"Peyton?" Lucas asked as he settled deeper into his seat.
Brooke flicked on her left hand signal for the turn towards the café. "Yeah, Peyton. Have you talked to her recently? She's acting really strange and I just wanted to know if you knew anything about it." After she took the turn she turned to cast a quick glance in his direction.
Lucas chuckled nervously before answering. He was thinking of the best way to answer this question. He knew he couldn't lie to her, but he also knew that it wasn't his place to tell her what was going on. That was Peyton's deal, he didn't want to over step any boundaries between the two friends, and he was unsure if this was his place to say anything. "Yeah, I talked to her the other night when she showed up at my place to talk." He cast a nervous glance in her direction, unsure of what her response would be.
Brooke was surprised to hear that Peyton was at his place. Although, why she was surprised, she still wasn't sure of. Lucas and Peyton were friends after all. "Oh, I see. Do you mind if I asked what you guys were talking about? I mean, if it's none of my business, just tell me so, but I was just hoping maybe this would help me to figure out what was wrong with her." Brooke parked the car as they reached the front of Karen's café and turned off her engine before turning to look at Lucas once more.
Lucas breathed a sigh of relief when she didn't seem to be mad at the news of Peyton being at his place. He turned his body so that he was facing her in the car. He reached out a hand to stop her from opening the car door and exiting the vehicle. "Look Brooke, I'll be honest with you, as much as I would love to tell you the reason for her visit, I can't. It's not my place. I hope you can understand that."
Brooke stared down at the hand that was still holding hers. She nodded her head in consensus. "Alright Lucas, I guess that's only fair. I'll try and talk to her again." She smiled when she saw him visible exhale a breath he was holding. She had no idea he would be this nervous. She released his hand and patted him on the shoulder. "Come on buddy, I'm hungry and I'm sure everyone else is here."
Peyton sat in front of her computer checking her emails when her cell phone rang. She picked it up, checked the caller id and saw that it was Brooke's cell. She hesitated between answering the call and clicking the off button, she went with the latter. She glanced back at her screen to see that there were no new messages.
Frustrated, she slammed the keyboard and covered her face with her hands. She felt the tears fall before she could stop them.
That was how Haley found her. Hunched over in her chair crying. Haley rushed to her side, concern for her friend overwhelming her.
"Oh, Peyton!" She cried, as she kneeled down in front of her and pulled her into her arms. "What's wrong Peyt?" Haley put her hand to Peyton's curly crown and started running her hand down her head in a soothing motion.
Peyton wrapped her arms around Haley as she sobbed into her shoulder. "Oh Hales, I don't know what's wrong with me. Why am I like this?" She cried.
Haley, unsure of what exactly was going on, had no idea what to say to her to make her feel better. All she had to offer was a shoulder to lean on. "It's going to be alright Peyt. Everything's going to be alright." This was how the two stayed for the next couple of minutes or so. Peyton's sobs had finally quieted down and she was able to pull away and wipe her eyes.
She laughed self consciously before looking at Haley. "I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me. Sorry about your shirt, I got it all wet." She said pointing to the shoulder she was crying on.
Haley brushed it off with a laugh. "Don't worry about it, that's what the washer and dryer are for." She placed a concerned hand on Peyton's shoulder. "What's going on Peyton? Does this have anything to do with Brooke being here earlier?"
Peyton tensed a little at the mention of Brooke. "She told you huh?"
Haley shrugged her shoulder. "She was just concerned about you Peyton. We all are."
Peyton waved her hand in the air helplessly. "Things are just so screwed up Hales. Did she tell you about the drawing?"
"You mean the one of you and Lucas?"
Peyton cringed slightly to herself. "Yeah, that would be the picture."
Haley got off from the floor to take a seat on the bed. "You want to talk about it?"
"There's really nothing to talk about, it's just a stupid drawing." Peyton stood up and proceeded to pace about the room.
"Are you sure that's all there is to it?" Haley asked as she tucked a leg under her.
"Okay, maybe there is more to it than I'm letting on. I just don't know what to say."
Haley patted the seat next to her and motioned for Peyton to take a seat. "Why don't you start from the beginning?"
"Well, okay, here it goes." Peyton started as she took her seat. "The other night, I went over to Lucas' to talk. When I got there, he looked so cute, you know? And then all these emotions and feelings came flooding back to me and before I knew it, I was telling him I still loved him and that I wanted us to be together again." Peyton rushed out in one breath.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Haley exclaimed. "You're still in love with Lucas? You told him? What did he say? What happened next?" She asked excitedly.
Peyton laughed somberly at her friend's reaction. "Calm down Hales. Nothing else happened. He didn't feel the same way. He said he only wanted us to be friends."
Haley placed a sympathetic hand on Peyton's, feeling her friend's pain. "I'm sorry Peyton."
"No, don't worry about it. It's no big deal. Yeah, it hurt at first, hell, it still hurts now, but what can I do?" Peyton shrugged her shoulder helplessly as she ducked her head.
"Well, I'm still sorry it didn't work out. And you're probably going to hate me for bringing this up, but I think you should talk to Brooke. Like I said, she's really worried about you. And worse yet, she thinks you're either lying or hiding something from her again." Haley glanced cautiously at Peyton's face, unsure of what her reaction to that would be.
Peyton sighed in resignation, knowing Haley was right. "Yeah, I know you're right, I just can't do it right now. Just please don't say anything to her before I do?"
"Okay, but talk to her soon. The longer you wait, the harder it's going to be." With that, Haley hugged her briefly before heading out the door.
Peyton watched her retreating back before allowing herself to fall back against the bed. How was she going to tell Brooke that she still loved Lucas? She rubbed a hand to her aching temples, and could feel the beginnings of a headache. Great, she thought, just another thing to add to everything else that was going wrong.
A/N: Sorry this chapter is so short, but I needed to explore Peyton's character a little bit more. And I thought it would be nice to add a little Peyton and Haley time. Hope you don't hate it too much. I tried to keep as true to the characters as they would be on the show. Let me know if there's anything you hated, that way I can improve it for the next chapter. I know I promised that this would be a long chapter, but the next chapter will definitely be long and well worth the wait. Thanks again for all the reviews. As always, looking forward to reading more.