The Unkindness
Disclaimer: See Author's Bio
A/N: Thank you so much to all of you: nookieforever07, chechinou, Nynaeve80, PSwayer29, cRaZyGuRl093, BRUCAS EQUALS LOVE, othbreytonfan, baristagrl, and fggt16 for reviewing! You guys are amazing! I'm so surprised by all the feedback, especially about who to pair up with Brooke. Also I know I said I was going to put this chapter up sooner rather than later, but I wasn't happy with what I wrote. I felt like you guys deserved more than one short chapter of Lucas seeking advice from Haley.
So I went over it like fifty times and I'm pretty satisfied with it. It's longer, twice as long as the other chapters. It's mostly a Lummer flashback chapter. But Haley does finally pop into this story…I really like how the Laley stuff turned out. Oh, and one of the characters from OC, Luke Ward…I thought it'd be confusing having two Lukes, so I'm going to refer to him as Ward. Ok, enough of my long rambling…let's get on to chapter 5!
Chapter 5: Aggravates Like Teen Spirit
The thunder continued to crash in the clouds above him, but Lucas Roe didn't bother to quicken his pace back home. During confusing times such as this, he preferred to walk alone in contemplative thought. The storm was just an unfortunate inconvenience that seemed to mirror his conflicting emotions. However, a vibrating in his jeans pocket prevented him from thinking further about the Summer friendship dilemma. Glancing at the caller ID, he smirked. "Hey Hales. What's up?" he asked his best friend.
"Wanna tell me why you're walking alone in the rain?" she responded on the other end of the line.
"No. But do you want to tell me how you know that?" Lucas asked dumfounded.
"Because I can see you from my living room window, you dork," Haley responded as she watched him look for her.
Lucas was so lost in his thoughts he didn't realize he stood directly in front of his best friend's front yard. You'd think he'd recognize a place he ran to hundreds of times over the past ten years.
"Spying on me, Hales?" Lucas asked as he eyed her waving at him from her window. Letting out a deep sigh he ventured over to his best friend's front door.
"Just making sure my best friend survived the Jockstrap battlefield," Haley responded nonchalantly. In reality, she was spying. She knew that he would have to pass by her house sometime that night – the "rich" side of town was just around the corner from their "not so rich" side. So once Ryan called her half an hour ago, asking if Lucas was at her place, she grabbed a blanket and cozied up in front of the living room window to watch when Lucas would walk by.
"Well, you can see me; what do you think?" Lucas asked once Haley opened her door to his knocking. Haley did a once over on him and raised a doubtful eyebrow.
"It looks like you barely survived the attack," she stepped aside to let him in.
"Well, that's what I get for not listening to my best friend. You were right, I shouldn't have gone. I did something stupid…again," Lucas sighed once again as he accepted the towel that Haley offered him.
As she watched him try to dry off, Haley was tempted to say "I told you so," but she knew her best friend didn't need that at the moment. What he needed was for someone to listen objectively and not judge.
"What happened?" Haley asked after she poured an exhausted Lucas some tea.
"Nothing crazy," he lied. "Sort of," he added once he saw Haley's disbelieving face.
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flashback
Brooke Davis' eyes lit up at the chaotic scene displayed in front of her. Lucas, Ryan, and she had just entered Clete party central aka The Scott family beach house. The place reeked of alcohol, sweat, smoke, and cheap cologne, but the already inebriated guests didn't seem to mind. The three had arrived just before midnight and it looked as if the party had been going on for five hours already. Empty cups lined every flat surface, kegs stood in designated areas of the first floor, empty bags of chips were unknowingly being kicked around, hip hop music filled the air, drinking games were being played and there were the random make out sessions in a corner or two..
"Now this is a party. We totally should have brought Haley here to see this. I mean you don't see anybody playing Charades or Par-yahtzee here," Brooke exclaimed as she eyed a soccer player jumping on the couch and rocking out to Guitar Hero.
"I originally came here to watch over both of your asses, but maybe you just might have to watch over mine," Brooke cooed with a wink of her eye. Despite her hatred of one specific Clete, she never flaked out on a great party, especially one crawling with hot people she could annoy with her Council status. And so, the council fashionista strutted over to the first group of hotties she laid her eyes on.
