Pairing: BL with minor NH (BH, BP & BR friendship)
Disclaimer: I don't own OTH, some guy Mark does. But I hear he's not making BL go through as nearly as much angst and trouble as I am so I guess that's a good thing then.
AN: Finally, here is another chapter of Life for rent. And please don't forget to leave me a review because I really love to hear what you guys think!
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Chapter 8: The space they can't touch
"And sometimes I just wish you could rescue me…"
"From what?"
"From all of it."
"Okay then…I will…but if you promise to rescue me back."
"I promise…" - Lucas and Brooke OTH 3x17
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whenever your will starts crashing down
that's when you'll find me.
----BL----
The game was well into its second quarter and the old Ravens team was losing. The current Ravens team lead by Quentin was kicking their ass and Luke has joined them in to try and change the numbers that were highlighted on the black score board right now even though he didn't plan on playing until the final quarter. He may be reckless with his next book but he didn't like taking the same risk with his health. Not anymore.
Brooke was never a big fan of sports (Pilates and yoga excluded) but at the moment her eyes were glued to the court as she watched Luke score another three points for the team. Her lips turned up into a smile as Luke high-fived Nate before resuming the game.
"Watching this game brings out so many memories…" Rachel said evocatively.
"You never played sports." Brooke pointed out.
"Not those sorts of memories." Rachel said with a smug smile on her dark red lips.
"What are you…" Brooke said finally looking away from the court to face her friend as she finally realized what she was saying "Aw, that's just…aw."
"When did you date a basketball player?" Peyton asked, grateful for a distraction from a game. Even if it was a bad one. She loved Jake but sadly the same didn't apply to basketball.
"Who said anything about dating?"
"In that case…aw, I don't wanna know." Peyton agreed with Brooke.
"What are you guys talking about?" Haley asked.
"Let's just say, Jason Roberts, this gym after nine pm and me in a very short skirt."
"Oh you mean you two…"
"Yes." Rachel said as Brooke and Peyton looked at her, not all that surprised "Ah, to be young and foolish again…"
"Yeah…" Haley agreed, dreamily.
"Wait, you're agreeing with her?" Brooke asked, confused.
"Kind of."
"Haley, what are you trying to say…"
"Let's just say…Nathan Scott, an empty court at night, a picnic blanket and of course, me. Although there was a sprinkles incident that occured on that night so it wasn't all that…"
"Could you two be any more annoying?" Rachel commented as Haley just laughed, a little embarrassed.
"I'm in shock." Brooke said. "I think I may be in dangerous of fainting as a result of this news. Tutor mom, thank you for one very unpleasant mental image that will proceed to attack my brain every time I see you and Nate together in the same room."
"Brooke..." Haley started but was interrupted by Rachel.
"What? I'm surprised you and Blake haven't done it. Didn't he play sports baseball or something like that?"
"No he didn't. But he was the captain of his football team for two years in collage but I didn't know him back then. We met later."
"How unfortunate for you." Haley joked.
"Who's Blake?" Rachel asked.
"Brooke's fiancé."
"You're engaged to someone other than lover boy over there?" Rachel almost shrieked as Brooke gave her the warning look.
"How could you miss that enormous rock on her hand?" Peyton asked.
"Okay, now I'm in shock." Rachel announced.
But Brooke wasn't paying much attention to the conversation at hand or her shocked friend. Her eyes were focused on the court yet again or more precisely on a certain blonde guy who was currently sitting at the bench by the court, for players only, breathing heavily.
After roughly fifteen minutes of playing on one of the time outs he has approached Nathan and whispered something in his ear, probably that he'd had enough which was perfectly fine since he didn't plan on playing longer anyhow. But the look on his face was the one of disappointment and needless to say Brooke was worried. In strictly friendly way, of course.
She made a resolution to go down and ask him was he alright on the next half time when it would be easier to get through the crowd that was obstructing her path now, but that never happened since Lucas walked out of the gym not even five minutes later just as Nathan scored a two pointer that put their team into lead.
"Excuse me guys I have to go." Brooke said quickly, putting down her Coke.
"Brooke what are you…" Rachel said as Brooke walked pass her.
"I have to go." she said "You guys stay." she assured them before hurrying towards the exit.
