Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

Overdose of Pain, Onslaught of Reality

Chapter 22

Nathan wrapped a strong arm around Haley as she stopped right outside the restaurant, hesitant to go in.

"What's wrong, Hales?" he asked, sensing her nervousness.

"I don't really want to have to go through with this," Haley admitted. "And I really don't want Peyton and Lucas to have to go through with this either."

"Why? What's Brooke up to?"
"That's just the thing, Nate. She is trying to break them apart."

"She won't succeed. I mean, look at them! They are hardly away from each other for more than two minutes since Luke woke up."

"I know. That's why I don't want to go through with this. Brooke will do all she can to win Lucas back, even though she was the one who broke the two of them up the last time they went out."

"What happened?"

"It's a long story that I don't want to go into right now, Nathan. But the point is, if she tries, she may succeed. And I really don't want to have to go through that again."

"Haley! Nathan! Where is Lucas?" Brooke called, walking up the sidewalk. Nathan forced his jaw not to drop at the sight of her.

Brooke was wearing a gorgeous dark green dress that hugged her every curve. It was also slit in everywhere imaginable, revealing tons of freshly tanned skin. Her shoes were dark green wedges that had little silver gems on them.

"Wow," he whispered to Haley. "Fancy and rich much?"

"I had no idea that she was going to be wearing that," Haley said, glaring at her cousin as she walked up to them.

"Hey, where's Lucas?" Brooke wanted to know.

"With his girlfriend over there," Nathan said, putting emphasis on the word girlfriend. He pointed down the street where Lucas and Peyton were walking towards them.

"Shit," Lucas muttered, sighting Brooke. "She just had to go all out, didn't she?"

"Am I supposed to be jealous?" Peyton asked, smiling at him slightly. "Cause if that's the best she can do, then I think I can do better."

"I know you can," Lucas said, grinning. "That's why I'm in love with you and not her."

"So. She's actually going to try to break us apart?"

"She can try."

"You're not going to fall for it?"

"Peyton, how many times do I have to tell you? I didn't come back from the dream world I was in for her."

Peyton stayed quiet, thinking this over in her mind. She had heard all about his dream and everything else and why he woke up. It was still terrifying and freaking awesome to know that you revived someone with just a few simple words who everybody else thought was going to die.

"Shall we get this evening over with?" Peyton asked, putting on a British accent. Lucas smiled at her again.

"Yes, we shall," he said, putting out his arm. She took it and they walked over to where Brooke, Haley, and Nathan were waiting.

Brooke smiled to herself as Lucas approached. She took no notice of the girl hanging off of his arm; in Brooke's opinion, that was only someone's life to destroy. Lucas would be hers again, once and for all. And this time, she wasn't going to mess it up.

Once inside the restaurant, Peyton excused herself to go to the bathroom, giving a pointed look at Haley. The two girls got up and left, leaving Nathan, Lucas, and Brooke alone.

"So," Brooke said, looking over the menu at Lucas. "How's it going?"

"It's been going pretty well. Peyton's been a huge help to me over the past couple of weeks," Lucas said, making sure to mention Peyton's name. There was no way that he was falling under Brooke's charm again.

"Look, Luke," Brooke began, putting a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry for what I said at the river court. I was wrong, you're noting like Dan."

"Apologizing won't help your case, Brooke," Lucas said coldly, pulling his arm away. Nathan looked at both of them, a confused look on his face. "And neither will trying to get me to go out with you."

"Who said anything about going out with you?" Brooke asked. Nathan snorted loudly, causing Brooke to throw a nasty glance his way.

"Brooke, it's obvious. The dress, the way you're acting around him, the way you're acting around Peyton," Nathan listed. "Don't give us that whole 'I am just doing this to be nice' speech, cause we both know it's a load of crap."

"Who says I'm trying to break Lucas and Peyton up? Whose to say that I'm not trying to break you and Haley up?" Brooke asked, glaring at Nathan.

"Because, you hate my guts."

"Maybe I'm bisexual and am going after my cousin."
"Maybe you're a sorry little bitch who can't keep her paws off of our boyfriends," Haley said hotly, sitting down next to Nathan. Peyton sat down next to Lucas, and gave him a sympathetic glance. They had returned from the restroom, where Peyton and Haley had been discussing how best to bring Brooke down tonight.

"Hiss to you too, Haley," Brooke said, smiling devilishly "Anyways, I know you will give me what I want."

"Or what?" Lucas asked. "You'll make her move out? Cause that's not appealing to anyone, Brooke. Especially not to me."

"You're actually going along with this?" Peyton whispered in disbelief. Lucas held a finger up for a moment.

"Well then what does appeal to you, Lucas?" Brooke asked, turning her full attention back to the blonde teen.

"Hmm… Good question. I guess only a couple things appeal to me right now," Lucas said, a smirk crossing his features.

"Such as?" Brooke prompted. Haley, Nathan, and Peyton were all looking at Lucas, intent stares on their faces.

"Let's see, blonde girls with beautiful green eyes that are named Peyton Sawyer, basketball, watching Brooke Davis get rejected, and watching TV," Lucas rattled off, throwing the last one in because he couldn't think of anything else.

Brooke was speechless. No guy had ever turned her down, especially over another girl! She was floored. She felt her mouth drop open as she stared at Lucas.

