Okay, so this is my first OTH fic, and let me just start off with the fact that I absolutely LOVE Brooke. I think she's the most amazing character in this series. I am a complete Brulian fan, and Leyton, just Brooke and Lucas together were amazing, and such a hot couple, so they're the ones I want to work with. I apologise if there are any mistakes, or silly grammatical errors. I am exhausted and just wanted to post this before bed!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, unfortunately.

Brooke Davis had known Lucas Scott since they were juniors at high school. Apparently he had known her for a lot longer, but it wasn't until their middle year when he made it onto the basketball team that she finally noticed him. Up until then, he was just the 'other' Scott brother. They had gone out on and off until she had come home one day and found him hooking up with her best friend, Peyton Sawyer, on her bed. Apparently, they had both gotten bored waiting for her and looked for a way to entertain themselves. It had taken almost a year for them all to be friends again, and Peyton had moved on to some guy who ran a record store in town, while Lucas bounced between several of the cheerleaders. Brooke still wasn't sure if she ever got over Lucas, but she had refused to be made the fool of. She had been hot, popular and one of the best drunks around—there was never a shortage of guys who made Brooke feel good about herself. Peyton eventually left Tree Hill, going on tour with some big shot band. Brooke and Lucas moved to New York, different jobs, different apartments, but they were always each others constant.

Lindsay Strauss came into Lucas's life around his twenty-fifth birthday. In all fairness, Brooke had been joking about how Lucas needed to start settling down, but she had been drinking—not enough to be overly confident, but definitely heading in that direction. When she had said that Lucas needed to settle down, she had been meaning herself. Lucas had just laughed, told her that maybe she had a good point, and then stood up and started chatting up the blonde at the bar. Brooke made herself feel better by finishing off a bottle of vodka, consoling herself that the girl had a fat ass, and then gone home with the cute bartender, Owen something. But the blonde had just kept appearing, and then they had moved in together. Brooke had been watching Lucas slowly disappear from her life bit by bit for the last year, but when they moved in together, it was like all contact between them had been completely severed.

Almost two months went by and Brooke didn't see Lucas. And then one night, her phone vibrated in her pocket as she walked up the stairs to her apartment. A small smile appeared on her face and she promptly turned around and went back down the stairs. There was a small bar at the corner of her street, where her and Lucas used to meet up almost every Friday. Pushing open the door, she couldn't help but feel a childish excitement when she saw her favourite blonde sitting in the corner booth. A grin broke out across his face when he saw her and he stood up as she came over.

"It's been way to long, Luke," she said softly. Lucas smiled into her hair.

"I know, pretty girl," he murmured. They pulled apart and ordered their drinks before sitting down.

"How's Lindsay?" It almost pained her to ask. Lucas seemed to sense it, because he got that awkward half smile he always wore when he was entering into a conversation he was uncertain about. He gave a short, non-committal answer before asking her about work. After work, they moved on to basketball. And then Jaime Scott. Everything just flowed after that. The more drinks they had, the easier they talked. Being with each other had always been easy, everything flowed. Soon they were stumbling out of the bar, back up the stairs she had been on just several hours ago, alcohol impairing their judgement as they fell through her apartment door. For a moment, they just stared at each other. Lucas was wearing a tight shirt that clung to his defined chest, and a necklace she had brought him for his twenty-first birthday. She was wearing a high-waisted dress, which displayed her cleavage and accentuated her narrow waist.

They fell together as though it was the most natural thing in the world.

He was gone by the time Brooke woke up in the morning. The bed was still slightly warm where he had laid next to her, and she could smell him in the air. She lay there for a good half hour, recapping everything that had happened the night before. It wasn't the first time they had slept with each other—when they had been going out in high school they had slept together multiple times. But they were seventeen, and they were experimenting. Now, nearly ten years later, they knew exactly what they were doing, exactly how to please the other. The alcohol in their system only made the highs higher and the orgasms more powerful.

