Chapter 10 Waiting for the Answer

"Mommy dearest left?" Jenny's comment was meant to be sarcastic, but Peyton could hear the desperation in it. As much as she loved her best friend, she knew that Brooke was never cut out to be a mother, at least not to a teenager. Brooke had been instilled far too much with the importance of the 'me' factor in life. She didn't take much stock in the fact that a mother shouldn't normally have time to put themselves first; at least not until her children were grown.

Brooke and Jake had dated a bit after high school but it hadn't been until after Brooke moved to California and then back to Tree Hill that the relationship became serious. Up until that point, Peyton and Haley had been the major females in Jenny's world. They were sympathetic but strong, intelligent but humble enough to admit when they didn't have all of the answers. Brooke was a completely different type of female. The honesty that had been refreshing in Peyton and usually Haley was completely none-existent in their old friend. Brooke had an obvious façade, one that the teenager her never been able to understand or get around. The ex-cheerleader was an extremely overwhelming and confusing presence for a girl of ten who had previously been the center of her father's universe.

"Jen—"

"See? You can remember not to call my Jenny, why can't she? Because she doesn't listen, that's why." Jenny barely stopped her rant long enough to look at Peyton's unimpressed expression. "Please don't defend her."

"No defense from this peanut gallery," Peyton promised with her hands raised in a sign of innocence. She sat on the sofa, her back against one arm, and waited for Jenny to slump into the seat next to her. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing different from every other day. She's driving me crazy. But she makes dad happy. So what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know," Peyton answered truthfully. "I wish I had all the answers, but no one does." She leaned closer and plucked one of the purple locks from Jenny's shoulder and laughed. "Okay, what's the deal with the purple hair? Has your dad seen it yet? Because I just don't see him as the purple-hair-loving-kind-of-dad."

"He's away this week. Some conference in New York."

"So when were you going to wash it out?"

"Right before he got home."

"It's killing Brooke."

"That's the point," Jenny said with a mischievous smile and a playful roll of her eyes.

"What's this about the homecoming dance?" Another roll of the eyes, this one seriously annoyed. Jenny picked up a purple lock that had worked its way out of the messy bun and started twisting it between two fingers, signaling to Peyton that she was nervous.

"Some stupid kid on the basketball team asked me to go. I thought it might be cool, so I said yes," her eyes cast down and her voice suddenly grew softer, "I shouldn't have."

"Why's that?"

"It turns out that some of the guys on the team were just making a bet on who could get with me first. It's my fault for believing he'd even want to go out with me in the first place. But now I can't go. But I can't tell Brooke that because she'll tell my dad, who'll completely freak."

"And your alternative plan?"

"Don't waste money on the dress. Go to Lynn's house instead of going to the dance and watch movies and gorge ourselves on junk food."

"As much as that does sound like the better night, I think you're selling yourself short. Any guy would be crazy to not want the chance to date you. And maybe this guy wasn't involved in the bet."

"The whole team was," Jenny said shortly, staring intently at her hands.

"Hey," Peyton said almost sharply as her fingertips redirected Jenny's stare so that she was looking her in the eye. "If he was involved, then he doesn't deserve you. And you're certainly not going out with him if he has any plans past a good night kiss. But don't you think you owe yourself the chance to find out what his intentions are? Sometimes people surprise you. You just have to give them the chance."

"Whatever," Jenny barely whispered as she looked away. "He's probably not worth it anyway."

"But how will you know until you try?" Peyton moved into the center of the sofa and pulled her arms around the younger girl.

"Stop trying to make me cry."

"It doesn't seem hard to do today. Are you sure everything else is alright?" Jenny nodded, attempting to dry her tears before looking up from her lap.

"If there's anything else bothering you, you'll let me know, alright?" Again, a silent nod. Peyton studied her carefully and remained silent for a few minutes. She sighed heavily and began to speak, slowly at first, as though suggesting something off hand. "If you do decide, at some point, to go to this homecoming thing, I might have some things of interest. Come here." Without waiting for a reply, Peyton took Jenny's hand and pulled her into the master bedroom where she threw open Lucas's closet and started digging in the back.

"One of Uncle Lucas's suits?" Jenny asked with a giggle as she sat on Peyton's vanity chair.

"No, silly. I don't have enough room in my closet. I store some of the older things in here. But it's really hard to reach them." She disappeared all the way into the closet and reemerged a minute later, triumphantly holding several large, bulging garment bags.