----BL----
Walking out of that gym was one of those things you do on impulse without really thinking about it. But now as she walked down the beach, in hopes of seeing him, she began to doubt her rash decision. When he walked out of the gym she followed, not knowing why. And right now she was starting to think she should've stayed there after all.
He obviously wanted to be alone. Her presence was not needed, especially if she had no magic words to say to make it all better. To top it off, she wasn't even sure what the exact reason of his abrupt departure was and what she was trying to fix in the first place.
Just as she was about to change her mind, and give up on this whole quest she spotted him. Or more precisely his frame, hidden by a dark cape of the night. She let out a sigh of relief, taking off her shoes and walked to the water, with slow measured steps thinking how easy it would be to just turn and walk away but knowing she would never do that. Not when he was just a few feet away, hurting.
A friend in her felt the need to tell him it will be alright but that hidden small, maybe selfish part of her wanted to hold him close and kiss the pain away.
In the end she did neither. Instead she sat in the sand next to him without a word, with nothing more to offer but her company. All she could hope was that it was enough.
"Its cold tonight." he said, clearing his throat.
"I don't really…" she started only to get distracted by his hands wrapping around her as he held his coat up and pulled it around her slender shoulders, his eyes finding her hazel ones "…mind." she finished softly.
"But I do." he retorted "I wouldn't want you to get a pneumonia because of me."
"I'm a taught gal, I don't get sick that easily." she said with a smile, wrapping that coat just a little tighter around her.
He noticed "I know you are but even you can't win against the cold nights in Tree Hill."
"Oh, this is nothing compared to how it gets around three or four am." she commented.
"How would you know?"
"I had my fair share of nights, or should I say mornings of returning home in a mini skirt, warm jacket nowhere in sight, back in the day." she said.
"Well, you're wrong." he stated.
"What do you mean by that?"
"It's the coldest just before the daybreak, when the fog is still thick outside, making the glass of the windows frosted and the streets are quiet, leaving you with that deep, lingering feeling of desolation." he explained, watching the waves rise and fall not far away from where they were sitting.
She shivered, not from the cold but from the familiarity of it all. She knew the feeling he described all too well. "I never was a fan of early mornings."
He smiled, just a small curl of lips, a soft sound barely audible against the water but it was a step forward no matter how tiny. And it made it all that much harder to ask the question she needed to ask sooner or later.
"What happened out there Luke?"
"Nothing." he said quickly, almost as if he was expecting her to ask this. "It's just that being there tonight…and actually playing basketball with the guys, with the crowd cheering…I forgot how good that felt."
"You didn't lose that." she pointed out quietly. "Basketball I mean. You just…"
"Yes I have. And I've made peace with it a long time ago. But all this brought those feelings and memories back and I guess I just need some time to process it, but I'll be fine."
"I know." she said, adding "It was nice though… seeing you guys out there again."
He nodded with a sigh.
"Yes it was, but it's not just that. Back then…when I was seventeen… I knew why I was playing basketball, why I wanted to go to college or pursue my writing career…and now…" he paused "Now I don't."
"Yeah, nowadays I don't know why I even go to work every day anymore." she agreed thinking how determined she used to was about making it as a designer, and having her own fashion line. Now when she finally had all of that she couldn't help but feel like she was cheated. You weren't supposed get sick of your dream job when you're barely passed your twenties.
"If it's that bad, why do you do it?" he asked with a frown.
"Because I…" she paused, not really sure she was ready to admit this to herself, let alone him "I knew once." Brooke whispered, the confession sounding foreign to her own ears more than to his.
"I know what you mean." He agreed. It was weird but somehow when he was younger he was so determined to make his own decisions about everything, going against everything and everyone and these days, he was just going with the flow, where ever the river took him he followed. The only thing that bothered him was that all that sounded a lot like giving up.
"But I'm hoping to find that again. I have to." she said, her voice filled with certainty as they both pretended they didn't hear that small tremble there too "Otherwise, what's the point?"
"You will." he assured her, his voice firm, unwavering.
And that was all she needed. Without even thinking about it she lowered her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes, letting his words sink in, wrap around her like a warm blanket, offering comfort and in this case, hope.
It was little moments like this that made life worth living, and it was those little moments she missed the most.
"You know I missed you." he confessed, his hand somehow finding hers. She felt it, his warm fingers warming up her cold hand and sending shock waves through her body.
