Chapter One-Hundred-Thirteen
By the time Brooke had gotten dressed and ready, and was downstairs in the kitchen again Jaime had finished making their bagels and putting cream cheese on them. He handed hers over to her on a paper plate and kept his.
"You should come with us Jai," Brooke told him in a slight pleading tone.
"No way! Its just us girls for the day," Peyton insisted, as she came into the kitchen and Brooke groaned inwardly. It's not that she doesn't enjoy having that alone time with her sister…because she does. But the fact that she knows Thadius is out there somewhere; she doesn't want her brother to be very far. That's the worst thing about being back in New York again. When she was in Florida she felt safe knowing that her nightmare was over a hundred miles away from her and couldn't hurt her. That was the reason she moved. But now he just lives about ten minutes away and could be anywhere. He won't hurt her in front of Jaime she knows that for sure. Jaime is his best friend after all. Not that, that helped her much anyway in the past…seeing as how Jaime was at that party when she got raped. He wasn't looking out for her then. But then again, he trusted Thadius — which makes Brooke feel even more sick to her stomach. Jaime trusted him and befriended him and yet he raped his sister behind his back.
"Are you sure he can't come Pey?" Brooke double-checked.
"He can come shopping with us some other time Brooke, I want it to be just us." Jaime studied Brooke curiously, as he noticed how desperate she sounds which kind of worries him a little. Like Peyton, she usually takes sister-bonding time very seriously.
"Um…Pey…what if I went and just looked around at my own stores? I really think Brooke wants me to go. I won't interfere with your sister-bonding time, don't worry. I'm no way interested in listening to you two babble on about girl stuff. I'll just go off and do my own thing, but I'll be near by if Brooke should need me." Peyton looked at Brooke then and she raised her eyebrow as she for the first time noticed the desperation in her sister's eyes.
"But…you'll be in the car with us — that'd be interfering," Peyton replied, still clinging onto her sister bonding time hoping she'd win it one way or another, but she knows it's pretty much useless.
"We'll walk," Brooke insisted. "He can walk like five feet behind us with his headphones on — so he can't hear anything."
"But…"
"Peyton please?" Brooke pleaded, pulling her sister in a hug the same way she had done to her earlier. "Please, Please, Pleeeease?" She begged in the same perkiness that Peyton had earlier, though Jaime and Peyton both could see the frightened look in her eyes that she is trying her very hardest to suppress.
"Okay, Okay…fine." Peyton replied, pretending to pout. "I hate it when you use my own perkiness against me." Brooke smiled in satisfaction.
"Thank you honey, I will make it up to you I promise!" She replied, and she gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"You better," Peyton replied.
"It's kind of windy outside. Peyton why don't you run upstairs and get yours and Brooke's hoodies incase you need them?" Jaime suggested.
"Okay, what about you?"
"I will get mine on the way out — my stuff hasn't quite made it up to my room yet, and seeing as how I got talked into going with you the unpacking will have to wait till later."
"Kay," Peyton replied, and she turned and ran out of the room. When he knew she was gone all the way, he rounded on his other sister with concerned eyes.
"Alright, spill. What is going on with you?" Brooke tried her hardest to make herself look confused.
"What do you mean? Nothing is going on."
"You know very well what I mean. Why are you insisting I go to the mall with you and Peyton?"
"Hey, I told you I missed you didn't I?" Jaime narrowed his eyes.
"Something is bothering you, I know it. You usually take your sister-bonding moments just as serious as Peyton takes them. The only time you drag me a long with you to places is when you are scared. So what is going on?"
"I'm fine. I just missed you that's all…is there something wrong with wanting to spend the day with both of my siblings?"
"You were never a really good liar. Especially when you're trying to hide the fact that something is bothering you."
"That's what you think," she muttered, as she turned to take a sip of her coffee. Jaime opened his mouth for more interrogating but was interrupted by Peyton rushing into the kitchen with two hoodies in her hand.
"Okay, lets go!" she piped up cheerfully.
"Yeah, lets! The faster we get there the longer we'll have shopping!" She insisted, and she grabbed hold of Peyton's hand and pulled her out of the kitchen. Jaime rolled his eyes and shook his head. I'll find out one way or another… he thought inwardly to himself, and then followed them into the living room. He put his shoes and socks on quickly, and then grabbed his hoodie and ipod and he followed his sisters out of the house, locking the door behind him.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Meanwhile, at the Orphanage, Doctor Johnson decided that he would hold off on telling the children what their punishment is until lunchtime. His brother Brandon had arrived earlier that morning and he was busy catching up with him. It's driving the children nuts, because they know it's coming and they just want to get it done and over with.
