Disclaimer: I own nothing OTH related:(
Author's note: Hey sorry I took so long to add this chapter but I couldn't figure out a way to end it. I need inspiration..Anywho here is the next chapter. Enjoy and happy new year!
Chapter XI: People are strange
Brooke walked frantically down the halls of Mount Sinai hospital. "Where is the damn front desk." She thought to herself, a second later she found a nurse and asked her, turns out she had used the wrong entrance and the front desk was in another wing of the hospital. The nurse gave her directions and she found it . "Any news on Peyton Sawyer? Can I see her?" Brooke asked the receptionist who was on the phone, she signalled Brooke to give her a minute. After a lot of sighing and finger tapping on Brooke's part the phone call was finally over and the receptionist turned to Brooke: "Yes miss?"
"Davis, Brooke Davis. Look I need to know where Peyton Sawyer is? Is she ok?" Brooke blurted out in one breath.
"I'm sorry miss Davis but I can only give out this information to family members." The receptionist said calmly.
"What!? She's my best friend! I've known her practically my whole life!" Brooke argued.
"I'm sorry but it's hospital policy." The receptionist replied.
"Looks like somebody's a little drunk on power! I'm telling you one phone call to my lawyer and your ass is fired! You'll be out of here faster than a-" Brooke yelled before getting cut off.
"Brooke it's okay, I'm here." Larry was standing behind Brooke and had heard her yelling all the way down the hall.
Brooke turned around: "Oh hi Larry. Mister Sawyer. Larry Sawyer." She said before realizing how stupid she sounded.
"Just call me Larry." He said and gave her a faint smile. "Come with me. Peyton's in a room down the hall."
"Okay." Brooke said and then followed Larry.
"I must warn you, she doesn't look good." Larry said as they walked down the hall.
Brooke wasn't at all prepared for what she saw. Peyton was lying in a hospital bed with all kinds of tubes and machines hooked up to her. She was so pale that she could count the veins she saw through her skin.Brooke gasped a little when she saw her but she didn't want Larry to panic so she composed herself quickly. She walked over to Peyton's bedside and took her hand.
"Oh P.Sawyer what have you done to yourself" she said.
"She's in a coma. The doctors don't know if she can hear us but it's a good idea to talk to her." Larry said.
Brooke looked up at him: "What happened?"
"I don't know the full story, apparently some friend of hers called an ambulance after finding her in an alley behind a club. She had stopped breathing." Larry said, his voice was shaky.
"Oh my god she stopped breathing? For how long?" Brooke asked him.
"I don't know…" Larry said before turning away. He stared out the window for a moment and then turned back to Brooke. "Brooke when was the last time you saw her? Talked to her?"
"Earlier tonight actually. We barely spoke two words to each other though…she seemed fine." Brooke sighed.
"She seemed fine to you?" Larry asked again.
"Yeah I was so surprised when you called me that I dropped the phone. I didn't expect this at all." Brooke said still holding Peyton's hand.
"So nothing happened between you two that might have set this off?" Larry said while rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well not with me and her but I did see her talking to Lucas, she slapped him and then stormed off. I don't know what they were talking about but it seemed pretty brutal." Brooke said.
"Lucas…right do you have his number?" Larry asked.
"Sure." Brooke said pulling out her cell phone. She flipped trough her phonebook and found Lucas' entry, then she handed the phone to Larry.
Larry looked at Brooke's cell and punched in Lucas' number on his own cell. Then he handed Brooke her phone back and left the room.
Brooke scanned the room to find a chair. She found an old plastic one and pulled it up to Peyton's bedside. She took a seat and grabbed a hold of Peyton's hand again. It was cold and clammy. "Peyton, I know that we haven't been the best of friends lately but I want you to know that I'm here for you…I'll always be here for you." Brooke said to her oldest friend.
"Brooke I called Lucas and he's on his way." Larry said walking back into the room.
Brooke flinched. Her initial reaction was to run a mile so she wouldn't have to face him but then she remembered the hand she was holding. She couldn't leave her.
"I'm hoping he has some answers as to what happened." Larry said to Brooke.
"Yeah that makes sense." Brooke said.
"Look I gotta go take care of something at work. It won't take long but would you mind staying with her while I'm gone?" Larry said.
"Sure no problem." Brooke smiled.
"Thank you." Larry smiled back, he said goodbye to his daughter and then left.
An hour later Brooke was asleep on the uncomfortable plastic chair. She hadn't planned on falling asleep but she was so tired from having stayed up all night that she dozed off. She woke up to someone nudging her shoulder and saying her name.
"Brooke wake up." He said.
