Chapter Thirty Four

The Games That Play Us

Early the next morning, the Scott brothers went to the River Court to shoot some hoops with their friends. When they arrived back to the house, Karen had their breakfasts ready. After they were done, Karen told Nathan to take his shower first. Lucas knew what was coming and he was prepared to fight back if he had to.

"Lucas, what was going on with you last night?" Karen asked her son. "I have never seen you so rude before. I know Lindsey has hurt you, but that was no way to treat her like that. After all, she brought you and Nathan both a birthday present. I want you to find her and apologize to her." Lucas was about to protest when his mother gave him a firm look. "You know it's the right thing to do."

"I wouldn't know where to find her," Lucas protested. Of course, she always seemed to find him. However, his mother wasn't in the mood for his excuses and he knew he had no choice but to apologize to her. He let out a heavy sigh. "Alright. I'll go after I take my shower." He didn't even hear his mother's response. He was too busy focusing on this ridiculous request.

Nathan noticed his brother's frustration as soon as he came out of the bathroom. Lucas explained the situation and Nathan made a face. "Dude, that sucks. And it's so unfair. She shouldn't even have crashed our birthday party in the first place. What are you going to do?"

"What can I do? I have to go and apologize to her for being rude to her," Lucas replied. "Then I'm going to warn her again to stay away from our family and my new girlfriend." Nathan was about to respond when Lucas beat him to it. "Don't worry. I'll tell her to stay away from Haley too." Nathan gave him a grateful smile before they went their separate ways.

Once he was ready, he was about to contact Lindsey when Nathan approached him. "The party crasher is in the kitchen with Mom."

Lucas frowned. "Lindsey is in the kitchen?" he asked. Nathan nodded. "Well, that takes care of that problem. Let's get this over with." He followed his brother to the kitchen. Lindsey was happily chatting with his mother and he could see right through her fake smile. He gave her a fake smile of his own as he made himself known. "Hey Lindsey."

"Hi Lucas. I know this is a surprise, but we didn't have a chance to talk last night," Lindsey said. "Maybe we can take a walk and you can show me around the neighborhood."

Lucas knew the polite thing was to agree and go with her. He nodded and they left the house. He waited until they were far from the house before speaking. "I know I'm supposed to apologize for being rude to you, but I don't want to do it when I don't mean it. And you don't really deserve it. You had to have known it was a private party since we didn't invite you."

"I don't understand why you are still being hostile towards me," Lindsey replied innocently. "I'm just trying to make up for what I did to you."

"You mean lying to me and telling me we were going to have a baby?" Lucas demanded. "And the reason for that was because you knew our relationship was getting stale and you didn't want to lose me? I don't know how many times I have to explain it to you: we're not meant to be together. We're not even meant to be friends. So please just leave me, my family and friends alone, okay?"

"Why? Are you afraid of me telling your new girlfriend your dirty little secrets?" Lindsey asked. "I heard about that car accident where you almost beat Damien West to death. Does your little Brooke know about that?"

"Anything I tell my girlfriend is none of your business," Lucas snapped. "Why don't you mind your own business?"

"Because I might be sticking around for college," Lindsey replied. Lucas looked at her confused. She was the same age as him. How could she already be attending college? "With all of my extra credit classes, I was able to graduate from high school a year early. As much as my parents want me to attend Duke, I decided to take it slow and try my hand at community college first."

Lucas tried not to scoff at her. "Come on, Lindsey. Just admit you're really here for me."

Lindsey didn't answer. "I should get going. I'll see you around, Lucas." He was quiet as he watched her return to her car. She waved goodbye as she climbed in her vehicle. He watched her as she drove down the street before he returned into the house. He wasn't looking forward to the next time he would see her.

A few days later, Lucas and Brooke were walking through the school hallway hand in hand and they only separated when they reached their lockers. As Brooke opened her locker, she found an envelope with her name on it. It looked like an invitation of some kind. She wondered who could possibly sent it. As she looked around, she saw she wasn't the only one who had received the invitation. Lucas, Nathan and Haley also had one in their hands. So did Jake, Peyton, Mouth, Millie and Skills.

"Is Rachel planning a party without telling us?" Haley asked Brooke. "Because she can't do that without our permission. After all, she's a guest in our house."

Before Brooke could answer, they heard a familiar voice. "Brooke, please explain to me why you felt I needed an invitation to your party." Brooke held up her invitation and Rachel looked at her confused. "Wait, you didn't send the invitation?" she asked as she noticed the circle of friends each had one. "If none of you guys sent the invitation, who did?"

Brooke opened the invitation to see exactly what the invitation said. She read it out aloud for everyone to hear. "You are cordially invited to a night of drama, excitement and intrigue. Be at Karen's Café tonight at seven o'clock.' Looks like we will find out who is our host then." Brooke became annoyed when she saw an unexpected visitor. "Lucas, what the hell is she doing here?" she asked, gesturing to the entrance of the school.

Her friends turned around to see who she was referring to and Lucas wasn't happy when he saw Lindsey. She gave him a little wave as he noticed her and she had another fake smile on her face as she approached the gang. "Well, I'm glad to see everyone got my invitations."

