Part 34
"This looks really amazing Karen, thanks for having me over." Peyton said politely as they started to tuck into the dinner laid out in front of them.
"You're welcome, although I think my son has more to do with you being here than I did." Karen replied as she passed the salad bowl to the blonde. "Not that you need an invitation, all of you are welcome anytime time you want, okay?"
Peyton nodded with a smile. She was having a much nicer time than she thought she would, she had already apologised to Lucas' mom soon after she'd arrived and things had been going well since. She was a little nervous around Luke, but she'd missed spending time with Karen.
The older woman had become such an important influence on her these last few years, helping her with Tric and all the special nights they had at the club meant a great deal to her. She'd been allowed to get a taste, albeit a limited one, of what life in and around the music industry was all about.
And although she'd had one or two bad experiences she would always be grateful to the women sat beside her for taking a chance on a high school kid with absolutely no proven record in running a nightclub other than a love of music and a willingness to learn.
"How is Brooke?" Karen asked almost as if it was the normal question it would have been a few weeks ago, when things between the three of them had started to get headed back in a more normal direction.
"She's… been better." Peyton ventured uncomfortably, keeping her vision focused on her food as she took a mouthful of pasta.
"But how is she?" Karen repeated, waiting until the blonde looked up at her.
"Umm," Peyton began glancing sideways to a quiet Lucas and then back at his mother. "She still has a lot to deal with, she needs physio for her injured hand and her leg, she has stitches in a couple of places that need to be taken out on… Tuesday… I think. But other than that it's just giving her body time to heal itself." She explained.
"She still has a fair amount of bruising, not just on her face, and she's got some pretty strong pain medication, so she's okay. She's going to be okay." Peyton trailed off suddenly no longer interested in eating any of the food before her.
Karen sighed as she thought about how lucky the girl was to just be alive at the moment, she hated that when she and Lucas had first been called all she could think about was that she was glad it hadn't been Peyton. It would have devastated her son to have his girlfriend in Brooke's position.
"Have her parents been in touch yet?" She asked both of them.
Peyton shook her head.
"So," Lucas said wanting to break the sudden silence at the table. "I was thinking about a bunch of us taking off up to NCU after finals, you up for it Peyton?" Lucas asked trying to steer the conversation away from a certain cheerleader.
"What?" Peyton asks looking up at him, not having heard much of what he'd just said.
"Taking a trip up to NCU after we're all done with finals, Skills wants to go up and check it out, so I was thinking we could all maybe go, maybe make a long weekend of it." He explained, although Skills had only mentioned going up sometime over the summer, after finals would work just as well. Classes were still in session so they'd have the chance of talking to other students and get a real feel for the place.
"I don't know." Peyton answered warily, not sure if it was the right time to be thinking about taking road trips, although the idea of getting Brooke out of Tree Hill for a while sounded appealing. "I'd have to think about it."
"It might be a good idea, get away from this place for a while, maybe things would be more settled when you all got back." Karen commented.
Peyton shook her head. "No, Haley is really close to giving birth, so are you for that matter Karen. I don't think now's the right time to be thinking about this." She said.
"Maybe later in the summer then?" Karen asked as she noticed the frown on her son's face.
"Maybe." Peyton offered even if she did think it was unlikely.
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Haley closed the door quietly and made her way back into the living room and sat down beside her husband, sighing as she kicked off her shoes and leaned into him.
"She okay?" Nathan asked, concerned with how quickly Brooke's mood had changed until she'd finally excused herself saying she was tired.
"Not sure, I think she's sleeping." Haley replied as she thought about what Lucas' arrival nearly two hours ago had caused.
He had taken Peyton with him and with the blonde gone Brooke had withdrawn into herself, remaining quiet as they'd sat and watched Nathan's movie pick. Haley wasn't sure if it was because Peyton had gone or because she and Nathan had just informed her that they'd be staying the night because Peyton wouldn't be back until the next morning.
"What the hell had he been thinking?" She asks herself.
"Who?"
"Hmm?" Haley asks looking up at Nathan, who raised an eyebrow at her. Realising she must have spoken aloud she answered him. "Lucas, what was he thinking asking Peyton to stay overnight?"
Nathan grins, "Well I could answer that if you really wanted me to?"
"Uck, shut up!" She says slapping at him. "That wasn't what I meant and you know it! What was he thinking taking away the one person Brooke really needs with her right now, especially at night if what Peyton says is still true."
