Chapter Thirty Six

Early Morning News

Brooke awoke early the next morning next to Peyton. She turned and saw Peyton was still asleep. She didn't know what they were doing or if this made them friends again, but Peyton had stayed over last night and it wasn't the least bit awkward. Neither of them wanted to be alone after spending hours talking to the police about that jerk, Rodger. The police said that they didn't have any real proof so there wasn't much they could do. They did however say that they would get a search warrant and search all his belonging. If they found Xanax or any other drug, they would bring him in. They were a little discouraged by what the police said, but hoped they would find something to bring him in on.

Brooke and Peyton got home a little after midnight and were completely exhausted. They both fell asleep almost instantly. Now it was morning and they needed to get ready for school.

Brooke nudged Peyton."Hey, are you awake?"she asked.

"I am now."growled Peyton.

"Good. It's time to get up. We have school."

"Can't I just stay here? I don't feel like going today."

"Neither do I, but we still have to go."

"Why? So people can look at me like I'm trash and so they can look at you like your crazy for talking to me again? That is, if your going to talk to me."said Peyton looking away.

"Of course I'm going to talk to you. I'm not ready to be best friends again, but I do know I no longer want to be enemies. We can go from there."

"Okay."Peyton smiled."Well if I have to go to school then I'm gonna have to borrow some clothes. Is that okay? I didn't bring anything with me last night."

"Sure go ahead. You know where everything is. I'm just going to go take a quick shower. I'll be out soon."Brooke grabbed her robe and headed to the restroom closing the door behind her.

Peyton stayed in bed for a few more minutes before getting up out of bed. She went straight to Brooke's closet, opting for no shower this morning. She found a pair of jeans and a tank top and quickly undressed. Peyton pulled on the jeans and turned around to pick up the shirt she placed on the bed when the door swung open. Peyton stood shirtless in front of Lucas.

Lucas quickly closed his eyes."Oh shit. Sorry. I'll wait outside until your dressed."Lucas started to back up.

"No need. I'm already done."said Peyton.

Lucas slowly opened his eyes and saw she was now fully dressed."Look I'm sorry about that. I didn't know you were here and normally it isn't a big deal when I don't knock."said Lucas still a little shaken up from what he had seen. Sure it wasn't anything, but with their history, he wasn't supposed to be seeing her like that."So where is Brooke?"

"She's in the shower. If you want, you can walk in there too without knocking."said Peyton with a laugh."You'd get a better show."

"Come on. It was an accident."

"I know. I was just trying to give you a hard time. It was pretty fun."

"Oh really. Thanks."said Lucas rolling his eyes. This was weird. He was talking to Peyton and there was no hostility.

The room grew quiet for a few minutes until they both couldn't take it."I'm sorry."said both at the same time.

They both let out an awkward laugh.

"Can I please go first Lucas?"he nodded so she continued."I'm sorry Lucas. I know you probably hate me and you have every right to. I know I've said this before, but what I did was completely unforgivable. I just want you to know that even if you don't believe me and think I'm the most selfish person in the world, I am still sorry. You don't have to worry about me doing anything to try and break you and Brooke up. She is the best person I know and I will never do anything to hurt her again. You have my word on that. All I'm going to do from now on is try and make things up to her, you too if you let me. I have missed Brooke so much this past month and a half, hell I've missed all of my friends, you, Haley, and Nathan. I did a lot of stupid things and now I'm going to try my hardest to fix them all."

Lucas looked at her closely as she said all of that. She seemed to really mean it."Well I hope you can fix everything Peyton. You need to know, though, that it's not gonna happen over night. Everybody isn't going to forgive you right away. Some of us might never forgive you. I do hope for your sake and Brooke's, that she can forgive you. I think you both really need each other. As for me, I don't know. As long as Brooke is happy, I am happy."

"Okay, I can live with that."she turned to get a pair of shoes from Brooke's closet.

"Wait. One more thing."said Lucas. Peyton turned to face him."I just wanted to apologize for the way I behaved yesterday. I had no right to touch you what so ever. I was just so angry, but that isn't an excuse. I don't want you or anybody to ever be afraid of me. I will never grab you like that again. I promise."

"Lucas you don't have to apologize. You didn't really hurt me or anything. Yes you grabbed me, but it's okay. It was nothing compared to what I did to you, so there is no need to apologize. I probably would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed. I now know exactly how you felt when you were drugged, so I have more of an understanding of what you went through, which makes me even more sorry for my part in it."

Lucas thought about what she said. It had just registered."Did you say you now know what it is like being drugged? Are you talking about that time at the party with Brooke?"

Peyton shook her head."No, yesterday Brooke took me to the hospital and I found out that Rodger drugged me."

Lucas' eyes widened."Oh wow. I'm sorry. That's awful."

"Yeah it is and the hard part is not knowing what happened."

"I know exactly how you feel. That's how I felt when I couldn't remember what happened with us. Having to rely on another person for answers is pretty bad."

"What is even worse is when you can't even ask the person you were with. There is no way that Rodger would tell me what really happened, especially not now. Not after Brooke and I went to the police."

"Wait. You went to the police?"

"Yeah, Brooke thought we should."

"She was right. It was a good idea."

"I know. I don't know what I would have done without her. I don't ever want to find out either."

"I'm glad to hear that."Lucas turned toward the restroom door as it opened.

"Broody. What are you doing here?"asked Brooke looking between the two.

Lucas walked over to Brooke and pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head."I came over to see you. You were supposed to call me yesterday, but you didn't. I was worried."

