Author's note: I've been writing faster for this story than I ever have, so I decided to post another chapter tonight. You guys have been so amazing anyway, I didn't want to make you wait longer. Oh, and I answered all your reviews at the end of the chapter because y'all are just so awesome;-D
I really wanted to pick up on everything that happened in the season finale, because I want this fic to be as realistic as possible… which means that Dan did have an accident. I hope you'll like what I decided to do with his character.
Enjoy!!
Chapter 3: The (After) Life of the Party
I'm a stitch away from making it,
And a scar away from falling apart, apart.
Blood cells pixelate and eyes dilate.
And the moon peels,
Got me out on the street at night
Could it last? Watch you work the room.
Brooke was finishing putting the final touches to the banner when she heard voices coming from the stairs. She took a step back and admired her work. She'd done good.
"Hey guys!" she exclaimed as Nathan, Haley and Jamie stepped on the rooftop. Jamie ran up to her and she swept him off his feet, tickling him in the process.
"Hey Champion," she greeted him, putting him back down on the ground. "Do you like it?"
"I love it!!" he answered before running off to inspect everything in detail.
Haley laughed at his son. "Hey Brooke! You really did an amazing job. They're going to love it."
"Thank you, Tutor Mom. You and Nathan did pretty good with Jamie, too. He was a pro at shopping, I was really proud."
They all laughed. "Actually, I think he got that from you," Nathan said, and Brooke smiled proudly at his words.
"You hanging in there without Angie?" Haley asked.
Brooke shrugged. She'd told them Angie was gone when she'd picked Jamie earlier in the morning. She had tried her best not to show how much it affected her, but she wasn't sure how much of her convincing had actually worked, given how concerned Haley looked. "I'll be alright. It's just going to take some time."
Haley smiled. "Well you know we're –"
"Here for me, I know," Brooke said. "I promise I'll be fine."
"Momma, can I play with the water balloons?" said Jamie from across the rooftop.
"Alright, I'll be back," said Haley before walking towards Jamie, leaving Brooke and Nathan standing together.
"CongratuLeyton?" Nathan read, looking at the banner. "You got one imagination, Brooke."
"I know", she answered proudly. "Isn't it awesome?" She tried to sound as excited as she could, but as she had been drawing the letters on the banner, her arms had seemed to weigh a ton, just like her heart.
"You don't have to pretend, you know."
She looked up immediately. "Pretend about what?"
"I can see it's not as easy for you as you let everyone think. And it's okay," Nathan finished.
She was going to protest but Nathan cut her off. "And you wanna know what I think? I think you're amazing for doing all this. You'll get it all too, one day."
She sighed, letting her heartache take over for a short moment. "I sure hope so."
Before Nathan could say anything else, Skills, Mouth, Millicent, Fergie and Junk walked in and the moment was gone. In a way, Brooke, felt relieved. It was too hard to let those feelings out anyway.
"Damn, girl," Skills said. "That's one HUGE banner!"
"You like it?" Brooke asked him as she walked towards them.
"You kiddin'? P. Sawyer is gonna flip – it's amazin'!"
She hugged Millicent and Mouth and greeted Fergie and Junk before gesturing them to the food and drink tables.
She watched everyone as they said hello and started talking to each other. There was palpable excitement in the air and she tried to feel it too, with no luck. She needed a drink, and fast.
She drank down a shot and felt the rum slowly warming her up from the inside.
"You still okay, Brooke?" Nathan asked.
She knew what he was talking about, but she sure as hell wasn't about to acknowledge it. Not tonight. She needed to keep it together. "I'm marvelous, actually. Thanks for asking."
He saw the hardened look in her eyes and decided to drop the subject. "Listen, Brooke, there's something I need to tell you."
Only then did she notice how tired Nathan actually looked. She'd been too thrown off balance by his earlier comment to notice, but it was obvious now. There was something in eyes – a sadness laced with denial she knew all too well herself.
"Sure. Is everything okay in Naleyland?"
Nathan couldn't help but laugh at her words, in spite of the seriousness of what he was about to say. "Yeah. Listen… we haven't told Luke yet because we figured today wasn't the right time, and we were going to tell Jamie, but he got so excited about the party we didn't have the heart to ruin it…"
She stared him, intrigued. "What's going on, Nathan?"