Nathan shrugged, there were a lot of things his brother had been doing lately that he couldn't explain or find the reasons for. This was just another to add to the growing list.
"Everything's different for her now isn't it?" He said as his thoughts moved away from his brother to his friend. He wasn't entirely ignorant to how things had changed when Lucas had turned up earlier.
Haley was quiet as she spent a few minutes thinking about how life had changed for Brooke. They were all so focused on getting through a few hours at a time that she hadn't really considered the impact this would have in the long term.
"Yes, it's very different now." Haley answered him.
"If that had happened to you…" Nathan shakes his head pulling her closer, he had no idea what he'd do if Haley had been hurt like Brooke had.
"It doesn't bare thinking about," She replied quickly, rubbing her hand over his chest in comfort. "But I don't think it's possible to go through what she has… and not have it change you." She continued making sure to keep her voice low. Even if they were watching a late night show and Brooke was supposed to be sleeping, she didn't want to risk the brunette hearing their conversation.
"She won't be able to treat sex the same way again." Nathan commented. "It's just, hooking up with some random guy at a party wasn't much to her, sex was just another way to have fun for Brooke." He explain further off Haley's look.
"I don't think that's been true for a while." Haley replied.
"Right, Chase." Nathan answered. "Do you really think he has a chance with Brooke right now, Lucas said he seemed like he wanted them to get back together."
Haley hadn't even been thinking about Chase, but now that she was. "Honestly, no. He basically dumped her on the day of prom over something that'd happened before he'd ever set foot in Tree Hill. And besides she has enough to deal with right now without having that on her plate as well." She was still slightly annoyed that Lucas had asked her to talk to Brooke and Peyton about having Chase come over to see her. She'd left his name out because she had hoped to talk to Peyton alone about the whole thing.
It just didn't seem right to spring Chase on Brooke without any kind of warning beforehand, especially if he was hoping they could be an item once again.
"You know I tried so hard to get Brooke to date me that summer, before I started dating Peyton, she wouldn't even think about it." He laughed. "Gave me the total brush off every time."
"Was kinda bad for my ego, here I was captain of the varsity basketball team and I couldn't even get the head cheerleader to give me a second look." He remembered back to all those parties where he'd watched his friend get hit on by almost every guy in the room. Watching as more often than not she'd disappear with one of them for an hour or, in some cases, all night.
"I asked her once," He said seriously to Haley, reaching over and taking her hand into his and lacing their fingers together. "Why she never gave me a chance… she said I was one of the only guys she had as a friend and didn't want to lose that by having sex screw it up."
"Wow." Haley said softly, stunned by Brooke's reasoning for not sleeping with her husband.
"Of course I thought that was just a load of bull shit, and at the next party I spent my whole time ignoring her and talking to Peyton." He explained running his free hand through his hair. He knew talking about this to Haley was making him sound like a complete asshole but that was how he acted at the time, and was willing to admit that.
"I asked her out in front of the rest of the cheerleaders a few days later."
"Is that why you treated Peyton so badly, because she wasn't Brooke?" Haley asked sternly.
"No! Of course not, I know I was a jackass back then but it was nothing like that I swear." He said needing Haley to believe him. "Maybe spending all that time with her had been to get back at Brooke, but not asking her out. It's just that… she's so different… and I liked that, but I never really understood her."
He watched his wife frown and tried to explain himself better, or at least the way he'd been thinking back when he'd started dating Peyton.
"She isn't like the other cheerleaders, she's not like Theresa or Bevin or Rachel-"
"Thankfully there's only one cheating, husband-stealing skank like Rachel." Haley mumbled.
"She only joined the cheer squad for Brooke." Nathan continued not wanting to let his wife get started on how she felt about Rachel. "She was never really into the whole thing, she'd rather have been left alone with her sketch pad than get mixed up in all of that stuff."
"But she never could say no to Brooke." He laughed. "Man, she hated having all the guys staring at her at first, but she got into it. That's the way she is, you know." He shrugged. "If she was going to be a cheerleader then she was going to do her best, and be as good as the rest of them."
He grinned at his wife. "She even managed to talk you into becoming a cheerleader, for which I'll be eternally grateful." He said leaning down and kissing her. "Going to have to get you back into that outfit in a few months." He continued with a wink, pleased when he noticed Haley blush at the idea.
"We'll see."
His smile faded as he thought back to the tape of him and Brooke.
