Sorry for the wait, school work was getting on top of me but I've got my priorities straight now ;) Thanks so much for all the reviews, enjoy the new chapter...
That Sunday Brooke and Lucas went over to Nathan and Haley's apartment in the afternoon to start setting up for the party. Peyton was going to meet Jake at the bus station, where he would be arriving soon, and then was going to take him somewhere and keep him occupied for a while before it began. Brooke had helpfully suggested a few things she could do to keep him distracted, to which Peyton had simply rolled her eyes and said she was sure she would think of something.
"Alright," Brooke clapped her hands as they entered the apartment, "We've got about three hours, so get busy!"
Lucas rolled his eyes and went back to the car to start unloading the things they'd brought over from Brooke's.
"Nathan and Haley aren't even here yet so you don't have your little task force. Can you lay off the power trip till then?" he said laughing, as he came in carrying a load of decorations.
She glared at him, "Well you're here, so I can boss you around. You always did need a lot of instruction Broody!"
Lucas dropped the box on the couch and raised his eyebrows, "What are you implying?"
Brooke giggled at his expression, "Nothing!" she patted his chest and went past him to get a box herself.
Lucas glared after her, "instruction, yeah right," he muttered.
Haley and Nathan arrived soon after and joined them, helping out with the multitude of tasks Brooke found for them to do.
After a couple of hours, everything seemed to be almost ready, and Brooke collapsed on the sofa looking satisfied. Haley flopped down next to her. "I don't now how you talked us into this Brooke, how many people did you say were coming again?"
Brooke avoided her gaze, "Um...just Jake's close friends…and a couple of his other acquaintances…"
Haley rolled her eyes, "So like the entire class? I guess we can expect a pretty trashed apartment tomorrow then!"
"We'll help you clear up everything, I promise. Right Broody?" she caught Lucas' arm as he passed.
"Um…sure," he agreed. "Remind me why I agreed to help you with this again?" he asked, laughing.
"Because you never could say no to me," Brooke replied grinning.
People started arriving a little later, and the party was just getting going when Brooke saw Peyton's car pull up outside.
"He's here, everybody hide!" she called, gesturing to the door. Everyone ducked behind various bits of furniture and Nathan was forced to tape over Tim's mouth to stop him from laughing (the guy never could hold his liquor).
The door opened and they heard Peyton come through, with Jake's voice following her, "Do you think we should have brought more popcorn?"
He came into the room and everyone jumped out, yelling "SURPRISE!"
Jake stood, shocked for a second, and then said, "So I guess lots of people wanted to come to movie night, huh?"
Peyton laughed and Jake pulled her to him, kissing her before being accosted by everyone wanting to greet him.
Haley and Brooke got to him first, both flinging their arms round him. "Hey guys," he laughed, the wind knocked out of him a little. He looked around the apartment, "So I'm guessing you had something to do with this?" he asked Brooke.
Brooke grinned, "Maybe a little."
"It's good to have you back man," Lucas said as he hugged him, clapping him on the back.
"It's good to be back," Jake said, grinning. "I heard…some stuff's happened while I've been away," he said to Lucas, glancing at Brooke who was now standing a little way away talking to Haley.
Lucas hesitated, "We'll talk about it later," he said finally, and Jake nodded.
More people kept arriving as the group rejoined the party having greeted Jake. Amongst the new arrivals was Josh, who said a civil "hey" to Lucas before finding Jake.
"You back for good now?" Josh asked.
"Yeah, hopefully."
"Good, the team needs you in D."
Jake smiled, and said, "Well I'll see you later, enjoy the party," before moving off, and trying to work out why Josh had been holding Brooke's hand. Things had certainly gotten a little out of whack while he'd been gone…
A little while later Brooke was dancing with Josh in a small crowd of people. Nathan had a pretty good stereo system and they'd hooked it up to some big speakers. Peyton was being DJ, although she got distracted every now and again by Jake so the music was pretty random.
"Hey, who's that with Lucas?" Josh asked, inclining his head to the door.
