Chapter 36: Wreck My Mind With a Simple Smile

Peyton woke up the next morning with the intentions of seeing how Brooke was doing. As she walked outside she noticed a piece of paper lying on her porch. She bent down to pick it up, but besides her name written on it, it was blank. As she stood up she saw a boy standing on the sidewalk in front of her house leaning on her mustang. Jake.

Peyton ran down the walk and through her arms around him. "I'm so glad you're back," she murmured.

Jake held her for a while before leaving her grasp. "I think we need to talk."

Those were the words Peyton had been dreading since she had told him about the kiss. "Oh."

"Well look first how are you doing?"

"I'm ok."

"Anything new?"

Peyton smiled thinking of all the drama that had happened recently. But it changed quickly to a frown, because she really didn't want to talk about it with Jake. But she also didn't want to talk about what she knew they had to.

"Not really," she said quietly.

"Oh well, I have the second hearing tomorrow morning."

"I hope it works out for you," Peyton said sincerely.

"Thanks," Jake said licking his lips and putting his hands in his pockets.

Peyton finally got exasperated. She was sick of dancing around what he wanted to say. "Jake, you can cut the BS. What do you want?"

"Look Peyton, I love you I really do. But when you told me you kissed Nathan, it almost broke my heart. I missed you so much. And I felt like you didn't care at all after that."

"Jake I missed you too! I couldn't handle it. I just wanted him to be you so much that I kissed him for comfort for support for anything. I know it was a mistake. And I wasn't trying to hurt you. I was miserable too."

"I know you were Peyton. But I don't know if I can handle all of this."

"Jake I suffered too. What I did had consequences and I accepted them. Don't hurt both of us more by walking away."

"I'm sorry Peyton." He kissed her cheek and walked away. Peyton stared after him a single tear falling.

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Brooke was sitting in her room finishing the remnants of the chocolate ice cream and watching chick flicks on lifetime, when Haley barged into the door.

"Brooke, you're a mess."

Brooke ignored the comment and stared at Haley. "Want ice cream?" she asked holding up the almost empty container.

"Brooke, don't be like this."

"Why not Haley?" Brooke asked finally breaking down, "It's not like my life's perfect right now. It's not like I'm in love with an amazing guy like you!"

Haley flinched a little but decided to ignore the comment. "Brooke I came to tell you that I'll support you with Lucas. You're my best friend."

Brooke mellowed a little. "Thanks Haley," she said softly, "But unfortunately Lucas made it pretty clear that he didn't want to be with me."

"Brooke I admit that he acted like an idiot, but you really don't know how he feels. You have to talk to him."

Brooke put one of her pillows over her head and screamed. Haley laughed.

"That's the last thing on earth I want to do. He'll probably say I'm ruining everyone's happiness."

"Brooke you need to chill. Take a deep breath." Brooke glared over at her. "OK maybe a few deep breaths." Brooke couldn't help but smile at this.

"Haley what am I going to do?"

"You're going to talk to Lucas. And you're going to explain exactly how you feel. And you're going to make him say how he feels too. No exceptions."

"I don't think I can get out of bed," she grumbled.

"So maybe it'll take you a few days to do it. In the meantime, I'd stop eating so much ice cream or you'll lose your figure."

"Don't be a bitch, Haley," Brooke whined playfully.

"Can't help it. I learned from the best,' she said winking at Brooke.

"Aaarghh,' Brooke said rolling back laughing.

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Jake walked to the River Court to see if any of the guys were there and also to clear his head over Peyton. He felt horrible about ending it like that, but he just couldn't handle everything with Peyton when things with Jenny were still up in the air.

"Hey Nate," he called, "Lose your better half already?"

Nathan did a double take when he saw Jake before giving him a hug. "Why didn't you say you were coming back?"

"Surprise I guess. And it totally worked."

Nathan laughed remembering his reaction. "Yeah it did. So what's up?"

"Not much man. Look I wanted to apologize about the whole Peyton thing. I know you didn't kiss her and there was nothing going on between you two. And I'm sorry for any trouble it caused between you and Haley."

