Chapter Nineteen: What criminal do you know that spring cleans?
"Would you like anything else with that sir?" The shop assistant asked politely
"No thank you" Mouth said handing over the cash
I like big butts and I cannot lie you other brothers can't deny
"Sorry excuse me for one second" Mouth said to the shop assistant as he reached into his pockets to pick up his cell.
"Hello?" he answered
"Well hello, mighty Mouth!" Brooke beamed on the other line.
"Hey Brooke, what's up?"
"Oh nothing much accept I've done like 2 hours of revision, I'm really buzzed about it and I thought I could totally come pick you up and we could go and see a movie or something… you know reward me for all my hard work"
"I'd love to Brooke but I…"
"Don't say no Mouth, I'm on a serious high right now so we have to do something fun" Brooke put her hand over her cell phone "I'll take two of those, thanks" she said to the sales assistant before returning to speak to Mouth "Otherwise I am coming down to your house right now…" Brooke began
"No, don't" Mouth said quickly
"Geese Mouth, I was only kidding" she said before placing her hand on her cell once again "Do you have that bra in black?" She asked the sales assistant.
"No sorry we don't" The sales assistant replied
"Okay, I'll take the red one, thanks" She said handing her credit card over
"Are you still there Brooke?" Mouth asked
"You bet your ass I am, so when am I picking you up?" Brooke spoke into her cell.
"Some of us want to get out of here today!" A guy at the back of the queue shouted at Mouth.
"Sorry" Mouth said gesturing over to the guy at the back.
"That's three cans of red paint sir…" The shop assistant said as he placed them in a bag for Mouth.
"You're buying paint?" Brooke asked "Are you doing some home improvements?…Ooo, I can come round and help… we could be like Extreme Makeover House Addition"
"Brooke I…"
"Move that bus!" Brooke laughed
"Maybe another time Brooke, I really gotta go" Mouth struggled to say.
"But Mouth…"
"Sorry"
"Okay b…" Before Brooke could finish saying goodbye, Mouth had put the phone down.
"Well bye to you too" Brooke said sarcastically "What am I going to do now?" Brooke asked the sales assistant who looked at her shrugging her shoulders. "My friend Mouth, the guy I was talking to on the phone… he's got some things going on at the moment and I…" Brooke stopped mid-sentence as she looked out the shop window and saw Mouth walk past "Oh my God, that's him" Brooke said more to herself than the sales assistant.
"Here you go, ma'am" the sales assistant said handing Brooke the bras she had just purchased.
"Thank you" Brooke said "Do you think I should talk to him, or maybe I should follow him?" Brooke asked, looking over the sales assistant who was now staring back at her oddly.
"I don't mean follow him, follow him like a stalker kind of thing I mean it more as a friend, whose really nosy and kind of bored…" Brooke began ranting, as the sales assistant just shrugged her shoulders.
"And I'm talking to a complete stranger" Brooke muttered under her breath to herself "Thanks, bye" Brooke said hurrying out the store and into her car. She caught site of Mouth's bicycle heading down the road and despite her better judgement decided to follow him.
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Twenty minutes later Brooke was still following Mouth; only he wasn't heading home.
Where is he going? Brooke thought to herself. Brooke had continued following Mouth all the way from the mall. She had of course maintained a two car distance and after a long and painfully slow drive on Brooke's behalf seeing as Mouth was riding a bicycle, they arrived on…
Dan Scott's road? This is Dan's road, what on earth is Mouth doing here?
Brooke pulled over as she saw Mouth push the breaks on his bike. Brooke decided to reach for her shades as she watched Mouth get off his bike and wheel it towards the back of Dan's car.
Maybe he's trying to catch the guy who did the writing on the wall?
Brooke thought to herself as she leaned forward trying to get a better view. She watched as Mouth peeped through Dan's back window…
Maybe he knows the guy who does this?
Mouth lifted the back window and his rucksack… Brooke recognised that rucksack, suddenly she started to remember…
She reached over to grab Mouth's rucksack to sit on. It was open… What the..? She thought to herself as she pulled out a black shirt with red paint on it. What on earth had Mouth been up to this evening?
