CHAPTER 9
A/N; SO SO SO SO Sorry that I'm taking so long to update!!! I'm going to Australia in 3 weeks and I've been so busy trying to get organised! Again, sorry, here's the latest instalment!
"I wan be Spiderman today Daddy!" Three year old Sophie Scott cried for the fifth time in as many minutes as she rolled around the living room floor in her Bratz pyjamas, clinging onto her Spiderman outfit. Nathan sighed and looked to Haley for backup but she rolled her eyes at him and gave him an 'I told you so' look and continued applying her lip gloss.
"Sophie" Nathan whined. "We agreed that you could be Spiderman when you come home later, but this morning you have to be Sophie." Sophie stopped rolling and looked up at her daddy, her bottom lip quivering.
"But I wanna be Spiderman now, Daddy! You said I could!" The quivering lip stiffened and tears began to fall. Nathan threw his eyes up to heaven and ran his hand across his three day stubble that he still hadn't shaved because he'd spent the last half an hour arguing with his stubborn daughter.
"I give up!" he walked off to the kitchen to pour himself a strong cup of coffee. Haley slammed down her gloss and threw him an angry glare.
"You can't always let her have her way, Nathan." she said through gritted teeth, trying to keep her cool, but silently cursing Nathan for absently promising their daughter that she could wear her Spiderman outfit today, the day of Lucas and Peyton's graduation. (Of course, he'd been completely engrossed in a basketball game and she could have been asking him if she could fly to the moon today and he would have agreed.)
"Sophie, hon, you remember that it's Uncle Lucas's and Aunt Peyton's special day today, right?" Sophie nodded at her mother, her tears subsiding. "Well, Uncle Lucas wants you to wear that really pretty dress that he bought you. Don't you want to be like a princess today? Just for your favourite uncle? You can even wear some of mommy's lip gloss…" Haley was not above emotional blackmail and bribery especially as they had to leave the apartment in the next 15 minutes to avoid being late. Sophie's eyes lit up and she hurdled towards the gloss that Haley had just been using. It would be the last time she saw that anyway.
"Will you make me pretty, Mommy?" Haley grinned smugly at Nathan but he just shrugged his shoulders and headed for the bathroom.
"Sweetheart, you are already the most beautiful little girl in the whole entire world. God himself couldn't make you any prettier." In a few swift movements, Sophie's pyjama's were on the floor and she was twirling around the room in her new white Christian Dior dress that Lucas had paid a small fortune for. Haley really had to talk to him about spending so much money on her. Ok, he was her godfather but every time he saw her he had something new and expensive for her. Lucas knew that Haley and Nathan couldn't afford a lot of the stuff he bought and tried hard to lie about the cost but he just couldn't seem to help himself. Sophie's wardrobe was bulging thanks to Lucas's credit card and Brooke's 'experiments'.
As soon as she spotted her uncle, Sophie skipped happily and jumped in Lucas's arms. "Lukey Luke!" she squealed kissing his cheek.
Haley and Nathan followed up behind, smiling at Lucas wearing his gown and mortar. "Check out The Graduate!" Nathan half hugged his brother and took his daughter into his own arms. "Careful Soph, we don't want to get Uncle Lucas all wrinkled." he joked. Peyton bounded towards them and hopped up on Lucas's back.
"Ola friends!" Her blonde curls had been straightened and her hair now reached just above her shoulders and she wore her gown open, revealing a very tight and very short jean dress designed and hand made by the one and only Brooke Davis. "It's finally over! Four years of 9am lectures, tutorials, exams and thesis! All over!"
The group exchanged hugs and words of congratulations before being joined by Brooke, who as always, looked as if she'd just stepped out of the latest edition of Vogue magazine. Brooke had graduated from her design course the year before, top of her class and with a permanent position as a junior designer for a new trendy fashion house in Manhattan. Already her job had taken her to Paris, Milan, London and Australia. She was travelling so much that she and Lucas were hardly seeing each other and their relationship was more than a little on the rocks. "I have THE most gorgeous top and jeans for Sophie." Brooke whispered to Haley who rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh don't be such a meanie! I got something cute for you too, mama!"
"Ooh I can't wait!" Haley smiled happily and linked arms with her friend as they went to find their seats. "So, truthfully, how are things with you and Lucas?"
Brooke's smile faded slightly. "Pretty much the same. I get on a plane, we fight, I come home, we fight."
"Maybe things will get better this summer. Now that school is over, you guys can spend some more time together." Haley suggested.
"Doubtful. He starts his internship at the D.A.'s office in 2 weeks so he's going to be working insane hours and I have a deadline for the fall collection so I have to spend a lot of time in the studio. I don't think things are going to get better, Hales." Brooke smiled sadly at her friend and swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Don't say that, Brooke. It's you and Lucas, you guys were made for each other. I've never known a couple more together than you two. This is just a glitch, you'll get through it." Haley sounded confident which made Brooke believe her just a little.
"I hope you're right…" Brooke whispered as Sophie came to sit on her lap, juice box in one hand and a new Bratz doll in the other. Haley glared at Lucas as he walked towards the front of the hall to take his seat. He had to stop spoiling her daughter…
Brooke had arranged for all of them to have dinner together at their favourite restaurant in the city, so soon after the ceremony they were seated at their usual table, laughing and joking about Peyton's slight 'trip' as she climbed the steps to receive her degree.
"It is SO not funny, guys!" she protested. "It could have been disastrous, this dress is not supposed to be seen from the ass up. Thank god for Dr. Turlington, if it wasn't for him, I would have been on my back."
