"How long have you been there?" Lucas asked as he turned around and saw an appearance of Brooke that he did not normally see, vulnerability. She resembled Haley a little bit, she was very pale, and appeared weak as well, it was all in her eyes though.
"Long enough to know that my former best friend knows me good enough to write a book about me and the one that I loved never knew me at all. I think that was enough for me to hear anyways."
"Well since you guys are here now, I think that I am just going to go."
"Where are you going to go?"
"Home."
"Peyton, I do not think that is the best idea."
"Well I am not going to stay here."
"Why not? I mean you are definitely going to lose points on the friendship scale," Lucas mocked her.
"Lucas."
"What, Ma? We have been talking and trading friendship of the year stories, I think we were doing pretty well actually. Well that was until I lost points for thinking that I could help Haley now after I have been absent for such a long period of time. But you know what; she lost a lot of points in shutting Brooke out when she actually needed her."
"Lucas," Karen tried again, he was not being very sensitive or rational at the present time, and she did not understand why he would be so harsh to either of them.
"I am going," Peyton got up, "Let me know if she is okay," she walked away a little bit, and then she turned around, "Is that okay to ask, Lucas?" She did not wait for a response, and she just left the hospital.
"Lucas, who are you? What have you done with my son?"
"Oh, you are looking at him. I am just apparently not a good person, according to Peyton, I lack in the friend and love category. Isn't that right, Brooke?" He was being a complete ass, he had no right to ask her that, he knew that her heart was still trying to mend; he had not right at all to make her feel any worse at the present time. What else could he possibly throw at her?
"Oh I think that you are an expert at being an asshole." She did not feel bad about saying that in front of Karen, or not. He hurt her; she was not going to pretend anymore that it didn't hurt.
"You have a lot of experience in this category as well?"
"Yeah, I have been around enough of them in my life to know when I am looking at one, so I am going to say that I am pretty much an expert."
"That is not my fault that you have a bad taste in people."
"So are you going to put yourself in that category, Lucas?"
"I think you already did."
"Lucas, stop it. Just stop it. You are in the emergency room lobby; there are people all around you waiting on the status of someone that they care about. And you sitting there yelling, that is not fair to them, and that is not fair to Brooke."
"It is not like I am saying anything that is not the truth, Ma."
"Lucas, I do not care right now. It is apparent that you are just going to be an asshole to everyone right now. But if you do not care about Brooke, and you do not care about the people in the lobby, or me, then can you please respect that Haley is back there somewhere and she needs help. Can you do that for Haley?"
"Fine," he got up and he walked away from them, so he would not let his temper explode right now.
Karen put her hand on Brooke's back and rubbed her back, "I am sorry, Brooke." Lucas had not been there in the bathroom with her 30 minutes ago. He had not felt her pain. He had no right to hurt her like he did with his words.
Brooke shrugged it off though, she did not want anymore comfort, she was done with that, "It is okay, he has a right to be angry."
"No he doesn't, he has not right at all."
"I am the one who slept with Chris Keller. I am the one who ruined any chance of reconciliation. Let him be angry."
Karen could not say anything else; there was nothing else that she could say. Brooke sat down and Karen sat a few chairs down. He looked over at Lucas, and then saw him walk out the door. She got up quickly to chase after him, "Lucas, Lucas, Luke."
He turned around but he did not stop walking, so Karen had to keep up with him, "What do you want?"
"Where are you going? What happens if Haley wakes up?"
"She has got Brooke; she is a better friend anyways."
"Stop it, Lucas. You are being a child. I don't care what anyone is saying to you, what is your heart saying? I am really hoping that is saying that Haley needs me right now, and I have to put back everything in my past and be there for her now."
"She wouldn't want me there."
"Lucas, how do you know that?"
"I have not been there for her."
"You are here for her now. That is all that matters."
"I have to go, Ma. Call me if you find something out."
"Lucas, if you walk any further, please don't come back. Because Haley does not need some one who can only be there for her during his terms. Suck it up, forget about your pride, and go back in that lobby and sit down and wait for the doctor to come back. I don't care about what is going on with you and Brooke, or you and Peyton, put it all aside. Haley needs as many people as she can get right now. You are selfish to leave."
