Author's Note: Hey,
everybody. I'm glad that you're all still liking this story, so
please keep replying. Thanks and enjoy.
OTH
"You have got to be
kidding me."
After about five minutes of complete silence
between Peyton and Brooke, Peyton had finally started to explain. She
knew that Brooke was pissed at her and that there was a big chance
that she wouldn't believe a word she said, but she had to try.
Another thing she knew was a possibility was that Brooke would tell
Haley everything. A part of Peyton wanted Brooke to tell her, that
way she wouldn't have to be the one to do it. The thought of seeing
all that pain in Haley's eyes over something that she said, it
would kill her.
"Would I lie about something this serious?"
Peyton questioned. She figured that Brooke would have this initial
reaction, but she knew her well enough to know that she would easily
be convinced.
"I guess not," Brooke mumbled. She sat
there and tried to process all the new information that she had just
been told. Given, she had already thought that Nathan was cheating on
Haley, but there was still a little part of her that refused to
believe it.
"I caught him coming back into the club the
other night," Peyton continued to explain. Should she tell Brooke
that he was with Lacy at the time? She had promised Lacy that she
wouldn't tell Haley about her and Nathan, but she didn't think
that it would do her any good to lie to Brooke about it.
"That's
what you were talking about that night," Brooke replied. Peyton
nodded, looking down at the table. "And that's why you insisted
that I invite Hales over for a sleepover?"
"Yeah,"
Peyton answered. "I was so pissed off at him, I really needed to
bitch at him. I figured that Haley might suspect something if I
followed them home and yelled at him."
"Maybe," Brooke
mumbled, looking and sounding distant. Peyton caught the weirdness in
her voice and straightened up in her seat a little bit.
"What's
up?"
"It's just something Haley and me where talking
about last night," Brooke finally answered, after deciding she
should shared the information. She saw the questioning look in the
blonde's eyes and continued. "She was saying that Nate had been
acting weird lately."
"Are you saying that she knows?"
Peyton questioned, wide eyed. There was no way that Haley could know
what was going on with Nathan. If she knew there would be waterworks
galore.
"She's starting to suspect something," Brooke
replied. "And you might want to be a little more slick with your
death glares at Nathan, she mentioned that she noticed you were
looking at him weirdly too."
"And that's where you got
me and Nathan from?" Peyton question. That did make sense and
Brooke was always one to jump to conclusions. Brooke nodded her head.
A feeling of dread swept over Peyton. "You didn't say anything to
her about it, did you?"
"No, no," Brooke reassured her.
"I would never scare her like that unless I was one hundred percent
positive there was something going on." Peyton nodded, letting out
a breath. Brooke slowly stood up from her chair and walked over to
the fridge.
"So your plan was to totally bitch me out before
you told Haley?" Peyton asked, joking around. She was surprised at
how much lighter she felt now that she had told Brooke what was going
on.
"Pretty much," Brooke called out, her head stuck in
the fridge looking for something to eat. "God, doesn't anybody in
this house shop?"
"Haley's practically the only person
that lives here still," Peyton pointed out. Brooke nodded sadly,
remembering the note that she had found last night. As if reading her
mind, Peyton reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out the piece
of paper that Brooke had given her last night.
"Did you
read that?" Brooke asked, pointing to the paper. Peyton nodded as
Brooke pulled herself up to sit on the kitchen counter. "Doesn't
it make you sick?"
"I would say yes," Peyton began,
copying Brooke's position on the counter. "But after the last few
days with Nathan, nothing surprises me anymore." Peyton leaned back
and grabbed the bowl of grapes.
"Poor Hales," Brooke
said, catching the grape that Peyton threw her way. "Her parents
don't want her and her boyfriends a cheating jackass. My life looks
good compared to her's."
"Tell me about it," Peyton
nodded, popping another piece of fruit into her mouth.
"So,
how do we tell her about Nathan?"
"Huh?"
"We
are going to tell her, right?" Brooke asked, confused at the
expression on her friend's face. Peyton adverted her eyes, not
being able to look at her Brooke when she told her about the promise
she made Nathan. "Peyton?"
"That's kind of why I went
over to his place this morning," she tried to explain. She couldn't
take Brooke's stares anymore and slid of the counter to pace. "He
told me that he's had some kind of awakening or whatever." Peyton
stopped moving and turned back to Brooke. "He promised that he was
done, that he was never going to cheat on her again..."
"And
you believed him?"
"Yeah, I think," Peyton answered,
unsurely. "Maybe." Brooke stared at her, knowing that Peyton was
too stressed right now to hold her ground. "Honestly, I have no
idea if he was telling the truth or not."
"You're
telling me that you are just going to look Haley in the eyes and not
tell her about all of this?" Brooke questioned. Peyton's eyes
traveled back down to the tiled floor.
"Yeah."