"I missed you too." she heard herself say, swallowing hard, her eyes never leaving his. Tonight she was doing something she hasn't in a long, long time – trusting Lucas Scott with her heart. It was all there for him to take or break, she had no more control left. It slipped once his eyes locked with hers, and as inevitably as that wave that was about to crash at the cliffs in the distance by the pier, his lips found hers. It was almost timid at first, their lips barely touching, yet she felt her whole body go limp at his touch.
She pulled him gently by the shirt, wanting to be closer, giving in to something she thought was lost then, wanting to deepen the kiss, all of her defenses melting away like sugar in hot chocolate on a cold winter morning and he complied, his hand reaching behind her waist, leaning in, without breaking the kiss. When their tongues met with such ease she almost forgot to breathe, the familiarity of it all hitting her all at once, making the last barrier, filled with all her insecurities and doubts, fall. This was one thing they always agreed on, complimenting each other perfectly without exceptions.
And then her hand was on his chest, feeling his heart beating under her fingers and his hand moving up her back slowly sending shivers down her spine. At that moment with her eyes closed, she didn't think about anything, letting her other senses take the wheel. She felt his heart beat, his fingers dancing over her soft skin. She heard his breath hitch as she deepened the kiss.
She heard a loud, repetitive sound somewhere in the background but was too distracted to pay attention. Not when his fingers were tracing a line down her neck, just behind her ear as if they knew just where she was the weakest. And in a way, they did.
But somehow Lucas pulled away as if coming back from a dream, with that jerking motion, the noise getting him back to reality. It wasn't until that sudden loss of his touch, of his closeness that she realized that the noise in question was actually her phone. Without a word, she pulled it out and answered her eyes searching for his as she instinctively brushed her fingers across her swollen lips.
Her lip gloss was smeared, her big hazel eyes looking at him and the only thing that stopped Luke from kissing her right then and there was her raspy voice as she said "Hello?" stopping the song Summer love from right before it got to the chorus.
"You slut, how could you leave me alone here?"
"What are…"
"I had just spent half an hour listening to Haley and Peyton lead the most uninteresting conversation ever!"
"Rachel why are you…"
"Don't you Rachel me. Why did you just leave in the middle of the game like that?"
"I just went to get some fresh air and…" she lied.
"Well you should've called, Peyton and Haley have been worried because you didn't even call and the game is almost over, and then they even got me all concerned and... Seriously, if I wanted to get this upset I'd adopt a five year old B Davis."
"Sorry about that."
"Yeah well… And how much fresh air do you actually need anyways? It's been half an hour!"
"I'm thinking I'll just head back home so..."
"Oh, no you won't. You can't leave me with these two alone. Besides they're all going for drinks later to celebrate or whatever and so help me God you're going too."
"Rach…"
"You owe me."
"Fine, I'll be there in ten."
"As in ten minutes? Aren't you like twenty feet away from here?"
"Can we not do this right now?"
"Sure." she finally let it go "But I was just wondering where is Lucas. He left so suddenly…."
"I'm hanging up now."
"Ten it is then."
"Bye slut."
"Bitch. Say hi to Luke…"
Brooke didn't let her finish, shutting her phone off quickly.
Brooke swallowed as she faced Lucas trying to find words to say but all she managed was to open her mouth and close them, letting the heavy silence surround them, making the air around them heavier with each passing second. God, she should really say something. Rachel was waiting for her.
Luke was waiting.
"I should go." he announced, after what seemed like ages, shifting uncomfortably, refusing to face her. What had he done? She was engaged to another man, for God's sake.
"Luke it's not like that. I'm not…" she started, unsure where to begin with explaining this to him. It was like instead of finding her way out of this mess she was just sinking deeper and deeper into the quicksand.
"Sorry, I should probably take you back to your hotel." he said, searching for his car keys in his jeans pockets before realizing his car was still at Tree Hill High.
"No, I'm going back to the game, I promised Rachel I would." she said, even though his suggestion sounded much more tempting. Forcing a smile she looked at him, clearing her throat "And seriously? Don't you wanna be there when Nathan scores that winning shot?"
He looked at her for a long, hard moment as if he wasn't sure he heard her correctly as he thought of a million things he wanted to tell her, to ask her but then he said "Oh, we won't win that game Brooke." with that sad, half smile on his face.
