Brooke shook her head. Leaning over the counter to impress her point, she said, "No, it's only about a fifteen mile drive to downtown. Therefore, if Haley drives her usual, about 30 mph, Mom speed, I know, she should be there in about 30 minutes. It'll take her around five minutes to grab the stuff I needed, and then like another fifteen minutes to get it to the store. So, at 2:45, I need to call her with another favor." Brooke said this all very matter-of-factly as she looked at the three boys in front of her. Nathan, Lucas, and Jamie all stood slightly slack-jawed in the Naley kitchen, home base for the party team (another code name from Brooke).
"Whoa," Jamie breathed, "Aunty Brooke, could you help me with my homework?" Jamie was wide-eyed, but Nathan just looked mildly confused.
"So, you could come up with all that in a matter of seconds, but you had to steal a calculus test in senior year? Not that that is a good idea, or anything," Nathan added, remembering Jamie was in the room.
Lucas, on the other hand, was laughing. "Forget the test: you could do all that but still not think up anything better than Monotrihabilisglyceride?" he laughed in disbelief. Nathan had recounted the entire story to his brother, and Lucas had taken every opportunity to tease his girlfriend about it. Brooke gave a sarcastic laugh.
"I'll deal with you later," she promised icily and Lucas immediately shut up. Brooke smiled, satisfied, and turned back to Jamie and Nathan. "How long will you guys take with the supplies?"
"If we push it, a half an hour."
"Good. Get going, Luke and I will stay and set up here. Be fast," she warned, and Jamie led his father out the door. Brooke looked back at Lucas. "Come on, Broody, you're helping me with the manual labor." Lucas grimaced and groaned as she grabbed his collar and led him out the back door, where she had the pieces of a disassembled portable bar.
Twenty minutes later, Brooke was in her element. She stood above a laboring Lucas, holding the directions and giving him commands. Lucas was shining with sweat from the hot afternoon sun when he finally looked up at her.
"Pretty girl, you ever going to help me?" He was only half joking; you'd be surprised how hard putting up a portable bar actually was.
Brooke checked the imaginary watch on her wrist. "Actually, boyfriend, it's break time. C'mon, there's water inside, as well as the salvation of shade. Let's go!" She patted him cheerily on the back, urging him up.
The two mutually decided on a longer break on the couch when they were inside. Brooke plopped down, looking beat and staring around at the fruits of their labor: streamers and balloons were arranged tastefully throughout the house, and Jamie and Nathan would be home soon with more to add. "Hard work, huh?" Brooke asked as Lucas sat down with a laugh. He had been the one receiving the brunt of her slave-driving. "But you know I love a—"
Her words were suddenly cut off when she turned to face Lucas and his lips covered hers. The surprise made Brooke's body go rigid for a moment, but she quickly submitted into his arms, kissing back. Their bodies moved closer and closer until the light of day couldn't be seen between them, and their arms raked each others backs.
When the need for oxygen became too great, Lucas finally broke away, instead trailing soft kisses down Brooke's neck and jawline, while she arched her back into him, breaths coming out in sighs. "How long is it until Nathan and Jamie get home?" he murmured into her skin.
Forcing herself away from him, Brooke looked at her cell phone. "Still like fifteen minutes." She was taking long, steadying breaths. Lucas sidled closer to her, twisting a lock of Brooke's hair.
"Nathan and Haley have a spare bedroom," he said, pressing his lips to her neck once more. The words came out in a rush, he wasn't thinking about it. "We could go up there, we've plenty of time."
Brooke pulled away from his kiss involuntarily, almost like a flinch. She jumped away, breaking their contact. As the realization of what had happened sunk in, Brooke angled her head away from Lucas's questioning gaze, desperately trying to gather her fleeting thoughts.
"Brooke, what's wrong?" Lucas couldn't figure it out: one moment they were getting along fine, together and happy, and the next Brooke seemed almost scared. She had never been like this before…
Brooke took a steadying deep breath, and Lucas knew she was trying to compose herself. Trying to erase the lust that he knew was running through her veins, as well as shrugging off her breakdown. She turned back to him with ill-concealed nervousness. "Nothing—"
"I forgot to add no lying to the question. What's up?"
The flimsy façade of indifference collapsed, and Brooke sighed. "Ok, don't take this the wrong way, but… I don't want sex just yet." How preteen-novel cheesy was that? Brooke added in her mind.
Had Lucas been in high school, he would have fallen off the couch in shock. Now, his mouth just opened and closed in mild surprise. But as he thought about it more, it seemed strangely calming. Brooke wasn't the same person as she was. Lucas had even kinda expected something like this. Still, they were both in the heat of the moment, and he couldn't conceal his confusion or even mild disappointment.