Brooke looked up, giving him a weird look, but looked over anyway. "Oh, that's Hannah. They're going out."
"Really?"
"Yeah, why do you care?"
Josh shrugged it off, and Brooke continued to dance, but suddenly she wasn't in the mood. "I'm just going to get a drink," she said, heading off to the table where they were set up. Josh watched her go, frowning.
Brooke stood in a corner and watched Lucas talking with Hannah, while sipping her drink. She looked over and saw Josh dancing in a crowd of girls, having fun. She leant her head back against the wall; all of sudden she felt totally deflated.
"Brooke, there you are," Josh had approached her. She dragged her eyes off Lucas and gave him a small smile.
"Come on," he held out his hand. She downed her drink and took it.
"Tutorgirl, there you are! Come dance!" Brooke bounced into the kitchen to find Haley talking with Nathan and Jake.
Haley rolled her eyes and grabbed Nathan's hand, "Fine, we're coming."
"Good," Brooke grinned, and turned to Jake, "You too daddy."
Jake laughed, "I'm not much of a dancer Brooke."
"That's no excuse! Come on, Peyt's around here somewhere," she looked around the room, "Or she was."
"She just went to the bathroom," Jake explained, watching Brooke carefully, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Brooke said, giving him a weird look, "Why wouldn't I be?"
Jake took her drink and sipped it, making a face, "Because you're practically drinking neat vodka!" He put the drink on the counter behind him, "What's up?"
"Nothing! So I mixed it a little strong…" she shrugged, "I'll go add more juice," she reached for her glass but Jake stopped her, "I think you've had enough for now."
"Whatever, are you coming to dance or what?"
Jake was still looking at with a thoughtful expression however, and didn't answer, "This wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that both Josh and Lucas are here would it?" From his conversation with Haley he had learnt that Brooke was now dating Josh, although something about the way Haley said made him think she wouldn't be for long.
"Um…what?"
"You drinking? I haven't seen you drunk in quite a while Brooke, Peyt said you'd turned over a new leaf; so something must have started this."
"Seriously Jake it's nothing, I just felt like a drink."
Jake shrugged, "Okay. But I still think you should go easy." He paused, then asked, "How's it going with Josh by the way?"
Brooke shrugged, "Fine." She really didn't feel like talking about it.
Jake nodded, he could see he wasn't going to get anything out of her, he figured fixing his friends' love lives would have to wait till tomorrow. "Okay," he said, pushing himself away from the counter he was leaning against, "I'll come dance."
"Great!" Brooke grinned, and dragged him out of the room.
Josh saw Hannah across the room and watched her for a minute. He hesitated and then went over to her, leaning against the wall next to her.
"Hey," he said.
She looked up, "Hey." She was slightly surprised he was talking to her; they weren't really friends.
"So you're dating Lucas Scott?" he asked.
"Um, kind of. We're just hanging out really."
Josh nodded. "Can I ask you something?" he said after a minute. She nodded and he continued, "Does…are you…bothered by him and Brooke?"
Realisation dawned on Hannah as she understood why he was talking to her. "Listen, if you want advice about her then I really don't know anything. All I know is, me and Lucas are just having fun because he's really not ready for a serious relationship right now, at least, not with me." 'Or anyone other than Brooke,' she thought.
"And that's fine, because I'm not either…but if I was looking for something more serious I don't think I would be with him right now."
She watched Josh's reactions and sighed, "Look I can't speak for Brooke…but judging on what I've seen of the two of them together, I don't think you want to get in the middle of that. And if you want to be with her…then you might have a problem on your hands."
Josh paused, and then shrugged, "Whatever. Like you said, you can't speak for Brooke." He went off, and Hannah watched him go, shaking her head slightly.
Eventually everyone else left, and just Peyton, Jake, Nathan, Haley, Brooke and Lucas were left in the apartment. Hannah had said goodnight to Lucas a while ago, and Josh, after trying to persuade Brooke to come with him, had left with some guys from the team.
Brooke was a little the worse for wear. Although Jake had warned Lucas to keep an eye on her, she seemed to have managed to get drinks into her hand as quickly as he could remove them.
The old familiar feeling was slipping over her, and she began to give in to it, finally collapsing on Nathan's sofa muttering, "I'm just going to sleep for a minute."
Jake and Lucas had been clearing cups away, and looked over at her. Jake noticed Lucas' eyes linger for a second longer, and caught his eye when he looked away.
"She'll be okay tomorrow," he said.
"Yeah," Lucas murmured, "I hope so."
Haley came in from the kitchen, "Oh my god I'm so tired," she said, sitting down heavily in an armchair.
"You should go to bed Hales," Lucas said, "We can finish up here."
"Really? You don't have to finish if you get tired, we can do it tomorrow."
Lucas nodded, "We can do most of it. Nathan!" he called to his brother who stuck his head round the door, "take you're wife to bed."
Nathan grinned, coming over to the chair and pulling Haley up, "Come one babe."
She leant against him and they stood looking round the room.
"I guess Brooke can just sleep it off there," Nathan said.
"I can take her home," Lucas offered. They all looked at him, and he shrugged, "I mean…it's on my way…"
They rolled their eyes at his excuses, "Whatever man," Nathan said laughing, "But you're right I'm sure she'd prefer to wake up in her bed than on our couch."
Peyton came in and came over to Jake. He wrapped an arm round her waist and she leant her head on his shoulder.
"Well we're going to go to bed," Nathan said, "Just leave whatever you want guys, we'll do the rest tomorrow." They went off to their bedroom.
"Can you take me home?" Peyton mumbled sleepily to Jake.
"Yeah sure," he replied, smiling down at her, "I'm just going to finish up here with Lucas and then I'll drive you. Or you can go now if you want and I'll meet you later. Are you okay to drive?"
"Yeah I didn't drink much, unlike some people," Peyton said, looking over at Brooke with a sad expression. "But I'm too tired to drive, I'll just wait."
"Okay, well, we won't be long."
Peyton flopped down in the chair Haley had vacated and in minutes was asleep.
Jake and Lucas continued to clear up, and for a few minutes the only sounds were the scrunching up of old cups and Brooke and Peyton's heavy breathing; then Jake broke the silence, "So what happened man? With you and Brooke?"
Lucas looked over at him, his hand hovering over an empty bottle. He sighed and picked it up, throwing it into a bin bag with a little more force than was necessary.
"The past caught up with us," he said.
Jake waited for him to continue, knowing it would all come out in time.
"I guess she never really got over…everything that happened before. When you left I went to Peyton's to see how she was…and Brooke found me there and freaked a little." He caught Jake's expression, and said quickly, "We weren't doing anything, I would never do that to you or Brooke, she just jumped to the wrong - "
"No I know you wouldn't," Jake interrupted, "I didn't think you had, I was just frowning because I thought she trusted both of you again."
"She does," Lucas said. "She does trust us, she just…hasn't quite gotten past everything. Anyway…she came to talk to me about it all and said she just needed some time." Lucas frowned at the floor, and started taking decorations of the walls.
Jake watched him, nodding slowly. "Well I guess it'll be okay then."
Lucas was silent, and then whispered, more to himself than Jake, "Yeah, I hope so."
Eventually Jake and Lucas got too tired to carry on. Jake woke up Peyton who insisted on being carried to the car, and they both said goodnight to Lucas and left.
Lucas looked around the now almost empty apartment, until his eyes came to rest on the girl still asleep on the sofa. He approached her, crouching down by one end and watching her for a second. Finally he stood up and gently lifted her, smiling slightly as he felt her arms wrap loosely round his neck.
He carried her to his car and laid her on the back seat, before driving to her house. He found the spare key and carried her upstairs, her head lolling against his shoulder.
Once he'd managed to open the door to her room while still holding her, Lucas laid Brooke down on the bed and slipped off her shoes. He pulled the covers over her and sat down, leaning on his hand that was resting on the bed on the other side of her. With his other hand he brushed a few strands of hair from her face and she shifted slightly in her sleep.
