out that she skipped to have a weekend with her boyfriend, she could lose her job! Oh my God, she loves her job! Did you hear her tonight? It was in her list; teaching."
"Baby, don't panic, okay?" Julian instructed even though he was panicking slightly.
She looked to him with the largest most desperate eyes he'd ever seen, "But what do we do, Julian?"
"We'll find away to fix this." Truthfully he had no idea how to fix it but it felt better to reassure Brooke than to be honest. Looking into her eyes all he wanted to do was fix it for her sake.
"We have a giant problem." Brooke announced crashing into Lucas and Peyton's room.
Peyton gasped and Lucas pulled the covers up hurriedly.
"Yeah we do." Peyton agreed, "You're in our room at five in the morning."
"You're not sleeping!" Brooke cried out as Julian suppressed an embarrassed chuckle.
Peyton's eyes flashed angrily, "We could have been!"
Brooke rapped her knuckles against the wall, "It's like they're made of paper. We knew you weren't sleeping."
The blonde haired girl groaned, "Maybe what you heard should have told you we didn't want company?"
"Peyton, just listen for a second." Brooke said cutting into her friend's rant, "You need to see this."
Julian cautiously entered the room on Brooke's insistence and laid the laptop on the bed. The foursome sat in silence as the two blondes took in the information before them.
"Does Haley know?" Peyton asked finally in a shaky tone.
Brooke lifted an eyebrow, "You really think I want to go and tell her I may have ruined her life?"
"So what are we going to do?" Peyton asked as she scrambled slightly under the sheets, clearly making herself more presentable. She then went to the nearby desk for some paper, "We got her into this; we need to get her out of it."
"Yes." Brooke agreed, glad that Peyton was calm and taking control of the whole thing.
"Okay." Peyton pulled her curls away from her face and fixed her hair into an untidy knot. "We're going to need coffee."
"I'm on it." Lucas volunteered having also made himself more decent.
"Julian," Peyton turned to give her boss some orders, "Check the internet for more on Nathan and Haley. The more there is the more we need to worry."
He nodded and set to work. Brooke meanwhile danced uneasily on the spot.
"Peyton, what if we can't mend this?" She asked nervously.
The blonde sighed and brushed her hands over her face, "I'm not going to think of that yet, B."
"So what's the plan?" Brooke asked tentatively. She had no idea of how to make this better for Haley besides going to the Principal and begging for forgiveness.
Peyton chewed on her pencil and winced, "I don't know yet, Julian?"
He looked up and instantly they all knew it was bad news, "Yeah, it's going viral; apparently Nathan being off the market is a crushing blow to the female population."
Peyton rolled her eyes, "If only they knew how much he whinges."
"So not the point!" Brooke cried out as Lucas passed them all coffees to energise their tired minds.
He rested his hand on his chin as though deep in thought, "So as it stands, no one's really mentioning Haley's name?"
Julian winced, "It may have broken out that she's an English Lit teacher."
"I say we go with worst case scenario." Peyton proposed, "We plan for the world knowing that Haley skipped work to see Nathan. It's the best way."
"This is really bad right?" Brooke asked.
Peyton groaned into her hands, "Worse, I think."
A heavy silence fell over the room as they all thought of a way to save Haley's job. The only sounds came from Peyton's scrawling pencil.
"What are you drawing?" Brooke asked eventually after tiring of dead ends in her mind.
Peyton passed the paper over. It was a sketch clearly depicting Nathan and Haley spinning around at the airport. Beneath it were the words, Sometimes love means doing the wrong thing.
"This might just work." Brooke said slowly, "A smear campaign, we fight this with the truth."
Peyton bit down on her lower lip. Haley was shy, she doubted that she'd like the country knowing the poor example she was setting her students. "Do you really think Haley would appreciate it? If we do something like this everyone will know her business."
"Yes and everyone will support her." Brooke argued, "Come on who in their life hasn't played hooky for one reason or another? People will support her, its perfect!"
Peyton looked back uncertainly, "But it's admitting that Haley was in the wrong."
"She kind of was." Julian pointed out.
Lucas sighed and sat back down on the bed, "The Principal's going to see through any story that Haley gives anyway. Plus Haley's a terrible liar."
"That's if the Principal ever finds out." Brooke said somewhat optimistically.
"It's going to happen." Peyton shrugged. "It's just a question of when and how harsh she's going to be."
"She may have a heart." Julian supposed, "We could do this and she might not fire her anyway."
Brooke chewed nervously on her nails, "Okay so the first opportunity I get I'll steal Haley's cell phone. That way we'll know when the Principal's on to her. Then we can decide whether to tell the world about Haley Bueller's Day Off."
With the decision made, Brooke began to organise things. It was the only way she could think to make herself useful. Plus it took her mind from the fact of what they were actually doing because it was truly terrifying. Potentially they were about to air their best friend's business for everyone to see, with the best of intentions of course.
Quickly they formed a plan of action. Peyton would draw the sketch. Julian would call in his advertising people to edit the picture to perfection. Brooke would forfit her company's advertising space in the biggest glossy newspapers. Lucas would call on his journalist contacts to spread the word.
If Haley was going down, it wouldn't be without a fight.
Okay so I will admit that I wasn't completely sure about this storyline but it won't leave my head so I'm going with it...I like the idea of all of her friends rallying around to save her from an uncertain fate. Plus what kind of example would I be setting if I let her get away with skipping? So consequences! And a whole load of trouble!