In the next few weeks, things were pretty smooth. The girls began to get along, which caused practices to run smoother, and allowed Kristine and Justin to spend more time together, and they began to get closer as siblings. Audrey actively tried to be nicer to Kristine, even though it made her irritated every time she saw Kristine and Sean together. She knew it wasn't helping her to keep on being mean to Kristine. She had to let go of her anger, and she knew Logan wanted her to be nicer to the other girl. She would do it for Logan. She wanted to be the person her best friend knew she could be.
One Friday night found Audrey, Justin, Logan, Kristine and Sean at the local pizza parlor, sharing a table and talking. Well, mostly Justin and Logan and Sean were keeping up the conversation, talking mostly about sports. The girls were sitting there awkwardly, picking at their pieces of pizza and trying to figure out why they had agreed to this. It had been Audrey's idea, to try to get rid of some of the animosity between the girls, but she was deciding that she just couldn't do it. "I, um, I think I'm gonna head home. It's been," she trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence, but no one needed her to, so the awkward silence lingered.
Getting up, Audrey looked at Logan, who stood as well, and Justin, who stayed seated. It was the night of the week she usually hung out with Justin, but it looked like he would be staying with his sister. Audrey had a night she spent with Peyton, a night she spent with Lucas, a night for the family dinner, and even a night with each Logan and Justin separately. The other two nights she usually spent with one or both of them, whichever one wasn't busy. Tonight was one of those nights, which was why she had suggested the group bonding, which had utterly failed.
For some reason, Audrey thought this might work better another time, or at least that it was worth giving another try. "We should do this again sometime," she said, looking at Kristine with a smile before leaning over to give her boyfriend a kiss. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said to him before she left with Logan, not even bothering to look at Sean. Yes she had forgiven Kristine, and she had even forgiven Sean, but it didn't mean she was really ready to be friends with him. She wasn't sure she'd ever be ready for that. But she would put up with him because he was dating the girl she was now befriending.
When they got to her apartment, Audrey took off her jacket and shoes and lounged on the couch, gesturing for Logan to sit down at the opposite end from her. She put her feet in his lap when he did, and he absentmindly began rubbing them while he kicked off his own shoes. This was normal for them. She turned on Netflix, picked a scary movie, and then laid back, just enjoying her best friends company. She wasn't aware of drifting off, but she jolted awake when she heard the front door open and shut. Logan was still asleep, his hands wrapped around her feet.
Looking like he had been expecting to see this, Justin nodded his resolve, then sent Audrey a look that said he needed to talk to her alone. She nodded and gently nudged Logan with her feet until she woke him up. "Hey, Justin and I need a moment alone. And, if I remember correctly, your parents are home anyway. So you should get home before they notice you're not there," she said, as a way of excusing him. He understood and nodded, getting up, sliding his feet into his shoes, and taking his exit.
Letting out a big sigh, Justin sat on the couch next to Audrey, but not close enough that they could touch. She could tell something big was up, and so she sat up straighter, pulling her knees to her chest, since he seemed to want room. She was about to break the silence, her impatientness getting the better of her, but he did before she could. "Look, I like you a lot. You know I do, but they always say if you love something, let it go," he trailed off, not needing to finish the saying. She could sense where this was going.
Instead of saying anything to rebute him, however, she just let him speak. "I don't think we should see each other anymore. At least not for a while. I want you to see what you have between you and Logan. I know you're scared of what you can have,and that's why you hide behind me. I'm not saying you don't like me. In fact, I'm really hoping you like me as much as I like you. But I do think there's all kinds of sexual tension between you and Logan that everyone can see, even if you try to deny it, and I think you need to explore it, or it won't be fair to either of us, because we'll both be wondering what could have happened between you and him," he finished.
Sitting in silence for a minute, Audrey just stared at her hands. Part of her knew he was right, and she knew he was also right about her being scared. She didn't know if she would but she decided she would definitely think about exploring her feelings for Logan. "I'll think about it," she finally broke the silence. "I don't mean anything is going to happen for sure. But I want to know this. If I think about it and decide nothing is going to happen, will you agree to date me again? I do really like you Justin, that is one thing I do know," she looked up at him almost timidly.
This wasn't exactly the response he had wanted. Justin had almost wished that she wouldn't need to think about it, but he knew that this was the right thing. Even if it hurt. He nodded, leaned over to give her a simple kiss on the forehead, and then left the apartment, leaving Audrey to consider things. She spent a lot of time thinking that night before she finally went to bed, about herself and Justin, herself and Logan, and mainly just Logan, and what his response would be if or when she told him this.
