Hey guys! Sorry that it's taken me so long to update but...I when through writers block. But I'm back now!Yea! Anyways... here's chapter 34!
General POV
Mercedes walked into the house and walked into the living room to find Brooke and Peyton talking.
"Hey Z. How'd things go with Nathan and Lucas?" Brooke asked as she saw her come in
"Not good. It was worse than I had expected." Mercedes answered plopping down on the couch next to Peyton. "But I don't wanna talk about that right now. What were you guys talking about?"
"We're trying to figure out who we can get to play Tric on Friday." Peyton answered looking at her.
"Well... who do you have in mind?"
"That's the thing!" Peyton said sighing in frustration. "I don't think we can get anyone to play on such short notice."
"Don't stress Peyton. We'll figure something out." Mercedes said patting her knee sympathetically.
"I'm glad you feel that way." Brooke said getting closer to her. "We were kinda hoping you could call a few people and set something up."
"Sure. Just tell me who you want to come play."
"Are you sure about this?" Peyton asked looking at Mercedes. "Cause you don't have to do it if you don't want to."
"Don't worry about it Peyton. I'm happy to do it."
"Well... since it's your birthday party... why don't you pick who comes and plays." Brooke said crossing her legs Indian style.
"Ok... but you guys have to help me think of someone." Mercedes said pulling her cell out of her purse.
"Ok... what about T.I.? He'd be good."
"Ok, I'll see if I can get in touch with him. Although... I think he's on tour right now."
"Umm... what about Ciara then?"
"Ciara? Your friend from LA?" Peyton asked confused.
"No, not her. Don't tell me you don't know who Ciara is Peyton." Brooke said giving her a look of shock.
"No, sorry."
"She's a Hip-Hop singer." Mercedes answered.
"Oh."
"I'm sure she'll do it. I'll go call her right now." Mercedes said getting up.
"I'll go with you." Brooke said getting up.
"I'm gonna stay here and get started on my homework so we can do our psychology when you come down." Peyton said pulling out her pre cal book.
"Ok." Brooke answered. "We'll be right back."
"Ok."
Mercedes and Brooke walked up the stairs and into Z's room. Once inside Brooke made herself comfortable on the bed while Mercedes sat in her desk and punched some numbers into her home phone. She put her feet up and looked over at Brooke while she listened to the phone ring.
"Hello?" She heard someone say from the other line.
"Ciara hi, it's Mercedes."
"Oh hey you! Where have you been? I haven't talked to you in days."
"I know, I'm sorry. It's just been crazy round here."
"Nah, it's a'ight."
"So how have you been?"
"A'ight what about you? How have you been coping wit things?"
"A'ight. You know... one day passes and another begins."
"Yea, I know how dat is."
"Yeah, listen... I hate to ask you this but... I was wondering if you wouldn't want to play a show for me this Friday."
"Friday? Sure. Where at?"
"North Carolina."
"What are you doing in North Carolina?"
"I live here now. With my cousin Brooke."
"Oh, Brooke, the one that came with you to Diddy's party right?"
"Yeah, that's her."
"A'ight well... why don't you send me all the info and I'll be there on Friday."
"Great. I'll do that." Mercedes said giving Brooke an affirmative head nod.
"A'ight I'll talk to you soon den."
"Ai'ght laters."
"Laters."
Brooke jumped off the bed and ran over to hug Mercedes. Mercedes laughed and hugged her back.
"I have to go tell Peyton!" Brooke said pulling away.
"Ok, go tell her. I have a few phone calls to make and then I have to send her an email about what's gonna go down, and then I'll go down there. A'ight?"
"Ok."
Brooke skipped happily out of her room and down the stairs. Peyton heard a knock on the door and got up to answer it. At the same time she heard Brooke yell out her name along with a very excited 'guess what' as she ran down the stairs. Peyton laughed at her enthusiasm and told her to wait up a minute while she answered the door. She did and found Haley and Lucas behind it.
"Hey guys." Peyton said opening the door wider. "Come on in."
They did and they walked into the living room with Peyton.
"What's up?" Peyton asked sitting down.
Seconds later Brooke ran in and suddenly stopped when she saw that Peyton wasn't alone.