"So, Brandon, how is school going for you?" Doctor Johnson asked as the two brothers set the cafeteria up for lunch. He had Jennifer take half the children out onto the playground with assigned caregivers there to help her, and another group of caregivers took the other half of the kids into the playroom. He told them to do everything they could to keep them all busy until lunchtime and that is exactly what they are trying to do.
"Pretty good, I'll be graduating in another semester. So you're coming to Oklahoma, dude." Brandon laughed, placing silverware on the table. "I'm getting sick of the place, though. So much partying and I'm kinda over that stuff. But oh well."
"So how's the writing going?" Brandon had to do a senior writing portfolio and had been working on it for awhile now.
"Pretty good, I just finished a short story and now I have to work on a news article on the genocide in Darfur. I've been doing a lot of research on the Sudan and it's completely crazy. Imagine running an orphanage over there." Brandon shook his head, looking at his brother. "So Steve, Mr. Big-time-doctor, how is the love life going?" Doctor Johnson scoffed.
"Love life? Are you kidding me?"
"You STILL don't have a girlfriend?"
"No, when do I have time to get a girlfriend?"
"Aren't there any hot babes around here? There have to be." Brandon's eyes widened in disbelief. Doctor Johnson laughed out loud.
"Of course there are, but that doesn't mean they're interested."
"Uh huh, I'm sure they aren't."
"Well what about you, Bran?" Brandon's face fell slightly
"Deanna broke up with me a few months back…"
"No way!" He nodded.
"Yeah, she said I was too obsessed with my writing, that I didn't spend enough time with her."
"Aww man, I'm sorry. How have you been?" Doctor Johnson slung an arm around his younger brother's shoulders.
"It's been bad, but I'm starting to get better."
"Well that's good to hear…that you are starting to get better." Brandon nodded.
"So what are we doing for thanksgiving?"
"Well as you can see I am running an Orphanage until Brooke gets back. So we'll be spending the holiday here. I'm planning on throwing a huge Thanksgiving Feast for the kiddies…even though they drove me completely insane last night." Brandon chuckled.
"Well…kids will be kids. What'd they do?"
"They got completely out of control last night…like you wouldn't believe. They all thought that since Brooke is gone they could pull one over on Doctor J. There were naked babies, Brandon — flying diapers — thank god they were clean, and children running around everywhere screaming, and fighting with each other, and playing. You saw the huge mess out in the lobby when you arrived right?"
"Yup, it looked like a tornado blew threw it."
"That was all from them. They are going to get it during lunch time — you've arrived just on time to hear my speech." Brandon laughed.
"What are you going to do?"
"Give them a big huge chore list that I spent an hour doing last night," He said, pulling out a two page list from his pocket and showing it to Brandon.
"It's cleaning day in the Orphanage today. Brooke is going to come home and think she's stepped into the wrong Orphanage — I'm going to give her the clean Orphanage that she's wanted for months but hasn't gotten around to doing. And since the kids messed it up, they are the ones who get to do it." Brandon laughed.
"Wow…they aren't going to like you."
"Well, they're going to learn that just because Brooke is gone it doesn't mean we need to turn the whole place into a zoo. Ooh no. Doctor J may be a fun guy but he's not a pushover. " Brandon laughed and patted his brother on the back. "Well I'm not!" Doctor Johnson smiled.
"Says the brother who let me get away with pretty much anything when I was a kid." Doctor Johnson scowled.
"Well I am not like that anymore."
"Okay Stevie," Brandon laughed, using the nickname that he's had for his brother ever since he could talk and Doctor Johnson lightly elbowed him in the side.
"That's Steve to you little brother." Doctor Johnson told him, shaking his head though he's smiling too. The two of them silently set the cafeteria up neither of them having anything to say for a few moments, but then suddenly Doctor Johnson's cell phone rang, interrupting the quietness. He reached into his pocket, pulled it out and looked at the caller ID to see that it reads "Brooke" on it. He hit talk and then put it to his ear.
"Hello?"
~*~*~*~*~
"What's up Doc?" Brooke grinned, as she followed her sister around American Eagle and looked at clothes at the same time. Doctor Johnson chuckled.
"Honey that Bugs Bunny joke only works when Dakota is around." Brooke smiled and rolled her eyes.
"Nuh uh…I got you to laugh didn't I?"
"Yeah, yeah," Doctor Johnson replied while looking at his brother who was watching him curiously.
"You sound happy, does that mean your brother is there?"