"I'll go after her," Ryan took it upon himself to follow Brooke since Lucas obviously had other plans. Ryan knew why Lucas was here. He didn't like it, but he wasn't going to go against him. After all, his whole Peyton debacle practically put him in the same boat as Lucas. But unlike Lucas, Ryan was trying to stay away from Peyton. At least for now, for Brooke's sake.
"Keep her away from Pey-" Lucas started.
"I know," Ryan yelled back without turning around. As Ryan went after Brooke, Lucas went in search for the person he came to the party for. His search didn't last long.
"Roe-ski! You came!" Summer Scott squealed excitedly behind him. Lucas turned and was met with an enthusiastic hug from his petite friend.
"Summer, hey! Wow, how much have you had to drink?" Lucas asked. He had never seen his new friend this drunk before. But despite her inebriated state, she still exuded the same Summer Scott playful beauty.
"Not enough," she proclaimed as she searched for something to fill her empty cup with. "Why are you alone?" she asked when she discovered what she was looking for.
"Ryan and Brooke are here…somewhere," Lucas tried to explain as he prevented Summer from falling over. She continued to wobble on her tall red heels, but she didn't seem to notice. Her smile grew wide at the utterance of Ryan and Brooke's presence at the party.
"Atwood and Davis? Oooo that is soooo not good," Summer slurred as she began walking around with Lucas right behind her.
"They're going to stay away from Peyton and Nathan," Lucas reasoned and hoped.
"Ha. Like that would work," Summer replied, "Bad call bringing your buddies, Roe-ski. Baaaaddd."
"Why?" Lucas questioned warily.
"Because B + P = T….rouble," Summer stated matter of factly, "But it doesn't matter now. What matters is you're here." She tugged on his hand and led him to the staircase. Summer Scott was obviously happy; and it wasn't because of the alcohol. Neither of them realized it just yet.
"Where are we going?" Lucas asked, not resisting her hand in his.
"Come on, they're playing 'I Never' upstairs," Summer explained as they started climbing the staircase, avoiding bumping into couples in the process.
"Upstairs?" Lucas now resisted her lead, pausing in the middle of stair traffic.
"Oh, come on Roe. It's not like I'm going to seduce you or anything…I mean, it's you and me." Summer laughed at the thought and so did Lucas. In spite of their laugher, both didn't exactly know what she meant by that statement. Lucas stared at his and Summer's intertwined hands and wondered if their relationship was just friendship. Would both of them be going against their loyalties to Brooke and Peyton if it was just a so called friendship? Or were they going through all of this because they felt something more for each other – something neither had wanted to confront yet.
Lucas made a mental note to figure out all these "friendship" details when Summer was more…well, herself. When they reached their destination, Lucas found himself, a lone Council-ite, in a room full of athletes…drunken athletes… and no idea of what to expect.
"I'm baaaack," Summer exclaimed as she took a seat next to her long time friend Luke Ward, "And good news, we have a new player. Bad news, I'm really drunk…or is that good news?" Summer's giggles continued to sound from her throat, but all Lucas could focus on were all the pairs of eyes staring at him.
"Hey," Lucas mumbled to the group as he took a seat next to Summer. As he watched their stares, Lucas was fearful the watchful glares would get up and kick his ass or at the very least, kick him out of the room.
"You ever played?" Luke Ward asked with a stoic face.
"Couple times," Lucas responded just as emotionless. Lucas denied the beer Ward was offering and raised his water bottle, indicating his alcohol-free night.
"Fine; you start," Ward commanded.
And with a doubtful, raised eyebrow Lucas tried to think of the first statement for the start of the popular drinking game.
Ward didn't understand why Summer invited the council member, but at least she was happy now. Even though he was drunk, he could tell that at this moment, his friend was genuinely happy. And that's why he put up with the council guy's presence. Ward also knew that was why Nathan agreed to Summer's incessant begging to invite Lucas Roe to their annual party.
Thirty minutes later, the players seemed to forget about cliques and were all laughing together. They had switched to a game of Kings and the game proved to be crazier than a game of I Never.
But soon, Lucas stopped laughing. Summer's palor was starting to fade and she seemed to be completely oblivious to her surroundings. Despite the arguments from the other players, Lucas declared the game over and went to refill his water bottle for Summer. Others soon followed his example of leaving the room in search for another form of entertainment. When Lucas returned, he found a petite brunette alone and passed out on the floor.