"Do
you want to know what I think?" Brooke asked, jumping off the
counter to stand in front of Peyton. The blonde looked up and nodded
mutely. "I think that you're making a huge mistake. I think that
Haley is going to find out sooner or later and you not telling her is
just going to make matters worse."
"Maybe she wouldn't
find out," Peyton hoped. Brooke started to say something, but
Peyton cut her off. "No, there's a chance that this could all
work out okay. There's a chance that Nathan will never hurt her
again and maybe they'll get married and have kids and..."
"Peyton,"
Brooke said, trying to get her to calm down. "Please, tell me that
you don't really believe that? You know just as well as I do that
you can't bury stuff, it'll just come right back up and bite you
in the ass."
"I know," Peyton agreed defected. She
shook Brooke off and walked around to the other side of the counter.
"I know that this is all going to come out, there's no way that
Nathan is smooth enough to pull it off."
"Then why are you
trying to hide this?"
"I don't want to see her cry,"
Peyton finally answered. "God, before last night, I hadn't
decided whether I was going to tell her or not, but as soon as I saw
her up in her room, I made up my mind. If we tell her, if I tell her,
it's going to be like a thousand times worse than that."
"Yeah,
it will."
"And I can't stand the thought of that,"
Peyton finished. She let out a frustrated breath and flopped down in
the chair she was in before. "It's just... she's Haley, you
know? She's like the nicest person in the world, she doesn't
deserve this, any of it."
"Nobody does," Brooke told
her, going to sit in her own chair. "Except for maybe Nathan."
Peyton smiled sadly and nodded.
"Good point."
"But
I know what you're talking about," Brooke assured her. "I hate
seeing her in pain just as much as you do. Like last night when she
wouldn't stop crying, it was killing me."
"Really."
Peyton never would have guessed, Brooke just sort of sprung into
action with Haley; she just figured she was unfazed by the whole
thing. "It didn't seem like it."
"Well, I was playing
it cool," she explained. She looked down at the table for a minute
before looking back up to look at Peyton. "I don't know if you
forgot this little detail, but Nathan was the one that made her cry.
He's the jackass that said that crap about her mother."
"I
know..."
"He's just going to end up hurting her anyway,"
Brooke told her. "I'm telling you this now, you're making the
wrong decision and I think you know that... but I won't tell
Haley."
"You won't?" Peyton asked, more than a little
surprised that Brooke had agreed to keep this a secret. Brooke
nodded.
"It's you're information to tell," she
explained. Peyton's face fell. "You were the one to find out, you
should be the one to tell her, and until you're ready to do that,
my lips are sealed."
"Really?"
"Really."
Peyton got up and hugged the brunette tightly. "Don't think that
I'm done talking to you about this, though. I promise that I will
continue to hound you until you agree to tell her."
"I
would expect nothing less from you," Peyton joked. Brooke laughed
and they separated. "Look, she's my best friend and I know she's
yours too, it's our job to keep her safe. And if that means lying
to her...then that's what I'm going to do."
"Well,
that's your prerogative," Brooke replied. Peyton smiled, clearly
impressed with her vocabulary. Brooke rolled her eyes and smiled.
"I've been waiting to use prerogative in a sentence for like a
week now." Peyton laughed and moved back to her seat.
"Hey,
guys," Haley greeted them, just making her way into the kitchen.
Peyton smiled tightly in her direction, not trusting herself enough
to say something.
"Hey, babe," Brooke smiled at her.
Peyton was impressed at how well Brooke was able to normal around
Haley. It just made her wonder what things Brooke was keeping from
her.
"I didn't hear you leave last night," Haley
commented, grabbing a glass of orange juice and a muffin before
joining them at the table.
"That's cause I didn't
leave," Brooke answered, reaching over and snatching a bit of her
muffin. "I was trapped underneath you, once again I might add, so I
just figured I'd sleep with you." Peyton figured she better say
something before Haley questioned her silence.
"You seem to
be doing that a lot," she added, making sure not to look directly
at Haley when she spoke. "Laying on Brooke."
"What can I
say," Haley began, bringing her glass to her lips. She took a sip
and put it back. "Brookie's just irresistible." She turned to
Brooke to give her a sexy smile, but stopped when she saw her. "Or
at least she will be once she pulls a comb through her
hair."
"Thanks, Hales," Brooke smiles, running a hand
over her hair. Haley seemed to have either forgotten about the drama
that was last night or trying to. Peyton watched as they started to
playfully tease each other and was trying to figure out how Brooke
could be so comfortable around her. She herself was going insane. She
had no idea how she was supposed to keep this thing a secret when she
couldn't even look Haley in the eyes. This was going to be
interesting.
OTH
That's all for now. I'm
sorry I didn't get a chance to update last night, but I was just
too tired. I know that nothing too exciting happened in this chapter
and you are all pissed off that Brooke isn't going to run off and
tell Haley, but I promise that there is a reason for that. There are
certain things that I have planned for this story and for them to
happen, Haley can know about Nathan's activities. Anyway, please
reply and tell me what you think. Thanks.