She remembered the shirt he was wearing…
"Here" Brooke said, throwing the shirt at Mouth. "You don't' have to worry, your secret's safe."
Mouth looked down at the shirt.
This was the stuff Mouth was talking about…
"And I've done some stuff" Mouth said avoiding eye contact
"What stuff Mouth?"
"Just some stuff" Mouth answered quickly
The reason why Mouth was so jumpy…
"My God Brooke" Mouth said catching his breath
"Mouth… why are you so jumpy?"
The reason why Mouth was so touchy…
"We're on our way over to Dan's. Why?"
"I'll meet you guys there" Mouth said
"We can just pick you up?" Brooke suggested
"No!" Mouth said sharply
The reason why Mouth was so persistent yesterday…
"Brooke, stop!" Mouth shouted. Brooke stopped, turning to face him. "We can't tell anyone" Mouth continued… "It's for the best, until we think of something"
The reason why he blew of Brooke's theory…
"There was someone else in the house today Mouth"
Mouth laughed nervously "I think you're getting a little carried away here"
The reason why they couldn't pick Mouth up yesterday…
"Sorry, its just I'm already in the area, my mum wanted me to pick some things up for her" Mouth continued nervously
The reason why he was already in the area yesterday…
"Mouth, you said you were doing something, what was it?"
"Brooke, that's not important right now" Mouth snapped back
Mouth was the one…
"Do you think that's the first time, that person's done that?" Mouth asked.
Mouth was breaking into Dan's house all these times…
"Which means Dan must comes home every, what, three times a week and see that and paint over it." Mouth continued.
All this time it was Mouth…
"I've done some stuff" Mouth said avoiding eye contact
"What stuff Mouth?"
"Just some stuff" Mouth answered
It was Mouth!!
It all started to make sense now, everything. Why he was jumpy, why he was always busy and snappy over the phone. The 'stuff' Mouth kept talking about, the 'stuff' he couldn't tell anyone… this was the stuff, this was it! Mouth was the one who painted those words on the wall, Mouth was the one who left the window open, and Mouth was the one who was here the other day.
Brooke's heart began to race. What have you done Mouth… what have you done! Brooke thought back to that day in the car with Dan. How he had grabbed her wrist, how violent he had gotten when Brooke made empty accusations. The rage in his eyes as she told him he was to blame, Brooke hadn't done anything to him and yet he looked at her with such hate, such anger…What on earth would he do to Mouth when he found out?
"Oh my God, Mouth" Brooke whispered as she quickly grabbed her things and scrambled out the car and across the road. She didn't have to time to think about how it looked or who could have seen her going into Dan's house… all she could think about was Mouth and getting him out of there. She walked quickly round the back of Dan's house, looking around to see if any of his neighbours where watching.
She had to get Mouth out of there; she had to stop him from making a huge mistake.
Brooke walked up to the open window; it was a lot higher than she'd thought it was. Reaching her arms up above the hedges she lift herself high enough to scramble up onto the hedge, boosting herself over through the window. "Eww" she said wiping her skirt, realising that she wasn't exactly in the best clothes for breaking and entering. She peered into the living room but saw no sign of Mouth, instead she heard the kettle coming from the kitchen.
For second Brooke wondered whether it could be Dan but continued on, through into the kitchen. "Mouth" she whispered "Hello, Mouth?"
Mouth jumped, turning around and dropping his coffee to the floor. "Oh my God, Brooke?" he fumbled reaching for a tea-towel as he frantically tried to mop up the coffee he'd split. He was breathing so hard, she could hear it clearly through the silence in the house.
Brooke just watched him. The person who stood in front of her didn't look anything like her friend Mouth. He looked tired, scared and guilty; he looked so guilty. She couldn't hide the disappointment in her eyes. This wasn't the Mouth she knew and loved, and in that moment for the first time Brooke hated him for dragging her into all of this, she hated him for forcing her to keep it a secret and she hated him for what he had become. As she had walked up to the house she had thought of so many things to say, so many questions, accusations but now she was here all she wanted to do was leave and pretend she never saw him, pretend she never knew about him or anything. Brooke gave Mouth one last look and turned on her heels.
