Brooke was lying on her bed in Rachel's room, flipping through the newest issue of Vogue. A lot had been on her mind lately; how she'd missed everyone that used to be in her life. Haley; she and Nathan had the baby and its soon-to-be arrival. Rachel; she was busy with her Maxim photo shoots as well as her conniving schemes she pulls. Brooke didn't want any part of that. There was Nick; her prohibited boyfriend whom cheated on her with a model anyways. Peyton; her best friend. Or...her ex-best friend. She missed her basically since the mad corruption with Peyton's stalker, "Derek". Brooke just wanted to be there for her, and it killed her to know she couldn't be; it was against the "rules". She'd secretly forgiven Peyton for what she did; she just couldn't let anyone know it. Not yet.

Then there was that blue-eyed boy who had her heart. It'd been a month since she'd broken things off with Lucas, and it was now hurting more than it had yet. She thought she'd be strong with this; that she could go on without him. She just simply wanted to prove to herself that she could be without a guy and still be happy. Considering she'd gone through Nick already, that idea was out the window.

Lucas did hurt her; that was no fabrication. All those days she'd see Lucas and Peyton sitting at a table, laughing and talking about God knows what; little things like. It was a world she wasn't a part of that belonged to Lucas. He didn't laugh with her anymore; never really checked in with her. And it wasn't that he necessarily should have needed to, either. He just should have wanted to.

It wasn't about that kiss with Peyton; Brooke knew that the kiss was simply out of fear; that Peyton thought she was going to die. It wasn't about that. Not in the least. It was how they acted together. It was like; in this case, actions had spoken louder than romantic actions, if that makes any sense. And it hurt her; she knew that Lucas had a passion for Peyton in which he lacked for her. And even though she loved Lucas more than her own life, she broke up with him. For him. All for him. She wanted him to find what he was looking for. But now she was thinking for herself; she had to make everything final. This was how Brooke was on Lucas's doorstep that Saturday evening.

She knocked on the door, as her was heart beating 100 mph.

-"You told me to fight for you," Lucas had said. "And I did. But you never fought for me."

"And I'm not going to," Brooke's prideful, stubborn side broke through her true feelings.

"Then I was wrong," Lucas told her, bluntly. "I'm not the guy for you, Brooke Davis."

Brooke swallowed hard as she tried with all her might to push out the worst memory in her lifetime away from the centerfold of her mind, but she failed. It never left. There hadn't been a day that went by yet that those words from Lucas didn't cut through her heart, her soul, her well-being. It was hard to think about it without crying; in fact, it had never been done.

The door opened quickly, and Brooke took a sudden step back once she actually saw him standing there. Lucas was here. Now. This was really happening.

"Brooke?"

Brooke stepped passed him into his room and saw Peyton, lying on his bed with her arms behind her head, relaxed. Once Peyton saw Brooke, she shot up.

Brooke bit her lip at the sight of Peyton; she held in all the negative thoughts that were popping into her ruthless mind. "Hi, can we talk? Please."

Peyton looked at Lucas, who looked back at her, and she slid off the bed, pointing to the door.

"No, stay," Brooke said, closing her eyes. "Peyton, please stay. This is between all three of us." She opened her eyes and looked at Peyton, confirming that she meant what she said.

"I...uhm..," Peyton sat back down on Lucas's bed nervously. "All right."

"Okay," Brooke said, taking in a deep breath. "Look, I really don't know why I'm here, or what I'm planning on saying at all…" She looked away and down at the ground, suddenly feeling a sense of panic. Was she really doing this?

"Do you want to sit down?" Lucas asked out of the lack of anything else to say.

So he treats me like some random guest; great, Brooke thought to herself. "No, I'm fine," she declined. She turned to Peyton, sighed, and just started rambling. "You hurt me really bad, Peyton."

Peyton widened her eyes at Brooke's blunt comment. "Brooke-"

"-And I promised myself that I'd never ever forgive you for stealing Lucas from me like that…."

"-Brooke, she didn't ever-" Lucas tried to cut in.

"But I never looked at the big picture," Brooke continued, despite their efforts of interrupting her. "Until now."

Brooke focused in on both Peyton and Lucas. "I…loved Lucas so much, Peyton. You accused me of not loving him, but you were wrong. I did love him; I was in love with him. I loved this boy more than…anything. It's unfathomable; the love I had for him." Brooke started to forget Lucas was actually there, the way she was talking.

Peyton winced as she looked at Lucas, who was just watching Brooke in a daze, almost.

"And I'm sure you knew that deep down," Brooke's eyes drew to Peyton's. "But I knew something, too. Something that…" She turned her eyes slowly to Lucas. "…Lucas didn't know. You were in love with him too, P. Sawyer. And Lucas…loved you back. I didn't see this because I didn't want to see it. " Brooke shrugged. "I was selfish; I admit it. I know I was."

"Brooke, please-"

"-I never just stepped back and watched you two. I never watched how you talked," Brooke said, looking up into Lucas's eyes, which were staring directly back into her beautifully broken hazel eyes. "You never talked to me like that anymore, Luke," she whispered in a low, raspy voice. "I missed that. I missed that part of you…and me." She looked back at Peyton to avoid Lucas's intent gaze that broke her heart. "You guys would laugh. That smile that I saw on his beautiful face…it came from you, Peyton."

Peyton sat down on the bed again and shook her head.

Brooke looked down at the ground. "I love you, Lucas. I really really do; still. I…won't be able to ever love anyone like I love you," Brooke told him. She swallowed hard as tears swelled up in her eyes. "But you're in love with Peyton," she said. "And I just realized it. And I'm sorry for intruding…" Brooke looked at Peyton. "I thought it was me, and I was wrong. It's you."

Peyton looked at Brooke with tears in her own eyes caused by the pain she saw in her best friend. Then she looked slowly at Lucas, with inkling that maybe Brooke was right.

Peyton did love Lucas. She'd wanted to be with him for months now, and she couldn't cheat on Brooke like that. Not again. But when Brooke blew up on her, it gave Peyton the desire to cling onto Lucas and make him question his feelings for Brooke; it had worked, or from what Peyton could tell. She wanted to prove Brooke once in for all that Lucas and she did have a connection; that Lucas was truly in love with her; that Lucas was not "Brooke's boy", he was hers. All of this piled up on her as Brooke poured her heart out to both of them in full remorse. Suddenly, Peyton felt guilty and started to question her intentions.

"That's not true, Brooke," Lucas said flatly. "Not at all."