Chapter Two-Hundred-Forty-Four
Meanwhile back in Florida, Brandon emerged from his studio at about twelve PM after sleeping for about four hours and painting for the rest. He locked his door behind him and headed for the cafeteria where he knew Brooke would be setting up the cafeteria for lunch. When he walked in there sure enough there she was with Jaime, Jennifer, and Peyton and they were putting napkins and silverware around each table. Peyton’s eleven-year-old responsibility was trailing behind her with the forks. Brandon smiled in awe at the woman he had spent all night with running around Florida doing anything and everything that she wanted to do, as well himself whenever she managed to talk him into it. He was more concerned about her wants and desires for most of the night though. They didn’t get back until the crack of dawn and he went right to sleep because it was the right thing to do but as soon as he woke up he immediately got right to work on the creations that Peyton inspired him to do. The creations that he’s never before been able to do until she walked into his life. At first it was just an infatuation but he thinks he’s falling very much in love with her the more time he spends with her and that terrifies him beyond imagine. He’s never been in love before in his life. Sure he loved his recent ex-girlfriend and was pretty heartbroken when she left him – like any boyfriend would be, but it’s different with Peyton. He’s in love with her.
“Hey you, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to see the light of day again,” Brooke spoke up, interfering with his thoughts and he looked at her to see her standing in front of him with a playful grin on her face.
“Morning Brooke,” Brandon replied, smiling warmly at her and he embraced her with a hug.
“Good afternoon you mean,” Brooke laughed. “Long morning of painting?” she asked, looking up at him with a knowing smile – as if she knows his work has been all about her baby sister lately. Does she know? Or is he just being paranoid? Brandon suddenly felt self-conscious.
“Mhm,” was all he said.
“I don’t know how you managed that and was able to sleep too. Or did you? Pey says you both didn’t come back till five in the morning and I saw your room this morning while making my rounds. Your bed was made and everything,” She questioned, raising her eyebrow curiously.
“I pulled my couch into my studio. I got about four hours of sleep in,” Brandon shrugged.
“I don’t know how you do it…surely you need more then that…”
“Nah…I’ve got my body trained.” Brooke shook her head.
“You worry me sometimes, you know.”
“I’ll be fine,” Brandon promised and he kissed her cheek before pulling away from her hug and he went over to Peyton before sliding his arms around her from behind and he grinned as he watched a smile form on her lips.
“Hey Mister, how’s the art coming a long?” she asked softly and she turned around and hugged him.
“I can honestly say it’s my best work yet,” he told her with such a grin on his face that makes Peyton feel as though she’s missing something.
“I’m glad,” she insisted and she pulled away from him and continued to set the table with Morgan, as being as close as she was to him was driving her crazy. Brandon turned his attention on Morgan then.
“Hello Morgan, how are you?”
“Good,” she answered shyly, and her eyes darted away from him. Peyton suppressed a laugh. She knows that Morgan is one of the many girls in the building who have fallen under Brandon’s charm.
“Well that’s good,” Brandon replied sweetly, in such a heart warming tone that made Morgan suddenly get butterflies in her stomach and she walked ahead of Peyton and began putting forks on other tables, nearly dropping one as she did.
“What did I say?” Brandon asked confused and Peyton laughed.
“It’s not what you said, it’s more like what you did,” she explained quietly and Brandon raised his eyebrow. Peyton rolled her eyes in amusement.
“You and your charm has this power over pretty much every girl in this building, you had to of known that.”
“Ashley might have mentioned that to me awhile back ago…” Brandon replied, suddenly comprehending. “So I charm people huh?”
“Frequently.”
“Do I charm you?” he questioned with a raised eyebrow, as he once again slid his arms around her waist and pulled her near. Peyton looked up into his eyes and exhaled before nodding weakly. Brandon grinned, obviously very pleased with her answer.
“Well then…I guess I won’t have too much trouble charming you into going to lunch with me…?” Peyton raised her eyebrow at him playfully, finally gaining back her composure.
“Lunch? Is that all you’ve got for me? I thought artists were supposed to be creative…and romantic. And don’t you know lunch dates are bad luck?” She teased, deciding she would play hard to get a little bit. She can’t let him know just exactly how weak he makes her.
“How do you know I didn’t have anything else planned and was planning on surprising you?” he asked while raising his eyebrow. Peyton couldn’t hide the interest or the excitement in her eyes and he picked up on it immediately.
“Well then, I guess that would be okay,” she replied, attempting to sound nonchalant. Brandon chuckled. Two could play this game.
“Just okay?” he asked, pretending to feel hurt. “Just okay huh? Well then maybe I should go ask Morgan to come with me instead,” he teased and he started toward the eleven-year-old then, but Peyton pulled him back.
“No. No…I want to go,” she insisted, almost pleading and he grinned.
“Yeah?” he asked, and Peyton scowled.
“You make it very impossible for a girl to play hard to get. It’s not fair,” she admitted and he laughed, and gently twirled a blonde curl around his finger.
“How soon can you be ready?”