Mouth's head shot up "Brooke wait" Mouth whispered following after her.
Brooke continued to walk, through into the living room
"Please Brooke" Mouth continued "Don't go"
Brooke didn't even turn around
"Brooke, if you ever were my friend, you'd stay and help me out or at least hear me out" Mouth said.
Brooke stopped. She didn't know why, but she did. She didn't want to, but she did. Everything inside her told her to climb back out that window and not look back but she couldn't "If you ever where my friend..." Mouth's words echoed in her head. How could he say that to her after everything she had done for him? After keeping his secret for so long; how could he question her? Brooke took a deep breath and turned around to face Mouth.
"Please Brooke" He sounded so tired, as if he was ready to give up.
There was desperation in his face which she hadn't seen earlier, a slight sadness. Brooke titled her head back praying she wouldn't regret this "I'll stay and help you out but I'm not hearing anything you have to say… I've heard enough of your lies" Brooke said walking over to him. "What do you need me to do?"
Mouth smiled gratefully "I could use a hand with the paint…"
"Oh no" Brooke said "I'm not touching that, just because I offered to help does mean I agree with what you're doing… I'll go clean up the coffee you dropped" Brooke said putting her bags down and walking through into the kitchen again.
Mouth nodded to himself as he watched her disappear into the kitchen before laying down some sheets to begin painting.
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"Lucas, could you get the door please" Karen called from the kitchen
"Sure mom," Lucas said getting up from his laptop. He glanced down at his watch, Brooke's early? He thought to himself as he walked over to answer the door.
Lucas opened the door to see Peyton standing there "Hey, Peyton… is everything alright?"
"Yeah" she said letting herself in "Does there need to be something wrong for me to come and visit my boyfriend?"
"No of course not" Lucas said following her into his bedroom.
"So, what were you doing?" Peyton asked as she went over to sit on Lucas's bed.
"Just making a mix" Lucas said returning to his laptop.
"Oh really?" Peyton said walking over to peer at the mix "Is it for anyone I know?"
Lucas looked up at Peyton, he momentarily considered lying knowing that Peyton wouldn't pleased with the answer but realised he had to start taking responsibility for his actions "It's for Brooke" Lucas said.
Peyton rolled her eyes, moving back to sit on Lucas's bed "Any particle reason why you're doing that or do you just enjoying pissing me off?"
"Peyton" Lucas said, getting up from this desk and walking over to sitting next to her on his bed. "Brooke and I, we're trying to be friends and that means a lot to me"
"Well…" Peyton began, looking down at her shoes "What would mean a lot to me Lucas, is if you stopped hanging out with her".
Lucas turned to look at Peyton in complete confusion "What?"
"It's pretty simple Lucas. This yo-yoing between Brooke and I has got to stop, we've tried to make it work but lets face it you can't be friends with one of us and date the other"
Lucas stood up "You can't ask me to stop seeing Brooke"
"I can Lucas and I believe I just did" Peyton snapped back "Don't you ever just want to have a girlfriend without any of the added drama"
"That's not fair" Lucas said defensively
"No Lucas" Peyton said getting up "What's not fair is what you're doing right now, what you always do. You and me, you and Brooke… it's got to stop. I'm not saying this for myself Lucas; I'm saying this for Brooke. Do you think it's fair to string her along the way you're doing?"
"I'm not stringing her along Peyton" Lucas answered annoyed at her suggestion.
"Oh really? Well what's with the mix you're making…?"
"Peyton I'm jus…"
"Or talking until late on the phone to her?" Peyton continued
"Wait, how do you..?"
"People talk Lucas; Brooke's not the only one with a big mouth" Peyton laughed bitterly.
"God, would you stop that!" Lucas said angrily
"Stop what?" Peyton shrugged her shoulders, knowing exactly what Lucas meant.
