Room 232, Friday Night

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Tony sat on his bed, sorting through the various treats and one bottle of rum he'd picked up during trick-or-treating. Okay, maybe it had been fun to dress up.

The door was open.

[Open! I'm working on Halloween. Entertain me?]

Comments

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"Key word there being ex," Tony pointed out.

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

"Eh, he wasn't that bad a guy - okay, yes, he was, but he's nicer since he got involved with Haley," Peyton explained. "We just... weren't a good match. My last one was much better."

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"What was your last one like?"

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

She smiled, everything about her softening. "Jake was wonderful. Almost never had a bad word to say about anyone. Smart, kind, funny, great dad... I really loved him."

There was more than a hint of wistfullness to her voice.

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"Great dad?"

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

"Yeah." She ducked her head a little. "He had this beautiful baby girl. Jenny. His girlfriend got pregnant while she was still in school, but she wasn't interested in being a part of Jenny's life once she was born. But Jake was. Then Nikki showed up and wanted to take her away."

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"So if things had worked out with you and Jake, you would've been, like, a stepmom?" Tony asked. "That's... kinda a lot. I don't know if I could date someone with a kid."

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, I guess," she said, smiling even more softly. "I never really would have thought of doing it myself. I mean, it started out with me babysitting when he got stuck and, you know, I ended up staying after he got back, but nothing realy happened. He had to leave to hide with Jenny."

"But I got myself in a bad way and my friend, Lucas, called him and Jake came back and, well... one thing led to another."

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"What happened with you guys?" Tony asked.

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

"Nikki came back again. She'd gone to court and gotten custody of Jenny while he was in hiding before and... well, we ended up hiding Jenny and Jake went to jail for a while." She shook her head. "It was a terrible time. He didn't want me visiting. But I harassed his lawyers until they really looked into his case and everything was supposed to be straightened out. Till she found Jenny. He left to go find her. Don't know if he has or not."

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Tony took all this in. "Man," he said. "Your life sounds like some kind of soap opera."

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

She laughed. "Oh, you have no idea! Tree Hill makes soap operas seem boring!"

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"Is that one of those towns where, like, everyone knows everyone else's business?" Tony asked.

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

"If they're not already a part of it?" Peyton asked. "Oh hell yeah."

"For starters, my ex, Nathan? Also slept with my best friend, Brooke. And his half brother, Lucas, dated Brooke. And Lucas and I... sort of fooled around together while he was still seeing Brooke - which, I know, totally uncool, but, I swear it just happened and then... it got messy. And my friend, Haley? Is Lucas' best friend and she's now married to Nathan. Not that I've actually forgiven her for running off and leaving him to become some big rock star."

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"That's... wow," Tony said. He couldn't keep track of all that. "I'm used to cities. Most of the time you don't even know the names of the people who live next door."

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

"I can't imagine that," Peyton said. "But I have to admit that part of the reason I came here was to get away from all of that. And imagine my surprise when I found another Brooke and Lucas here."

[ooc: And I must crash! SP?]

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"See, that's just freaky-weird, seeing the same people who aren't the same," Tony said.

[Sure. Night!]

[darkangelsawyer.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about it!" Peyton said. "And how even more twisted is it that we all sort of decided we're close enough to the originals that we'll just keep the same old friendship going? God knows how I'm going to explain that to my Brooke."