Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with One Tree Hill or the characters.
Author's note: So here is the third chapter. It's pretty long but I didn't feel like I should cut it into two chapters. Hope you enjoy it!
Chapter III: Happy birthday blues
A few minutes later Nathan heard a knock on the door…
Haley was fast asleep so he rolled her gently off his chest and put some boxers on. A moment later he opened the front door to a sopping wet Brooke Davis.
"Hi Nate, can I come in?" she asked shivering.
Nathan stood there a little dumbfounded for a moment before letting her in.
"What are you doing here? Where's Luke?" he asked her.
Brooke put her suitcases down in the living room and plopped herself on the couch. "I am here because I need to get away from Lucas, away from New York and I guess that anwers your question about him."
"Okay, what's going on? Are you guys having problems?" he asked.
"Yep, the stupid jerk just…he just" she couldn't get more words out, all her mixed emotions were surfacing and she was fighting the tears.
Nathan walked over to the couch and sat down next to her: "It's okay, we don't have to talk about this right now. Look you can stay here for as long as you like. The guest room is all made up, you should get out of these wet clothes and just get some rest. We'll talk about everything in the morning okay?"
Brooke leaned over to Nathan and said: "Thank you, you're the best."
"I know" he said smirking which caused Brooke to smile a little bit.
Haley woke to the sounds of a bird chirping right outside her window, the sun was up on a Saturday morning and she was the happiest she had been in a long time. The moment she realised Nathan wasn't beside her was the exact same moment she heard laughing coming from the kitchen. "What is going on?" she wondered as she put on one of Nathan's t-shirts. She smelled pancakes and figured Nathan was making her breakfast..
Meanwhile in the kitchen Nathan and Brooke were cooking up a storm.
"So do you like cooking shirtless?" Brooke grinned at Nathan.
"Um no, I'm afraid I'm gonna get burned any second now" Nathan responded with a laugh: "but a bet is a bet right?"
"It sure is" Brooke said giggling.
"Brooke!? Oh my god is that you?" Haley had emerged from the bedroom .
"Hey tutor girl!" Brooke exclaimed as she ran to embrace her friend.
Haley was stunned to see Brooke but managed to hug her back: "What are you doing here? Is Lucas with you?" Haley asked beaming.
"Uhh no I" Brooke started to talk but Nathan cut her off: "It's just Brooke, Luke is back in New York. Haley can I talk to you in the bedroom for a sec? Brooke you can watch the pancakes right?"
Both of the girls said: "yeah" in unison as Nathan led Haley to the bedroom. Brooke was thankful to Nathan, he knew she was probably going to start crying again if she had to explain why Lucas wasn't with her.
"Okay what is going on?" Haley asked Nathan as soon as he closed the bedroom door.
"Look Haley, Brooke is going to stay with us for a while. She and Lucas are having some problems, I don't know exactly what is going on but she was really upset last night, she couldn't get two words out without tearing up…I think it's serious." Nathan said.
"Oh my god I had no idea they were having problems…I don't understand why neither one of them would confide in me?" Haley sighed.
"I guess we've drifted apart over the years..I mean they do live in New York and we live in Tree Hill" Nathan felt guilty. "Anyway I worked all morning trying to get her in a good mood and I didn't want her to start talking about Lucas again until she was ready you know?"
"Yeah yeah um..we should get out there and talk to her, make her feel welcome" Haley said.
Nathan took her in his arms: "I love you babe" he mumbled into her hair.
"I'm very fond of you too" Haley smiled…she did feel kinda guilty being so happy when Lucas and Brooke were in limbo.
"Hey you two aren't going at it in there are you?" a voice on the other side of the door yelled.
Nathan and Haley both burst out laughing.
Later that day…
Haley and Brooke were in the car on their way to pick up Jamie from Deb's when Brooke's cell rang. She looked at the caller id and put the phone back in her purse.
"Is it Lucas?" Haley asked Brooke.
"No it's my assistant Milly, I just don't feel like talking to her right now. I'm going to enjoy this day with my best friend and my godson" Brooke said.
"Speaking of best friends, have you heard from Peyton lately?" Haley said cautiously.
"No…but Rachel saw her a couple of weeks ago at a club, she told me she looked like hell" she sighed.
"I wish there was something we could do to help her" Haley half-whispered.
"I gave up on her a long time ago Haley. I had to do it, she's beyond helping" Brooke said in a low voice."Let's not talk about her okay? I just want to have fun today."
Haley nodded. "Noted. Here we are."
They pulled up at Deb's house and Jamie immediately came out running. Haley jumped out of the car.
"Mommy!" he yelled running into Haley's arms.
"Hey sweetie, did you have a good time at grandma's?" she asked her son.
"It was alright..grandma's new boyfriend gave me some candy" Jamie said with a big smile.
