Hey guys…sorry for the unusually long update. I've just been busy with midterms and I haven't really been in the writing mood. But I think I'm slowly starting to get it back. I've been thinking about another story…

Anyways, I hope you remember what happened in the previous chapters and aren't too disappointed with this chapter. I had written so many different scenarios before I decided to cut and paste some scenarios together….I hope it makes sense!

Chapter 21

Now fully dressed, Lucas dialed Peyton's number on the kitchen phone. Lucas impatiently waited for her to pick up her house phone. Lucas needed to talk to Peyton about Brooke. He was more than surprised to find Brooke waiting for him in his bedroom just minutes earlier. After realizing that Lucas didn't want to be with her, Brooke took off, hurt and embarrassed.

"Hi," Lucas froze when he heard Brooke's voice, "you've reached Brooke Davis…obviously I'm not here. So leave one and maybe I'll get back to you…oh you can leave a message for Peyton or Larry too, I guess…"

Instead of leaving a message, Lucas hung up and tried Peyton's cell. Not a second after it started to ring in his ear, he heard the familiar Dashboard Confessional ring tone. He pulled the receiver from his ear and listened. The ring tone went off again.

"Damn, she left her cell phone here again," Lucas swore as he hung up the phone.

As he made his way to his bedroom to find her cell phone, Lucas grabbed a light jacket from the hall closet. If he couldn't get a hold of Peyton by phone, he was going to have to look for her.

"Geez!" Lucas jumped back and grabbed his beating heart. For the second time that morning, he walked into this bedroom to find a girl sitting on his bed.

Peyton smirked, "You should really start locking that door,"

"Or other people could start knocking,"

"Other people?"

"Yeah, other people…you, on the other hand, are welcome any time….anyways, I was trying to call you,"

"I know," Peyton took her cell out of her pocket and let out an uneasy laugh before putting it away.

"How come you didn't answer…or at least let me know that you were here?" Lucas sat down beside her.

Peyton, somewhat uncomfortably, scooted away from him. A serious vibe fell over the two of them. "Brooke's home,"

Lucas sighed, "I know…she was here,"

Peyton nodded. She wanted to ask Lucas about the kiss, but at the same time she wondered if he would tell her on his own.

"She kissed me…but judging from you reaction…you already knew that,"

Her eyes looked down. She was guilty.

"Hey," he reached out for her hand and leaned down to catch her eyes, "You have nothing to worry about. It…"

"…didn't mean anything," Peyton nodded and looked up, "I know. I saw you pull away…"

"You saw?"

"Yeah, I was trying to warn you that Brooke was home, but when I got to your door, she had you cornered…impeccable timing, right?"

Lucas chuckled, "You could say that,"

"You know, I trust you completely…it's just that…seeing you two like that…I don't know, it just hurts,"

"Does it hurt because you saw me with another girl or was it because you don't want to see Brooke get hurt,"

Peyton shrugged, "Both?"

He closed the gap between them, "Look, I don't want to hurt Brooke either…and maybe it's my fault for leading her on but at the same time, I can't help how I feel…and I don't want to hide it,"

"I know…I'm going to tell her,"

Lucas watched Peyton stand up, "I thought we were going to do it together,"

"I think after this morning…it'll be better if I do it alone,"

He nodded. "Kay," Lucas stood up and walked his girl to the door, "Call me afterwards?"

After some hesitation, Peyont agreed, "Yeah,"

She stepped throught the threshold when she felt his hand on hers, pulling her back. Slowly her eyes lifted until they contacted his concerened stare. "Are you ok?" he asked.

"Yeah," she whispered, but as she continued to look at him, she couldn't lie to him. She closed her eyes and shook her head. Her top teeth bit on her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

"Hey," he soothinlgy said as he pulled her tight into his body, "It's going to be ok, Peyt. I promise,"

Peyton pulled away and tried to give him smile, pretending to believe his promise. She wanted to be alone, "Yeah...I better go,"

"Peyt..." he tried to call her bluff but even she knew that he knew.

