Rebuilding and Crumbling Chapter 25!

By: Matt91

Disclaimer: Lucas Scott, Nathan Scott, Brooke Davis, Peyton Sawyer, and Haley James don't belong to me, as do Karen Roe, Deb Scott, Dan Scott, Andy and other characters that appear on the show. Please e-mail me with any comments you may have.

Author's Note: At the moment I am writing this chapter, I have 5,576 Hits! That is an extraordinary number of Hits and more than I could have ever dreamed of! This story has a huge following and that fact thrills and excites me to no end. When I originally started this story, I posted it just to see what type of response I would get and boy was I surprised. I never thought I was a good writer but through all the encouragement and support I've received with this story and others stories I've posted on this site, I now believe that I am a better writer than I have ever given myself credit for. I've always felt that part of being a good writer is coming up with creative ideas, being able to incorporate them into the story properly, and having fun with writing and I think I possess all of those qualities and more.

Anyway, that is more than enough of my jibber-jabber. On with chapter 25, hope you enjoy it!

Café

It is about twenty minutes since the last chapter ended, making it around 2:00 Wednesday afternoon.

Haley slowly enters the café.

"Karen?" calls Haley, shutting the door behind her. "Karen, where are you?"

She hears the sounds of crying and approaches the counter.

The sound gets louder and Haley walks behind the counter.

Lying against the counter, a very disheveled Karen is crying her eyes out.

"Karen, what's wrong?" asks Haley, as she bends down to Karen's eye level.

"Andy," says Karen, through tears. "He left to New York and he might never come back."

Hot tears spew and Haley looks at Karen, her heart breaking for her.

"Oh, Karen," says Haley, trying to find the right words. "I am so sorry."

Haley pulls her into a hug, letting Karen cry on her shoulder.

Haley understands what it's like to lose the love of your life and she knows the type of pain Karen is feeling.

Single teardrops begin dripping down Haley's face, as she thinks about Nathan.

Tree Hill High-Courtyard

Lucas is walking and listening to his IPOD. Brooke is sitting on one of the benches, talking to one of the other cheerleaders. Yet, Brooke is looking at Lucas out of the corner of her eye.

"Lucas," calls Peyton, running up to Lucas and tapping him on the shoulder.

Lucas turns around and sees Peyton. He takes his headphones out of his ears. "Hey, Peyton. What's up?"

Peyton quickly pulls Lucas towards her and she kisses him.

Lucas, not giving into the kiss, pushes her away.

"Peyton, what the hell are you doing?" asks Lucas, angrily. "What is the matter with you?"

Brooke turns to look and sees what Peyton is doing. She watches intently, as her friend walks away.

"Just going after the one guy who's always been there for me," says Peyton, as she rubs her hands all over Lucas' chest. "You're so hot and sexy, you stud."

Lucas grabs her hands and pushes them away. "Peyton cut this out. I know you don't really want me. You're just doing this to make Brooke and Jake jealous."

"Maybe, I am," says Peyton, stroking his face. "Maybe I'm not."

At this point, Brooke is boiling with rage but trying to contain herself.

Lucas pushes her hand away again. "Peyton, I'm not joking, cut it out. I'm not gonna be used in your little jealousy plot. Besides, my heart belongs to Brooke, no matter what she's done. I still love her, even if she and I will never be together again."

Brooke smiles at Lucas's words, he still loves her. There's still hope then, she just has to keep trying.

"Oh, just give into it, Lucas," says Peyton, as she puts her hands on Lucas' chest and begins descending downwards.

Brooke has had enough of this spectacle and charges towards Peyton.

"Get your slutty hands off of the man I love!" cries Brooke, as Lucas backs away.

"Oh, please, you're such a hypocrite," says Peyton, rolling her eyes.

"Hey, Ms. PMS, if you ever lay a hand on Lucas again, you will be sorry," threatens Brooke, seriously.

"What are you gonna do, Brooke?" taunts Peyton. "I'm not a cookie or a donut, you don't scare me."

Brooke slaps her. "Full on diva skanks don't scare me, you whore."

Peyton holds her cheek. "I know and that's because you practice Bitchcraft."

Brooke gets right up in Peyton's face. "You want a war, well you've got one, Ms. PMS. If you think that you're just gonna get away with hitting on the man that I love then you are sadly mistaken."

"Oh, Brooke, I'll do whatever I want with Lucas and you won't stop me," says Peyton, tauntingly.

"We'll see about that," says Brooke, sneering. "You will pay for this, PMS. Mark my words. This war has only just begun."

"Bring it on, bitch," says Peyton, sadistically.

Brooke begins to walk off. "Don't be late for your Gay-Lesbian meeting. I'm sure your girlfriend Anna will be thrilled to see you."

Peyton just stands there, unable to think of a comeback.

Brooke confidently walks off and Lucas walks next to her.

"That was nice, Brooke," says Lucas, smiling. "I've never seen anyone stand up for me like that before."

They stop walking.

"I love you Lucas. I know I hurt you and I know that's not easily forgiven, but we will have a second chance. This will work between us and no skanky whores are gonna stand in our way," says Brooke, obviously enraged.

She walks off before he even has a chance to respond.

"Hey Lucas," calls Bryce, as he walks up to him.

"Hey Bryce," says Lucas, cracking a smile.

"Do you know where Haley is?" asks Bryce, anxiously. "I need to talk to her."

"She's at the café," says Lucas. "Is everything ok?"

"Can I talk to you, Lucas?" asks Bryce.

"Sure," says Lucas, as they sit on a nearby bench.

"What's up, man?" asks Lucas, wondering if it had to do with the events of earlier that afternoon.

"After what happened this afternoon, I know how I'm supposed to feel about my relationship with Haley. I'm really into her but I think she's still in love with that jerk Nathan," starts Bryce.

"Hey, woah, Bryce, Nathan is one of my best friends and he's my brother. Don't talk bad about him. He's a good guy," says Lucas, proudly defending Nathan.

"Ok," says Bryce, shaking his head. "Do you think she still loves him?"

"I don't know, man," says Lucas, shrugging his shoulders. "It really isn't my place to get involved. Nathan and Haley are both my best friends. I only care about Haley's happiness and I know she's happy with you."

Bryce nods his head. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm just overreacting. But, maybe I should talk to her."

"Whatever you wanna do, man," says Lucas. "This is your relationship, not mine."

"Ok," says Bryce, getting up. "I'm gonna see you later man. Thanks for the talk. Bye."

"Bye," calls Lucas, as he watches Bryce walk off.

Café

Haley is behind the counter, making some coffee. She called Keith and he took Karen home.

Bryce enters the café.

"Hey," says Bryce, sheepishly.

"Hi," says Haley, washing her hands.

"Can we talk about this afternoon?" asks Bryce, approaching the counter.

"You mean about what an ass you were?" asks Haley, annoyed.

"Woah, Haley, wait a second here. I was just sticking up for you," says Bryce, defensively.

"I never asked you to, Bryce. I never even asked you to come. You knew I needed to talk to Nathan alone," says Haley, obviously annoyed.

"Right, alone with Nathan, your husband," says Bryce, the annoyance evident in his voice.

"Why are you so threatened by him?" asks Haley.

"Because I know you still love him," says Bryce, as a matter of fact.

"Bryce, would you just stop already?" asks Haley, getting angry. "You have no idea how I feel about Nathan."

"That's where you're wrong, Haley," says Bryce, looking directly at her. "I do know how you feel about Nathan. You still love him. All the lingering looks, staring at the spot on your finger where your wedding ring used to be, looking at old pictures of him and you together. It's so obvious, Haley."

Haley just stares at him. "You couldn't be more wrong."

"You know what Haley?" asks Bryce, the rage evident in his voice. "You can lie to yourself but I know. I know that you still love Nathan and wanna be with him. Everyone does. I'm just the fill-in guy until you get the guy you really want. Well, I'm done being the fill-in guy."

"What are you saying?" asks Haley, confused.

"I'm saying that I want you to choose," says Bryce, making his intentions perfectly clear. "Me or Nathan?"

"You're giving me an ultimatum?" asks Haley, not believing her ears.

"That's exactly what I'm doing," says Bryce, confidently. "I want your answer soon or we're through."

Bryce walks out of the café and Haley just looks on, in shock.

What is she going to do?

Author's Note: Ok, well, here's chapter 25. I hope you enjoyed it! So much going on and lots more to come! What's going to happen next? Chapter 26, coming soon! Stay tuned! In the meantime, please REVIEW!