Sorry for the lack of update. School started and I was kind of a little lost as of what i wanted to do. But now im coming up with more ideas. im not going to be updating during the weekdays, so watch out for updates on weekends. Enjoy & Review!!!
OTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTHOTH
Chapter 15: Do What You Can
Maybe she was in over her head. Maybe she was doing this to insult Peyton even more. Maybe she was just still angry, looking for any kind of reason to lash out and say whatever she had to hurt the person that once meant so much to her. She could be in the wrong, she could be doing the right thing, but all Brooke Davis wanted to do was invite Peyton and get out. And maybe the occasional petty comment or two.
Brooke parked into the parking lot of the art gallery that Peyton ran. She had to admit, it had this posh look that made her want to donate all kinds of money to the gallery, maybe even buy a freaking painting that she knew nothing about, let alone the meaning. Brooke only imagined what it looked like within the white and black mirrored walls.
She put her car into park before stepping out onto the concrete, with a smidgen of something running through her veins. She couldn't decipher if it was nerves or maybe a little bit of annoyance that she was even considering this in the first place. Their first encounter in five years still fresh in her mind from the other day.
The glass revolving doors opened revealing white and black marble floors. The walls were completely clean white, with gold frames supporting the many paintings and artistic objects. Brooke took off her Chanel sunglasses to get a clearer look. In some way Brooke was proud of what Peyton had done and what she had become.
Of course, she would always be the same, but Peyton had a pretty good career laid out for herself, and Brooke couldn't be mad at that. Right in front of her was a black curvy desk with a woman with a black suit on, looking through papers and highlighting certain things here and there with a yellow highlighter.
Confidentally, Brooke strode over to the front desk and annoyingly tapped the silver bell that was out in front of her, next to the pamphlets of various events that was happening within the next couple of months.
The woman looked up at her bored, with the highlighter still in her hand, not bothering to offer a little smile to her at all.
"May I help you m'am?" the woman asked boredly.
"Yes. I'm here to see the manager, Peyton Scott," Brooke answered sweetly, much to the secretary's annoyance.
"May I ask what's the purpose of your visit this morning?"
"Actually that's a little private matter," Brooke said simply.
"I'll see if she's busy," she said, putting her highlighter down and walking down the hall. "Whatever, I'll just wait here," Brooke mumbled, readjusting her purse on her shoulder.
--
Peyton paced her office, wring her hands and completely freaking out. Ever since her talk with Luas earlier, that was all she could think about. Even worse, she just had a meeting with some clients that wanted to rent out her meeting room for a brunch meeting, and she couldn't even concentrate. It took her a couple of minutes to actually remember what she had wanted to say, and by then the clients were less than impressed.
It was Lucas's fault, or maybe it was her fault, or maybe it was everyone's fault. But right now she really felt like blaming Lucas. If he hadn't have turned their kitchen into an interrogation room, then she would have been able to get through the meeting and actually make some more money. But no, he had completely ruined her whole day.
She knew he was trying to help, and he did, somewhat. Peyton could say that she would give Brooke space and they would become friends, but she really didn't know that. So many things had happened and so much time had passed, it was almost impossible to understand it.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at her door. Irene poked her head it, like she normally did. She might be nice, but Peyton was actually a real bitch when it came to getting stuff done and working.
"Sorry to bother you Mrs. Scott, but there's a Brooke Davis here to speak with you."
Peyton froze. Why in the hell would Brooke be here? In a way she was kind of glad that Brooke was here, but the ther side of her was asking herself what had she done now? After Peyton had last spoken to her, they had went their seperate ways, never talking after that. But now Brooke was here, at her work, asking to talk to her.
She cleared her throat, "Umm thanks, I'll be right out."
"I could just escort her here to your office."
"Ehh no it's okay, I'll just talk to her at the lobby," Peyton explained, smoothing her wash jeans with her hands.
"If you say so m'am," Irene said before sticking her head away from the door.
Peyton sighed before looking around her office. It was somewhat posh-ish, just like Brooke would've designed it. It wasn't exactly the way she would've designed it, but it wasn't like she had time. When she wasn't working on making the gallery well known she was painting and when she wasn't painting she was spending her time trying to ignore Lucas. And lately she hadn't had time to do any of them.
She swung the door open, the wind gusting in her face, blonde curls brushing behind her. Despite what people may thought, Peyton wasn't that bad of a person. What she did those years ago were horrible, she can't even comprehend why she would've done that to Brooke. But if Brooke wanted to make things right, then maybe it was a good thing Brooke was here.
