Chapter Sixteen
She Doesn't Hate You
Brooke dropped Haley off at her house after they left the spa. She was on her way to Nathan's house. A lot was happening and she really needed to talk to him and get his opinion on it.
She pulled into his drive way and got of her and went to knock on the door.
She was unpleasantly surprised when she saw Dan open the door."Ms. Davis, it's good to see you. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Hey, Mr. Scott. I just stopped by to see Nathan. Is he here?"
"No, I'm afraid he's not. I know he'll be sorry he missed you."
"He better."said Brooke with an awkward smile. Dan always made her feel uncomfortable and she had no clue as to why.
"Please tell me my son wised up and dumped that tutor and is now dating you."
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no we're just friends and he's still with Haley."
"Well then it's his loss."
Brooke laughed. She didn't know what else to do.
"So did you want to come in and wait for him. I don't know when he'll be back, but I'm sure we can find something to do until then."
Brooke hoped to god he wasn't flirting with her. That would just be gross. What could they possibly do together? She did not want to find that out."No, I can't. I'm sorry. Will you just tell him I stopped by please?"
"That I will. Well it was lovely to see you again Ms. Davis. I hope to see you again soon."
Brooke turned around and started to walk to her car."You too Mr. Scott. Bye."she saw him waiting out side by the door for her to leave he gave her one last wave."You old perv."she said to herself. As she drove she got out her cell and dialed Nathan's number.
Nathan was at the River court with Lucas and the other guys. They had been there for about an hour playing ball and to his surprise he was actually having fun. If you had told him a week ago he'd be hanging with Lucas and his friends, he would have laughed in you face, but now he was. He had just made his shot when his cell rang."Hey, time okay? I have to get that."he ran to get his phone."Hello?"
"Hey Nate."
"What's up B?"
"Nothing. So I was just at your house, but you weren't there, your dad was though. Have I ever told you he gives me the creeps?"
"Only about a dozen times."said Nathan with a laugh.
"Well he still does. Do you know that he wants for us to get together?"
Nathan laughed again."Yeah, but he's not the only one."
Brooke couldn't believe what he just said."What?"
Nathan heard her voice get weird and then it hit him, it was because of what he said."It's my mom. She used to always ask me when we'd get together."he heard her sigh in relief.
"Okay, good because for a second I thought you were going to say..."she trailed off not knowing exactly how to say what she was thinking.
"Don't worry Brooke. I'm with Haley now. I'm not pining away for you. That was a long time ago."
"Shut up, I know. So anyways, I really need to talk to you."
"Isn't that what we're doing right now?"
"You know what I mean. Where are you?"
He hesitated. He didn't know how she'd react to him hanging out with Lucas outside of school."I'm at the Rivercourt."
"What are you doing over there? Are you with Lucas?"
"Yeah, he asked me if I wanted to come after practice. I didn't have anything else to do so I came."
"Right. Do you ever get tired of basketball?"
"Do you ever get tired of cheering?"
"Yeah."
"Well I don't."
"Whatever. Are you almost done there?"
"Yeah, I guess I could leave. What's up?"
"Nothing. I just want to spend some time with my best friend."
Nathan smiled."Oh, I see I've been bumped from friend to best friend."
"No, you've always been my best friend. So I'm like right down the street, can I go pick you up?"
"What about my car?"
"We'll pick it up later or if you want you can leave the keys to your new best friend Lucas."she laughed.
"Brooke don't start. We'll just pick it up later. I'll see you when you get here."he hung up and walked back to the guys who were waiting for him on the court."That was Brooke. I gotta go. She'll be here in a minute."he went to put his things in his car and lock it up.
Brooke was there in a matter of minutes. She didn't dare get out of her car. She didn't want to see Lucas, not after what happened with them the last time. She parked and waited in her car for Nathan.
"I guess I'll see you guys later."he turned and walked to Brooke's car.
Skills turned to Lucas."Hey man, is he with Brooke now or something?"
Lucas shook his head."Na, man. Their just friends. He's with Haley."
"Oh, I was just gonna say if he was then that'd be wrong."
