Thanks SO much for the reviews guys. I had a lot of fun writing that chapter. This next one is bit short, but I thought it worked well on it's own and I have been working to get another chapter of Journey out soon for those who have been waiting ever so patiently for it. As I started that one up again I really got the urge to full steam ahead so I can finish it.
Here's the next chapter and you have all day to read it so it won't overlap with the season premiere of OTH! I know, I know. You're welcome. :p
"So Crazy-"
"I take it this new nickname is going to stick," Brooke sighed, sipping on her drink.
"Hey it's all in love. Think of it as a pet name. Besides, I'm not the one living in a time capsule and trying to destroy my best friend's five year marriage," Rachel replied, downing the rest of her French martini.
"This coming from the dirty mistress," Brooke bit back as Rachel ordered another drink.
"Hey, Rob doesn't love his wife. I can't say the same thing for Lucas. So where is the man of the hour?"
"He's off somewhere with Peyton," Brooke sighed, glancing around the club. There had been no sign of the two blondes in about a half an hour.
"Fucking?"
Brooke gave Rachel a scathing look and rolled her eyes. "Some asshole felt her up and Lucas kicked his ass."
"Hot," Rachel cooed. "Not the feeling up part. That's not cool. The ass kicking part." Brooke rolled her eyes, and looked around the club again, catching sight of a creepy looking bearded guy sitting in the corner wearing shades and a hat. She shivered, wondering when it had become okay to let creeps, assholes, and potential serial killers into hot nightclubs.
"Will you focus for like two seconds please," Brooke hissed, tearing her eyes quickly away from the Manson wannabe.
"I have been driving for the past eight hours, Brooke. Can I please enjoy my martini without you being crazy in my ear? Have you told Lucas and Peyton I'm staying with them?"
At Brooke's bashful shrug, Rachel rolled her eyes. "Sorry, okay, but with what I let slip to Peyton tonight I'm also going to need you to not mention it was my idea for you to come down here. You surprised us all, including me."
"What exactly did you say to her?"
"Just the truth."
"The truth in your world is usually a tad bit skewed Brooke…and wrong."
Brooke's jaw dropped in indignation. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? You know what never mind. I don't want to know what you think."
"I'm sure you don't," Rachel chuckled. "But I'm going to tell you anyway because you need to hear it. Senior year, you treated Peyton like so much shit, because she did what she thought was right and told you she still had feelings for Lucas. Was it the right decision to make? Who knows, but what I do know is whether Peyton opened her mouth or not, you and Lucas would not have made it. You know it, Brooke."
"Maybe we would have stood a chance if Peyton stopped trying to make out with him," Brooke hissed, miffed that Rachel was taking Peyton's side.
"Brooke, listen to yourself. You sound like petty, selfish, 18 year old Brooke, not successful, petty, selfish 26 year old Brooke. Didn't you kiss Pete from Fall Out Boy when Peyton was dating him and you were with Lucas?"
"That is SO different," Brooke cried. "I thought I was dreaming."
"Bullshit Brooke. That is such a load of bullshit and you know it. You saw a hot famous rocker and decided to plant one on him, because it would most likely be your only and last chance. Peyton was loosing blood and she thought she was going to die in that library and she kissed Lucas for the exact same reason you kissed Pete. It wasn't them cheating on you. Had she died, that kiss wouldn't have mattered to you, because your competition would have been gone-"
"That is not fair-" Brooke cried, getting choked up, momentarily.
"But because she lived and she eventually got together with Lucas you and everyone else seems to think it was some ultimate betrayal. What isn't fair is how you treated her after the truth came out, making jokes about her dead mothers, making her feel like a tramp. You had a right to be mad for Lucas keeping the kiss from you, but not that mad for that long and anyone who thinks that kiss in the library was a betrayal; that they should have thought of you and not done it-is a fucking ignorant idiot who has no heart. That's like asking a kid who is dying of cancer to not ask for that one last special wish before they go. I mean who the fuck does that?"
"Oh fuck you Rachel. Where the hell is this coming from? And who is everyone?"
"I'm just callin'em like I see them. And I'm talking about your friends back in the city people who are on team Brooke who seem to think Peyton Sawyer is a selfish, back stabbing, horrible friend, when in truth my crazy little friend, you shouldn't be first in line for any awards either. You are always the victim Brooke. You are always the one who is wronged and everyone else is just plain wrong. So pardon me if I laugh when you say you told Peyton the truth," Rachel finished by air quoting truth.
"I'm really glad I called you Rachel," Brooke said, snidely.
"Anytime," Rachel grinned. She glanced at Brooke who was huffing and angrily sipping her drink, with a raised eyebrow and sighed. "Fine, I'll bite. What truths did you enlighten the Stepford wife with."
"Lucas and I were in love, Rachel. He made me promises. I was just telling her about the plans Luke and I had made, I mean isn't that what you do with friends? Talk about your old plans and dreams?"
"Um, not unless that dream includes said friend's current husband. That's like me calling up Rob's wife and chatting with her about the sex I have with her husband."
"Did I mention you're a slut?"
"Says the woman who wants to steal a man away from his family," Rachel muttered.
