Chapter 9
Brooke searches for Angie, her weak, whimpering cry easily heard in the quiet of the night. In the bathroom, Lucas has her. She is sitting in a half-inch of warm water, the three incisions covered with tape and plastic, Lucas holding her with one hand, while he washes her with the other and hums quietly.
With two hours of sleep, Brooke's mind is sluggish at best. "You're still here."
"I wasn't going anywhere."
She approaches him, standing on tiptoes and kissing him in the cheek. "Thanks."
He shrugs, annoyed. She has no business thanking him. He's in, as much as she is. "I'm hoping she will nap after the bath."
Brooke sighs. The surgery was a success, according to the doctors. A full life, they said, with a healthy heart. Still, recovery is a bitch. Four days stay after the surgery, Brooke and Lucas alternating to keep her company. To give her familiar arms and voices and smells. Then the discharge. Instructions on care. Without the heavy painkillers, Angie's rest is broken and difficult. So Brooke and Lucas snatch what little sleep they can. Brooke has no idea how she could have handled this without him. Without him there to give Angie to the doctors, to hold her hand during the surgery and to help handle the recovery.
In a week, the stitches come out, and Angie goes back home. Lucas goes back to whatever it is that he does with his days. She goes to New York, back to the grind, and the meetings and the heartless throb of money. She can already feel the heartbreak coming...
Lucas places her gently in her crib. Brooke tucks her in. They walk slowly to Brooke's room, Lucas lying on top of the covers and shutting his eyes for a moment. Uninvited, but welcome anyways. Brooke smiles softly. "We should talk, Broody."
Lucas opens his eyes, looking at her. "We should?"
"Yeah." She sits next to him, gathering whatever scraps of courage she possesses.. "What do you want? Get back together?"
His voice holds a note of unexpressed laughter. "I don't think we can, Pretty Girl. Those high school kids don't exist anymore." She feels like he is mocking her. The smart boy talking down to the dumb cheerleader. She feels tears coming.
"So what, then?"
"A chance.. Something new." There. For the first time, he actually says it.
A glimmer of hope, quickly dismissed. "There's too much history, Broody."
"I'm not trying to convince you. I know it's useless. All I'm saying is that the door is open." He shrugs. "You're the one that has to walk through."
The minutes pass, and she stays silent. Finally, when she thinks he might be asleep, she speaks. "I'm afraid."
He wasn't asleep. Tenterhooks, in fact. He knows the stakes. "I get it."
Her voice hardens. "You do not."
"Of course I do. I was there, too, remember? How bright it burned, and how hard it was to let go."
"I'm sorry."
"We both survived, built lives."
"I'm not sure I'd survive it again. And there's a lot of people who depend on me. Thousands, in fact. I can't risk it."
"Brooke, you're brave and generous enough to take a sick baby and give her your all, knowing she is going to leave." He sits up, looking earnest, for once. "Sure, it's a risk. Not a certainty of heartbreak, but a risk."
His damnable way with words. She sighs. "I need time."
His heart soars. There's hope. "Then time you shall have."
She stares at the wall for a while. She recalls the church. "I won't be a rebound."
Lucas laughs. "They were the rebound."
"So you say. I haven't had anything real after you."
"What about Chase?"
Brooke waves it away. "Chase..." She shakes her head. "I've been involved with my work."
"It won't keep you warm at night."
"No it won't." She smiles. "It will make me rich, though."
"I'm so damn proud of you."
"I'm proud of myself." A long silence. "I can't lose it, Broody. It's not enough, but it's what I have."
"Nobody is asking you to give it up."
She passes her hand through his hair. "You've been wonderful."
"I've been a friend."
She giggles. A silver bell sound. "You're such a liar. A friend doesn't look at me the way you do."
He smiles. "Somewhat more than a friend, then."
A decision is reached. Settled. "A couple of weeks after she leaves. A single date."
His smile turns huge. "All right." They both know all they need is a little crack on the armor.
