Chapter Eleven
Over the rest of the weekend Lucas had already warned Brooke about the dangers of drinking with people she didn't know too many times for her not to be annoyed with him. So when he and Nathan showed up at her locker the following Monday morning, and Lucas began sprouting off again, Nathan was surprised that Brooke was able to contain herself.
"How are you feeling?" Nathan asked her, interrupting Lucas' speech.
"I'm fine, Nathan," Brooke replied. "And thank you so much for taking me to the hospital."
"Hey," Lucas said, "I helped too."
"I know," Brooke smiled, "but I've already thanked you like a million times seeing as how you hardly left my house all weekend. I've only seen Nathan twice."
That was true. He had gone with Lucas to see Brooke on two occasions, but the rest of the weekend he had spent working with Jake on the case, especially concerned about the situation now. It was one thing when you knew there was a dealer somewhere in the school. But when he tried to give your friend a date-rape drug it went to a completely different level.
Brooke's memory when she had woken up on Saturday morning had been very hazy. She hadn't remembered seeing Lucas, Nathan or even Miss James the night before. Unfortunately for Nathan and Jake's case she also hadn't remembered who she had been with before she met Lucas. Her memory went as far as arriving at the club where she first met and talked to her friend Mouth. Lucas knew him a little and had told Nathan he was okay; while Nathan wasn't prepared to trust just that, Brooke had mentioned that even though she couldn't recollect whether or not she drank with him, she knew she wouldn't have done so, because Mouth didn't drink. He was on his way out so their conversation was short and he left. After that she had been looking for Bevin and Lucas, and that was as far as she could recall.
Nathan and Lucas had got Brooke to call up Bevin, and she had remembered meeting Brooke there, but not much else. While she hadn't been drugged, she had been "totally hammered", so aside from the fact that she had arrived with Rachel, met Brooke, kissed this "totally yummy guy" whose name she couldn't remember and worn "her totally cute new mini skirt", she couldn't tell them anything. Although it did take her a while to tell them that.
"You're welcome. And I'm sorry I didn't visit more," Nathan apologized. He hadn't been able to think of a cover that didn't sound lame so he didn't offer one, and luckily she didn't ask.
"It's okay," she told him. "Between Lucas here and my housekeeper I hardly had room to breathe."
"There's no such thing as being over-cautious," Lucas said as the three friends walked down the hall.
"Actually, I thought there was," Nathan chipped in. Lucas flashed him an annoyed look, while Brooke laughed.
"Hey, look at this," Brooke stopped in front of a sign on the notice board.
"What's it say?" Nathan asked.
Lucas moved to stand next to Brooke so he could read the notice too. "It's about auditions for the school play."
"I love plays!" Brooke gushed. "In my old school I was in every play since I was twelve."
"You should audition then," Nathan suggested.
"Yeah, I think I will. It'll be fun to get involved in something; especially since this is something Rachel Gattina can't decide who gets in! Hey, you guys should audition too." Seeing the looks on Nathan and Lucas' faces, she added, "Come on, it's our last year at school! Neither of you are involved in any sort of club or sport. Especially you Lucas, you've been at Tree Hill your whole life, don't you have any school spirit?"
"Yeah, Lucas you should audition," Nathan smirked.
"I don't know…"
"Why not?" Brooke whined.
"I get stage fright."
"Have you ever tried to go on stage?"
"Well, no…"
"Then, you don't know, do you?"
"I suppose…"
"Perfect!" Brooke exclaimed, and she whipped out a pen from the side pocket of her bag and quickly wrote down hers and Lucas' names on the list below the notice board. "I can talk to Miss James about the play during our counseling session this afternoon. Nathan, are you sure I can't convince you to take part?"
"I-uh-what did you say about Miss James?"
"She's directing the play," Brooke informed him. "It says so right here," she pointed to the sign. "Are you sure you don't wanna take part? It'll be fun; all three of us can go audition together."
"Uh…I'm not a good actor. Actually, I'm really bad at it. But, I could do backstage," Nathan offered.
"Cool!" Brooke turned around and wrote his name on the other list, pinned up next to the audition list.
"I could do that too," Lucas said.
"No, you can't. I've already put you down to audition. You can't act in the play and be part of the backstage crew."
"Well, then maybe you cut me off from that list and put me on the backstage one."
"Nope, can't do that." Brooke put her pen away, and linked her arm with Lucas' as they resumed walking. "Besides, you wouldn't be able to carry the heavy stuff," she teased.
"I carried you on Friday!" Lucas protested.
Brooke gasped and turned around to face Lucas, hands on her hips. "Lucas Scott! Did you just say I was heavy?"