"We got a call from the hospital this morning, after you left with Jamie." He clenched his jaw, and the words finally rolled off his tongue. "Dan died this morning."
Brooke opened her mouth and then closed it again. It was the last thing she had expected to hear. "How?" was the only thing she could muster.
"A car accident."
She had a hard time believing it. And then she remembered what it meant, both for Lucas and Nathan – not to mention Jamie. "How are you handling it?"
"I don't really know," he answered truthfully.
She nodded but didn't to press the issue. She knew what it felt like.
"Anyway, we're going to tell Lucas and Jamie tomorrow, but Haley and I wanted you to know now. He's going to need you."
"Yeah, of course. Just call me whenever you need me to spend time with Jamie."
"I meant Lucas, too."
--
"You think Brooke is throwing us a party?" Peyton asked Lucas. He had just parked his car in front of her house.
"It wouldn't surprise me, knowing her," he said, smiling.
"Do you think we should call her and tell her? I mean, she didn't give me a chance to tell her we didn't actually get married when she called, and…"
"And we are going to get married. And correct me if I'm wrong, but that's worth celebrating."
Peyton's smile widened."Yes it is."
"Besides," Lucas trailed, his hand playing with Peyton's hair, "I think everyone will be happy to know we didn't actually elope because they'll get to be at the wedding."
"At our wedding," Peyton corrected him. It almost seemed too good to be true. But Lucas really was here, touching her.
He kissed her. "Alright, go and get ready. I'll be back in half an hour."
"Okay." She kissed him again before getting out of the car.
Lucas watched her close the door behind her before pulling his car out and back on the road. There was something he needed to get before tonight.
--
Brooke leaned over the rooftop when she heard a car passing by in the street. She saw Lucas parking his red mustang and immediately motioned for everybody to get down. She turned off the light and proceeded to wait with everybody else.
Her heart started pounding in chest because she could picture the scene from here and she wished she hadn't had the stupid idea in the first place.
They would walk in the store hand in hand and find the lights turned on. At first, they would be too busy kissing to notice the rose petals on the floor. They would pull back for air, and as Lucas would put a strand of hair behind Peyton's ear, he would finally see the path created by the thousands of white petals scattered on the floor. Curious, he would grab Peyton's hand again and together they would walk up the stairs.
Soon enough footsteps could be heard, and the moment Lucas and Peyton stepped on the rooftop, Brooke turned the lights on and everyone jumped out of their hiding spots.
"Congratulations!!"
Lucas found himself at loss for words when the lights turned on. It wasn't just that everybody was there, because he had kind of known what was coming. But what Brooke had done was… incredible. There was no other word.
He took it all in during the few seconds it took for everyone to rush towards them. The banner jumped at him and he couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of it. CongratuLeyton. It was so Brooke. But what was really amazing, past the huge banner and the fact she had managed to gather all their friends on such short notice, was the clear attention to detail and care she had put into this. There were hundred of small white lights everywhere, and the tables filled with drinks and all the kinds of foods known to mankind were covered in white petals. She had even lined up a dozen of white balloons filled with water on the edge of the roof. Together, they spelled "Lucas + Peyton".
He shifted his gaze from the water balloons and looked at Brooke, but all he saw was her face before he was engulfed in a hug by Nathan. She looked satisfied and proud, but he couldn't help but think that she didn't look as happy as he had expected.
Peyton took the few steps separating her from Brooke and the first thing she did was to take her in her arms. "Thank you so much," she whispered.
Brooke hugged her back. Maybe this wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
"You're the best," Peyton cried out as she pulled back.
"Hey now, don't go ruining all that pretty make-up you put on, P. Sawyer."
Brooke reached out and wiped away the mascara from her best friend's cheek. "Are you happy?" she asked her.
"Are you kidding? Brooke, this is… I don't even have words. I can't believe you did all this."
"Anything for the ones you love, right?"
Peyton smiled back. She was so lucky to have Brooke as her friend, and not just because of tonight. She was so true, fierce and dedicated to her friends.
She tried to erase the still-dripping make-up from her face, and Brooke froze.
"Hang on… where is your ring?"