When she finally got up, she checked her phone. There were no messages, and she felt her stomach drop slightly. She shouldn't be surprised, they had barely talked in months. But she thought last night would have changed everything; sleeping with your best friend isn't something to be taken lightly, especially when you had a girlfriend.

But even after six hours, Brooke hadn't received so much as a text.

Weeks went by and Brooke was going out of her mind. Millicent Huxtable didn't know what was going on, she tried to talk to her boss and friend, but it didn't work. Brooke would stay at work for hours after everyone left, and would always be there before everyone else started. She got around five hours a sleep every night, not enough time to think about things that were going wrong in her life. If people thought she was hard working before, she was even more so now.

Everyone kept asking her what was going on, if everything was alright, and she lied to them all in turn. Brooke couldn't talk to anyone about what had happened, or what was still happening to her. She hadn't heard from Lucas in over a month, ever since that night. Half the time she felt like a terrible person, waiting for a man to ring who was committed to someone else. The other half of the time she was angry at herself, for feeling like a pathetic teenager, standing by the phone. She hadn't been like this in high school, why was she acting like it now? She already knew the answer to that question. It was because it was Lucas. As much as she tried not to think about their brief relationships in their teenage years, Lucas had always been her one and only love. He had also been the only boy who had ever broke her heart. She had pushed her feelings down for so long, ignoring them, but when they had all spilled over, and she had seen the need for her in his eyes, those feelings had all come to the surface.

And they weren't going away.

It was late Friday night when her phone began buzzing. Brooke picked it up, and immediately hated the childish excitement that filled her stomach when she saw Lucas's name on the screen.

"Hey," she tried to keep her voice even.

"Hey, pretty girl," his deep voice rumbled down the line. Every time he said those two words to her, her stomach would clench. No one else called her that, and as far as she knew, he never called anyone else that. It made those feelings in her stomach almost unbearable. "Look, uh, Lindsey is out of town. I was wondering if you wanted to meet up." Brooke wasn't sure how she was meant to feel about that, that he actually had to hide her from his girlfriend. They had been bestfriends since they were eighteen! But before she could really think things through, she was agreeing, packing up her work things and rushing home to change. Given her busy schedule, she had become the master of quick changes. In twenty minutes she was already walking toward the elevator and taking it down to the lobby. She was at the corner bar a few minutes later, and there he was again at the back booth, partially hidden from the rest of the bar.

"I already ordered you a drink," he told her with a half smile. She nodded and slid into the booth opposite him. She was grateful for the drink, she needed the alcohol in her system. She finished it quickly and Lucas raised his eyebrows, knowing that Brooke couldn't handle her alcohol particularly well. But then again, maybe that was what he was relying on. Because in only another hour, they were kissing. He had moved to her side of the booth, and she was pushed against the wall, his lips over hers and his tongue sliding over her own.

"What are we...what are we doing?" Brooke gasped out between kisses. "You're with...Lindsey..." At the name of his girlfriend, Lucas pulled away from her, resting his forehead against hers.

"I don't know...Brooke..." he licked his lips. "There's always been something between us. I just thought you didn't want me. And then at my birthday, when you pushed me at Lindsey...If I'd known you felt this way, I would never had gotten with Lindsey in the first place." Brooke bit down on her lower lip.

"And now you're cheating on Lindsey, the same way you cheated on me with Peyton..." the words tasted sour as she said them. No matter how much alcohol was in her system, the pain she had felt in her teenage years caused by her bestfriend and the boy she loved was still vividly clear. Talking about this was bringing back all those old feelings and she could feel herself frowning. "Do you know how long it took me to get over you, Luke? I would drink every other night and sleep with guys just to forget you—guys who didn't even know me! You broke my heart and I can't be a part of you doing that to another girl who loves you!" She scrambled over her lap, not caring that her skirt rode up and he could blatantly see her ass and the sexy underwear she had thrown on, just in case.