"Thank god I got it on camera." Nathan chuckled "I have to send it to your dad, he'll crack up."
"Where is your dad, Peyt?" Haley asked casually. Larry Sawyer was kind of a touchy subject lately, mostly due to the fact that he had moved to California to be with his new girlfriend.
"Oh, he's in the Caribbean with Beth." Peyton made a face and a retching sign with her fingers. She was less than impressed by her soon to be step mother. "Lucas you are so lucky that your mom and step dad bothered to show up to your one and only graduation from university." she said dryly.
"Yeah, it's just a shame that they couldn't stay for dinner." Lucas was enjoying his meal so much that he didn't catch Peyton's sarcasm.
"What about your brothers?" Haley was curious.
"Shane couldn't get off work, Logan is still in New Zealand and Mark just didn't give a crap." Peyton shook her head bitterly. Ever since she moved to New York to go to college, her family had practically fallen apart. She rarely saw any of them and when they found the time to call her it was usually to cancel or delay the plans they had made with her. Jake and her friends were pretty much the only family she had now.
"Well to hell with families" Nathan raised his glass and toasted his friends. "They suck and we're all better off without them. Except Sophie…she's the only one we can all stand." Nathan smiled fondly at his daughter who was busy discussing with her doll the importance of eating ketchup with her chicken nuggets. She shook Haley's hand off irritably when she ruffled the three year olds raven hair.
"What do you mean you have to go?" Lucas whispered between gritted teeth.
"I had to take that call, Luke, it's my job. I have to go back to the studio and try and fix this crisis they're having."
"What crisis? What's more important than right now having dinner with your friends to celebrate your boyfriends graduation?" Lucas raised his voice slightly and caught the attention of everyone else at the table.
Brooke blushed and smiled apologetically at her friends. "I'm sorry guys, I have to go to work…" she turned to Lucas. "I'm sorry, but I don't have a choice." she pleaded to him with her eyes to understand but he wasn't playing along. He threw down his napkin angrily and leaned back in his chair.
"You always have a choice, Brooke." Lucas avoided her gaze "Stop looking at me like you wish I understood, I've understood enough. Why are we even doing this anymore?"
Brooke sat there stunned, not able to form any words. Was he ending this? Somewhere in the distance she could hear Haley whisper something about Sophie needing to go to the bathroom, and she was vaguely aware of all eyes focussed on her.
"So you're questioning our relationship now?" Brooke choked. "Today? Right now? You wanna talk about this here?" she demanded.
"Yeah, why not? This is the first time I've seen you in nearly 2 weeks and you probably won't be home tonight so this is as good a time as any!"
"Guys, you maybe want to take this outside…?" Jake suggested softly.
"Fine!" Brooke stood, grabbed her purse and marched out of the restaurant followed by Lucas. The group looked at each other awkwardly as Haley and Sophie came back to the table.
"They're going to be ok, right?" Haley asked, settling back into her seat.
"Of course they will." Nathan replied confidently. "It's Lucas and Brooke. They'll be tearing each other's clothes off by the time they get outside."
Peyton and Jake glanced at each other knowingly and Haley caught them. "What aren't you telling us?"
"Well… this isn't the first time they've had a huge fight like this… It's been happening a lot more than you think." Jake answered as Peyton seemed quite upset.
"What are you talking about?" Nathan was confused. Lucas had told him that they were going through a little bit of a rough patch but that it would smooth over soon enough.
"Brooke slept with one of her models about a month ago." Peyton stated. "They've been trying to work things out but Lucas isn't dealing with it too well."
"Oh my god…" Haley cried. She had no idea, neither Brooke or Lucas had mentioned a thing. "Why didn't anybody tell us?"
"They didn't want you guys to know, Lucas was too hurt to talk about it and Brooke was too ashamed…" Jake took Peyton's hand and squeezed softly. "They asked us not to mention anything, they seemed sure they would get past it. I guess it's harder than they thought it would be."
The four friends shared their views for a few minutes before Lucas finally came back into the restaurant. Haley went to him instantly and hugged him tightly. "You should have told me." she whispered into his ear. Lucas pulled away and reached for his coat.
"I'm sorry guys, I'm going to go home. I'm pretty tired. Brooke and I just broke up."
Haley hugged him again, as did Peyton. Jake and Nathan muttered their apologies.
"Are you sure this is what you want, Lucas?" Haley enquired gently, not able to believe that her two best friends were calling it a day on their relationship. She had never met a couple more in love than Lucas and Brooke, they were perfect for each other.
"It wasn't working, Hales." Lucas sighed exhausted. "It hasn't been working for a long time." Lucas said his goodbyes and left his friends stunned.
Arriving back in Hartford, Nathan carried his sleeping daughter from the car towards the apartment. Haley was ahead of him when he heard a voice calling him from behind. Turning, he saw his mother cross the street walking towards him.
"Nathan." her eyes glistened as she spoke. It was the first time in nearly 4 years that she had seen her son.
"Mom, what are you doing here?" Nathan said quietly, not wanting to wake Sophie.
"I left your father, Nathan. I left him and I had to see you. You and my granddaughter." Deb seemed to notice for the first time that her granddaughter was in Nathan's arms. She took a step towards him but Nathan stepped back quickly.
"No! Stay away, mom." Nathan turned and began up the steps to his apartment. "It's too little, too late." he muttered.
A/N; So what do you guys think? Should Nathan make up with Deb? I think he should but let me know what YOU think… Just review! Sorry not much happened in this chapter but I need to split Lucas and Brooke up for a while. Maybe they'll get a happy ending too…
