Disclaimer: I'm going to be asking you lovely readers for some ideas on my next chapter, so be prepared and get those thinking caps on.
I'm full of regret
For all the things that I have done and said
And I don't know if it'll ever be ok to show
My face around here
Sometimes I wonder if I disappear
Would you ever turn your head and look
See if I'm gone
Cause I fear
I'd been in my room since Peyton's dad had taken her away, it had been three days. I felt like my life was going downhill. It was easy to ignore her when she was always there, and most importantly when I knew she was okay. Brooke had told me that her dad had waiting until the nurse had given him the all clear and then he had her transferred to a different hospital.
I was lying on my back with my hands behind my bed and concentrating on my ceiling. I didn't even notice my best friend Hayley come into the room. She sat on the edge of my bed looking at me, I had noticed her presence. She smiled a sympathetic one, and rested her hand on my chest.
"You okay Lucas?" She asked making herself more comfortable. Why did everyone keep asking me that, how could people even been thinking about me when Peyton was still in hospital, admittedly it wasn't the hospital she should be in, but still. "Lucas?" she pushed.
"Peachy Hales, I'm real good." I said, my voice oozing with sarcasm. Hayley rolled her eyes.
"Lucas, are you still mad at me?" I had been hoping that this subject wouldn't be brought up again. I looked at Hayley as her eyes searched my face. I sat up from my lying position.
"Hales, I'm not mad at you. I just thought that you would have told me about it."
"Luke I wanted to tell you but you've always got so much going on, we haven't hung out for ages." I sighed knowing that she was right.
"Okay, well, I'm going to go for a drive, maybe to Seattle or something," knowing that Hayley had no idea why, "Would you like to come?" I saw a small glint in her eyes.
"Yeah Luke, it'll be fun." I smiled back at her but every part of body was aching for Peyton. I thought of her, alone, no one sat by her, telling her everything was going to be okay, that they loved her. Her dad was always working, and he hadn't found the time to see her when she was here, so he probably wouldn't be with her now. "Lucas," Hayley interrupted my thoughts.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"When?" she said, I must have zoned out. When what? As if hearing my thoughts she sighed. "When are we going?" I hadn't actually thought about that, I had no idea where about in Seattle she was. I thought about taking Brooke as well, but then I'd have to tell Hayley why I wanted to go.
"Tomorrow, but Hales, I need to tell you why." I admitted.
"Oh, I know why Lucas." She smiled and bounced toward my door. "Because you love Peyton, and her dad has taken her away. I'll tell Brooke to pack a bag." I sat with my mouth open in shock as Hayley seemed to be more prepared for this trip than I was. She tapped her nose and walked off with a cheeky smile, the sunshine happiness she brought everywhere she went faded into the blackness that I seemed to carry everywhere. I sighed and let my head drop thinking of what I would do when we arrived in Seattle. What was I going to say to her? I also knew another unwanted passenger coming with us on this trip, which means that I needed to bring in reinforcements in case things turned ugly.
"Hey," I spoke into my cell.
"Yeah I know man; sorry I've had a lot going on. How do you know? Oh Mouth? Yeah I haven't seen him in a while. Yeah, I was hoping you'd come with?" I waited while my best friend rambled on the other end of the line.
"Yeah, that's great man. I'll see you tomorrow at 8. Yeah I think it's about a four to six hour drive. Yeah which is why I needed you to come." I slammed my phone shut after agreeing with Skills to meet me on the River Court at 8am.
There is nothing left to say to you
That you wanna hear
That you wanna know
I think I should go
The things I've done are way too shameful
The rest of the day all faded into nothingness as I slept until my mom shouted for dinner and then slept again until 7.30am the next day. I showered quickly and drove to the river court in a jeep Keith had leant me. Keith didn't realise how happy I was that he had married my mom. I hardly ever show him, but I am glad he's my father figure instead of Dan, my biological father. I hated that man for what he had done to Keith and my mom.
I arrived at the River Court and Skills, Hayley and Brooke were there with over night bags. I wondered where he would be, but as I pulled up and shifted the car into neutral I saw him run over to Hayley and kiss her on the head. I slammed my fist on the steering wheel causing the horn to sound loudly and make everyone jump. I opened my door, anger filled my whole body, I hate him, just like I hated his father.
Brooke and Skills walked over to me quickly. Skills rested his hand on my shoulder.
"Yo dawg this is messed up." He said dropping his bag and pulling me into a hug, I patted his back and get my face emotionless. I was stuck, I didn't want to hurt my best friend, bit I wanted to hurt him so much, but doing that would hurt her. I sighed and tried to be the Lucas Scott that she loved and forced a smile on my face. Brooke and Skills saw right through it but just clambered into the back of the jeep. Hayley walked up to me and placed her hand on my arm as she stood next to me and looked up at me.
"Play nice Lucas." She warned and joined Skills and Brooke in the back of the jeep.
I got back in the front before he was over by the jeep. I leant my body toward the back. "Brooke, come sit up front, I need you help with directions." I said tossing her a genuine smile.
"Sure Luke," she said getting out the car and walking round to the front. We now had a full car and began our journey to Seattle to find her, to find my Peyton.
You're just an innocent
A helpless victim of a spider's web
And I'm an insect
Going after anything that I can get
So you better turn your head and run
And don't look back
Cause I fear
We had driven in silence until now, Hayley had fallen asleep and Skills was texting the whole time. I looked across to Brooke who looked pale; I place my hand on her shoulder. "You okay Brooke?" I asked resting my hand there and glancing between her and the road.