“Give me sometime to finish up these tables and then an hour to run back to Brookie’s apartment to get ready okay?” Brandon nodded, deciding it would probably be best if he worked a little bit on his hygiene too as he was out all night and then spent all morning painting. He’s almost afraid to know what he looks like. Peyton hasn’t run away from him screaming or anything though…that must be a good sign.
“I’ll pick you up there then.”
“Kay,” she replied softly and he caressed her cheek with his forefinger and thumb as he gazed into her green eyes for a few moments and then he turned and left the cafeteria leaving her staring after him in a daze. After a few moments she went back to finishing up the tables but with a smile on her face that Brooke who had been eavesdropping the whole time didn’t fail to notice. She hasn’t seen her sister smile like that in god knows how long.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Dakota and Sarah, you two get your little bottoms down here this instant!” Nick demanded firmly while standing next to Raul in the Mc Donald’s playland staring up at the play structure expectantly. Hilary’s mom and dad were standing near by him with an upset Hilary. Raul had seen Hilary come down from the slide and go crying to her parents, and he heard her tell them what happened and that Sarah and Dakota were involved so he immediately went and got Nick who got chewed out pretty bad by some pretty protective parents. Suddenly he noticed his two girls peeking down at him through a round window in a pink tunnel and he raised his eyebrow at them both.
“Now. Don’t think I won’t come in there after you, because I will.” They disappeared then, and a few moments later he saw them sliding down the slide together.
“What’s going on Daddy?” Dakota asked innocently. “Is something wrong?”
“How about you tell me,” Nick replied while crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at his daughter with narrowed eyes and he watched her face expressions carefully incase she tries to trick him. He knows she is very good at weaseling her way out of trouble. She’s a conniving little sneak, just like he is and somedays he is very proud of that fact, and other days it drives him mad. Especially when she uses it against him and gets away with it, when he should know better.
“I don’ts know daddy,” she shrugged, and she looked around at everybody.
“This little girl here claims that she was playing with the two of you, is that correct?”
“Yes it is,” Dakota answered honestly. “She showed us her Barbie Doll and then we played tag in the tunnels – and then hide ‘n’ seek, and follow the leader…an’ then she went off somewhere and we don’t knows where,” she explained, again shrugging her shoulders. “She just took off, so Sarah an’ I were playing by ourselves.”
“Is that right?” Nick asked, his eyes shifting to Sarah then knowing that he could always get the truth out of her. Sarah nodded her agreement and Nick raised his eyebrow. “Well I got a different story,” he announced and he knelt down in front of Sarah and looked her in the eyes.
“I was told that you knew exactly where she went. That you found her at the slide and that you smacked her across the face and called her a superficial brat. Do you want to explain to me why that is?” he asked, looking back at Dakota then.
“She’s lying daddy,” Dakota immediately insisted, looking him straight in the eyes and releasing her skills upon him. He never knows if she is lying or not when she looks unblinkingly into his eyes.
“I am not!” Hilary snapped tearfully. “She hit me and I have the red mark on my face to prove it!”
“Shh…calm down baby we’ll get to the bottom of this,” a man, who Dakota assumes must be Hilary’s father insisted while hugging her tightly while her mother held her.
“How do you explain that Dakota? If she is lying, how did she get a red mark on her face?”
“Maybe someone else hit her…but it wasn’t either of us” Dakota insisted, wording her lie carefully. She noticed that he hadn’t said who hit her, just that it was one of them. Probably to trick her into slipping up but she knows better. He should know that.
“Why would she lie and say that it was Sarah then?” Dakota shrugged.
“She wasn’t a very nice girl. She was kind of mean and bossy…she probably just wanted to get us in trouble.”
“My daughter would never do that. She is a sweet and loving little girl. You are not going to seriously believe those lies are you?” Hilary’s mother spoke up in that same rude tone that Dakota and Sarah had witnessed in her daughter’s voice earlier.
“Well neither would Sarah!” Dakota insisted, glaring at the woman with such dislike.
“Dakota…” Nick spoke up warily and she looked at him.
“Well she wouldn’ts daddy! Sarah doesn’t talk so how could she possibly say such things to her? And have you ever seen her hits anybody?”
“Well…no…”
“She’s lying. There is no proof that we did it! It coulds have been anybody”
“How is that possible when it’s only been you, Hilary, and the rest of our kids up there?” Nick interrogated, and Raul made a small noise of disagreement just as Dakota shook her head.
“There were a few others,” Dakota insisted, and Sarah nodded. Nick looked to Raul.
“She’s telling the truth there. I did see a few other kids in and out since Sarah, Hilary and Dakota went up there,” he explained, and his eyes turned on the boy standing next to Hilary’s father.
“Infact, he was up there just a few moments before Hilary came down crying,” he added. All eyes turned on Jake then.
“Is that true Jake?” Hilary’s father questioned, and Jake nodded.
“Did you see these two girls with her?”