"That is what I have been told," he stopped for a second though. "Ma, Nathan did this to her, and all that she could think about when she woke up was where he was at. I told her that he was not there, and that is when she started convulsing. It was as if her heart knew what we were talking about. I have never seen someone in that much pain in my life. And it is Haley. My Haley. Nathan is my brother, and he did this to her. He went past revenge, and he does not even care. When I left tonight, I went to Tric. I talked to Nathan earlier tonight, and I told him that Haley was going to be playing, and that it would be really nice of him to be there and supporting her."
"Was he there?"
"Yeah he was there."
"So he changed?"
"He was making out with some girl."
"No. No. Haley deserves better then him."
"I know that, she doesn't. She doesn't know love any other way."
"Did you talk to him?"
"Yeah, I talked to him."
"What did he say?"
"That Haley hurt him when she left."
"What about the pain that he caused her since she has been back?"
"Apparently it was not the same."
Peyton and Lucas pulled up at Tric, "How did you know where I was going?"
"I knew that you were going to go to the place of person that broke her heart, and tell him that he was successful."
"Peyton, I know that Nathan is your friend, and the reason that you have been harassing Haley was because you thought that Haley deserved the same pain that she caused him. But do you see now that he has surpassed it?"
"As evil as you think that I might be, I know what pain is, and I see it in her eyes each time that I look."
"Oh each time after you insult her, and make her feel worst about herself."
"Luke, I am here now, can we just drop this?"
"Do you think he is here? I told him that she would be performing tonight."
"I could not even tell you. I guess for Haley's sake, I hope so."
They got out of the car and climbed the stairs to Tric. They could hear Jimmy Eat World blasting. "I am surprised that the show still went on."
They walked through the door, and Peyton got a surprise of her own, she saw Gavin, "Umm, can we walk another way…please."
"What, Peyton, what are you doing?" Lucas looked around sporadically.
All she said was one word, "Gavin."
"Okay, let's go this way," he put an hand on her back and led her around the bar. And that is where he spotted Nathan lip locked with a girl that looked at least 26. "Nathan?"
It actually took him a few seconds to remove his lips from the girl, "Luke, man, you were right, this is a good show."
"Are you shitting me, Nathan?"
"You were supposed to come to see Haley play; you were supposed to come support your wife. Not support that girl next to you."
"Ingra, she is a Viking."
"I am not a Viking silly, my ancestors were," she thought that was cute of him so she kissed him on the lips.
"Isn't she adorable?"
"Excuse me, Ms. Viking, do you mind? Did Nathan here tell you that he was in high school and that he was married?"
"Married in high school? Are you at least 18?"
"Yeah I am."
"I am okay with that," she went to kiss him again, but Lucas grabbed him by his upper arm.
"He will be back before you can even yodel."
Nathan shrugged him off of him, "What are you doing, man? Did you see her?"
"Yeah, I saw her, she was gorgeous."
"Then why the hell did you pull me off of her?"
"Because do I have to remind you that you are married?"
"We both know that Haley was doing more then just kissing Chris Keller."
"Oh is that what you have been hearing around town or something?"
"It is Haley, Lucas."
"Yeah it is Haley, and that is why she would never sleep with another guy. Dan has brainwashed you into thinking that."
"Dan did not have to do anything. She was the one that kissed him, for all we know she went further with him while they were on the tour together."
"How would you know every time that she called you, you would not pick up? So how the hell would you know what she was doing?"
"I know her pretty well."
"Oh do you? What is she doing right now? Because I bet a million bucks you don't even have a clue."
"Well I was a little late, so I might have missed her playing, did she leave already?"
"She is in my bed."
"See I told you so, that slut."
Peyton had to step in front of Lucas because she was pretty sure that he was going to punch Nathan. "Nathan. Stop it. I have been supporting you the entire time since Haley has been back, I have always been on your side. Not that many people saw you after Haley left, not a lot of people saw the pain that you felt and the sadness that you endured. If anyone saw you, then they saw that you were pretty pissed at the world. But I saw the other side of you, the vulnerable side. I put Haley through a lot of hell when she got back because I knew the pain that she caused you. But Nathan, you have gone too far. If you wanted Haley to feel pain, she is feeling it. Every single day she is feeling it. She is not a macho basketball player; she is a frail tutor girl, that can't take it anymore. She cannot take it. The reason that she is in Lucas's bed is not because she is a slut, it is because she has been unconscious for the last hour. Her heart could not take it any longer, Nate. Is this what you wanted? Because if it was, you win. But please can you just ease her of her misery and say goodbye."