Brooke heard Lucas' voice asking her to wake up. It had happened many times before as she had the habit of dozing off during odd hours. She smiled to herself, her sweetheart was waking her up. It was one of the best feelings in the world and for a moment she got it back, that was before coming out of her daze and fully awakening. She looked around a bit disoriented, she had a blanket on and she was sleeping in a chair, then she remembered. She looked over at Peyton as she sat up in the chair. She looked the same as before. Then she turned her gaze to Lucas. He was standing next to her.
"Hi." She said in her raspy voice as she ran a hand through her hair.
"Hi." He replied. He was happy to see her but he couldn't let on. "Where's Larry?"
"Umm he had some work to do, he said he'd be back soon though." Brooke said.
Lucas buried his hands deep in his pockets and stared at the ceiling. He had a hard time looking at Peyton because of how terrible she looked and he also had a hard time looking at Brooke out of fear that she would see the truth in his eyes.
"Can you believe it has come to this? I mean, she overdosed on heroin. I never thought it would go this far." Brooke said as she eyed Peyton.
"I know…and it's all my fault." Lucas said before taking a few steps around the room.
"I know you've always blamed yourself and so have I but.." Brooke got cut off.
"No I don't mean that. I mean about last night. This incident. This overdose. It wasn't an accident, at least I don't think so. She meant to overdose. I think she was trying to kill herself." Lucas said. He had placed his eyes on the floor now and he couldn't tear them away.
Brooke cringed at Lucas' words. "What do you mean? Is this about the fight you two had at Avalon?" She said.
Lucas looked surprised. Did Brooke overhear them?
"I saw you guys fighting. I didn't hear what it was about though." She said.
Lucas sighed and secretly thanked God. "She thought that she and I were getting back together, when I told her that it wasn't gonna happen she flipped out."
"Because of Julianne.." Brooke half-whispered.
"Yeah..yeah." He said.
"So she didn't know about Julianne up until then?" Brooke asked.
Lucas was getting nervous with all the questions about Julianne. He swallowed a big gulp of saliva and then said: "No..I hadn't told her yet."
"Right..I talked to her right before she talked to you last night and she told me that you two were getting back together, I thought she was just toying with me but she actually believed it." Brooke glanced over at Peyton.
"Yeah she was a bit delusional..must have been the drugs." He said.
"Yeah.." Brooke said.
The room fell silent. It was an awkward silence between three people who had spent years in a tumultous triangle of love, betrayal and jealousy. Thankfully Lucas' cell phone started ringing and he picked it up. "Hi what's up?" He said as he answered and then he turned his back to Brooke and Peyton. As he continued on talking Brooke leaned in to Peyton's ear and mumbled in a sarcastic tone that the lovely Julianne must be the one he's talking to.
"Sure I can meet you there. At noon? Okay see you then. Bye." He hung up the phone and then turned back to Brooke and Peyton. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine." Brooke smiled, she smiled because she had a plan.
A few moments later Larry returned and greeted Lucas. They talked about what happened at Avalon the previous night and Larry seemed satisified with Lucas' answers, although he left out the part that he thought Peyton did this on purpose.
The three of them talked for a little while until Lucas realized that the clock was closing in on noon. He told Brooke and Larry that he had to leave for work but really he had an appointment during lunch, unbeknownst to him Brooke was going to follow. About 5 seconds after Lucas left, Brooke told Larry that she was going to get something to eat. She walked down the hall and saw Lucas exit the building, he waved down a Taxi and as soon as it sped off Brooke caught one too. She told the driver to follow the cab that was right in front of them and meanwhile she picked up her cell phone and dialed Rachel's number.
"Hi scheming bitch. What's up?" Rachel said on the other end.
"Hi Rachel, you're gonna think I'm crazy but I'm in a cab following Lucas who is in another cab."
"Why?" Rachel simply asked.
"Because we were in the hospital and…well it's a long story but I think he's going to meet Julianne for lunch and I really need to see what she looks like and how they are together so I'm following him." Brooke blurted out in one breath. "Yep this is what I have become: a pathetic stalker to my ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend."
"Wow slow down. You were in the hospital? Why? They can't cure slutiness." Rachel said.
"Ha ha very funny and yeah I'm fine, it's not me. Look I'll call you later and tell you everything cause Lucas' cab just pulled over." Brooke said and then hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
She watched Lucas step out of his cab. It was right in front of a restaurant called Il mare, he took a quick look around and then entered the restaurant. Brooke paid her cab driver and then got out, she put on her sunglasses in hopes of not being recognized as she walked fast into the restaurant. She had only walked a few feet in when she saw Lucas sitting down at a table, she hurried behind a column and hid, a few weird glares later she peeked out to find Lucas looking annoyed at the person he was sitting with, she inched herself a little further out from the column to see the much talked about Julianne and there she was. In all her glory. Brooke was schocked, Julianne looked nothing like she had expected. She picked up her phone and called Rachel again.
"Hey what happened with Lucas?" Rachel asked.