"Talking about Brooke that way, as if you hardly even know her, you used to be best friends Peyton… what happened?"
"You happened" Peyton replied calmly "You happened, Lucas"
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"You do know how messed up this is, not to mention wrong and illegal" Brooke said as she sat watching Mouth finish what he was writing.
Mouth didn't reply, instead he climbed off the chair he was using and began putting his things away.
"You even put sheets down Mouth… sheets! What criminal do you know that spring cleans a house he's just burgled?" Brooke laughed dryly
"I'm not a criminal Brooke" Mouth said turning to look at her briefly
"Oh yeah, what else would you call yourself?" Brooke said bitterly. She couldn't see Mouth's face through the darkness but she could tell what she said hurt him.
"I'm sorry Brooke, really I am"
"Let's just go Mouth okay, this house gives me the creeps" She said getting up from where she sat, walking over to the window.
"Here Brooke, will you carry this?" Mouth asked passing her three cans of paints.
Brooke frowned, gesturing to the bags she'd brought.
"You brought three bags of shopping with you?" Mouth asked
"It's not like I did it on purpose. As soon I realised what you were doing I just grabbed my stuff and got of the car. Excuse me for just wanting to come stop you from making a huge mistake" Brooke said trying to hold her bags and the paint.
Mouth smiled quietly to himself. Brooke may have been mad at him right now but she still cared, she always did.
"Have you got everything Mouth?" Brooke asked "You haven't forgotten anything?" She said looking around "The kettle what about the kettle, did you leave that on again?"
Mouth shrugged his shoulders.
Brooke rolled her eyes "I'll go check" She said dropping everything to the floor, before running through into the kitchen.
There she saw the kettle left on and Mouth's cell phone on the counter next to it. Brooke took a huge breath, grateful she decided to come back and check. She took a quick look around the kitchen, checking once again before grabbing Mouth's cell and running back into the living room.
"Come on Brooke it's getting late, Dan could be getting back soon"
"Excuse me, if it weren't for me you would have forgotten your cell phone in the kitchen" She said handing Mouth his cell.
"Oh my God, thanks Bro…"
"Yeah, yeah" She smiled grabbing her things and the paint off the floor "Let's get out of here"
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"You're blaming me, for what happened between you and Brooke?" Lucas asked, running his hands through his hair trying to pin-point when the conversation took a complete turn.
Peyton just shrugged her shoulders sitting back on the bed. "I don't know" Peyton said playing with her fingers "Sometimes, I find myself wondering…" She paused, quickly looking up at Lucas then back down at her hands "Why you had to go out with her?"
Lucas looked up confused by the question.
"When this all started, at the beginning… you were into me but you went out with her, right?"
Lucas put his head down in shame; he knew that was wrong, he knew that.
"I just wonder why you couldn't wait for me, you know like you waited for Brooke when you came back from Charlotte and she just wanted to be friends; all that time you waited for her. Or when she went to California for the summer, you waited for her then" Peyton forced out a weak laugh "Even when she came back and she gave you all that non-exclusive crap you waited for her Luke… but you didn't wait for me"
"Peyton, I…" Lucas shook his head, not knowing what to say. He never really thought about that until now.
"If you had just waited for me, we wouldn't be in this mess. We could have been together but instead we have to tiptoe around Brooke just in case her feelings are hurt, we did the same thing when you two were dating. Brooke's always been in our way, always, and now you finally have a chance to stop that"
Lucas looked up at Peyton, wondering if she could actually hear the things she was saying about her ex-best friend. The Peyton he had had feelings for when he first joined the Ravens had slowly vanished. She had changed, he had changed… Brooke had changed only with Brooke; it was a change that made him questions how he could ever have been so stupid to have cheated on her and ruined what they had in the first place. Back then, he'd never given himself a chance to see Brooke, see the real Brooke and now that he had; he found himself not being able to imagine what his life would be like without her. It had taken him a while after they broke up to realise he couldn't have her. He'd tried things to get her back but it didn't work, until he realised that maybe she didn't want him back. That maybe she didn't want a quick fix "I'm sorry and I love you"… that there was something else, something that he just wasn't getting and until he understood it, there was no chance of them getting back together.
