Thank you so much for all the great reviews, it made me really happy to read them all after Christmas! Here's the next chapter, the next bit should be up pretty soon, depending on how long it is.Happy 2005!


The next morning they'd all been instructed to get up early, so they made their way down to the restaurant where breakfast was provided for everyone in the resort, a little bleary eyed. Peyton, Haley and Theresa chatted about the joys of sharing a room with their boyfriend. Brooke listened, thinking how weird it was that she, Brooke Davis, had been the only one not to get any last night. She thought of Felix, but found she wasn't missing him. She had mixed feelings about this, of course, she was glad she was okay without him, but surely she should be missing her new boyfriend?

"Are you coming in or what?" Lucas was holding the door of the restaurant open, smiling at the girls with his eyebrows raised.

Maybe it was the company she was with, she thought, eyeing Lucas, she wouldn't miss Felix when she was with such good…friends.

"Yeah, we'll be right in," she smiled at him, and forcibly dragged the others in.

The food was pretty bad, but it was one step above school food, so they didn't complain…much. Brooke hated bad food, as she had been brought up on only the best by her parents. She drank some coffee, as, being a ski resort, the cooks had at least got hot drinks perfected.

"Are you going to eat that?" Lucas asked, pointing to Brooke's bacon and eggs.

"Go ahead," she pushed the plate towards him.

"Aww, are the eggs to runny for Princess Brooke?" Peyton joked, and the others laughed. "Don't worry, brave knight sir Lucas will get rid of them for you!"

"Shut up!" Brooke threw a piece of tangerine peel at Peyton, but Peyton could see she was smiling.

"When do we start skiing?" Haley asked.

"I don't know, but I hope we just skip the skiing and go straight to the après ski stuff!" Theresa said.

"There's an out-door hot-tub near our cabin," Jake said, "That was what was under that gazebo thing," he added to Peyton, "I checked it out this morning."

"Cool," Tim grinned, "We can all go in tonight."

The others all nodded. Lucas suddenly noticed two pieces of tangerine that had appeared on his plate.

"Are these for me?" he asked Brooke, who had been eating one, and who, he noted, had also left the peel on his plate.

She nodded, smiling sweetly, "They have pips in them," she explained, with a totally straight face.

Peyton rolled her eyes.

"If I could have everyone's attention," Whitey had stood up and addressed the teenagers, a couple of other tourists and holiday makers also looked at him, and he smiled, reddening slightly, "Everyone from Tree Hill High that is," he added quickly. "We're going to get our skis now, and then we'll be going straight onto the slopes, so hurry up and finish your breakfast."

There was a general bustle as everyone finished eating and went outside. They followed Whitey to the equipment hire shop. Nathan almost started an impromptu snowball fight when he threw a snowball at Haley and it hit Theresa by mistake. She retaliated but missed and hit Jake, and he was just picking up a clump of snow too when Whitey yelled to cut it out, and then scolded Nathan for his poor aim.

The hire shop was small, and soon became very crowded with students. Nathan, Haley, Lucas, Brooke, Jake and Peyton found themselves wedged in a corner, at what appeared to be the end of a very long queue.

"Dammit, we're gonna be here for hours!" Nathan complained, "How did Tim manage to get so far ahead?"

"Maybe because he wasn't wasting time trying to stuff snow down my neck!" Haley said, turning to Nathan with raised eyebrows.

"Come on Hales, it was a joke!"

"Yeah, and now I'm friggin' freezing because there's ice in my jacket!"

Nathan could tell she wasn't really angry, but he apologised anyway, and unzipped his jacket, pulling her against his chest and wrapping it around her. "Better?" he asked. She turned her head and smiled up at him, "Much." Nathan grinned and turned to the others, "So are you guys getting skis or snowboards?"

"I'm not sure actually, I've never done either," Lucas looked over at the racks of skis and snowboards, considering.

"Try snowboarding," Nathan said enthusiastically, "It's really fun, I can teach you."

"Can you teach me too?" Jake asked, "I've been skiing once but I basically sucked at it, I always wanted to learn how to snowboard."

"Yeah sure," Nathan looked to Lucas, "Do you wanna try?"

"Yeah, why not," he smiled and nodded, "What about you guys? Can you remember how to ski Hales?"

"Barely, it was years ago that I went."

"You can re-learn with Peyton then," Brooke said.

"I went once with Brooke," Peyton explained, "But I wasn't very good."

"You were great!" Brooke exclaimed, "It was just you're first time, I swear, by the end of this weekI'll be taking you both on some black runs."

