Chapter Thirty One

Togetherness

Brooke walked into the cafe and once again saw Lucas was sitting at the counter with his back facing her. She thought of repeating her last nights actions and sneaking up on him, but decided against it. He was still healing from his surgery and he did jump up pretty high yesterday when she scared him, besides she'd given him enough of a work out last night. She found herself smiling as she remembered everything about last night. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"It seems like somebody is happy to see me."said Lucas pulling her in front of him and giving her a quick kiss.

"Na, I was just giving you a little something to make you want to buy me breakfast. Did it work?"asked Brooke taking her seat next to him.

Lucas shook his head."Not quite, but if you want, we could go back to your house and you could work on it there."

Brooke rolled her eyes at him. Things sure had changed. He never used to be the one to initiate sex or make these type of comments. That had always been her thing, to initiate the sexual banter. She guessed this was how Lucas was when he was able to open up and be himself. She definitely liked this side of Lucas, the fun jokey side of him."What did I tell you earlier about the sex?"

"I don't know, that it was amazing, well that is when you weren't moaning my name."said Lucas with a smirk. He knew that would get a reaction out of her. He never used to be like this, but being around Brooke brought it out in him. He loved playing with her and getting these kind of reactions from her was pretty funny.

Lucas' comment made her blush. She definitely hadn't thought he'd say something like that. She looked around to make sure nobody heard him. Lucas saw and started to laugh."What?"asked Brooke. She had no idea why he was laughing.

"It's just funny, that's all."

Still confused she asked"What's funny?"

"You looking around to see if anyone heard what I said. You never used to care."

"I know and I still don't. It's just that what we do is private and this is your mother's cafe. We don't need anything getting back to her."

He now also looked around. She was right. This was his mom's cafe and he had said that pretty loud."Your right, sorry."

"Don't be."

"So what are we gonna do today?"asked Lucas taking her hand in his.

"I don't know, but lets do something fun."

"You name it, we'll do it." said Lucas looking up from the menu now open in front of him. He didn't know why he still looked at the menu, he knew everything on it.

She looked at him and was about to make a suggestion when a waitress came and took their order.

Shortly after placing their order their food came. They continued to talk about what they could do. They still hadn't decided on what to do when Brooke changed the subject."Lucas we should talk."she hated to ruin the mood, but she knew Lucas needed to know about Peyton. If she didn't tell him now and he found out later that she knew he'd hate her for keeping it from him and she wanted their new relationship to be built on honesty."It's important."

"Okay what is it?"he asked concerned. Brooke had suddenly gotten serious and he wanted to know why.

Brooke tried to find the right words to say what needed to be said, but what were the right words to tell someone you loved that the person they thought they once loved helped drug him and may have helped ruin his chances at playing basketball again. There definitely was no easy way to say that.

"Brooke?"

"It's just that today I..."she paused when she didn't know what to say next. She heard the bell jingle above the door and saw Nathan walk in. She'd never been more happy to see him. She knew now that she wanted to talk to him about this first. Brooke looked over to Lucas and saw his questioning eyes still on her, wanting to know what was going on. She needed to think of something to tell him and fast."It's just that today maybe I should spend some time with Nathan. I really want to be with you, but I haven't really spent much time with him lately and I miss him. Is that okay? We can still hook up afterward. I mean your still staying over tonight, right?"

He nodded."Is that what was so important you needed to tell me?"

"Yes. I didn't want you to be upset with me."she lied. So much for the relationship being built on honesty.

Lucas looked at her questioningly."Why would I be upset that you wanted to spend some time with your best friend? I should be wanting to do the same with Haley."

"Yeah you should and you should want to do it now."said Brooke as she got up from her seat."I'm gonna go.I really need to talk to Nathan."she walked over to him and gave him a quick kiss before walking over to Nathan, who was at the other side of the counter.

Nathan hadn't seen her when he walked in so he was surprised when he saw her coming up to him."Hey B. What's up?"

"I just found out something major today and I need your advice on it."said Brooke without giving him a hello.

"Okay. It sounds important. Tell me about it."

"No, I cant do it here. We're gonna have to leave."she said pulling his hand and trying to lead him to the door.

"Wait.I haven't even eaten yet."

"But your not even that hungry."

"How would you know that Brooke?"

"Because I just do. Now lets go to my house."she gave Lucas one last wave before dragging Nathan out the door.

Once Brooke and Nathan got to her house, he quickly made his way to her kitchen.

