Chapter Twenty

"Story So Far"

The doors of Tric stood opened while people young and old filled the club. Brooke stood at Peyton's side as she watched New Found Glory take the stage. "This is unbelievable." She told her.

"Thank you," Peyton smiled. "I worked really hard to get them here."

"I can't remember the time or place, or what you were wearing. It's unclear about how we met, all I know it was the best conversation I've ever had." Brooke sang along with the music.

Peyton smiled at her friend. She was really broadening her music horizons. She was proud of her for actually knowing the words. She pulled her next to her and hugged her. "Thanks Brooke, for everything that you've done lately."

"You're welcome Peyton," she smiled. "I'm glad we can be friends like this."

Peyton watched Nathan talking to Lucas across the room. She smiled at them. She wished Jake were there. Jake was out of town with his family and Jenny for the weekend.

"Hey," Karen smiled at the girls as she walked by them. "Peyton, this is great," she told her.

"Thank you," Peyton mouthed.

"Brooke, can I borrow you for a second?"

Brooke followed Karen into a prep room and sat down on a couch. "What's up?" she asked.

"I just wanted to apologize for being so hard on you the other day. I'm sorry for firing you; I just meant to say that it wasn't going to work out. We can find you something else to do."

Brooke laughed. "It's okay Karen. I can find a job on my own." She smiled. "I'm not mad, serving just isn't for me."

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Haley and Lucas sat in the back of Tric watching New Found Glory play. Haley's friend Lacey and her brother Josh were sitting across from them. "So you're Chris's cousin?" Lucas asked Lacey.

Lacey nodded. "That's how I met Haley. Chris brought her to our family reunion and we became friends."

"Oh," Lucas said eyeing Haley. He wasn't sure why she would be at Chris's family reunion.

Haley was deep in conversation with Josh when she looked up and saw Nathan standing next to Peyton. She smiled at him and waved. He waved back. She wondered if it bothered her seeing Josh talking to her. Probably not, he moved on.

"Is that Nathan?" Josh asked looking where Haley's eyes were.

"Yeah, that's him. The brunette over there is Brooke, his new girlfriend."

Josh laughed. "You're prettier than her."

"Yeah right," Haley shook her head. "Brooke is gorgeous."

"No seriously, I think you're prettier than her."

Haley blushed and caught Josh staring at her. "Thanks," she whispered shyly.

New Found Glory ended their set and Peyton took the stage. "Thanks everyone for coming. I would like to ask Haley James to join us on the stage for old times sake. As most of you know, Haley is releasing a record next summer, and was recently touring with The Wreckers." Peyton yelled and started clapping.

Haley nervously stood up and walked to the stage mouthing 'What are you doing?' to Peyton.

Peyton shrugged and smiled as Haley took the stage. She walked down the stairs and saw Ellie standing in the crowd. "What are you doing here?" she marched up to her. Haley's voice was now overbearing the audience. She pulled Ellie outside. "What are you doing here?" she asked again.

"I just wanted to see you at work." She smiled. "Peyton, this is amazing."

"Thanks," she sighed. "Look, I'm really busy tonight, and this means a lot to me. Can we please keep our conversation for another day?"

Ellie nodded and turned to leave. "I'll see you and your dad later this week." She called as she walked to her car. Peyton went back inside.

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"Did you have fun tonight?" Nathan asked pulling into Brooke's parking lot.

Brooke smiled and nodded. "It was amazing." She pulled her curled hair back into a ponytail. "Do you want to come in?"

"I can't," he sighed. "I'm really tired. I'm going to go to the house and finish getting my mom's boxes out."

Brooke smiled at him talking about his mom. That was the one subject they didn't really talk about. "All of her stuff is still in the house?"

"Yeah," he told her. "The lawyers want me to take the boxes and put them in storage. She's trying to have someone sell the house for her."

"Why don't we go see her this week?" Brooke suggested.

Nathan shook his head, "No way, I don't want to see her."

"Can I ask why?" she questioned. She hoped he didn't chew her out for asking. She genuinely wanted to know.

"It's just so hard Brooke," he whispered. "I saw her in handcuffs after she confessed to the murder. I never thought she would do it."

"What if she didn't?"

"What do you mean?' Nathan asked. "Of course she did. She confessed to it."

"But Nathan, think about it. What if she didn't do it?" she pointed out. "It's too obvious. What if she's covering for someone else? Why don't you just go see her, here her out?"

"But what if she really did do it?" he asked. "I don't want to see her if she did."

Brooke closed her eyes and kissed him on the cheek. "Let's just go see her this week, we'll go from there."

"Thanks," he kissed her back. He watched her walk into the apartment building. She was really something.

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Lucas, Haley, Lacey and Josh pulled up to the river court in the back of the car Haley rented. Lacey jumped out of the car and grabbed the basketball shooting it and making it. "You play basketball?" Lucas asked.

Lacey laughed. "Of course I do." She smiled. "I love basketball."

"Wow," Lucas smiled. "That's awesome."

Lacey shot again, "What do you say we play a little one on one?"

"Fine," Lucas accepted. "You're on."

Haley watched the two playing basketball and sat next to Josh. "So have you talk to Chris lately?" she asked.

"No, he's overseas doing a solo tour." He told her. "I don't really talk to him much, I'm not a big fan."

Haley laughed. "Not a lot of people are,"

"You obviously were," he pointed out. "You're the one who dated him."

Haley's eyes cringed at the way that sounded. "Yeah, about that. Can we never mention that to any of my friends?" she asked.

"Sure," Josh nodded, "But why?"

"It's something that I'm not proud of. I hurt a lot of people while I dated Chris. Most of them don't know." She told him.

Josh nodded, "Oh Haley James. Who knew you could keep such a secret?' he smiled. He reached over and kissed her.

So this chapter was a little different. Thank you for the reviews on the last one. Sorry but I'm really anti Lucas/Haley.. so that one's just not going to happen. I'm not sure if Haley's going to hook up with Josh, or if Lucas is going to hook up with Lacey. That might be too easy. More Brooke/Nathan scenes next chapter I promise because they're my favorite, and obviously a lot of yours also. Please review. -Brittney