Hands Clean (1/?)
+ Title: Hands Clean
+ Fandoms: One Tree Hill
+ Pairing: Brooke/Sam
+ Warnings/Spoilers: None at the moment
+ Archiving: JCLover2012 (email: if_your_heart_is_cold@yahoo.com)
+ Summary: A Brooke/Sam love story.
+ Rating: R
+ Thanks to my beta,
white_monarch for looking over this for me.
*A/N: Again, I don't own these characters or the show. I hope you enjoy this installment. Sorry it took a whole two weeks to post.
Chapter 1: The Climb
Sometimes life had a way of seeming like an endless range of mountains. In Sam’s opinion, these mountains were bigger than Mount Everest and she never reached the top. She found ways around the mountain in front of her. Something was different lately though. The mountain in front of her seemed to be more like a plateau. As grateful as she was for the break, Sam couldn’t let go of the feeling that she was standing on a cliff that was about to give way to nothing.
It wouldn’t be the first time, Sam mused as she watched Brooke attempting to organize her clothing store, Clothes Over Bros, for the millionth time in two hours.
“Sam, does this look alright?” Brooke yelled from behind one of the many misplaced mannequins.
Breaking out of her thoughts, Sam glanced around the store to see where everything had been placed and couldn’t suppress her laughter when her eyes fell upon Brooke’s current location. Taking in the sight of the older woman on her knees, in front of the mannequin’s crotch, pushing up the dress that covered the plastic body was too much for Sam to take and she broke out in fits of laughter.
“If you are trying to make a really weird porno.” Sam managed between light hearted giggles.
Brooke looked up from her current location on the floor only to notice what Sam had been hinting at. Brooke couldn’t believe what she had just heard the girl refer to.
How did Sam know about that type of thing?
Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Brooke managed a strained “How did you-” before her voice trailed off again.
If Samantha had heard her, she gave no sign of it other than returning to writing in her journal. After a couple of moments of just staring at the girl, Brooke gave up on a response and finished adjusting the dress on the mannequin in front of her. Finishing her work, however, seemed to be harder than Brooke had originally thought because all the questions about Sam and the mannequin situation kept finding an opening into her thoughts.
That night, after putting the finishing touches on the store and dropping Sam off with Haley, Brooke went out for a drink with her best friend, Peyton Sawyer. Peyton was all dolled up in a cute summer dress and cowboy boots with her curly blond hair styled to perfection. Brooke, for her part hadn’t had time to dress up, but she had managed to pull on a nice pair of jeans and a shimmering halter top before she had left Haley’s house. They had decided to go out to Tric, a local club, for a few hours. The night was supposed to be Brooke’s chance to wind down after a long day with Sam, but the younger girl was the only thing on Brooke’s mind.
“Earth to Brooke. Are you still with me?” Peyton waved her hands in front of Brooke’s face in an attempt to bring the girl back into reality.
“Huh? What did you say?” Brooke blinked in an attempt to clear her head.
“What is up with you tonight? Every guy that has walked up to you, you have practically ignored.” Peyton pointed out with concern.
Peyton knew her best friend better than anyone and it just wasn’t like Brooke to turn down a free drink or an offer to dance from some really cute guy. Granted that Brooke had been working really hard lately with the store and with Sam, but that was reasoning behind going out in the first place, to wind down and have a little fun. If Brooke turning down a cute guy hadn’t been a warning sign, then her ignoring the other three had been.
“Nothing is up, P. Sawyer. I’m just not looking for a man right now.”
Peyton watched in shock as Brooke spoke, there was definitely something wrong.
“Alright, who is he?” Peyton asked as she turned Brooke’s body to face her.
“Who is who?” Brooke asked with slight worry in her voice.
“This guy that you have been thinking about all night, who is he?”
Brooke stared at Peyton for a moment before she responded. She needed to talk to Peyton about what had happened earlier with Sam.
“There is no guy.” She finally said matter-of-factly.
“What? Are you a lesbian now?” Peyton joked as Brooke spoke over her.
“I think Sam’s gay.”
Both Peyton and Brooke stared at each other for a moment trying to understand what had just happened. Finally Brooke broke the silence by explaining to Peyton what had happened earlier in the store. To her surprise, Peyton began laughing.
“Is that seriously what you have been worrying about?” Peyton giggled as she took her best friend’s hand in her own.
“Yes. This isn’t funny, why are you laughing?” Brooke asked grumpily. She had expected Peyton to talk her down, explain that everything wasn’t as it had seemed, but what she had got was laughter. It was really quite annoying.
Upon hearing the tone in Brooke’s voice and seeing the expression on her face, Peyton cleared her throat and attempted to be a bit more serious. She could tell that the whole situation had Brooke really concerned, but she couldn’t understand why.
“Listen sweetie, basically every teenager is going to know how sex happens. Even between lesbians. That doesn’t mean that they are gay, it means they are teenagers. It’s normal. You and I knew about all this stuff in high school, so why are you so worried?”
Upon hearing Peyton’s logic, Brooke softened up a bit and considered the words she had heard. Maybe Peyton was right, maybe she was overreacting about the entire situation. So, Sam had called her out on a lesbian sex position. The girl was probably just being a smart ass, as usual.
“You’re right. Maybe I’m just letting this whole situation get to me.” Brooke said as she squeezed Peyton’s hand before letting it go and reaching for her martini.
“See, it’s no big deal”, Peyton soothed as Brooke took a sip of her drink, “Besides, if Sam was gay, she wouldn’t tell you.”
Brooke choked on her drink.