"Hey guys." Brooke said dismissing their presence quickly. "Peyton she got her!" Brooke said happily.
"Got who?" Haley asked confused.
"Ciara." Peyton answered.
"Z's friend from LA?" Lucas asked even more confused than Haley.
"No." Brooke said irritated.
"You mean Ciara... the one who sings 'Goodies' and '1,2 Step'?" Haley asked speaking up.
"Finally, someone who knows what I'm talking about!" Brooke sighed in relief
"How do you know about Hip-Hop?" Peyton asked surprised.
"That's the only thing that Nathan listened to. I kinda leaned from him."
"So anyways.." Brooke said continuing her earlier train of thought. "She said she would do it. Mercedes is calling a few people to set some things up and stuff."
"Would do what?" Lucas asked
"Play Tric on Friday. Didn't Mercedes tell you?"
"No she only told me about LA. She didn't tell me about Tric."
"Well... it's kinda like a un-birthday party for her on Friday. Her actual birthday isn't until Saturday but...we won't be here so she wanted to do something here."
"Oh. So is she here? I kinda have to talk to her." Lucas said changing the subject.
"Yeah, she's upstairs in her room."
Lucas got up and headed up the stairs. He knocked on her door and waited for an answer.
"Come in!" She yelled out.
He did and found her on the phone. He closed the door and saw the smile on her face suddenly drop as soon as she saw him.
"Yeah, just make sure you have enough room for their things. Ok, I've already sent her all the information and everything so... Yeah, I'll make sure of that. Ok, thanks. Bye."
She hung up the phone and typed something into her computer.
"What are you doing here Lucas?" She asked never looking up at him and continually typing something.
"I wanna talk to you."
"About what?"
"Nathan and I are cool now. We worked everything out." Lucas said with a slight smile.
"Really?" She asked somewhat baffled.
"Yeah. We talked... and I think everything's gonna be ok."
Mercedes smiled and got up. She walked over to him and hugged him tight.
"Oh, I'm so glad." She said as she felt a sense of easiness sweep over her.
She pulled away and gave him a warm simile. He followed her to her bed
"So, what's this about you getting Ciara to play Tric on Friday? And why didn't you tell me that your birthdays on Saturday?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, I kinda forgot. But... the thing with Ciara's all set up."
"You're the best, you know that?"
"Yeah, I know."
Suddenly they heard another knock on the door and Haley opened it and peaked her head inside.
"Hey Lucas, Brooke want's to talk to you." Haley said.
"Ok." Lucas got up and was about to leave with Haley when Mercedes called out Haley's name.
"Haley! Will you come talk to me for a sec?" Mercedes asked patting the side of the bed next that Lucas had just left.
"Yeah, sure." Haley walked in and walked past Lucas as he gave her a quick wink before leaving the room closing the door behind him.
She sat down on the bed and turned herself to face Mercedes.
"So... I missed you at lunch." Mercedes said casually.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. It's just that Lucas and I got to talking and-"
"It's cool Haley. I'm glad that you and Lucas worked everything out."
"Wait... How did you know that Lucas and I had to work something out?"
"He told me that he was upset when you didn't pick up his phone calls. I told him to try and see how hard things were for you. It's hard being in the industry that we are."
"You sing too?" Haley asked bewildered
"God no!" Mercedes said in a slight giggle. "Besides the fact that I'm tone deaf, I have the worst voice in the world. I'm a model."
"Really?"
"Yeah, as a matter of fact... I have a photo shoot in LA on Saturday, and I already talked to Brooke, Peyton, Lucas, Jake, and Nathan and they've all agreed to go. I was wondering if you'd like to come with us."
"Mercedes I'd love to but..."
"Come on Haley, please? It'll be a lot of fun. I promise."
"You know what? Sure. It'll give me a chance to get away from my very screwed up life."
"I totally agree."
Mercedes smiled warmly at Haley and she returned it. Even though Haley had a lot on her mind. She desperately needed someone to talk to. She knew she could talk to Lucas about anything but... she felt like she needed a women's perspective. Not only that but the feeling that she was getting was urging her to tell Mercedes. Although... she didn't quite know why.
"Mercedes... can I talk to you about something?" Haley asked after a moment of silence.