--
Brooke leaned against a corner leading to the vending machines. She didn't know how she was going to invite Peyton, and frankly she didn't think she should. It was Haley's baby shower, which was a time of happiness, not a time of emo-ness. The least everyone needed was Peyton chasing Brooke around the house apologizing.
But Lucas was the baby's uncle, and Peyton was his wife, despite the lack of love within the marriage. It was common courtesy, no matter how much she didn't want to have to deal with anything anymore.
The squeaking of footsteps is what got her attention. Peyton was walking down the long marble hallway with her hands in her backpockets with an awkward look on her face.
Brooke smiled inside. Peyton was the manager of an art gallery, a nice one at that. And she was wearing jeans and converses, typical Peyton. She could've been a doctor, and she still would've worn a band tee shirt every day to work, no matter what. Call her unprofessional, but Peyton marched to the beat of her own drum back then, and it looked like she had kept up the rhythm.
Brooke stood with her hands folded across her chest, trying to keep up with the blank look on her face. She really didn't know if she should talk first or Peyton should. The guilt seemed to flow out of Peyton, with her big doe eyes looking at her like she was almost pleading.
"Uhh, hey Brooke," Peyton said, hands still in her pockets.
"Hey," Brooke said shortly. "I like what you've done with the place. i bet you get good business."
Peyton looked around her and smiled, "Thanks. Business is alright. Although there's not many people interested in art let alone having their painting showed here."
"Well North Carolina is a narrow minded state. They're still stuck in all that small town stuff. You could get better advertisement and notice in a city like New York," Brooke commented, taking a better look around.
"I bet, but Tree Hill is my home," Peyton stated, "and I can't leave it. So, what brings you here today?"
Brooke cleared her throat, "Well, you know how Haley's due date is coming within the next couple of months. And I thought it would be great if he threw her a baby shower."
Peyton whistled, "Woah, Brooke Davis throwing a baby shower? That ought to be extravagant."
Brooke shrugged, "I think that Haley deseves the best baby shower possible. So I'm going to make it happen."
"That's great. So what do you need me for?" Peyton asked.
"I want to invite you," Broke said. "I already invited Lucas to the guys hang out at the beach house, and you're invited to the shower."
"Umm, thanks," Peyton said, still shocked that Brooke would even invite her. "But you know you could've just called me or told Lucas."
Brooke looked down at her feet, "Yeah I know, but I just thought this would be a nicer thing to do. I know we didn't end of a good note the last time and from what I was in high school, I'm not that much of a bitch anymore."
Peyton smiled slightly, at least she was trying to be civil. "Thanks, I appreciate you coming over here."
"No problem. So the shower is Sunday around 2 and it would be a good idea to keep it a secret around town, you know how it is," Brooke hinted.
"I know all about it," Peyton answered back, very well knowing the way gossip got spread around Tree Hill.
"Alright well, I guess I better go," Brooke said, looking towards the door.
Peyton nodded, "Oh yeah you should. Thanks again for stopping by. I appreciate it."
"Welcome," Brooke smiled before walking towards the big black doors.
As Peyton watched her go, she couldn't help but feel excitement creep into her stomach. Maybe there was hope for her and Brooke after all. But being friends with Brooke again wasn't her first priority. Helping Lucas with Brooke was the first. And with that she would need lots of help and information.
--
"Are you kidding me? You told me two godamn days ago that the new models would be here by today?!?" Lucas yelled into his phone, seriously feeling sorry for whoever walked into his office after this call.
"I'm sorry sir, but they weren't ready on time," the man on the other line explained.
"I don't care about your excuses," Lucas snapped, running his hands through his hair. "Alright fine. When is the earliest you can get the cars to the dealership? I already have 9 buyers waiting for the cars to get in."
"The earliest we'll have it is on Sunday Mr. Scott. We don't normally deliver on weekends but we'll make an exception," the man replied, saying whatever he could to get out of the wrath that was Lucas Scott.
"That's fine then," Lucas said, rubbing his temples and hanging up the phone.
"Woah, see this is the exact reason why I didn't want this dealership," Nathan commented as he walked into the luxurious office.
"Yeah well it's not like I can get a career in basketball, so I get this," Lucas said, leaning back in his chair. "So what are you doing here?"
Nathan sat down across from him, "Well as you probably know Brooke's throwing Haley this babyshower."
"Yeah actually she came by a couple of hours ago," Lucas nodded, remembering how happy he was.
"And then you probably also know about the whole guy hang out thing at the beach house at the same time right?" Nathan asked.
"I'm well aware of that. And I told Brooke that it might not be the best thing if I was there to be perfectly honest."
"And she found a way to convince you right?" Nathan asked.
"Well I said I would think about it, but in Brooke's world that most of the time means yes," Lucas smirked.