"What's this?" Jenny asked, a laugh evident in her voice.

"So, I went to a few parties when I was your age—" Peyton said in a tone that indicated it was the most innocent thing in the world. She hung the bags from a hook on the back of the door and opened the first one. Enclosed was her wedding dress, still crisp and white, the silk and satin protected by a soft, sheer fabric bag inside the garment bag. "Sorry, not this one." She placed that bag aside and opened the next, pulling out four black dresses and laying them on the bed. From the last two bags she pulled nine more dresses, each one more beautiful than the last.

"They're beautiful," Jenny said breathlessly as she ran her fingers over the soft silk of a green spaghetti-strap cocktail dress.

"Thank you," Peyton said as she kneeled in front of the bed. "I wore that one to my first prom. I went with your dad."

"My dad?"

"Yes," she said with a laugh brought on by Jenny's surprise. She and Jake had always kept their short relationship on the quiet side; Jenny was too young to understand why it hadn't worked out and no one wanted her to even think for a moment that their breakup had anything to do with her presence. It had nothing to do with her or Jake but everything to do with Peyton and Luke's inevitable relationship. "We went as friends."

"And this," she said, pointing to a navy blue satin dress embroidered with tiny navy roses, "I wore to my first dance with Luke." She pointed to two more, one black silk and one a dark red satin; "These I wore to some stupid function or other with Nathan."

"You really dated Uncle Nathan?" This time, Jenny laughed out loud and shook her head. "That would be hilarious. I thought that was just an old joke."

"It's an old joke for a reason," Peyton answered with a look of distaste. "We were not good as a couple."

"I can't imagine him with anyone but Aunt Haley."

"Well, that's because she makes him the man you've always known. That's what you look for in a relationship; someone who makes you want to become a better person."

"Uncle Luke does that for you?"

"Absolutely." Peyton's answer was quick but firm. She stood up and dusted off her jeans. "Now, you know these are here. And I fully expect you to take advantage. I think you have a call to make. But first—" she pointed to the bathroom, "a shower." Jenny rolled her eyes and looked like she was going to protest but Peyton shook her head and continued pointing.

"You are a beautiful girl. You don't need purple hair. Wash it out, please."

"You just want me to do it because Brooke doesn't like it."

"No. Because I don't like it. Because it's not you. Anytime you do something to spite someone else, it's probably not something you should be doing.'

"Just so you know, you sound like a really confused fortune cookie." Jenny stuck her tongue out at Peyton and slipped into the bathroom, locking the door behind her.

"Just so you know, that hair better be brown when you come out!" Peyton shook her head and walked back into the living room to wait. About an hour later, Jenny finally emerged from Peyton's bedroom, her hair dry, curled, and unmistakably chestnut brown.

"Beautiful," Peyton said with a smile as Jenny said down across from her. The teenager simply rolled her eyes but seemed pleased with the compliment. Peyton was about to ask Jenny what she wanted to do for the rest of the day when the phone rang and she had to jump up and get it. Since they only had one cordless phone in the house, they often missed calls as a result of not getting to the phone in time.

"Hey Sweetie."

"I'm canceling caller ID," Lucas said in a serious tone.

"Oh, it's you Luke," Peyton said with a giggle, pretending to be surprised. "Oops."

"Funny, very funny. How's it going?"

"Weirder than I expected. How's the museum?"

"What we got to see of it was pretty cool. I think the boys liked it. We'll have to come back sometime, maybe bring Jared."

"Why didn't you get to see more?" She could hear in his voice that there was something he was trying to keep from her. Something that he thought might upset her. "What's going on, Luke?"

"We're just heading home early. I wanted to let you know."

"Why? Is something wrong?"

"No," he said unconvincingly. "We're just all a little tired."

"Luke, don't lie to me. What happened?"

"Fred doesn't feel well. She's fine though, I promise. Don't worry. We'll be home soon." Peyton hung up the telephone and Jenny could see that something was bothering her.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yep. That was Luke. They're on their way home.'

"I should go. I'll call Brooke."

"No, it's alright—"

"No, I have stuff to do at home. Thanks for all your help," Jenny said as she leaned down to hug Peyton. "It means a lot. Love you."

"Love you too. And you know I'm always here—'

"Yeah," Jenny said with a genuine smile. "I know." Five minutes later Jenny and Brooke were both gone, leaving Peyton alone to wait for her family.

The chapter title comes from this quote (once again, I can't find the author, but I know the quote doesn't originally belong to me):

"Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer."