A Season in Purgatory
Chapter 15
Light streamed in through the slats of the blinds, casting a warm glow over the bed. Brooke smiled at a sleeping Lucas, taking in the serenity that he projected even with his eyes closed. She zipped her jeans and slid her strapy shoes on, pausing beside the bed only a moment. Lucas was curled liked a giant child, lost in a tangle of sheets and blankets in the tiny bed. She placed a gentle kiss on his forehead and then grabbed her backpack off on old chest of drawers. It was only 5:30 AM but Brooke could hear the sounds of Karen moving around the house and she didn't want to risk getting caught. Lucas was in more than enough trouble already.
She stared regretfully at the bed, longing to crawl back under the covers in order to snuggle with Lucas. She'd spent the night in his arms and for the first time in a long time, she had slept like a rock. With a final gaze, she slipped out the door and down the sidewalk. She couldn't go home because her parents hadn't left for the airport yet, but she could find some coffee and wait for school to begin.
Karen moved around the kitchen setting various dishes on the worn Formica table. "Lucas," she yelled, a bit perturbed he didn't come the first three times she called him. She'd gotten up early in order to have time to fix his favorite breakfast foods and perhaps to cajole him into talking to her.
Lumbering down the hall, Lucas dropped his backpack beside the table and silently sat down in his usual place. Karen watched as he picked up a fork and began moving the food around on his plate, occasionally taking a bite, but more often than not just rearranging the food around the plate. He was still disappointed that he woke up alone, having spent a great night curled up with Brooke. Something about watching her sleep, feeling her warm, soft body next to his had temporarily wiped the issues with Dan from his mind. When his alarm had gone off, reality came crashing down and Lucas realized that today was going to truly suck.
"Okay, so I take it you still aren't happy about last night?" she began, hoping to egg him into at least making a comment. He responded without words, merely raising an eyebrow in her general direction, before taking a long sip of his orange juice.
Karen's resolve grew with each passing moment of dead silence. "I know you Lucas and the silent treatment won't get you out of going to Dan's after school today." He finally reacted to her words, looking her dead in the eye. "I don't have anything else to say," he softly said, looking back down at his plate and muttering "or at least nothing that won't get me grounded."
For a moment, Karen was truly worried. Lucas was quiet and introspective by nature, but she knew they had a strong relationship. "You aren't grounded because of something you said about Dan," she reminded him. "You are grounded because you started a fight during a basketball game, broke curfew and got drunk. And I think a few weeks of being grounded is lenient compared to your crimes."
Lucas forced himself to not slam his hand on their fragile table. "Well, you are certainly making me pay by forcing me to spend time with Dan." It was a short sentence but one that conveyed every ounce of anger and hatred he had for the man.
Karen dropped her fork in the middle of her barely eaten eggs. This conversation wasn't going the way she wanted it to go. "Dan is trying, Lucas. He knows he can't make up for the past, but he is interested in at least getting to know you. Your punishment is not for Dan's sake. It's for you and Nathan. If the threat of having to spend time together prevents another fight, then Dan and I are both in favor of forcing you to spend time together," she explained, seeing in her son's eyes that he simply didn't care what her rationale was. "You need to get to know your brother even if you never speak to Dan again."
Lucas pushed back from the table, nearly knocking his chair over in the process. Grabbing his backpack off the floor, he slowly stalked toward the door. He paused a moment and turned back to look at his mother. "I've wasted enough time on both of them in the past. I don't care if I ever talk to them again, let alone waste time associating with them." His words hung in the air, even after the door slammed and he left the house.
Karen sighed, knowing that the next few months weren't going to be easy. But there had to be a better way for both boys. She could see the tension eating her son up inside. She had to do act before something deadly erupted between Lucas and his half brother.
Yawning, Brooke slammed the door to her car and slowly made the long march from the parking lot to the front door of the building. She'd actually been in the parking lot for hours, having driven to school and sneaked into the locker room where the cheerleaders kept their stuff in order to shower before classes started. She'd spent the last hour sitting in her car, drinking coffee and trying to avoid the questioning glances of the academic team members who regularly showed up to school at the ungodly hour of 7 AM.
Hearing her name, Brooke turned around and saw Nathan's large frame moving toward her. The crowd of lingering teens seemed to part as if Nathan were Moses and the parking lot was his Red Sea. He hurriedly made his way over to her.
As he fell in step with her, Brooke stared at Nate in confusion. "Do I know you? Oh... you're my ex friend who called me a slut last night in the middle of a busy cafe."
Nate looked confused, not sure where her anger was coming from. "Brooke, I'm just trying to protect you from that guy. He's just using you to hurt me," Nate patiently explained to her. He sped up, realizing she was walking at four times her normal pace, attempting to get away from him.
"Give me some credit to know when a guy is using me, Nate. Besides, not everything in life is about you," she noted, having dealt with too many guys in past that just wanted to use her body.
"Where did you end up sleeping last night?" he questioned, concerned about the dark circles under her eyes and the general frazzled look to her hair and clothes. He nodded his "big man on campus" nod to a few giggling freshmen girls, as he waited for her answer.
