Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or Twilight...

Chapter 2:

Not That Much Time

"And just where have you been?" Haley asked, noticing Brooke's smile as she walked back over to her friends.

"Me?" Brooke asked, trying to play coy. "Only exactly where I said I would be," she reminded her.

Haley looked at her skeptically. "I know for a fact that that is not your 'I-just-had-a-few-drinks-at-the-bar' face," she told her casually.

Brooke just giggled. "Well let's just say I did have a few drinks and ran into an old friend," she said, turning from Haley to the stage that was being set up for the night's main act.

"And is this friend anyone I know?" Haley asked her, not letting Brooke drop the subject just because she turned away.

Brooke looked at Haley and pouted thoughtfully as she shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe you do, maybe you don't," she told her, turning back around to wait for the band to take the stage.

"Ugh, I hate it went you try to be secretive," Haley said, and dropped her fists by her sides.

"You know you love it," Brooke called to her over her shoulder, blowing Haley a kiss, and then turned back around.

Mouth just looked at his two friends and shook his head from side to side. "Girls," he mumbled to himself, barely audible.

Finally the band began to play and all the friends were completely into it. Brooke had originally been skeptical when she heard the name of the group, but even she had been pleasantly surprised—in more ways than one. Guess it was true that you couldn't judge a book by its cover.

"Good review of the band, Hales," Mouth commented, leaning his head between Haley and Brooke's heads from where he stood behind their dancing forms. "They aren't half bad."

"I told you," Haley said, turning to her right to face both him and Brooke. "They are going to be huge, just wait and see."

Brooke nodded her head in agreement with Haley as she continued to move with the music. "I completely agree with you. They definitely have star quality, that's not hard to spot," she said.

"I know," Haley gushed. "They write all their own lyrics and they're all pretty cute."

Brooke simply nodded, taking in Haley's words as she tried to hide a smug smile that was threatening to form on her features and give her away.

"I don't need to hear all this," Mouth complained, backing away from the girls and giving them some space. He decided he needed a drink and he opted to make a trip to the Men's room and the bar.

Brooke and Haley shared a laugh and continued to dance to the music, both thoroughly enjoying themselves and for the first time in a long time their problems were a distant memory.

The show had ended and it was pretty late, or early, however you wanted to look at it. A few stragglers were still hanging around, not wanting to go home just yet or trying to catch a glimpse of the band. Brooke, Haley, and Mouth were a few of those people.

"This really brings back some memories," Haley commented, hoping onto the front of the stage to sit beside Brooke.

"I bet," Brooke said, patting Haley on the leg. "Do you ever miss it?" She asked, looking at her friend's face in case she tried to lie, Brooke knew her face would give it away.

"Yeah, sometimes," Haley told her with a weak smile. "Times like this especially. I see those people up there chasing their dreams, and I had that. But I gave it up. I guess I have to live with that, you know?" She said, her voice was pretty somber.

"Yeah, I got ya," Brooke agreed. "Sometimes it's hard to live with the consequences of your own decisions. For me it is always easier when you can blame your circumstances on someone else. I know that sounds awful," she added quickly at the end of her speech.

"No, it doesn't," Haley assured her, and she offered her friend a small smile.

"You two ready to head home?" Mouth asked, walking back over to the girls. He had run into Junk and Fergie at the bar and had spent the rest of the night talking to them.

Haley opened her mouth to answer, but Brooke beat her to it.

"Not just yet," She told him. "I want you guys to meet someone, so give me just a second." And she jumped off the stage.

"But Brooke, there's no one here," Haley complained. "And I'm tired. Can't we just go home," she whined to her friend.

"Trust me, it'll be worth it. I'll…" she started but stopped when she spotted exactly the person she had been looking for coming back onto the stage.

Jacob smiled and sent Brooke a little wave when he noticed she had spotted him.

"Haley, Mouth," she started speaking, her smile growing wider with a different type of pleasure as she looked back down at her friends. "I'd like you to meet Jacob Black, drummer for Shouting Match."

"I still cannot believe we hung out with the band last night," Haley told Brooke, while they drank their coffee the next morning.

Brooke shrugged her shoulders and smiled at her friend. "Well you know when you go out with me it is always VIP," she said with a wink at the blonde.

"Oh how could I have forgotten?" Haley asked, placing a hand on her chest. "Probably because I haven't been out with you in forever."

"Shut it," Brooke said and swatted Haley's arm. "Well that is all in the past. I am back in full fashion now so you will never have to forget again."

"Good," Haley responded. "Now, how strange is it that yours and Jacob's grandfathers were best friends. Your childhood playmate is practically a celebrity," she raved to the brunette.

"Well I must have a gift or something because my roommate is also practically a celebrity," Brooke reminded Haley.

"Whatever," Haley quickly spoke, not seeing herself as a celebrity at all. "I am nowhere near the same caliber as those guys."

"Stop kidding yourself, Haley James," Brooke said. "You are a superstar and one day, when you're ready, you will be out there chasing your dream again."

"I don't know," Haley admitted timidly. She was still unsure of what she wanted to do with her life.

"But I do." Brooke told her. "You are going to be getting a Grammy and I better be the one who gets to go with you to the awards."

Haley laughed out loud at her friend's words that seemed to be so certain. "There's no one I would rather have there with me," She admitted to her friend.

"Good, because I am seriously dying to meet a rich man who will take care of me for the rest of my life," Brooke explained to her friend as if she was talking about something as simple as her college plans.

"You did not just say that," Haley said, almost spitting out her coffee in a fit of laughter.

"What?" Brooke asked, shocked at Haley's comment. "If you can't be honest with your best friend, who can you be honest with?" She asked with a smile.

"I don't know who you can be that kind of honest with," Haley said, shaking her head from side to side.