"I do want this Lucas. Well, you know me, Brooke Davis, of course I want it, but that's beside the point. Peyton just said some things that night. And yeah, I know she was angry, and not thinking straight, and probably trying to hurt me, but it made sense. I don't want to be the rebound girl, the used one while you pursue other interests. I want to really, really want it, Luke, and I'm just not sure right now."
As lucid thought returned to Lucas, he opted to stay silent. Really, what do you say when the queen of 'friends with benefits' in high school tells you she wants to wait? Looking back, Lucas realized there were a million things he could have said, some comforting, some agreeing, but at the time none of them seemed to fit.
After she recognized that he wasn't going to say anything, Brooke let out a strangled laugh and she tried to lighten the mood. "Plus, I don't think I could ever have sex in Haley's house anyways." In unison, Brooke and Lucas really laughed and looked around the room, agreeing on that fact.
The mood lightened in those moments, and by unspoken agreement, Brooke and Lucas forgot what had just happened.
"Do you know Haley was the one that orchestrated all of this?" Lucas asked, waving his arm around.
"Her…birthday party?"
"No," he snorted, "Haley arranged everything from me coming over to help you with Jamie to the dinner last week. She wanted to try us out together."
The disbelief, incredulity, and mild amusement was clearly evident in Brooke's shout of laughter. "I love tutor wife, but she can be a real conniving— well, really conniving sometimes." She shook her head.
"That's Haley for you. But, it worked out, didn't it?"
"Yeah," she admitted, "Can't tell you how much I owe that girl. We'll pay her back with tonight, ok?"
"Ok, but I don't know if we're up for a 'Brooke' party." Brooke hit him on the chest.
"Hey! My parties can be kid-friendly! They just get… friendlier… after the kids go to sleep!"
"Yeah, I'll bet," muttered Luke. This earned him another punch.
They were talking and teasing easily and naturally, but Lucas knew that the conversation was changing when he saw Brooke's ever-smiling face waver, the sunny confidence falter for all of an instant and she looked away, just as she had minutes ago. He felt a twinge of regret that they were losing a moment like this, but he knew all too well what Brooke needed to get off her chest.
Sure enough, just seconds later: "Are we ever going to talk about this?"
He sighed then, visibly. Lucas knew what she was talking about, but he didn't want to face it. Facing it would mean rehashing that night, something he was against whole-heartedly right now. But still, he asked, "Talk about what?"
"That night. Peyton. You. Me. Us. I feel like we are cheating, Luke, acting like everything's fine when it isn't." As Brooke said this, Lucas got up and turned away, occupying himself with old pictures on the mantle while he figured his thoughts.
"What is there to talk about?"
Brooke's face turned incredulous, and her voice rose ever so slightly. "Hmmm, maybe the fact that on the night you told me you loved me, Peyton saw us and has been avoiding us since and we still sit here pretending everything's ok?" The sparks of an impending argument were crackling in the air, but Lucas wasn't backing down.
He looked at a picture on the mantle, taking it down. "Do you remember this?" Lucas held it up for Brooke to see. It was a picture of Haley singing at Tric, probably back from junior year. "Nathan and Haley were fighting then, before she left for the tour. You didn't know it, but they were talking about a divorce." He left out a humorless half-laugh, and put the picture back. "Most people can't see a good thing when it's right in front of them."
"Are you talking about Nathan and Haley, Luke… or us?" Brooke looked up earnestly from the couch, and Lucas suddenly whirled to face her.
"I love you, Brooke." He put as much emphasis on the word love as possible, his face taking on that lost puppy look, desperate, like he couldn't make her see. "And I don't see why anything else matters. You and me, we're acting like everything's ok because it is. And I know you feel… insecure about Peyton and how she'll influence us, but I never loved Peyton," Lucas finished sincerely.
Brooke snorted in anger and incredulity, and it was then that Lucas realized he had something wrong. "Lucas," she said, shaking her head for the right words, "You can't do that. You can't say that. Every time you're with a girl, you try and erase all of your past history. You did it with me, with Peyton, and most likely with Lindsey." They were at an impasse right now, teetering on an uneven truce with themselves; something had to give before they could settle again.
"Brooke—" Lucas's voice rose in angry defiance of these accusations, but Brooke stood up, interrupting.
"You can't tell me that you've never loved anyone else, because you have. You loved Lindsey, you loved Peyton, and you loved me. Erasing your history doesn't make us feel more secure. I know what happened with Lindsey and Peyton."
