Chapter Twenty Six: Moving On
"Brooke?" Haley called. She let herself into Brooke's messy hotel room with shock. Brooke Davis was not the type of girl to be living in this sort of environment. Haley kicked her way through the clothes on the floor and coughed from the bad smell in the room. She could tell that it had always been there, and she could tell that Brooke had tried to get rid of the smell because she could harshly smell Brooke's perfume through the odor.
"Dammit!" She heard Brooke yell from the bathroom.
"Brooke?" Haley called out. She walked in through the lonely but crowded room and stood in the open bathroom doorway. "What are you doing?" She asked. Brooke was sitting down on the sink looking completely defeated.
"The plug in doesn't work in here!" Brooke whined. She held up her straightener to justify. "I didn't hear you come in… wait… how'd you get in?" She asked her. She didn't ask her this in a rude way; she really wanted to know how Haley got in.
"Well…" Haley smirked. "There's this thing… called a door… comes in handy."
Brooke stood up and sighed then looked out at the front door. "I locked it!"
"Sweety… you're lock doesn't work, your plug ins don't work…. This place is crap!" Haley smiled. She walked over and hugged Brooke.
"I'm not going back to him. I can't let him win!" Brooke tried to explain her reason for staying there.
"I don't expect you to." Haley smiled understandably. "So I've come to help you." Brooke followed Haley out of the bathroom and next to her bed.
"How can you possibly help me? Lucas and I had our time, and now it's over. I'll be okay, once I find a job and get on my feet, then I'll get my son and things will be fine." Brooke tried to be positive.
"Well.. if you need just a little help to get on your feet… I happen to have a spare bedroom!" Haley grinned. "We… redecorated, Natalie's." She nodded, proud of herself of being able to speak openly about the topic.
"Oh…" Brooke wanted to be excited about this, but she couldn't help but feel bad about taking over Natalie's room. "Are you sure?" She asked hesitantly.
"Yes…" Haley nodded. "I bought pink pillow cases today, and curtains, it's all ready for you." She smiled.
Brooke bubbled over and hugged Haley. "I really wasn't warming up to this place." Just as Haley went to sit on Brooke's bed and watch her pack, the end of the bed gave way and the bed, Haley included, came plummeting to the floor. Both girls burst out in laughter at the sight of Haley on the floor, dingy bed clothes on across her shoulders.
"Are you sure this okay?" Brooke asked again as she dropped her suitcases on the bedroom floor. Nathan stood in the door way as Haley stayed downstairs working on dinner.
"Of course!" Nathan laughed, "Brooke, you should have known you were welcome here!" He smiled.
"I know, but, this room?" She sighed.
"It's okay, we're fine." Nathan smiled. He took a deep breath and it still hurt a little, but no doubt, he was recovering.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you guys." Brooke said for the first time.
"It was a hard time for all of us, you did what you needed to do. It's fine." Nathan assured her.
"No, it isn't fine, Nathan. Regardless of what I was going through, Lucas and I made you guys go through it alone. It's wasn't fair… I'm so sorry." Brooke pleaded him.
Nathan nodded. "What's done is done. And you're here now. So… it's okay." Nathan smiled. "We're all still recovering so… it'd be nice to get through it all together."
"Yeah…I guess we are huh?" Brooke smiled. She sat back on the bed, relieved that it didn't fall beneath her.
"Next step… get you and Luke back together." Nathan smirked.
"Nathan! No!" Brooke gasped. "Don't even think of it, it's not going to happen!"
"We'll see…" Nathan smiled. Then he disappeared down the stairs to help his wife with dinner.
"Hey!" Haley smiled as Nathan walked in to help her make dinner.
"Hey…" He smiled back. He leaned in and kissed her quickly and then checked what she was cooking. "What's this?" He asked. He picked up a white envelope that was addressed to them. Haley just shrugged and kept cooking.
"What is it? It came with the mail today but I didn't get a chance to open it." Haley stated.
"It's a letter…. Wow… from Peyton." Nathan said in surprise.
"Peyton?" Haley repeated. She turned off the stove and walked over to see the letter. Nathan was reading the letter, and his face was turning from surprise to anger.
"It was her…" He simply whispered. "She didn't want to tell us face to face, because of how Lucas took it."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Haley sighed. Nathan was so much taller than her that she couldn't see the papers in his hands. He leaned over on the counter and she could see the words on the letter. "Our divorce? She made that up?" Haley gasped.
"And she wrote us a letter to tell us?" Nathan began to shout angrily.
"Oh well..." Haley shrugged. She went over to the cupboard and pulled something else out.
"Oh well? Haley! She almost tore us apart!" Nathan argued.
"But she didn't! And it's over now. She didn't break us up because it just isn't possible. Can we place not bring it up ever again!" Haley shouted back. "I'm tired of looking back on all of those mistakes. Can we just please focus in the future? Please?" Haley lowered her voice and pleaded with him.
Nathan thought about this for a minute, "Her and Jake have left town to start over…" He read off the letter.
"Good for them… I think we all need to just take a deep breath and start all over." Haley smiled. She stirred the sauce in her pan and then licked a little off her finger.
Nathan nodded then balled up the paper, throwing it in the trash. "Well, if we're going to do it, we need to help Brooke and Lucas do the same." He smirked. She laughed and nodded, then he walked over and continued helping her.
Sorry again that it's so short...
Michelley P.