"That's what we wanted to tell you, but we didn't get a chance…"
"Don't tell me Lucas bought you a smelly old version of some NOFYI disk as a wedding ring because I will kick his butt –"
"It's NOFX, Brooke," Peyton said, laughing.
"Whatever. I'm serious, Peyton. What happened?"
Peyton opened her mouth, about to tell Brooke everything, when Lucas cut her off. "I'll explain," he said.
By now everybody seemed to be as clueless as Brooke. They were all staring in their direction – Brooke, Peyton and Lucas – and suddenly she felt the need to step back. And as she did, she realized that her instinct had been right, because Lucas had just kneeled down in front of Peyton.
"We didn't get married in Vegas," he began. "The timing didn't feel right and we decided to wait." He took a deep breath. He wanted to take a chance on Peyton and him, and he wanted to do it the right way. What they couldn't have before, they would have it now. "But I do want to marry you, Peyton. I want us to be together forever – I still do."
Brooke heard everybody awing and looked around for some kind of support to lean on. It had been hard enough seeing him reenacting the proposal four years ago – now she had to witness it live.
"Peyton Sawyer," he said as he pulled out a box from his jacket and opened it to reveal a ring, "Will you marry me?"
The room was silent for a few seconds before Peyton softly whispered, "Yes". Lucas slid the ring on her finger and then they were kissing and everybody was clapping.
Brooke briefly closed her eyes. She was going to need more than one shot this time.
--
Please don't kill me! I promise everything will be alright in the end. I just thought that Lucas proposing was the most logical thing for him to do next. He did ask Peyton to marry him at the airport, and then they agreed to get married later, only not in Vegas. But like I said… Brucas is endgame 3
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The song I used for the title of this chapter is sung by Fall Out Boy.
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jeytonbrucasnaley: thank you so much! I love writing Jamie, especially with Brooke… They're so much fun together.
othfan326: thanks for your review, and please don't apologize for the short review, taking the time to leave one is so great anyway :-)
hoeoverbros: as weird as it may sound, I'm glad they didn't get married either haha. As I said before, no matter what, I won't have them get married, just because I can't stand the idea. Thanks for your review!!
Writer Writes Words: Perfect is definitely a strong word, so thanks… A LOT. I know the chapters are pretty short but I'll try to update every two days to make it up to you guys. And some of them will be longer. And don't worry… Peyton will swing the white flag, eventually. How could she not?
evergloweyes: Omg yes, I would love to have Rachel back in S6. Although I don't think I'll have her back in this fic because I want to focus on Brooke/peyton and make their friendship better… But I do miss her a lot!! I'm glad you loved the chapter including the Naley scene – I really want to do justice to their relationship. Thanks for the long review… I loved it!!
sariannaluvsjake2: There will definitely be some Jeyton, but not before quite a while, unfortunately. Peyton's got a long way to go... But she'll get there, eventually :-) Thanks for the review!
yaba: Brooke is such a fantastic person. She's so selfless, I find it pretty amazing. I'm glad you picked up on the Leyton hints… they're doomed in my mind (and heart). Thanks for the lovely review!
Team Davis-Scott: (love your nickname !!) Thanks a lot! I'm happy to know you're hooked – I can't seem to let go of this story either ;-D
Orange GooGoo: I promise there's more Jamie/Brooke scenes coming, I cannot get enough of them. Thanks for reading & reviewing!!
Brooke D.: S2 Peyton is what I'm trying to get at, so she should be back soon. I miss her!! And yes, Nathan is on Team Brooke… along with a few others (I'm converting everyone haha). Thanks for the review!!
BloomingMissy: I'm happy to know I'm making you change your habits a bit… it's an honor. Thanks for reading and reviewing, I'm glad you're enjoying the story because it's a blast writing it!
Mosie1213: things are going to get worse for Brooke before they get better, but I promise she'll be happy soon. Because I love me some happy Brooke. And thanks for your review!!
BLNHJPisTLA: Wow, tears… thank you. It wasn't easy writing the Leyton scene but I am so glad to hear you "liked" it that much. I promise it's all leading up to something. And I'm happy to share the Brucas hope – I believe in them so much it's not even funny. I have faith 3 Thank you so much for your lovely review.