The Way We Were

Disclaimer- Not Mine... All Mark's.

AN- This idea came to me while I was watching the movie The Dive from Clausen's Pier. (Yes. I proudly watch lifetime) It's obviously a Brooke/ Lucas story. It's completely AU, so the first chapter will be more of the background story of how they got together. BTW- Jake is Brooke's big brother. Lucas and Nathan are a year apart and they are both raised by Karen and Dan, who are married. Dan is not that evil in this story, mainly because he is not the center of the story, not because I like him, trust me, I DON'T! Peyton and Haley will eventually be in this story. Lucas and Jake are a year older than Brooke, Peyton, Haley and Nathan. Also, Brooke and Jake's parents are actually around and Jenny probably won't be in this story.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He was her first crush, her first kiss, and her first love. They had known each other their entire lives and knew every little thing about each other. Their relationship was comfortable, but they were still madly in love with it other.

It all started the summer before her eighth grade year and his freshman year. He was at her house the entire summer. It was extremely hot that summer, so they, Brooke, Peyton, Jake and Lucas, all decided to go swimming, which turned into them chicken fighting in the pool. Brooke was on top of Lucas' shoulder, with Peyton on top of Jake's. They were laughing hysterically and Brooke lost, when she fell off of Lucas' shoulder. He noticed how her face brightened up when she was happy and the two huge dimples on either side of her mouth. She was probably one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen in his life. He caught himself staring and mentally punched himself. He wasn't supposed to think of her like that. She was just Brooke. His best friend's little sister. She was beautiful. She was practically his little sister. Lucas was completely confused by his new-found attraction to the girl that he had known most of his life.

Once all of them got bored of splashing each other in the pool, Peyton suggested a game of Truth or Dare. When it came to be Brooke's turn, Peyton dared her to do the unthinkable—kiss Lucas. Brooke was, naturally, absolutely mortified. Of course, she had had a crush on Lucas since she was in about 4th grade, when she discovered that boys didn't have cooties, but she couldn't kiss Lucas. He would never think of her that way, and she certainly could not kiss him in front of her brother. How disgusting would that be? Peyton sat across from Brooke, staring her down. Since she had whispered her dare into Brooke's ear, the boys had no clue what it was. Brooke was silently pleading with Peyton to not make her do it, but Peyton wasn't going to let her back down. She knew that Brooke was practically in love with Lucas and thought that after almost 4 years, it was time that she actually do something about it.

"Fine!" Brooke said in an annoyed tone, finally breaking the silence. She stood up and put her hand out to Lucas, who looked at it, questioning her.

"Just come on, please." She said, while staring bullets back into Peyton's eyes.

Lucas slowly used the hand she offered to get up off the ground and continued to hold it as they went behind the house. Once they got there, Brooke tried to let her hand go, but he continued to hold it. She looked at their hands, and looked back up at him. He quickly let go of her hand, and looked away. Although it was dark outside, she could still see that his cheeks were bright red. He looked back at her and they both laughed.

"So, what was your dare?" He asked once their laughter died down.

"Uh… well, you see…" She was about to start rambling, but he cut her off.

"Cut to the chase, Cheery." He said mockingly. She smiled at his use of her childhood nickname.

"Well, Broody," She began; she knew that returning the nickname might make the situation a little more relaxed. "Peyton, well, she kind of dared me to uh… kiss you." She released a breath that she didn't even realize she was holding.

Lucas started to laugh, but Brooke remained still. She was a little hurt that he thought that she was that awful that they thought of them kissing, made him crack up. She was quick to come up with an alternate plan.

"But… it's not like we have to. We just have to pretend that we did." She said the last part, hoping that maybe he would change his mind and not find her so revolting.

Lucas leaned against the rough brick of the house and contemplated the choice he had to make. Brooke was absolutely gorgeous, and he did really want to kiss her, but she was Jake's little sister. His romantic side took over and he looked into her hazel eyes with a twinkle in his blue ones. Brooke knew that twinkle and knew that meant trouble.

"What?" She asked innocently, hoping the twinkle meant that he was going to kiss her.

He sighed dramatically, "Well, I guess kissing you won't be the worst thing I've ever done." He said as he saw Brooke's face contort in rage, he then quickly laughed, making her see that he was simply kidding. "Calm down, Cheery, you're old enough. Let's do it. I mean it's just a kiss, and it's not like you've never kissed a boy before." He said as his heart started to race.

