Love Rectangle Plus One (Whatever That Is)
Chapter 16: I Like What You Say
Jake woke to the sound of a demanding knock on his bedroom door the next morning. He cracked open one eye and looked at the clock. He sighed and put the pillow over his face when he saw it was noon, and he was still dead tired. That was some party. As he lay there and angry girl barged into his room and stood before him with her hands on her hips.
"You better have a good reason for ignoring me."
"Sorry Brooke," Jake groaned and rolled over, "I'm tired. What are you doing here anyway?"
"I have to talk to you about something," she said pacing up and down the room.
"Whoa, chill out, tell me," he said grabbing her hand and sitting her down on the edge of his bed.
"Well actually two things. First off, how do you tell someone you love them?"
Jake visibly blanched. "Yeah I'm not the best person to ask about that."
Brooke looked at him questioningly. "Whatever," she replied and then put on her best puppy dog expression, "Please Jakey, I need help."
Jake sighed. "You know no one can resist that face." Brooke smiled back innocently in response. "Fine, if this is for Lucas, just tell him. You know he loves you, so just go for it. However you do it, he'll just be happy. He's waited a long time to hear it."
"Aww thanks Jakey bear. Now on to the second order of business."
"Which would be?"
"I know that you're still friends with Peyton, and she seemed really upset last night when she left the party."
"You care about Peyton?"
Brooke blushed. "Yeah, I mean she hurt me, but I still care about her. Anyways, do you have any idea why she's upset?"
Jake sighed again. "Brooke, I have something to tell you."
Brooke looked at him worriedly, noticing his serious expression. "What is it?" she asked a little scared.
""The reason Peyton is upset, is because I told her," he paused catching his breath, "I told her I loved her."
Brooke stared at him her eyes seemingly getting larger at every millisecond. "You did what?" she asked in shock.
"I told her I loved her," Jake said quietly looking down at his comforter.
"Did you mean it?" Brooke said going into overprotective friend mode, even though she and Peyton had barely made up.
"No, yes, I don't know."
"You might want to figure it out."
--
Peyton sat alone in her room as she worked furiously on a new drawing of the night before. It featured a boy and girl on stairs while, 'I love you' wafted in the air above them. The boy was looking at the girl and was saying 'I didn't say it to mess with you.' While Peyton debated about adding tears to the girl's eyes, a voice broke her concentration.
"Nice drawing."
She turned and stared at the boy in front of her. "What are you doing here?" she asked confused but surprisingly without any rudeness in her voice.
"I came to see how you were doing," Nathan replied drawing closer to her.
Peyton laughed. "Since when have you cared about how I was doing?"
Nathan smirked at her in return. "Since I realized what an ass I was to you."
"At least you admit it."
Nathan rolled his eyes. "So judging from that picture, I'm guessing you're not doing so hot."
"Whatever," Peyton said shrugging it off.
"You know that guy looks awfully like Jake," Nathan said with a glint in his eye.
Peyton glared at him. "What do you want?"
"Look Peyton, I treated you like shit. I know. But Jake really cares about you. Heck he even attempted to beat me up twice because of you. So don't let him slip away."
"What would you know?" Peyton grumbled.
"Actually a lot. See, if you like someone, then tell them. And don't let anyone dictate what or who you want, except you."
"Thanks Nathan," Peyton said softly.
"No problem. Just remember that."
--
Haley stared out at the massive amount of water around her. She loved the docks and coming to them was a great place to just sit and think. She smiled and closed her eyes as the sun beams hit her face. Her mind drifted towards Nathan, as it had started to do all too often lately. She replayed the night before in her mind. Nathan had been so funny and sexy when he was jealous. She smiled picturing their kisses.
"Hey buddy. Penny for your thoughts," Lucas said interrupting her daydream.
Haley gave him a small smile, "They're not worth that much."
"If you say so. So what are you up to?"
"Nothing really. Enjoying the sun."
"Yeah it's nice."
"So did you lose your better half already?" Haley teased.
"Ha ha," Lucas said shooting her a frown, "Brooke wanted to go shopping or something, and I totally opted out of that." Haley laughed. "Plus I missed hanging out with you."
"Yeah," Haley grinned.
