I just came home from my last exam and so I thought I'd post this because my teacher wants to take us all out to the pub for a drink and I won't get a chance to post this otherwise.

Chapter Twenty Five: Caught By The Taste Of Your Kiss

Nathan and Haley sat together on Tim's couch as they tried to avoid the other over-enthusiastic partygoers.

Haley shifted towards Nathan slightly as to dodge the guy who bumped into the back of the couch and narrowly missed spilling his beer all over Haley.

"Sorry, dude!" he slurred before running off.

"Tell me again why I agreed to come to Tim's 'Oktoberfest'?" she asked her husband.

"Sorry, Hales, we'll go soon. Tim's been kind of pissed lately since he thinks we're not hanging out with him anymore. He says this party was thrown specifically for us," Nathan said over the loud music.

"I thought it was for Oktoberfest – whatever that is. Speaking of which, why are we getting one in February? And when will he stop throwing parties for us?" Haley complained. She had nothing against Tim as she genuinely did enjoy hanging out with him. It just annoyed her when he throw bachelor parties and other such events in honor of them, somewhat forcing them to turn up instead of snuggling up together in front of a cheesy movie; which is all she really had wanted to do.

Haley James-Scott was not one for social occasions.

Nathan just shrugged and kissed his wife's temple before loud cheers resonated throughout the house.

"I wonder what happened," Haley asked, "Fight?"

Nathan shook his head, "I have no idea." The two craned their necks over to the area where the noise was coming from but the crowds of people blocked their view.

Thankfully, Jake and Peyton emerged from the crowd and walked up to Nathan and Haley.

"What's going on over there?" Haley asked as Jake and Peyton sat opposite them.

"Lucas turned up," Jake replied, "Which is strange because I thought he and Brooke were heading out to Palm Springs tomorrow morning."

Peyton and Haley exchanged a look.

"I guess she went then," Haley said. Nathan gave his wife a look.

"I didn't see her," Peyton added.

"What's going on?" Jake interjected, wondering what they were talking about.

"Brooke's mom called and asked Brooke to spend this weekend in New York with her, which means…" Peyton began.

"She couldn't go to Palm Springs," Haley finished. Both Nathan and Jake seemed surprised at the news. "Did Lucas look okay?" Haley asked Peyton.

"He looked… I don't know," Peyton said, "I only saw a glimpse of him before he was mobbed by Tim and the others."

"I hope he doesn't do something stupid," Haley mused.

"I'll go check it out," Nathan said patting Haley's knee as he left.

Nathan quickly found Lucas talking to some members of the team. He looked okay but Nathan knew that Lucas could put on a front when he needed to.

"Hey," Nathan said, "Didn't expect to see you here." Lucas greeted his brother.

"I was… unexpectedly free this weekend," Lucas said.

"So I'm guessing you and Brooke aren't going Palm Springs, huh?" Nathan correctly guessed.

Lucas' features clouded over at the mention of Brooke's name and their missed vacation, "Nope," he said.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked as Lucas finished off the beer in his hand and reached for another. "Wait, how many beers is that?"

Lucas shrugged, "Two or three, I guess."

"Slow down, Luke. You've only been here ten minutes."

"Funny," Lucas said, "It took less than that for Brooke to ditch me and Palm Springs for New York," he added bitterly.

"So I guess you're not okay about it," Nathan said.

"Hey!" Lucas said, "Do you and Haley want tickets to Palm Springs? You'll have to leave tomorrow morning but they're there if you want them… actually, they're more like ripped up into shreds in my trashcan, but if you have a lot of patience and sticky tape, I think you'll be okay," Lucas laughed as if it was all a joke but something told Nathan that it wasn't.

"Uh… no it's okay," Nathan said, "Don't you think you should call Brooke or something?"

Lucas scoffed, "Why? She's the one that left me."

"You know, Lucas, it wouldn't hurt for you to be a little more understanding. It must have been a tough choice for her," Lucas narrowed his eyes at Nathan.