He watched her sleeping, the low light casting shadows across her face, he expression peaceful. He withdrew his hand a little and it brushed hers that was lying by her side. Her fingers closed gently around his and he smiled, caressing her thumb lightly as he continued to watch her.
He wanted more than anything to stay with her, but he knew he should get home. And anyway, it would be awkward if she found him rather than Josh there in the morning.
Reluctantly withdrawing his hand, he leaned down and gave her forehead a lingering kiss before standing up. He stopped at the door and looked back at her, and small smile on his face, before leaving and closing it behind him.
Brooke woke up the next morning with a headache. 'God now I remember why I stopped getting slammered every weekend' she muttered. Bits of the night before started coming back to her, and she looked around her and found she was in her own bed, alone. She thanked god she hadn't done anything stupid. She didn't remember coming home though, and she doubted that the others would have let her drive; which meant someone must have dropped her off.
Figuring it was probably Josh she made a mental note to thank him at school and started to get ready.
When she arrived Josh was waiting for her at her locker.
"Hey," he greeted her with a kiss.
"Hey."
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you seemed a little out of it when I left yesterday. Did you stay at Haley and Nathan's?"
Brooke paused, taking this in, "Um…no. I went home. When did you leave?"
"You don't remember? I asked if you wanted to come."
"Oh right…yeah, I remember now. Sorry, I was a little - "
"It's no problem." Josh was used to dating girls who were wasted half the time, he was almost relieved Brooke seemed to reverting back to her old ways.
"Well, I'll see you later," Brooke said, opening her locker to start getting some books out.
"Yeah, bye."
Brooke got out her books and thought. If Josh hadn't taken her home then who had? Suddenly she spotted someone at the other end of the corridor and it hit her. Of course.
"Mouth!"
Mouth turned around to find Brooke hurrying towards him, "Hey Brooke." He smiled at her.
"Did you take me home last night?" she asked.
"Um…no. I thought you stayed at Nathan and Haley's."
"Oh," Brooke paused, "Sorry, I just thought, after that time at Tric…ok, well I'll see you later then." She smiled at him and headed of for class, now very intrigued.
"Bye," he said, looking after her with a slightly worried expression. Brooke hadn't been that drunk in a while, and he had a feeling he knew why…
Brooke went into her first period class and sat down, and was greeted a minute later by Peyton who took the seat next to her.
"So how are you feeling?" Peyton asked.
"Not too bad."
"Did Lucas make you take a load of advil?"
Brooke looked at her, "Lucas?"
"Yeah, was he not there this morning?"
"Wait…Lucas took me home?"
"Yeah, who did you think it was?"
Brooke shook her head, "Um…no one. Er, no he wasn't there this morning."
"Oh, well he probably thought you'd be okay on your own."
Brooke nodded slowly, and then their teacher came in so they had to stop talking. The lesson was pretty boring and they spent most of it writing notes about the party, but all the while Brooke was thinking about Lucas. She couldn't believe he had had to take her home…it was bad enough that she had gotten that drunk. But then again, she was glad it had been him rather than anyone else.
When the lesson ended Brooke hurried out and went in search of Lucas. She caught sight of him just outside and approached him.
"Hey," he said, when he saw her coming.
She didn't answer but pulled him into a hug. "Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder.
He smiled, and pulled back to look at her, "No problem."
"I'm sorry," she said, looking down, "I've been trying not to…do that anymore. I guess last night I just wanted to…" she trailed off and shrugged, not sure what she wanted to say.
"Yeah," he nodded. There had been times last night when he'd just wanted to get away from it all too.
The week passed. Brooke was almost glad to be in school; it meant she didn't have to think about Josh and Hannah and Lucas as much, although she thought about him anyway. She could just hang out with him though without the whole mess surrounding them preying on her mind.
Now it was Friday, which meant one thing: game night.
The team were all excited to have Jake back, and after a lot of begging from Lucas, Nathan and the others, Whitey agreed to let him play in the game.