"Yup, he's here. The two of us are setting up the cafeteria together right now, as we speak."
"Awww, cool. So how is the Orphanage going? Are the kids behaving themselves?"
"Well…they got a little out of hand last night, but I set them straight. Everything is fine, no worries." Doctor Johnson reassured, leaving out the part that he is going to make them clean the entire Orphanage from top to bottom until it's spotless. He wants that to be surprise.
"Well that's good, I hope everything is going fine because I've never left you with the Orphanage this long before. I was a little worried about you."
"Everything's fine, I've got it under control. Besides, Jennifer has been a huge help since you've been gone."
"Really?" Brooke asked, smirking some. She knows Jennifer has been in love with Doctor Johnson for some time, it doesn't surprise her that she is being his helper.
"Yup, she's been great. She's pretty much taken on the role of Riley for the past day that I've been incharge."
"Well that's great, tell her I said thank-you."
"I will be sure to. She's outside on the playground supervising the kids right now though."
"Ah okay. Well I just wanted to check up on you…I will talk to you later honey okay?"
"Yup, sure thing." Doctor Johnson smiled. Brooke hung up the phone then and put it back in her pocket and she looked at her sister who was eyeing her with a big smile on her face.
"Who was tha-aat?" Brooke rolled her eyes and smiled a little.
"Doctor Johnson." Peyton's eyes widened in surprise.
"You are dating a DOCTOR?!" Brooke laughed.
"Nooo I am not dating a Doctor."
"You called him honey," Peyton pointed out.
"So we have a pretty close friendship. I call all of my friends honey."
"Yeah, okay."
"Peyton I swear to god and everyone I know, I am not dating Doctor Johnson. He is just looking out for my Orphanage for me, okay?" Peyton scowled.
"Well then who is it Brooke? How long are you going to keep me in the dark? I know there is someone so quit denying it! I am going to find out by the time we go home, so you might as well get it over with." Brooke laughed and shook her head.
"Why do you want to know so bad?"
"Because he obviously makes you really happy that's why. And anybody who makes my sister happy, I want to know about." Brooke stared at her smiling for a moment, as she watched her go through a clothes rack, than she looked down at the one that she was looking at and she pulled off a pink tank top with hearts all over it.
"What do you think of this shirt for me?"
"It's cute," Peyton replied, smiling a little. "They'd go great with these shorts," She added, pulling off a pair of rollup shorts. "You should get them."
"Maybe I will," Brooke agreed, and she took the shorts from Peyton and held them under her arm a long with the other clothes she pulled off the racks. She watched Peyton look at clothes for a few moments, just thinking, then she spoke up. "His name is AJ," she finally revealed, and Peyton's head shot up in surprise — yet again.
"McLean?! You are dating AJ McLean? Oh my god…"
"Will you keep it down a little bit?" Brooke asked quietly, laughing a little as she looked around to see that Peyton had caused several people to look their way. "He may not be here, but it's still a possibility that you could cause a mob with those words." Peyton giggled a little.
"Sorry…"
"And to answer your question…no. Not really…I mean we went out once, but I made it perfectly clear that it was just as friends." Peyton gaped at her.
"Why? Are you crazy!? It's AJ McLean!" She exclaimed in a hushed voice.
"Who is just an ordinary guy who just happens to sing and write music for a band," Brooke replied, rolling her eyes some.
"Maybe to you because you see him every day, but it's a little new to me Brooke."
"Yeah, Yeah…"
"So why aren't you dating him? It's obvious that he makes you happy."
"Because I'm not ready to date anyone right now. He told me that he would wait until I was…because he is really into me."
"Eeeee…" Peyton squealed and Brooke laughed.
"Will you stop that?"
"What?! I am just happy for you that's all. How can you not be ready though? It seems like you use that excuse a lot when it comes to boys. Why aren't you ever ready?" Peyton frowned some. Brooke sighed inwardly. They are heading into dangerous waters again.
"I just…I just want to make sure I don't get hurt again, that's all."
"Again? Honey you haven't ever been with anyone…" Peyton replied, eyeing her sister worriedly, as she suddenly saw that frightened look in her eyes that she had earlier when begging for her to let Jaime tag a long. "What's going on with you?" she questioned, suddenly becoming very serious, and that's not like her. Here we go again… Brooke thought to herself.
"Nothing...I'm fine. Hey I'm going to go try these clothes on okay? And then you can tell me what you think and I will return the favor when I'm done." She told her, and she hurried off for the dressing room before Peyton even had the chance to protest.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
Enjoy =)