"Shush you weren't supposed to tell her that remember?" Deb joked walking down the driveway.
"Hey Deb, new boyfriend huh? Anyone I know?" Haley said grinning at Deb.
Deb rolled her eyes. "Haley I've known John for a while now, and yes we are dating."
"Okay fine..I'll meet him some other time, we gotta go. Thanks for sitting" Haley said. She put Jamie in the car and fastened his seatbelt.
As Haley backed out of the driveway Brooke turned in her seat so she was facing Jamie: "Hey tigger, how have you been?"
Jamie, who hadn't noticed Brooke until then, squeeled with happiness when he saw her. "Aunt Brooke! Hi!"
Brooke was glad to see her godson so happy: "I'm gonna stay with you for a little while, what do you think about that?"
"Really?! That'll be fun! We can play dressup and sing together and play basketball together, is uncle Luke with you too? He can play basketball with us!" Jamie was thrilled to say the least.
"No sweetie, Lucas isn't with me but we're gonna have lots of fun just the two of us. Starting now because we're going shopping yay" Brooke said trying to sound excited.
Haley looked at Jamie in the rear view mirror. "Should I be concerned that you got him into shopping and playing dressup?" she said to Brooke.
"Maybe" Brooke replied laughing.
Later that night…
Nathan was putting Jamie to bed and Haley was offering Brooke a glass of wine in the living room.
"I'd love a glass of wine thanks" Brooke smiled at Haley.
Haley poured her a glass of red."So how are you feeling? Are you ready to talk about Lucas yet?"
Brooke looked down for a minute and then up at Haley: "No not really…I don't even want to think about him right now" she had tears in her eyes.
"Brooke whatever it is, I'm sure you'll work it out. You two have been through so much and fought so hard to be together that this can't be the end."
Brooke was grateful to Haley but she knew things would never be the same again: "Thanks Hales but I'm afraid this might be the end, I don't see how we could ever get past this. A year ago I was the happiest girl on the planet, remember my birthday party here in Tree Hill? It was so amazing, I had everyone there who I loved in the same room celebrating with me and Luke and I were so in love. The only downside was that Peyton wasn't there…and now everything is ruined" tears began streaming down Brooke's face: "How did I get to here Haley? Why did I even consider taking Lucas back? He had hurt me so much before and I was the stupid idiot to trust him again. I even lost my best friend in the process..for good."
"Hey Peyton taking drugs again was not your fault okay?" Haley looked Brooke in the eye: "Peyton already had a weakness for drugs, remember when she did cocaine with that Rick guy?"
"Yes I remember that but if it wasn't for me and Lucas she never would have turned to drugs again. I tried, we both tried our best to help her but she was so angry at us that she just sank deeper and deeper" Brooke was now full on crying.
" Nathan and I also tried to help her, we all did but she didn't want any help and until she does there's nothing that we can do so just stop worrying about her and stop blaming yourself Brooke. You're a good person and a good friend and there's nothing that you can say that will convince me otherwise" Haley said to a sobbing Brooke.
To Haley's surprise Brooke put her arms around her: "If anybody's a good friend, that's you" she whispered. "Even though you forgot my birthday."
Haley pulled out of the hug: "Oh my god it's your birthday, I totally forgot I'm so sorry."
"It's fine, you're not the only one. Nobody has wished me happy birthday today except my assistant but she's an ass-kisser so" Brooke said wiping her tears away.
Haley gave her a small smile: "I love you Brooke and I hope this birthday was alright."
"Are you kidding? It was great, spending the day with you and Jamie was perfect" Brooke smiled back.
"Good. Well I'm off to bed, don't stay up too late" Haley said before getting up and walking to the bedroom.
Brooke went to bed as well, before turning off the light she said to herself: "Happy birthday Brooke, welcome to twenty-three. You've certainly made a mess of it."
Twenty minutes later Brooke's cell rang on the nightstand, she was finally drifting off to sleep so she was very annoyed before looking at the caller id. It said: Rachel.
"Hey ho what's up?" Brooke said when she flipped her cell open.
"Hey you crazy bitch, happy birthday!" Rachel almost yelled on the other end. It sounded like she was in a bar.
"Thanks, well at least one person remembered" Brooke smiled. "Where are you?"
"I'm at a bar with this boring girl I did a shoot with today, why don't you come so we can celebrate your birthday together?" Rachel said.
"I can't, I'm in Tree Hill" Brooke said.
"Well so am I you dingbat, I talked to Lucas and he told me that you were here. You're coming to Mclaren's right now okay?" Rachel was persistent.
Brooke nudged herself up in the bed. "You talked to Lucas? What else did he say?"