It was an important match, against the Scottsville Dragons, a team they always had a tough time with, and so the players were feeling the pressure. Nathan, although he no longer had Dan breathing down his neck, still had his own standards to meet and so was practising hard to make sure they won.
"Oh my god, I swear if I hear him analyse their defence one more time I'm going to kick him out of the house!" Haley said to Peyton and Brooke, as she sat down with her tray at lunch. Nathan was walking behind her with Lucas, talking about a certain move some player or other on the Dragons liked to do.
Brooke laughed, "It'll all be over tomorrow Hales, and then he'll be back to just talking about you the whole time!"
Haley smiled, "I cannot wait!"
The guys sat down, still talking, and Jake came and joined them, and was immediately asked his opinion on the best way to dodge this particular move.
The girls all rolled their eyes at one another, and tried to have their own conversation, but soon the guys were moving salt shakers around the table to show each other moves, and were all talking over each other so the girls couldn't even hear themselves think.
"Okay that is it!" Haley said eventually, "Nathan if you do not shut up right now I'm cutting you off!"
Nathan looked at her, "From what?"
Haley gave him a look.
"Oh." He mimed zipping his lips shut.
"Nice one Hales, same goes for you too Jake," Peyton said.
"Am I still allowed to talk?" Lucas asked, and Brooke rolled her eyes, "Not if you know what's good for you."
"Fine." The guys all grumbled and stayed quiet.
"Now Tigger," Haley turned to Brooke with a calm voice, "Carry on telling me about your new shoes."
The guys all groaned.
"Hey Hannah," Lucas approached her after school, on his way to the locker rooms.
"Hey!"
He kissed her briefly and she walked with him, "Are you coming to the game?" he asked.
"I'm really sorry I can't. I have to babysit my brother. But I'm sure you'll be great, and anyway, you've got all those cheerleaders cheering for you I figure you don't need me too!" They laughed, and then both caught sight of Brooke heading into the gym ahead of them, and a slightly awkward silence descended as Hannah remembered which cheerleader in particular would be cheering for him.
Lucas cleared his throat, "Okay. Well, er, I'll see you tomorrow then."
"Yeah, see you then." She smiled and headed for her car.
The game was tight…very tight. The crowd were all on the edge of their seats and Haley was so tense she was sure any minute now she might have a heart attack. Quite apart from wanting the Ravens to win, she knew Nathan would be a total nightmare to live with if they didn't.
Mouth was sitting next to her, commentating as usual. "And it's Harrison of the Dragons with the ball, he's moving down the court, he passes to Oakley, and it's – oh – almost a great interception by Jagelski but Oakley just manages to get it. He's trying to get round the defence and…he has, it's a basket for the Dragons and they pull ahead a point!"
The crowd groaned, and the few supporters who had come from Scottsville cheered. Brooke shook her head, and she saw Peyton do the same next to her.
The game started again. The Ravens had the ball and were doing well. Lucas glanced over to the corner and caught Brooke's eye, she smiled and he felt his spirits lift very slightly.
Jake was looking for a pass and Lucas dodged round his player, getting open. He caught the ball and turned towards the goal.
"Come on Luke," Brooke whispered.
Lucas was double-teamed and passed to Nathan on the right, who dodged round one defence heading for the basket before he was met by another. He turned, seeing Lucas a few feet behind him to the left, and passed him the ball. Lucas caught a brief glimpse of the clock reading 00:00:05 before he caught the ball and flicked it out of his fingers once more.
It arced towards the basket and slipped straight through.
The crowd erupted as the buzzer went, signalling the end of the fourth quarter. Whitey jumped up, punching his fist in the air and Haley breathed a huge sigh of relief. The cheerleaders streamed onto the court and Lucas felt arms fling around his neck.
He smiled into her hair, feeling happier than he had in weeks.
"That was amazing Broody!" Brooke said, still hugging him.
"Thanks Brooke."
Please review, and I'll try and have the next bit up soon!