"I'll call you later,"

It was now late in the afternoon and Peyton found herself sitting alone on the grassy knoll that overlooked Rivercourt, where Lucas was playing on the court down below. He had no idea that she was there and it was exactly what she wanted. Peyton just wanted some time alone. After leaving Lucas's that morning, Peyton ended up at the hill rather then at her house, where Brooke mostly like was.

Not many people knew it about it. It was one of Tree Hill's best kept secrets – it not only looked over the Rivercourt, but it gave a spectacular view of the waterfront and downtown Tree Hill. It was also quiet and peaceful – the way Peyton liked it.

Her newest sketch stared back at her. A lone square was drawn in the centre of the page. Inside it was nothing. "EMPTY" was written across the top. It was the simplest drawing she had ever done and yet it revealed her exact feeling. And at that very moment, feeling nothing inside was good. She knew facing Brooke would bring an onslaught of emotions – not just on her but for everyone involved.

A familiar sound rang in the distance. It was her ring tone. Purposely Peyton had left her phone in the car, but she knew who it was. She looked down on to the court and saw Lucas standing over by the picnic table with a cell phone to his ear.

With a sigh, Peyton tore the sketch out her book, crumpled it up and tossed it aside. It was inevitable but she was going to delay it as long as possible.

"Hey, do you know you're phone is ringing?"

Peyton looked over her shoulder to see Nathan approaching. She hadn't heard his footsteps on the soft grass.

"What are you doing here?" Peyton asked bitterly. Ever since Haley had told her that Nathan slept with another girl in California, Peyton angrily avoided him.

But her snappiness didn't faze him. He had known Peyton for a long time, so her being in a bad mood was nothing new. "Just wanted a quiet place to think,"

"Well, I was here first and I'd like to be alone right now,"

Nathan scoffed, "I showed you this place, remember? So technically this place is mine,"

"Whatever," Peyton started to pack up. She couldn't deal with him right now.

"Hey, you know if you have a problem with Lucas then don't take it out on me,"

"Oh and what if I have a problem with you?"

"Me? What did I do?"

"Like you don't know…I know what you did in California," Peyton spat out, "Haley was going to give up a tour for you, Nate. She loved you. You know its bad enough that you had her waiting here for basically nothing but then you had to go off and…"

"Brooke told you?"

Peyton was confused, "Brooke? What does Brooke have to do with this?"

He didn't have to answer his nervous face said it all.

"No…Nathan…" she said in disbelief. Nathan had spent the whole summer at High Flyers in California, where Brooke was also staying. Nathan had come home and confessed that had slept with a girl while Brooke had come home heartbroken and insecure about her relationship with boys. Neither had mentioned each others names but Peyton put the pieces of the puzzle together, "Tell me that girl you slept with wasn't Brooke,"

With nowhere else to go, Brooke had sought solace on Peyton's bed. She lay there alone, clutching a pillow tightly. Brooke never felt so dejected and lonely before, it wasn't something she was used to. But there she was, rejected by two Scott boys in the same week and no friend to comfort her.

These depressing feelings were finally getting to the usually cheery brunette. Usually it was her who was trying to cheer up a brooding Peyton who was always listening to some sort of depressing song. Peyton had always said that music isn't depressing…it's comforting.

"What the hell, P. Sawyer, I'll give it a shot," Brooke said to herself as she crawled out of the bed and headed towards Peyton's music collection, "You're better at this brooding thing than I am,"

"Does Haley know it was Brooke?"

Nathan shook his head.

Peyton let out a long sigh, "Do you really care about Brooke?"

Nathan nodded his head, "Yeah, I do. It's weird, you know, I've known Brooke for a long time…but I don't think I ever knew her, till this summer," he took a breath, "I never thought I could feel this way about anyone except for Haley…but Haley and I both changed. Not just over the summer, but before that. And to tell you the truth I think we both knew that…"

"So what are you going to do?"