"Thanks man, but it's really not your fault."

"Yeah I guess not. I kind of ended things with Peyton though."

"What? Why?"

"Well obviously I don't know I can't trust her anymore."

"Jake you're being an idiot. She was in a bad place, she made a mistake. She's apologized a million times I'm sure, and she loves you and you love her."

"What if that's enough?"

"Are you kidding me? You haven't seen her in two months and because she made one mistake because she was heartbroken, you decide it's better to break it off. And you break it off, when you can finally can be together again. That's a little crappy."

"Well, I guess."

"No seriously Jake. Don't let your pride stand in the way of being with the person you love. It's not worth all the guilt and resentment later. Understand that."

Jake smiled. "So I take it things are good with Haley?"

"The best. And they can be with you too."

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Haley hated seeing her best friend, the fun, flirty, and vivacious Brooke Davis moon over a guy like that. She just wanted her to be happy again. So Haley decided to talk to Lucas and convince him not to be an idiot and treat Brooke like dirt. She walked up the stairs to his apartment and rapped loudly on the door.

"Haley," he greeted her sullenly like he knew he was in for a lecture.

"Lucas Scott, you better have a good effing reason for being an ass to Brooke and being rude to me now!"

Lucas laughed at Haley when she was trying to be controlling and tough. Since she was about a foot shorter than him it was hard to take her seriously.

"Come on in Haley, my darling queen of the world," he said in a friendlier tone.

"That's better," Haley huffed.

"So let's cut to the chase," Lucas said, "You can commence with yelling at me about what I did to Brooke."

Haley almost started laughing but managed to keep a serious look on her face.

"Lucas I love you, you know that, but leaving Brooke hanging like that. That's so old you. You need to be new you. The real you."

Lucas laughed at all the 'yous' Haley was saying. "She caught me off guard. And I really didn't know how I felt."

"So figure it out and tell her. Because she's a mess!"

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

"You should be Lucas! What you did was horrible. She feels completely rejected, not to mention mortified that basically the whole school knows how she feels."

"I was embarrassed too," Lucas said holding up his hand.

"Yeah but you didn't admit something to a person you really care about."

"Well when you put it that way."

"Look Lucas, when Brooke said that I was scared, shocked, pissed, everything I'm sure you felt. But you can't walk away from your friends. You have to tell her how you feel. Because otherwise, you're just as bad as you were before. And who knows, maybe it could be love. Don't turn your back on your friends."

"Thanks Haley," he said giving her a hug, "For also not turning your back on me."

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Stones hit Peyton's window. At first she thought it was a fluke, but a barrage of stones kept hitting her window. Peyton groaned and grabbed her jacket before making her way outside.

Brooke heard a knock on her door. Probably another of her friends trying to comfort her, she thought. Well she was just fine with chocolate, a trashy movie, and loads of tissues. "Just go away," she whispered to herself.

Peyton stood on her porch and for the second time that day, she saw Jake standing in front of her. But this time he looked a bit crazier and definitely less moody.

Brooke's door opened wide, but Brooke was still focused on the screen. "What do you wa..?" she started to say as she turned around and came face to face with a pair of blue eyes. Lucas.

"Peyton, I made a huge mistake. I'm back now and when we can finally be together, I push you away. It was the stupidest thing I could've done. Because I know how sorry you are, and I know it was just a mistake. And because right now I want to be with you more than anything in the world."

"Brooke, I was an idiot. I left you hanging there in front of anyone, and it was such a shitty thing to do. I should've talked to you and been honest like you were. I shouldn't have walked away from you. A friend doesn't deserve that. You don't deserve that."

"Jake, I don't know what to say."

"Nothing. You don't have to say anything. Just please forgive me. Do you?"

Peyton nodded. "I love you."

She ran into his arms and kissed him like there was no tomorrow. Well she hadn't seen him in two months.

"Lucas I," Brooke tried to make out the words.

"Don't say anything Brooke. I just want you to know that I feel the same. And even if you can't forgive me." Lucas was interrupted by Broke softly pressing her lips to his.

"Thanks pretty girl," he whispered.