"Summer, Summer?" Lucas exclaimed as he knelt down next to her unconscious body. Hearing Summer's name being yelled, Luke Ward dashed into the bedroom he had just left.
"Shit, she passed out again," Ward uttered with worry as he knelt down next to Lucas.
"Again? This has happened before?" Lucas asked in shock. How had he never heard about this?
"Only once. A few months ago, when she broke up with - " Ward was interrupted, however, by one of the most important guys in Summer's life.
"What did you do to her?" Nathan screamed as he lifted Summer off the floor and into his arms.
"Nothing! If anything, I tried to stop her from drinking too much," Lucas argued.
"You stay here," Nathan glared at Lucas and retreated to the bathroom to try to get Summer to throw up whatever was in her system. After a fifteen minute wait, Ward and Nathan rejoined Lucas, with Summer stil in her brother's strong arms.
"How is she?" Lucas stood up and stared at Summer's lifeless form.
"We got her to throw up, but she passed out again," Ward answered.
"She's fine. For now," Nathan stated; his voice a bit calmer than before.
"She needs to go to the hospital," Lucas tried to convince them, but he was soon cut off.
"She needs to go home," Nathan interrupted. He paused and looked at Ward, questioning if they were going to do the right thing. Once Ward nodded in support, Nathan attempted to push aside all of his pride away for his sister.
"I need you to take her," Nathan requested.
"Me?" Lucas' eyes bulged out in shock. What the hell was Nathan doing?
"You're the only one sober enough that we can trust her with right now. And we can't leave the party – we have to find Peyton before your friends run into her," Ward explained, while the stress of taking care of Summer killed his buzz.
"If there's one scratch on the car or my sister, you're dead," Nathan glowered as he handed his sister and a set of car keys into his enemy's hands.
"I'll take care of her," Lucas insisted and walked heatedly past the Clete King and his sidekick. If there was one thing he was sure of, it was the fact that he would be able to take care of Summer. After all, that's what he did over the summer. He would take care of Summer whenever she needed it. And Nathan knew that; that's why he reluctantly and begrudgingly trusted Lucas Roe with his sister.
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Lucas had been watching Haley's face expressions as he recapped what had gone down only a couple hours before. And right now, he knew that she didn't believe he did anything wrong; he was trying to do the right thing. But he still had one more detail to tell her.
"Wow. Well, that doesn't sound too bad," Haley responded. She didn't know what else to say – Summer needed help; he gave it to her when people asked him to. What else was he supposed to do? "Wait. What stupid thing did you do, exactly?" she asked suspiciously.
"I left without telling Brooke or Ryan," Lucas mumbled, hoping Haley didn't completely hear him. But his hopes were soon dashed when he felt her punch him in the arm.
"Oh man, Lucas!" Haley scolded "Talk about stupid. You know how Brooke feels about you and Summer. Because you didn't tell her, she's going to think you were trying to do something behind her back." Haley shook her head as thoughts of a furious Brooke flashed in her mind. Lucas was going to have to do a lot of explaining and apologizing.
"I know. But I was just trying to help, Hales," Lucas tried to explain, "Besides, if I had 'asked permission,' Brooke wouldn't have let me help anyway. And I couldn't just leave Summer with her drunk friends who didn't even want to bring her to a hospital. I mean they were more worried about Peyton running into Brooke and Ryan than they were about Summer possibly having alcohol poisoning."
"First of all, you didn't bring her to the hospital either," Haley pointed out, "And second, Brooke wouldn't have prevented you from doing anything if someone's well being was at stake."
Lucas was getting aggravated. He didn't want to hurt his and Brooke's friendship, but he also couldn't ignore the friendship he and Summer started over the summer. "My point is, I was the only one willing and able to help her. I don't need permission from Brooke for that."
"White Knight Complex coming round again, Luke?" Haley sighed as she remembered Lucas' story of how he and Summer became friends in the first place.
Since the majority of both of their respective cliques had traveled outside of North Carolina for the summer, Lucas and Summer were left alone in Tree Hill. Summer had stayed in Tree Hill to complete a short session of summer school and Lucas stayed to help his mother with the café. The two literally bumped into each other on the boardwalk, Summer decided to ask him for help in her English summer class, and the friendship unexpectedly grew from there.
