CHAPTER 7: THE WAY IT WAS

Peyton woke up later that night due to all the ruckus that was going on across the hall... IN HER APARTMENT. She immediately jumped up and ran to her apartment. To her disbelief it wasn't as bad as she thought... It was actually just like she had left it. Well minus the extra plastic red cups on the floor it was pretty much the same. Not as many people though.

She began walking around trying to find Brooke and Haley when she felt a little sick. She ran to her bathroom but the door was locked. She started banging on it but no one answered. She decided it was best to run outside rather than puke in her house.

She made her way behind her apartment to a patch of grass and let it go. She finally finished and pulled out her cell.

"Hello" She heard her giggle

"Brooke..." She said queasy

"Peyton... are you okay?"

"Yea... can you clear everyone out of my apartment... like NOW" she said as she began to feel sick again

"Yea... sure... are you sure you're okay?"

"Yea... just a little sick... just hurry" She finished as she closed her cell and threw up once again

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Lucas woke up and immediately began looking for Peyton. He couldn't find her anywhere and he was beginning to panic. He tried to call her cell but she didn't answer. He called Nathan he didn't answer. He tried Brooke but her phone was out of service. He was really starting to panic. He went to Peytons apartment and knocked on her door but no one answered. Could he really have been asleep that long. He looked at his watch and noticed he had only be out for around 30 minutes. There's no way that everyone cleared out of her apartment that fast. He decided to walk out to the parking lot to see if anyone was still there. He saw Brooke walking to her car as he ran after her

"BROOKE" He yelled as she turned around and looked at her

"Yea" She said cheerily

"Where's Peyton I can't find her anywhere?" He said sort of panicky

"She's in her apartment sleeping... She got pretty wasted"

"Yea no shit... is she okay"

"Yea... nothing a little sleep and Tylenol can't fix"

"Did she tell you anything?" He asked when she was beginning to get in her car

"No... why... did you to sleep together" She asked suddenly interested

"No... no... nothing like that"

"You have my attention... what happened? I want details"

"Nothing... we just kissed"

"Oh Oh you kissed... how did that happen?" She asked excitedly

"I don't know... it just did"

"Oh come on... spill"

"It just happened"

"Whatever... I'll get it out of her tomorrow" She said chipperly "Goodnight Luke" She said getting into her car

x-x-x-x-x

Haley and Nathan were sitting at Starbucks when Nathan finally decided to ask her what tonight was all about

"Hey Hales?"

"Hmm" She said looking up from her double espresso

"What was with tonight?" He asked as she gave him an awkward look "I mean... what made you come up to me?"

"I don't really know." She said honestly

"How much have you had to drink?"

"Quite a bit actually"

Nathan sighed to himself. There was no way she would remember what happened tonight. No one would. They were all to drunk. He decided to forget about it and take advantage of right now

"Hales... do you wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure" She said with a giggle

They began walking down the street as Nathan changed the path and began heading for the beach..

"Where are you taking me" Haley laughed as she was still pretty drunk

"You'll see" He said as he grabbed her hand and pulled her along side him

If felt good to be with Haley again... but he knew it wasn't going to last forever unless he could make her remember what happened tomorrow

x-x-x-x-x

Peyton woke up around an hour after she had laid down feeling sick again. She got up and ran to her bathroom praying the door still wasn't locked. She twisted the doorknob and it opened.

"Thank you" She mumbled as she lifted the toilet lid and began hurling

She hated throwing up so much. She knew she shouldn't have drank so much. She hadn't been this drunk in a while.

She was beginning to regret her decision of having this party tonight... After all... it didn't go that well for her... At least she thought it didn't. At this point she didn't even want to remember she just wanted to be able to fall asleep without getting sick.

x-x-x-x-x

"Here we are" Nathan said as he began to walk towards the beach

"What are we doing here? Haley giggled

"I wanted to bring you somewhere nice" He said slipping his arms around her waist

"This is nice" She said as she leaned in and kissed him sweetly

"No... That was nice" Nathan said kissing her back

"Yes it was" She said against his lips as she deepened their kiss

Nathan pulled back slightly knowing what he was doing was wrong. He knew she wasn't going to remember what had happened earlier that night, or what was going on right now. But he couldn't help himself. He needed to be with her, even if that means her not remembering.

He kissed her again as he slowly leaned down to the sand pulling her with him. He laid down as she laid on top of him. There kisses were becoming deeper.Nathan slowly began to lift Haley's shirt above her head. She sat up helping him take it off. She in turn began to take his shirt off. She laid back down on top of him and began kissing his neck. He moaned slightly as she moved her kisses to his bare chest and began unbuttoning his pants.

He looked down as he watched her every move taking in every detail of the night. If she was gonna forget he was gonna remember. It didn't take long before they were completely unclothed making love in the sand. How could something be so wrong but feel so right. Nathan didn't know but at this moment... he was glad he didn't.

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Brooke was on her way home when she decided to call Jake. She tried several times but he didn't answer so she thought "what the hell... I'll go see him"

She pulled up to Jake's complex. She got out of her car and went to walk towards his building when she heard some girl giggle. She began looking around but didn't see anyone. She started walking again and she heard the giggle once more. She didn't really pay this much attention so she just kept on walking... and there she was... the girl that was giggling... Not so bad right. To bad the reason she was giggling was because Jake was nibbling on her neck. Brooke couldn't make herself walk any further. She knew he was drunk but she never expected this. She turned around quietly and walked back to her car as tears began to fill her eyes.

She drove home as fast as she could. She didn't want to see or talk to anyone. Especially not now. She had a feeling that everyone was to drunk to remember anything that happened. Which meant everything she had done wasn't going to matter b/c everything would go back to how it was tomorrow. She didn't want that at all. She wanted things to go the way they were going. Lucas and Peyton getting along. Nathan and Haley mending fences. Her and Jake getting back on track. None of that mattered now. Everything was back to the way it was.

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OK SO THERE IT IS! I'm sorry it's so short but it was sort of a set up chapter for what is going to happen next... I don't want to give to much away but Lucas and Peyton will end up talking as well as Jake and Brooke and Nathan and Haley. I really hope you like it... I want to thank all of you again for your AWESOME reviews! This is the most I have gotten on any story I have written!

LOVE SHELL