Ok, so this chapter's a little short, but I promise the next one's are longer. I'll have them up soon. Keep sending the reviews, they're awesome!
Chapter Nine
The next few days went by incredibly fast. Brooke went to physical therapy, and went under several tests to make sure that she was in fact okay. Karen had left a few days before, as she needed to get back to the cafe. Brooke was still refusing to eat the hospital food, so it became routine for someone to stop by with lunch. Usually it was Haley, Peyton or Mouth, but even Nathan and Jake had stopped by. Her parents had attempted to stop by several times, but everytime they were greeted with a "Get Out!" If they refused to leave she threatened she would follow in their footsteps and start throwing things. They eventually got the hint and stopped coming. Lucas always came after classes and work, bringing her dinner, and something small they could have for breakfast the next morning. She refused to let him leave her at night, saying it was too scary to sleep alone in the hospital.
Finally the day came for Brooke to be dismissed from the hospital, and taken home. Before Lucas went to pick her up, he went home to grab some her some clothes from her room. She had been complaining about her hospital gown ever since she woke up, and said she couldn't wait for the day where she could put on some Frankie B jeans or some other designer that he had never heard of. He decided to go with a black velour sweatsuit, made by BCBG. This was a designer Lucas actually knew of because he had once seen a comic strip while he was editing a section of the newspaper. It said something about BCBG -"Big Clothes for Big Girls." He knew Brooke wouldn't find any humor in this, his mind flashing back to the day where she had first seen Peyton's comic strip making fun cheerleaders.
For some reason, he was really nervous. He wasn't sure if it was the fact that he was actually taking Brooke to live with him, or if she would approve of the room that he had made for her. He had Peyton and Haley decorate it, hanging Christmas lights and a "Welcome home Brooke" sign that hung over her bed. He wanted her to feel special, but mostly, he wanted her to feel welcome there.
"You about ready, Pretty Girl?" he said as he waited for her to change into her clothes behind the curtain in her room.
"Lucas! My clothes are so big!" she came out with tears. While it wasn't exactly falling off her body, the sweatsuit clearly didn't fit the way it had used to. Brooke had always worn things to fit perfectly, but there were areas now were the clothes were just hanging off her body. It looked like the pants were being held up by the drawstring. She ran into his arms.
"Brooke, it's ok. You've just lost a lot of weight. You'll get it back once you get into your normal routine again." he tried to comfort her.
"I never thought I'd be hoping to gain weight," she laughed through her tears. Lucas let out a small laugh with her. But it was nice to have her standing there in her arms, he didn't ever want to let go.
They finally left, and Brooke decided she was starving on the way home. Lucas offered to order a pizza and they could pick it up and bring it back to the apartment. She said that sounded like a great idea, as long as they made it a Hawaiian Pizza. They arrived at his apartment, and Lucas led her to where his apartment was. He unlocked the door and let her in. His heart was pounding so hard, he was afraid she might hear it.
"Lucas! Did you decorate this place?" she exclaimed walking into the living room/ den.
"Yeah.. why? Is it awful? he asked shyly.
"This place is awesome! I still can't believe that you live here you know? Like my mind is still thinks I have to sneak into your house so your Mom wouldn't know I was there!" she laughed at him."Hey Lucas, when do you think we could get my stuff out of storage?"
"We can go first thing in the morning." he lied.
"Ok, good! Let's see the rest of this place!"
Lucas showed her his bedroom, and then the guest bedroom. He lied saying she could sleep there, and he had only offered to sleep on the couch before because he didn't know how long his mom would be staying. He showed her the bathrooms and the kitchen, and every single closet space.
"Lucas, what's in here." she asked pointing to the third bedroom after he told her that she had seen it all.
"Why don't you open the door and find out?" he smiled at her.
'Ok, this is really weird..' she thought as she was opening the door. She stopped when she saw what was in front of her. She was literally speechless.
"Luc-" she spattered out.
"Brooke, this is your room. All of your stuff is here, and I would be delighted if you would stay." he put his hands on the back of her waist and kissed the top of her head.
"Luke.. this is so.. so...perfect" she finally got out. She turned around and gave him the biggest hug. "Of course I'll stay!"
