Update dance, do my update dance, with my update shoes, in my update pants. I'm really not ashamed to say that I invented that song with a little jig for all the stories that I follow.

Chapter 7

Sure Peyton had found the tabloid articles stupidly entertaining when they started over a month ago; they were so false that they were funny. All of her friends had gotten a kick out of some of the stories because they were so far from the truth that they had all gotten some good laughs. But as the articles started to take a true story and completely twist the events or outcome, that's when all the laughs stopped, lawyers got called and lawsuits were threatened.

As Peyton sat at the desk in her studio staring at the latest trash that had been printed on the cover of a tabloid, she rapidly tapped her fingernails against her desk. This stupid article had her and Brooke getting into a small spat in the parking lot of the grocery store. They were checking out when Brooke looked over and noticed the picture of Lucas and Peyton sitting way to close to each other for her taste, with Lucas giving Peyton that look. Peyton tried to tell Brooke how silly that sounded but the brunette was having none of it, hitting Peyton where it hurt.

"How would you feel if that was Damien?" Brooke stared her girlfriend down, unflinchingly.

"Wow" Peyton said, shocked by the comparison, but more shocked that Brooke felt the two situations were comparable.

"Yeah" Brooke said while getting in the car and slamming the door.

And that's where their conversation had ended, with both girls driving silently home, where they went their separate ways to bury their problems in work.

This is what had Peyton tapping the finish off of her desk. She knew that Brooke had a problem with Lucas, she wasn't stupid, but she also knew that she had never had any feeling for the oldest Scott. When she and Brooke had talked after the whole Damien debacle, she had told her girlfriend as much. Peyton had told her that Lucas would never be an issue in their relationship unless the brunette made him one, that she would never, could ever love anyone other than Brooke and for that simple fact she didn't want to hear anything else about Lucas. Peyton loved Brooke a little more every time the brunette held her tongue or didn't get into a verbal altercation with Lucas even though she knew she had just cause, Peyton would just try to change the subject or subtly lead Brooke away for the sake of keeping the peace. She knew it wasn't fair to Brooke, because it was only going to progress with no one stopping it and when it finally came to a head, it wouldn't be pretty. As Peyton looked at the magazine again, she felt like this whole situation might just be in fact approaching that head.

"Hey Debbie Downer, what's up?" Mia asked as she sat in the chair in front of Peyton's desk.

"Nothing" Peyton said as she tossed the magazine aside and continued to unconsciously tap her fingers on the desk.

"Uh huh, okay" Mia said as she eyed her boss and friend, "You know that if you keep doing that, you're either going to break off all those pretty finger nails, or stab a hole in your favorite piece of furniture" she pointed to Peyton's hand.

"Sorry" Peyton said as she pulled her hand away from her desk.

"Don't apologize, tell me what's got you in a fickle Pickle" Mia said trying to lighten the bad mood that her friend was obviously in.

"It's just Brooke" Peyton said as she smiled at the silly term Mia had just used.

"Is it because she proposed?" Mia asked in a squeaky voice with raised eyebrows.

"No it's-…wait, how did you know?" Peyton asked raising a brow of her own.

When Mia pointed to the hand that Peyton had started to unknowingly tap on the desk again, she threw her other hand over it like it would hide what had already been seen.

"Is that a joke?" Mia asked as she continued to look at only Peyton's hand.

"It's-"Peyton started but was cut off by Mia.

"She asked you to marry her?" the popstar asked as her stare down with Peyton's hand continued.

"That's-" Peyton tried to answer, but was cut off once again.

"When?" Mia finally moved her eyes away from Peyton's hand and to her face.

"A couple of weeks ago, but-" Peyton tried to explain but was once again cut off.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Mia asked, clearly hurt by her tone and facial expression.

"Mia if you would just let me get a word in, I could explain" Peyton said with an exasperated sigh.

"Does anyone know?" Mia asked, folding her arms across her chest and staring at Peyton, "Start talking Peyton" Mia said in an annoyed tone when her question went unanswered.

"Jeez" Peyton said, rolling her eyes because that's what she had been trying to do.

When Peyton saw that the songstress wasn't budging she gave up and decided to just come clean. She told Mia how Brooke had popped the question over a month and a half ago and what had led up to it happening.

"So why are you guys hiding it? I know that I'm not the only person that didn't know." Mia asked suspiciously.

"Because the next couple of months for Brooke are really important and we just didn't want all the extra attention" the blonde explained as she nervously swiveled in her chair.

"But you just said that Brooke told Millie to send a press release" Mia said, wanting to know why this hadn't been on every tabloid instead of the stupid articles that currently were.

