Bridge to Nowhere, A Need for Distractions
It was a bittersweet feeling.
On one hand, she still loved him. But on the other, she didn't want to be with him.
Hands stuffed in his pockets, Lucas walked down the street with his iPod playing Walking Down The Hill, a song by Travis. Anytime he heard the band, he thought of a certain brunette who had told him that tracks 8 and 11 reminded her of him.
Sure, it was Peyton who had chosen the songs and told her what to say, but the thought of Brooke wanting to connect to him made him that much more in love with her.
It was one of the reasons he constantly listened to the songs.
Turning the corner, he reached Peyton's house. Letting himself in and walking up the stairs until he reached her room, he saw her seated on her bed.
"Hey," Lucas said as he leaned on the door's frame.
"Hey," Peyton replied as she set her drawing pad down.
"How are you holding up?" Lucas asked while seating himself by the computer.
"It's just another day, right?" Peyton attempted to smile.
"Peyton…" Lucas saw through her attempt.
It was one of the reason she loved him, even if she didn't want to.
"I'll be fine, don't worry about me."
"But I do worry."
"Well, you should be concentrating on that girlfriend of yours." Peyton watched as the blonde haired boy across the room hung his head in frustration. "Why'd you guys break up in the first place?"
Lucas chuckled at her question. "Do you really want to know?"
"That bad?" She feared the answer.
Lucas looked at Peyton and she instantly knew what the reason was without him having spoken a word.
"Oh." It was all she could manage to say.
"Yeah"
"I..." Peyton looked off at a distance. Had she really done that? She was at a lost of words. "I didn't mean for-"
"Yeah, me neither."
And there they sat. Two people who had, in the past, been attracted to each other, in the same room.
They couldn't even look at each other, both only being able to stare in space.
Both thinking about the same girl.
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"Hey Brooke!" The bells of Karen's café rang as a chipper dirty blonde haired girl came skipping in along with a dark brunette.
"Hey guys" Brooke laughed puzzled as Bevin waved a flyer around her face and bounced in excitement.
"Don't pay attention to Bevin, she's just-"
"Hey, I have reason to be," Bevin quickly interrupted Theresa.
"Okay. What's up?" Brooke was already full of curiosity.
"You're gonna love us when we tell you," Theresa chirped in, equally thrilled.
"Will you guys tell me already?" the brunette laughed as she began to get impatient.
Theresa quickly held up the flyer for Brooke to read. "Saturday, party at 9pm at…" Brooke skimmed before grabbing the flyer in excitement. "Oh my God, this is a Courtney Ryan party!"
"Do you love us or what?" Bevin squeaked.
"So, are you coming?"
Brooke thought for a moment. Maybe a party was really what she needed to forget Lucas. "… What can I wear?"
The three girls squealed and giggled in exhilaration.
"Let's ditch this place and find us a mall. I saw the perfect dress last week and it's to die for."
"Guys, I can't. Karen's expecting me to be here until six."
"What happened to the old Brooke? The…fun one?" Theresa challenged Brooke with a pout.
"Guys…" Brooke struggled to say no.
"C'mon Brooke, we can't go shopping without you," Bevin pleaded.
"I guess Karen won't mind if I took a break right now…" Brooke as she looked at her two friends questioningly. The girls yet again squealed in delight. Quickly, Brooke grabbed the dirty plates placing them in the kitchen, and untied her apron as she exited the café ready for some much needed fun.
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"That's eight, game point." Nathan said as he dribbled the ball ready to score yet another point.
Dribbling the ball towards the net, Nathan faked left then went right. But Lucas caught the trick and stole the ball from Nathan's hands before he had the chance to win.
Quickly finding an open space, Lucas shot the ball. It bounced off the rim.
"So, still fighting with Brooke?" Nathan said as he dribbled the ball.
"… Are you stalling?" Lucas asked, wondering why his brother suddenly stopped playing. Truth was, he didn't want to talk about Brooke anymore- it hurt too much.
"You just seem distracted."
Lucas brushed off his comment as he motioned for Nathan to pass him the ball.
"You want to talk about it?"
"Nah, let's just play." Lucas shot the ball and again, it went in perfectly.
"Scouts are coming out next week," Nathan said, changing the subject in order to please his older brother.
"Yeah … I got to get my game up. My lay-ups are getting weak."
"Don't worry about it so much."
"Easy for you to say. You can get into any college, scholarship or not with your money," Lucas muttered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Taken aback by his comment, Nathan began to feel defensive.
"..Nothing man, I'm just stressed." Taking out his frustrations, Lucas slammed the basketball hard onto the concrete floor.
"Look, there's a party tonight at some girl's beach house. You should go. Maybe it'll help chill you out."
"Yeah. Maybe," Lucas muttered.
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What's the point? Brooke put down her kabuki brush and stared into the mirror. What was the point of dressing up or applying makeup if they weren't together? Even if she knew Lucas would love her regardless of how much makeup she wore or how stylish her latest fashion was, she always felt a need to see him stare at her in awe.
But it didn't even seem to matter now. They weren't even together.
Idly finishing applying a coat of mascara, Brooke retreated to her closet.