Lucas was completely relieved that she liked her room, but was more relieved she had decided to stay. He was excited at getting to spend real time with her again.
"How about that pizza?" he pulled away from the hug and looked down to see she was crying. "Brooke..?"
"I'm fine Lucas. This is just a really great day." she smiled.
His heart ached when he saw that she was genuinely smiley. She was happy. Happy to be awake, happy to be alive, happy to be out of the hospital. But more than that, she was happy to be here with him.
They spent the rest of the night eating pizza and watching TV. Brooke was completely amused with all the new television shows. She eventually dozed off, and fell asleep on his shoulder. He carefully picked her up, and carried her to her room and placed her on her bed and tucked her in.
He went back into the den where he watched tv for a little while, and then he eventually headed off to bed. He stopped by her room to check to see if she was ok, and when he was satisfied she was sleeping soundly, he went down to his room. He undressed, staying only in his boxers, and crawled under the covers of his bed. He thanked God for letting her be there, alive and well, and for blessing him in life. He had almost fallen asleep when he heard a faint tapping at his door.
"Brooke?" he said softly.
She slightly opened the door. She had changed into a tank top and a pair of pajama pants and her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She had obviously found her clothes and hair accessories in her room.
"What's up, Brooke?" he yawned.
"I just..I" she said quielty.
"Are you ok?"
"I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm just.. I'm scared to sleep alone." she whispered innocently.
Lucas smiled, scooted over, and patted the bed as if he was offering her room. She crawled into bed, and laid her head in it's usual place on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and they both drifted off asleep.
- - - - -
Renee Mathews sat in her cubicle talking with her friend Ashley when she noticed Lucas walk into work. Renee, Ashley and Lucas were 3 of the 5 interns selected to work at NYC Gazette. Each of them had small tasks, all of which trained them to work in a successful newspaper agency. She couldn't help but notice that he was smiling, and greeting practically everyone.
"That boy is real piece of work," she said to Ashley, nodding at Lucas. He was walking in their directions, most likely to his cubicle which was only a few cubicles to the left of theirs.
"Renee, Ashley." he smiled as he passed them.
"Did you hear his friend woke up from the coma?" Ashley said with a hushed voice.
"I thought they pulled the plug."
"No. I guess it was a miracle that she woke up. He's writing a story on her. Her name's Brooke something or other."
Renee just acknowedged that Ashley had spoken. She was already annoyed with this Brooke girl.
- - - - -
Nathan and Haley had asked everyone to meet at Marconi's, Nathan's new favorite pizza joint, because he had something important to tell them. They all decided to meet at 6:30, and surprisingly everyone had showed up on time. Lucas had picked up Brooke after work, and was amazed at how beautiful she looked. She was always beautiful, even lying in a hospital bed, but tonight she was stunning. She was dressed simple, for Brooke at least, wearing a red halter top, jeans and high heels. Her hair was down in curls, and her make up was done simply. He was really just taken back at how much she was smiling, laughing, flashing everyone those adorable dimples. It was still hard sometimes for him to believe that she was actually here.
"Alright, so what's that big news?" Mouth asked Nathan
"Ok, so I was selected to play in this charity game thing for the NBA." he beamed.
"What Nathan? That's awesome." Haley shrieked, followed by comments from everyone else.
"Ok, but that's not all. We get to choose an organization to play for, and raise money for that cause. I get to film a commercial next week explaining the organization."
"Holy cow, Nate!" Lucas half yelled.
"Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I get to bring a person to the film the commercial, and have them talk about the foundation as well. A lot of the other guys are having chair members speak."
"So, what are you sponsoring?" Jake asked.
"Well, I have to ask my person if they'll film with me, and then I'll know for sure." he responded matter of factly. He was really excited about this.
"Oh." Haley said. "Well, who is it?"
"Brooke." he smiled.
"What?" Brooke asked confused.
"I found a organization that researches information on patients who are on life support, and what advances can be done to help them, and give them more of a chance to live. I just thought it would be best if Brooke was there with me."
By this point, Brooke had already started crying. She knew she had the best friends that anyone could ask for.
"So you will you do it Brooke?" Nathan asked
"Of course!"she exclaimed.
"You know what this means, right Brooke?" Peyton asked with a smile.
"No... what?"
"We get to go shopping!"
