"From what?" Brooke laughed in her usual sly manner. She knew exactly what Rachel needed- gossip, and considering he finger was now overweighed by a 14 kt diamond ring, there was no way of escaping it.
Later
She plopped on the green satin sheets of the bed and rested her head on the palm of her hand that was being supported up by her bent arm
"Brooke Davis, When did all of this happen?" a curly haired blond sat opposite to her best friend. The same surprised gossip hungry face being mirrored to her, just the way Rachel's did a few hours earlier
"Peyton
Sawyer, it happened last night at the Promenade" Brooke imitated
her best friend in the same tone following her words with a soft
laughter
Peyton gave her a sarcastic grin throwing a pillow at her
"I know that, you already told me you had a date with him there.
Remember, you spent half the afternoon rampaging my wardrobe for a
'presentable' skirt. Tell me, how did he do it? Did he get down
on one knee? Did he take you to the basketball court and have it
written on the screen 'Brooke Davis, the best sex I ever had, would
you marry me?'" her hands traced an imaginary rainbow in the air
only to be pushed down by a flying pillow coming from the direction
of Brooke, who was now sitting up her legs crossed and bent
underneath her
"ewww. P. Sawyer. Let's not go into my sex
life" she laughed
"believe me. I don't want to go there
either or my ego might suffer the consequences" Peyton agreed still
in her light humorous tone "so ..spill"
Brooke hugged a pillow to her chest. She bit her lip, a smile overshadowing every feature in her face "We were sitting there in the restaurant and he just took my hand and asked me..simple as"
"Simple as?" Peyton raised an eyebrow "you'd think for a rich basketball player he'd be able to do something a bit fancier to satisfy a girl's long lived fantasy of the perfect proposal. Something… like…like…"
"Like take me in a yacht in the middle of
the ocean ..with the champagne glasses in our hands and the moonlight
casting its light on the water being reflected in our eyes….then he
reorganizes the stars to spell out 'will you marry me?"…"
Brooke continued watching Peyton's smile widen into a grin as she
nodded her head vigorously..
"YEA" Peyton shouted in
agreement
"yea..Peyt, that's YOUR fantasy" Brooke patted
Peyton's thigh in sarcasm
"yea well, at least one of us
gets to live it…" the blonde spoke, a sudden bitterness in her
tone. It wasn't towards Brooke. She was happy for her best friend.
She knew Brooke deserved this after long years of unstable
relationships and an unforgotten past that has haunted her for so
long.
Brooke smiled sweetly to her best friend tilting her head
slightly to the side "Jake still hasn't popped the question yet?"
she bit her bottom lip letting one of her legs dangle at the side of
the bed
"Nope. You know…." Peyton walked over to the mirror playing around with the knick-knacks on the vanity as she spoke. It was a habit of hers whenever she was upset or nervous and Brooke knew it too well allowing herself to manage a secret smile as she watched the back of her best friend "for a smart guy, Jake isn't exactly good at taking hints. I mean here we are living together for more than eight years…raising a child together…."Peyton paused "doesn't the word 'together' hint to anything?"
Brooke couldn't help but giggle at her
best friend's frustration. She knew this was a long coming for
Peyton before she losses her mind over Jake Jegalski- her high school
sweetheart and probably the first man she had ever truly fell in love
with. Sure enough he wasn't her first love but she had given him a
much stronger commitment than she had ever given any other guy –
she gave him her heart.
"Don't beat up yourself about it"
Brooke consoled her lightly now both her legs dangling at the side of
the bed so she was fully facing Peyton "Guys are dense like that.
You could have a sign hung in the middle of the apartment saying 'I'm
waiting for a proposal' and they still wouldn't get it"
"yours didn't even need that to propose…"
"yea but you see, I wasn't even waiting for a proposal. It just happened" she shrugged one shoulder with a smile in the same famous Brooke Davis fashion. Peyton just raised her eyebrow at Brooke noticing the brooding look that had suddenly overtaken her features. The look she had acquired from a certain someone that had affected both their lives.