Haley and Peyton raised their eyebrows disbelievingly.

"Are you really good at skiing?" Lucas asked Brooke, who was standing next to him.

"I'm okay," she said, modestly,"my parents usually go around Christmas or Easter break so they take me with them," she explained.

"Why don't you try snowboarding with us then? You're not going to want to stick on the learner slopes with these guys," Jake said.

"Because she sucks at snowboarding!" Nathan said, laughing.

"I do not! It's hard to switch from skiing to snowboarding, and Dan scared the hell out of me!"

"When were you snowboarding with Dan?" Lucas asked, confused.

"Our families used to go skiing together, our parents were friends," Nathan explained.

"I didn't know that," Haley said, looking up at Nathan.

"It was when we were younger," Brooke said quickly, "When my parents were actually around."

"So you guys were friends? I always thought you just knew him cos of Peyton." Lucas said.

"Who do you think introduced them?" Brooke asked, "But actually, we weren't that great friends by then anyway, we kind of drifted apart in middle school."

Lucas nodded slowly, he tried to imagine an young Nathan and Brooke being friends, and found he could picture it easily. If Dan had accepted him as his son, he would have been there too…He quickly ended these thoughts, he had had Haley, and he wouldn't swap his friendship with her for anything.

"Anyway," Nathan said, "Brooke sucked and ended up having a bit of a screaming match with Dan, which I gotta say, I was pretty impressed by, and then she swore she'd always stick to skiing in future."

Peyton laughed, and Brooke said, "Theresa will come with me anyway, she's been skiing loads of times before."

"Cool, so we're all decided?" Nathan asked.

They all nodded, and continued to move very slowly towards to front of the queue.

"I'm so tired," Haley groaned, after they'd been waiting for another ten minutes.

"Me too," Brooke agreed, "We had to get up so early."

"You slept on my bed for hours yesterday afternoon, you shouldn't be tired," Lucas said, looking at Brooke.

"Why were you sleeping on his bed?" Peyton asked, eyebrows raised.

Brooke just gave her a look.

"Oh yeah, how's sharing a room going for you guys?" Jake asked picking up the inquisition.

"Now look what you started," Brooke said to Peyton, who laughed.

"Any chance of a little rendezvous in the snow?" Nathan asked.

"No!" Brooke said forcefully.

"There's no way you guys will last a week without something happening," Haley said, smiling.

"Can I remind you guys of a little something called my boyfriend? Felix?"

They all shut up, but Haley was still smiling, and Jake whispered to Peyton, "I think we touched a nerve." Peyton nodded very slightly in agreement, and sighed. She knew her best friend still had feelings for Lucas, she could see it whenever they were together. But she also knew Brooke was not going to let herself fall for him again easily. She wished for the thousandth time that she could take back what she did, so her friend could be happy.

As they continued to wait, the sound of talking was replaced by yawns. Lucas felt Brooke's head drop against his shoulder as they leant against a wall. He smiled down at her, and then gently shook her awake as they moved forward. Brooke looked jealously at Haley, who still had Nathan's arms around her, and was half asleep, supported by him. She leant her head against Lucas again, and slipped a hand through his arm, closing her eyes.

"You need to get more sleep at night," Lucas whispered to her.

"I'm not sleeping," she murmured in reply.

"Well can I have my arm back then?" he joked.

"No." She held it a little tighter.

He chuckled, and pulled it from her grasp, wrapping it fully round her shoulders.

"Mmm, much better," she said, wrapping one arm around his waist and resting her head on his chest, "Wake me up when we get our skis."

"Peyt, look," Jake whispered to Peyton, gesturing slightly to Brooke and Lucas. Peyton looked up from her position against Jake's neck, and smiled at what she saw. "Anyone would think they were going out already, they basically are, except for sex."

"Maybe they are having sex and we just don't know!" Jake joked, and Peyton laughed, "It wouldn't surprise me!"

They finally reached a desk where a tall Italian guy took all their shoe sizes and sent someone to find boots for them. He had dark olive skin and wavy dark hair, and smiled at all the girls. Brooke was the last in line, having detached herself from Lucas when it was his turn.

"And last but not least, what is the shoe size of la bella signorina?"

Brooke automatically went into flirt auto drive, giving him a small smile, and biting he lip slightly before slowly unfurling six fingers. The Instructor raised his eyebrows very slightly and nodded, before going to find the boots.

He returned to the bench Brooke was sitting on, next to Lucas and the others who were struggling to get their boots on.

