#Fucking sue me for the worse npc names but I'm sticking to them

[beanjuice-duh]

Long Drive

a/n: One of my favorite, personal, underrated headcanons for my favorite boho girl.  Summary: Brooke takes her Prius to see someone she misses to give them news about something they missed out.  Warnings/themes: Coming out Story; incarceration; Acceptance  w/c:~2.1k

[myValentine 💋💖💦: Mall? 2:56am] Read [Bbae🌹💛☀️: nah, got stuff. Hmu latr 5:40am]Delivered

Brooke was up at six in the morning. She gathered herself up and went to the bullet blender in her kitchen finding a cute note scribbled on the counter in her mother’s handwriting. 

‘Mornin’ baby’ it read. 

River Lohst worked the graveyard shift as a nurse, which meant she was home, tired and Brooke was not about to blend up her special coffee with a teaspoon of coconut oil for regularity. A part of her wished Chloe was up at this time. On a Saturday her best friend was probably snoring (though Chloe denied it) away until noon.

It was a small pit stop to get some coffee on the way there. Brooke went into her daily routine of moisturizers and scents, a mix of vials of her own concoctions as well as things she got from working at Lush, making sure her face was soft, supple and well protected from the environments. She hopped into her mother’s car, a pastel yellow hatchback and took to the road.

It was a nice morning. The clouds dotted the graying, early morning sky. The sun had just barely broken passed the horizon line; it was the kind of morning Brooke could cruise for a while and gather her thoughts. Her destination was about three hours away or so depending how smooth high way traffic was. While she focused her eyes on the open road her mind began to wonder…

There wasn’t many times in her day Brooke got to really settle in with her emotions. She spent most of them freely being a high school girl. She was at the mall, groaning at her mom for being uncool, she hung out with friends, got drunk at parties (BAD UNDERAGE DON’T DO KIDS). But there were parts of Brooke that wasn’t a typical high school student. One thing was she had an air of style and creativity. She was a vegetarian. She was homely and somewhat humble for a girl that visited the mall regularly. There was a side to Brooke that didn’t encompass the sleepy drawl of a blonde who was seen as Middleborough’s second hottest teen.

There was a part of Brooke that she didn’t even know about herself. Not well, it was a part she had recently came to terms with one Pinkberry run at 8pm cutting it close to her car curfew time. She realized it then, watching her best friend devour an ice cream, lips coated slightly that there was a part of her she had been subconsciously denying. Over and over again.

A part of her that made cheerleading camp during her middle school days a nervous mess, that made being cheated on, though painful for her broken trust, didn’t sting as much when she no longer had a boyfriend. This part of her was now fully someone she wanted to know and more importantly someone she wanted someone else to get to know too.

The drive ended when she pulled into the heavily barricaded parking lot of a prison compound. She went through a routine line up by the door. Labeled with a paper sticker that read ‘visitor’ and a signup sheet with ID at the front was given to her then it was off to line up against a painfully plain linoleum wall.

Brooke jumped at the sound of a buzzer, the guards moved large, reinforced doors to a cafeteria like space with tables and several chairs. Brooke was batted done once more, scanned for metal and allowed in. She wrinkled her noise at the faint smell of sterile cleaning supplies and factory plastic. Nerves got to her as she waited, she began picking at her nail polish chipping the lime green gel paint right off.

The loud clash of a latch being broken, a door opening as prisoners in their bright orange get ups were lined up and handcuffs were removed as they entered. Brooke’s eyes perked up, she watched as several men waddled in, going to the table with a familiar face waiting. This part always worried her. She held her breath until she saw the face of a salt and pepper haired man, a fairly impressive beard that twinkled upward with a smile. “Daddy” Brooke stood up slow and was embraced by tender arms that squished her uncomfortably against him.

“There’s my girl.” Her father muttered patting the back of her head with slow, soft motions. He inhaled softly, took it in for a good minute or two before sitting down. “What do you think? I got a name on my uniform.” He motioned to the letters embroidered in his uniform. H. Lohst. “How’s your mom?”

“Same ol’ Same old. She’s been working the graveyard shifts like every week. I can’t make my morning coffee shakes.”

“You best mind your mother, turning on that blender you might as well be summoning satan.” He snickered, his voice raspy. Even as nice as he could look as a man in prison the smell of cigarettes made the small hairs in Brooke’s nose cringe. “Its good to see you, my lil babbling Brookey” Nevermind, that old pet name made her cringe.

“Daaaaad” Brooke covered her face, her round cheeks coated with a soft pinky blush of embarrassment; she placed her hand flat on the table. And slowly, with a small tremor, her father grasped it in his. She peeked up from her one hand covering her face and smiled. “…how have you been? Need anything in commissary…that isn’t a pack of Newports.”

Hunter gave a small guffaw followed by an ironic cough. “I know you didn’t drive out three hours to give your papa change for some ramen and ketchup packets.” He shook his head at her. “What do ya need, sweetie?”  There wasn’t much a father in prison can do for his family, which to Hunter was the worst part of punishment. He couldn’t do anything for his family; he couldn’t provide not even comfort let alone stability. “Brooke?”

What she needed? What did she need? Why did she drive out this far for a conversation she could have tried having over the phone when he called weekly. Why couldn’t have this waited…now she was here she couldn’t make something up. What she wanted…was his acceptance. “Daddy…its about…well…girl stuff.” She paused watching his eyes go wide for a second, “not like girly …girl but like…ugh…” She started wringing her brain for any drop of sense.