"Yeah Luke, I'm okay," she didn't look at me; she continued to play with her fingers, a trait that Peyton did when she was nervous. "I'm worried about her." She admitted. "I know she's in a hospital so there isn't anything else we can do for her. But I'm worried. I miss her Lucas." I felt the soft warm tears hit my fingers and Brooke was staring at the side of my head, I turned to look at her.
"She'll be okay, if Peyton is one thing, she's a fighter." I said, hoping that I was right. Skills interrupted by slapping his hand on top of mine.
"Look B Davies, Peyton's gonna be aight, when have you even know her to give up anything without a fight?" Brooke nodded, I too, as we both knew Skills was right.
"Right, we can be all depressed when we get there, but how about on the way, we try and lighten up?" Skills offered. Brooke nodded and turned the stereo on.
There is nothing left to say to you
That you wanna hear
That you wanna know
I think I should go
The things I've done are way too shameful
And I've done you so wrong
Treated you bad
Strung you along
Oh, shame on myself
I don't know how I got so tangled up
We arrived at a hotel about 2o'clock and clocked in, with a surreptitious look from the receptionist as we had only booked one room. If I had any say in it I would have booked two, one for us and a separate one from Hayley's surprisingly quiet guest.
Brooke, Skills and I opted to go find a diner to eat something, Hayley wanted to stay in, we decided to take a vote. We walked to our rooms; the hotel wasn't that bad for the money we had paid. The red and gold walls made it feel warm and comforting; we walked along, Skills making comments about everything we had passed. We passed a door with our number on it, Brooke being the only one to realise.
"Hey, guys, isn't this our room, 201?" I stopped and backtracked as I reached our door; it was the only one down the hall that was blue. It looked odd and out of place, probably like us, maybe this wasn't a coincidence.
"Yo, this place is nice dawg." Skills said as he was the first to walk in. I looked around; there were beige colored tiles along the walls, which were then replaced by crème colored paint the further we walked in. The floors were dressed in a thick red carpet and almost wrapped itself around your feet.
There were no curtains, only white plastic blinds which fell delicately down the huge windows. I veered left in order to get a better view; there was a huge bathroom, a bath, a walk in shower in the same room? I knew now why Peyton's dad had brought her to Seattle; it was cheap but overly nice.
"Lucas, you wanna go get food man?" Skills asked dropping his bag.
"Yeah, I'm for that," I said walking to meet him. "You guys wanna go grab something to eat?" I asked the room.
"Yeah," Brooke said coming to stand with Skills and I.
"No, Luke, I wanna stay in." Hayley said softly.
"Aren't you hungry Hales?" I asked. "We can get what ever you want." I tried to coax her into it.
"Yeah, but we can order room service or something." She said. "It's too cold out there Lucas."
"Hayley you have a coat, lets just go." I said nearing the door.
"No, Lucas," she said firmly. "Lets vote, I say we stay here, how about you?" she asked him. He shrugged.
"Well I'm not really bothered." Skills admitted. "As long as we eat." He added. Brooke sided with me saying that she wanted to go, so it was two against one. Hayley sighed and threw her coat on. We left the hotel room and neared the diner across the street.
You better turn your head and look
See if I'm gone
Cause I fear
There is nothing left to say to you
That you wanna hear
That you wanna know
I think I should go
The things I've done are way too shameful
As we ate in the diner I began to soften towards Hayley's guest. Hayley was sat picking at her food, I only then guessed what a horrible best friend I was being, and I knew why Hayley hadn't wanted to come out.
She hated eating in front of people. "Hales, can I talk to you?" I said shifting out the booth we were sat.
And I've done you so wrong
Treated you bad
Strung you along
Oh, shame on myself
I don't know how I got so tangled up
"I'm sorry," I said pulling her into a hug. I could feel her smiling. He patted my back as I rested my chin on her head looking at the three people left in the booth, nothing seemed to make this moment right, if only Peyton were here. The smiles would be effortless. Instead we all had to make a conscious effort to smile at one another.
"It's alright Lucas; it's not that much of a big deal. Just because you didn't apologise about everything you did to Peyton doesn't mean you have to with everyone else. We won't all get taken away from you. And I'm sure as hell not going anywhere." She smiled. "I need you as much as you need me Lucas, I wouldn't leave you. And as much as I love Peyton I still think she's stupid for pushing you away. I don't say things like this often, because, well, it sounds corny, so I'm saying it now, and if it ever gets out I'll deny it, but she would be lucky to have you Luke. You're so much more than my best friend, you're like a brother to me, and I wouldn't push you away, ever."
And I've done you so wrong
Treated you bad
Strung you along
Oh, shame on myself
I don't know how I got so tangled up
I smiled at her; I loved Hayley for her honesty. Sometimes it wasn't always necessary, but it may have been needed, then I looked back at the table, Brooke Skills and Nathan were all looking at us. Brooke stood up.
"Peyton's dad just called."
Okay this is where I need a little input. In case you haven't noticed there has been a lot of drama separating Lucas and Peyton from progressing in their relationship.
This is where I need your ideas; I want to know what you think Peyton's dad should have called to tell Brooke.
Just give at least two options per review and the thanks will be posted with the next chapter. I cannot write the next one without your help so please get posting.
Thanks for all your reviews so far.
Song 'Tangled' by Maroon 5.