"Does the signorina need any help?" he asked as he handed them to her. Brooke took them and slipped them on deftly, snapping the straps shut with ease. "I think I got it." She saw Lucas laugh slightly beside her.

"You have skied before?"

"A little."

"Would you like to come on some runs with me? I'm sure you would find it more exciting than on the training slopes. I'm Andreas, by the way."

Brooke hesitated, and snatched a sideways glance at Lucas. 'What are you doing,' she thought, 'it should be Felix you're worrying about, not Lucas, and Felix isn't here.'

"Yeah sure," she replied, with a dazzling smile, "But can my friend come to?"

Andreas looked at Lucas, and his face fell. Brooke saw and added quickly, "Not him, my other friend, Theresa."

"Oh," Andreas' face lit up at the sound of a girl's name, "Of course."

They were all given skis or snowboards, and went outside into the snow, where the rest of the group was, and Brooke found Theresa and told her about Andreas' offer. Theresa readily agreed, and went to tell Tim.

"So you're going with that ski shop guy?" Lucas approached Brooke.

"His name's Andreas," Brooke said, pleased to note a slightly jealous tone in Lucas' voice, "And yeah, why not?"

Lucas shrugged, "Okay, but be careful."

"I think I can handle myself on the slopes."

"I meant with him."

Brooke rolled her eyes, "I can definitely handle myself with him!"

Lucas smiled, "Okay, okay, I'll see you later then."

"Yup," she watched him walk away.

The day of skiing passed quickly. Nathan had a fantastic time 'teaching' Jake and Lucas, which basically gave him an opportunity to boss them around! They had fun though, and Nathan was definitely a better teacher than Dan had been, as by the afternoon Jake and Lucas were boarding down small slopes without falling on their butts too many times.

As the light was beginning to fade, everyone began returning to the lodge at the bottom of the mountains. Haley and Peyton skied over to see how the guys were doing, and as they arrived at the leaner boarding slope they saw Theresa and Brooke come down the end of a run, and ski towards them, Brooke spraying Peyton with snow as she came to a perfect parallel stop.

"How's it going?" she asked as she lifted her sunglasses.

Peyton rolled her eyes, "Well we thought we gotten pretty good, until you guys showed up and we realised we, in comparison, sucked!"

Theresa laughed and Brooke smirked. "How are the boys doing on their little boards?"

"That's what we came to see," Haley said, "But they're at the top of the slope, and they don't seem to be coming down anytime soon," she indicated three figures at the top of the slope.

"Where's Andreas?" Peyton asked, looking around.

"He went back to the hire shop," Theresa said, "After asking what we were doing tonight!" she added laughing. "I swear I have never seen a guy flirt so much!"

Haley and Peyton laughed, and Brooke forced a smile, but truthfully Andreas had made her feel a little uncomfortable after a while. She was used to attention from guys, and even when she was going out with someone she never really had a problem with it before, she even enjoyed toying with them sometimes. But all day she hadn't been able to shake of the image of Lucas walking away, which was then swiftly followed by confusion and a strong sense of guilt as she thought of Felix.

"...Just don't say anything to Tim," Theresa was giggling as Brooke came out of her reverie, she saw Haley glance at her, and quickly smiled to hide her discomfort.

"Finally! They're coming down," Peyton pointed to the top of the slope, and they saw that the three figures had indeed began boarding down. It was easy to tell which was Nathan, as he was moving much faster than the other two, and when he came to series ofjumps he jumped neatly over them, performing a360 turn on the last.

"Hales, I hate to say it, but your husband is a show-off!" laughed Brooke as she watched.

Peyton laughed when she heard this, "Uh Brooke, pot, kettle, black??" Haley laughed.

Brooke looked at her confused, "What??" This caused the others to laugh even harder, and Brooke pouted.

The guys came to a stop at the bottom, Nathan turning as he did so, and Lucas just managing to stay upright, but Jake teetered before falling backwards, landing in the snow.

"I don't think I was made for winter sports," he laughed , as Peyton came and sat down next to him. Brooke took of her skis and stuck them in the snow along with her poles, and then approached Lucas. "Nice stop," she said.

"Well I managed to stay upright," he laughed, looking at Jake.

"Oh yeah?" she smiled evilly before pushing him very lightly on the chest, so he toppled backwards on his board. "Hey!" he exclaimed, and Haley and Nathan looked up from where they had been kissing (wrapped in his jacket once more) and began laughing.