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flashback
Lucas knocked on the door three times and there was still no answer. He scratched his head, wondering why Summer wasn't picking up her cell phone or answering her door. He thought of three possible reasons for her lack of answer. Reason one was that he had the wrong house. Number two was that she was busy and she forgot about their trip to the beach that day. Finally, reason three was that after two and a half weeks of spending every other day together, her Clete senses kicked in and she decided she wanted nothing more to do with him.
Hoping it wasn't reason three, he knocked on the door again. After looking through the garage window and seeing her car, and then eyeing that a bedroom window was opened, he decided she was home and probably was listening to her ipod or something. His hand gripped onto the doorknob, a bit hesitant – was the door even unlocked? He turned the knob slowly; feeling no resistance, he slowly pushed the door open.
His feet stood glued to the foyer. It didn't feel right for a middle class person such as himself to walk even further into the house. Just as Lucas got the courage to venture further into the home, the sound of sobs caught his attention. The sobs led him in front of what was obviously her door, adorned with a Ravens pennant, an old cheerleading pom pom, and magazine cut outs of her catchphrases: "Ewww" and "Whatev". He only meant to tap the door gently, but it resulted in the door creaking open. And Lucas caught sight of Summer, sitting on her bed with red puffy eyes.
Both of their gazes locked simultaneously for what seemed like hours but were actually only a few seconds. Summer wanted to yell at him, throw a tantrum, and kick him out for disrupting her privacy and catching her in such a vulnerable state. But words would not escape her mouth, her vocal chords refused to vibrate. But as soon as his foot got the courage to take one step into her room, her private world, the words escaped and the chords emitted sound. "Who the fuck do you think you are barging in here?"
His body didn't wince or react; he was ready for her harsh words. She was upset that her words didn't affect him. Then again, she should have remembered that he was good friends with Brooke Davis.
"Sorry, I - " he began, but he couldn't finish his sentence; he truly had no legitimate reason for simply walking into her home. He hadn't heard her crying till after he trespassed into the house. "You're, uh, door was unlocked," was all he managed to mutter.
"So you decided to trespass and barge into my room?" she snapped with an icy tone. She was using this as a way to distract him from what he walked in on, and he knew it.
"I'm sorry, but –" he paused, deciding she wouldn't accept any excuse for him being in her room. Instead, he decided to let her know that he considered her a friend. "You know you can talk to me if anything is wrong," Lucas replied sincerely and calmly.
"What's wrong right now is you in my house." Her words remained icy as she attempted to hide her sadness. She stepped to her door with crossed arms and glared fiercely at Lucas, waiting for his reaction.
Lucas decided not to push – he knew that in her world, two and a half weeks of helping her with summer school work didn't necessarily count as grounds for friendship. He left her alone with no answer and no retort. As she watched his figure exit down the hallway, she could feel the tears begin to form in her ducts again. Just as he reached the end of the driveway, he felt his phone vibrate. "S S" flashed on the screen. "Did you not want me to leave?" he answered, but didn't hear a reply. He turned to look up into her window and he saw her leaning against her white balcony, her sobs nearly muffling her words: "I can't do this alone anymore."
She knew the risk in confiding in him, but she didn't care. She had the rest of the summer before she had to worry about what her friends would think about her sudden friendship with Lucas Roe. All she knew was that at this moment in time, she needed someone to listen; and not just on the phone. Lucas was willing to. And for some crazy reason, he was also the only one currently in Tree Hill that she felt comfortable with. She didn't know why; it wasn't like she asked for this. But here it was – Summer Roberts Scott, varsity cheerleader and heiress about to spill all to a middle class, run of the mill Council member.
That afternoon, Lucas Roe listened to Summer Scott as she cried about everything: her breakup with her boyfriend, her mother's constant long absences, her best friend seemingly pulling away, her father's constant athletic pressures, the embarrassment of summer school, and even missing her twin brother. He let her release all the anger and sadness that had built up inside her the past couple of weeks and in turn, she let him into her world.
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"I'm serious, Luke. I should make them put that on your headstone: 'Here lies Lucas Eugene Scott. He suffered from White Knight disorder," Haley laughed at the concept.
"Ha ha. And on yours it'll read: Haley Bob James. She told lamer jokes than a stand up comic at the Apollo," Lucas smirked. "Ow," he remarked after receiving another slap on the arm from Haley. "Anyways, I blame my so called "disorder" on my mom. She's the one that raised me to be all noble and whatnot," Lucas claimed as he finished the remnants of his chamomile tea.
"Uh uh," Haley shook her head in disagreement, "I blame it on your hormones." She laughed once Lucas rolled his eyes at her comment.
After a few seconds of laughter, Lucas' face became serious once again as his eyebrows furrowed into its' trademark "steely gaze." Lucas looked over to Haley and whispered, "She'll get over it, right?"
"She will…in time," Haley sighed as she squeezed Lucas' hand in best friend reassurance.
Like him, Haley was afraid that this might be the last straw for Brooke. Even though Lucas was just being Lucas and not trying to hurt anyone, Brooke had been through a lot of drama with Peyton and company and she wasn't going to take this lightly. Lucas had a right to be scared about how this would affect his friendship with Brooke.
"What am I going to do, Hales?" Lucas asked as he dropped his head down on the table. He hated the fact that he brought on this tension between him and Brooke. He had been friends with Brooke for six years and Summer for ten weeks. His dilemma should be easy to solve – his loyalties had to lie with Brooke. So then why did it feel wrong to turn his back to Summer? Why has he not regretted one day with her? Damn it, this is not how he should be feeling. Things would have been so much easier if he never decided to buy that stupid ice cream cone at the stupid boardwalk that stupid summer day.
"Well, the first thing you're going to do is stop sulking on my parent's kitchen table," Haley insisted as she tried to nudge Lucas out of his pity coma. "And then you are going to get some rest and get ready to explain and apologize to Brooke later today."
"Today?" Lucas moaned, not bothering to move. He forgot that it was technically Sunday now.
"Yes. And finally you are going to get your head on straight, figure out what you really want, and figure out a way to break the news to Brooke...again," Haley advised. She had no objections to a "prohibited" Lucas/Summer friendship, just a Lucas/Brooke falling out. "Now stop complaining and get your head off the table already. I think you soaked it enough," Haley persisted as she tried to shove his head upright.
"Talk about a sucky way to start the school year," Lucas groaned as he lifted himself up into a somewhat upright position.
"No. No First Day of School complaining," Haley insisted, "I finally get to see my four best friends again and three of you are already ruining my third favorite day of the year."
"I forgot how much of a nerd you are," Lucas poked Haley in the arm.
"At least I'm not wallowing in the broody pool like you," Haley changed the topic away from her and back to his troubles, "Anyways, it'll work out. We're the Four Musketeers," Haley tried to assure them both, "All for one and one for all, right?"
Haley wished that she could take away the pain and aggravation Lucas was going through. Part of it was Summer's fault – she did "make the first move." And part of it was Lucas' fault as well; he did in fact say yes to help her out with summer school and then later on when she needed someone to cry to. She wondered if he even realized what he was doing when he first offered Summer a shoulder to lean on. And speaking of shoulders to lean on, Seth was going to be in for just as long a night as she was having with Lucas.
"Lucas! Your mother wants your butt home, now!" Lucas and Haley jumped at Lydia James' screaming voice coming from the second floor.
"I thought your parents were out of town," Lucas said as he looked towards the staircase to see if anybody would bother to come down.
"That's what I thought," Haley replied.
"Lucas, now. I don't want your mother yelling at us again," Jim James' voice called out with annoyance. At that comment, the two best friends broke out into laughter, forgetting for just a moment about the stresses in their social lives.
A/N: Hope this chapter wasn't too long. I added a short cameo of Haley's parents at the end cause I had a sudden feeling of nostalgia for those characters. I wish they could bring them back; they're so funny.
I think there's going to be one or two more chapters of flashback/history stuff (mainly Brooke/Peyton and Peyton/Nathan) and then the story will start rolling.
And as far as couples go, you guys will have to wait and see what will be in store. But I will tell you that, in the words of Brooke Davis, there will be a "love rectangle plus one…whatever that is." Lol you guys can try to figure out what it'll be.
So tell me your thoughts and review. Reviews always inspire, especially when it's a lot of feedback like last time.