Brooke followed him"What are you doing?"

"I'm fixing me something to eat. You pulled me out of the cafe before I ordered remember? I'm hungry."

"Fine, but make it quick. I really need to talk to you."

Nathan quickly made himself a sandwich and started to eat it on the counter, deciding not to eat on the dining room table."So go ahead and talk B. What do you need my advice on?"

Brooke looked up at him knowing she could tell him anything and he would help her."Well when I got home late last night I found Peyton passed out on my lawn. I brought her into my house to sleep. The next morning when we talked she told me something I kinda wish she hadn't. I really rather not know this."

"What did she tell you?"

Brooke took a deep breathe."She said that she was the reason Lucas was in the hospital."

Nathan looked at her for a second before talking."So your saying that she confessed to giving him the drugs?"Brooke shook her head."But I thought you said..."Brooke cut him off.

"I did. She told me that she brought the Vodka for Lucas, but she didn't know it had drugs in it."

"I don't get it."

"Okay she brought the alcohol and even though she didn't know about the drugs, she knew it had something in it."

"So she actually said that to you?"

"Yes, she said she needed it to help with her plan to keep me and Lucas apart. She knows she's partly to blame and it seems as if she really hates herself for it, but I don't care, she did this and needs to own up to it."

"It seems like she already has. Did she go and tell Lucas too? What did he say?"

Brooke shook her head."That's actually what I needed to talk to you about."

"Okay, go ahead. What's up?"

"Well Peyton wanted to go and tell Lucas, but I told her to stay away from him."

"Why? Are you still worried about them doing something together?"

"No, yes. I don't know. I know Lucas loves me, so no I'm not worried about that. I told Peyton that I should be the one to tell him though. She didn't want that, but she finally agreed. I was going to tell him earlier at the cafe, but I couldn't figure out what to say, so I decided to talk to you first. Now my question is, was I right to tell Peyton I should be the one to tell Lucas?"

He shook his head."No."

"No?"she questioned.

"Yeah, no. This really isn't any of your business B."

"Of course this is my business. Lucas is my boyfriend and Peyton made it my business by telling me about it first."

"Okay your partially right, but Peyton did this and she should be the one to tell Lucas, not you."

"But don't you think I might be able to soften the blow?"

"Yeah, you might, but Brooke telling Lucas should be something Peyton does. She wanted to before you said anything, right?"Brooke nodded."Okay, then let her. You can be there for Lucas once he hears."Brooke continued to look at him."Besides I think you already knew this is Peyton's job or you would have told Lucas earlier."

"Your right. I hate it when your right."

Nathan laughed."So are you gonna tell Peyton you changed your mind?"

"Yeah, I guess I'm gonna have to, if she gonna be the one to tell him."

Jake rushed to Peyton's house right after she called and told him that she needed him. He left Jenny with his mother and promised he'd be right back.

Peyton ran to the door after she heard the bell and opened it, throwing her arms around Jake."I'm sorry I called you. I just really needed someone to talk to."

"Hey don't worry about it. I said I was here for you and I meant it."

Peyton smiled at him as she grabbed his hand and led him into her house. They went and sat down in the living room."It's done."she simply stated, not adding anything more.

"Okay, but what's done?"he had no clue as to what she was talking about.

"Brooke knows everything. I told her this morning."

"I'm glad you told someone, but I thought we agreed telling Lucas first was the better thing to do."

"We did agree to that and I tried to, but then Brooke came and I chickened out. I told her though and it was pretty horrible. She hates me and I don't blame her. What I did was awful and now Lucas may never play basketball again and it's all my fault."Peyton began to cry. She'd started to hate crying, seeing how that's all she'd been doing lately, cry.

Jake pulled her into a hug."Shh, it's okay. This isn't your fault. You need to stop saying that it is. You didn't know what was in that Vodka..."he was about to continue, but Peyton cut him off.

"Yeah, I didn't, but I brought it because of my stupid plan. If I would have just let Brooke and Lucas be, none of this would have happened. I just really thought that I loved him and he loved me back. I thought that he was only trying to get Brooke back because he felt bad for her, but I was wrong. He really does love her and I don't love him either. It was just an infatuation. When he told me he wanted me, it made me start to feel things that weren't really there. I hate that I ruined my friendship with Brooke over something that wasn't real. How pathetic is that?"

