AN: Hey guys! Sry I haven't updated in a while! And this update might be a little short, I'm really sorry! But the reviews were really wonderful! I didn't expect to get that many and it was great! Thanks so much to: jeytonlover, jeyton4ever, sheri ai jakku, jennyblueEyes, and jacqueline22393. You guys are great and I loved your reviews!

Chapter 9

Jake woke up with a killer head ache. He remembered the events of the night before and made a mental note to dedicate the rest of the weekend to getting Peyton to at least talk to him. He thought the likeliness of that actually happening was very slim, but he had no idea how hard it would actually be...

Peyton woke up to feel a damp spot on her pillow where she had cried and cried until sleep finally had creep up on her. So much for not crying myself to sleep, she thought. The only time she could remember having cried so much was when her mother had died. She still wasn't really over that. So, how long will it take to get over this? She thought.

Nathan had stayed and spend the night at the beach house; not wanting to go back to the madness at his house. His parents were in the middle of a divorce and Nathan knew that in order to get through this he needed Haley. He picked up hiss cell phone and dialed her number.

"Hello?" Haley said, loud and clear. He loved how no matter what time of the day or how wild last night had been, she still managed to put on a good loud voice. He admitted that her loud voice did however, cause his head to hurt even more than it already did from his hang-over.

"Hey Hales, it's me." Nathan said, knowing that she would recognize his voice.

"Oh... Hey Nathan." Haley said nervously. Did he not remember that they had had a fight last night? she thought. They had left things a little unclear because Brooke had just pulled her away. She hadn't talked to Nathan since then.

"Do you think you can come over? I really want to see you."

"Nathan, I don't know..." It was too awkward for Haley. She didn't know if she should apologize for not telling him about the tattoo or if she should be mad because of what he had said.

"Come on, Hales. We need to talk and not over the phone. Please?" Nathan pleaded.

"I'm still mad at you, Nathan." Haley said, deciding that she had more right to be mad than he did.

"I know. Let me make it up to you. Please, come on Hales." When Haley didn't say anything for a while, Nathan took that as a yes. "Great, thanks Hales. I'm at the beach house, just get here soon!" They hung up.

On one hand, Haley felt that she shouldn't go. She thought that she should wait longer. Nathan's words had cut her deep last night and she didn't quite recover yet. But on the other hand, she was curious about how Nathan planed to make it up to her. Haley knew how week she could get. One simple 'I'm sorry' and a glance at those baby-blues would make Haley completely crumple. But that was one of the things she loved about him. She knew that he apologized a lot, but for some reason she always knew that he meant it. When he was talking to her, he was always so sincere and sweet. She got up and got out the door and started the walk to the Scott's beach house.

Peyton's phone was ringing and she really didn't want to pick it up. ring ring ring ring.

"Shut up!" Peyton screamed at her own phone. And if this were anyother day she would have laughed at herself for being so stupid as to talk to her phone, but today it was like her lips were stuck as a frown. And her phone just kept ringing and she was getting really annoyed.

"Hello?" Peyton said grumpily as she answered it.

"Peyton! OK, Don't hang up!" Jake yelled into the phone. Just when he was about to give up on calling her she had picked up.

Peyton hung up and threw her cell across her room when it started ringing again. It stopped ringing when it hit her wall and split into two. Stupid phone. Stupid Jake. Stupid Jake's voice on the stupid phone. Stupid party, stupid Nikki. Stupid night staying up crying stupid tears on her stupid pillow. Stupid Peyton...

"I'm coming!" Yelled Brooke from her kitchen as she heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find Lucas there. She knew she didn't really have a right to be mad at him. It's not like he had slept with Nikki when they were together or anything, but she was still hurt for some reason. The whole one-night-stand was not something the Lucas she thought she knew would do.

"Hi." Luc said. "Can we talk?" He asked. Brooke stepped out side onto her porch.

"Sure." Brooke said.

"OK." how do I start, Lucas thought? "Look, I made a mistake. It was a bad day. I had gotten into a fight with Haley and Dan was giving me trouble. I was just... fed up. It was a while ago, like a year maybe. I met Nikki at a bar and things just... I don't know, happened. Look, it was a mistake and there's not a day that goes by that I don't regret it. I'm just not that kind of guy. You can't compare the nothingness that I had with Nikki to what we had. Because you mean everything to me, Brooke. I don't want a stupid mistake I made a long time ago to ruin anything between us."

"I know, Luc. And I'm not mad. I mean, if anyone should know about one-night-stands, it's me right?" Brooke smiled. Lucas's little speech there had touched her heart and she was glowing.

"You're more than that Brooke. I learned that when we started dating and you made me feel so... I don't know, loved? Wow, that sounds really stupid. I'm not saying that you, you know, love me or anything. But I mean just the way I feel. I don't want to freak you out or anything. I was just saying that what we have, it's just. Well, I mean-" If Brooke didn't intervene soon enough, Lucas would just go one stuttering and saying nonsense. Brooke actually kind of enjoyed it, it was cute, but she had something she wanted to say.

"Luc, I love you." She said quietly. Lucas looked so surprised. Then a huge grin spread from ear to ear on his face. He walked closer to her.

"I love you too, Brooke." He whispered and although from his smile Brooke had guessed he would say those words, when he said them she still felt electricity go through her whole body from her heart. Lucas bent down and placed a sweet kiss on her lips. Just as the kiss ended, Brooke was reminded of something.

"Oh my gosh! I just remembered what happened to Peyton last night! Oh my God! I have to go see her. Sorry Broody!" And with that said, she gave Lucas a kiss on the cheek and ran off in the direction of Peyton's house.

AN: Yes, I know that was too short! I'm really sorry! Still, reviews are soooo greatly appreciated! THX!