“No,” Jake answered honestly. “She was alone. I asked her what she was up to and she said that she was playing with them. That Dakota was annoying her because she kept following Sarah around everywhere she went and she only wanted to play with her. And she said it was weird that Sarah didn’t talk and that Dakota spoke for her,” he explained. He knows this isn’t going to help his sister any, but he can’t be caught in a lie either. “Then I came down the slide and went to the table. I didn’t see anything happen – and she was alone when I left.” Nick felt his annoyance for this girl grow much stronger inside of him as he now knows his daughter was telling the truth about one thing. That she was being kind of mean – and probably bossy too. Why wouldn’t she want to play with Dakota? Unless she was being mean to her herself, which is very unlikely. He’s only ever seen her be mean to Sarah and she had reasons for that. But she would never pick on a complete stranger for no reason at all; he taught her better then that. So this Hilary girl had to of been a snob…and if Sarah did call her a superficial brat, well…she must have deserved it. Sarah isn’t mean to people for no reason either.
“They were there daddy, I swear!” Hilary insisted tearfully. “When Jake left they came around the corner!”
“I know honey, I believe you. You know better then to lie to us. You are a good girl.” He told her in such a way that Nick and Raul both could swear he was trying to say Sarah and Dakota weren’t. That his daughter was the perfect angel who could do no wrong and Dakota and Sarah were just rotten. “You aren’t really going to believe their lies are you?”
“There really isn’t any proof – what do you suggest we do?”
“What do you mean, there isn’t any proof? What about the red mark on my daughter’s cheek? It’s been ten minutes, and it is still there!” Hilary’s mother demanded incredulously. “And she says that your brats did it, she wouldn’t lie about that!” Nick narrowed his eyes then and he got up and stood in front of Dakota and Sarah so he was face to face with Hilary’s parents.
“I can’t prove that either of them did it ma’am, but I can tell you one thing, my girls are not brats. Even if Sarah hit her, there must have been a reason because she doesn’t just go around hitting people for the fun of it,” he told her calmly but in such an icy tone that it was obvious he was pissed. “I’m not saying that it is plausible, and she is definitely not going to get any praise from any of us, but maybe you should ask your daughter what she did to deserve it.”
“My daughter didn’t do anything wrong!”
“Oh of course not, because she is just a perfect little angel right?” Nick snapped.
“She’s a lot more perfect then your girls will ever be. At least she knows better then to go around hitting people.”
“My girls know better too and if I find out they actually did do it they’ll be in trouble. But like I said I can’t prove it,” he told them, still remaining calm but keeping that icy tone in his voice. “But unlike your daughter they’re perfectly unperfect and tend to slip up every now and then and make mistakes because they’re human. Maybe if you didn’t raise yours to think she was so perfect she wouldn’t be such a snob.” That did it. Hilary’s father now royally pissed started toward Nick raising his fist to punch him when suddenly Marcus jumped in between them shoving his hand in the guy’s face and pushing him back.
“All right, that is enough,” he announced with so much authority in his voice. “This is getting way out of hand. For someone who is giving lectures on how it’s so wrong to go around hitting people, you’re setting such a fine example.”
“Who do you think you are shoving your hand in my face?” Hilary’s father demanded, fuming.
“I’m just doing my job sir. I can’t have you hurting my Backstreet Boy, so kindly step back a couple of feet and you will be just fine.” Hilary’s father glowered at him but otherwise did as he’s told, as he knows he wouldn’t win this battle.
“Now as I said, this is getting way out of hand. I’m sorry your daughter got smacked, I know it sucks but she wasn’t permanently damaged and that ugly red mark is already gone. So why don’t you just walk away from this right now before you create an even bigger mess? Eh?”
“But that girl –“
“—Is six years old. I think she hardly deserves to be put in jail for this. It’s not the end of the world and your daughter will be fine. So just drop it.” He told them, and to show them that there was no room for discussion, he turned his back on them looking at a fuming Nick.
“Walk away Nick. Now.” Nick turned and gathered Sarah and Dakota in his arms so they were each rested on one of his hips and he carried them out of the Playland and back into the other room where his family was sitting. Marcus turned and looked back at Hilary’s parents then making sure they stay put while speaking to Raul.
“Raul I think this would be a good time to get going. Maybe you should round up the rest of the kids.”
“Right,” Raul replied, and he did just that. Hilary’s parents who were beyond pissed turned and headed back to their table then.
“Jake, Hilary, gather up your things, put your shoes on…we’re leaving.” Marcus studied them for a few moments, and when he was sure they were no longer going to be a threat he followed Raul and the rest of the kids back into the other room where they found Nick still trying to get the two girls to confess.
“You two put me in a very bad position just now if you really did do it. I want to know the truth and I want to know now,” he insisted firmly.
“We didn’t’s do it daddy” Dakota insisted stubbornly and he sighed heavily.
“What happened?” Ashley wanted to know and Nick shook his head.
“Later,” he replied gently. “I’ll tell you later when I’m not so pissed off,” he added and with that he carried Dakota and Sarah out to the tour bus with Raul at his side. Dakota rested her head against Nick’s shoulder feeling slightly bad. She knows she almost got her daddy punched, but she had to defend Sarah. She just had too. She only smacked Hilary because she was sticking up for her and god only knows why she deserves it when she has been so awful to her in the past couple of months. The least she could do is have her back in return. That’s what sisters do. Sarah is her sister. At least she will be, when she tells Nick he can go ahead and adopt her.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Here's the next chapter.
Enjoy =)
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