"All right." She rests her head on his shoulder for a bit. They fall asleep, exhausted.
=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=
Taylor is closing TRIC's outside door when Lucas arrives. "Hey, hot stuff."
"Squirt." She's very tired, but her spirits lift a bit, noticing how pleased he looks. "The princess put out?"
"Nah. She did agree on a date, though."
A little cold sliver of jealousy, with a nice serving of satisfaction for a job well done. "Nice. Do you know what you're going to do?"
"I have some time. Two weeks after Angie leaves. And that's in about a week."
"Any ideas?"
"I was thinking of reconstructing our first date. It's still the best date I've ever been."
"Hm."
"What?"
She parodies Brooke's slow, sexy drawl. "I love beating boys at pool..."
"You're evil."
In the same voice. "I love beating the crap out of them boys..."
"Tay..."
Taylor turns a little angry. "She can be a vapid little shit, Squirt. I don't understand what you see in her."
Lucas stares at her. "C'mon..."
She shakes her head and laughs. "Sorry... it's probably her period."
Lucas shakes his head, laughing. "Let's go home."
They walk towards the car. When they get close Taylor turns around and stops Lucas with a hand to his chest. "Serious. Why her?" Lucas gets pensive, staring at nothing, looking for the words. "She's a looker, I'll give you that."
"It's not that. At least, not only that, by a long shot."
"Then what?" She mocks "You luuuv her?"
"Look. To say that we were head-over-heels crazy for each other doesn't really catches it."
"So, you're still crazy for her?"
"No. It's been almost five years. Two relationships, one of them dead serious. It's just..."
His hesitant tone annoys her. "What, damn it."
"I get the feeling that the crazy just might come back, if we let it. I want to feel like that again."
She smirks. "Sorry to remind you, you're not a teen anymore. Crazy might not be in the cards anymore."
"I can only go by what I feel. Besides, she is a great woman. Loyal. Tough. With a huge heart."
"Hm."
"What is it?" She looks at him, pursed lips, like trying not to say something. It was the farthest thing from his mind, but Lucas had been there before. "Is it you? You wanted it to be you?"
She pushes him, both hands to his chest and turns around. "No!" She shakes her head, and a soft laugh escapes her lips. Taylor is a bit too honest for her own good. "Yes! Well... maybe, alright?"
Lucas can't avoid preening a bit. Taylor James? The fourteen-year-old boy, all bothered with the sexy cheerleader in the back of his bike flashes through his mind. He also remembers the mess with Brooke and Peyton. He must follow his heart, hold fast onto what he wants. His mind turns to Taylor's feelings, and a burst of affection and sadness goes through him. "Oh, Tay..." He grabs her by the shoulders and embraces her, hiding her face on his chest. "I'm sorry."
She steps back, her face unusually serious. "You've done nothing wrong, Stud. I'm the idiot here."
His voice drops to a whisper. "There's nothing idiotic about this."
"It's fine. You will get your princess."
"Fine! Friends?"
She shakes her head and smiles. "Always, Babe."
=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=
It was a slow Wednesday night when the news ran through Tree Hill as a whispered rumor. Haley James Scott was going to do an unplugged preview of her latest songs at TRIC.
By eight, Lucas apologized, informing the long line at the door that the house was up to capacity. Taylor was going crazy. She and three helpers couldn't keep up. A few minutes later Brooke walks into the Red Bedroom office.
Haley is standing near the pool table, beautifully made up, in a black miniskirt, a silver top, dangly earrings and four-inch peek-through silver stilettos. Despite the looks, she's in a tizzy, breathing fast and almost crying. "What if I forget everything?" She whines.
Peyton, with long practice with nervous performers, has her on a half-hug. "Don't worry, sweetie... You'll be great. You always do it great."
"It's been such a long time..."
Brooke feels that a distraction might be useful. She saunters along, pushing her pram with a sleeping Angie inside. "Hello, bitches! Darling Angie has come to say goodbye. She's going home tomorrow." The airy tone does not hide the sadness underneath.
Haley and Peyton scrunch a bit and peek at the sleeping baby. Haley instantly gets out of her funk. "She looks so peaceful." She looks again and frowns. "Is it the light here, or her coloring changed?"
Brooke breaks into a broad smile. "Better blood flow means a pinker baby, Tutormom."
"Oh!" After a pause, Haley steps in and grabs Brooke into a hug. "I'm sorry. It can't be easy seeing her go." Peyton nods with a smile.
"It isn't, but I knew what I was getting into. You should hug your best friend as well. He's just as sad as I am."
"He really got into the surrogate parenting too..." Peyton asks.
"He sure did. I couldn't have done it without him."
"You can always count on me to hug Lucas."
"Me too." Peyton adds in a dry tone.
"You stay away from him, skank."
"Hey..."
"Haley decides to throw a little gasoline on the fire. "What's this I hear about a date?"
Brooke's cheeks pink a bit. "He told you."
"A date?"
"Yes! In two weeks. We're going on a date." Brooke turns to Peyton and extends a finger, touching it to her chest. "And what's it to you? You have your girlfriend."
Peyton breaks into a goofy smile that surprises both Brooke and Haley. "I'm just kidding, BDavis. I'm thrilled for you."
Both Haley and Brooke look skeptical. "Thrilled..."
"I'm very happy and I'm falling hard for Nora."
Brooke curls her arms under her breasts. "By the way, what's up with that? Did you really switch teams, PSawyer?" Haley focuses on the blonde, curious to hear the answer.
"Not really." Peyton takes a step back and rests her behind on the pool table. "As you know, I met Nora on tour, while she was tech wiz for the band. We hit it off, friends like, talking and talking. I was in a really bad place, feeling like I totally screwed up my life. It's not just Lucas... a lot of other junk as well. She listened, told me her own story. She started flirting, and, at first I was really confused. I liked her, though, so I just ignored it. Then, I was even more confused when I saw myself flirting back. One night, after a couple of beers, she kissed me. I nearly bolted. Then I kissed back. We woke up naked in my bed the next morning. The sex, by the way, is both sweet and awesome. To answer your question. No I'm not suddenly into girls. I'm super into Nora. I guess I realized it's not about the shape of the body. It's what's inside that really means everything." She grins. "And, by the way, I still find both Scotts dead sexy."
Haley growls. "You stay away from them, blondie."
Peyton laughs. "Nora would kill me dead. She's a jealous little bitch."
"Aren't we all?" Haley adds. Brooke purses her lips. Maybe soon she'll be entitled to feel properly jealous again.
=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=o=
Lucas is helping Taylor straightening things up after the show. Taylor is humming Halo to herself, a little off key, and dancing as she works. Lucas stops and stares, a little entranced. He is well aware he's become more aware of her presence after her confession a few days earlier. She's oblivious to Lucas attention, fully focused on arranging the bar.
"So, I take it you enjoyed the show."
"Enjoyed?" Her voice cracks a bit. "Baby sis is just awesome."
Lucas laughs a bit. "I take it you'd never seen her live?"
There's a little shine in Taylor's eyes. "Only in the shower."
"Are those tears, Taylor James?"
She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. She smiles. "Of course not. Tough, hog riding, black-belt girls don't cry."
Their eyes meet for a second, honey-on-blue. "Sure." Lucas gets back to arranging glasses. "Angie is going back to her country tomorrow."
"How's she?"
"Better than new. I got those brake parts today."
"Great. How much?"
Lucas shrugs. "Altogether, less than five hundred in parts. Today's tips would nearly cover it, I'd guess."
"We didn't do quite that well tonight. Too many music lovers. Not enough drunks."
"Still, with Angie gone, I should have the bike ready and tested in a few days."
Her eyes shine again, this time with hunger, not tears. "Nice."