"She's right though. This is your chance to make amends with everyone," Nathan said.
Lucas shook his head, "Nate you don't understand. The guys that I'm pretty sure you're inviting, hate me. I put Skills out of his own business that he made up himself. When Fergie lost his job, I offered to have him as my janitor. Plus I saw Mouth a couple of weeks ago and he was pretty pissed at me."
"Which is all the more reason to go. When they first see you, of course they're still gonna be mad, but hang out and stuff and apologize. You may not think it would matter, but I think it would. Just give it a chance if you ever wanna be the person you were before," Nathan explained.
"I don't know man," Lucas trailed, too exbarassed to think of all the things he's done.
"If it makes you feel any better, I'll talk to all the guys before Sunday and let them know that you're coming as like a, warning or whatever."
Lucas shrugged, "Do whatever you have to do to make it a little bit easier."
Nathan snorted, "If that's possible."
--
The rest of the day was pretty budsy after her confrontation with Brooke earlier. It was nice of her to stop by, but she still knew that this wasn't over. She still had another meeting for a painter interesting in hosting his paintings at the gallery, which meant that there would also be a hosting party as well. Which just meant more and more work.
So Peyton was glad when she finally got to go home, surprisingly. Most of the time, actually all the time, she wanted to be as far away from that house as possible, mainly Lucas. But after their talk this morning, not only was she surprised, she felt like for once her and Lucas were finding that friendship that they once had.
But under no cirumstances did she want or have any feelings for Lucas other than friendship. When she really thought about it, it was more of a brother sister thing with Lucas, and she was pretty confident that it would stay that way. As for Brooke and Lucas, that was a different story. Peyton wasn't very familiar of with Brooke's new boyfriend, all that she had heard was that his name was Brian and he was very refined, someone that Peyton had thought Brooke would go for during high school. This was a different story though.
As she pulled out of the parking lot, she wondered what would happen at the baby shower. She didn't know if it would go well, or just awkward. Brooke had come to her work to personally invite her herself, and that was a big step. Actually being there with the other ladies in town was different. Lucas wasn't the only one with the reputation.
Basically everybody saw Peyton as a version of Deb Scott. The wife that turned the other cheek, married to a ruthless man that lived off of antagonizing people and doing whatever he had to do to get what he wanted. But it wasn't like that with them. They didn't even love each other the way a couple should, and that was a good thing.
She entered the kitchen to see Lucas on the couch, watching ESPN. He had a glass of scotch in one hand and the tv remote in the other. She couldn't remember the last time she had seen him watch any kind of sports.
"Hey," Peyton greeted, putting her thermos into the sink.
Lucas turned his head slightly, "Hey, how was work?"
"Hmm not bad. Brooke came by actually," Peyton said.
Lucas got up from the couch and sat down at a barstool in the kitchen, "Yeah I know. She saw me before she came to see you. It's about that baby shower for Haley right?"
"Yeah, she came to invite me, which I thought was a real shocker," Peyton smirked.
"Well, Brooke's just full of surprised," Lucas mused.
"So she told me about the men hang out thing too. At first I was kind of surprised that you said you were going."
"Yeah, well I'm still not so sure. Nate came by also, said he would see what he could do to get the guys to maybe be a little but nicer," Lucas explained.
"Is that possible?" Peyton asked.
"Honestly? I don't know," Lucas sighed. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't blame the guys for never talking to him or even giving him a chance again. He didn't want to go to the beach house if he was just going to get bagged on and told all the bad things he's done.
"Well it's gotta take some time for the guys to hear you out," Peyton said.
"I know, but if I'm going to be yelled at and looked down upon, then I don't
really see the point in even going. I know Brooke said that this would be my
chance to make things right, but I don't know.." Lucas trailed.
"You'll fix things Lucas. That used to be your thing in high school."
"Okay was that really necessary?" Lucas whined.
"Actually it was. If it gets you off your ass and to work then I'll say whatever I have to."
"Alright fine, I'll go. But you have to go to the baby shower," Lucas said.
"That's fine, I was already planning on going," Peyton shrugged. "Oh, and since when do you watch sports? I thought that was like, a plague or something."
Lucas shrugged, "I don't know. I figured I'll just watch it again, maybe get some old magic back."
"You thinking about getting back on the court?" Peyton asked.
"Well just back at the Rivercourt. That basketball dream is long gone."
"Ahh poor Lucas," Peyton said, making a face. "So how are you doing with Brooke?"
"So so. She came to the dealership earlier and things were pretty chill. We didn't get in a fight or anything. So I guess it's as good as it can be."
"Well she's nicer to you now and you're starting to gain your trust. It can only get better."