"Brooke...Brooke!" Lucas jumped from the booth and followed her outside. She had been wearing heels since she was twelve years old and she did not have an issue with running in them. However, the alcohol flowing through her veins was slowing her down a little and he caught up to her quickly, grasping her arm and spinning her around to face him. "Brooke, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? About everything. What happened the first time, shouldn't have happened...And I shouldn't have kissed you before..."

"No. What you should have done was never gotten together with Lindsey if this is how you felt about me," Brooke blinked furiously, pushing the tears back. "Geez, Luke. And I shouldn't have slept with you. I don't sleep around with guys who just want to get with me because I'm an easy lay—I'm not that girl anymore—"

"I never meant to make you feel that way—"

"Then why didn't you call me the next day?! Why didn't you call the next fucking week?! Why did you only call a month later when your girlfriend was out of town?!" Brooke didn't care that people were staring, or that the tears were now spilling down her cheeks, clumping her mascara and eyeliner underneath her eyes. All she cared about was finally telling Lucas how she felt.

"Because I...I was confused!" Lucas let out a heavy sigh, shoving his hands deep into his pockets and leaning against the wall of a shop. Brooke swiped angrily at her face and stared at the ground. "Brooke, you're my bestfriend. I never, ever meant to hurt you. After that night...I wanted to call, and I wanted to break up with Lindsey and just run back to your apartment...But I didn't know how you felt! I hurt you back when we were younger...Twice. And you're too vulnerable to put yourself out there a third time..."

"I'm stronger than you think, Luke," she mumbled.

"Oh I know..." he gave her a small smile. "You just keep surprising me, pretty girl." She hated that her heart still clenched when he called her that, not matter how angry she was.

"I think..." Brooke sniffed and let out a shaky breath. "I think that we need some time apart. I think you need to think about what you really want, who you really want. And when you know, get back to me." Walking away from Lucas was harder than anything she had done before. Harder than when she had found out he had cheated on her, because she knew that if she turned around and looked back, he would run to her and she could have him. But it was like she had said to him, she wasn't that same girl she was in high school. She had a lot more respect for herself, and she knew what she needed. And it wasn't a one night stand, or even a string of them. She needed Luke, and she needed to be his only.

This time, it was nine weeks. Brooke knew because with every day that went by, she felt a little piece of heart break even more. She tried to be strong, to tell herself that she had done the right thing, but it didn't help when she was alone in her bed at night. When it was edging on two and half months, Brooke made her way over to Lucas's apartment. She needed to see him—not just because she was in love with him, but because he was her bestfriend. She knocked on the door hesitantly, fiddling with the beads of her necklace nervously. The door cracked open and Brooke attempted a smile.

"Hi." She heard her voice wobble and cursed inwardly.

"Hey," Lucas opened the door wider, leaning against the door frame.

"I, uh," Brooke fumbled for words to say. "I haven't heard from you in a while..." Lucas nodded, crossing his arms over his chest, his biceps flexing under his short sleeves. "Is Lindsey home?"

"I broke up with Lindsey," he told her quietly. Brooke tried not to let her excitement show on her face.

"Oh?"

"I broke up with her the day she got back, after we had that fight," he murmured. Now confusion was showing in her eyes. He glanced at his feet, swallowing hard. "Everything you said was right, Brooke. I hurt you, and I have no excuse or explanation for that. And when I ask you out next time, I want it to be the last time." A smile curved on Brooke's lips. He reached out, closing the distance between them, his hand brushing over the soft skin of her cheek. "I love you too much to hurt you again, pretty girl," he whispered as he kissed her softly. Brooke felt herself melting under his touch, and it was over far too soon.

"So...So when are you planning on asking me out?" She asked, her voice husky. Lucas let out a short laugh.

"When we're both ready," he replied.

"So pretty damn soon?" He laughed again at her comment.

"Yeah..." Brooke nodded, stepping away from his touch, knowing that if she stayed any longer, she would argue with his resolve and they would both end up regretting it. As she walked away, she paused and glanced over her shoulder to where he was watching her go.

"I love you too, Luke."

"I know, pretty girl."

Let me know what you think :)