"Brooke, you don't regret saying yes do you?" she
asked her plopping next to her on the bed and wrapping one arm around
her shoulder
Brooke looked up to meet her best friend's gaze-
she was still waiting for an answer. Quickly like she had suddenly
realized the question was pointed to her, she shook her head "No,
of course not" she answered sounding very convinced with her own
words. "Adam loves me and he is such a great guy, probably the only
one I was ever able to connect with that way in such a long time. I'm
happy" she nodded her head as to finalize the subject and Peyton
did the same action with her head but she couldn't help but
continue her gaze at her best friend whom she knew since she was
five. She believed her, but in her mind certain scenarios and images
from the past kept flashing inside her head like an old movie or a
projector clips shown on a white screen. All of a time when the smile
on Brooke's face never seemed to leave before the tide came and
washed all those moments away.
A sudden noise of a door being
shut was heard by the two girls and almost immediately a smile
appeared on Brooke's face upon realization of who it might be
"there's my favorite cheerleader" she pepped up in her cheery
voice seeing her niece skip into the room and into her arms
"BROOKE…"
she screamed in her giggles and Peyton laughed as she watched the two
hug
"Aunt Brooke, Jenny" she corrected for her daughter and Brooke narrowed her eyes at her "excuse me, she can call you mommy all you want but I am just Brooke…im still young. Don't make me feel like im twenty-five years old or something"
"Brooke, you are twenty-five years old"
"yea, but she doesn't know that" Brooke mouthed in a whisper to Peyton as she played with Jenny's pompoms. Peyton shook her head as she laughed - trust Brooke to act her shoe size.
"and you little princess. Let me see the new cheerleading outfit." Brooke grinned widely holding Jenny's hands from a distance "give us a twirl" she instructed her and smiled even more seeing a younger version of herself when she was in high school but maybe shorter. She only hoped that version of her wouldn't have to go through everything that she had been through.
"Oh My God. You should have seen me. We made this
pyramid and I was on top of it because obviously I'm the smallest
girl in class…which I'm actually starting to appreciate more
right now" Jenny rambled on twirling her fingers as she spoke.
Peyton couldn't help but laugh at how much she was growing to be
like her aunt Brooke.
"I thought you hated being small"
"yea
well that was before I was at the top of the pyramid and the girl
under me thankfully got all jiggly causing me to fall to the
floor"
Peyton gasped upon hearing this. It was part of her
maternal reflexes
"Relax mom, nothing happened because someone
broke my fall" she smirked to Brooke knowing she would understand
her right away
"Why do I smell a boy in this story" Brooke
gave her the exact same smirk urging her to continue. Jenny nodded
"he is on the basketball team and he is really cute"
Brooke
turned to Peyton who shared her the exact same look "I guess some
things don't change afterall" Peyton told her in almost a
whisper. Jenny noticed the exchange but decided to brush it
off
"Brooke you should see him. He's got like dirty blonde
hair with darker brown streaks and those gorgeous hazel eyes"
"My
nine year old has discovered the other sex….what happened to this
generation" Peyton sighed whispering to Brooke causing her to erupt
in fits of giggles "don't make me tell her about your adventures
with the opposite sex when YOU were nine"
It was like a reflex,
Peyton swung the pillow at Brooke expecting one to hit her back- and
she was right. Jenny rolled her eyes at the two of them and grabbed
her pompoms from Brooke's hand in attempt to save them from the
ongoing childish girl fight
Suddenly, a familiar sound to
Brooke's ear was heard- perhaps a muffled sound of the classic
'Don't confess' by Tegan and Sara. She always felt a special
emotional attachment to that song, she wasn't sure why but she just
did. Peyton turned her head in the direction of the sound only to
find Brooke digging through her purse and finally pulling her cell
phone out bringing the ring tone to a halt.
