Author's Note: I want to thank all of you for the reviews you've left and all of the story alerts. I appreciate it greatly. This is a new kind of story for me, so bare with me as I test the waters. I'm not sure how frequently this will get updated in the coming weeks, as it is the end of the semester and I've got a lot on my plate at the moment. There will probably be another update in maybe 2 weeks?

--xx--

Her name is Brooke. She just turned seventeen. She's a junior at West Ridge Preparatory for Girls. And apparently, she likes to talk.

Lucas and Brooke have been in the Porsche together for five minutes and the teen has not stopped talking in that raspy voice of hers, like she's spent her entire life smoking a pack a day.

Lucas is gripping the steering wheel too tightly, trying to stare at the freeway splayed out in front of him. The girl sitting next to him is so striking, more gorgeous a girl than he's never seen before and though he's trying, he can't hide his arousal.

Brooke turns to the man, raises her eyebrows and smirks, "You're still hard", she says.

The driver nods, still staring straight ahead and trying to remain stoic. He says, "You're practically naked."

"I'm hot", Brooke replies, fully aware of the double meaning in her remark. She pulls her knees up to her chest, revealing just a hint of her baby blue thong.

Lucas sighs to himself. The girl knew how to work her sexuality. No wonder she was a hooker. No, no. Not hooker- call girl, escort, any other flagrant euphemism for prostitute would suffice.

"Just sit still for a while", Lucas says.

"How long does it take to get there?" Brooke asks. She drops her knees from her chest and begins tapping her foot.

"Maybe an hour, depending on traffic."

"Malibu, right? My uncle lives in Malibu." Brooke stares straight ahead as she speaks, her arms now crossed over her large chest.

"Well, I hope we're not going to your uncle's house", Lucas says as he turns to Brooke and smirks.

The teen whips her head to the side to make eye contact with Lucas, a horrified look on her face.

She turns to face forward again and mutters, "Fuck."

Lucas laughs at the girl's swearing. Her confidence is wavering and the man likes to see her squirm. He was used to nervousness among the girls. No matter the frosty image they try to conjure, Lucas has seen enough that he can easily see through their bravado.

"This isn't your first appointment, right?" Lucas asks. He's quickly losing his erection now.

"No. It's not", Brooke replies.

"Yeah, Christina would probably be here if it was your first time. Primping you and all that shit."

"Been there, done that."

Lucas adjusts his hands on the steering wheel, still antsy and intrigued by the brunette beauty sitting next to him. "Do you do everything Christina tells you to do?" he asks pointedly.

Brooke turns to look at the handsome man sitting next to her and cocks her head to the side. "Do you?" she asks as she smiles, dimples obvious in her cheeks.

Maybe her confidence isn't wavering, Lucas thinks. Maybe he's met his match. Brooke is beginning to remind me of Christina: brazen, beautiful, witty, and conniving.

"Christina is a close friend", Lucas says plainly.

Brooke smirks again. "She told me that you're in love with her."

He was in love with Christina when they were younger. Deeply in love with her. But she chose heroin over him when they were seventeen. She is addicted to drugs. Lucas hasn't left, though. You might say that Lucas is addicted to Christina.

"Christina has a big ego", Lucas tells the young girl, "and she's always high. Not really the making of an honest person."

"Whatever you say, Lucas", Brooke says coyly.

The car is quiet as Brooke leans down to rummage through her backpack. The air conditioning is still on high, occasionally making a thunking noise. Lucas is happy that something can interrupt the silence. He's never liked silence.

After a minute or two of digging around in her backpack, Brooke pulls her arm out, revealing a dime bag of a white powder the two are both aware is cocaine. She flips open the glove compartment, quickly finding what she is looking for. She pulls a CD case out and rests it on her tan legs.

Lucas watches this unfold quietly but finally speaks up, "Where'd you get coke?" he asks.

"I go to an all-girls prep school, Lucas. We live, eat, and breathe academics. It's easier to score cocaine than it is to borrow someone's notes", Brooke explains. She opens the tiny Ziploc bag and carefully dumps the cocaine onto the CD case. She uses her long fingernails to separate the drug into three lines. "Give me a bill. Any bill", she says forcefully.

Lucas and Brooke lock eyes for a moment, Lucas considering whether or not to give the 17 year old girl a bill so she can snort some cocaine. Brooke raises her eyebrows in a pleading fashion. She extends her hand, palm up as Lucas gives in, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket and handing it to Brooke.

The girl winks at the man and smiles, then brings her attention back to her upcoming high. She pulls a twenty dollar bill from the man's wallet and then looks studiously at Lucas' driver's license.

"Lucas E. Scott", she reads aloud. "92 San Antonio Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA. Born and raised LA?" she asks, then passes the wallet back to Lucas.

"Pasadena", he replies, returning the wallet back to his pocket.

"Ritzy".

Brooke licks her pointer finger, and then dips it into one of the lines. She brings her finger back to her mouth and runs the cocaine-covered finger along her gums. She smacks her lips and giggles.

Lucas looks at Brooke disapprovingly, though he knows he shouldn't be surprised. He knew drugs were everywhere, especially among the girls he drove around but it still depressed him.

"I can't believe you're doing this in my car", Lucas says.

Brooke looks up from the cocaine. "Do you want the first line?" she asks.

Lucas is not a drug user. Alcohol, yes. But no drugs. He shakes his head, still staring at the road, hands clenched on the wheel.

Brooke shrugs and returns to the activity at hand, rolling the twenty into a makeshift straw.

Lucas reaches to the radio and turns it on. Bon Jovi's "Wanted: Dead or Alive" plays loudly, barely drowning out the sound of Brooke snorting the cocaine into her nose. Once she's finished snorting the three lines, she takes her pointer finger again and dots the case for the remaining dusts of coke. She rubs her finger along her gums again, and then sucks on the finger for a moment.

"You're insane", the man says, turning the radio off as a whiny Leann Rimes song starts.

Brooke closes her eyes and leans back against the leather seat. There's a painful silence again and then the teen speaks, her eyes still closed. "It's so much easier to deal with these guys when I'm high."

Lucas snickers. "Right", he says sarcastically.

"The come down sucks, though", she remarks as her eyes open and she sits back up. She cocks her head to the side again and begins to inspect Lucas up and down.

"What?" Lucas asks. Her eyes are a deep green, he notes, as she stares at him. Her pupils are beginning to dilate.

"You have very blue eyes", Brooke replies.

"I'm aware", Lucas says, chuckling.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"You're high."

"No, I'm not". She pauses. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"No."

"Do you want one?"

--xx--