"You are telling me that Haley is unconscious right now in Lucas's bed?"
"Yeah, you don't believe it?"
"Why should I believe that? How do I know that this is not a ploy for you to get me to go talk to her? If she wants to call a truce and come back to me she is just going to have to contact me myself."
"Are you kidding me? This is not some game, Nathan. This is both of your lives. And to be honest after the way that you have been treating her, I do not really see her running back into your arms."
"And just the idea of Haley in trouble should get you to go see if she is okay," Lucas informed him.
"I don't believe you."
"Fine, then Haley was right."
"What was she right about?"
"You never really loved her."
"Lucas, you do not know how it felt to have your wife leave you in the middle of the night to go on tour with another guy, a guy that she had kissed."
"No, you are right; I do not know what it feels like."
"She hurt me."
"Yes, and she hurt me too. But when she called me when she returned to Tree Hill, when she was crying in the rain, I did not just let her stand out there. I went and I got her, and I let her cry. And you know why she was crying? It was because she had just come from talking to you, and you pretty much let her know that you did not love her. And it hurt her too much to go on living like that. So she changed her ways and lost them. And I honestly cannot tell you if she is going to be able to find them again."
"I do not know what to tell you."
"Well then, neither do I."
"Nathan, you know that I am your friend, and I will support you. But I cannot in this. You are a better person then the shit that you have thrown at Haley. If you wanted her to feel pain, she felt it, and felt it over and over again. If you really do not love her anymore, stop pretending that you do. It hurts her too much to live with that hope. And at the rate she is going anyways it might be the end of her. And I know that you did love her at one point so stop the suffering, stop the pain, and move on with your life, so she can move on with hers."
"I really thought that you were different. Different then Dan, I mean he pretended he loved the girl, and then ran to the next, while the first was pregnant with his child and held hopes that he would return and they would start a family. I am just so grateful that Haley is not pregnant with your child, she would not be able to recover from that."
"I am not Dan."
"If that is what you need to tell yourself to make it through the day, then go right ahead. But look at your life, and look at his, there is a pretty big parallel."
"It looks like you have already made up your mind; there is nothing else that I can say to you. I am who I am; there is nothing that I can do to change that. No, maybe I did not make the right decisions in the way that I handled the things with Haley, but it is done with and I might have screwed up, but that is life, it is full of screw-ups."
"You are just going to pass it by so easily like that, it was marriage Nathan, and I mean it still is. It is a big commitment; you took vows and said that you were going to be together always and forever. Forever came and went pretty quickly for you, now didn't it? And as much as I hate to say it, you two were just too young to get married, and to expect to spend the rest of your lives together. But I just want to tell you one thing Nathan, and then Lucas and I are out of here, back to Haley. Forever is not as long as you think it is going to be. Sometimes life throws traumas and tragedies at you, and forever is over. My mom and dad were very much in love and they intended to spend the rest of their lives together. Neither of them expected my mom to die when I was seven. Their forever only lasted ten years. So you cannot think that since you guys got married that you are going to be together forever, so it is okay if you fight a little now and have a time of separation. Because your time could have already past. Your forever could have already ended. Are you okay with that? If you are, then let Haley know that. If not, you better fight like hell to let Haley know how much you love her. Forever could be over."
They did not let Nathan respond, he did not really deserve to respond. Lucas was really surprised in Peyton. She has been a bitch to Haley, well that is what he was hearing and seeing briefly. And she stood up for her today; no one was forcing her to though. Wrapped up in the conversation that she had just had with Nathan, Peyton totally forgot about who she was avoiding and literally ran into him. She retreated back to her new self, "Look where you are going next time." She looked up and saw him. Gavin. "Gavin."
"C'mon, we have got to get back home, Peyton."
"Not so fast, I want to talk to my bitch for a minute."
"I am not your bitch."
He slapped her before Lucas could do anything, "Are you sure about that?"
"Do not touch her again, or you are going to have a problem with me."
"She is mine, don't worry about it. You can run home to Mommy, I will take it from here. As you can see Peyton has been hurt, and she needs someone to take care of her. I am here for all of her needs."
"You are the one that caused it, Gavin," Peyton said retracting herself from the arm that he had securely put around her neck.