"As if it's any of your concern," she remarked, continuing to make her way toward the building. She threw open the main school door and stalked off in the general direction of her locker. Nate stared at her in confusion, before catching up with her and roughly pulling her into an isolated corner under the stairwell.
"I mean it, Brooke. I was worried all night. My dad normally doesn't care about rules, but since he's been around that...Karen person, he's all about rules. I just wanted to let you know you can always stay the night at the beach house. I want you to have this," he said, sliding something small and metal into her slight hand.
She looked down in confusion at the key he'd given her. "What is this?"
Nathan smiled at her. "Its a key to the beach house. Next time you need some place to crash, just go there and stay for the night, whenever you want." Dan didn't say that Nathan couldn't have guests at their other house, he reasoned.
Brooke fought the urge to smack that proud, condescending smile off his face. "Wow... such a magnanimous gesture, Nate."
She spun around and continued walking to her locker when he caught up with her once again. "I don't understand...magnam what?"
"Maybe you should ask your tutor what it means. I'm sure you'll be spending plenty of time with her during our lunch break," she said, as she twisted the dial on her combination lock with extra vigor.
Nathan was completely lost by this point. "Are you talking about yesterday? I needed help with a test and Haley was giving me one last session before the test. I waited for you the entire time," he explained, wondering if that was why Brooke was so mad at him and why she'd been so distant lately. "I even saved you half a sandwich, but you never showed up."
Brooke was slightly happy to hear that she'd not been totally dismissed for Tutor Girl. But she was still angry about his attempts to get Lucas in trouble the night before. And seeing Haley hanging all over him that night just made her that much more angry. "Oh and I am sure that Haley was just an eager beaver to help you during lunch," she snarked, grabbing her English and biology books.
Frustrated, Nate slammed his hand against the locker next to hers, causing her to jump and the students in the hallway to stop and stare at them. "What is your problem? Are you PMSing or is this just your new attitude since you've been hanging out with Lucas?"
Slamming her locker shut, Brooke turned around to face him. "No this is about you treating your brother like crap and purposefully trying to get him in trouble. Do you realize that by telling Karen that Lucas was getting drunk with me that you made me look like a loser in her eyes? I don't need anyone else thinking I'm a drunk slut."
Nate's eyes narrowed. He'd not realized that his words the night before might have affected Dan or Karen's opinion of his best friend. "Come on Brooke, you aren't like that and anyone who knows you understands that."
Dropping her books into her backpack, she gave Nate a final look. "Oh that's right. Let's all feel sorry for drunken Brooke. But you've got Tutor Girl to make everything okay," she sarcastically commented, not caring if her words hurt. "I guess you can be friends with the town slut as long as you only date girls who collect Carebears."
Sighing, Nate ran a frustrated hand through his dark hair. "She's just a friend right now, Brooke. She doesn't even think about me that way," he solemnly said, a bit sad that such a nice girl didn't know he was alive outside of his history grade. "I'm just a project to her, a fixer upper that she needs to work on in order to have a stellar tutor record."
Brooke stopped outside the door to her English class, hoping to catch a glimpse of Lucas in the hallway. She turned toward her friend and shook her head. "Nathan, if you can't tell that girl is head over heels for you, you're more dense than I thought." She walked off, but not before catching a grin on his face as he walked toward his math class.
Lucas chased Haley down the hallway, knowing that after standing him up for lunch, she was purposefully avoiding him. Lunch didn't bother him that much. Let her eat with Loser Nathan. He'd spent a perfect lunch laughing with Brooke and sharing his food with her. Lucas had worried that things might be awkward between them, especially after he'd woken up alone. But when he'd finally talked her before one of the two classes they shared, everything had been fine.
He frowned a second, realizing that fine was an understatement. Things were nearly…great. Lucas hated to be optimistic. Any time he'd tried to have faith or hope that something would pan out, he was inevitable disappointed. But he liked spending time with Brooke. She made him both relaxed and hormonal. And she always found a way to make him smile, a way to lighten his overly serious personality.
A silly smile crossed his face a moment, before he realized that Haley was standing right in front of him. She crossed her arms across her slight frame and stared at him expectantly.
"God, Hales. You scared the daylight out of me," he started, his voice giving out when he realized she was mad at him. Not mad, but seriously pissed. He'd known her most of his life and was well aware of her body language.
"Maybe if you paid attention to what you were doing and more importantly, what you were saying, you wouldn't look like an idiot all the time," she caustically replied, motioning around to their gapping peers. Lucas followed her to an empty classroom, not really caring what the rest of his class thought. They'd been gossiping and talking about Lucas for most of his life and he didn't see any reason to start caring what they thought now.
He could tell by the tone of her voice that this was not going to be pleasant, but he wanted to get it over with so they could move on. "So, have you now officially ditched our lunches together in order to hang out with Mr. Basketball Star or are you just busy lately?"
The scowl on her face said more than any of her words could. "And why would I want to spend my lunch break with a guy who told the entire town I was sleeping with Nathan?" she asked, not really looking for an answer to her question.