"No!" Lucas exclaimed, realizing his mistake, but slowly shrinking under her heated glare, while Nathan just chuckled at the scene before him.
"You did! You said I was heavy –"
"No, that's not what I meant –"
"But it is what you said? Is that what you're saying?" Brooke asked.
"No," Lucas whimpered.
Brooke threw her hair back and turned away from him. Her overdramatic actions alerted Nathan to the fact that she was only teasing, but sadly, Lucas was yet to catch on. "Come on, Nathan," Brooke turned to him. "Let's go." She linked arms with him this time and they walked away although Nathan was having trouble standing up straight he was laughing so hard.
"Wait for me!" Lucas yelled, and started to jog after them.
"You know, you could have told me she was just joking."
"And miss the look on your face?" Nathan chuckled. "Besides you're supposed to be the smart one. I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner." It had taken the whole of the walk to Brooke's first lesson for Lucas to realize what was going on. He and Nathan had their first period free so now they were in the library.
"Whatever you say. I gotta get this homework done." Lucas gestured to the books in front of him
"Okay. I'll be back in a minute."
"Where are you going?"
"I told you on Friday after I came back to the hospital that Miss James asked me to tell her how Brooke was."
"Oh, yeah, you don't have to do that. I saw Miss James this morning when we came into school," Lucas explained. "I told her that she was fine and I also mentioned that Brooke didn't remember her being there at all so we decided not to tell her and Miss James agreed."
"Oh. Where was I?"
"It was just after we arrived at school. You were…oh; it was while you were looking for a place to park the car."
"Right." Nathan distractedly tapped his pen on the table, wondering what to do, while Lucas tried to concentrate on his homework. Just then, a boy walked past them. Nathan looked over his shoulder to see that he had come out from some shelves that were behind them. "Hey, I thought we were at the back of the library?"
"Nah. There are a lot of books there, but they're mostly the ones that no one uses. No one really goes back there – well, not to study, anyway. It's another make-out area," Lucas answered Nathan's unasked question.
"Is that all people do in this school?"
"Are you telling me that people weren't 'making babies' at your old school," Lucas picked up on Nathan's earlier phrase.
"Maybe some, but they weren't having sex in every corner of the school!"
Before Lucas could reply a loud gasp came from beside them. Nathan and Lucas turned to the side to see a horror-stricken librarian standing there. "H-Hello Mrs. Hannigan," Lucas mumbled.
She eyed them both suspiciously and then stormed off.
"Great, now I can never come back to the library."
"It wasn't my fault she heard us!" Nathan said.
"It's a library; you're not supposed to talk," Lucas countered.
"Look at that table over there. They're teachers and they're talking."
"Lucas," a feminine voice purred.
Lucas looked up and then back down again. "Hello Rachel."
"Hi," she grinned at him. She moved closer to their table, and from the direction she was walking Nathan could tell that she had come from the same place that boy had.
"Um, this is my cousin –"
"Nathan, right?" She looked at him and flashed him the same smile.
"Yeah. Hi."
"So what are you boys doing?" She leant her elbows down on the table as she asked the question, causing her chest to slightly spill over the edge of her tank top.
"Homework."
"Well," Rachel told Lucas, practically whispering in his ear, "if you ever decide you want to do something more…interesting, you know where to find me."
"What was that?" Nathan asked, as soon as she had left.
"What was what?"
"That! She was all over you, and it didn't seem like the first time. You've never mentioned knowing her all those times Brooke's been bitching about her."
"I don't know her. She's just always tried to hit on me."
"Since when?"
"Sophomore year," Lucas muttered.
"Whoa! That's a long time."
"She just flirts every now and then; I don't really know her though. But now you've met her."
"Actually, I met her before," Nathan corrected, "Sort of. I just didn't know it was her. I don't think she remembers though."
"When did you meet her? Were you arresting her?" Lucas asked, almost hopefully.
"No!" Nathan laughed. "Remember when I opened that closet and there was a couple in there? She was the girl."
"Oh. And that guy," Lucas said, meaning the guy who had come out from behind the shelves before her, "was the guy?"
"No, he wasn't. It was him," Nathan pointed to the boy sitting opposite Rachel at her table.
"Felix? Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"Nothing. It's just that girl," Lucas pointed to the girl sitting next to Felix, "is his girlfriend."
"Oh. Since this week?" Nathan asked hopefully.
"No, since end of junior year I think. We should probably check with Brooke. She'll have better information."
Nathan laughed. "Yeah, she will. But before you ask her remember to tell her that you don't think she's heavy."
"Ha ha. Very funny."