"Hey baby" Brooke
gasped for air as she reached the right button. She grinned picturing
the person on the other end of the line. She always did, it was part
of her wild creative imagination. She liked to picture everything
around her in the way that things should be – perfect
"They
totally loved it. You should've seen the look on their faces. They
were so impressed and they assigned me the whole project…" she
spoke excitedly down the phone "well, me and Rachel"
She
paced around the room placing one footstep infront of the other –
heel to toe. Peyton watched her and laughed. How could someone in her
age be filled with a teenagers' spirit. Jenny was waving her
pompoms in the air practicing her new routine unaware of the silent
gaze that Peyton was giving Brooke. She watched her interaction with
her boyfriend, now fiancé, and couldn't help but open the
door to the past in her mind. A frown slowly appeared on her face, a
frown that only she herself can understand…..a frown of a guilt
that had lived with her for so long eating her inside. Nonetheless
she was still happy for Brooke. But she couldn't help but wonder
'what could have been if….' And this contained so many ifs
"ooo I like that idea of a celebration…hmmm…oh yea"
she cajoled her fiancé down the phone stepping a distance from
Peyton who was now tending to Jenny and her cheer show.
Brooke
walked into the small sunroom which was now suddenly filled with many
open brown boxes.
"Yea. So I'll just see you tonight
yea?...I was actually thinking I would have another go at cooking
you your favorite. ..Hey don't make fun. It's not my fault I'm
impaired in the kitchen."
"yea well, you just wait I……"
she fell silent and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what
could re-open a wound from her past in a matter of seconds. Her hands
slowly reached inside the open box. Drawings and pictures of the past
. It was like opening a memoirs that kept all the buried pain from
the past and also memories she wished she could forget but at the
same time held onto them dearly like a child holds onto a safety
blanket. It was ironic and no one could ever understand it, not even
herself. Her fingers traced a picture of three familiar faces –
three people who were once close friends. One of them in particular
had her eyes in a lock. She sniffled through her tears trying to make
them disappear but it didn't seem to help
"Brooke, you there?"
a voice brought her back to reality. A reality she knows she should
hold onto if she wanted to forget the past
"yea…" her voice
was barely audible through the phone "I'm gonna see you tonight
ok?...love you too. bye" she turned off her cell phone and her
gaze went back to the picture. His arm rested around her waist and
she could almost remember the warm safety she fell when she was in
them before the coldness was the only thing that took over her body
when he left her. She hated how she still felt that way and how she
was never able to do anything about it
"I found them a
few days ago" a voice startled her and she didn't have to turn
around to know who it was. "I was looking for my old pompoms for
Jenny and…."
Brooke sniffled again vowing not to turn around
to face her friend before she can wipe away all her tears so there is
no evidence of their existence
"I had a feeling those were the
tree hill pompoms. We only lived with them for like four years" she
softly chuckled trying to force a smile and turned around but she
knew Peyton could read her like an open book, tears or no tears. It
was like she had x-ray vision that saw right through her eyes
"I'm sorry" she mouthed to her and Brooke nodded her smile becoming more believable "don't worry about it. I've been over that stuff for so long now. It's the past right? You cant do anything about it but forget it" she shrugged trying to convince Peyton of words she herself didn't believe in
"anyway" suddenly becoming
more cheery she sniffled again "my boytoy just called and I'm
cooking him dinner tonight. So. I'm going to go. Say hi to your
boytoy for me ok"
Peyton nodded the same frown still on her
face. She wasn't convinced with Brooke's glossy performance and
her way of hiding her feelings.
Brooke looked at the picture in
her hand one last time before dropping it in the box and walked
towards the door
"you still miss him don't you?" Peyton
suddenly said making Brooke stop in her tracks. She didn't turn
around this time. She stayed in the same spot for a few more seconds
then finally decided to speak
"Peyton please……let's not go
there" she said in a soft whisper then headed out the door knowing
exactly the answer for Peyton's question - Everyday
So this was the second chapter. A bit more interesting than the first i hope.
Thanks so much for reading everyone. Your reviews are very much appreciated :)