"And I'm sorry for that, Brooke, I'm sorry for wasting time with them," Lucas finally interjected, "but it's you and me now, and questioning why isn't going to do anything," he finished softly, trying to meet her averted eyes and make her see.
But she just shook her head, setting her jaw and gritting her teeth angrily. "Whatever. Nathan and Jamie'll be home soon, so we should finish the bar." She tried to push past him, but Lucas caught her arm, and she turned once more, reluctantly.
He looked at her fierce expression, meeting it with calmness. "Just so you know, pretty girl, you were never the rebound."
Jamie rolled down the aisle of Party-Mart delightedly in a cart pushed by Nathan. The two were on their way out, but Jamie kept reaching for everything in sight. "Let's get her this, Daddy!"
Nathan heaved a fake sigh. "Jimmy-Jam, we already got everything. Now we have to get home, or Aunty Brooke will do bad things to your daddy."
"Like what?"
Nathan thought for a moment. "I don't want to find out."
"Ok," Jamie said simply. He remained still in the cart for another five feet or so. "Daddy, let's get Momma this!"
"Oh boy," Nathan muttered, rolling his eyes to the spot that Jamie was pointing to, but then he froze.
Lying alone on the shelf was a small purple beaded bracelet.
The sun glinted off the river in the early morning, but Nathan was more concerned with the pissed off look on his tutors face. She definitely didn't look like the other girls at school; she wasn't hot like Theresa or Bevin, but she was just… pretty. Or maybe she only looked different because she wasn't swooning over him like most girls.
"Breakfast of Champions," he said with a cocky grin. Walking up to the bench, he set down a box of Cracker Jacks and two cups of coffee. "Want some?"
Her answer was cold. "You're late."
He ignored her, opening the box anyways. "Oh, please let this be a cheat sheet," he said as he opened the prize. When a small, purple bracelet fell out, Nathan looked up at Haley.
"It's for you."
She rolled her eyes slightly. "Stop it." But she reluctantly let him slip the bracelet on, and he sat back with a satisfied grin.
"Don't say I never gave you anything."
That had been it. That was the first moment Nathan had ever known Haley James, and one of his fondest memories that often came to him late at night, when he lay next to her and listened to her breathe. He always remembered that moment, and every time he looked at the bracelet he relived it all.
"Daddy!" Nathan smiled nostalgically and looked down at Jamie, who was holding up a phone. Instantly, Nathan snapped out of his dazed trance, remembering that he was supposed to be on his way home, and deliver the party supplies to Brooke and Lucas.
"Oh damn-- Brooke," he muttered to himself, but Jamie heard him as Nathan took the phone.
"It's Uncle Lucas," Jamie said.
On a sigh of relief, Nathan greeted, "Hello?"
"Hey, Nate, I just called to tell you something—" Lucas's voice had an underlying frantic tone.
"Yeah? Oh, wait, I have another call, can you hold on?" Nathan asked casually. As he took the phone away from his ear to press the change button, he heard his bother's last words.
"Wait, Nathan! Well, I'm sorry about this--"
The call clicked dead, and he answered the other call. "Hello?"
Yeah, Nathan was sorry too.
"NATHAN SCOTT!! I'M HERE SETTING UP, or, rather, Lucas is, but that's besides the point, AND YOU ARE GOD KNOWS WHERE, SO YOU'D BETTER PULL YOUR HEAD OUT OF YOUR—"
Nathan wrenched the phone away from his ear, fearing eardrum damage, and Brooke's rant became a blur. Other shoppers just stared as Nathan gave his cell phone terrified looks and held it like a bomb.
"Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok," he said frantically, now understanding Lucas's tone, and trying to subdue Brooke. "Look, I'm on my way out, we got everything, I'll be home in five minutes, ok?" He shut the phone before she had a chance to respond.
Grabbing a laughing Jamie under one arm in a football carry and pushing the cart with another, Nathan took off on a sprint down the aisle. Even in this stressed state, the bracelet stayed in the back of his mind. Maybe he would plan his own surprise for Haley…
Six hours later, at around seven, the group was finally gathered in the entry way of the Official Naley Party Palace. Brooke stood on the stairs above the mass, trying to get everyone's attention, but all the while her gaze was fixed on Lucas. They had finished the bar just before Nathan got home, and hadn't said a word to each other since. Lucas and his brother stood like sentinels in the back, the only ones really paying attention. In the front, Jamie and Lily played beneath the watchful eye of Karen, who was also talking to Andy. Next to them stood Mouth, who was desperately trying to get Millicent to look at him, but she stood with her stony gaze straight at Brooke. Millicent was looking very unhappy next to Rachel, who seemed to be having the most fun. She was trying to engage Peyton in conversation about some 70's band that Brooke had never heard of.