"Whose side are you on?" Lucas asked. Nathan opened his mouth to reply but Lucas didn't let him, "You know what? Just go, Nate. Leave me alone for a while. Go play Happy Families with Haley."

"Fine," Nathan said, "Just promise you'll slow down with the drinks and don't do anything stupid," Lucas replied with a dismissive wave of his hand and walked away from his brother.

Nathan reluctantly returned to the group, "Well?" Haley asked.

"He's taken it pretty badly. We'll have to keep an eye on him, he's already on his sec…" Nathan saw Lucas reaching for another bottle, "…third bottle of beer."

"We're heading out soon so we can drop him home," Jake informed them.

Just after an hour and a half of trying to keep track of Lucas' whereabouts, Nathan and Jake decided they'd try and force him home. Even though the party had only just gone into full swing; they knew that Lucas wouldn't last the next hour.

They'd heard frequent reports from others that Lucas was livening up the party a little too much and that he'd switched from beer to a continuous flow of vodka.

Nathan spotted a swaying Lucas talking to a pretty blonde in the corner of one of the rooms and led Jake towards them.

"Hey, buddy," Nathan said interrupting Lucas, "How about we get you home. It's getting late."

Lucas contemplated it for a moment before shaking his head, "No."

"Lucas, you can barely stand. You need to come home with us right now," Nathan said a little more forcefully.

"No!" Lucas pushed Nathan backwards, allowing Jake to step in.

"Come on, man. How about we go get some caffeine into you?" he suggested. Lucas shook his head again.

"Leave me alone!" he said as he pushed Jake into Nathan. The momentum also sent Lucas reeling backwards too. He steadied himself against the wall.

The two boys looked at one another, "Another ten minutes?" Jake suggested.

They walked away to a safe distance and met up with their girlfriends.

"Where's Lucas?" Haley asked. She had been finally pleased to be leaving the party when Nathan suggested taking Lucas home, but now her husband had left empty handed.

"He didn't want to go. He was pretty forceful. We figure we should give him a little more time to calm down before taking him home. Either that or all four of us are going to drag him to the car." Nathan told his wife.

"We just have to keep an eye out for him," Jake said.

"So where is he?" Peyton said.

"Near that window," Nathan pointed to the space where Lucas had just been, "Or at least he was," he groaned.

"Where the hell did he go?" Jake asked.

"He can't have gone far. It's a house party, for God's sakes!" Haley said.

"He was with that blonde girl," Nathan said.

"What!" Peyton and Haley yelled simultaneously.

"You left him with a blonde girl?" Haley gaped.

"We didn't know-"

"Can we just find him?" Peyton said, "Nathan and Haley, you take the upstairs, Jake and I will take the downstairs and the garden. We'll meet back here in about 15 minutes, okay?"

The four went off in their designated directions, searching over the crowds and trying to avoid getting caught up in anything, to try and find Lucas before he did anything stupid.

"I'm tired," Lucas groaned as he was pushed into an empty bedroom. He spied the bed and lay on his back, closing his eyes.

"Don't you want to stay up?" a female voice asked as she pulled him back up.

"Brooke?" Lucas asked, "Is that you?"

"I'll be 'Brooke' if you want me to," the voice said with a small laugh.

"I am so sorry for being such a jerk. That was very me of inconsiderate," Lucas slurred, "Wait, I meant inconsiderate… I think," he groaned. "I think I need sleep."

"That can be arranged," 'Brooke' said as she sat down on his lap and held his upper waist up until he could do it on his own.

"Brooke, my dad could come in," Lucas struggled to keep his eyes open.

The girl didn't seem to mind as she thrust her tongue into his mouth and began unbuttoning his shirt.

"Shhh," she gave him a grin, "It's okay. Brookie is here."

Nathan knocked on several doors before opening them and checking the contents.

People were crowded into almost every crevice of the room, and Nathan had to look for any tall, sandy blonde guys who resembled his brother as he had no time to look at them all.