Lucas laughed and turned to watch Brooke pull away.
They drove off."So where are we going?"asked Nathan.
"My house."
"Sounds good. So do you want to tell me what's been going on now or do you want to wait until we get to your house?"
"Lets wait."
"Okay, so how was Amelia's?"
"Perfect as usual. Haley totally loved it. I'm definitely going to have to take her back. You should come with us next time."she smiled at him.
"Come on Brooke don't start that again."
She let out a laugh."Your not mad that I told her you like going to Amelia's are you?"
"I should be. That was supposed to stay our secret."
"Oh, please."Nathan gave her a hurt look."Okay, I'm sorry. I promise to keep every other secret of ours to myself."
"You better because I have some secrets of my own that I can share about you."
She glared at him."Whatever, so anyways guess what?"
"What?"
"You'll never believe it, but I got Haley to agree to take Peyton's place in the squad."
"Are you serious? She actually said yes? Wow, your good."
"I know and it wasn't even that hard."
"Good. I can't wait to see her in a uniform."
Brooke rolled her eyes."You are such a guy."
They got to Brooke's house and walked up to the door."Shit, I left the keys in the ignition. Hold on a sec."she walked back to her car and grabbed them along with her forgotten purse and walked back to see the door already opened and with Nathan inside."How'd you get in?"he held up his key to her house."Right. I forgot you still had those."she shut the door and walked to the kitchen."Do you want anything to drink?"she yelled.
He walked up behind her and opened the refrigerator."What do you got?"
She jumped back into him and turned around. Nathan began to laugh. She in turn punched him in his chest."You jerk, you scared the hell out of me."
Nathan rubbed his chest."That was the point."he reached past her and grabbed a coke."Do you want one?"she nodded and the threw her one."So were you ever going to tell me about yesterday and how you almost got kidnapped?"
"How do you know about that?"
"Lucas told me."
"Right, I forgot he's your new best friend."
"He's not my best friend Brooke, but he is an alright guy."
"He's an alright guy? What?"
"I'm just saying that I may have been wrong about him in the past. I don't hate him that much anymore."
"How did that happen?"
"I don't know. I guess it was when I heard him talking to Peyton. I didn't expect him to say the things he did and I kinda have a little respect for him now. Not a lot, but some."Brooke looked at him in disbelief."Look it's not like I'm going to be inviting him over for sleep overs or anything. I just don't think he's all that bad anymore."
"If you say so. Well now I don't think I can talk to you about what I wanted to anymore, seeing how your friends with him and all."she joked.
"Brooke we're not friends really, we just talk sometimes."
"I don't care if your friends with him Nathan, it's just weird seeing you two together that's all. All I've heard from you is how much you hate him and how he's a bad guy."
"I might have been wrong about him. I'm trying to figure that out."
"I made out with him last night."she blurted out.
"What? I thought you hated that jerk."
"Oh, so now he's a jerk. Just a minute ago, he was an alright guy. What's that about?"
"It's okay that he's my friend, it's not okay that he's kissing you. He cheated on you Brooke. Don't forget that."
"Like I could ever forget that Nathan. That's what made me stop things yesterday. I pictured them together and couldn't go on. As much as I didn't want to stop, I knew I had to."
"Good for you."
"Am I stupid Nate?"
"No, of course not. I know you still love him and I know it must be hard for you, but you can't let that happen again."
"I know that."she let out a sigh."That's what I told him. I also told him it was a mistake and that I hated him. I shouldn't have said all of that. Maybe I should apologize."
"Don't you even think about it. You have no reason to apologize to him."
"Your right. I'm just being silly. I already told him to stay away from me and he said that he would, so if I went to him now, I'd be breaking my own rule."
"Brooke as much as you don't want to, you seriously need to stay away from him."
"I know and I am. Now I don't want to talk about Lucas anymore. Do you want to watch a movie or something?"
"Sounds good."
Brooke wrapped her arms around his waist and they walked into the living room.
Halfway through Forest Gump, Brooke fell asleep. Nathan looked down at her. Her head rested on his lap and he decided not to wake her. He closed his eyes and went to sleep with her on the couch.