"What can I do? Both of them hate me. They won't take my calls,"

"Well, you can try talking at least one of them face to face…Brooke's home,"

The news slowly sank in his head. When it finally settled, Nathan quickly stood up and headed for his car.

"Wait," Peyton called out to him, "I think I should talk to her first,"

"Brooke?" Peyton yelled from the bottom of the stairs. The blonde heard a loud bang come from upstairs, "Brooke?" she called out again as she worriedly ran up the stairs, two at a time.

At the top of the stairs, Peyton turned down the hallway leading to her room but stopped immediately. Clothes and random objects where scattered all over the hallway. Cautiously Peyton took a step forward. As she made her way down the hall, she recognized the clothes. They belonged to her.

She was about to enter the room to face the culprit when a paint brush came flying out. It smacked against the adjacent wall and bounced to the floor, snapping in half. Seeing the broken brush angered Peyton and she stormed into the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Peyton yelled. Across the room she saw Brooke with an arm full of Peyton's clothes. "What are you doing?"

Brooke threw an icy glare at her, "Helping you move," she flung the clothes across the room, "I can't sleep next to a lying back stabber,"

"Brooke…"

"No…don't 'Brooke' me," she yelled, "You were supposed to be my best friend. How could you do this…AGAIN?"

"Do what again?" Peyton had a feeling that this was about Lucas but wanted to make sure.

Brooke scoffed, "Like you don't know. Well let's paint you a picture," Brooke picked up some papers off the table, "Oh wait, looks like you already did," she then angrily threw them.

As they floated down on to the ground, Peyton saw a couple of the drawings. They were the drawings of her and Lucas that she had hidden in her records.

"It's not like that," Peyton defended.

"Oh, it's not? Let me see…Lucas wanted me and then all of a sudden you want decide that you want him too," Brooke pretended to think, "Now was that last year or just recently…oh wait! It was both times,"

Peyton shifted uncomfortably, not because Brooke was right, but because Brooke had no idea how wrong she was. Telling Brooke the truth would only hurt Brooke more. How could she tell her best friend that Lucas didn't really have feelings for her without hurting her?

"I'm sorry, Brooke. We never meant for it to happen," she sighed, "But it did…Brooke he was there for me when I needed someone to talk to…"

"Well what about me? I was your best friend,"

"You were 3000 miles away! And every time I called you, I got your voicemail,"

Brooke crossed her arms. She knew, from Nathan, that Peyton had gone through a lot over the summer. A part of her was actually happy to know that Peyton had someone to lean on, but the other part of her was upset. Brooke was more confused than ever.

"You know, you were supposed to be my best friend, Peyton,"

"I still am, Brooke,"

"Then where were you when I needed you?" Brooke cried.

"I'm here now,"

Brooke rolled her eyes. "I need a friend, not a lying bitch,"

"Ok, first of all, I never lied to you…We were going to tell you when you were supposed to come back two weeks from now…but then you suddenly showed up and you started talking about Lucas again…I didn't know what to say," Peyton paused, thinking about everything that had happened ever since Brooke showed up on her front steps. Her voice was more calm, "Secondly, is this even about me and Lucas? Or is this about Nathan?"

Brooke looked away. Her anger seemed to dissipate as a feeling of sadness and loneliness started to overwhelm her emotions. She knew Peyton was right. She wasn't in love with Lucas, she was in love with Nathan. But either way, Brooke still felt lost because neither of the Scott brothers loved her back.

"Get out. I don't want to see you right now," she turned her back and stared angrily at the wall.

Even though it was Peyton's room, Peyton backed off, at least for now. With tears slipping from her eyes, Peyton took a few steps forward and choked out, "I know you're hurting right now…and maybe you feel betrayed, but I promise you Brooke I would never do that to you again. And no matter what I am always here for you,"

A few seconds had passed before Brooke turned around, "Peyton?" But Peyton wasn't there. She had left. Brooke stood alone in the empty room.