"I know. I'm sorry. I left my cell at home and then we didn't get home until after midnight. We ended up just falling asleep. I was gonna call you in a bit."said Brooke wrapping her arms around his waist.

"Sure you were."kidded Lucas.

"Come on, I was. I promise."Brooke leaned in and gave him a quick kiss.

"I should go."said Peyton.

Brooke pulled away from Lucas."No, you don't have to."

"I really should. I have some stuff to do before school. I'll see you both later."she walked to the door, but then turned back and walked over to Brooke. Peyton pulled Brooke into a tight hug."Thank you Brooke. I don't know what I would have done yesterday if I didn't have you with me. You really are the best person I know. I will never forget it. Bye."she walked out.

Brooke turned around to see Lucas looking a little shocked."What?"

Lucas shook his head."Nothing."

"That look on your face didn't look like nothing to me."

"It's just a little weird seeing you and Peyton being friendly after all this time."

Brooke scrunched her face."I know, isn't it?"

"So what does it mean? Are you friends again?"

Brooke shook her head."I don't know. I know she really needs someone right now, so I'm gonna be that person. I'm not ready to hang out with her on a daily basis or have regular sleepovers though. So I'm not exactly sure what you would call us."

Lucas nodded in understanding."She told me about yesterday. How are you? I know it must have been hard for you too."

"It was, but yesterday was about Peyton. Finding out that Rodger didn't do anything to her while she was out of it was a relief. We were really scared that he had."

Lucas pulled Brooke to him and wrapped his arms around her."Well he didn't and she's gonna be okay. What did the police say?"

"Nothing really. They said we didn't have any real proof, but they would question him and possibly get a search warrant and if they found any drugs in his possession, they'd bring him in."

"Lets hope they do. I'd love to see that bastard go to jail."said Lucas shaking his head.

"Me too."Brooke pulled away from Lucas slightly and looked up at him."I'm sorry for ruining our evening yesterday. I know we had plans, it's just that Peyt..."

Lucas shook his head."Don't even worry about it. What you did instead was way more important. We'll just have to do it another day."

"That sounds like a plan."Brooke again leaned in and gave him a kiss.

Lucas quickly pulled away remembering why he was in such a good mood."So guess what I did yesterday while you were with Peyton?"

Brooke shrugged."I don't know, you missed me?"

"I always miss you when I'm not with you, but no that's not it. Guess again."said Lucas smiling.

"I don't want to, just tell me Lucas. I'm not good at guessing and I really want to know what has you all smiley."

"Okay, fine, but your no fun."

"What? Me no fun? Well that's a first, but whatever. What did you do yesterday?"

"Well my mom has this friend who is a doctor and well he was in town yesterday checking out his new office. He went to visit her and she told him about my accident and how I might never get to play basketball again. It turns out he specializes in these type of injuries and he offered to take a look at my case. I went to see him and he gave me a full exam and took some x-rays. He said all the swelling in my shoulder had gone down. That's what the other doctors were waiting to happen. Anyways, he said the x-rays and the other test results looked good. He said I'm on my way to a full recovery, which means I will be able to play again."finished Lucas excitedly.

"Oh my god! That's great Lucas. I know how much you were hoping you'd hear that. This is pretty amazing. Everything is going to work out for you. I am so happy for you."Brooke wrapped her arms around his neck."You really deserve this Lucas. I'm glad you got it."

Lucas smiled at her and leaned in to kiss her."Your pretty amazing yourself, you know that?"

Brooke smiled."Of course I do, but you can keep telling me. I don't mind."laughed Brooke."Now will you please leave so I can get dressed?"Brooke playfully pushed him away.

"I'm not going anywhere, but don't let me stop you from getting ready."said Lucas as he tried to untie Brooke's robe.

Brooke pushed his hands away."Lucas stop. I really have to get ready or we'll be late for school."

"I know. I was only trying to help."

"By undressing me?"asked Brooke.

"Well this thing has to come off so you can get dressed, doesn't it?"smirked Lucas tugging on her robe.

"Whatever."Brooke pushed Lucas outside of her room."You wait for me in the living room. I won't be long."

"Fine."pouted Lucas.

Brooke laughed as she shut her door. She quickly opened it."I almost forgot."Lucas turned back to her and she pulled him to her."I love you."She gave him a kiss before she pushed him away."I just realized I hadn't said it yet."

Lucas smiled at her."Well I love you too. I'll see you when your done."he turned and walked away.

Brooke closed her door behind her and picked up her phone and dialed Peyton's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, where did you go?"

"Home. I didn't want to impose on you anymore and Lucas seemed to like he wanted some alone time with you."

Brooke laughed."Well he did, but I made him go to the living room. So I'll see you at school, right?"

"Uh...well...I think I'm actually gonna stay home today."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

"Yeah, my dad is here with me. He surprised me with a trip home. I want to spend some time with him."

"Okay. Well tell papa Peyton I said hi and call me later. Let me know your okay."

"I will. Thank you Brooke. I really do love you."

"Yeah, bye."Brooke hung up the phone and let out a sigh. This was still so hard.

Thank you all for all the reviews. I love reading each and everyone of them. I know not much happened in this chapter, but everything in this chapter had to happen so that the next chapter worked. Now the next chapter is the last one. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter. I will have the last chapter up as soon as I can. Please read and review.

Coming Up:

Rodger makes another appearance.

Lucas is in the right place at the right time.

Someone has a huge announcement to make.