Lucas raised his eyebrows in surprise. What was she up to? Rachel seemed to ask the question on everyone's mind. "What is this all about?" she asked.

"You'll just have to find out tonight," Lindsey replied as she began to leave them. "See you guys then."

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm definitely going to be there tonight," Rachel replied. "There's no way I'm going to miss out on this event."

As the others stated their opinions about the invitation, Brooke noticed Lucas was staring off into space. "Luke, are you alright?" Lucas nodded, but she could tell he was lying. She wasn't able to ask him about it as Rachel distracted her. It wasn't until lunchtime when she was able to talk to Lucas alone. Instead of eating lunch with their friends in the quad, he was in the library.

Lucas was quiet as Brooke joined him at the table. She knew something was bothering him, but she didn't want to press him. There was silence before he finally spoke."I know you want to go and check out what Lindsey has planned for us, but I don't think it's a good idea. I know what she's like and she's very manipulative. Do you remember when I told you I married her because she thought she was pregnant?" he asked. Brooke nodded. "Well, that's not entirely true. She wasn't pregnant. She made it up. She knew our relationship was getting stale so she came up with a plan to make sure we didn't break up. When I found out about the ruse, I immediately filed for annulment and severed all ties with her."

Brooke couldn't believe her ears. "Lindsey pretended to be pregnant just so you two would stay together?" she exclaimed angrily. She lowered her voice as a librarian gave her a look. "How could she do that to you? How long was she planning to string you along? Was she planning to steal a baby too?"

Lucas shrugged. "I don't know. I think she would have carried out as long as she could if Nathan hadn't come along and discovered her secret. I didn't want to believe it at first, but he was able to show me proof of her ruse and I was devastated. I couldn't believe she played me and I didn't see it. I felt so stupid and embarrassed. Now you understand why I don't want us to go to the café tonight. She is just trying to separate us."

"If that was true, why would she invite the rest of the gang?" Brooke pointed out.

"It's to keep up with appearances. It would look too obvious if she just invited us," Lucas replied. "I don't know what she has planned, but I really don't care to find out. Why don't we just have a quiet night at home with Mackenzie? That way, we can give Aunt Deb a break."

"Because Rachel would never let me hear the end of it if I don't show up," Brooke replied. "Besides, aren't you a little bit curious to see what she has planned?" Lucas didn't answer. Brooke looked at him hard. "Why don't we see what she has in mind before we decide not to participate?"

Lucas let out a heavy sigh before he finally agreed. "Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you."

That evening, the gang gathered around the table where Lindsay was waiting for them. Brooke was surprised to see Tim with the group, but her main focus was Lindsey. "It's called Dare Night. One night. Two teams. Multiple dares." She showed one of the yellow envelopes she had brought with her. "Each envelope contains a two part dare. Part one is on the front. Part two is on the back. Each dare is worth a certain amount of points." She showed the gang a phone. "This phone has picture and video. You do the dare. Send prove of it to the other team. At midnight, time is up. We meet back here to declare a winner."

"What do we win?" Mouth asked. The excitement was clear in his voice.

Lindsey gave him a wide smile. "You all get a night to remember," she replied.

Lucas didn't like the way the game sounded and he had to speak up. "And you get to humiliate us. Why would we do that?"

His friends knew he had a point and they wondered how this newcomer would respond. Lindsey gave him a look. "I think you know me better than that, Luke." Brooke glared at her. She didn't like how she was calling her boyfriend 'Luke' like they were still friends. "There's nothing in these envelopes that is harmful to you or anybody else. It's all about having fun and testing your limits. Every once in awhile, you got to wake yourself up." Brooke was beginning to understand why Lucas didn't care for this girl.

Tim spoke up. "Do you want to do it, Nate? All anyone does around is brood." He gestured over to Lucas. "Pout." Brooke. "Break up." Nathan and Haley. "Or get married." Rachel.

Rachel didn't like how Tim had included her in how boring her friends were. "I don't care what everyone else does. You can certainly count me in," she said, throwing her envelope on the table.

"Yeah, what the hell? I'm in the mood for something daring," Peyton added, putting her envelope with Rachel's.

"I'm going with my girlfriend," Jake said as he threw his on the table.

Lindsey looked around at the others who still had their envelopes. "Who else is in?" she asked. Skills, Mouth and Millie threw theirs in the pile. Although, Millie looked unsure of herself. Lindsey turned to Nathan and Haley. "What about you two?"

Before either of them could respond, Tim slipped his name into the pile. Everyone laughed as Lindsey looked at him. Tim gave her a pleading look. "Come on. I want to play. I didn't get invited."

Lindsey considered his request. However, she had one of her own. "Tell you what. You can play if the Scott twins, Brooke and Haley all play."

The four exchanged looks. As much as they didn't want to play, they felt they had no choice. Nathan and Haley threw theirs down first as Brooke and Lucas exchanged one last look. Brooke threw her envelope down and Lucas did the same. "Pick the stupid teams," Brooke told her.

Lindsey was happy to hear that. "Alright. Boys against the girls. Anybody have a problem with that?" Nobody said a word. "Sweet. Teams are set." She pushed a key over to Lucas.

He eyed her suspiciously. "What's this?"

Lindsey just gave him a smile. "That, my friend, is your first dare."