"Anything Haley. What's going on?" Mercedes answered concerned.
"Well... I have this "friend" right?"
"...ok..."
"And this"friend" did something really bad to her ex-boyfriend for another guy. Only when she left for the other guy... he dumped her and told her that he never really cared about her. But as the time passed she was able to forgive him enough for them to be friends."
"What's the problem then?"
"All of a sudden, out of nowhere he shows up and tells me- I mean her that he loves her. And now she doesn't know what to do."
"Are you this friend Haley?" Mercedes asked suspicious.
"Maybe."
"Is this about Chris?"
"How do you know who Chris is?"
"Nathan told me about what happened. Don't get mad I asked, ok?"
"Umm..."
"So anyways... changing the subject... Chris told you he loved you huh?"
"Yes, and now I have no clue what to do." Haley answered upset.
"Well... do you love him?"
"I don't know. I mean.. Right now I don't know what I feel about him. I gave up a lot for him, and he broke my heart. Can I just forgive him?"
"That's up to you Hales. No one can make this decision but you. But I'll tell you this... I know you're hurting right now... but... maybe you should give your heart another chance."
Haley looked at Mercedes for a second, feeling warm tears form in the back of her eyes. Mercedes pulled her into a big hug and held her tight.
"Everything's gonna be ok Hales." Mercedes whispered into her hair.
Somehow she knew that everything would be ok. She felt so much better about everything. And she felt like she had finally made a good friend. They heard a knock at the door and Haley pulled away and wiped away her tears.
"Mercedes, it's me. Please let me in." Nathan said through the door.
"I'll just go downstairs and give you guys some space." She said getting up and walking towards the door. "Mercedes... thanks. For everything."
"I'm here for you Haley. Whenever you need." Mercedes said getting up.
Haley nodded appreciative and opened the door. As soon as she did she saw Nathan's face of shock.
"Haley?" He asked surprised.
"Hi Nathan." She said walking by him.
Nathan looked at Mercedes for a moment before walking in and closing the door.
"What are you going here Nathan? I thought I told you that I didn't want to talk to you until you figured things out with Lucas." Mercedes said seriously.
"What! Lucas just told me that he talked to you not to long ago and that you weren't mad anymore."
"I don't know what you're talking about Nathan. I haven't seen Lucas since that little episode in the gym."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes." Mercedes said trying hard to keep in her laughter. She couldn't hold it anymore and she busted up laughing. "I'm just kidding babe. I talked to Lucas earlier." She said trying to catch her breath.
"You scared the hell out of me!" He said putting a hand to his heart.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how long I could play it off." She said walking toward him.
He walked toward her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She slid her arms around his neck.
"So... are we ok now?" He asked brushing his lips against hers.
"That depends... are you gonna be good?"
"I promise to try my best."
"Then yes. We're ok." She said kissing him.
The kiss they shared quickly escalated to more than just a kiss. Nathan lay her on the bed and she pulled him down on her closer. His lips left hers and he left a trace of butterfly kisses down her neck before he stopped at her collarbone. He sucked on it and heard a moan come from her mouth. He smiled to himself as he felt the grip on his shirt tighten.
"Mercedes will you please come down, and help me with my paper!" Brooke said walking into the room and stopping when she saw Nathan on top of her. "Well, well, well, you guys make up quickly." She said smiling widely and putting her hands on her narrow hips. "Will you please do this later? You guys can make out anytime, but right now I need you to help me with my paper."
"Ok, I'll be there in a minute." Mercedes said looking over Nathan's shoulder.
"Hurry up." She said as she walked out.
Mercedes looked at Nathan and laughed. He laughed with her and buried his head in her chest.
"Why is it that we always get interrupted?" Nathan said looking up at her.
"I don't know but... next time we're locking the door." She said kissing him.
She slid from under him and held out her hand to him. He took it and they got up and left the room together hand in hand. On their way down the stairs he pulled her closer to him and they entered the livingroom.
HE!HE!HE! That last part was funny. So... what will happen with Haley and Chris? What about Jake? Will he ever tell them about Jenny? You will have to stay tuned and find out. In the meantime... please leave me a review for this chapter!THANKS! By the way... thanks to OTH-Mrs. Broody and Newyorkchicka for your last reviews!