"I'm in a restaurant watching him with Julianne. I finally got a good look at her." Brooke whispered.
"And???" Rachel was curious.
"She's….old!" Brooke said.
"What!? He left you for some old hag? At least tell me she's a cougar!" Rachel almost yelled.
"No she's not a cougar. I'd say far from it. She's not bad looking but she's certainly not attractive. She's got to be about 45 years old..this woman can't be Julianne. Or is she?" Brooke said astounded at what she was seeing.
"Okay this doesn't make any sense. Say what you want about Lucas but he's always had good taste in women's looks, I mean he thinks I'm hot right?" Rachel said.
"Rachel would you stop making this about you! I'm spying on my ex here and I really need to stay focused!" Brooke was getting annoyed with Rachel.
"Sorry. So I've got a plan. Go over there and "accidentally" bump into them. Then he'll have to introduce you and then you'll know for sure if it's her. If you don't you'll always wonder…" Rachel said.
Brooke thought about what Rachel was saying for a moment, she was right. She had to find out if this was Julianne. "Gotta go, call you later bye." She said and then hung up. She took off her sunglasses and looked at herself in them, she looked okay considering everything that had happened and the little sleep she got. She ran a few fingers through her hair and put her sunglasses in it, then she casually walked into the restaurant dining area as if she had just entered the place. She saw that Lucas noticed her coming and tried to hide behind his menu. "So pathetic.." she mumbled to herself. A moment later she was standing at their table and Lucas realized that the menu hadn't worked very well. "Hi Brooke. What are you doing here?"
"I'm having lunch. Just like you seem to be doing. Only with company." Brooke turned her head to the woman who smirked at her: " You must be Julianne right?"
"Julianne?" The woman said still smirking at Brooke.
"Uh no this is Monica. We work together." Lucas explained to Brooke. Then he turned to Monica: "Monica, this is Brooke Davis, fashion designer."
"I know who she is. Clothes over bro's. I'm a fan of your work miss Davis." She said while exposing her snaggle teeth.
"Thank you. So you work with Lucas at Random House? Then you must know Julianne?" Brooke said.
Lucas started sweating.
"Um no I don't know her. Should I?" Monica said turning to Lucas.
"Well she is Lucas' new girlfriend and office romances rarely go unnoticed." Brooke shot in before Lucas could utter a word.
Monica let out a sour laugh: "Sorry sweetheart but I don't keep up with who's dating who at the office. Now excuse me, I must go to the ladies." She said before grabbing her purse and marching her navy-suited figure to the bathroom.
Lucas sank down in his chair. Brooke was way too close to finding out the truth.
"What's going on Lucas?" Brooke asked Lucas with folded arms.
"Nothing. What do you mean? I can't have lunch with a co-worker?" Lucas said.
"Something is up. I know you." She said looking into his eyes, she saw fear and doubt.
"Nothing is up alright!" Lucas said as he threw his napkin on the table. Then he stood up and leaned close to Brooke: "Stop it okay. Whatever you're doing. Just stop it." He said in a serious voice.
Brooke leaned back: "Are you threatening me? This isn't like you Lucas. Something is very wrong."
"Stop it okay!" Lucas shouted. Heads turned in the restaurant but Brooke didn't waver.
"What are you hiding that's so bad?" Brooke said in a calm voice, she didn't want to yell back.
Lucas' eyes looked like they were going to drill holes into Brooke's head. Then he half-whispered with a somber voice: "Leave it." And then he walked away.
Brooke stared at the wall for a moment and then walked out too. She saw Lucas get into a cab, he was on his cell-phone, probably calling Monica to explain his sudden departure she assumed. Brooke tried hailing a cab but had no luck, while she was trying Monica came out of the restaurant. She lit up a cigarette and glared at Brooke.
"What?" Brooke said to her.
"Nothing. It's just so sweet that you still see Lucas as that innocent boy who does no wrong. He's not perfect you know." Monica said puffing out smoke.
"Trust me. I know" Brooke said while waving the smoke away. "So you really don't know who Julianne is?" Brooke asked again.
"No. It's a big company, lots of divisions." She said.
"But you and Lucas must work in the same division right?" Brooke asked.
"Sure we do." Monica said baring her ugly teeth again.
"Well Julianne is in Lucas' division if I remember correctly so therefore she must be in your division." Brooke stated.
"It's a big division sweetheart. Why do you care so much about this Julianne girl anyway? Is it because she stole your precious boyfriend and now you're all alone? Boo hoo." Monica said.
"Okay you don't even know me. How dare you talk to me this way??" Brooke said.
"Whatever sweetheart." She simply said and then kept on puffing.
"Ugh finally!" Brooke yelled as a yellow cab pulled up next to her. She got in and noticed Monica glaring at her from the sidewalk. That woman creeped her out.