"This is the best place to eat here in town," Brooke explained to Jacob as they approached Karen's Café in downtown Tree Hill later that day. "Not that we have many choices here or anything."

Jacob smiled at her; his teeth were brilliantly white against his dark skin. "You forget where I grew up sometimes, don't you?" He asked her with a laugh. "The reservation doesn't even have restaurants."

Brooke smiled back at him. She did forget from time to time. Her grandfather had died when she was so young. It was so far buried in her mind; it seemed like another lifetime ago.

"So what is this place anyway?" He asked her as they continued to walk. He had to shorten his normally long strides so Brooke wouldn't have to run to keep up. He had to do that a lot with girls.

"Karen's Café," She told him. "See there it is," she added, pointing to a building where a maroon awning hung over the plate glass door.

"Okay, well let's get in there. I am starving," he told her, grabbing her arm and dragging her and the sidewalk and through the door.

"Jacob," Brooke complained, as he dragged her through the door, "slow down…" she finished, letting her words trail off as her voice faltered.

There sitting at a booth right in front of Brooke being waited on by her roommate was her ex-boyfriend, Lucas Scott.

"Brooke," Lucas called and started to get up when he noticed the hold Jacob had on Brooke's hand. And his smile slowly changed to a scowl.

"Hi Luke," she said slowly, frozen in her tracks. She tried to force a smile, but she wasn't sure her heart was allowing it.

Jacob noticed the tension in the air as well as the way Haley seemed to be backing away from the table as if she was trying to stay neutral. He let go of Brooke's hand and offered it to Lucas. "Jacob," he said introducing himself.

Lucas took his hand tentatively and shook it, giving Jacob a nod.

"Come on, Jake," Brooke began once she had found her voice. "Let's just go sit over by the window," she suggested to him, pulling lightly on the back of his shirt.

At this Jacob let go of Lucas's hand and followed his brunette friend to a corner booth. But he did turn and send Lucas one final warning glance before walking away.

It wasn't long before Haley was on her break and had joined Brooke and Jacob with her own lunch.

"So this is where songbird's work in this town?" Jacob asked her as he slid over in the booth for Haley to sit beside him.

Haley took a seat beside him. "I'm not sure what Brooke told you, but I'm sure it was drastically exaggerated," she warned him, taking in a spoonful of her soup.

"Haley!" Brooke shrieked. "Stop being so modest," she warned her.

Haley sent Brooke an aggravated glance and pursed her lips together.

"She's right," Jacob agreed with Brooke. "I can't believe you didn't tell me yourself last night while we were hanging out."

"It never came up," Haley practically mumbled into her toast slice.

"Riiiight," Jacob drawled out. "All night when we were talking about music, I can see that," he teased her, elbowing Haley lightly in the side.

Brooke looked at her friends sitting across from her and she had to look away to hide her smile. It was beyond obvious there was a connection being formed between the two. But her smile faltered when her eyes caught sight of a blonde mess of hair coming through the front door.

"You have got to be kidding me," Brooke scoffed and threw the French fry that was in her hand down on her plate.

"What?" Jacob asked, snapping out of his banter with Haley to look up at Brooke.

Haley had already turned her head towards the door, putting together the chiming bell with Brooke's outburst. She touched Jacob on the arm and then pointed to the pair of blondes who were greeting each other.

The whole booth watched as Lucas hugged Peyton lightly, pulling away much sooner than she would have liked. And he pointed to the booth where three pairs of eyes were staring, all displaying different forms of the same emotion. And then they all saw the blonde's eyes immediately fade from happiness to fear filled shame.

Jacob swore the blonde girl mouthed Brooke's name as if she was incapable of voicing it.

"What is the deal with you and those two?" Jacob asked Brooke, looking at his childhood friend.

Brooke simply avoided the question and his gaze. She picked up another French fry and broke it in half.

"Long story," Haley offered as an explanation. She tried to figure her face into an expression that read they should leave it at that but obviously Jacob didn't catch that.

"I have time," he said, looking from Haley to Brooke.

"Not that much time," Brooke interjected. "You are leaving for the next leg of your tour in two days."

"Sure, sure, Davis," he said, acknowledging her brush off. "It's just I usually like to know a guy's crime before I pummel him."

Brooke's eyes got wide as she glared at her friend. "There will be no pummeling, Mister," she warned him. "They are nowhere near worth it. It just still kinda stings. Not so much the them being together part, it is more about the fact that I thought they cared more about me than to flaunt it in front of my face."

Jacob was utterly confused, but just opted to nod at Brooke's explanation. He could tell it had pained her to relive that much.

"Don't worry about them," Haley tried to encourage her. "I'm sure they weren't expecting to run into you here."

"I know," Brooke nodded her head. "But hey, I think I'm gonna head back to the house if that's fine with you two."

"I would come with you, but my shifts not over for another hour," Haley explained to her friend.

"I'll go with you if you want," Jacob offered.

Brooke stood up from the table and fixed on a smile as she dismissed her friends. "You guys, it's totally fine, really. I just need to regroup and I'll be fine tonight for dinner," she told them.

"Okay, well I'll see you soon," Haley said. "And I'll pick up the stuff for lasagna on the way home. Some Rainbow Sherbet ice cream too," she added with a wink.

Brooke smile. "Thanks Hales, and get back to work. I'll see you later Jake," she said and made her way out of the café.

Okay...so here is the next chapter!! I know the Cullens were not in it yet, but I am trying to build the backstory a little bit for you guys before throwing them in...especially bc there is some stuff that will not be revealed until later on. ANyways, I hope you are all enjoying this fic so far! THanks to all the readers who took the time to leave a review, that really means a lot to me!! :) Let me know what you've thought of this chapter, and if there's anything you wanna see!! ;)