Tracing her fingers through her clothes, the brunette sighed as she thought of the party. She had begun to think it would be easy way to forget her recent troubles, but ended up finding it even more difficult to want to be happy.
Taking a deep breath, Brooke grabbed her black, strapless short dress.
Running her fingers through her loose curls, she retreated towards the door but was stopped as her blonde friend came in.
"Hey Brooke," Peyton said as she entered.
"Hey P. What's up?" Brooke asked, wondering why she unexpectedly arrived at the apartment.
"I um...wanted to talk to you about Lucas," Peyton admitted.
"Can it wait? I'm kinda on my way out," Brooke pointed to the door avoiding having to speak of the blonde haired boy.
"Look Brooke, I love you. More than you would ever know. And…" Peyton paused before continuing. "I love him too but I would never want to jeopardize your relationship with him."
Brooke desperately wanted to escape, but she knew this was a conversation she couldn't steer clear of. "Have you talked to him?"
"Yeah, and he told me you two broke up."
"Yeah," Brooke mumbled as her eyes drifted downward at the kitchen counter.
"Brooke, what I said, it doesn't mean anything. You're happy with him, so if you love him you wouldn't let a stupid thing like me ruin it."
"Peyt, I-"
"No, I won't let you do that to him, or yourself. You're my best friend. I promised I wouldn't hurt you again" Peyton assured her.
"I kn-"
"He loves you, not me. Breaking up with him for me is-"
"You think you're the only reason I broke up with him?" Brooke snapped.
"What?"
Brooke stared closely at Peyton contemplating whether or not she should confide. "I was sitting by the rocks by the River Court, just to think. I was so happy … everything seemed to be perfect. Then I saw this yellow bottle by the shore hitting the rocks. It didn't bother me at first but it just kept hitting the rocks. So I um, I picked it up and it was a bottle for prescription drugs."
"I don't get it."
"Lucas Eugene Scott, prescription drugs for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Peyt, he has HCM," Brooke's voice cracked in the middle of her sentence as the thought of Lucas possibly dying killed her.
Lucas stood on the rocks staring intensely out into the river. His hands fall into his pockets as he thought of the night he had.
His heart hadn't been in the game. Not only mentally with the recent events surrounding Brooke and Chris Keller but physically as well with his heart condition. To top off his day, he had to walk his way home on tired legs after having been kicked out of the car by Rachel.
Taking out his medication anger washed over Lucas as he gritted his teeth, closing his fingers around the bottle. What was the point of the medication if his heart still hurt?
Staring into the lights, he threw the bottle into the river before turning to leave.
Brooke stood behind the counter as she fought against the tears threatening to spill whilst Peyton sat in front of her in disbelief.
"But he hasn't ever said anything," Peyton said, finally breaking the silence.
"And I waited. I waited for him to tell me but he never did."
"But Nathan, he doesn't have it. How did Lucas…?" She was still at a lost as she desperately tried to take everything in.
"He has a 50-50 chance. Yes or no."
"But Brooke, why would you break up with him for this?" Peyton asked hesitantly.
"Peyton, he never told me. If he keeps something this big from me, what else is he keeping? He asked me to trust him, how can I?"
"He still plays the game," Peyton said in concern.
"Yeah" Brooke said as she lightly brushed away the tears which blurred her vision.
"I…" Peyton trailed off.
"Look, there's a party tonight," the brunette began. "Maybe we could go."
"Yeah," Taking her eyes off the floor, Peyton finally stood up from her seat. "I think I need a beer anyways."
Brooke sighed. "Make that two."
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"Lucas, you made it!" Haley exclaimed as she saw him enter the beach house. Grabbing Nathan by the hand, Haley pulled him towards Lucas.
"Hey man," Nathan gave Lucas a quick nod.
"Hey," Lucas muttered.
"We're glad you made it"
"Yeah, I'm gonna go get a drink," Lucas said before disappearing into the crowd.
"Okay," Haley sighed quietly. "I'm worried about him, Nathan."
"Look who turned up," Nathan said quietly, causing Haley to look up at the door. In came Brooke and Peyton who were being crowded by the other party goers.
"Is it okay if I go talk to her?" Haley looked up at Nathan.
"Go ahead."
Haley began to walk away until she felt Nathan catch her arm and pull her back. "Did I forget something?" Haley asked in confusion.
In response, Nathan gave her a quick kiss before letting her go again.
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"Brooke!" Haley called out as she made her way through the crowd.
"Hey, Tutor Girl," Brooke answered cheerfully.
"Oh, Peyton I didn't know you were coming," Haley beamed, surprised Peyton came to the party.
Peyton shrugged awkwardly.
"Can I borrow Tigger for a second?" Haley gestured by pulling the brunette's hand.
"Yeah, I need to get a drink anyway," Peyton said as she waved them off, watching them disappear into a room. She headed straight for the bar.
AN: Ok, so here's chapter number three for all you readers. I hope you enjoyed it. The flashback in this chapter is a scene from 3.08- The Worst Day since Yesterday. I want to thank my two awesome betas, Cari and Miranda for their help on this chapter. And…well again, I hope you enjoyed it and I promise a new chapter soon. Read and Review please.