“Brooke Nicollete Lohst is this about a boy?” Her father got serious. Even though he was in prison, he was not there for his aggression or intimidation. Brooke deadpanned at his little show of machismo as he continued. “Because you tell him that you’ve got a daddy in jail and you’ve been takin; those kickboxing classes right?”

“Yes and self defense, daddy it’s not a boy issue.” Brooke squeezed his hand rushing over her words to stop him before this became something it wasn’t. “Daddy…it’s a girl thing”

“Sweetheart I’m lost you just said its not a girl thing, and shouldn’t this be the sort of thing you tell your mama? I know she’s working loads but she’s always up to hear you out..” he paused in mid thought. Her hand was shaking like she had been doused with cold water. Her grip was weak so he squeezed her a little firmer. “Brooke?”

“Its not about a /boy/ daddy” she licked her lips a few times. Right there, on the tip of her tongue the truth babbled out of Brooke. “Its about…girls.”

His face was still mildly confused.

“Because … I’m not interested in boys” she began to slowly clarify and watched as his confusion turned to intrigue. “I…am interested in…”

“Girls.” He finished so she wouldn’t have to struggle getting it all out.

Silence washed over them, Brooke felt her hand grow colder and clammier under her father’s now limp hold. His eyes were staring at her? Through her? As if he was trying to see inside her brain with some Xray vision. She wished he would smile, crack a cute mid-Western joke but he was stoic which terrified her. Her daddy, Brooke’s most important person, the first man she ever loved and probably the last.

Suddenly she felt her brain replay all their happy memories. Camping by the Lake in upstate New York, learning how to blow grass whistles, picking berries out in the open fields, and skipping rocks, having her dad drive her proudly to cheerleading camp. Very snuggle session to an animal based Disney movie, every cute kiss and table topic gut busting memory…would those be her last? Was this were it all severed. Was this were Brooke lost it all?

She forced her blue eyes to stare at her father, her now muted father. She couldn’t almost see into his eyes what he must have been thinking. The thoughts of meeting a man, having a son-in-law, kids, the normalcy that came with having a girl all changed? Was he going to miss it? Was he disappointed? Upset? Was he…

“Well at least I don’t gotta worry about you getting pregnant anytime soon eh?” His lips turned up into a half smile. “That is at least ten years added back to my life not havin’ worry of huntin’ down no good boys.” He beamed for a moment. He mused to himself over the fact he would remain her favorite guy. He mused over the new things he was going to be getting out of this.

“Dad you do understand what I’m saying?” Brooke leaned back against her chair, all that silence and all he had was a joke? That’s it? Not a how, or why? Brooke was half prepared to fight her way to acceptance but it just…came?

“You’re a lesbian, right?” Hunter answered honestly. “I’m glad you told me—“

“And you’re ok with that?”

Now he looked upset, his brows furrowed down the center making three deep creases in his forehead. “Brooke you listen to me, and you listen good.” He grabbed the back of her head and pressed their foreheads together. “You are my baby girl, I don’t care what you come up here with you’ll always be my baby. From the moment you cried in my arms there wasn’t a thing in this world I loved more than you and your momma. Now I don’t care what you do, lesbian, blonde, you can end up callin’ yourself Steve by the time I get out of here but I will love you until the day I die and some, you hear me?”

Brooke chest trembled. Silent sobs broke past her smile, she couldn’t even say yes if she wanted to. Her father’s chapped lips kissed her wet lids and ruffled the top of her hair. “Well…” She sniffled rubbing her eyes a bit, she noticed her father’s eyes were glossy too with emotion.

“Five minutes!” a guard shouted from the doorway. Had it been time already? She felt like she had just arrived. Then again that was usually how this went.

There was so much left she wanted to say, more things she wanted to make clear. Her father gripped her hand tight and smiled, “have you told her momma yet?” Brooke shook her head and he nodded. “So I’m the first?”

Brooke nodded, as the inmates one by one started to stand up. Her heart was both soaring and in pieces all the same. “I’m a daddy’s girl, I guess.” She fell into his arms and locked her fingers around his back. If she could, she would have stayed like this. Thrown a fit that she didn’t want to let him go like she did the first few times she visited him. None of it was enough, talking for an hour, his smile, his laugh, she wanted to steal him back home. Make the family whole again. But his acceptance…his love would be enough for as long as he had to be away. “Bye daddy…”

“See you next week?” He kissed her forehead five times before a guard, somewhat empathically stood there already clamping the cuffs back on to his wrists. Just like that he was whisked away, all the warmth and love moving with him behind that cold, heavy door.

She walked out to her car, tears freely rolling down her face. At least she wasn’t alone. She could see several families, loved ones struggling to recompose. Some were fully wailing outside the parking lot. Brooke held herself together long enough to get to her car, she sat there for a long moment, dabbing her eyes delicately with her ring fingertips.

Before taking off again she reached into her purse and pulled on a sticker. A flag with various stripes in shades of pink leading into white and stuck it up against her windshield. She stared at it for a long time and nodded. She pulled out of the compound’s parking lot, the prison disappearing behind her.

As the long drive began once again, she left with clear thoughts and the blessing of one good man with resonating within her.