"I'll tell you when you get down here, put on something sexy and call a cab, I'll be waiting" Rachel rolled off her tongue in one breath and then hung up.
"Wait Rachel!" Brooke sighed and put the phone back on the nightstand. She thought about it for a minute and then decided to go meet her. She put on a slinky, black dress and black leather boots before heading out the door.
Fifteen minutes later Brooke was at Mclaren's bar scanning the room. She saw Rachel sitting at the bar with a drink in hand.
"Hi" Brooke said with a smile.
Rachel turned to see Brooke standing next to her so she gave her a hug: "You look almost as hot as me" she said flashing a smile.
"I haven't heard that line for a long time" Brooke said. She had forgotten how much fun it was to hang out with Rachel. "So what are you doing in Tree Hill?"
"I had a shoot here today for Versace. It was really hot" Rachel said grinning: "And I'm also seeing a guy who's from Tree Hill believe it or not."
"I don't believe it" Brooke blurted out. "Sorry but I didn't think you'd go for the small town type of guy."
"He actually lives in New York, he's just here visiting his parents this week. Anyway I really like this guy. I'll tell you all about him just let me get us some cocktails, why don't you grab us a table?" Rachel said giving the bartender a signal.
"Fine" Brooke mumbled as she walked over to an empty table. A minute later Rachel walked over holding two appletinis.
"So tell me about this guy" Brooke said taking a sip of her drink.
"He's really really hot" Rachel started with the basics: "and smart and nice and very good in bed" she said winking at Brooke.
Brooke couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sorry I don't mean to laugh but I've never heard you talk about a guy like this before. Are you serious about him?"
"I think I'm falling for him..it's weird but I haven't felt this way since Cooper and that was a long time ago" Rachel said.
"Too long ago" Brooke responded. "You deserve a good guy Rachel, I hope you'll be very happy together."
"Thanks" Rachel looked down. "There is one drawback though."
"Is he married?" Brooke joked.
"No" Rachel stuck her tongue out at Brooke: "he's got a daughter, she's like six years old which is weird because he is our age. Anyway I don't think she likes me..and she's right not to I mean I'm not exactly the motherly type" Rachel said holding up her glass.
"Wait rewind, he's got a six year old daughter?" Brooke couldn't believe it: "No it can't be."
"What?" Rachel replied.
"Is his name Jake? Jake Jagielski?" a wide-eyed Brooke asked Rachel.
"Yeah do you know him?" Rachel replied.
"Oh my god that is so weird..yeah I know him, he used to go to Tree Hill high until he and Jenny had to move away because Jenny's mother kept hazzling them, that was junior year" Brooke didn't think Rachel would go for someone like Jake and vice versa so this was very surprising.
"Oh I didn't know he went to Tree Hill high, he just told me he moved away from Tree Hill a long time ago. I told him I spent my senior year here and he said that he had been gone by then" Rachel said: "Oh give me all the dirt! Who did he date? Did he sleep around? Wait, you haven't slept with him have you?"
Brooke tried to look offended but this was just too funny not to laugh: "No I haven't slept with him, he did sleep with Peyton though. They dated just before he left town."
"Peyton? You have got to be kidding me?" Rachel said raising an eyebrow.
"Nope, they were pretty hot and heavy there for a little while. Why does that surprise you?" Brooke asked.
"I don't know, she just doesn't seem like his type" Rachel said.
Brooke smirked. "Honey you don't seem like his type."
"Whatever" Rachel groaned.
An unattractive man walked up to their table and was about to utter some lame pick-up line when Rachel beat him to the punch and said: "We're not interested. Beat it nerd." The man walked away in disappointment, Brooke couldn't believe what Rachel had just said to the poor guy and was about to comment on it when she remembered that she used to do the same thing, if anything she had been even worse.
" So are you gonna tell me what happened with you and Lucas? He sure isn't talking" Rachel asked.
Brooke was caught off guard: "Um right uhh no I'm not ready to talk about it yet. But I want to know what he sounded like, what did he say?"
"You two are like the biggest drama queens ever to have walked this planet" Rachel smirked: "but I'll tell you what he said. I asked him what you guys did for your birthday and he said that you were in Tree Hill, then I asked him why and he just mumbled something about having to get back to work or whatever. He sounded awful, about as bad as you look right now" Rachel couldn't help but worry.
Brooke suddenly felt nauseous and ran to the restroom. When she got in there she knew she didn't need to vomit, she splashed some cold water on her neck and looked in the mirror. She did look awful and she wanted to go back to Nathan and Haley's to get some sleep. Rachel stepped up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder: "It's gonna be alright" she said looking at Brooke in the mirror. Brooke turned around and fell into Rachel's arms. She was crying. Rachel held her as tight as she could and repeated the words she said before: "it's gonna be alright." She didn't know what else to say.
