Disclaimer: I don't own One Tree Hill, or any of the characters.
Chapter Two
"Reuniting"
The following morning, Peyton and Jake were hanging out at the beach house. Lucas and Nathan would be arriving within the hour, which gave her and her boyfriend time to spend alone. Which they had been.
They were sitting on the deck, with Peyton in her bikini, trying to catch some sun. Jake was sitting next to her, lazily running his finger over her bare stomach. He had truly missed her, even though he had seen her a month ago. But a month was too long.
Peyton smiled at him. "Do you think this month will be weird?"
He chuckled. "I think that is the understatement of the year. Brooke and Lucas may say they are on good terms, but tension will still be there. Plus, with Nathan here, its going to be crazy."
She nodded. "You know what I think? I think you and I should take a vacation. I mean, I realize this is a vacation, but I mean just me and you, for a couple of days."
He leaned in close, kissing her gently. "I think that sounds perfect."
Peyton was about to suggest where they could go when they heard footsteps coming from the house. She sat up, and grinned when she saw Lucas and Nathan coming out the door. "Hey!" She squealed. She stood up, and allowed Nathan to wrap her in a hug, and then let Lucas do the same. She hadn't seen either of them since Christmas, and even then she barely saw them. She missed them throughout the year.
Lucas smiled at her. "Hey, Peyton. How's it going?" He and his brother then said their hellos to Jake as well.
Peyton was smiling excitedly. "I am so excited about this summer. Its going to kick ass!"
Nathan nodded behind him. "I like the house. Brooke had sent me some pictures from before, so I was of course expecting a dump. But this really looks good."
"It was all Brooke. She only works three days a week because she sucks like that, so she spent the last six months or so redoing everything. You haven't seen anything yet." Peyton had decided to allow Brokoe to take over the remodeling of their beach house, mainly because Peyton could care less about it. As long as her room was to her own liking, Brooke could do whatever she wanted and Peyton wouldn't care.
Jake wrapped an arm around Peyton. He was taking every bit of advantage of this vacation that he could. "So, did you guys have a good drive?"
As they all made small talk, Lucas couldn't help but notice something was missing. "Uh, where's Brooke?" He caught his brother's look, but ignored him. It wasn't a crime to ask. He hadn't seen her in over six months.
Peyton answered, "Working. She works Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, from seven to seven."
"Damn," Nathan whistled. He only wished he could have those hours.
"Not really. She loves it. They are long hours, but she gets four days off. She will be home later. I think she was stopping by the store after work. You know Brooke, she can't live without Diet Coke, which we ran out of last night."
Lucas nodded, but said no more. Nathan noted his silence, but didn't question him. Instead, he spoke to Peyton, "So, give us the grand tour."
Jake had already had this tour, so he quickly said, "I'm going to run to the bait shop I saw up the street. Be back soon." He gave Peyton a kiss before heading out the door.
Peyton led the two guys into the living room. "This is our living room, we spend most of our time in here. As you can see, it holds our computer and television, which Brooke can't live without. She just finished decorating this room, it was her final project." She moved onto the kitchen.
Lucas stayed behind, looking at the pictures on the bookshelf. They were of Brooke, Peyton, or Jake, with Nathan thrown in there occasionally. At the very end, in a small frame, was one that held all six of them. It must have been when they were dating, and they were at Dan's beach house. She was in his arms, and smiling up at him. Nathan and Haley were together, as were Jake and Peyton. Lucas smiled at Haley's face. He hadn't heard much from her lately. She had just produced her second album, and was on tour. She was married to some pop singer, and though she called him sometimes, they had pretty much lost touch. This only made him more closer to Nathan, which he didn't mind. Nathan was his best friend now.
Peyton was telling Nathan about the horrible refrigerator experience she had gone through. "Brooke had been at work, and I had just finished teaching a class. The guys, two of them, had come to install the damn thing, but were constantly hitting on me. They were fat and ugly, so I paid no attention to them. Anyways, they unloaded it and I had been in the den, avoiding them. I came back in, just as they were hooking it up, and saw it was completely the wrong color. While this one is silver, they had brought this ugly brown one. I knew Brooke would have a fit if she saw it, so I yelled at them and told them to take it back. They did, and two hours later showed up again. I was grading papers, so I let them do their thing. Of course, they had the wrong one. It was silver, however, it was the wrong brand and style. So, I sent it back. Brooke came home to no refrigerator, and I had already taken stuff to our neighbors that was in our old refrigerator, so it wouldn't rotten. We had sold it, and the new owners came and picked it up. Anyways, she was pissed off, called Sears, let them have it. Let me tell you, at eight o'clock that night, the correct fridge was in our kitchen."