"Fine, I guess." She said nonchalantly, hoping to mask her excitement.

"Okay." He said, delaying the inevitable kiss that was about to take place.

"So…" Brooke said, trying to get him to start.

"Right." He replied, raising his hands to her face, one on each side. He could see that she was about to close her eyes and decided to take a moment to look at the beauty of her face, her features looked completely at peace. He then closed his eyes and dipped his head down so that his lips could reach hers. They both remained in this position for about 10 seconds, before Brooke pulled back a little, to make sure that Lucas didn't think that she was a complete loser. She looked up at him and saw that his eyes were just now, fluttering open. He smiled one of his classic, I-know- I'm-making-you-weak-at-the-knees- smiles and Brooke instantly felt as ease. She smiled back at him and he slowly pulled her closer.

"Wanna try again?" He asked, charmingly. He was so close that she could feel the warmth of his breathe against her skin. She shook her slowly and he dipped his head down once more, pulling her face forward. Her arms rose slowly as their kiss escalated from small pecks into one long kiss. She gently laid her hands on the back of his neck. She could feel him laughing a little against her mouth and she pulled back, fearing that she was making a complete fool out of herself. She turned around and ran back towards Peyton and her brother. Lucas looked at the spot where she was just seconds before and felt terrible. He knew that she had thought that he was making fun of her, but instead, he was laughing because she was tickling the back of his neck. He ran back out from behind the house.

Peyton was sitting there looking at Brooke. Peyton smiled. She knew that they had obviously kissed, maybe even done more, since they had been behind the house for more than 10 minutes, but she knew that she had embarrassed Brooke enough tonight, and that all of her questions could wait until they were alone.

Brooke finally looked up from her hand and her gaze met her best friend's. Peyton could see the unshed tears in Brooke's eyes and instantly felt terrible. She quickly saw Lucas return from behind the house and stared at him angrily.

She looked at Jake, who was pretty oblivious to everything that was going on, and said, "Goodnight, Jake." She helped Brooke up then they walked up towards the house, Peyton paused beside Lucas for a moment, only to whisper, "Goodnight, Asshole."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Peyton sat in the middle of Brooke's bed, with Brooke's head in her lap. She had just heard the story of Brooke's first kiss. She felt like the worst person in the world.

"God, Brooke. I'm such a bitch. I shouldn't have made you do that. I just thought that maybe if you guy kissed, then you would be happy, and I knew that you would never do it on your own, and I thought if you both thought it was just a dare, you would do it, and he would realize, maybe, that he had feelings for you too." She looked down as Brooke apologetically.

Brooke slowly sat up and faced Peyton. She didn't say anything; she simply hugged her with all her might. When she finally let go, Peyton looked at her as if she were crazy. "Brooke, I kind of screwed you over, you can be mad, you can call me a bitch, kick me out of your house, something."

Brooke looked back at Peyton and smiled through her tears. She touched her knee and looked back her, tears flooding back into her hazel eyes. "Peyt, don't be sorry. I mean, yeah, I'm pretty pissed that Luke was that rude about the kiss, but, OH MY GOSH! It was such a good kiss. Well, both of them were, the second one ended badly." Brooke was beaming like an idiot; her smile then fell, when she asked, "What do you think is wrong with me? I mean, obviously, Lucas thought of something that was, because that's why he stopped it."

"BROOKE PENELOPE DAVIS!" Peyton yelled. "There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with you. There's obviously something wrong with him. Now, go brush your teeth and let's go to bed." Brooke nodded and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

When she got in there, she was very angry to see she wasn't alone. Another bad thing about sharing a bathroom with her brother—seeing boys that just laughed at her after she kissed them. She was about to leave, when she felt an arm pull her back. She looked at him with a frown on her face. She watched him close the door that led back into Jake's room. She turned around and did the same to the door that led into her room.

"So…" He started.

She sighed dramatically, "Lucas, just say it," she started speaking in a deeper voice, trying to mock him, "'Brooke, I think the kiss was a mistake. I must have been on some kind of crazy drugs when I decided that it was ok to kiss you. You're like my little sister, how disgusting is that?'" She looked up at him, waiting for him to say something along those lines.

He fixated his navy blue eyes into her hazel ones. He slowly moved towards her. He said in a quiet voice that was laced with hurt, "That's what you thought?"