Lucas shrugged his shoulders, happy to at least know the source of her anger. "I didn't tell the entire town, just a few people last night. By accident," he explained, realizing that his words were falling on deaf ears.
Haley was fuming by now. "I'm NOT sleeping with anyone, Lucas. I'm the same virgin that you've known for 16 years. And even if I did decide to sleep with someone, what gives you the right to tell the entire café?"
"I was angry at you for talking to him last night and at the party," he began, not getting far before she cut him off with an angry wave of her hand. "So that gives you the right to make up lies about me? Do you realize that you've just done the same thing to me that people have done to you your entire life," she said, tears coming to her eyes for a moment.
His head fell in shame for a moment. "Haley, what else would the guy want to take you upstairs for? It's the universal guy move for "let's go make out"". He still couldn't believe how betrayed he felt at his friends actions. He'd been avoiding it for a while, but Lucas had been upset since Haley agreed to tutor Nathan. "After all the things he's done to me, Haley. Why would you do this to me?" he asked, his plaintive words affecting her own anger.
She stood her ground. "This isn't about you and Nathan, Lucas. It's about our friendship. And you hurt me last night. You know how news travels in this town. My parents have probably already called my siblings to ask for advice on what to do with my out of control sex life," she said, catastrophizing her already goofy parents tendencies.
Lucas remained silent, feeling he was justified in his own anger. She sighed and gave him the benefit of the doubt. "Do you want to know why we went up stairs, Lucas? We were talking about his mother and he wanted to show me some pictures of her. That's it Lucas. No touching, no kissing and definitely no sex. But we did talk a lot and you should try to be a little more understanding of your brother's pain."
Her words cut through him like a knife. "OH god, not the dead mother melodrama again. Hasn't he played that card enough with his teachers over the years?" Lucas asked, sick of seeing how Nathan used his personal tragedy to get out of class deadlines and schoolwork.
Haley eye's rose in surprise. She'd known that Lucas could be irrational on the subject of his other family but she'd not realize just how low he could sink. "Kind of like you playing the abandoned son card, right Luke?" she asked, knowing that he needed a reality check. "We all have pain in our life, but what gives you the right to deem Nathan's as unworthy?"
She was expecting a hot retort from him, or a patented Lucas Scott analytical diatribe. However, she wasn't prepared when he gave her a hurt look and wordless stalked out of the room.
The last bell of the day rang, sending Nathan further into dread. His father had called him on his cell at lunch and instructed him to find Lucas after class so that Nathan could drive them both to the dealership. As if it was Nate's fault that Lucas didn't have a car to drive himself places, he fumed. Nathan slung his backpack over one shoulder as he headed down the hall to the bastard spawn's locker.
Lucas dumped a book in the bottom of his locker as he wearily eyed Nathan's approach. He didn't need his half brother adding to his problems, as he'd just failed his physics test. The grades wouldn't be posted for a few days, but Lucas knew the information well enough to know he'd been mentally vacant during most of the test. The fight with Haley and her biting words about his family situation had clouded his mind through out most of the test and he found it impossible to do more than rehash her harsh words.
Nathan stood next to his locker for a moment in silence, never really sure how to approach his sullen half brother unless he was trying to upset him. He decided to go with blunt and simple. "My dad told me to give you a ride to the dealership."
Slamming his locker, Lucas picked up his frayed backpack, before giving Nathan a slightly surprised look. "He's not been particularly interested how I got around town before, so tell him to bite me. I'll get there when I get there."
Nathan's curiosity was piqued a bit. People accused him of being a hothead but Lucas seemed to have more anger than a starving horde outside an empty Krispy Kreme. "Look man, it wasn't my idea, it was his. And since he and your mother seem to be holding all the cards here, why piss them off any more?"
They walked together in silent agreement, heading toward the parking lot with the rest of their classmates. "I don't really care what they think at this point. My mother was too busy playing Dr. Phil that she forgot that I have a real job after work, one that I actually need." Not that Lucas would be spending any of his paychecks in the next few weeks, he realized, seeing one good point about being grounded.
Nathan decided to avoid that point. Everyone knew that Lucas had to manage an after school job with his basketball obligations. Nathan never had to work for money, it was always just around. And if he didn't have any, he just had to ask Dan for more. "So what are you going to do? Should I tell Dad that you aren't showing up?"
Lucas paused a moment, preparing to head off toward Keith's shop. "I don't care what you tell him. I'll be over there after I explain to Keith why I won't be at work. If he doesn't like it, then he can run to my mother," Lucas said, giving Nate a measured look before walking off.
Nathan shook his head, knowing that this wasn't going to be good. Yesterday's work at the Café had been hard enough, even with Haley's presence. But Dan hadn't been hanging around for the majority of the time, and today it would be nearly impossible to avoid the three of them being in the same room at the same time. He slowly made his way to his SUV, thinking that there were entirely too many Scotts in Tree Hill.
Thanks for the awesome replies and for reading.
Next up:
Brooke tries to loosen Lucas up before he goes to Dan's
Keith has some big news for Lucas