"Ok everybody, when Haley gets here, we'll all surprise her—"
"Gee, thanks for the clarification on 'surprise party'!" Someone in the back yelled. Brooke shot that general area a nasty glare, then turned to the window, too excited to fight.
"Ok, ok, she's here! Everyone hide!"
"Oh, really? Yeah, thanks for the reminder," the same person said. Brooke thought it was Rachel.
"Enough with the sarcasm!" There was a general scramble and the lights were switched off. Brooke and Lucas ducked behind the large houseplant.
"Hey, pretty girl," Lucas whispered in her ear, "Look, I'm sorry about today." He seemed to be taking advantage of the darkness and silence of the room, knowing that she couldn't ignore him. "I know you how you feel about Peyton when you and I are together, and I try to help that insecurity as best I can, I don't know how."
Her eyes slid momentarily from the doorway to his face, but darted back when she saw him looking.
"Obviously I didn't go about it right, and it sucks that it made you feel worse. But I am sorry, pretty girl." Lucas's hot breath tickling her ear made Brooke smile, and a shiver ran down her spine. "Can you forgive me so we can go have fun?"
It was all she wanted to hear. Brooke smiled and nodded to him, pressing a finger to her mouth before she enveloped his lips in a quick kiss.
"Hello?" came Haley's voice from the doorway, interrupting their moment. "Nathan? Jamie? Sorry I'm late, but Brooke sent me on all these stupid errands." Brooke made an angry movement, but Lucas subdued her with another small kiss.
"Nate?" Her voice was tenser, as if she was just realizing something wasn't right.
"Surprise!"
Everyone jumped out at once, and Haley almost fell over. She swore loudly, causing Jamie to say, "Mama!"
"Holy… Oh my god," Haley said, running a hand over her shocked face while Nathan went to put an arm around her.
"Happy birthday, Hales," he said, and she threw him a dark look. Shock still showed through her laughing face. "And technically, I didn't surprise, you, Brooke and Lucas planned this. My hands are clean!"
"Got around me on a loophole, huh? Well, I love you for it." She smirked and gave him a little punch. "Where are Brooke and Lucas anyways?"
Everyone looked around, searching for the couple. They were no where to be found, no Brooke claiming to be the mastermind of everything or Lcuas modestly slinging a hand over her waist. After a minute of looking, Rachel finally rolled her eyes and snorted in derision.
"Here they are," she said. The red-head pulled back the house plant to reveal Brooke and Lucas intertwined, kissing passionately. "I swear, they're like horny rabbits."
The crowd laughed, and Brooke and Lucas sheepishly emerged. Lucas was rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly, but Brooke looked very satisfied. "Surprise, tutor girl?" she offered with a guilty smile.
Haley rolled her eyes. "Yep, it was."
After all the "Happy Birthdays" and "Hello's" had been exchanged, the group migrated to the living room. They all sat down, laughing and talking with their drinks from the bar. Everyone that is, except for Millicent and Mouth. It seemed only Rachel noticed this. She got up and went over to Millicent.
"Hey, Mill, can I talk to you outside?" Rachel pleaded. Millicent's face changed completely. "Just outside, I just need a second." It must have been the pleading look, because Millicent grabbed her drink and went out the back door.
"Ok, thank you," Rachel said when they were outside and the door was shut, "I just wanted to say—"
Millicent threw the drink in Rachel's face.
"God DAMN! What is it with you people and throwing drinks at me at Nathan and Haley's parties?" Rachel yelled, reeling and wiping vodka out of her face.
"Ok, I'll talk to you now. Whatcha need?" asked Millicent in a falsely cheery voice.
The anger bled out of Rachel's face. "Ok, look, I guess I deserved that. I'm not asking you to forgive me, nor even accept my apology. All I need you to do is accept Mouth's. Just hear me out. What happened with Mouth, it wasn't his fault. It was mine; you have to understand our history. Back in high school, I was in a pretty dark place, despite what people will tell you. Mouth is the only one who got it, and I guess you could say he saved me. And that morning you saw, I was drunk and lonely, and I just wanted to feel that safety again. When you came in, Mouth was trying to push me off of him, and he even said he wouldn't cheat on you. He's a good guy, and I'm sorry I lost him. But for you to lose him over something I did, or for him to lose you wouldn't be right. You can hate me all you want, but don't punish Mouth for this."
Millicent remained silent.