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The next day at Tric, Peyton was doing some work at the bar when Haley came into the bar, spotting the blonde and making her way over. She set her purse down and looked at the woman she had become very close friends with. She didn't have time to say anything before Karen came over, however, but neither of them minded, because the there wasn't anything they would tell one of them without telling the other. "So how have dinners been going for the Sawyers?" Haley asked when Karen was close enough to hear.
Smiling, Peyton shrugged, but neither of the other women would let her get away with just a shrug. They both sent her a look until she caved. "Alright, they're going well. It's nice getting close to my daughter again. She even cooked me dinner at her apartment the other night. It was only macaroni and cheese, but still, I feel like my baby is becoming an adult. It's scary and exhilirating at the same time. I know that I did a good job with her, but I'm also scared to lose her like I lost," she trailed off before she could finish that sentence, swallowing harshly, as if the name tore her throat going back down.
Both of the other women knew who she meant, though. It was quite obvious. Peyton was still very much in love with Lucas, and the time apart hadn't changed that in the slightest. Unfortunately, Lucas still avoided talking directly to her at the weekly family dinners, and despite pressing from both Karen and Haley, he wouldn't break and tell them why. He had actually left for a road trip the previous week, and they weren't sure when he was coming home, because he hadn't said. All he had said was that he needed to clear his head.
Thinking about his daily phone calls, Karen couldn't help but think about all Lucas didn't say to her. She knew he still loved Peyton as well. He said it in his silence. She knew her son very well. She knew that he wanted to be with the blonde, but he wasn't letting himself, and that was why he left, even if he'd never say that. She came back to the present and set her hand on Peyton's, giving it a squeeze. "I know you miss him, but he'll be back, and then maybe he'll finally be able to talk to you about what went wrong and you guys can work through it," she paused, going on before Peyton could tell her she wanted to change the subject. "Back to Audrey, she loves you, Peyton, and she'll always need her mother," she reassured her.
Nodding, Haley decided to chime in. "Yeah, I'm positive she does. I think even Kristine misses her mother. A mother is just something teenaged girls need. Even when they become women. I know Kristine will never admit it, but she misses Brooke, and I wish I could tell her that it's okay to make amends with the woman, but I don't know if she'd listen to me yet, or accept my advice. I'm still not sure how she views me yet," she was kind of taking over with her own problems, but Peyton needed that. She needed to think of something other than Audrey and Lucas.
Walking away from the bar, Kristine tried to process what she had just heard. She had been going to see Peyton and ask if she could take off a few minutes early when she had overheard the three women's conversation. She wasn't sure Haley was wrong. She had noticed that she had talked about Brooke an awful lot lately, and that could mean she was missing her mother. The question was, what was she going to do about it? She didn't know. She'd need to think long and hard about it. She'd also have to find some way to talk to Haley about it, since she really did see the woman as a second mother figure. She wanted Haley to know that.
When she made her way back to the office area, she found Justin waiting for her. She had forgotten he was there in the midst of the information she had heard. She sank into a chair and stayed silent until he asked her what was wrong. "I just overheard a conversation between Haley, Peyton and Karen. It just made me realize some things. Things I'm not entirely sure I want to deal with," she paused, and he silently looked at her, asking what she was talking about. "I think I miss Mom," she added, noting the look of shock on his face. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about? No one's really going to overhear us here anyway," she asked, trying to change the subject.
Realizing what she was doing, Justin decided to let the subject change. "I broke up with Audrey," he said, and she gasped. She knew he really liked Audrey. He went on before she could say anything. "I think she needs to explore whatever feelings she might have for Logan. I told her that if she came back to me, I'd take her back, but part of me wonders if she's hiding from her feelings from Logan by being with me. It's not fair to either of us for both of us to be haunted by the idea of what could be with her and Logan, so I told her we needed to take a break," he informed his sister.
It wasn't much later that Kristine was off work. She and Justin both got into the car she had bought recently, well, with her fathers help. Nathan and Haley had agreed that if she could save up a thousand of it, they would pay the rest, if she kept up her grades and her performance at work. She had lived up to her end of the bargain, and so they held up to theirs. It was only fair, since they had helped James get his first car the same way. She was driving and talking to Logan when she stopped at a stop sign. She paused and went on the way she was supposed to, but because she had chosen that moment to glance at her brother, she didn't notice the person to her left going out of turn until they hit her.