"You need to work on your balance Broody!" Brooke giggled as she held out a hand to pull him up. He narrowed his eyes as he took her hand, and then suddenly tugged on it so she fell down too.

"So do you!"

Brookelet out an exclamation of shockin the cold snow, and thengrabbed a handful of it, stuffing it inLucas' face. Lucas grabbed her hands, and held them in one of his as he packed snow into her jacket. She wrestled him off, and straddled him, holding his wrists by his head as he lay on his back in the snow, laughing.

She held one of his elbows down with her knee and used her free hand to brush her hair out of her face, and unzip her jacket to release the snow trapped in there. Lucas laughed harder as he saw how much fell out. Brooke kept a completely straight face and glared at him.

"I would like an apology," she stated, one corner of her mouth twitching as she struggled not to laugh.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he stuck out his bottom lip, "forgive me?"

"No." She continued to glare, and pretended to ignore the fact that his wrist that was still held by her hand was now wriggling down into the snow, freeing itself, and his fingers were intertwining with hers. He brought it to his lips and kissed her gloved hand, "Please?"

She smiled at his gratiousness, "Say…Brooke rules."

"Brooke rules," he said, rolling his eyes.

"And she's the best at skiing…"

"And she's the best at skiing…"

"And she's the prettiest girl you know."

"You're pushing it." She pushed her knee harder onto his arm, "ow, ow, okay! And she's the prettiest girl I know," he caved and Brooke released his arm, smiling sweetly. "Okay, I forgive you," she stood up, and he removed his feet from his board and stood up too, glaring at Brooke, "You know, you pushed me first, it should be you apologising!"

"You didn't ask me to," she grinned, "And you got me all wet, which is way worse." He shook his head and picked up his board.

"Where are the others?" Brooke asked, looking around. They made their way to the lodge, and found them all sitting there drinking hot chocolate.

"You left us!" Brooke said indignantly as she sat down, and drank some of Nathan's hot chocolate.

"Well you seemed a little preoccupied," Nathan smirked, "And 'hey!' by the way," he said, referring to his now almost empty hot chocolate. Brooke smiled sweetly, and moved up on the sofa so Lucas could sit down. He saw Haley and Peyton eyeing him, and felt himself blush slightly. The two girls shared a look.


"Alright guys, hot tub time." Tim said as they left the restaurant after dinner. They all grinned and split up to go back to their cabins and get changed.

Brooke and Lucas walked together. "So are you going skiing with Andreas again tomorrow?" Lucas asked, as casually as possible.

Brooke wasn't fooled, but answered breezily, "No, I think me and Theresa'll just go on our own."

Lucas looked at her, but didn't sat anything, and simply nodded instead.

"Did you talk to Felix today?" he asked a little later.

She shook her head. They trudged on a little more through the snow.

"Lucas, you know the horrible feeling of awkwardness in the air?"

"Um…no, I hadn't noticed," Lucas said innocently, but cracked and laughed when Brooke gave him a look.

"Yeah, well it wouldn't be here if you didn't ask about…guys. So can we change the subject and get rid of it?"

"I wasn't aware silence had a subject."

She gave him another withering look, "You know what I mean."

"Okay, okay, I won't ask about 'guys'. Does that include Jake and Nathan?" he asked, winding Brooke up.

She hit him on the arm, "You know what I meant! It's just…" she hesitated, and carried on more quietly, "It's just weird talking to you about Felix and stuff."

"It shouldn't be though," Lucas said, serous now, "I mean, we're friends right?"

"Yes of course but…" she looked at him, "there's still stuff…there…" she trailed off, "Never mind, you don't know what I mean."

Lucas reached out and held her arm, stopping her, "Yes, I do."

She looked into his eyes and knew he was telling the truth, that deep inside him he still felt something for her.

There was a moment of silence as they looked at each other, and Brooke felt an incredible urge to just kiss him right then. She saw him open his mouth to say something, but he hesitated, and then shut it again.

"It'll just take time, right?" said Brooke, trying to keep her voice as steady as possible. "We just need to…let go."

For a second, a pained expression flashed across Lucas' face, then it softened, "Yeah," he agreed, his voice also shaking slightly, "We just need to forget about 'us', and then we can move on."

They both nodded, even though that was the last thing either of them wanted to do.


Next: Hot tub! I was going to put it in this chapter but it's not quite finished andI wanted to update as soon as possible. Please REVIEW for the lovely long chapter, and if you want to make a request for more action for a particular couple, or a certain scenario, I'll do my best do oblige, thanks!