That Girl

Chapter One

Sitting in the library reading a book, Lucas looks up as a girl with dark brown hair comes over to the table. Leaning up against it she peaks to see which book he's reading. Looking puzzled by the name of the book and why he would be reading it, she gives up trying to figure it out and smiles at him. Turning slightly she leans in towards him and runs her hand through his hair.
"How about you come to my party tonight?"
"Sure," Lucas says as she starts to turn to leave. "I'll need to get a ride from someone though."
"Oh, just come with your brother. He should be coming."
"I'll see you tonight then."
"Yeah," she says walking off pleased with herself.

Going into the kitchen, Lucas finds Nathan standing there looking through the refrigerator. Looking over at him as he comes in, Nathan notices that he looks like he's ready to go somewhere. Puzzled by this change in habit for his little brother, he looks around the refrigerator a little while longer thinking about where Lucas could possibly be going tonight. Not finding anything to his liking, he closes the refrigerator door and starts walking towards where Lucas is standing.
"So where are you planning on going tonight?"
"I thought I'd tag along with you," Lucas says trying to make it seem like an innocent attempt to spend more time with his big brother. "There is one tonight, right?"
"Yeah, and I guess you can tag along. Besides if I tell you no you might just throw one here while mom and dad are gone, and we don't need that hassle."
"Throw a party, with what friends?"
"That's right all of yours are goody two shoes compared to mine," Nathan says walking over to the phone. "I forgot."
Picking the phone up off of the receiver, Nathan dials the number in for the nearby pizzeria. Placing the order, he watches as Lucas looks through one of the cupboards. Grabbing a bag of chips, Lucas closes the cupboard and heads out of the room to the den. As Nathan gets off the phone he joins him, and turning the television on switches it to one of the basketball games that is on.
"I thought you would be getting ready to leave by now, not just ordering supper."
"Spoken like a true loser. You never want to be the first person there, if it's not your own party."
"Oh," Lucas says glancing over at Nathan as he hears his answer. "Isn't it considered rude to be too late though?"
"Well the cool people always show up late, unless they're idiots or I suppose really good friends with the host."

Making their way into the house, Nathan keeps a close eye on Lucas as he follows close behind him. He couldn't help but think that maybe this once it would have been okay if his little brother had walked in front of him. Would it really have hurt that much to follow his brother? He couldn't stand glancing back at him about every two seconds to make sure that no one had managed to drag him off somewhere already. The guys had always told him he shouldn't let the loser walk ahead of him because it would make him look bad, but this time he thought just this once it would have been better than glancing back at him every step of the way.
Coming to the doorway of the living room, Nathan looks around. As Tim heads over to where they're standing, Lucas thinks of heading off to one of the other rooms before Tim reaches them. Noticing his brother's concern Nathan grabs him by the arm, demanding him to remain where he is. Knowing that this wasn't the time or place to fight with him, Lucas stays right there.
"So you brought the loser along, just great," Tim says as he reaches them. "What kind of fun can we have with him around to go back and tell your parents everything man?"
"Well that's a great way to tempt him to by calling him a loser like that."
"It's just the truth man."
"Yeah," Nathan says looking over at Lucas. "It might be slightly true, but then again he did decide to come along tonight."
"Just ditch him here man and come and get him when you're ready to leave. It's not like he'll move or go anywhere, no one around here wants to be seen with a loser."
"Okay, I'll be right there. Just give me a sec, okay?"
"Whatever, the party never really starts until you come and join us over in the kitchen anyway," Tim says heading off towards the back of the house.
"Don't leave the premise, and don't talk to any girls you don't know."
"Sure Nate, I can handle a lame party. Like Dim said, it's not like anyone other than you would want to be seen with me right?"
"Also, I almost forgot," Nathan says placing his hand on Lucas' shoulder. "Don't eat or drink anything around here."

Coming up behind Lucas, Brooke slowly runs her hand across his back from one shoulder to the other. Leaning up against him as she makes her way over to his side, she kisses him on the cheek. Sliding her hand down his arm and into his hand, she starts to guide him over to where the rest of her friends are gathered around in a group. Smiling as they join them, she makes sure that they all notice Lucas there at her side.
"Here's to my new guy," Brooke says raising her cup for a toast.
"Cheers."
"You just keep on getting younger and younger ones. How do you do it?"
"I'm that hot Theresa, that's all," she says putting her arms around Lucas and reaching up and kissing him on the lips.

"Tim, don't you know you're white?"
"Yeah, and I'm acting white. What's your problem?"
Laughing the guys drink out of their plastic cups. Beer coming out of a couple of their noses, Nathan starts to head over to the refrigerator. "Let's see what's in here," he says as he reaches it and opens the doors. "I bet they have something better in here than we have at my house."
Hearing something fall and break out in the other room, he forgets all about what could be in the refrigerator and heads towards the noise. Looking around as he gets to where he had left Lucas standing, he can't believe that he's not still there. Spotting the radio on its side on the floor, Nathan turns searching the nearby area for any sign of Lucas. Hearing footsteps upstairs in the hallway Nathan heads up the stairs to see who they belong to. As the twosome comes into view, he starts to hurry over to them.
"You, come with me," he says grabbing Lucas by the arm. "We're leaving."
"Nate, don't be such a drama queen."
"Like you should talk Brooke, you're the master of drama around this town."
"Well at least I know how to have fun," she says pushing Nathan.
"I'm leaving and he has to drive me home, considering. I can't help that."
"Say whatever you want, but we both know that you don't want him around me for some strange reason."
"We have to get going," Nathan says as they hear one of the windows downstairs break.
Taking his older brother's lead, Lucas passes by him and heads down the stairs and out to the car. Following him, Nathan throws Brooke a look as he gets ready to head downstairs.