"So how's tutoring going?" Lucas asked innocently enough but Haley pursed her lips understanding what he was really asking.
"It's fine," she said a bit curtly.
"Everything ok with Nathan?"
"Yeah why wouldn't it be?" Haley asked her voice on edge.
"Nothing, it's just that, you know how he is with girls."
"No I don't, so enlighten me," Haley said annoyed.
"Kind of the have sex and leave them type. And you know the whole Brooke and Peyton saga."
"Maybe he's changed," she replied stubbornly.
"Look all I'm saying is that I don't think you should get so close. He's probably only planning on using you for sex, and once he gets that, he'll just leave." Lucas felt a little bad for lying because he knew that Nathan really did like Haley, but in his mind they could not be together. He didn't want to see Haley get hurt like his girlfriend. He cared about her too much for that.
Haley swallowed hard. "Thanks for the advice Luke. But don't worry; I'm not planning on having sex or anything with him."
"Ok," he smiled and gave her a hug, "I think I'm going to go shoot some hoops with the guys, but I'll see you around."
"Sure," Haley said trying to smile back at him and not really succeeding. But if he noticed, he didn't say anything. He just waved and walked off in the direction of the river court.
Haley stared after his retreating figure. Her eyes began to fill with tears. She quickly brushed them away, but they just fell stronger until they were rushing down her face and she couldn't control them. She choked on a sob, and pulled her arms in to rest on the table and laid her head gently against them letting the tears soak up the sleeves of her shirt. As she sat there sobbing, another boy approached. When he saw her hunched over, he ran like there was no tomorrow and put his arms around her. She lifted her face and pushed him off angrily.
"Haley?" he asked scared.
"Am I just for sex, Nathan? Is that all you care about?" she yelled.
"No, why the hell would you think that?"
"I know what you did with other girls. Lucas told me." Nathan tightened his jaw at Lucas's name, and glared back at Haley. "I'm not having sex with you. I'm not going to be another ring on your bedpost," she cried hysterically.
"I never asked you to be."
"So then what is this?" Haley screamed frustrated as more tears fell down her cheeks.
"Haley, I like you. I want to be with you. That's all. I'm not the guy anymore. I thought you knew that. I thought Lucas wouldn't be able to make you think otherwise. I guess I was wrong," he said while standing up to leave.
"Wait Nathan."
"What?" he asked as he turned back towards her.
"I'm sorry. I guess I just don't want to hurt Lucas."
Nathan nodded sadly and turned around again. He started to walk off. Haley grabbed at his shoulder and swung him around back towards her with all her might. "But I don't want to hurt you either," she said softly.
Nathan smiled down at her, and let her slip easily into his arms as she hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry Nate."
"I know," he whispered and he gently kissed the top of her head, "I really like you Haley. I promise you that."
--
Lucas left the river court that evening and headed home. As he approached the back door to his room, he noticed Brooke waiting nervously for him on the porch steps. She was biting at her fingernails and didn't even notice his approach until he was right in front of her.
"Hey pretty girl."
"Hey," Brooke smiled back shyly as Lucas took a seat next to her. "How was playing?"
"Good," he smiled, "Like always."
Brooke nodded and looked at him hopefully. "I wanted to say thank you Luke."
"For what?"
"A lot of things. But mainly taking care of me after Nathan."
"Someone had to."
"Yeah but even after that awful thing I said to you when you told me you liked me, you still didn't make me feel bad about it, and you just loved me afterwards."
"You were in shock," he explained shrugging it off.
Brooke smiled at him and took his hand. "This is hard for me. Because you're the first guy I ever dated who really cared about me and I care about you so much too."
Lucas smiled. "You know I love you pretty girl," he said and kissed her hand which was still entwined with his.
"Yeah," Brooke said brightening and smiling back at him, "I love you too."
Lucas dropped her hand. "You do?" he asked.
Brooke laughed and put her arms around his neck. "I love you Lucas Scott," she repeated.
Lucas smiled and cupped her face before catching her ready and waiting lips. He stroked her hair as their lips pressed harder and closer into each other. When they finally broke away both panting, Brooke smiled seductively up at Lucas. "Bedroom," she whispered huskily.
"Bedroom," Lucas Scott concurred.