He did not like this so he pulled her to him with more force. "Is that what you are telling people, Peyton? Because I really think that you need to think about what you are doing. You do not want me to get into trouble for what happened this afternoon. It was as much your fault as it was mine."
Peyton was powerless with him. He took away all of the power that she had ever built up inside of her, the power that she used to fight the world. Yet the only one that she needed to use if against, took it before she had a chance. "I am not telling anyone anything, Gavin. And that is because nothing happened. There is no problem, only if you cause one right now."
"Now, that is my girl," he let up his grip on her a little bit, "so what are you doing with this punk?"
"Haley is hurt and we were trying to talk some sense into her husband."
"You see that is why I have such a problem with you, you are so indecisive. Now you are here to support Haley. I thought that you were against her. I thought that you wanted her to feel pain."
"She did."
"Oh, it does not have to end."
"Yeah, it does, Gavin. She has felt enough. Let it be."
"I cannot just let it be, Peyton. I was there supporting you when you wanted Haley to experience as much pain as she caused your buddy. Now you are retreating and saying that she has felt too much. Make up your damn mind. 'Cause as I see it, this girl has not felt enough."
"She has, I am admitting it to you. I have made up my mind. Can we just drop this? She has actually taken a turn for the worse, and we need to get back to her."
"Oh, so now you are going to play the role of supportive best friend, I see. Damn, Peyton, you should be an actress, it will take you some where in life. I mean since the further you are going right now is into my bed."
"Gavin, stop it," she pulled back from him with the fight she had still left in her.
He went to grab her arm again, but this time Lucas step in front of him, "Let her go, man and we will not have anymore problems."
"I am always going to have a problem with you," he said stepping back from him, "and you, I better see you later tonight or…"
"Or what? What are you going to do to her, man? Because she has the right to do whatever she wants to do, you have no control over her. If she wants to leave right now, then you need to let her, if not you are being possessive and you do not want to do that."
"Oh, now it seems like you are threatening me."
"Let's just go, Lucas," she said trying to push him along, she could see the death stare that he had on Gavin. And it really seemed like Lucas cared about her best interest. No one cared about anything about her lately, so this was new. And this was overwhelmingly intense. Lucas seemed to return to people's lives when they needed someone the most, but was it fair that was the only time that he came around?
"Kiss me before you leave," Gavin said grabbing on to her arm again, pulling her closer to him.
In fear that he would do something else, she obliged and leaned in for a kiss.
When he finally pulled back, "See, you are my bitch. I will see you later."
Peyton walked away, she walked past Lucas in an attempt to get out of Tric quicker, she ran down the stairs, and her vulnerability slipped as she missed the last step and ended up at the bottom, "Damn it," she screamed not sure more towards her falling or what had just taken place in there.
Lucas rushed out of Tric as well, and caught Peyton slipping on the stairs, so he rushed down to her, "Are you okay?" he asked, bending down to help her up.
She allowed him to help her, but after that she shrugged him off, "I am fine, fine. I am fine. Let's just go back so you can be there for Haley."
"What about you?"
"What about me? I am indecisive, don't you know? By the time we get back there, I am probably going to want to cover Haley's head with a pillow."
"Why do you let him do this to you? This is not you."
"Lucas, we already went over this in the café earlier, I have no idea who I am. And maybe Gavin does, I mean he has to know something, why the hell else would he be with me?"
"Because you are a good person."
"When?
Right after I destroy people's lives?"
"Peyton, I have never seen you weaker then when you were in there, you let him do whatever he wants to you. Whether it is physically or emotionally, he has full control over you, and no one should have that except for you."
She did not want to hear this right now, she had about 700 lectures today, and she really did not need another one telling her that she was better then the person that she had been portraying lately, "Lucas, just drop it. You do not know me. No one knows me. I don't know me. So we are not going to get anywhere. Let's go."
"Peyton."
"Lucas, if you try and say something else, I am not going to respond. Drive the damn car. Haley needs you a whole hell of a lot more then I do."
Lucas did not dare respond to her, he just drove back to his house.
"Do not be Nathan, Lucas. Do not walk away when you know that she is in trouble. Haley has always been there for you, please do not walk away from her right now. Please do not do this," Karen was practically begging her son after Lucas told her of the earlier events of the night.