Peyton on the other hand was always around, more and more as he tried to get Brooke back. And she… she always needed him; to rescue her, to be there for her, to make her feel safe. It felt good being needed, he missed that with Brooke. It never felt like she needed him, she was so strong, so independent. After Keith died, she had been the one that was there for him, he'd needed her. That's why part of him was happy he found out Brooke might be pregnant, sure he was angry at her for not telling him, for once again trying to be so strong and do everything on her own but he was happy. Happy at the chance to be there for her, to be the guy she could rely on, the guy that would never let her down. He knew he'd lost that the day he cheated with Peyton, but he just wanted the chance to prove to her that she could rely on him, that she could trust him, that he was the guy for her.
"Peyton, I don't want to hurt you but I can't stop seeing Brooke, I want her in my life. I care about her, I really do and if that makes me a bad boyfriend…" Lucas said
Peyton nodded "It's okay" she said fearing the end of his sentence "It's okay" she repeated getting up and walking over to Lucas "I'll see you tomorrow" She said giving him a quick peck on the lips before walking out.
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"I'm telling you, I'm not making it out of here in one piece" Brooke whispered down to Mouth who stood outside reaching his hands out to catch her.
"I'll catch you" Mouth said extending his arms out even further.
"Yeah right Mouth, with all this stuff I'm carry" she whispered.
"Well then throw it down" Mouth said as Brooke proceeded to do so.
"This window did not look this high when I came threw it the first time" she moaned.
"That's because you weren't looking down onto the ground thinking you could fall and seriously hurt yourself" Mouth rambled with out thinking.
Brooke looked down at him worried "Thanks a lot for that Mouth, now I'm never coming down"
"No, no, I was just… I was just… oh my God… look! There's a huge spider like right next to you!" Mouth pointed
"What? Oh my God where?" Brooke screeched, flicking her hair frantically "Where Mouth? Where?"
"It's over there" Mouth pointed persistently
"Ahhh" Brooke shrieked, jumping down onto the hedges then flat onto Mouth.
"Ahhh" Mouth cried in pain "You could have warned me you were going to jump" Mouth wailed in pain "You elbowed me in the stomach"
"Sorry, but just get it off me, get it off me!" Brooke continued to shrieking, fluffing herself.
"Get what off you?" Mouth winced in pain
"The spider Mouth, where is it?"
"I was only saying that to get you to jump, there was no spider"
Brooke paused, glaring at Mouth "I am going to kill you" she laughed hitting him playfully
Mouth giggled through the pain "Ahhh, injured over here remember"
"Oh yeah sorry" Brooke said trying not to laugh, but it was no use Mouth just looked so funny with his 'I'm in pain' look.
"Here" she laughed getting up and reaching her hand out to help him up "We've probably woken everybody up" she tried to whisper, whilst picking up everything.
Mouth got up walking towards the front of the house, to his bicycle. "Brooke hurry up already"
Brooke just stood there looking at the things on the grass.
"Brooke?"
Brooke turned to face him "Mouth… didn't I have three bags with me?" she asked calmly trying not worry herself.
"I don't know; I must have put it in with my stuff... now can we go please, Dan could be back any second and unlike you I can't speed off on my bicycle. Especially with all this stuff"
"I can take some if for you if you want?" Brooke offered looking down at the things one more time, she could have sworn she had three bags with her, hesitating momentarily before picking everything up and continuing to follow Mouth towards the front of the house.
"Awh thanks Brooke" He said as they walked over to her boot, placing some cans in her boot. "So I guess I'll see you tomorrow" Mouth said reaching out for a hug.
"Yeah, bye" Brooke smiled quickly before pulling Mouth into a hug. "Cycle home safely" she waved before getting in her car.
"Thanks Brooke" Mouth whispered as he put his rucksack on and got onto his bicycle. "Thanks for everything"
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Well that's it for now… go on click review now and tell me what you think!! Did you like both chapters?? Comments are love, lol!