"Yeah she did, but we thought it might be better to wait a couple months" Peyton kept her eyes on her desk as she continued to swivel.

"You both came to that decision?" Mia asked Peyton like she didn't believe it was true, she knew by Peyton's body language it wasn't true.

"Well, yeah" the blonde said, finally looking up at Mia and seeing the look being directed at her, "What?"

"Peyton, there's a fucking roving Nikon camera that's been in town for the last couple of weeks and you're wearing a huge, and very lovely might I add, engagement ring and you want me to believe that you and Brooke came up with the idea that you should keep this quiet?" Mia asked, summing up the last part of their conversation for Peyton so that she would know that she knew she was being lied to.

"I forgot to take it off" Peyton said, slipping the ring off her finger and into her jeans pocket.

"That's all you have to say?" Mia said, running a hand through her hair and sitting back in her chair.

"What do you want me to say?" Peyton asked as she too sat back in her chair.

"I want you to say that Brooke doesn't want this coming out yet because of image reasons" Mia said, raising her eyebrows in challenge.

"Mia, they already know that we're dating" Peyton tried to deflect from answering the question.

"Yeah, but you could just be Brooke's lesbian phase, but throw a ring in the mix-" Mia said, leaving the statement hanging.

"Okay Mia, thank you! Now that I have officially wasted an hour and a half spilling my secrets to you, and found out that I'm just some stupid phase for Brooke, we have suddenly run out of time" Peyton had no qualms about letting her annoyance be known as she got up from her seat and grabbed her jacket.

"Peyton I-" Mia tried to apologize as she got up from her seat as well.

"Leave it alone for a couple of days Mia" Peyton said through clenched teeth as she threw the door to her office open and walked out of it.

"I'll see you later" Mia spoke to the closed door, knowing she would indeed see Peyton because everyone was having drinks at Tric later that evening.

When Peyton got home to get dressed for drinks, Brooke had already left to take Jamie to Nathan's mom's house for the night. She also knew that Brooke was still mad because she left the information on a Post-It on the bathroom mirror; she knew the significance of the note. Tonight should be great, the blonde thought to herself.

After dragging her feet to get dressed, Peyton headed over to Tric. She didn't even want to go anymore, but Nathan and Haley got back tonight and that's why everyone was meeting for drinks. When she pulled up, the parking lot was packed with the usual line wrapped around the building; there really wasn't that much to do in Tree Hill when it was dark except get into trouble. As she nodded to the bouncer and made her way through the door she felt a hand on her shoulder, when she turned to see who it was she cursed her bad luck.

"Oh, hey Luke" Peyton plastered on a fake smile, she really didn't want to deal with him along with everything else.

"Hey Peyt, we should've just come together" Lucas joked about both of them being tardy as he subtly dropped his hand to the small of her back to guide her through the crowd.

Yeah, I'm sure that's what Brooke already thinks. As she speed up to get Lucas' hand off her back, she knew she was right when she caught the look Brooke sent her way right before she turned away from the blondes. I just can't catch a break today. As the night went on Peyton couldn't take the silent treatment she was getting from Brooke anymore and went over to the bar to talk to her.

"So you're drinking?" Peyton asked even though she clearly had the answer.

"Seeing Lucas with his hands all over you always makes me want to drink" Brooke said before she knocked back a shot.

"Brooke can we please go outside and talk?" Peyton asked, not particularly liking the way the evening was headed.

"I don't want to do anymore talking today Peyton, tonight is about Hales and Nate" Brooke said downing another shot.

"Hey, what the hell is going on with the two of you?" Nathan slightly slurred as he came up and threw his arm around Peyton's shoulder.

"Nothing, right Peyt?" Brooke arched an eyebrow at her girlfriend.

"Right…but I'm going home, I've got to be up early tomorrow" Peyton lied as she looked at Brooke, "Congratulations again Nate" the blonde kissed him on the cheek and walked towards the door.

"Oh God Brooke, what did you do?" Nathan might have been buzzed, but he knew something was wrong.

"I'm not the only one that can fuck this relationship up, thank you very much" the brunette shot at him.

"But since she's all pouty and you're all defensive…and drinking I might add, something is going on" Haley walked up on the conversation, a frown forming on her face when she saw the two shot glasses in front of Brooke.

"Go fix it" Nathan said, "Now" he raised his voice to get the brunette moving.