He grabbed a couple of guys who looked similar, and even a girl, but he still couldn't find Lucas.

Nathan bumped into Tim, "Hey, Nate. How's it going?" Tim asked. He was slightly drunk and ever merrier than usual.

"Have you seen Lucas?" Tim seemed a little put out by the question.

"I know he's you're brother and all but I'm your best friend and I think you need to spend time with The Tim too," Tim said, "Let's go play some PS2…"

Nathan didn't have time to spend playing video games with Tim, "Tim, come on, have you seen Lucas?"

"First we must play-" Tim began.

"Forget it!" Nathan began to leave but Tim called after him.

"He was with Sarah Ford," Tim said. Nathan turned around.

"What?"

"Sarah Ford. You know? The one with the huge-" Tim cupped his hands under his chest and grinned.

"Where is he now?" Nathan asked just as Haley approached the two.

"They looked kind of frisky so I gave them the key to the master suite," Tim wiggled his eyesbrows and went away.

"What was that?" Haley asked, having only caught the tailed of the conversation.

Nathan shook his head and took his wife by the hand, leading her to the master bedroom, fearing for what his brother had gotten himself into.

Haley saw where they were headed and tried to resist.

"Nathan, we're supposed to be looking for Lucas. I don't think anyone will appreciate it if we-"

She was cut off when Nathan opened the door and the two saw a half-conscious Lucas lying on the bed with a blond girl straddling him.

"Lucas!" Haley yelled. The girl narrowed her eyes.

"Do you mind?" she asked. "There's a reason why only one couple at a time are allowed in this room."

Nathan stormed into the room, "Yeah, we do mind. That's my brother and he has a girlfriend."

The girl reluctantly got off Lucas and wiped the smudged lipstick off her face.

"Oh, so that's who Brooke is," the girl said. Nathan shook his head and went towards his brother, helping him up.

"Geez, what did you get yourself into?" he muttered as he pulled his brother into an upright position. Nathan turned to the girl, "Sarah, right?" she nodded, "How far did you get?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Sarah replied with a chuckle as she buttoned up her shirt and pulled down her shirt.

"How far?" Nathan bit out.

"Not as far as we could have… but far enough. You say he has a girlfriend?" Nathan nodded, "Well then, I guess he cheated."

Sarah's lips curled into a smile and she began to leave the room. Haley caught her arm.

"You're disgusting, you know that?" she spat. Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. I got what I want, and he got what he wanted. Nothing you can do about it," Sarah released herself from Haley's grip and sauntered down the hall, looking for new prey.

"Go and grab Jake and Peyton," Nathan instructed. Haley looked at Lucas and sighed before running down the stairs.

"Come on, man," Nathan said as he tried to keep his brother awake, "We've got to go."

"Brooke?" he asked.

"No, it's Nathan."

"Where did Brooke go?" Lucas asked, "I want to see her. I have to talk to her and stop her from… I'm not mad about Palm Springs. I just want to see her," Lucas babbled.

"Let's get you sober and home first," Nathan suggested buttoning up Lucas' shirt and even having to do up his jeans for him. "What did you do?" he muttered.

"I want… I want Brooke." Lucas continued as his eyes drooped.

"You'll see her soon," Nathan promised, "Can you get up?" he asked. Lucas managed to shake his head. "Are you going to throw up?" Nathan asked, backing away slightly. Lucas shook his head again.

Jake, Peyton and Haley entered the room, each of them shaking their head at the sight of a barely conscious Lucas being held up by his brother in an empty bedroom.

"We need to carry him out to the car. We'll take him to our apartment," Nathan told them, taking the role of the big brother in an effort to take care of his brother.

"Does he know what happened?" Jake asked as he helped Nathan get Lucas to his feet. The two men supported Lucas as they slowly began to walk out of the room.

"I don't think so. He thought he was with Brooke and kept asking for her," Nathan said sadly.

"Man, he's going to regret this in the morning," Jake noted.

The sudden burst of sunshine that poured into the room disturbed Lucas from his slumber and he buried his head into a cushion, which was cruelly ripped away from him within seconds.

As he opened his eyes, his head began to throb and he shielded his eyes with his hands, groaning with the pain from his hangover.

"Five more minutes…" he mumbled before his eyes fully opened and he saw Nathan staring at him. "Hey Nate," he groaned, "What time is it?"

"Ten," came the reply. "You were out like a light."

Lucas forced himself into an upright position, in time to see Haley heading towards him.

"Hey Hal-" he was cut short by a rolled up magazine connecting with his head. He groaned in pain. "Hales! That was my head! I have a hangover!" he complained.

"Did it hurt?" Haley asked.

"Yes!"

Haley did it again and had to be restrained by her husband.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Lucas asked rubbing the back of his head.

Haley was incensed, "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" she tried to hit him again.

"What did I do?" Lucas asked, "Wait, can I get an ice pack first? My head is killing me."

"I'm going to kill you," Haley told him. Nevertheless she retrieved an ice pack and threw it in his direction. Nathan caught it before it hit Lucas and handed it over, giving his wife a look. She shrugged.

"What do you remember from last night?" Nathan asked his brother. Lucas shrugged.

"Not much, but judging from this bitch of a hangover, I must have been out of it," Lucas said holding the ice pack tentatively to his forehead.

"So you don't remember anything?" Nathan asked.

"No, why? What did I do?" Lucas asked before his eyes went wide, "I didn't eat old pizza again, did I?" he questioned. Haley scoffed, evidently pissed with her brother-in-law.

"Uh, if only," Nathan said as he sat down opposite Lucas, "You did something pretty… pretty low, even by your standards," he told him.

"What did I do?"

"More like who," Haley muttered. Lucas caught her statement and his eyes widened again.

"I didn't-" he began.

"Yeah, you did. Sarah Ford," Nathan informed him, "You thought she was Brooke, apparently."

"Even though she's blonde!" Haley said.

"Oh god," Lucas buried his head in his hands, "Are you sure? I mean, how far-"

"Lucas, I'm sorry, but it was pretty clear from a lot of things that you cheated on Brooke," Nathan told him, "Are you okay?"

"No!" Lucas stood up, "Are you sure?"

Nathan nodded, "She told us herself."

Lucas cursed out loud, his head still hurt but all he could think of was Brooke and what she'd do when she found out.

"This is screwed up. I knew I shouldn't have gone last night. But I was so mad…" Lucas mumbled as he stared out of the window.

Haley sighed, she was still pissed off with Lucas, but her heart went out to him and the mistake he made in a moment of drunken madness.

"Lucas, you were drunk and it was a mistake. A stupid one but you can't dwell on it. Brooke comes back tomorrow night." She said, mostly concerned for her friend's wellbeing.

"You can't tell her!" Lucas said pointing a finger at her. He was suddenly very scared.

"Lucas-"

"If Brooke doesn't find out then we'll be okay. Something like this would kill her and I love her too much to lose her," Lucas began to panic, something he only did rarely.

"Lucas, you can't keep this away from her. Most of the people at the party saw you with that ho," Haley reminded him, "Plus, Jake and Peyton know too."

Lucas sighed as he shook his head again, running his fingers through his hair that had started to grow long again. "I can't believe this."

"It'll be okay, Lucas. We'll support you, okay?" Nathan told him, "It was just one mistake."

Lucas sighed again.

Yeah, one mistake and he had put everything he held dear in jeopardy. Just over some stupid trip.

"What am I going to do?" Lucas asked them.

They simply gave him a sad smile and shrugged.

To Be Continued…

Yeah, I know you all probably hate me but this has been planned for a while and it actually sets up most of the rest of the story so you'll have to bear with me.

Just a little note to leave you on:

"People that are meant to be together always find their way in the end."