"Peyton your not pathetic. Your human. We all make mistakes and this was just one of yours."Jake didn't know what it was, but all he wanted to do was make Peyton feel better. Who was he kidding? He knew why he felt that way. It was because he liked her more than he was willing to admit. He wanted to be with her, he just wished she felt the same way. At least now she seemed to be over Lucas. Lucas was the last person he wanted to compete with.

"Brooke is never gonna forgive me. She made that perfectly clear this morning."

"Look, Brooke is just mad right now. Give her time. Once you tell Lucas and they both have some time to really think about everything, they'll know that you are truly sorry for the things you've done."Jake hoped for her sake that he was right, but he wasn't so sure.

"I hope your right. I'm not the one that's gonna tell Lucas though."

"What?"

"I wanted to tell him, but Brooke said no. She said she should be the one to tell him. She told me to stay away from him, that if after she tells him he wants to talk to me, he'll come to me."

Jake shook his head."Well Brooke is dead wrong on this. She should not be the one to tell Lucas. I'll go and tell her so myself if you want."

"No. It's probably too late anyways. She was going to meet Lucas this morning when I left her house."

"I just think that if anyone tells him other than you, he's gonna be more upset with you. He might even think you didn't care enough about what you did to him to tell him yourself."

"Hopefully he doesn't think that because I don't want him to hate me. I mean I know he already doesn't like me, but if he were to hate me I don't know what I'd do."she tried to wipe away her tears, but more came.

Jake hated seeing her like this. She was hurting so much and it was all because of the things she herself had done. He again pulled her into hug, rubbing her back.

Peyton slowly pulled away when she felt a little better. As she pulled away she looked into Jake's eyes and saw something she had never seen before, but she wasn't sure what it was.

Jake looked back at Peyton, waiting for her to turn away, when she didn't he found himself slowly moving forward. Their lips were only inches away. Peyton moved her head forward slightly and closed the gap between them.

The kiss was slow and gentle. Peyton's hand made it's way to the back of Jake's neck. She was about to deepen the kiss when she heard someone clear their throat.

They both pulled apart to see who it was.

Brook stood in the doorway watching the two."Well you two look rather close. What's going on?"

"Nothing. Jake was just here helping me. What are you doing here Brooke?"

"I need to talk to you."was all Brooke said.

Jake looked between the two girls and knew this was his cue to leave."I guess I'll go then."he turned to Peyton."Call me later okay?"she nodded and he leaned in and kissed her forehead before walking away."Bye Brooke."

"Bye Jake."said Brooke as he walked out and closed the door behind him. She turned back to Peyton."So what's going on with you two?"she motioned with her head toward the door Jake had just left in."

"Nothing really. What's up Brooke? What do you want to talk about?"

"Lucas."

"Did you tell him already? What did he say?"this was it. She was about to find out if Lucas hated her as much as she thought he would.

"No, I didn't tell him yet. That's just it, I'm not going to tell him. You are."

"But I thought you said you wanted to?"

"I did, but Nathan thinks that you should be the one to tell Lucas."

"Jake thinks that too."

"I agree with them. This really isn't any of my business. It's yours and Lucas'."

"I know."

"Okay well you need to tell him now. I hate that I know this and he doesn't. If you wait any longer and he finds out that I knew, he's gonna be mad at me and there is no way that I'm gonna let you ruin my relationship with him again."

"Okay. If you want, I'll tell him right now."

"That's what I want."

"Do you know where he is?"

"No, but call him. Tell him you want to talk. He'll meet you."Brooke looked around not knowing what else to say."Well that's all I came to say."she started to walk away.

"Brooke."

Brooke turned around."What?"

"Is he gonna hate me?"

"I don't know, but if he does, he has every right to. What you did, everything you did, was unforgivable Peyton."she turned around and walked away.

"Brooke."Peyton called once more, but Brooke just continued to walk away and out the door."I'm sorry."said Peyton staring at the closed door.

Thank you for all the reviews. I really appreciate them. I planned to have this chapter up sooner, but I instead posted the first chapter to my next story. It's called Secrets Kept. Anyways I put some B/N in this chapter because I was realized they hadn't been together in a while and they are supposed to be the main focus of this story. I also have more B/P in this chapter. Let me know what you think about those two. So I hope you liked this chapter and if you want you should check out my newest story. Let me know what you think. Please read and review.

Coming Up:

Brooke gets comfort from Nathan.

Peyton finally tells Lucas.

Brooke breaks up a serious argument.