Nathan laughed at the story, because it sounded exactly like something Brooke would do. "She sure does have a backbone."
"Yeah, she does," Peyton agreed. Lucas smiled at the story. He could see in his mind Brooke yelling at the Sears employees. They went on with the tour, and she showed them the bedrooms. She avoided the subject of where they were sleeping, because she wasn't quite sure.
Later that evening, Brooke was driving home from work, stopping at the convenient store on her way. She picked up a twelve-pack of her favorite diet drink, and noticed some of Lucas's favorite power drinks, and grabbed those too. She figured she could at least be nice to the guy. She also grabbed some of Nathan's favorite.
She drove slower than she usually did, due to the fact that she was dreading the reunion she was about to be faced with. She and Lucas had barely spoken since their break up. Even though the break up was almost mutual, it still hurt. They had agreed to remain good friends, but that was the ultimate breakup cliche. No one ever stuck by it. These next few weeks would be the test for that, because now she and Lucas would be forced to be around each other.
Then, there was Nathan to think about. They really were great friends, but a lot of history was in that friendship, history that no one knew about. So far, they had done a decent job of covering up past actions. Brooke just prayed they would be able to keep it up. However, she was so excited to see him. They always had so much fun together. Peyton was always saying that she was the girl version of him, minus the athletic abilities.
She finally pulled into the driveway, and was almost relieved to see Peyton's car gone, and no sign of Lucas or Nathan's in site. They must have gone out to dinner.
She walked inside, and dropped her keys on the counter. She hummed to herself as she filled the fridge with her latest purchases. She was washing her hands and had started to dry them when a voice said, "Boo." She yelped in surprise.
She whipped around, and grinned when she saw Nathan standing a few feet away. "Nate!" She walked towards him, and before she could blink he had picked her up and swung her around. She laughed as he lightly tickled her sides.
"Hey Davis." He set her down, but she continued to keep her arms wrapped around his neck.
"You jackass, you scared the shit out of me."
"You're the deaf one. Didn't you hear the back door?" She let go of his neck, and hopped up on the counter. He stood directly in front of her, one hand on her knee.
"No, I was washing my hands."
"Oh, yeah. You're a nurse now," he teased. "By the way, you look hot in that outfit."
She glanced down at her light blue nursing clothes, and shrugged. "Thanks. I have plenty of outfits like these to go around." One downfall to her job was the wardrobe.
He rolled his eyes at her. "Thanks for being here to welcome us." He was just kidding around with her, but she took it to heart.
She said defensively, "Its called work. Have I mentioned that you are an ass?"
He shook his head, playing along with her game. "Nope, have I mentioned you are a bitch?"
"Nope, I'm sure we will make use of that vocabulary on a regular basis while you're here." While they had been sitting there, she had started eating yogurt. She usually only had fruit for lunch, and it was a long day, so she was hungry when she got home. Nathan dipped his finger in it. "Ew, Nate, that's gross!" She looked at him, disgusted.
"Oh, do you want it back?" He pointed the finger at her, and smudged it on her nose. She fought back, pushing his hand away, but ended up falling over with laughter instead.
Lucas walked up just as Nathan was catching her, and helping her stand. She was smiling up at him, and he had a hand on her back. Lucas cleared his throat, letting them know he was present.
Brooke looked up from her stunt with Nathan, and stopped laughing. "Lucas. Hey," she said slowly. He smiled shyly at her. She gave nathan a dirty look as she wiped the food off her nose, and then handed him the remaining yogurt. She walked up to Lucas, giving him a hug. "Good to see you."
"You, too," he said softly. He didn't mention the "friendliness" he had just witnessed. He did, however, note the extreme awkwardness between them.
Brooke was about to speak when Peyton came bouncing into the room with Jake on her arm. "Brooke, you are finally home. I was just showing them around here, blowing time. We haven't eaten yet, but we are starved."
They all laughed at her. Brooke walked back to her position next to Nathan. "You know, P. Sawyer, you are taking over my role of The Mouth."
Peyton scoffed, "Trust me, no one will ever take over that role. So are we going to eat or not?"
"Stop whining, let me change and we can go."
Brooke and Peyton had taken them to an exclusive seafood restaurant half an hour away, and then they had stopped by the boardwalk on the way home. Nathan and Brooke competed in some of the arcade games, and he ended up beating her. His prize was a pink teddy bear, so he gave it to her. What the hell was he going to do with it?
They were leaving, and heading back to the cars. Brooke and Nathan were shying towards the back of the group when Brooke's ice cream cone slipped from her hands, and it got all over her silk shirt. "Dammit," she cursed quietly. She looked around quickly, seeing if anyone could notice.