Lucas sat on his bed with his back against the head board reading when he heard someone knocking at his side door."Come in."
"Hey loser, what are you doing?"
He held up the book."Reading."
"I should have known."
"What are you doing here? I didn't know you were stopping by tonight."
"I wasn't, but then I remembered you needed to talk, so here I am. Brooke told me about yesterday."
"She told you everything?"
She nodded."She started with the fight in the locker room and ended with telling you to leave her alone. That's everything right?"
"Sounds like it."he let out a sigh."I don't know what to do Hales. The last thing I want to do is leave her alone, but she wants me to. I really screwed this up. I never wanted her to hate me and now she does."
"I'm sorry Lucas. I wish things were different for you. I know how much you love her."
"I wish she knew."
"I think she does, but she just can't get over the fact that you did what you did and Peyton isn't making it any easier by lying to her about you."
"I know and hopefully Peyton won't be an issue anymore. I told her to stay away from me."
"I'm glad you did. It was long over due Lucas."
"I know. So did you have fun today? You look refreshed."
"I am. That place is amazing. I have never been more relaxed in my life."Lucas smiled at her."So what did you do today?"
"Nothing, just went to class and hung out with Nathan."
"Isn't that a little weird? You hanging out with Nathan? I like it though."
"It is a little weird now that I'm thinking about it, but it was also kinda fun, well that is until Brooke called him and he ran off with her. Am I crazy for being jealous of them?"
"Yes and no. No, because I know you wish you were doing the things he is with her and yes you are crazy because you have nothing to be jealous of. They are just friends. I actually like their friendship. She really needs friends right now and he's there for her in ways I can't be."
"Your right. I guess I should be glad she has him."
Early the next morning Lucas got up for a run. He decided to run to the Rivercourt so he could also play some ball before going to school. He ran the whole way there and was surprised to see Nathan's car still there. He wondered why Nathan would leave his car here all night. The only thing he could think of was that he spent the night at Brooke's. He wasn't worried at all. Nathan was with Haley and Brooke wouldn't do anything to hurt Haley the way she had been hurt. He stayed and shot a few baskets.
Nathan awoke the next morning to find Brooke no longer in his lap. He walked into her room and heard the shower running. He knocked on the door.
"Yeah?"
"It's me."
"Come in."
"Are you sure?"
"Nathan don't be silly. I'm behind a curtain."
He opened the door and stuck his head in."Hey I really need to go and get changed so I'm going to take your car. I'll be back to pick you up later okay?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you then."
Nathan shut the door and went to get her keys. He headed to the Rivercourt to get his gym bag out of his car.
Lucas saw Brooke's car pull up next to Nathan's. He was right, he did stay with her last night. He saw Nathan get out of the drivers seat and come up to him.
"Dude don't you ever go home?"said Nathan with a laugh.
"Hey I could say the same to you. Your car stayed here over night. You stayed over at Brooke's?"
"Yeah, but nothing happened. We fell asleep watching a movie."
"Hey I don't need an explanation. I know nothing happened. I was just stating the obvious."
Nathan took deep breath and then let it out."Okay I know this is none of my business, but I'm going to say it anyways. You really need to stay away from Brooke. She told me about what happened the other night and it really messed her up man."
"Your right, this isn't any of your business, but don't worry about it. I am going to stay away from her and not because you said so, but because she asked me to. It was a mistake, she said so herself. She hates me. Did she tell you that?"he closed his eyes and shook his head.
Nathan just looked at him. He seemed so hurt."Yeah, she did, but she doesn't hate you. She'll never forgive you for what you did, but she doesn't hate you. I told her the same thing I told you. You both need to stay away from each other. I have to get going. I'll see you around. He went to grab his bag and then got back into Brooke's car and drove to his house.
A/N:Thanks for all the reviews. I really appreciate them. Nothing really happened in this chapter other than Laley bonding and Brathan bonding. This and the last chapter are really just filler chapters leading up to the party where the unexpected happens. Let me know what you think. Please read and review. Thanks.
Coming Up:
Jacks back.
Lucas once again is jealous.
Peyton is also back.