Brooke looked at him confused and angry, "Lucas, we were kissing, and you laughed at me. What the hell else was I supposed to think?"

Lucas started to laugh. "You thought I was laughing at you?" He asked. Brooke nodded at him. He started to laugh even more. Brooke was beyond confused at this point. "You want to know why I was laughing?" She nodded once more. "I was laughing, because, you, my dear, were tickling my neck." Brooke understood, and began laughing hysterically.

"So, you don't think that I'm completely revolting?" She asked shyly. He shock his head with a smile and moved closer to her so that his arms were encircling her waist. She teased him by raising her hands to the back or his neck, tickling him. She held him close and tucked her head into the crook of his neck, breathing in his smell. She could feel him moving away and groaned.

"So, maybe we could try that whole kissing thing again?" He asked with a small smile playing on his lips. She nodded and immediately tilted her head up towards his. It started out small and sweet, but his tongue came against her lips. She broke apart from him with a questioning look. He looked down at her apologetically and backed away, but he felt small hands wrap around his waist and pull him back. Now he was really confused.

"Sorry, it's just, uh…" Brooke started to blush. "I'm kind of new at this and I… I don't really know how to do that…" He laughed a little. "Stop making fun of me."

"I'm not making fun of you, I'm laughing at myself." She looked up at him, her hazel eyes were filled with complete and utter confusion. "You see, I thought that you had done this before. I feel really bad now… God, Brooke I'm so sorry. I mean I wouldn't have…" He was cut off by her lips pushing hungrily against his. He felt her tongue move towards his parted lips. 'Damn, she learns fast,' Lucas thought to himself as they continued to make out in the middle of her bathroom.

Brooke was the first to pull back. She looked up at him with a seductive smile. "So, how'd I do?" He looked at her then moved his head towards hers and kissed her again.

Finally, five minutes more of snogging, Lucas stopped them. "Your brother's gonna kick my ass." Brooke leaned away from him and her face fell.

"Right. The brother factor." Brooke yawned and leaned back into Lucas.

Lucas kissed her forehead and whispered "We'll talk in the morning." She turned towards the door, but was pulled back towards him. He gave her a peck on the lips, moved a strand of hair out of eyes and rubbed her cheek with the pad of his finger. Brooke went back into her room and went to bed with a huge smile on her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brooke and Peyton woke up around ten the next morning and went downstairs to find Brooke's mom was cooking breakfast, while the boys were sitting in front of the television, playing a videogame. The girls went and sat on the couch with them. The boys quit their game and turned the TV back to some cartoons. Brooke scooted a little closer to Lucas and discreetly held his hand. Lucas looked up at her and smiled.

Brooke broke the silence in the room by saying, "I think I'm gonna go see if mom needs some help in the kitchen." She looked at Lucas and nodded her head, asking him to come with her. Lucas waited about 3 minutes then announced that he was going to the bathroom, he then headed up the stairs to meet Brooke.

He slipped into her bedroom quietly and closed the door. He felt two arms wrap around his waist almost immediately. He turned around, wrapped her in his arms and kissed her on the forehead. They remained like that for a couple of minutes. Both of them knew that they were in too deep to just stop whatever it was that they had. As Lucas started to pull away, Brooke buried her head further into his chest. He stayed there for a couple more minutes before he led her over to the foot of her bed. She pulled back and her eyes met his. He saw the unshed tears in her eyes and knew that he could never leave her. Jake would get over it; he had to be with her, no matter what.

From that moment on, they were always together. Lucas was her rock; he was who she went to when she needed someone to talk to or when she needed comfort and support. Brooke was his outlet, she was who he went to when something was wrong and she would comfort and support him in her own way, by making him forget about all of his troubles completely. They spent the first few weeks of their relationship, hiding out, but eventually, they had to tell everyone. Most people were so happy for them, except his best friend and her brother. It definitely took good, old, protective Jake a little while to accept them. For the first week that he knew, he barely spoke to either one of them, but after Brooke yelled at him and threatened to castrate him if he didn't make up with his best friend and stop treating her like shit; he made a small effort to understand the relationship, eventually, he was fully okay with the fact that they were together. He saw the way that Lucas looked at his baby sister and how caring, doting and loving he was, and instantly knew that they were meant to be together.

They were perfect. For a little while.