First, I'd just like to say thank you to everyone who is reading the story, and another huge thank you to everyone who has sent a review! I know it is turning a little more serious, so hopefully no one is too disappointed. Lastly, just a reminder, I don't have any ownership or connection to One Tree Hill.
Chapter 5:
Twenty minutes?! I called him an hour ago and he said 'twenty minutes.' Sam wasn't sure if she should be nervous, angry, or upset. She looked up at Brooke's closed bedroom door and tapped her foot as she looked back at the clock. Brooke had been home for little more than an hour. Sam had watched Brooke enter the house in a defeated daze with barely a glance in her direction. Before Sam could even make a snarky comment, Brooke had gone directly to her bedroom and softly closed the door. At first she thought Brooke was tired or it was just PMS, but this was bad. Peyton's Cure CD could be heard from behind Brooke's door.
Sam had called Julian and told him to come over early, she needed help to cheer up crabby Brooke. Glancing at the clock for the hundredth time left Sam second guessing her choice to call Julian. She grabbed her cell phone to call Haley or Peyton when the door swung open to reveal a slightly frazzled Julian.
"Chinese food?! Brooke's having an emo-meltdown and you bring Chinese? I thought you knew to bring…" Julian caught Sam's eye and they both said "chocolate" simultaneously as he held up a separate container, and he added "cake" with a twinkle in his eye.
Julian ruffled Sam's hair playfully, "Sampson, I'm a professional, not some kind of amateur charlatan." He opened the container and grinned at Sam as she looked at the mountainous cake, "Remind me to tell you the story of this cake when you're old enough to vote."
Two eyebrows lifted to his response, "You know JuJu, I don't think I'll ever be old enough to hear sex stories involving you and Brooke. But, I'd seriously suggest extinguishing the charm slash arrogance. You haven't seen her… you'd probably lose more than a finger with her right now."
The door to Brooke's room slowly opened and both waited anxiously for Brooke to make her entrance into the kitchen. After a moment, Sam mouthed to Julian "GO!" he shook his head and waved at her motioning down the hall "YOU!"
"Sam!" Brooke decided for them as she called her to the room. Sam let out a resigned sigh and shot Julian a deathly glare, but he simply laughed and ruffled her hair again as she passed by on her way to Brooke's room.
Sam closed the door behind her and left Julian alone to unpack the bags he brought with him. He pulled three plates from the cabinet and began to fill each with noodles and vegetables. Next he opened a bottle of wine and poured two glasses then made a glass of tea for Sam. The table was set when he heard a knock at the front door.
Before he could reach the door, it cautiously opened and Haley poked her head inside and grimaced to Julian, "Sorry! I'm here to get Sam. Is she ready?" Julian looked at her with surprise and confusion, "Sam? Wait… what?"
"Don't worry about it Julian," a tearful Sam stormed through the kitchen towards the door. "I'll see you tomorrow." Julian tried to catch Sam's eyes, but she refused to look up to meet his gaze. What the hell?! Julian looked at Haley with a puzzled gaze, but she just gave a little shrug and began to close the door behind her, but not before he heard Sam scream "Good luck, Julian!"
What the hell squared?! Julian grabbed his wine glass and took a couple of deep gulps to quiet his nerves. He was trying to decide if he should approach or wait for Brooke. He didn't have but a few seconds to debate the situation. Brooke appeared around the corner from her bedroom with a medium sized cardboard box. Unfortunately, her face was devoid of any emotion, but whatever her face didn't show was given away by the ragged catch and fury in her voice. "Here is your shit!" Julian tried to duck but the box still managed to clip his shoulder before crashing into a side table and overturning a lamp. The lamp landed on the floor and cast surreal shadows across their features and gave an ominous tone to the room.
"Brooke! What the hell?!" Julian tried to keep from yelling, but he could feel his temper rising despite that inner voice begging him to remain calm. "You don't deserve an explanation. Get out." Her voice had a steely calmness to it compared to her earlier outburst. Julian walked slowly towards her and her face began to show the turmoil she was feeling. He reached out to touch her but was rewarded with a harsh slap across his face. Julian's head snapped back from the force of it, and he winced not from the pain, but the tears in her eyes when he looked down towards her.
"You've been including all of my friends, my daughter in your movie, and I've listened to you bitch and carry on for weeks about fucking minute details, and not once during all of this did you think it pertinent to share you hired my fucking mother?! MY fucking company Julian? Mine! The company I gave up because of my evil, bitchy, bitch, evil mother. Remember the one I told you about?" With that last accusation, Brooke doubled over and let a loud sob escape.
Julian tried to reach her, but she stepped back and shook her head vehemently no. "Brooke, please, let me explain. It isn't what you think!" Brooke laughed and looked at the ceiling. "Remember Julian, you don't know me. You don't know what the hell I think. You didn't think I deserved an explanation, a warning before my mother ambushed me earlier, then I don't care for one now."
Desperate to make her understand, Julian grabbed her around the waist and pulled her closer to him. Despite her stiff, unyielding posture, he placed his hands on either side of her face, trying to make her look into his watering eyes. "Brooke, please! It is just business. I needed Clothes Over Bros. for the movie, and" Brooke continued shaking her head no, and pushed him away from her. She lifted a finger to his face to stop him from speaking further. "You wanted Clothes Over Bros? Well, congratulations Julian. You got it, you have Victoria Davis. I hope it is worth it." She struggled out of his grasp and moved towards the door.
The cool evening breeze rushed over them through the open door. Brooke wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes, "Julian leave before I make a phone call you do not want me to make." Julian flinched from the cold hard gaze he saw when she finally opened her eyes.
He nodded his head and walked towards the door, he turned to look at her in the doorway and promised, "This isn't over Brooke. You, me, us… I told you before, I fight for what and who I want."
Brooke was silent for a moment and glanced at his determined stance. She took a deep breath then let out an exasperated half laugh. "Fight all you want. But, frankly Julian, I don't care anymore." With those final words, Brooke Davis shut the door and Julian was left alone.
"You've got to do something. Seriously, at least make her a new CD. It has been 24/7 Cure for a week Peyton!" Samantha was slightly bummed her first time inside a recording studio was to beg her English teacher and Peyton for help with Brooke.
Haley and Peyton gave each other worried glances and waited to see who would address Sam first. After a few awkward looks, Peyton cleared her throat first, "Look, Sam, I know it is rough." Haley laughed nervously, "Yeah, I mean, even Julian's requesting The Cure for the soundtrack." Sam groaned and threw her hands up at the useless adults. She was still working on the movie and knew that Brooke was definitely better at hiding her pain than Julian. "You're the adults! I'm just a kid and I need help! She isn't okay and I need my mom to be okay." Haley and Peyton both looked up at Sam with stunned expression. "Mom?!" they both questioned her.
The younger teenager bashfully lowered her head and nodded yes. She had fresh tears in her eyes when she looked up at them. "I never cared or had someone to care for me before I met Brooke. She's putting on this front for you and everyone, but I know she's hurting, and I want to help her like she helped me." She rubbed her sleeve across her eyes and straightened before the two women. "You're two her best friends, supposedly, so I thought you'd help. But obviously that's just a front, too. I'll just have to find someone else who can." The door was swinging from Sam's abrupt exit before either woman could reply.