"May I take your order?" a waiter asked, coming over to them.

After dinner, Haley and Nathan walked to the movies while Lucas and Peyton walked back to Peyton's house. They had planned to go see a movie with Nathan and Haley, but Lucas didn't really want to go. Nobody knew where Brooke was planning on going.

"That was really brave of you back there in the restaurant," Peyton said as they crossed onto her street.

"It was the truth, minus the TV part," Lucas said, smiling at Peyton. "And watching Brooke's mouth drop open like that was definitely worth anything else I will have to go through for saying that to her."

"Has she ever been rejected?"

"Nope."

Peyton laughed as she unlocked her door. This evening was definitely a good one. She turned around to let Lucas walk in first.

Haley and Nathan decided to skip the movie and get some ice cream instead. It was nice, warm night for once and Haley had said she was craving vanilla.

"So, what was up with you getting Mac and cheese?" she asked, popping a huge spoonful of her ice cream into her mouth.

"I love Mac and cheese!" Nathan said, adding half a bottle of sprinkles and hot fudge sauce to his ice cream.

"You said that you wanted Alfredo!" Haley said, elbowing him in the side. "I ordered first, so spill."

"I wanted to try their Mac and cheese and see if it was as good as my mom's was nine years ago," Nathan said, smiling slightly.

"And was it?"

"It was twice as good, since my mom overcooked the noodles and forgot to add the milk and butter to the sauce!"

"I can do better than that," Haley said slyly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Come over one day and I'll prove it to you."

"I'd like that."

"Uh huh. I'm sure you would."

They both smiled and walked down to the boardwalk, where they sat at a picnic table and exchanged horror stories about their parents' cooking.

Brooke headed down to the local bar, Henry's, to indulge in booze and boys, her specialty. Tonight was going to be a huge party night, because she really wanted to forget what had happened tonight at dinner. It was supposed to be a great night for her, watching Peyton's heart break into a million pieces and then walk off into the sunset with Lucas. They would play in the ocean together and have long slow dances at the formal. The formal, Brooke thought, handing her fake ID over the counter. I don't even have a date. The bartender handed her a glass of vodka, which she downed in an instant.

"Give me another," Brooke ordered, throwing some money down on the counter. "Make it a double. Hell, give me the entire bottle."

"We're not allowed to do that, miss," the bartender said. Brooke glared at him for a moment.

"If you had had the kind of night I had, you wouldn't be saying that," she said. "Give me the damn bottle."

The bartender reluctantly handed over the bottle when someone tapped Brooke on the shoulder.

"So, we can watch the 25 Days of Christmas Countdown on ABC Family," Peyton said, flipping randomly through the channels. Lucas was sprawled out on the couch while Peyton was sitting in her favorite chair. They were trying to pick something to watch.

"What's on tonight?" Lucas asked.

"Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," Peyton said.

"Wow. Watching little kids with sticks throw 'magical' lights at each other. What fun."

"I'll take that as a no. How about Hannah Montana?"
"Watching a girl live the pop star life in one scene and a boring old average life with a strange brother and freaky dad, no way."

"Sounds too much like your life," Peyton teased.

"Without the pop star life," Lucas grumbled. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment.

"You okay?"

"Stomach and head hurt," he grunted.

"Do you want me to call someone?"

Lucas shook his head.

"I'll be fine. Can I take some Advil?"
Peyton's heart sank at those words. She knew that Advil would help with everything, but it was also what he had overdosed on when that damn car hit him. The doctors had said no Advil unless absolutely necessary.

"Yeah, I'll go get that for you," she said slowly. She decided to call someone, Keith perhaps, and ask if it was okay to give him some.

"Thanks, Peyton," he whispered, closing his eyes again.

Peyton slipped off the chair and grabbed the cordless phone. Walking into the kitchen, she dialed Keith's apartment number, praying he would pick up.

"Hello?" someone asked on the other end. There was giggling in the background. The person on the phone wasn't Keith. Peyton was certain it was Deb.

Nathan and Haley walked arm in arm back to Haley's house. Her parents were out of town for the weekend, looking for colleges with Taylor.
"You want to spend the night?" Haley asked, opening the door.

"I thought you were going to wait until you got married before you had sex," Nathan said, looking at her strangely.

"You can spend the night with someone without the benefits," Haley told him sharply. "Lucas and I did it all the time."

"But you and Lucas weren't in a relationship," Nathan pointed out.

"Do you want to spend the night or not?"

"Sure, I would love to."

Haley smiled at him.

"I was hoping you would say that," she said, unlocking the door and pulling him inside.

Brooke spun around, the bottle of vodka in her hand. The person who tapped her on the shoulder was Nicky, a random bar slut who Brooke knew very well.

"Share?" Nicky asked, pointing to the bottle of vodka in Brooke's hand. "And I will find you a great guy."

"I had a great guy, but I ruined it," Brooke complained. "I had to go after that damn Nathan. It didn't even work out."

"Wow, life sucks. Any other exciting news that I've already heard about?" Nicky asked.

"Lucas and Peyton are so in love with each other, it's sickening."

"Jake's found a new girlfriend and has won custody of Jenny."

"Life sucks. Have a drink."

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Oh and by the way, I'm going back and renaming all the chapters.