"Brooke, here," Nathan offered. She looked at him inquisitively. Because it was summer, its not like any of them had jackets. Nathan stood directly in front of her, as to hide the chocolate stain which was quickly spreading. He bent down.
Brooke saw what he was suggesting, and started laughing. "No way, nobody has given me a piggy back ride since high school, if not before."
He shrugged. "Do you want the whole world to see that ugly shirt?"
She gasped, and slapped his arm. "Fine," she said. She hopped onto his back, and giggled on he lifted them both. She hugged his neck. She then whispered, "Thanks."
"No problem." They finally caught up to their friends, who had paused to see what had happened to them. Lucas stared at his brother.
Peyton asked, "Um, why are you on his back?"
Brooke looked down at Nathan, and replied, "I had a, um, slight problem with the ice cream. Don't ask."
Peyton shook her head. Brooke was always getting herself into crazy situations.
Soon after, they arrived at the beach house. It was almost midnight, and they were all tired after the long day. The guys had been traveling, and Brooke had been working.
Brooke yawned, and said, "Okay, I'm going to bed." She had thrown a hoodie over her shirt as soon as she walked through the door.
Lucas looked at her. "Where are we sleeping?"
Brooke had forgotten about that. "Oh, yeah. I guess you do need beds, huh? Well, talk to Peyton."
Peyton shot Brooke a glare. "Jake is staying with me, obviously. Lucas, you get the guest bedroom."
Nathan protested, "No way, why does he get it?"
Lucas answered him, "Because I asked for it a few weeks ago. Peyton told me how many bedrooms there were, and I figured I should jump for a chance at the guest."
It was Nathan's turn to glare. "You are so dumb."
Lucas grinned. "Not really, considering I get a comfy bed."
Nathan turned to Peyton. "Okay, so where am I staying?"
Peyton bit her lip, and nodded towards the couch. "There. You can put your stuff in Lucas's room," she offered.
Nathan sighed. This pissed him off. He was going to spend the next month on a couch? He had plenty of money, he might as well stay in a hotel.
Brooke could practically read his mind, and said quickly, "Nate, stay with me." She noticed the stares she was getting and explained, "I mean, I have a king bed, so its no big deal. The couch sucks."
Nathan cocked his head to the side. "Okay." Staying with Brooke would definitely be better than some damn hotel room.
Lucas looked back and forth between his brother and ex girlfriend. He had never known them to be such great friends, so this was all a little surprising. They both seemed so at ease with the fact that they were about to share a room.
Brooke nodded, and said, "Well, I'm going to bed."
"I'm going with you," Nathan echoed. His face reddened when he realized how that must have sounded to the others. Nonetheless, he followed her up to the bedroom.
He dropped his bags on the floor by the door, and laid on the bed, stretching out. Brooke eyed him as she searched through her drawers for her pajamas. He said, "You sure you are okay with this?"
Brooke looked over at him. "Of course. Its not like we're going to have sex."
He said jokingly, "Never know. We do have a sexual history."
She looked at him sharply. "Nate..." This was a touchy subject with them.
He shrugged. "What? I'm not saying anything else, promise. No one knows. I'm just letting you know, with us sharing a room for four weeks, things could heat up pretty quickly."
Brooke turned back to her closet, smiling to herself. "Whatever," she said aloud, but secretly wondering the same thing he was. They had given into temptation before, she wasn't sure she could say no again.
They changed into their respective clothes, with Nathan in nothing but boxers and athletic shorts, and Brooke in pink pajama pants and a white tank. She crawled in next to him, and he saw she was shivering. He pulled her up close to him, so that they were within inches of each other.
"Night, Nate."
"Night," he murmured, already half asleep.
Author's Note: Thanks to all my reviewers! I was shocked to see how many I received! I was not expecting any of that. The majority of you are wanting Brooke/Nathan, but there are a few Brucas-ers out there. I haven't decided, so I am going to leave everyone hanging. In this chapter you find out that Brooke and Nathan have a hidden past together, and that Lucas still wants Brooke. The next chapter, I will try to have more BL scenes!
Gerky, just to clear things up, Lucas did NOT cheat on Brooke. They had broken up over that time. Sorry if I didn't make that clear! BrookenLucas12 I am waiting for your new chapter, too! I love your story so much. Ali213, you have no idea how happy I was to see a review from you. I am addicted like no other to your stories, so to see you reading one of mine was awesome.
Okay, thanks again to ALL of my reviewers. I love you all so much! Not sure when this next chapter will be out, because school starts Wednesday for me (ugh). I will try to write a new chapter before then, though. In the meantime, please REVIEW!
-Emilie-