She pursed her lips, not too happy with his answer and he barely managed not to comment on how cute she looked. "But what if we do? Do you wanna miss the opportunity to tease your students about losing against the oldies?" she asked, offering him her hand to stand up. "Besides, your car is still there and you can't walk home." she pointed out.
"True."
"So what do you say? You with me?"
He considered his options for a full minute and then said "Always." before putting his hand into hers. He couldn't say no to that smile.
"Let's go broody." she said, helping him stand up, feeling his warm breath on her neck as he moved closer, his eyes running from her neck up to her eyes as she swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling dry.
It was then that she knew, yes, it was hard for them to be together when everything and everyone seemed to want to break them apart but damn it, it was harder to be just friends.
Tonight, after the game, she decided she'd tell him everything.
----BL----
"You've got to be kidding me!"
"I'm not, she ran straight for that pole but was so drunk that she totally missed it and landed flat on her butt."
"Hales." he repeated for the third time, disbelief written all over his handsome features.
"Yup. But thankfully no one was injured. Except Haley's pride that is."
"Thank you so much for giving up your blackmail material." he said.
"You're welcome. Besides we're adults now, blackmailing is childish." she said, as she walked down the parking lot, a few feet ahead of Luke "Or so I've heard."
"Thank God I never gave you any…"
She smiled in that devilish kind of way and he knew he was in trouble.
"Oh, what about my red sweats?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"That was just one time. I was spending the night at your place and I forgot to bring any spare clothes!" he said as his face turned three shades of red in a matter of seconds.
"You looked really sexy in those." she teased. "Red is so your color." she said before bursting into laughter.
"Hey, it was your fault I ruined my jeans."
"It's not my fault you're scared of a little water." she said, innocently.
"You pulled me in that bathtub while I was fully clothed!" he said and instantly regretted ever bringing that up. It made being next to her and doing nothing all that much harder. "Those jeans were drenched! It took me two days to fully dry them." he added.
"Okay, I plead the fifth on that one." she said jokingly.
"You're so not getting away that easily. I know a story or two about you that surpass the red sweats by far." he said, with that half smilrk on his lips.
"You wouldn't…" she warned.
"Let's see…" he said, thinking "Remember the Target incident?" he asked arching an eyebrow in challenge.
"Okay, that was a little misjudgment on my side…" She laughed as they entered the gym and he pulled her aside, putting his arms around her in order to avoid colliding with some students that were leaving the building.
"You really need to watch where you're going." he said still not letting her go. She tended to get distracted when she was laughing at something and he always found it awfully adorable, unable to take his eyes off of her.
"That's why I have you here to catch me." she retorted, turning to look up at his eyes, words coming out of her mouth before she got a chance to reconsider. This was the second time tonight she did something on impulse and that almost never ended well.
She watched as his smile faded away replaced with something else, something a lot like…
"There you are guys." Haley said cheerfully taking them out of their own stupor and back to reality. "I've been looking…"
"What th…" Brooke stuttered.
"Never mind, you came just in time. We won, can you believe it?" Haley said with a smile.
"No…" they both said in unison, sounding almost a little disappointed by it.
"Well it was only by a point but I think it's sort of a miracle." Haley rambled.
"There were a few of those tonight."
"Yes, there were. In fact there's one standing by the bleachers for you Brooke." Haley said.
"What are you…" she started looking straight ahead, trying to see what Haley was trying to tell her when she saw him. White wool sweater, dark brown jacket, short brown hair, yes it was most certainly him. Her fiancé.
When he saw her, recognition and something much like dread reflected in his dark brown eyes and Brooke could feel Luke's hands slip away, letting her go.
She didn't turn to see his face but walked forward ignoring Peyton and Rachel that were standing not too far from Blake looking almost concerned, automatically closing the gap between her and him. He abandoned his stand in an instant coming to face her. And just like that he pulled her into a hug, squeezing her just a little too tight. But that didn't hurt her nearly as much as those blue eyes that stared back at her, and she could read one emotion clearly there, defeat.
But before Blake looked at her with dark eyes she thought that despite everything this night would stay burned in her mind for years to come as a night when real love seemed possible. But instead she has come to remember it by something else, something a lot less pleasant.
"Blake, what happened?"
"It's Victoria." he retorted all too quietly and she was almost positive she heard him wrong because of all the noise surrounding them when he added "She's been in an accident, Brooke."
----BL----