Memories of Us Chapter (4/13)

Chapter 4
‘Falling in Love’

“Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you I had no control over.”

Peyton’s House
Tree Hill- 2003


Brooke glanced at the computer and bit her lip. This was all her fault. She should have never taken Peyton to that party. Her heart was in the right place. She was just trying to make up for the way she acted at the Scott’s yearly party. She had no idea things were going to go so wrong. She still couldn’t believe someone drugged Peyton.

Thank god for Lucas. At this point he probably thought the worst of her. She glanced over at Lucas tucking Peyton under the covers and sighed. Once Lucas had her settled he walked over to the computer and sat next to Brooke.

“It says here she’ll be disoriented, may have some short term memory loss, which maybe isn’t a bad thing.”

“How long ‘til it wears off?”

“Overnight, probably. Think she’ll be okay?”

He shrugged.

“I don’t know, Brooke.”

She looked over at Peyton and she could feel tears form in her eyes. Brooke has been best friends with Peyton since they were in kindergarten. She’d never forgive herself if Peyton didn’t make it through this okay.

“I feel terrible. It’s all my fault.”

Lucas looked at Brooke and frowned.

“What’s done is done. The med student says she’s gonna be okay, right? So we just need to watch her until she wakes up.”

Brooke nodded with a determined look on her face.

“I can do it. You’ve done way too much already.”

Lucas shook his head as he turned to look back at Brooke. He could see the worry on her face and he felt bad for being short with her earlier. This wasn’t Brooke’s fault. Peyton was her best friend, and if it wasn’t for Brooke, Peyton probably would have had something a lot worse happen to her.

“I don’t mind hanging out.”

Her voice was soft and she didn’t look at him when she spoke.

“Okay.”

“Look. It's not your fault, okay?”

She gave him a disbelieving look and he tried to reassure her.

“Hey, you did get her out of there.”

Brooke shrugged.

“I guess.”

They sat there for a while watching Peyton quietly before Lucas got up to use the bathroom. Brooke watched him go before moving on the bed and sitting next to Peyton. She took hold of her hand and Peyton took a deep breath before groaning slightly and shifting positions.

“I’m so sorry P. Sawyer…I owe you big time after dragging you to that party. You’re my best friend…you need to be fine, because if you’re not around…I don’t have anyone…”

Lucas stood in the doorway listening to Brooke talk to Peyton for a few minutes before he finally cleared his throat and spoke.

“Still sleeping?”

Brooke glanced up, wiped her eyes, and nodded. He paused for a minute before holding out a mug for her.

“Here, I made some coffee if you want...”

Brooke gave him a small smile, got off the bed, and walked towards him. She took the cup and sipped it. Her eyes closed as she relished the taste. When she opened her eyes he was watching her. She leaned against the door frame and she looked down at her coffee before speaking.

“I don't know how you do it.”

“... it's easy. The directions are on the bag.”

She laughed lightly and rolled her eyes.

“You know what I mean. You'd give up everything to help her after what happened at Nathan's house.”

Surprise crossed Lucas’ face as he looked at Brooke. He didn’t realize Peyton had told her about that. It was definitely one of his low points. He had been ‘in love’ with Peyton Sawyer since he was younger, but when he finally got the chance to be with her he messed it up. After what happened at Nathan’s, Lucas was beginning to think Peyton wasn’t who he thought she was.

“She told you about that?”

Brooke nodded as she looked up at him.

“A little... look, the thing about Peyton; it's really hard for her to let her guard down but once she does, she's got this amazing heart, you know.”

When Brooke talked about Peyton, Lucas could see how much she meant to her. When he first met Brooke he thought she was this crazy party girl. He thought there was no substance there, but tonight…he was seeing a side of her that he could get used to seeing.

“Sounds like something the two of you have in common... who knew.”

He smiled and she gave him a warm grin. There was a playful look on her face when she spoke.

“So you don't have any brothers, do you?”

Right after she said it, Brooke realized her blunder and she scrunched up her face before she let out an embarrassed laugh.

“You mean... besides Nathan.”

He raised an eyebrow and she gave him a sheepish look.

“Yeah...how’d that work anyway? I mean, are you…”

Her voice trailed off and Lucas answered her question.

“I’m three months older. My mom got pregnant right after her senior year. Dan moved on to Nathan’s mom the first semester of college.”

“That must have been really hard for your mom…”

She paused before continuing.

“So you two are pretty close.”

He nodded.

“Yeah. We do a lot of stuff together. We talk... she's really great.”

Brooke looked away from him and over at Peyton. Lucas could hear the envy in her voice.

“Sounds nice. My parents would rather throw cash at me and send me on my way then spend any time with me.”

He watched her as Peyton shifted in bed. Maybe there’s more to Brooke Davis than meets the eye, thought Lucas.

“Listen, you can grab some sleep if you want. I'll watch her for a while.”

Brooke turned her head to face him.

“I'd rather stay and talk to you if you don't mind.”

“I don't mind...”

They looked at each other and when their eyes met it was like a choice had been made and a friendship had been formed. They shared a smile before moving over to the chairs with their coffee to talk. Several hours later, when they knew Peyton was out of the woods, Lucas drove Brooke back to her car.

“You want me to follow you home?”

“No. I'll be okay.”

“Okay.”

Brooke opened the door and started to get out when Lucas spoke.

“So why'd you call me, anyway? I'm not Nathan or one of the guys...”

She gave him a warm smile and shrugged.

“Because I knew you'd come through.”

Lucas was watching her again and it made her nervous. There was something stirring inside her that she’d never felt before. Something she wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to feel.

“You're a good friend to her, Brooke.”

“You sound surprised.”

Lucas gave her a sheepish grin.

“Sorry, I just... I guess I just figured that you were...”

She cut him off.

“A brainless slut.”

He frowned and shook his head.

“No. You're not. What I was gonna say was that I just…I didn't think that you were...that tough. But I was clearly wrong about you.”

She shrugged again.

“It's okay. Most people are.”

She leaned over and placed a kiss on Lucas’ cheek before getting out of the car and shutting the door. Lucas called out to her.

“Hey Brooke...call me. If you need anything, okay?”

She smiled and nodded.

“Count on that.”

As she got into her car and watched Lucas’ truck drive away she realized what the feeling was. She was falling for Lucas Scott. Falling in a way she never had before and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.

Chapter 5