"At one of the parties at my house I'd gotten kinda drunk and was doing my usual flirting with all the girls and Peyton saw, boy was she pissed… she'd been in a bad mood since the day before," He recalled that she'd been upset but she refused to talk to him about it which had pissed him off at the time. "Anyway she dumped me. Again, must have been like the tenth time in two weeks."
He laughed turning to Haley. "That should have been a clue as to how bad we were together, huh?"
"So she storms off and I sulk over to Brooke saying she'd broken up with me again. Honestly by this time I think Brooke was sick to death of the both of us coming to her to complain."
As he remembered that night better he couldn't bring to mind having seen Brooke at all until that moment, but she hadn't been interested in anything he'd had to say about Peyton, come to think about it she'd grabbed another drink the moment he'd mentioned the other girls name.
"She was even way more drunk than I was which is saying something… and the rest… you and most of Tree Hill witnessed." He explained.
Haley frowned not sure what to make of the whole incident, from the way it sounded it came across as Nathan having only dated Peyton to get back at Brooke for turning him down, and to make it worse, at the first drunken opportunity he'd slept with the brunette.
"Do you regret that night happened?" She asked softly not sure if she really wanted to know the answer to that.
Nathan sighed.
"We had fun that night, and we talked the next morning, about a lot of stuff. About our friendship, did you know her mom thought we would get married to each other? She tried the whole set up thing, always mentioned what a great catch I'd be to Brooke."
He smiled sadly at his wife.
"I love Brooke, Hales. But am I in love with her? No. Do I regret that night?" He shook his head and frowned trying to find the right way to answer that.
"I regret the way you and Peyton found out about it, I regret being stupid enough to tape us in the first place… but I don't think I can regret having that time with her." He says hoping his wife would understand.
"Even if she probably does." He added laughing lightly.
"Awww." She said as he pouted at her. She knew she had nothing to worry about and given what she'd said about Chase having no right to be upset over something that had happened in the past, how could she hold this against Brooke or her husband.
"Peyton dumped you, Brooke said you didn't stand a chance with her… guess you're lucky I came along to stop the humiliation." She said with a grin as Nathan moved to kiss her.
Lucky for me too.
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"Okay, well I think I'll call it a night." Karen said as she placed the last of the dishes into the sink. "And don't bother with them, it'll give me something to do tomorrow."
Peyton nodded, if Karen wanted to clean the dishes herself who was she to deprive her of that.
"Now, I know you are both old enough to be responsible for your actions, and you are going off to college in a few short months where you will no doubt get up to god knows what. But I'm trusting you to be adult enough to share a bed in my house, don't make me be sorry about this are we clear?" Karen asked her son and his girlfriend.
"Sure mom, we'll behave I promise." Lucas replied giving her a kiss on the cheek before she wandered off to her room.
"Goodnight Karen." Peyton managed to croak out before the older woman disappeared completely.
Then she turned her attention to Lucas beside her, looking at him in shock but he only blinked innocently back at her.
It took every ounce of control Peyton had to wait until both of them were safely behind his bedroom door before giving in to the temptation of cuffing him on the shoulder with her fist.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She said harshly in as quiet a voice as she could manage given the circumstances. "Do you really expect me to want to stay here tonight?"
Lucas at least had the good grace to look embarrassed given her reaction.
"I'm going to go with 'no' at this point." He said sarcastically before sitting on the edge of his bed.
Peyton was at a loss as to how he could have thought she'd ever agree to that. Brooke had only gotten out of hospital this morning. She was injured, had trouble sleeping alone, and didn't have a clue about this little arrangement – so how could Peyton possibly refuse!
Covering her face with both of her hands she tried counting to ten to see if that would stop her from screaming at the top of her lungs or hauling off and attacking Lucas again.
She got as far as forty-five before she gave up.
"Look, this was a bad idea from the start, I should never have come over. But I just can't believe you'd think it was okay to leave Brooke alone the day she got out of hospital." She said infuriated with Lucas for ever having turned up at the apartment that evening.
"She's not alone though, Nathan and Haley agreed to stay over with her." Lucas replied hoping that would help calm his girlfriend down some.
"What?" That was the first Peyton had heard. "When did this all get decided, and why wasn't I told about it?"
"Well, I asked them tonight… when you were getting your shoes?" He informed her. "They said it was fine." He continued eager to reassure her.
"Wait, so Brooke knows all about this? She thinks I won't be back tonight?" Peyton asked with a sinking feeling.
"I guess." Lucas shrugged.