As Brooke made her way out of Tric and into the parking lot she saw an upset Peyton standing by her car, as she got closer she saw Lucas walk up and take the blonde into his arms. But what stopped Brooke mid stride is when Lucas leaned in and kissed Peyton. She saw Peyton pull away and step back; she saw her look around the parking lot confused as to what had just happened. When they locked eyes, out of all of the things Brooke was feeling right now, she couldn't pick out a particularly dominant emotion so she just shook her head and hurried to her car. She heard Peyton calling her name from behind her, but she really didn't care as she slammed her car door and peeled out of the lot. When she got home she could absolutely pick out an emotion, she was pissed. She went straight to her and Peyton's bedroom and started to pack a couple of suitcases, after she had been at it for 20 minutes she heard the front door open and close. When she came out of the closet with more clothes in her hand she saw Peyton cautiously standing by the door and thought that that was the best decision she had made all day.

"That took you awhile" Brooke stated too calmly for Peyton's liking.

"I got a ticket" Peyton said as she watched Brooke throw shoes on top of clothes and cringed inside at the way she was packing.

When Brooke stayed silent Peyton moved further into the room.

"Brooke it's not what you think" Peyton said as Brooke yanked dresses off of hangers.

"I think I saw Lucas kiss you Peyton" Brooke said, never stopping what she was doing.

"He was drunk and it didn't mean anything" Peyton said as she eyed Brooke's luggage.

"It seems like every fucking time I turn around he's got his tongue down your throat" Brooke said, her movements become more rigid as her agitation kicked up.

"Don't say every time, it was twice" the blonde said, her own agitation showing.

"That's two times too fucking many Peyton" Brooke threw the shirt she had in her hands at the bed, when she saw Peyton swallow her comment she decided now was as good a time as any to clear her chest.

"I'm so sick of him flying over this relationship like a fucking vulture" Brooke said walking into the bathroom and pulling stuff out of the cabinets.

"What are you doing? Why are you packing?" Peyton went into the bathroom and closed the cabinet Brooke had opened.

"I'm going to New York" Brooke said as she opened the cabinet again and got her toothbrush.

"For what?" Peyton asked in the slightly higher pitched voice Brooke knew she used when she was about to start crying.

"Fashion Week" Brooke said, grabbing some bottles out of the opened medicine cabinet.

"That's not until next week and we were going together" Peyton tilted her head so that Brooke would have to make eye contact with her.

"Well now I'm leaving now and going by myself" Brooke said as she walked out of the bathroom.

"So you're going to go to New York with Victoria" it wasn't a question Peyton was asking.

"And you can stay here and keep fucking Lucas, at least I know what I'm getting with Victoria" Brooke tossed her toiletries bag in one of her suitcases.

"I've never fucked Lucas Brooke" green eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

"Right, prove it" Brooke muttered as she moved across the room.

"Brooke what can I do? What do you want from me?" Peyton pleaded as she turned with Brooke's movements.

"I want you Peyton, I want your loyalty and your fucking commitment" Brooke yelled as she turned around to face her girlfriend.

"You have all of that. I've giving you everything Brooke! You have my mind; I can barely function when you're not around. You have my body or did you forget it was you who took my virginity when we were 16. You have my heart or it wouldn't feel like I was dying with everything you pack right now. You have me Brooke, all of me, I've never been with anyone else and I don't want to be." Peyton yelled right back as her tears fell.

"It doesn't feel that way; it feels like I have to share you. Why does it feel that way?" Brooke asked the blonde as she leaned against the dresser.

"I don't know" was all Peyton could say as she moved a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Where's your ring at?" Brooke asked as she noticed her hand.

"In the dresser" Peyton answered back, not knowing where Brooke was going with this, when she saw her roll her eyes after her answer she got defensive again, "What?"

"Nothing, you were just really quick to take it off" Brooke looked the blonde in the eyes.

"You said you didn't want anyone to know yet, that we should wait a couple months" Peyton looked around the room feeling like she may have entered the Twilight Zone.

"And what a smart decision that turned out to be" Brooke said as her loose tongue got the better of her once again.

"Fuck you" Peyton said as she walked out of their room and into the guest bedroom slamming the door.

"I've been trying to get you to for like 2 months but you won't" Brooke yelled over the door slamming.

As Peyton lay in bed she could still hear Brooke moving around in their room, she thought that the hotheaded designer would calm down and want to talk, but after 2 hours went by Peyton knew there would be no talking this out anytime soon. The front door opening and closing, the car in the driveway starting and then pulling off only cemented that theory. But what made Peyton cry herself to sleep in the early hours of the morning is when she came out of the guest bedroom and went into her own to get ready for bed. There wasn't even a note on the bathroom mirror that just said 'Bye', she knew that Brooke was pissed and hurt, but she never thought they wouldn't be able to fix it until she walked into their bathroom.

Wow, I bet you didn't see that coming. All the fluff I gave before was just padding for the fall, suckers.