"I don't want to steal him away from his family. I don't," she cried at the raised eyebrow Rachel sent her way. "I'm not Peyton," she added petulantly. "Anyway, I also told her that at the championship game, I told Lucas to be with Peyton. It was my idea."
"See?! You see that? You just made yourself the victim once again. That was high school, man. Let that shit go."
"Didn't you hear me? I pushed Lucas into Peyton's arms. If it weren't for me-What?"
Rachel stared at Brooke for a moment before scoffing and getting up. Brooke walked behind her and finally snagged her arm with impatience,
"Don't make me power walk. These are Manolos. What is it?"
"Do you even hear yourself right now? Brooke, I came down here to make sure you don't do anything stupid. Maybe even talk you into coming home with me. You just broke up with Chase, Brooke. You're rebounding and that's completely fine, but if you're gonna rebound, at least do it with someone you can have."
"You think I can't have Lucas," Brooke scoffed as they walked through the club. "He may be all into Peyton because they're been together for like ever, but I can assure you, if I decided I really wanted to, I could have him and I wouldn't have to raise a finger or form a single scheme."
"Oh, so he would just come to you like some mindless drone. He'll feel so guilty that your life didn't turn out the way you wanted it, that it is his and Peyton's fault your life went to shit and he'll look at you and he won't be able to stop thinking about you, and he'll feel so guilty because he's married to Peyton who he thinks is great, but she suddenly turns into the weak, selfish, needy, bitch that she isn't, so that it becomes okay for him to start an affair with his pretty girl. But you both feel so bad and you both get together and let Peyton know that he was only confused when he got together with her and she was familiar and he settled or whatever and you say Oh P. Sawyer I didn't mean for this to happen lets try to still be friends even though I essentially did to you what you did to me eight years ago, but trust me this isn't any sort of payback, and you'll cry or do whatever it is you do to get away with all the stuff you get away with. And then Peyton gets together with Chris Keller or Pete from Fallout Boy or Jake after he divorces that redhead, because it doesn't really matter who she gets stuck with so long as the epic romance that is brucas comes to fruition. Blah, blah, blah."
"Brucas, huh? That's how I'd write it," Brooke shrugged. "Although I'd have Peyton end up with Jake. I don't like that Molly girl and Pete wears too much makeup for her to take him seriously. Love always finds a way. People who are mean to be together always find each other in the end."
Rachel rolled her eyes and sighed. This was going to be harder than she thought. "Brooke, they are the end. Geez, if this was high school I would have turned this into a dare, but just so you know, because it seems like you have forgotten this fact-high school is over."
"I'm moving back home," Brooke said after a moment. Rachel stopped in her tracks and spun around, nearly spilling her drink.
"You what?!"
"I'm moving back home. I'm going to start looking for places tomorrow."
"You know I think your new pet name fits."
"What? I grew up here. There is nothing wrong with my moving back home."
"No, there is everything wrong with you moving back here. Especially if it has to do with being close to the guy you're in love with. Besides your life is in New York."
"I can run Hoes over Broes from Tree Hill. It's not like I don't have jets. And my life in New York is empty. Everything I have there is nothing if there's no one to share it with."
"Bringing us back to the million dollar question. Are you moving back here to make Lucas that person you…share things with?"
Brooke shrugged. She didn't want to be this person who plotted and schemed. Home wrecker was a title that would never sit well with her.
"You either want him or you don't Brooke and either way, moving closer to him will not help you get over him. It will just make things worse for you…and Peyton. I thought you wanted to fix your relationship with her."
"How will my moving home make my friendship with Peyton worse?"
"Well the last time I checked, lusting after a friend's hubby doesn't usually help cement a relationship. Do you even want to be friends with her again? What ever happen to Hoes over Bros? You guys were so close after the psycho Derek attack. And now you want to fight with her again over Lucas? Why are you doing this to her? To yourself?"
"You should take your own advice," Brooke pouted.
"Look, Brooke, I know it hurt you a lot when Chase left-"
"I don't want to talk about it," Brooke exploded, shaking her head. "I hate being alone Rachel and everywhere I go, I seem to find myself alone. It wasn't supposed to be this way. They weren't supposed to fall in love again. He wasn't supposed to stay with her. Do you know what he said to her once? He said I was the one he wanted next to him when all his dreams came true. He said he loved me. He made me promises. I was his first! I'm his pretty girl-I-"
Brooke shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, suddenly realizing she was crying. "What the hell is wrong with me?"
"He isn't yours any more sweetie," Rachel sighed, rubbing her friend's back comfortingly. "Dreams change."
In her mind Rachel thought Lucas's dreams hadn't really changed because his dreams had always to some extent included a curly haired blonde. That was why, short of turning the Brooke, Peyton, and Lucas into completely different characters, the brucas love story wouldn't work, no matter how anyone spun it. Lucas always came back to Peyton, whether it was friendship or not he would never not be there for her. He would never cut her out of his life and Brooke would never be able to live in the shadow of Peyton Sawyer.
"Come back to New York with me."
But Brooke shook her head. "I have dreams to chase, Rachel. Dreams do change and I'm tired of the city. It's time for me to come home….Whether Luke is here or not."
"Really? What about-"
"I won't chase him. I won't try to steal him," Brooke assured. Most guys come to me anyway, she thought.