Great! That's just great! She's going to think…
"I'm… going to just… go. I think I should just go… now." Peyton stuttered pointing to the door before she just started walking towards it.
Lucas sighed as he watched his girlfriend leave before flopping back onto his bed.
"That when well."
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"So, do you want to crash in with Brooke, or are you going to stay out here with your husband and keep him warm?" Nathan asked giving Haley a sad look.
"Yeah right!" Haley replied throwing a cushion at him. "Of course, I'm not camping out in here-"
Haley was interrupted by Peyton walking into the apartment.
"Hey guys." Peyton said as she glanced around. Nathan and Haley were laying some blankets down on the floor having moved the table aside.
"Brooke in the bathroom?" She asked.
"Um, no." Haley replied glancing over at a clock. "She went to bed about a half hour ago, we checked in on her, I think she's sleeping but I wasn't sure."
Nathan just looked at the blonde, from what Lucas had said there was no way Peyton was going to be back tonight. "Are you just checking up on her?" He asked not sure what to make of her arrival.
"Huh? No, I'm back." Peyton said confused at first as to why Nathan had asked her that. "Thanks for being willing to look out for her but I'm not staying anywhere but here, so you guys can take off, okay?" She clarified.
"Are you sure?" Haley asked as Nathan helped her back to her feet.
"Yeah, thanks but you guys can go home." Peyton said moving to hug each of her friends. She knew Lucas had sprung the idea of them staying over on them just as he had with her, but it meant a lot to her that they were okay with staying to make sure Brooke wasn't left alone.
"Okay, well if that's settled I guess I'll put these back." Nathan said taking the extra pillows and covers back to the closet before heading further down the hall to use the bathroom.
"Is everything okay Peyton? We weren't expecting you back tonight." Haley asked placing her hand on the other girls arm.
"Yeah, I heard." Peyton replied still angry. "Was she okay after I left?" She asked more concerned with Brooke than going over what an ass her boyfriend was.
Haley chewed on her lower lip, and then shook her head. "Not really, no. We all talked for a bit, but she just wasn't in the mood, I'm not even sure she was sleeping when I checked on her." She confessed.
Peyton squeezed her hand and nodded as Nathan came back into the room.
"Thanks for everything guys." She said walking them out of the door before she locked it and leaned against it staring into the apartment. It was hard to remember how happy they had all been just a few hours before, but those feelings were gone now.
Tossing her keys onto the breakfast counter Peyton turned out the lights before she headed into the bedroom and the only person that counted at the moment as far as she was concerned.
She quickly kicked her trainers off and pulled her top over her head before taking her jeans off and crawling into the bed.
"You awake?" She asked softly.
"Haley? I told you to wait until Nathan fell asleep." Came the raspy response from the body facing away from her.
Peyton smothered her laughter as she moved to pull Brooke to her, now that she knew her touch wouldn't frighten the other girl.
"Oh don't worry," Peyton began as she cuddled up behind Brooke. "He isn't even in the apartment right now."
"Really?" Brooke asked with great interest as she turned in Peyton's arms.
"Yep, all gone."
"You're not Haley." She pouted as she continued to play along.
"Well no, but I'm sure I could make you forget that small little detail." Peyton whispered with a grin as she pulled Brooke closer and stared into her eyes, happy to see the other girl was enjoying the little game they were playing.
Brooke laughed.
"I don't know," She said considering the offer. "You are taller than her, and skinner too." She continued watching the lower lip extend on Peyton's face.
"I'm not good enough?"
Brookes grin widened as she watched the blonde's lower lip start to tremble.
"Well I never said that." Brooke smirked at her.
Peyton smiled and then pulled Brooke into a tight hug. Sighing deeply before she released the other girl. "I'm sorry about tonight, I never would have left if I thought that was his idea." She explained.
"It's okay Peyton."
"It's not," Peyton refuted in a slightly raised voice. "I'm sorry you thought I wasn't going to be here for you, because that's never going to happen Brooke." She says pulling her down to rest against her as she normally did.
"I'll always be here for you Brooke, always." She promised as Brooke tightened her hold on her for a moment.
"Thank you." Brooke whispered wishing that was true, but Lucas had shown tonight that Peyton had other people that wanted her to be there for them.
And someone was going to lose out eventually.
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AN/
Well hope you're all doing okay and I'll catch you all next time!
Okay, ha, one last thing - sorry it'll be late but the review replies will get done over the weekend:( I'm too tired right now :pout: