Dedicated to Kelli for making me keep going on writing this. I hope you all enjoy it. I've been writing for as long as I can remember and this is my first venture down the fan fiction route. Please let me know what you think, as the key for any good writer is to know that constructive criticism is welcome. Just don't be jerks. hugs

It was the ring on her finger that Brooke didn't like.

In her mind, her outward appearance she was everything that a happy friend should be. But the bruises on her face hid a different story that Brooke wondered if she would ever tell the truth too. It wasn't until she was finally alone that she really decided to let it go.

Lucas Scott was the one boy she would have given it all up for.

He was supposed to be her forever.

People who are meant to be together always find their way in the end.

She had believed that her entire life. Ever since she was just some silly teenager who had too much money, too much time, and not nearly enough parental supervision, and she had been in love with Lucas Scott. Well, 'had been' was such a joke, Brooke realized, she always would be.

She rolled over on her back, cringing a little when the pressure on her leg shot up her back and into the overworked pain receptors in her brain.

A fist flew up.

Her head hit the floor beneath her. "Get—off me!" Brooke screamed, kicking her legs up and finding this strange strength to kick the body that was on top of her off. He fell backwards into one of the square couches she had put in the center of the store and Brooke rolled, unable to rely on herself on her feet to get away from him. He'd just come out of no where and jumped on her, rolling her back across the couches and into the floor. It knocked the sense out of her but Brooke was strong and somewhere inside of her, she knew that she was. So there was this thing that kicked into her stomach to make her fight. It seemed like the most important thing in the world to her. This was her life. This was the thing that seemed to make everything a little better, and while Clothes Over Bros was just a company, she felt like it was all she had left and she was going to fight for it.

She locked her foot around a gold mannequin and sent it to the floor as she grappled across the floor. Just get to the store room and you can lock the door Brooke.

If only it was that easy.

She had the fighter instinct but men were so much stronger. He had hooked her ankles in his hands and pulled her back across the floor and it had been all over.

All she had wanted was her 'best' friend.

And her best friend was busy. Too busy for her. And it was always about Lucas.

In high school Peyton had been this quiet little broody girl who had too many records and used too much black paint on her drawings, never there for Brooke, because she had been too busy trying to deal with the fact that she had her chance with Lucas and had blown it. Over and over again, never realizing until he was happy with someone else until it was too late for her. And who care who she stepped on to get what she wanted? Brooke was finally starting to realize that was how Peyton was. She had dropped that horrible lie about falling down the stairs in the hopes that Peyton would see right through it and call her on it. She was dying to tell someone and sadly it had been Deb that had the time for her. Even her best friend didn't have time for her.

And now she was gone. Without a second thought. Without a question as to if she would be okay by herself in this big house that Brooke had, frankly, gotten for both of them. She was just out the door like it was nothing. And Brooke could feel herself becoming more and angrier. Pushing herself off the bed, she walked across the room and felt completely lost. She put a hand on the door and she could hear Lucas' voice outside. He wanted to see her.

She wanted to see him too.

But she didn't want him to see her like this. God, she hated to look vulnerable around him. She had always wanted Lucas to see her as strong, brave, with everything put together. It was why she had broken up with him after the wedding, she was so desperate to prove to herself that she could go on without Lucas Scott. And she had even if her heart had broken a little more every single day.

And now Peyton got everything she wanted and what had she really given up for it? Brooke had given Lucas up just so he would be happy in a moment that would have been a perfect second for a reunion. For just a moment, while that confetti fell down around her feet on the glossy court and celebration went on around her, she had imagined what it would be like if she and Lucas gave it just one more shot.

The sigh that escaped her lips was heavy and weighed on her like a thousand bricks all tied together. She almost didn't hear it when her phone vibrated against the soft sheets of the bed but as she crawled across the comforter, she looked at the caller ID.

And it was her heart that had her answering.

"Hello?"

"Hey!" It was Luke. It was the exact voice she wanted to hear and nothing seemed to matter more in the world than this moment. All the bruises on her skin and the pain in her heart seemed to drift away with that single word. She cleared her throat and felt nervous. It was as if he could see right through the phone and right into her soul to all the things that were going on in her head. "Brooke?"

She covered the back of her hand over her lips when the sob escaped. "Yeah." She cleared her throat trying to cover it up. But she should have known that he wouldn't fall for it.

"What's the matter?"

"I…it's just quiet in here. Did you and Peyton get to the house?"

"Yeah, I just dropped her off, I was heading over to Nathan's but--I really wanted to see you."

"I'm sorry Lucas," She whispered, sitting down on the edge of the bed and wrapping her arm around her stomach. "I was in the shower."
"I didn't hear the water running." He had a tease in his voice and it finally made Brooke smile.

The smile felt like it was going to crack her face, she hadn't had a smile like that on her face in a long time.

"Damn it, Lucas," Brooke said, "Can't you just let me lie?"

"No." He said, "I can't."

"Lucas…" Brooke looked over at the clock. And she took a chance, took a step, one that she hoped was in the right direction. "Lucas, can you--will you come by? I didn't get to see you and I…it would be nice too. I haven't seen you since Angie left and…will you?"

She needed it.

Screw that, she needed him.